An open letter to the Manchester Board of School Committee from a citizen
Dear Manchester School Board and School Administration, Board of Mayor and Aldermen and Community,
Perhaps, you are an elected official or an administrator that is pushing and supporting Common Core in your capacity in our schools? Or, maybe you are just interested in the subject or have a need to know.
This message is for you.
Parents, Legislators, and Taxpayers are NOT buying it!
No amount of damage control will change the political and financial motives of Common Core. Citizens and elected officials are coming to know more about Common Core and its relation to the United Nations “One World Order” agenda for education that is scheduled to be formally adopted in the U.S. in 2014 – 2015. http://robertmuller.org/rm/R1/World_Core_Curriculum.html.
We are already witnessing this Common “World” Core, UN Agenda 21, and UNESCO IB principles being taught in our schools.
Americans have a unique U.S. Constitution and liberty in this country that no other country has. We will not be forced to trade our U.S. and State Constitutions and our rule of law for UNITED NATIONS agenda’s. Common Core is not Education, it’s outright forced United Nation indoctrination upon the people of America and our vulnerable children.
We also see these same unconstitutional principles and so called 21st Century World Standards agenda and principles introduced at our local Regional Planning Board meetings. Essentially the United Nations agenda is permeating our entire American society.
We are sickened and we are determined to oppose and reject Common Core in our schools and continue to shine the light on this abomination in America, which is the Common “World” Core or some might call Obama Core in our schools, public and some private, and upon our nation.
This World Core agenda is sadly supported by both progressive Democrats and Republicans alike, as well as the US Chamber Of Commerce, etc.
Common Core explicitely supports doctrines and philosophy which threatens and undermines the American people’s Constitutional Liberties from government tyranny.
One standard, one thought, one curriculum for all.
And who might they be? Fill in the blank …… .
RNC passes Anti-Common Core resolution at their spring meeting!
http://truthinamericaneducation.com/common-core-state-standards/rnc-passes-anti-common-core-resolution-at-their-spring-meeting/
http://www.gop.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2013_Spring-Meeting_Resolutions.pdf
Again, the American people and State Legislators are NOT buying it!
And NO, our State Legislature, and State and Local Education Boards, won’t have to heed the threat to send back “the money” they already received if our State or city or town pulls out of Common Core, according to U.S. Sen. Grassley.
How to get out of Common Core? Begin by Opposing NH SB48 – now in NH House Education Committee.
Listen to “highly qualified” teachers, honest administrators, parents, some honest teacher unions, objective educational forums who are objecting to Common Core around the country.
http://dianeravitch.net/2013/03/20/how-to-beat-vam/
A teacher writes:
I went to a meeting today and had my eyes opened – WIDE. As a teacher at a ruraL schoo, we are a little behind on this VAM thing. Needless to say at district wide meetings I get to meet teachers from all over, some from much larger suburban districts. They already have their pay based on students’ and the school’s improvement on tests.
WELL, the teachers have figured the whole student improvement thing out- DISTRACT THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF THE STUDENTS DURING THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR TEST – Yep, that is exactly what many of them are doing. Play music, talk on the phone, talk to other teachers very loudly, clean the room…do what ever you can to lower your students scores at the beginning and then have a silent, well ordered room, with hints everywhere at the end of the year, Success. The test isn’t fair, why should teachers have to play fair
Listen to Dr. Sandra Stotsky, Common Core Validation Committee member: Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas, former Senior Associate Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Education, describes some of the problems with the quality of the Common Core national education standards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-K4U
Common Core’s Race to the Middle in Colorado
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fai4K2ZVauk Featuring:
The Honorable Robert Scott, former Texas Commissioner of Education
Dr. Bill Evers, Research Fellow, Stanford University’s Hoover Institute
Dr. Sandra Stotsky, Professor of Education Reform, University of Arkansas
Theodor Rebarber, Founder & CEO, AccountabilityWorks, Washington, D.C.
