Tag Archives: Common Core

White Privileged Derryfield Teacher Helped Write the Common Core Standards

Shocking is the word we’d use to describe the comments by Dr. David Pook at the end of last night’s debate on Common Core in New Hampshire.

According to this report posted today by Examiner.com, a statement was made by Pook citing his “White Privilege” as the reason for helping to write the Common Core Standards.

You can also listen to his remarks at 1:52:00 in the video from the debate on Common Core.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coOILEY2AHk

We encourage EVERYONE to watch the debate in its entirety.  However we’d like to add our commentary after viewing the debate from start to finish.

First we have to wonder where Governor Hassan is on the Common Core Standards being implemented in NH.  Is she hiding from this education policy change?  Where is New Hampshire’s Education Commissioner, Virginia Barry?  Why are they not out discussing Common Core publicly and talking to parents who have been voicing their frustration over Common Core?

We have to admit, it was good to see three Common Core advocates from New Hampshire discuss their reasons for supporting Common Core.   We’d like to applaud their participation.

The debate offers viewers the opportunity to listen to both the pro-and con- of Common Core.  Bravo to Cornerstone for hosting this informative event.  However we found it especially interesting that Dr. Pook, a teacher who has white-guilt, make a statement that implied he participated in developing dumbed down academic standards to help underprivileged children.

Dr. Pook is a teacher in an elite private school that caters to privileged children.  He is not working in an inner city school that is now bogged down in implementing dumbed down, developmentally inappropriate, and untested standards.

He has the freedom to teach in a way that many of our teachers are now being denied because of the high-stakes testing and the flawed pedagogy being forced upon public school teachers.

Teachers across America are leaving the profession because of this top-down oppressive reform that has teachers rightfully saying that this is an attack on their profession.

Dr. Pook doesn’t have to work under the oppressive conditions that he advocates for public school teachers.  He doesn’t have to teach to standards that teachers, licensed child psychologists and parents now see as developmentally inappropriate for their children.

At 39:00 one of the panelists, Ann Marie Banfield from Cornerstone calls attention to this obvious hypocrisy. Dr. Pook goes on to say at 42:00 that in his elite private school, “the Common Core Standards are being taught at Derryfield.”

This doesn’t make sense since one parent in the audience called Derryfield recently to inquire about the school and to see if they followed the Common Core Standards.  Here is what she reported to us:

I spoke with Claire Fauth, Admissions Office Coordinator.  They do not follow Common Core.  They have their own curriculum.  They are well aware of It, however do not follow it.  Their commitment is to focus and prepare students.  They are not beholden to any government standards or mandates.  They do very little standardized testing, 3 one hour tests for middle school. That is basically used as a benchmark for students and to identify areas that they need to focus on individually.  It is not NECAPS or NWEA or Smarter Balanced.  She could not remember name..she said it was not Iowa..but one that most private schools used.  For upper levels it is standard college ready tests, PSATs, SATs.

We have Derryfield telling parents who are trying to escape Common Core in their public schools that they do not follow Common Core.  We then have a teacher from Derryfield saying the Common Core Standards are being taught.

WARNING to parents who have the financial means, you might want to look at other schools. Derryfield seems to be selling one thing but doing another thing in their classrooms.

The entire debate is worth watching and it’s important to note that parents across New Hampshire know this is bad for their kids.  They know they don’t want it in their neighborhood schools but once again, the proponents don’t seem to want to listen.

Listen to the Audio from Girard at Large here

The Psychological Testing in Common Core Standards

“The Psychological Testing in Common Core Standards”
by Donna Garner
5.17.2014

Common Core schools in various parts of the U. S. have begun to require students (without parental knowledge) to take the Pearson Clinical Tests. The questions on these tests contain very personal questions. Teachers (as seen on the BASC-2 link below) enter personal, subjective observations about their students into the Pearson database. Pearson’s privacy policy says they will share the information with their contractors and that the policy can change without notice.  However, the contractors have no privacy policy. It is not a stretch to imagine that students’ personally identifiable information could indeed be used against them for college admissions and/or future employment.

