In this presentation from a 2017 conference, JaKell Sullivan talks about comprehensive sexual education and the agenda of the educational power brokers.
In 30 minutes you will learn what is going on in the public schools with Competency Based Ed, Personalized Learning, and how that is used to change values in children. A MUST SEE for all parents:
Tag Archives: CompetencyBasedEducation
EXAMPLE: Manchester’s Dumbed Down 21st Century Skills
Well that didn’t take us long. We posted this a few days ago, exposing the 21st Century Skills Fad now being implemented in the Manchester School District.
Today we received a copy of an assignment given to students in an upper level Junior English class.
Look at the kind of work your child will be doing!! This is now considered 21st Century Skills!!
We warned you that a shift to Outcome Based Learning (now called 21st Century Skills or Competency Based Learning) would dumb down your child’s classroom and here is the proof.
MANCHESTER RESIDENTS: Here is a link to your elected school board members: http://bosc.mansd.org
Send them this post: http://stopcommoncorenh.org/sccnh/2015/09/01/manchester-schools-fall-for-the-21st-century-skills-fad/
and this new post and tell them you expect more for your tax dollars and for your children.
The Problems With Competency Based Ed. in NH Schools
Recently there was a brief discussion on a social media web site by NEW HAMPSHIRE parents and a NEW HAMPSHIRE teacher addressing the problems with Competency Based Ed. (CBE)
CBE has is another part of the Obama redesign in public education. Like the Common Core Standards, CBE is included in the federal reform. (SEE: Strategically use learning time in more meaningful ways, which could include effective application of technology, redesigning school calendars, and competency-based progression.)
We’ve also posted information that CBE is just another rehashing of the failed Outcome Based Education model that’s been tried in other states and proved to be a fad that never improved academic achievement. (SEE links below)
You can also read a detailed summary on how CBE is failing in Maine by one of their state school board members here: http://nhfamiliesforeducation.org/content/maine-state-board-education-member-speaks-out-against-competency-based-education
Or read another post by a Rochester NH School Board member who explains the failures she’s seen in her district with CBE: http://www.girardatlarge.com/2014/01/testimony-rochester-school-board-member-susan-oconnor/
Once again we call attention to the NH Dept. of Ed under Governor Hassan FOLLOWING the Federal reforms rather than LEADING New Hampshire to academic excellence.
Below is a discussion between a couple of parents and a teacher. We’ve elected to remove their last names in order to respect their privacy….
Tanya: If there is one thing in the whole “competency” grading is that from a parents perspective..we see that our child received a “C” for competent..ok great! BUT how “competent” is my child? How many Cs in a particular area means they are fully competent and have basically “mastered” this ? How many NYCs can they get to still be considered “competent” in a particular area? And lets focus on this aspect for a minute…Competent means-”acceptable and satisfactory, though not outstanding” . Yet the goal of this is to have the children become competent..isn’t it??? Now lets look at what “Not Yet Competent” really means (I went with incompetent because the two are one in the same)- “not having or showing the necessary skills to do something successfully. synonyms: inept, unskillful, unskilled, inexpert, amateurish, unprofessional, bungling, blundering, clumsy, inadequate, substandard, inferior, ineffective, deficient, inefficient, ineffectual, wanting, lacking, leaving much to be desired”. This is what kids are being told they are when they are struggling to learn something..they are “inept or deficient”. I am not sure about any of you, but I don’t find this appropriate!! I grew up receiving letter grades and I feel they are much more informative for parents and the children.
Tom: The other thing that I find disturbing about “Competencies” is that the teachers seem to stop at “Competent.” The teachers neither look for not encourage the students to do work above the “Competent” level. My grandkids come home all pleased that they are “Competent” but when asked if there is anything above that grade there is confusion – the only goal is to be “Competent.”
TEACHER: It could be because they run out of time to get them above competent. They reach competent and it’s time to move onto the next competency. There’s never enough time in public education. Even esl kids fresh off the boat are expected to have mastered English after one year even though the research says 7-10 years is needed for academic language alone though the process can be accelerated with sound teaching methods and support. It’s unrealistical. That is, what’s being asked of your children is.
Tom: My grandkids spend most of their school days waiting for the rest of the class to “catch up.” They get the concepts right away, then wait for the rest of the class to also become “Competent.” (This is something that we were assured would NEVER happen under competencies – that advanced learners would be able to move right along once they grasped a concept.) They NEVER have homework because outside assignments are completed in class while waiting for the rest of the class to catch up. Yet, despite their quick understanding of subject matter, they are rarely graded at anything beyond “Competent.”
TEACHER: That’s another problem. Those who are ready to move on have to wait. They should be given enrichment activities to challenge them more. I taught grades 1-2 this past year and balancing it all was a constant struggle. I had two major behavior issues that were violent and 20 kids. So I was either deescalating something, almost getting hit myself or trying to get the ones behind to catch up. I agree with you. Their homework should be just that. It’s a failing system which is why I am going to start at a boarding school because I’ve had enough.
The failed Outcome Based Model is again, holding kids back who could be advancing and creating more problems in the classroom. This model is a dumbed down workforce training model that parents had to deal with in the 90′s and fought against: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2001/04/the-new-definition-of-standards-in-american-education
Education reform is about rehashing failed fads and renaming them so parents will not know what they are doing to their children.