Jim Stergios, Executive Director, Pioneer Institute, Boston
Senator Grassley Launches Effort to Prohibit Common Core Funding
http://www.politicalchips.org/profiles/blog/show?id=4095899%3ABlogPost%3A166100&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_post
Education Committee Considers Licensing, Halting Common Core
http://indianapublicmedia.org/news/education-committee-revives-effort-halt-common-core-47564/
Data Tracking and the Common Core gathers over 3000 data points on your child and teachers so your child doesn’t get “off track”. Since when did the government start tracking human behavior and making the determination of what is “off track” and what is a child’s “greatest potential”? Isn’t that up to the child and his/her parents?
http://truthinamericaneducation.com/common-core-state-standards/data-tracking-and-the-common-core/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TruthInAmericanEducation+%28Truth+in+American+Education%29
Is the Common Core Standards initiative in trouble?
Posted by Valerie Strauss on April 24, 2013 at 5:00 am
Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently met with Chamber of Commerce leaders and urged them to be more vocal and forceful in defending the Common Core State Standards. Why?
Duncan made the appeal, which was reported by Education Week, because the initiative — a set of common standards adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia designed to raise student achievement — has come under such withering attack in recent months that what once seemed like a major policy success for the Obama administration now looks troubled.
A handful of states (including Indiana, Alabama, South Dakota and Georgia) are either pulling back or considering it, and core supporters fear more states will too. A growing number of educators are complaining that states have done a poor job implementing the standards and are pushing core-aligned tests on students too early. And parents have started a campaign to “opt” their children out of the Common Core-aligned high-stakes standardized tests.
Both Republicans and Democrats have supported the initiative in the past, including the Obama administration and Republican Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, both of whom were big players in the campaign to get some 45 states and the District of Columbia to approve the standards.
It is now both Republicans and Democrats who are questioning the Core, though the Republican voice is louder and more official: The Republican National Committee just passed an anti-Common Core resolution, saying that the initiative is a federal intrusion on states’ rights, and Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa just started a bid to to eliminate federal funding for the core effort.
Many Democratic critics say that while they don’t oppose the idea of national standards, the Common Core is not based on research and that parts of it ignore what is known about how students learn, especially in the area of early childhood education. They also say that despite promises to the contrary, the core-aligned standardized tests won’t be dramatically better in assessing student achievement than the older tests. Some former core supporters, such as award-winning New York Principal Carol Burris, changed their minds after learning more about the standards and the core-aligned tests. (You can read some of her critiques here and here).
Supporters of the core — which include educators who are implementing the standards — are somewhat incredulous at the opposition, saying that the old system of each state having its own set of standards proved to be untenable because student achievement was uneven across the country. (This line of thinking presumes that standards themselves are real drivers of quality.)
Reflecting the growing schism over the Common Core are two different recent editorials in major newspapers: The Los Angeles Time editorial board urged city officials to delay its implementation to make sure that it is done properly, while the New York Times editorial board told parents not to be afraid of the new Common Core-aligned standardized tests and it blamed Republicans for the opposition.
The L.A. Times editorial said in part:
Experts are divided over the value of the new curriculum standards, which might or might not lead students to the deeper reading, reasoning and writing skills that were intended. But on this much they agree: The curriculum will fail if it isn’t carefully implemented with meaningful tests that are aligned with what the students are supposed to learn. Legislators and education leaders should be putting more emphasis on helping teachers get ready for common core and giving them a significant voice in how it is implemented. And if the state can’t get the right elements in place to do that by 2014, it would be better off delaying the new curriculum a couple of years and doing it right, rather than allowing common core to become yet another educational flash in the pan that never lives up to its promise.
The New York Times editorial said in part:
New York City parents are understandably nervous about tough new state tests that were rolled out last week. And some parents whose children have already taken the tests are outraged. They shouldn’t be: the tests, which measure math and English skills, are an essential part of rigorous education reforms known as Common Core that seek to improve reasoning skills and have been adopted by 45 states….New York deserves enormous credit for being one of the first states to carry out what is clearly the most important education reform in the country’s history.
Setting aside the questionable notion that the Common Core is the most important education reform in the country’s history, the editorial makes clear that the Times editorial is on board with pushing ahead with the Common Core despite problems.
Reversing the decision to implement the core won’t be easy and may be impossible in many places. States that have adopted the core have already spent many millions of dollars to create curriculum around them, implement them and create tests aligned to the standards. (The federal government chipped in some $360 million to help develop core-aligned tests.)
Not long ago, the core looked like it was an initiative that was steam-rolling through the states, with the strong support of Education Secretary Duncan and other players in the education world, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which helped fund it.
Where this is going is anybody’s guess right now.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/24/is-the-common-core-standards-initiative-in-trouble/
