Standardizing Education – Common Core’s Hidden Agenda | Creative by Nature

Standardizing Education – Common Core’s Hidden Agenda | Creative by Nature:

Standardizing Education – Common Core’s Hidden Agenda

Posted on February 28, 2015by Christopher Chase

Anthony Cody’s article from last year Classrooms of the Future: Student Centered or Device Centered offers a very important analysis, looking at the hidden agenda of Common Core and the technology industry. Anthony believes that the goal of “aligning” tests and curriculum with Common Core is to “standardize” education the way computers and other forms of technology are standardized. This helps to explain why Bill Gates haspoured so much money into Common Core and testing.

Think about your PC, all top-selling computers (with the exception of Apple) have the same standard design. That’s what allows Gates’s Microsoft company to maintain a global monopoly with their operating system. Whether your computer is made by Dell, Sony, HP, Samsung or Toshiba they are all configured to the same global industry standards, aligned with Microsoft Windows’ software.

Gates and others from the business, technology and financial industries see education as a new multi-billion dollar international market, especially if the Common Core standards go global. There is a not-so-hidden agenda here to take professional teachers, local communities and national differences out of the equation.  Anthony quotes Margo Day, the vice president of U.S. Education, for Microsoft:

“Personalized learning for every student is a worthy and aspirational goal. By combining the power of touch, type, digital inking, multitasking and split-screen capabilities that Windows 8 with Office 365 provides with these new Pearson applications, we’re one step closer to enabling an interactive and personalized learning environment.”

This is an attempt to give us an updated hi-tech version of the factory school model, first developed at the beginning of the last century. They are using the terms individualizedand personalized as a marketing strategy, a way of hiding the truth that these technologies are standardized. Local autonomy, creativity and differences in study are to be eliminated. Student and teacher relationships are no longer central. As Anthony explains:

“In this mode of instruction, these devices become the mediator of almost every academic interaction between students and their teacher, and even one another. Students are assigned work on the device, they perform their work on the device, they share work through the device, and they receive feedback via the device. What is more, the means by which learning is measured—the standardized test—will also be via this device.

It is the appliance that now becomes “intelligent” about each student and the appliance is the vehicle by which lessons are “personalized,” because the appliance is what is keeping track of what the student is capable of, and where the student is weak.

Of course the teacher has the ability to oversee and monitor the assignments the device is making, but the whole idea is to automate this process. And this is happening in an environment where there is a clear desire to increase class sizes. Thus we have “personalization” via digital device, at the same time we make teacher-student relationships far more difficult because budget constraints are increasing class sizes..”

I believe that Anthony is right, that this is the hidden agenda behind both the standards Standardizing Education – Common Core’s Hidden Agenda | Creative by Nature:

CYNICAL SCHOOL CHOICE STUNTS RAMP UP IN OKLAHOMA | Oklahoma Observer

CYNICAL SCHOOL CHOICE STUNTS RAMP UP IN OKLAHOMA | Oklahoma Observer:

CYNICAL SCHOOL CHOICE STUNTS RAMP UP IN OKLAHOMA

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 28 FEB 2015   POSTED BY AHAMILTON

Editor’s Note: This essay appeared in the February 2015 print edition of The Oklahoma Observer. We are publishing it on-line for all to see in light of the Senate Finance Committee’s decision last week to approve SB 609, Sen. Clark Jolley’s ill-conceived, unconstitutional voucher scheme that could steal millions from Oklahoma’s already under-funded public schools.  

BY BRETT DICKERSON

Once upon a time in Oklahoma, magnet public schools were the “choice” that allowed for much more creativity and freedom. They helped to break years of racial/economic segregation. But that’s not the point of a huge “school choice” push today.

Instead, “school choice” has become code for getting an unwitting public to allow private investor corporations to siphon tax money from the public and funnel it into accountability black boxes. And worse, they will do that while re-segregating American education and society.

Proponents of “school choice” – choicers – argue that when there is competition in an education marketplace, quality will just magically break out.

