Tag Archives: TerryWolf

The failures in Kentucky coming to New Hampshire next?

Warning to Representative Mary Gile (D) and the other Reps who think following Marc Tucker (the Common Core GURU) is a good idea. Take a look at what’s happening in Kentucky.

Representatives Mary Gile (D), Rick Ladd (R) and Terry Wolf (R) invited legislators to come and listen to Marc Tucker explain his vision for redesigning public education in New Hampshire. For some strange reason, a man with no track record of success appoints himself as an expert on education reform, and our representatives think he deserves a platform.

If they have no confidence in Commissioner Barry and Governor Hassan, then maybe they should take their complaints directly to them.

We’ve been following Kentucky for many years in order to report on their successes and failures. Being one of the earliest states to implement the Common Core reforms, Kentucky has one of the longest records to analyze. AS we predicted, the outcomes are not good.

Early results of Common Core in Kentucky show little success. Who has been cashing in on this reform in Kentucky? National Center on Education and the Economy. (NCEE) Marc Tucker’s consulting group.

Let’s not forget that consultants (or snake oil salesmen) have been in a position to cash in on education reforms. Think of the slick and sleazy used car salesman who shows you that shiny red car but never opens the hood so you could see the old and trashed engine.

These guys make a killing off of the taxpayers. Taxpayers would be wise to start combing through their school’s budget to see what they are paying consultants and ask why you are also paying six figure salaries to administrators.

NCEE has been cashing in the Common Core reforms. Marc Tucker was part of the Common Core development team along with test makers, all of whom would cash in on the latest education reform.

This has been a cash cow to the testing, technology and consulting industry. Crony capitalism would be an understatement.

Now let’s look at the results.

In Something Rotten to the Core they report, “If there is any place where Common Core should be soaring it is Kentucky, which has had more time to implement and adapt to the standards than any other state. But a batch of results released earlier this year indicates that students are not doing better in most grades — and in some cases even worse.”

While Marc Tucker makes a killing off of taxpayers, we have to suffer with the dumbed down Common Core standards and dumbed down Competency Based Model. This is all done for greed and profit. This reform has benefited corporate elites who have used their political influence like an oligarchy.

Is Marc Tucker’s DISASTER coming to New Hampshire Next

Is Marc Tucker’s DISASTER in KY coming to NH next?

Marc Tucker, who will be speaking tomorrow to New Hampshire legislators, can now take credit for the disastrous results he helped to bring about in Kentucky.

The National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE), headed up by Marc Tucker, has been consulting with the Kentucky Department of Education. Tucker is one of the Chief architects of the Common Core federal reform.

Remember when we warned that Common Core = NO VENDOR LEFT BEHIND? Well Tucker’s group is certainly cashing in now.

Here is a list of the NCEE funders: http://thefederalist.com/2015/11/09/college-professors-begin-revolt-against-common-core/ Included in that list are the typical ed reformers who’ve been involved in the dumbing down of public education in America, including Nellie Mae and The Gates Foundation. They are now out to take this national.
Maybe taxpayers should check to see how much your state department of education costs taxpayers and ask yourself, why do you need to hire consultants on top of that?

According to NCEE, “In 2014, the Commonwealth of Kentucky asked NCEE to help them engage in a process that could lead the state to create policies designed to enable Kentucky to match the performance of the top-performing nations in education.” Kentucky was implementing the federal education reforms but also asked the NCEE to further consult on the implementation process.

We also reported how Commissioner Barry was misleading parents on Kentucky’s achievement levels reported by the NH Dept. of Education. While the NH Dept. of Ed is reporting glowing reports on test scores in Kentucky, Kentucky’s Bluegrass Institute says, ” ….the college/career ready numbers are tied to those graduation rate figures, it turns out that a gruesomely large proportion of our students are leaving high school with only a hollow piece of paper. Thousands being declared ready are not really getting the educations they need.”