Link to Pearson tracking form:  http://images.pearsonclinical.com/images/PA/Products/BASC-2_BESS/bess_individualtracking.pdf

Teachers Against Common Core

Stop Common Core in NH continues to stand WITH teachers and against Common Core

PJSTA Approves Resolution to Oppose Common Core

At today’s regularly scheduled meeting the PJSTA’s Representative. Council unanimously voted to approve the following resolution to oppose the Common Core State Standards. The resolution will be submitted to the AFT and NYSUT for consideration from those parent unions.

Resolution to Oppose the Common Core State Standards

WHEREAS, the purpose of education is to educate a populace of critical
thinkers who are capable of shaping a just and equitable society in
order to lead good and purpose-filled lives, not solely preparation
for college and career; and

Read more…

Teachers Know Common Core is an Attack on Them!

(Note: We know teachers are under attack via Common Core.  Here is a letter sent to Donna Garner, a retired teacher and political activist, from a teacher in LA.  Also note that teachers cannot speak publicly against Common Core because many will face a hostile work environment)

“Harsh Words from Los Angeles USD Teacher”

Sent to Donna Garner on 5.13.14

Hi Donna,

I’ve been following your emails regarding Common Core, and the situation certainly is not pretty. Thanks a million for all you do.  Many of my liberal friends are no longer liberals. They’re being screwed, and now they know it. We teachers had a meeting with the man who is basically in charge of all school programming, and it isn’t pretty. He’s leaving since they want him to reapply for a job; but he knows his job is being cut.  He will be gone. More on that in a minute –

Hopefully Common Core can be neutered. I heard that 35 states have legislation to either restrict or eliminate Common Core.  WOW!

Most of our math teachers are puzzled themselves by what they have seen in CC.

Our dept. chair (who is a vocal liberal and was a proponent of CC) came back from a district-wide meeting.  He said the entire CC plan was so illogical that his hands were literally shaking after the meeting was over.

I personally don’t think we have seen the worst of CC as of yet, just a mild prelude.  That’s why it needs to be eliminated and right now! Anyway, thanks ever so much for the emails and updates. I share them with my fellow teachers.

I learned today that LAUSD is eliminating the Special Ed. dept. altogether. I have no idea what they are doing, but it sounds crazy.

Our staff was asked to “apply” for a new school daily operations plan, whereby we could hire our own principal and have a say in the day-to-day operations. That has all backfired as of today, and one of the teachers said she would sue if she has the option. They have made it a living hell for teachers.

LAUSD is also getting rid of all Advanced Placement teachers. They have to reapply to get a job – now teachers will be called  “Instructional Advisors” instead of teachers. Welcome to the real Common Core. Welcome Facilitators. We are no longer to be considered teachers.

People don’t understand the forethought into Common Core and what the feds want to implement.  I’ll work at Home Depot or Wal Mart if it gets me out of here “yesterday.”

I am leaving California and moving to Texas. I would have left this year but because of health problems, I could not afford to leave my insurance. However, I am in the process of trying to get my Texas teaching certificate… At first, the Texas assessments were only given in Texas, but now they are available in San Diego.  I’ll try and take them, but…we’ll see. I used to be a salesman, and I can do that again.  I will do anything to get out of LAUSD.

Donna, please keep letting people, teachers, and parents know what is going on in the schools here. If parents really knew, they would be utterly shocked. This is where the education is heading. Complete control by the Feds. They are doing it to the teachers right now, yet the unsuspecting public is like the proverbial “frog in boiling water.” It’s over with here!

Anyway, just thought I’d let you know where Common Core is going. We in LAUSD are at the forefront. I’m going to try and document as many of the changes as possible so that I can send it to you.  Maybe you can use it to alert the rest of America

Take care, Donna, and thanks for helping me see some of the CC stuff; the whole picture is clearly coming into view now. I hope Texas is a better place for me to live and teach.

 

XXXXX

UPDATE: Manchester Academic Standards, Common Core Lite?

MANCHESTER:

In the Manchester’s dumbed down draft standards in ELA, there is no longer a reference to reading Shakespeare, 18th, 19th, and early 20th century American literature, or US founding documents in ELA (Gettysburg Address, Declaration of Independence). Is this what Mayor Ted Gatsas and the citizens of Manchester want for their students?

