Basically, our children will be tested early and pigeon-holed into education and career tracks shortly after kindergarten. It's like the Communistic practice of profiling of children and predetermining their futures. Hitler did this, too.
This is happening in every state, not just Utah. Is your school safe?
What about "late-bloomers"? Pigeon-holing a child's educational and career track from testing done in elementary school is a travesty for late-bloomers. There are several men I know who came into their own after 30 and are very successful, now. Thank goodness they got the education they needed in spite of childhood immaturity! With freedom they have succeeded.
"It's a trap!" Actually, it's Animal Farm come to life in a horrific way. Follow the facts...
"This is a very complex program I recommend you take some time to sit down and read. I will not be able to cover everything here.
Common Core has 3 main components. There are lots of references below for you to look at.
1. It is a set of standards created by a think tank in Washington DC that included input from various sources mainly the National Governor's Association and another one I can't remember the name of right now.
They were presented to the states as a way to unify the education system and mainstream the educational process for school from state to state.
Associated with these standards was a contest called "Race to the Top".
This contest allowed states to try and win grant money from the federal government for education.
One of the requirements of applying was that the states had to commit to the common core standards before they had even seen them in order to qualify for the grant money.
Utah and other states applied for the grant money, signed the contract and hadn't seen anything, and turned in the application.
They did not win any money but they were contractually bound to implement these standards.
Several of the experts who helped create the standards refused to sign off on them because they were no good. Their links are below.
The core standards are now being implemented as part of the Common Core agreement even though Utah didn't get any money and the standards are subpar.
45 other states agreed to Common Core too, but several now are pulling out of it or have grassroots efforts going on to pull out of it because of parents' outrage about the whole thing.
It amounts to nationalizing education and turning over control of what is taught in classrooms over to the federal government.
States have only 15% control of the standards that they may add but nothing can be taken away.
2. The Department of Education relaxed FERPA laws which protect families and children from outside sources checking data on students without their parent's permission.
They included language in the law that allows for groups with educational interests to have access to student data.
Educational interests is loosely defined and the new language means just about anyone could qualify.
The data has been collected on students since 2009 and includes things like Bus Route time, class rank, truancy, developmental delay, health conditions, home arrangements, family income range, insurance coverage, religious affiliation, and parent's voting status are all on the list.
These are things that may be applicable for a school to know about but now this information is available to anyone with the above credentials.
This program also allows for HIPPA laws to be bi-passed if a student's file contains health information as it relates to educational accommodations.
A Longitudinal Data Base is already sitting ready to share all of this information with other states and the federal government.
I have attached a file that includes references for this information.
3. The final component of this legislation is the Computer Adaptive Testing.
American Institutes for Research has been hired by Utah to facilitate the development of tests that adapt to a student's ability. It is very impressive science.
The only problem is this company studies psychological components of tests, not just the academic.
This company specializes in behavioral markers imbedded in tests to determine behaviors of students.
There is no evidence that has been presented to date that shows this is a good thing for students or that it is even relevant to their education.
This company has on their client list, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, all departments in the Federal Government, and Microsoft.
Bill Gates has paid out 5$ Billion so far in his quest to implement this program. Other corporations are on board too because they want to be able to "mine" for potential employees.
Most corporations give their potential adult employees a type of personality test. It is entirely appropriate for them to determine who will fit their company mold.
However, to profile students and track them throughout their educational career is immoral and undermines the student's ability to choose for themselves the path they want in life.
How will a student have choices if they have already been flagged in a company's system based on their test scores and school records?
Dr. Gary Thompson has outlined concerns he has along with his colleague have written a letter to Superintendent Menlove. http://www.
In my opinion, this program is a bad idea because it removes local control of education, it takes away the liberty of our children, and it is unconstitutional.
Let me know if you have any other questions."
~ Carie Valentine
How I got Involved with Common Core: The Math Wars
I learned that Utah had adopted Common Core in January of 2012 and I
didn't know anything about it, which is interesting because I consider
myself fairly plugged in politically. I was a little shocked
that the entire state was changing math curriculum especially when Davis
High, here in Kaysville, has such an amazing program and has been
graduating top notch math students for more than twenty years.
Most people in Kaysville know the names of Mike Shaw, Mary Agrapides and
Gary Taylor who developed one of the most successful math programs in
the country. They designed a program for the students at Davis
coordinating with the math teachers in the junior highs to create a
program that built a solid math foundation for students. Pretty soon
they were passing 90-95% of the students who attempted to take the AP
Calculus test and that number continued to grow until recently it has
been between 240-300 students every year.
I found out that the math teachers at Davis and Kaysville Jr. High
had protested the new Common Core Curriculum since the end of 2009, for
two years before I'd even heard of it. Troubling. Why mess with success?
So, I called the State Board of Education. I explained the tremendous success at Davis. They were aware. I explained that if they needed a top notch math program that was tried and true, we had one in Kaysville. Why go pay for something we didn't know would work for our students when we had something we knew did work?
All of my questions were deflected. It was a very frustrating
conversation. Until the state board member said, "Yes. Davis is doing
really well, but other schools are not." Then it clicked for me. This is
not about the students, it's not about success or what works, it's about
social justice.
It is true that Davis High is a unique culture. We have a higher
percentage of two parent families. Kids are not as likely to be working
one or even two jobs after school because of desperate finances. Most
kids in Kaysville speak English as a first language and so there is not
a language barrier when it comes to mathematics. All of these things
give the kids at Davis an advantage in math.
Still, the math department at Davis worked to create a math program
accessible for every student. Gary Taylor said in the SL Trib, "Math is
accessible if students are willing to work hard, and if teachers present
it in a meaningful fashion." They figured out how to do that at Davis
and were able to make more and more students successful in Calculus each
year.
Common Core math is no match for the Davis High brand of Calculus. As it
turns out, Common Core is not Internationally Benchmarked as claimed.
http://www.
Christopher Tienken has stated Common Core standards are en example of
"data-less decison making."
http://www.aasa.org/
Our children are truly guinea pigs for an untested and unproven program,
when we had a program that was the envy of most of the country thanks to
the work of a lifetime of several dedicated educators right here in our
own town.
Our math program at Davis shows how successful local control can be. We
must stop Common Core.
Courage!
Tiffany
http://www.wsws.org/en/
http://www.wsws.org/en/
"Get them while they're young, Eva, get them while they're young!" ~ Evita, the musical
http://thegodfreymethod.com/
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