BOWLING GREEN DAILY NEWS reported, “findings from two groups suggest the Kentucky Department of Education’s standards for preparing students for college and adult life are lacking and that the department’s statistics are misleading.”

We’re not sure what to believe but until we get the truth, do we really want to go down the same path as Kentucky? Given the latest election results in Kentucky where parents overwhelmingly supported the anti-Common Core newly elected Governor, we tend to believe parents weren’t all that happy with what unfolded over the last few years.

Now Tucker wants to do to New Hampshire what he’s doing to Kentucky. You can log into this archived audio (just type in any name) webinar and listen to the NCEE mislead the listeners about the findings in Kentucky. You should also note that one of Tucker’s biggest fans, Representative Mary Gile (D) is one of the participants.

During the webinar they detail their consulting work the NCEE did in Kentucky. They also talk about how NCEE plans on doing consulting work for other Departments of Education. In other words, not only do you give up local and state control in education, you give it up to the NCEE who receives their funding from the Federal partners in the Common Core reform.

Do you still wonder why Common Core has been dubbed, a federal take over in education?
One needs to ask Representatives Gile (D), Wolf (R) and Ladd (R) when they decided it was a good idea to abandon local control in education? These are the three representatives who are now pushing the Tucker agenda in New Hampshire.
ladd.nhhouse@charter.net
Mary.Gile@leg.state.nh.us
terry.wolf@leg.state.nh.us

Around 22 minutes they discuss waivers to state laws through the State Department of Education. In other words, if the state passes a law, the State DoE can essentially ignore the will of the people. It’s just another way to erode local control in education.

NCEE never tells the listeners about what the Bluegrass Institute reported in Kentucky. No wonder the NH Representatives are falling for all of this. They do not take the time to look past the sales pitch from the NCEE.

Here are a few articles archived at the Bluegrass Institute with some critical review of the achievement that has been reported. They have called attention to the misleading information that’s being promoted by organizations like NCEE.

Lack of improvement in Jefferson County’s NAEP Grade 8 achievement gaps no surprise
EXCERPT:
Within the measurement errors associated with the NAEP, which only examines a sample of students, there has been no discernable improvement in recent years in the achievement gaps for Jefferson County in the eighth grade in either math or reading.

Does NAEP really show much improvement in achievement gaps in Louisville?
No matter how we consider the Grade 8 NAEP Reading situation in Jefferson County, there has been no discernable improvement.

NAEP shows achievement gaps not improving in Kentucky
The new math and reading results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) have unhappy news for Kentucky’s predominant racial minority.

First Observations for Kentucky’s 2015 NAEP data
Overall conclusions:
• The NAEP “All Student” Scale Scores indicate there has been no statistically significant improvement in Kentucky’s performance in either reading or math in either the fourth or the eighth grade since the year before Kentucky adopted the Common Core State Standards.
• If Common Core had impacts in Kentucky, they are too small for the NAEP to confidently detect them.
• Given that Kentucky has more experience with Common Core than any other state – including more years of state Common Core testing, which started back in the 2011-12 school year – the state’s flat performance in “All Student” scores is of concern well beyond the Bluegrass State’s borders.

After you work your way through the NCEE’s propaganda, you begin to realize that one must look beyond their “findings” to notice that things don’t appear as the NCEE would like you to believe.

Finally, even the Kentucky college professors are now crying foul. College Professors Begin Revolt Against Common Core , reports that the the plan to change the remedial college classes, was dramatically changed.
“CPE president Robert King explained to the Kentucky Board of Education during its October 6 meeting, students who formerly would have gone through remediation are now to be thrown into credit-bearing courses. But since such students obviously won’t be ready for real college work, the courses will be designated “co-requisite”—meaning lagging students will receive extra help of some sort so they can catch up.”

At what point will Tucker admit that his workforce development model, dubbed Common Core, is not only unraveling, but is harming students too? Why would New Hampshire want to follow Kentucky? Why again wouldn’t we look at states like Massachusetts to see what they did to bring their students the level of success they achieved prior to Common Core?