We hope not. We hope they have time to make some SERIOUS changes to the draft they put out there.

When you hire Superintendents, they are supposed to be leaders in the district. Where is the leadership to academic excellence?

The residents made it clear that they do NOT want a watered dumbed down Common Core-like academic standards for their kids.

Acorn’s Supporter Annenberg Institute Promotes Dumbed Down Workforce Training, Community Organizing

The Annenburg Institute, a grant recipient of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, resource for community organizing, and associated with ACORN, recently issued a press release below.  

Please read our comments in BOLD and ITALICIZED.

We also encourage you to read Jay Greene’s blog to truly understand what is going on on public ed.  Annenberg is simply helping to further destroy “knowledge” and public education to promote Marc Tucker’s agenda of dumbed down workforce training.
—

Angela Romans, Principal Associate, 
Annenberg Institute for School Reform

angela_romans@brown.edu (401) 863-7712

—

The “College Readiness Indicator Systems” Resource Series created by researchers from Standford University, Brown University, and the University of Chicago is free and widely available for download now.

Today is National College Decision Day, the moment when hopeful high school seniors select the schools where they will pursue their dreams of a college education.  As greater numbers of students strive for a college degree, districts are struggling with how to prepare them for the challenges ahead—to build the critical attitudes, aptitudes, and skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond.

What attitudes are necessary? This is an organization that has been involved with pushing progressive political agendas. NOT academic excellence in the classroom.

To address this problem, education researchers from Stanford University, Brown University and the University of Chicago are releasing a “College Readiness Indicator Systems (CRIS) Resource Series”. The series is a suite of educational products designed to help school districts use data to identify students and the supports they need to graduate high school and have success in college.

Data on academics or having the right political attitudes?

Funded by a $3 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the CRIS initiative brought together the researchers with urban school systems in Dallas, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Jose. The aim of the initiative was to develop and study the implementation of a system of indicators and supports designed to deliver the knowledge and skills students need to be truly ready for college.

These are code words for the dumbed down Common Core Standards and dumbed down Outcome Based Education

“A CRIS, at its most basic, is really a strategy for promoting educational equity.”

If this were truly about equality, the focus would be on academic excellence for ALL students.  Instead the solution is dumbed down standards and outcomes that push workforce skills that further dumb down the classroom. This is sometimes called 21st Century Skills but go back to SCANS.

“It is unusual in that it is not an early warning system, but a proactive approach that gets out ahead of the problem,” said Milbrey McLaughlin, the David Jacks Professor of Education and Public Policy, Emerita at Stanford University and founding director of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities. “A CRIS ensures that meaningful opportunities are available for the long-term success of all students, particularly those who have been traditionally underrepresented in the post-secondary education system.”

So progressive political policies that eroded the culture are now going to be addressed by the progressives who helped to create the problem? And we are supposed to be excited about this?

The CRIS Resource Series is free and available for download by interested educators and administrators via any of the program’s partner websites: annenberginstitute.org, ccsr.uchicago.edu, gardnercenter.stanford.edu, and gatesfoundation.org

A Robust Tool for Districts

“Education leaders are grappling with the fact that students are not college ready when they leave high school,” said Jenny Nagaoka, deputy director of the University of Chicago Consortium for Chicago School Research.

The University of Chicago also produced one of the worst math programs in the country: Everyday Math. Fuzzy or Reform Math has contributed to math illiteracy in this country and now they are charged with fixing the mess they helped to create?

“Although many districts are starting to use indicators, too often they are not linked to practices and policies in ways that would enable action to create meaningful, lasting change. There is a great need for actionable resources that help districts and schools understand the problem and develop strategies that meet their specific needs and context.”

College readiness involves more than college eligibility. The CRIS Resource Series guides districts in selecting indicators that target three dimensions of students’ college readiness:

  • Academic preparedness—students’ academic content knowledge and the key cognitive strategies necessary for college-level work

    This from the same group of people who’ve brought us fuzzy math, whole language, Constructivism and a de-emphasis on rich academic content!