But it won’t. It won’t because participants in any market place actively attempt to eliminate the competition. Increasing profits for any business come from doing away with or absorbing their competition.

Anyone who argues for competition as a way to improve schools while keeping all of the choices in place simply doesn’t understand how competition works. Or, worse, they are consciously trying to deceive others.

And that deception is what I want to point out here.

DECEPTION

There are some people for choice who are sincere. But the ones we are hearing from the loudest and the most right now are those who make a handsome living trying to destroy support for a common, publicly-controlled education.

Their donors want a small minority of the rich to control what is being taught, and that can’t happen unless publicly-controlled schools and professional teachers are destroyed in their current form.

I’m seeing a very real increase in cynical stunts by some organizations, mostly those that are associated with the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.

If you don’t already know, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, or OCPA, is tied in tightly with ALEC, the Koch Brothers, and many other donors who want to profit by forcing you to pay taxes that their buddies in the legislature will turn over to them without any accountability.

There are several cynical, deceptive practices that I have been observing over the last several weeks as we draw nearer to the Oklahoma Legislature convening.

TWITTER HASHTAG FLOODING

Hashtag flooding is where a relatively small group of people flood a particular hashtag that is being used by their opponents to connect with each other. The subject matter of the tweets is intended to discredit the position of their opponents.

The flooding happens when a small, well-organized group use a large number of Twitter accounts to RT one well-written attack tweet, which makes it harder for those in the hashtag to actually communicate with each other.

Hashtag flooding also gives occasional observers of the hashtag the impression that opinions have shifted when they have not.

This stunt was originally perfected by conservative organizations opposed to liberal TV commentators who were gaining a large nation-wide Twitter following like Rachel Maddow and Melissa Harris-Perry.

Followers of their show’s hashtag get to know one another and support each other in their agreement CYNICAL SCHOOL CHOICE STUNTS RAMP UP IN OKLAHOMA | Oklahoma Observer:

The Teachers of the New York City Public Schools Need Your Help | Cora Sangree

The Teachers of the New York City Public Schools Need Your Help | Cora Sangree:

The Teachers of the New York City Public Schools Need Your Help

Governor Cuomo has proposed major changes to teacher evaluations in New York State. We want to let you know, from a teacher's perspective, the changes this law could bring to public schools -- and to our profession -- if it passes.

• 50% of a teacher's rating will be based on state test scores. (Currently it is 20%).
• 35% of a teacher's rating will be based on the findings of an outside "independent observer" who will conduct a one time visit to the classroom. (This has never been done before. Currently our principal's and assistant principal's observations count for 60%).
• 15% of a teacher's rating will be based on observations by the principal or assistant principal. The very people who know our work best will have the least input into our evaluation.
• 50% + 35% = 85% of our evaluations will be removed from the hands of our community and placed in the hands of the state.

And then, using these numbers, any teacher who is rated ineffective two years in a row can be fired. Principals may have no say in this.

So what might this mean for our schools?

Realistically, many of us could be fired.

Every year.

And many more of us may be pushed away from the profession we love.

Here's something that's not being made clear to the public. Even in schools where children do well on the standardized tests, many teachers do not. Teachers' ratings are not based on their students' raw scores for the year, but whether their studentsimproved from one year to the next. If a student with a '3' gets one fewer question correct in 4th grade than she did in 3rd, that student might not have demonstrated the "added value" their teacher is expected to have instilled. Even though the student has mastered that grade's content. Even though it's just one question.

That is why so many schools in NYC spend so much time prepping for the tests. One or two wrong answers can make or break a teacher's rating. It has already happened.

If Governor Cuomo's evaluation proposals come to pass, it may start to happen more and more. And if we are rated ineffective as a result of Cuomo's proposal two years in a row, we may be fired.

