Everyone needs to donate!
All contributions are for the current quarter expenses.
Posted on 04/26/2015 11:58:56 AM PDT by cotton1706
There was a time when Common Core supporters loudly insisted the program — adopted by no fewer than 46 states — was most assuredly not federal, that any allegation that this astounding national uniformity was the result of federal pressure was a nasty, vicious lie. The State Standards Initiative confidently declares as “myth” the assertions that “Common Core State Standards were adopted by states as part of the [federal] Race to the Top grant program” or that the “federal government will take over ownership” of Common Core. The Initiative’s position is clear: “The federal government will not govern the Common Core State Standards. The Common Core was and will remain a state-led effort.” (Emphasis in original.)
Yet when Common Core is threatened by a large-scale parental revolt, look who moves in to crush the dissenters’ dreams — Arne Duncan, the race-baiting (federal) Secretary of Education.
Last week an estimated 184,000 New York students (out of 1.1 million) opted out of this year’s Common Core–mandated English tests, a more than three-fold increase from last year’s 60,000 opt-outs. Large-scale opt-outs threaten the validity of the tests, decreasing the likelihood that they fairly measure overall student achievement. In some schools the opt-out rates have crippled the tests. One Manhattan school reported an 85 percent opt-out rate, and other schools — including one in Park Slope, Brooklyn — have reported opt-out rates exceeding 30 percent.
With the tests in crisis, Arne Duncan said this week that if the states can’t fix themselves, the federal government will “have an obligation to step in.” This means not just threatening to cut federal funding, but essentially forcing states to withhold their own funds from delinquent schools.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
States need to get their snouts out of the Federal trough.
The race card has been thrown around so much in the last few years that even a few hard-core libs in my life are weary of the whole thing.
In some instances it’s actually funny——like a racist accusation for using the old,respectable word “niggardly”.
.
Not widely known, but NY State has issued an unconstitutional gag order on teachers. Criticism of Common Core in general and the tests in particular are strictly forbidden; penalty being losing their job (where’s the union when you need them?). And I believe this came straight from Gov Cuomo’s office to boot.
The teachers are afraid to testify in any class action lawsuit. Ergo, nothing will change.
I could be mistaken but I believe that the NJEA is against Common Core.
I don’t know about NJ. I was just commenting on New York State.
But I hope you’re right about New Jersey. A couple of states have outright gotten rid of CC. But in order to do that they have to be prepared to give up the Federal money that is attached to Common Core. Can NJ bite that bullet? If anyone can navigate those waters it is Governor Christie.
We’ll see.
I wouldn’t say “inertia”
I would say the bureaucratic jealousy of power.
Once power is obtained a bureaucrat they will never willingly see it diminished. Once they have power there is always a desire to see it grow.
Once a bureaucrat has power any threat to that power will be attacked using whatever tools they have legitimate or otherwise.
But not all of the blame lies with the bureaucrat. The politicians are also to blame. It is a rare state politician that has ever seen a Federal dollar he did not want.
Sop as this article points out the combination of Bureaucratic avarice of power and Politicians avarice of Federal dollars it is nearly impossible to kill a government program once it gets past the point that the dollars start to flow.
They are for Common Core but feel it is not being implemented correctly.
I'm a retired middle school teacher. When I retired there was a very strong feeling with many of the parents that testing was getting out of hand. Last year over 12 days were set aside for testing.
Educational Keynesians...no surprise there.
Here in NJ the teachers’ unions are terrified that Common Core is going to expose what many of us parents have known for years: All kids get good grades while learning very little. Common Core isn’t good, but anything that measures students’ learning (in lieu of the inflated grades) must be good; people should question the teachers’ unions’ opposition.
See # 11; because of the massive amounts spent on public education, teachers’ unions have been inflating grades for decades. Everyone (from various towns) tells me they have the best school district in the state, and they all have geniuses for children (when you meet them, you’ll often wonder if the definition of “genius” has changed).
The “social promotion” policies initially used in urban districts (where illiterate students receive high school diplomas) have basically spread throughout the state; it prevents a tax revolt over the 75% of our sky-high property taxes spent on schools.
Check out:
Common Core 2.0: Oregon’s “P20W” Project Goes Prenatal
watchdogwire.com
http://watchdogwire.com/northwest/2013/10/10/common-core-2-0-oregons-p20-project-goes-prenatal/
The STATE LONGITUDINAL DATABASE SYSTEM, is a comprehensive database compiled ON EACH CHILD. This data is not aggregate data, it is linked specifically to the child. DATA that is collected will FOLLOW THE CHILD through to their adult years and BEYOND. In fact, that is the PURPOSE of the SLDS, to provide a database that “grows” along with the child into their CAREER YEARS.
The Workforce Data Quality Initiative’s Mission Statement from the United States Department of Labor’s website reads:
“The long-term Workforce Data Quality Initiative and SLDS goal for States is to use their longitudinal data systems to FOLLOW individuals THROUGH SCHOOL and INTO AND THROUGH THEIR WORK LIFE.”
“Enable workforce data to be matched with education data to ultimately create longitudinal data systems with individual-level information beginning with pre-kindergarten through post-secondary schooling all the way through entry and sustained participation in the workforce and employment services system.”
The SLDS has been implemented nationwide in each state. It became fully operational in 2012.
The funding for the SLDS was from the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act in 2009.
Along the way the SLDS was transformed into the P20W, or the Preschool through age 20 Workforce Tracking. As the US Department of Labor stated, the P20W is to “enable workforce data to matched with education data…with individual-level information.” It is a “cradle to career” monitoring system. Children will not be the only ones under scrutiny. Teachers are going to be linked directly to their students and their performance will be assessed on the data that is collected. Parents’ information is also being collected. This is essentially a COMPLETE DOSSIER on every American that will FOLLOW them throughout their life. A PERMANENT RECORD OF THEIR BELEIFS, BEHAVIOR, AND THEIR PREFERENCES.
…inBloom, Inc.is the newly formed not-for-profit organization that will warehouse the data collected by the SLDS. All of your child’s personal information will be compiled in a centralized location and shared at the whims of inBloom and the State.
“The funding for the SLDS was from the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act in 2009.”
And I bet almost no one in Congress knew this was part of the deal. Not that they would care anyway.
.
>> “States need to get their snouts out of the Federal trough.” <<
.
But they’ve let the Feds lure them so deeply into the swamp that they can’t afford to.
They would literally have to remake themselves from the bottom up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
