Competency Based Ed (CBE) in NH is based on the old and failed Outcome Based Ed (OBE) fad. This rehashed failed fad has offered no independent measurable academic achievement in our schools.

Outcome Based Ed or Competency Based Ed creates the illusion that your children will be “competent” in the core academic subjects. It sounds good to parents when they hear promoters talk about how their children will be “competent” in the core content before their children move on. Sadly no one ever asks, competent in what?

Parents assume being competent means their children will know that 2 + 2 = 4. The history is very different from what parents have been led to believe.

OBE is a failed fad in terms of failing to improve academic achievement. This is why parents should be asking their Superintendent, bureaucrats from the NH Dept. of Ed and members of the NH Board of Education for proof. After several years of CBE in NH, where is the INDEPENDENT PROOF CBE has improved academic achievement?

OBE has been criticized in the past for attempting to change the values, attitudes and beliefs in students. The focus is not on literacy or academic excellence, it’s on workforce skills and changing a student’s beliefs and values.

Competency Based Education is part of the Obama agenda to redesign public education from a liberal arts model to a dumbed down workforce training model.

Marc Tucker, key architect of this redesigned model, attempted to transform education during the Clinton years. The full implementation was derailed however we saw key elements begin years ago. Now the entire agenda has been kicked into high gear from the Obama administration and facilitated through Hassan’s Dept. of Education.

So what does CBE look like in New Hampshire? We’ll provide a few examples of how CBE has been used, not to improve academic excellence in our schools but to indoctrinate students in a belief system that many parents object to.

In Bedford several years ago, a controversial book was assigned to students in their Personal Finance Class. This is a class where parents assume their children would learn about calculating simple interest or learn to balance a check book. However many were surprised to find out that their children were subjected to a political operative’s extreme views on minimum wage.

The book, Nickel and Dimed On (NOT) Getting By In America, met a “competency” and yet only provided students with a politically biased view on minimum wage. This wasn’t a lesson in personal finance, it was political indoctrination through Competency Based Education.

From The Blaze
Excerpt:
“We found the book provided valuable insight into the circumstances of the working poor and an opportunity for students to demonstrate mastery of the ‘Financial Impact’ competency,” the committee reported.

In Rochester one parent expressed anger on social media when her child came home with a “competency” based assessment that was nothing but a soft propaganda piece on video games. Since Bill Gates and the TECH Industry profit the most off of this education reform, is anyone surprised that they want their product message embedded in your child’s curriculum?

This Obama redesign facilitated by Governor Hassan’s Dept. of Education is not about elevating the academic content in our schools. This is another attempt at “social justice” education brought to us by the same people who’ve tried these failed fads over the last two to three decades.

It was through a grant from the Nellie Mae Foundation (funded by Gates and the U.S. Dept. of Ed) that facilitated CBE in New Hampshire.

http://www.education.nh.gov/recovery/documents/rttt_sectionb.pdf

The biggest loser in this reform is the children. Your child is now being denied quality academic content in favor of content that seeks to change your child’s attitudes.

Whether it be political or consumer attitudes, one thing is for sure, your children are being used as pawns instead of educated.

This is the legacy of Governor Hasan, the New Hampshire Board of Education and legislators who continue to support reforms that turn our schools away from a focus on literacy.