That is what forces teachers to do test prep. Even though we don't believe in the standardized tests. Even though we know that the tests do not give an accurate picture of student learning, or of the effectiveness of teachers. Even though we know that teaching to the test is bad teaching. Faced with the reality of loss of a paycheck (and the loss of the careers we are building, have built, or want to build), these proposals may push us to teach in ways we know to be counterproductive. The schools that we all love with active, engaged learners, inquiry, questioning, creativity, and joy in The Teachers of the New York City Public Schools Need Your Help | Cora Sangree:

Everyone hates No Child Left Behind, and Congress is never going to change it - Vox

Everyone hates No Child Left Behind, and Congress is never going to change it - Vox:

Everyone hates No Child Left Behind, and Congress is never going to change it

This week, House Republicans tried to rewrite No Child Left Behind, the federal education law that's years overdue for renewal, with a very conservative bill. But at the last minute Friday, they decided not to vote — in part because the bill wasn't conservative enough.

The setback for the House bill tells us two big things about education policy. First, it signals that House Republicans aren't just far to the right of where they were when No Child Left Behind was passed — they could be to the right of where they were just two years ago. At the very least, they don't see reauthorizing No Child Left Behind as a goal significant enough to be worth compromising on their conservative principles.

Second, the whole saga suggests that Congress is unlikely to get anything done on education anytime soon. It's getting harder to find any bipartisan agreement on the issue. Which is why No Child Left Behind is almost certain to survive Obama's presidency untouched.

The latest developments in No Child Left Behind

When Republicans took Congress last November, rewriting No Child Left Behind was singled out as an area where they could find common ground with President Obama.

No Child Left Behind is years overdue for renewal. The law's deadline for making all students proficient in reading and math has come and gone, and the Obama administration has created a complicated system for waiving the laws' consequences for states that take other steps to reform K-12 education.

Granted, expecting a bipartisan compromise on its renewal was always a little optimistic. (One warning sign: Republican leadership never seemed to put No Child Left Behind on their priority lists.) But Sen. Lamar Alexander, the new chair of the Senate committee that handles education, is a former US Education Secretary and a moderate Republican who's known for working across the aisle, and policy wonks could lay out a plausible path to a compromise.

But that analysis didn't figure in House Republicans. The bill the House was about to vote on today was very similar to a bill the House passed in 2013 — it drastically reduced the role of the federal government in holding schools accountable for students' test scores and capped federal education spending. The Obama administration was opposed and threatened to veto it.

But, on the other side, Heritage Action and the Club for Growth argued that the bill didn't go nearly far enough — because it maintained some federal role in education. And in a week when House Republicans were also fighting over spending on the Department of Homeland Security and the Conservative Political Action Conference was holding its massive annual meeting, that conservative message resonated. House leaders struggled Thursday night to get enough votes for the bill, according to Politico, and postponed the Friday vote.

Even if the House bill eventually passes, this is bad news for overhauling No Child Left Behind. The window for a bill that was conservative enough for Congressional Republicans but able to get Obama's signature or enough help from Democrats to withstand a presidential veto was always very small. Now it's looking nonexistent.Everyone hates No Child Left Behind, and Congress is never going to change it - Vox:

Call and Tweet your House Rep and ask him/her to vote ‪#‎NOonHR5‬ http://bit.ly/17s6O1b

DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW VOX!

Refuse PARCC - Check it OUT and Refuse PARCC

Refuse PARCC:

Welcome!

Click Here to Go to the Refuse PARCC: Website 

Parents across the State and the Country are fed up with incessant testing and the high stress our children are being subjected to with the implementation of the Common Core State Standards.

Many parents have tried talking to their Boards of Education, elected representatives, and State Education officials, only to find their concerns falling on deaf ears.

In an effort to demand the attention of these officials, parents have begun to take direct action. They have demanded to opt out! They have refused the test! They have refused the Common Core Standards! They have refused to have their children’s data subjected to the State Longitudinal Data Systems!

Want to see No PARCCing! billboards in NJ? Please donate to our fund! click the gofundme pic below

Please take a moment to complete the survey.