DEMAND BETTER. Contact your legislators and tell them NO MORE EXPERIMENTING ON MY KIDS!
More on the failures of Competency Based ed:
http://stopcommoncorenh.org/sccnh/2015/05/23/from-literacy-to-indoctrination-in-the-nh-schools-competency-based-ed/
http://stopcommoncorenh.org/sccnh/2015/04/27/nh-moves-closer-to-full-implementation-of-the-failed-outcome-based-ed-model/
From Literacy to Indoctrination in the NH Schools: Competency Based Ed
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.
School Board Member in NH Speaks Out
We continue to hear from the NH Board Of Ed that all is well in New Hampshire. Things are going great. We wonder how an Education Board could be SO out of touch with what is going on in our schools.
With permission to post…..
Dear Senators’ Reagan, Stiles, Avard, Kelly and Watters,
My name is Sue O’Connor, I live in Rochester and have served on the Rochester School Board for 2 terms. I am not speaking for the board itself, but what I have experienced during my tenure. Aside from the calls I receive by those who elected me, I have first hand knowledge of how poorly written and convoluted the curriculum associated with CCSS truly are. I have grandchildren in K, 3rd, 5th and 7th grades. The fact is CCSS was pushed on the state and then the districts with the usual carrot and stick. The problem with this, like most things in the educational community the standards, which require a curriculum were produced in great haste. This is seen in the daily illogical assignments children throughout this country and state have to struggle through. I urge all of you to research the development of CCSS yourselves. Do your own leg work and do not rely on the hearsay of others.
To date, Common Core is destroying the education system of the United States. Basic knowledge of this great country is slowly being eliminated. As time goes on our children and grandchildren will not know or understand how this great country came about. Immigrants taking citizenship exams know more about this country than what is now being taught in our schools, how sad is that? When I was growing up math was math. The idea that we now have “new math,” “reform math” or even “fuzzy math” teaching our children abstract thinking in the elementary schools is ludicrous. Children need to have the basics explained to them and very rudimentary methods in order to build “higher order thinking”. Why are private citizens the likes of Bill Gates, actually having a say in our education system? Why is the Federal Government attempting to take away local control of our schools? If you cannot answer these questions, as an elected official, then shame on all of you.
Rochester is in the midst of Competency Based Education, which is formerly known as Outcome Based Education. This was a failure and removed from schools decades ago. How quickly we forget the lost generation from that fiasco, now there will be yet another lost generation. It is important to understand that Competency Based Education and CCSS are all tied together with obtaining a waiver for NCLB. It is also mandatory if a district is attempting to obtain a waiver from Smarter Balanced Assessment.
As a community, we were not ready whatsoever to have this thrust upon our teachers or our students. As a board member and taxpayer, the community was lied to with regard to competencies. I have been made aware that teachers who questioned the competencies and did not let the issues drop were removed from the development committee. Is this not why we have teachers on a committee, for their opinion?
Our children who excel are now bored, unmotivated, and suffer from mediocrity. There is absolutely no “rigor” to the competencies and I have seen the work from 3rd, 5th, and 7th grades and, in my opinion, it is substandard. There is less work performed now than previously. No homework, children can redo work and assessments again and again and again. This is a practice in the middle and high school. Adults know that they cannot make the same mistakes again and again and again and expect to have a job. Why teach our children that way?
A lack of responsibility has reared its ugly head on the part of some teachers, administrators, and students. An example of what is being taught in our schools in 6th grade ELA: For a 6th grade class’s first book report one must COLOR four pictures and label the pictures. For the record this is how book reports are still being done in the 7th grade. This may be rigorous for the students who struggle, but insulting to those who do not. Those who are pushing Competency Based Education do not tell parents that “success” for all children means “success” in demonstrating only the dumbed-down outcomes that the slowest learners in the class can attain. Competency Based Education means “success” in mediocrity rather than excellence, as a true competency is precise and complex and needs to constantly be reviewed and updated. There is no funding for special programs for our gifted children.
Competency Based Education is based on the fact that the student has “mastered” the material. Most research/opinion papers/point papers are based on the fact that Competency Based Education had been implemented in the post-secondary education setting, with a major influence in the health science field, as competency based education takes into account life skills the learner needs and the demands of the workplace. Given the age of the students who will be subjected to Competency Based/Outcome Based Education, if they have not “mastered” the material in the elementary grades what “life skills” will they be bringing to their future employer?
In elementary grades, Competency Based Education does not teach children essential reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, but pretends to teach them “higher order thinking skills” instead. Competency Based Education ignores the obvious fact that one cannot engage in higher order thinking until one has some facts to think about.
All of you should be asking, “Where is the replicable research or studies that show that this works?”
I have advised many families to either home school or remove their children from the topics they find offensive and to opt out of testing. I do this because the child is the most important part of the equation that politicians seem to forget about. It is our children’s education that politicians are spinning the roulette wheel on and it is our children who are losing. I am asking you to please support SB101.
Sue O’Connor
47 Walnut Street
Rochester, NH 03867