At 32:00 Representative Gile asks about all of the districts getting on board with the NCEE take-over. If you continue to listen, Rep. Gile even praises all of this. Note that none of this comes from the local districts or even the state.

At 40:00 Representative Gile references the improving test scores in Kentucky. Did she think to actually look at the critical analysis on those scores by the Bluegrass Institute?

She then goes on to ask about the public participation. We believe that was answered a few nights ago when the people of Kentucky elected an ANTI-COMMON CORE GOVERNOR. Will Rep. Gile listen to the good people of Ky or ignore them as she has ignored the parents in New Hampshire?

We have to admit, they did provide an interesting answer to her question. They simply haven’t engaged them yet. Why engage or reach out to parents in Kentucky who clearly reject Common Core? This is what the NCEE wants to shove down their throats! Instead they reference a “non-partisan” organization Prichard Committee will be the “voice.”

Where have we seen this before? Reaching Higher NH for instance? The front group for Common Core? The newly established organization to push the federal reforms?

At 50:00 Representative Gile asks about how to get NCEE into the state as consultants. Let’s make sure Rep. Gile (D), Ladd (R) and Wolf (R) know that we want NO part of the NCEE or Marc Tucker running our schools and further eroding local control in Education.

It’s bad enough they refuse to offer a critical analysis of what Tucker is selling at tomorrows meeting, it’s worse that this is may translate into Tucker further facilitating the federal reforms using our tax dollars.

NCEE

Hate Common Core? NH has a chance to tell the Chief Architect

We are wondering why two Republicans on the House Education Committee, Rep. Rick Ladd and Terry Wolf, are joining Democrat Rep. Mary Gile, to bring one of the chief architects of Common Core to New Hampshire WITHOUT any critics to counter his propaganda?

If the two Republican Representatives have joined forces with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on this important issue, maybe it’s time for them to share that information with the rest of us!

We HIGHLY ENCOURAGE ALL PARENTS, TEACHERS, and ANYONE else concerned about the erosion of local control and the problems with “Common Core,” to ATTEND THIS MEETING.

The House Education Committee invites colleagues in the House and Senate to a day of continuing education entitled “Education Through an International Lens,” to be held Tuesday, November 10th at 9:00 a.m. in LOB rooms 210-211. Speakers will include Dr. Julie Bell, Education Program Director for the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL), and Mr. Marc Tucker, President and CEO of the National Center for Education and the Economy. Dr. Bell will offer a brief introduction to NCSL and their rationale for a major study on international education. Mr. Tucker will provide an overview of how other industrialized countries compare to the U.S. on various indicators of student achievement, including educational standards, assessments and accountability, time and learning, funding and equity and teaching policy. A panel representing N.H. educators and businesses will follow.
HOSTED BY Reps. Rick Ladd, Mary Stuart Gile, and Terry Wolf

WE ALSO ENCOURAGE YOU TO READ the following articles about Marc Tucker to familiarize his positions on education reform. For instance, his support for ELIMINATING local control in education. Something New Hampshire prides itself on. (Dr. Sandra Stocky replies to Marc Tucker’s last visit to NH: Liar Liar Pants on Fire)

PARENTS need to write the three legislators and ask them WHY they would not invite Dr. Stotsky to this presentation given her close proximity to New Hampshire. Dr. Stotsky who is a resident of Massachusetts has visited New Hampshire many times to offer an expert analysis on the problems with the Common Core standards. Or Dr. Duke Pesta who has also traveled to New Hampshire on many occasions to bring parents critical information on Common Core.

Why would they not want to offer the audience critical information on this education reform? What are they hiding and why are they attempting to keep our elected representatives IN THE DARK on this issue?

ladd.nhhouse@charter.net
Mary.Gile@leg.state.nh.us
terry.wolf@leg.state.nh.us

ALSO send an e-mail to the State Representatives and Senators and let them know they represent YOU. It’s WRONG to ask YOUR elected representatives to attend a propaganda session with NO balance on this important issue. HouseEducationCommittee@leg.state.nh.us, Senators@leg.state.nh.us

URGENT MEETING: Parental Rights on Surveys

If you recall, there was an effort to help pass important legislation last session that would have required PARENTAL WRITTEN PERMISSION before the school could SURVEY your children.