Click Here to Go to the Refuse PARCC: Website 

Click Here to Go to the Refuse PARCC: Website 

Recent Posts

• NJ Refusal Tracking Survey
• Providing PARCC information to USDOE
• Flowchart Guide to Refusals
• NJ Refusals by County
• Refusal Guidelines with Scenarios

Click Here to Go to the Refuse PARCC: Website 

NJ Bloggers

Jersey Jazz Man

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Pushing the Pendulum

Parentingthecore

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Click Here to Go to the Refuse PARCC: Website 

Heavy emphasis on “hard skills” leaves children unprepared for the real “tests” in life. | WagTheDog

Heavy emphasis on “hard skills” leaves children unprepared for the real “tests” in life. | WagTheDog:



Heavy emphasis on “hard skills” leaves children unprepared for the real “tests” in life.

 The appropriate and skillful application of hard skills is soft skills dependent.

~ Corporate Learning World Blog

Working with grade 7-12 students for more than two decades, and as a summer youth employment counselor for 10 years, it has been my experience that a lack of soft skillsand virtues (perseverance, ambition, self-confidence, self-discipline, patience, initiative, integrity, empathy, courage, resilience…) has directly contributed to declining student achievement and performance in the classroom and on the job.

While mastery of content and literacy skills are important for career and college readiness, these performance standards are too often trumped or canceled out when a student or employee lacks a work ethic, emotional intelligence, and has not developed a personal code of conduct.

One of the underlying premises of CCSS appears to be that students who cannot read and write on an advanced college level are destined to be unsuccessful in life. Not everyone can be an advanced reader, no matter how hard they try. Do proponents of CCSS really believe that the 15 to 20% (NICHD) of our population with language-based disabilities are doomed to failure in life?

The “power” and critical importance of soft skills is evidenced by the highly successful careers of Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Tom Cruise, Erin Brockovich, Magic Johnson, Anderson Cooper, Winston Churchill and other dyslexics.

These individuals and many others like them did not allow limited reading and literacy skills or a low score on a standardized test to define them and curtail their goals and Heavy emphasis on “hard skills” leaves children unprepared for the real “tests” in life. | WagTheDog:

Scott Minnick - Parent, Teacher and Board of Ed member says opt out! - Wait What?

Scott Minnick - Parent, Teacher and Board of Ed member says opt out! - Wait What?:



Scott Minnick – Parent, Teacher and Board of Ed member says opt out!

Parents Can Opt Out - United Opt Out National

Click Here to go to United Opt Out National: 

Click Here to go to the Website- United Opt Out Team

 Westport, Connecticut joins the Wall of Shame by lying to parents telling them,

THERE IS NO PROCESS FOR OPTING OUT OF THE TESTING,

Meanwhile, Scott Minnick, a public school teacher in Glastonbury and resident and Board of Ed member of East Hampton, Connecticut explains why parents should join him in opting their children out of the unfair, inappropriate and discriminatory Common Core Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium SBAC Test.

Scott Minnick and Martin Walsh are challenging the incumbent officers of the Connecticut Education Association in this spring’s CEA election.  Walsh is running for President and Minnick is running for Vice President.

Minnick’s MUST READ piece, “Alert! We are Under Attack! This is Not a Test,” can be found in its entirety at CTNewsjunkie. Scott Minnick writes,

Our society accepts the sad fact that in our free-market democracy, money influences politicians.

Money-hungry corporations, which have recently discovered the untapped and unending resource called public education, know this. They have worked the political system to get what they want – Education Reform – with little concern for the collateral damage to our children and our country’s future. This “fracking” of our educational system for profit is criminal!

In Connecticut, education reform started in 2010 with the acceptance of the Common Core State Standards. As a stand-alone concept, the CCSS, which aims to help standardize national K-12 benchmarks in math and English, has some merit, but, tragically, it masks a much darker purpose, which is to systematically destabilize, dehumanize, and vilify public education. The Common Core is the equivalent of a Trojan horse packed with SBAC cyber attack testing, accountability bombs for teachers and public schools. The coup de grace is the continuing privatization of education by the expansion of charter schools predestined to “rebuild” in the wake of the destruction.