  • Academic tenacity—the underlying beliefs and attitudes that drive student achievement, and 

    Translate: make the kids struggle… ie… get them to hate learning.  We’ve seen it in presentations by administrators who no longer support a teacher directly teaching students but ‘facilitating’ learning with practices that leave children frustrated and lacking academic knowledge.

  • College knowledge—the contextual skills that enable students to successfully navigate the academic and social intricacies of campus life once they arrive.

Actionable Indicators

The CRIS Resource Series can help districts use data more effectively as they adopt the Common Core State Standards – promoted at the federal level and adopted in nearly every state – which emphasize the knowledge and skills young people need to succeed in college. More states are also adopting longitudinal data systems that allow them to offer vision, guidance and support to districts and school networks.

Translate, Bill Gates paid us and we will carry out his agenda which is an agenda from Marc Tucker.  The goal is to turn public ed into workforce development. It’s in his famous letter to Hillary Clinton. That’s why they need the data on your kids. Cradle to Grave workforce training for the Corp. elites and Big. Govt. progressives who think they know what’s best for your kids

The CRIS resource series consists of six tools to guide a district through the implementation of a College Readiness Indicator System. Each tool is customizable to a given district and contains detailed information, questions and considerations. The six tools are:

Beyond College Eligibility: A New Framework for Promoting College Readiness, including a dynamic, web-based representation that complements the Framework.

Menu of College Readiness Indicators and Supports

Selecting Effective Indicators

A Technical Guide to College Readiness Indicator

District Self-Assessment Tool

Essential Elements in Implementation

A Tri-level Approach

A CRIS works at three levels, individual, setting and system:

  • First, for individual students, a CRIS tracks progress with indicators that include courses and credits, study skills, persistence, future expectations and general knowledge of college requirements.
  • Second, at the school level, a CRIS helps teachers encourage students to achieve higher levels of academic performance, to anticipate campus culture and resources, and establish academic rigor.

    Translate: Common Core rigor = kids crying over confusing math that kills their love of learning.

  • Last, at the district level, a CRIS addresses the policy and funding infrastructure to improve counseling, professional development for administrators and teachers, and data generation efforts. The overarching goal is to move the student, school and district toward post-secondary success.

    All aligned to dumbed down Common Core standards and workforce outcomes

“Individual-level indicators are key to identify both students’ progress and the supports they need.  But they do not address the ‘inputs’ for students: school and district policies, culture, and equitable distribution of resources, all of which play a critical role in students getting the right supports,” said Angela Romans, principal associate at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. “An effective CRIS also needs setting- and system-level indicators to drive the policies, practices, and resources that lead to college readiness for all.”

—

For more information about the CRIS initiative and the CRIS Resource Series, please contact Angela Romans at angela_romans@brown.edu or (401) 863-7712.

Is Governor Pence (Indiana) Pulling a “Fast One” on Parents?

We will attempt to keep you as informed as possible on how potential Presidential candidates are doing on the issue of Common Core.  Since we’ve heard Gov. Pence is looking at possibly running for President, this information needs to be shared with everyone in New Hampshire.

The new scheme is to fool parents by drafting NEW standards that look like the old Common Core Standards.  DO NOT be fooled.  This is unethical and will not be tolerated by parents who expect better.

Was Board Member Andrea Neal just a “tool” in Governor Pence’s Common Core re-branding scheme?

 • April 26, 2014 • 0 Comments
A question that continues to be asked throughout Indiana is, at just what point should Hoosier parents have realized that their children are still going to be stuck with Common Core?  When should they have seen the writing on the wall that Governor Pence did not intend to fulfill his promise to deliver “uncommonly high standards” that were written “by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers,” but instead was orchestrating a Common Core rebrand?

Will North Carolina Be The Next State To Reject Common Core?

 

RALEIGH (WTVD) – A legislative committee voted Thursday to recommend to the full North Carolina General Assembly that it do away with Common Core standards for math and English in public schools.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative was put together by educators and state leader across the country in an attempt to bottom line what students should know in Math and English at the end of each grade.

But the idea has proven controversial, with supporters saying national standards make sense, and detractors who say it will lead to a federal takeover of schools.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=9515108