Rep. Terry Wolf worked hard to remove “written permission” from the original bill. She along with the survey company representative succeed and the original bill was watered down.

In the new bill that was passed, they are now going to set up a “Study Committee”. It’s important to again, attend the meeting where select legislators will meet to discuss whether this is important or not.

AS it stands, parents do have the right to “opt out” their children on these invasive surveys, however we know that often times, parents are not aware that they are being given and they have no idea the kinds of questions being asked of their children.

There was OVERWHELMING support for the original bill but Rep.Wolf who said this was a “local” decision in her testimony (what’s MORE local than parental permission?) and the survey representative said if parents were required to give written permission, they would not get the large number of completed surveys.

We heard testimony from one school board member who said a teacher in NH made the students stand up in her class to answer questions. This meant all of the students and teacher saw exactly how the students answered these personal and invasive questions.

Some surveys we’ve seen include questions on whether there is a gun in the home, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, drug abuse, alcohol abuse and so on. (see link below)

It’s important to keep the pressure on our legislators to require an OPT in provision on these surveys. This is a parental rights issue.

DATE: September 2
Time: 11:00 am
WHERE: Legislative office building behind the State House room 102

If you CANNOT make it to the meeting, it’s important to make sure these legislators know that we expect them to support parental rights.

If you know these legislators or live in their district, give them a call or e-mail them
Thank you

Rep. John Balcom: john.balcom@leg.state.nh.us
Rep. Terry Wolf: terry.wolf@leg.state.nh.us
Senator Kevin Avard: Kevin.Avard@leg.state.nh.us
Rep. Barbara Shaw: beshaw3@comcast.net
Rep. Rick Ladd: ladd.nhhouse@charter.net
Rep. Ken Weyler: kweyler@aol.com
Rep. Mary Gile: Mary.Gile@leg.state.nh.us

For more info:
Rep. Terry Wolf Working To Deny Parental Rights in NH
What Are They Asking My Children
NH Gun Owners Beware

Representative Terry Wolf (R-Bedford) Working To Deny Parental Rights in NH

Even in the extremely liberal state of Massachusetts, parents are lining up to demand “written consent” on surveys given to their children in school.

Whether it be on gun ownership, sexuality, drugs or alcohol, parents are fed up with schools gathering information on their children.

Fox News in Boston recently covered a hearing where Mass. parents demanded written consent from parents when their children are given surveys and questionnaires. One parent said of the students subjected to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, “they need counseling after being subjected by this questionnaire.”

Another parent said this during her testimony, “I was sick to my stomach. I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked.”

So why is it so hard to get similar legislation passed in New Hampshire?
Representative Terry Wolf (R) of Bedford testified in opposition of HB206 and then added an amendment that removed written consent when schools administer surveys or questionnaires.

A representative from a survey company also testified against HB206 claiming that they’d get less participation in the surveys if parents actually saw the questions that were being asked.

A LARGE number of parents came out to testify in support of HB206 but again, we see legislators more concerned about pleasing a few people than parents in New Hampshire.

One parent in NH testified that a teacher required students stand up to move forwards or backwards when answering embarrassing questions. This gave all of the people in the room a clear picture on how the student answered the question.

Rep. Wolf testified that this is a local control issue and the State shouldn’t pass HB206. What is MORE local than the parents? As Chair of the Bedford School Board she also worked to deny parents “written consent” in Bedford. Now Rep. Wolf wants to make sure that all parents in New Hampshire do not have that opportunity in the name of “local control.” Does that even make sense?

HB206 has been watered down thanks to the efforts of a few people. The Senate votes on HB206 next week and will most likely follow the House version that was amended by Rep. Wolf and removes written consent from parents.

At the hearing in Massachusetts, newly elected State Rep. Rady Mom (D-Lowell), an immigrant from Cambodia who had been sent to a Khmer Rouge camp with his family as a young boy, was particularly shocked at the testimony, and said to one of the mothers after she spoke:

I’m just thinking of the questions being asked and I’m saying to myself, wow, this is what they did at a communist country where I just came from. This is amazing. This is what they’re trying to accomplish at our schools? I will look into it more. Thanks for coming.

At what point will the voices of parents be the strongest voice in public education? When the focus is on doing what’s best for the “State” versus what’s best for the children and parents in our local schools, we all lose in New Hampshire.

HB206 as originally filed with written consent
The Wolf Amendment to remove written consent from parents

NH Gun Owners BEWARE

Surveys given to students have caused quite an uproar in New Hampshire. Children have been questioned about their sexuality, drug and alcohol use, their families and all kinds of personal information. HB206 attempted to put in some parental control when schools survey your children.

We reported in earlier posts that HB206 required written consent from parents before schools could survey your children. This would allow for parents to look at the survey and make sure they were ok with the questions that were being asked.

Rep. Terry Wolf (R) from Bedford worked to remove written consent from parents when HB206 came to the House Education Committee. Wolf along with the survey company representative didn’t think requiring written consent from parents was necessary.

The company representative testified that if parents actually read the survey, less would participate.

Parents then took their anger to the Senate Education Committee where they demanded that written consent be added back to HB206.

Unfortunately their concerns fell on deaf ears and the Senate Ed Committee voted to amend HB206 to a study Committee. That’s where Bills go to DIE.

Local control means supporting parental rights. HB206 supported transparency so that parents would be informed on what information was going to be collected on their children.

We call upon the GUN OWNERS in New Hampshire to write or call their NH Senator and request that HB206 be passed as originally submitted. That means requiring written consent from parents before a school can survey their children.

Vote NO on the STUDY COMMITTEE and YES on HB206 WITH WRITTEN CONSENT FROM PARENTS.

If you think this is unnecessary, we ask you to take a look at this article where students were asked about whether their families owned guns.

Excerpt:
“Here’s some of the perspective from parents and students regarding the survey:

April Heath used Facebook as her sounding board after she says her daughter was given the questionnaire at school. In her post, she says her daughter was asked her if her parents owned guns; it also asked for the student’s opinion on the legalization of marijuana, abortion and what her religion is.”

It is unacceptable for schools to be collecting this information on your children without your knowledge OR written consent.

Contact the NH Senators TODAY and tell them:
1) Vote YES on HB206 (THE ORIGINAL VERSION) with PARENTAL CONSENT
2) Vote AGAINST the HB206 Amendment to send it to a study committee and the Wolf Amendment to remove parental consent.

You can also use this e-mail address and your e-mail will be sent to ALL of the NH Senators: Senators@leg.state.nh.us

Or you can contact them individually:

Jeff Woodburn (d)
(603) 271-3207
Jeff.Woodburn@leg.state.nh.us

Jeanie Forrester (r)
(603) 271-4980
jeanie.forrester@leg.state.nh.us

Jeb Bradley (r)
(603) 271-2106
jeb.bradley@leg.state.nh.us

David Watters (d)
(603) 271-8631
david.watters@leg.state.nh.us

David Pierce (d)
(603) 271-3067
david.pierce@leg.state.nh.us

Sam Cataldo (r)
(603) 271-4063
sam.cataldo@leg.state.nh.us

Andrew Hosmer (d)
(603) 271-8631
andrew.hosmer@leg.state.nh.us

Gerald Little (r)
(603) 271-4151
Jerry.Little@leg.state.nh.us

Andy Sanborn (r)
(603) 271-2609
andy.sanborn@leg.state.nh.us

Molly Kelly (d)
(603) 271-3207
molly.kelly@leg.state.nh.us

Gary Daniels (r)
(603) 271-2609
Gary.Daniels@leg.state.nh.us

Kevin Avard (r)
(603) 271-4151
Kevin.Avard@.leg.state.nh.us

Bette Lasky (d)
(603) 271-3091
bette.lasky@leg.state.nh.us

Sharon Carson (r)
(603) 271-1403
sharon.carson@leg.state.nh.us

Dan Feltes (d)
(603) 271-3067
Dan.Feltes@leg.state.nh.us

David Boutin (r)
(603) 271-3092
dboutin1465@comcast.net

John Reagan (r)
(603) 271-4063
john.reagan111@gmail.com

Donna Soucy (d)
(603) 271-3207
donna.soucy@leg.state.nh.us

Regina Birdsell (r)
(603) 271-4151
Regina.Birdsell@.leg.state.nh.us

Lou D’Allesandro (d)
(603) 271-2117
dalas@leg.state.nh.us

Martha Fuller Clark (d)
(603) 271-3076
martha.fullerclark@leg.state.nh.us

Chuck Morse (r)
(603) 271-8472
chuck.morse@leg.state.nh.us

Russell Prescott (r)
(603) 271-3074
represcott@represcott.com

Nancy Stiles (r)
(603) 271-3093
nancy.stiles@leg.state.nh.us

NH Democrat Representative Disparages Parents Who Contacted Him With Their Opinions On Common Core

This video is going viral and it SHOULD. It’s bad enough that parents are frustrated by the Common Core aligned curriculum that is destroying any chance at their child’s future in a math field. But now we have a New Hampshire State Representative bothered by parents who contact him and exercise their voice in this democratic process.

SB101 passed the New Hampshire Senate and was recently brought before the New Hampshire House Education Committee. Parents from around the Granite State mobilized by e-mailing the Committee members and testifying in support at the hearing.

There was overwhelming support by parents in favor of SB101 which would prohibit the state from requiring implementation of common core standards. Why? Because parents are fed up with these new academic standards in math and English.

This petition already has almost 1500 signatures calling for the end to Common Core in NH.

Where are all of those parents who want Common Core? No where to be found.

Parents are trying to work for better standards in their local schools only to be told they have no choice but to use them because they are mandated by the state. Parents are then told by the NH DoE that Common Core Standards are “voluntary.”

SB101 clarifies; “This bill prohibits the department of education and the state board of education from implementing the common core standards in any school or school district in this state.”

Schools are still free to use Common Core, however schools can adopt better quality standards instead.

This is available right now which is why Wakefield’s School Board rejected the problematic Common Core standards in favor of the higher and better OLD Massachusetts standards.

By placing this language into statute, there is no confusion and adds clarity to this mess we have in NH.

Today the House Education Committee debated and discussed SB101. During this discussion, Representative Mel Myler from Merrimack District 12 made some shocking comments regarding the parents who contacted him asking for his support.

We remind you of the smiliar comments made by Commissioner Barry about a year ago when HB1508 was brought before the House Education Committee. New Hampshire Commissioner Barry described parents as, “SMALL, LOUD and CONFUSED.”

We can also look at past comments from the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan who also patronized moms who opposed Common Core as, “….white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were…”

We’ve got news for the elitists who think they know better than parents, we do know what we are talking about and we still don’t like Common Core.

Rep. Myler’s comments have gone viral now and only add to the problem we are seeing from this top-down approach to education reform. Those who continue to force this on schools marginalize parents who now have to deal with this mess at their kitchen table.

We encourage all New Hampshire residents to call Rep. Myler or send him a respectful e-mail letting him know what you think of his remarks.
Home Address:
PO Box 82
Contoocook, NH 03229-0082
Phone: (603)746-5294
Email: Mel.Myler@leg.state.nh.us

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NsWk8GkkXY

The good news is, SB101 did PASS the House Education Committee. The majority HEARD what the parents said and voted YEA. See the photo below to see how the committee members voted.

SB101CommitteeVOTE