Fortunately, we can counter this surprise attack because parents are free from legislative education reform mandates and can write a simple letter to opt out their children, knowing very well that the U.S. Constitution also backs them. I see education from several lenses and so my reasons to opt out our children are many.

Minnick then lays out the issues clear and concisely from the point of view as (1) The Scott Minnick - Parent, Teacher and Board of Ed member says opt out! - Wait What?:

The Brightest Students: What risks do they suffer from PARCC and other high stakes tests? | Reclaim Reform

The Brightest Students: What risks do they suffer from PARCC and other high stakes tests? | Reclaim Reform:

The Brightest Students: What risks do they suffer from PARCC and other high stakes tests?

Posted on February 27, 2015by Ken Previti

Childhood suicide is to be feared most.

The brightest children of all ages are often the ones who suffer from crash-and-burn behavior. They can be publicly shamed and lose their place in their world.

Since there can be no definite proof that high stakes testing alone is responsible for childhood suicides, we must simply use our own observations.

Childhood suicide rates have increased tremendously during the same years that No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top with their high stakes testing have existed.

Actual and perceived pressures by children often cause extreme behaviors, but the destruction of their own persona, the “smart” one or the “top” one, can be destroyed with one bad grade on an easy test, a high stakes mandated test, that “everyone” else passed.

Freeze on one day during one high stakes test? Be publicly shamed. Peer shamed. Be re-labeled for life. Crash-and burn.

This is a taboo subject. No adult wants to read about or experience this horrific reality. As parents, we must face it and do all we can to prevent it.

Why risk it? Take the pressures off by refusing or opting out for your child. Go to United Opt Out National for state-by-state sample letters and directions. You and your child have basic parental and civil rights. This is no time to be overly polite or timid because some The Brightest Students: What risks do they suffer from PARCC and other high stakes tests? | Reclaim Reform:

NEA - Educators urge U.S. House to continue to work on federal education law rewrite

NEA - Educators urge U.S. House to continue to work on federal education law rewrite:

Educators urge U.S. House to continue to work on federal education law rewrite

All eyes turn to the U.S. Senate to get ESEA right

Call and Tweet your House Rep and ask him/her to vote ‪#‎NOonHR5‬ http://bit.ly/17s6O1b

WASHINGTON - February 27, 2015 -

Citing a legislative logjam involving funding for the federal Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. House of Representatives today temporarily pulled from the floor a final vote on a bill, H.R. 5, to reauthorize the federal education law No Child Left Behind.

NEA President Lily Eskelsen García issued the following statement:

“We urge the House of Representatives to continue to work hard to capitalize on the opportunity to get ESEA right.

“During the robust debate on amendments yesterday, we saw positive signs that lawmakers were willing to put students ahead of politics. For example, they adopted a number of important amendments on testing, adding: flexibility for locally-designed assessments to be used; audits to eliminate unnecessary state and local tests; and requiring districts inform parents of ‘opt out’ policies.

“We welcome that bipartisan spirit and cooperation and we applaud lawmakers for acknowledging the growing problem with too much federally-mandated testing and approving commonsense amendments that would again allow educators to inspire students’ natural curiosity, imagination, and desire to learn.

“Now, all eyes turn to the U.S. Senate, where they will have an opportunity to usher a new vision for our nation’s public schools, a vision that promotes opportunity, equity and excellence for all students regardless of the zip code in which they live.

“Getting ESEA right means creating a new generation accountability system that includes an “opportunity dashboard”—indicators of school quality to identify opportunity and resource gaps that must be addressed to support learning; less testing and more flexibility on the types of tests given so students have more time to learn; and ensuring qualified educators for students and empowering them to lead. These core principles will allow educators to focus on what is most important: installing a love of learning in their students.

“We urge Congress to get ESEA right. We stand ready to work with members of both parties to fix this badly broken law.”

Follow us @NEAMedia #ESEA #GetESEAright

###

The National Education Association (www.nea.org) is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers.