Common Core 2

‘Doing’ Common Core Social Studies: Promoting radical activism under the Obama Department of Education

Most of the sessions involved sharing strategies for formally adhering to standards, while covertly turning students into activists for radical causes. Among these were repeal of immigration laws, statehood for Washington, D.C., and acceptance of Islam as superior to Christianity. Instead of being given a knowledge base in history, civics, and geography, students were emotionally manipulated into being advocates, attending protests, and lobbying legislators.

Common Core and Communism

Wyoming has become the first State to block a new set of national science standards that address climate change. In Michigan last year a group of protesters stopped the State from adopting the science standards.

I dont know enough at this point to know if there really is a problem, and if so what the cause is.

I know the it cuts parents out of their kids life if they do not understand the ridiculous math. Homework is vital function between parents and children. Besides that, the revisionist history and view of the world are progressive indoctrination. Look around you will find plenty.

CopmmonCore

You are a real genius.

Thank you. I appreciate that. For the first time I can remember, you've said something true. I'm sure you won't make that a habit.

Ever wonder why so many ‘teachers of the year’ support the Common Core initiative? Here’s why

The Teachers of the Year are supposed to be non-partisan because they supposedly advocate for all teachers and the entire teaching profession, both within their states and nationally. Many everyday teachers do not support the Common Core, yet the Teachers of the Year never offer a voice to those who oppose the Common Core machine. In fact on the Arizona Teacher of the Year (AEF) Facebook page there were multiple postings congratulating “Teachers of the Years, both past and present” for their role in defeating a bill which would have ended the Common Core here in Arizona. How non-partisan of them.

50 percent of professors describe themselves as being "left or liberal." That puts the professoriate considerably to the left of the country as a whole; Gross estimates that professors are "about three times more liberal on average" than American adults.
However, just 8 to 9 percent of college faculty can be accurately described as "far left" or "radical"—and the percentage is even smaller among younger faculty. "The professorate is obviously not bursting at the seams with revolutionaries," writes Gross.
19 percent of professors could be called "moderates."
On the right, Gross estimates that economic conservatives comprise just 4 percent of academia, and that 23 percent of academics are social and pro-military conservatives. In general, conservatives "tend to cluster in fields like accounting, management information, marketing, and electrical engineering" and economics.
Professors are also less religious than average Americans—but this, too, shouldn't be overblown. Research by Gross has shown that just over half believe in God.
So, academia is indeed more liberal than America, just as other professions, such as the clergy and the military, are dens of conservatism. But where conservatives get it wrong, Gross says, is in their simplistic assertions that academia's leftward lean is a result of bias or discrimination. Rather, he argues, academia is liberal because... it has been attacked for being liberal. Gross's analysis concludes that the ivory tower's well-known political reputation has encouraged a kind of self-selection effect, where conservatives gravitate away from it, and liberals towards it.

And the first time you have posted without a misspelling or some other stupid mistake. I am sure you won't make a habit of it

I know the it cuts parents out of their kids life if they do not understand the ridiculous math

1. The CC standards initiative is a brainchild of and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, currently to the tune of $250M. The standards concern themselves mainly with literacy and STEM education.

2. CC purports to be the nation’s first “college readiness standards”, prescribing the specifications for curricula that will prepare our kids for a college education which will serve them in tomorrow’s technology driven workforce.

3. CC is not a coherent state led initiative, but it is actually promoted and ‘supported’ by the federal government through a program of grants to qualifying states.

4. CC was put together within a short (six month?) time window by a committee of 17? – almost entirely from the ‘testing industry’ - under the aegis of the Gates Foundation without debate and/or consultation with parents, teachers, educators, school boards, industry, … . Since the GF is private, there is no requirement for it to report on the deliberations that led to the issued standards.

5. CC was ‘validated’ in an equally short time frame that omitted the usual multi-year period of testing and evaluation that previously adopted educational standards have enjoyed.

6. The two accredited experts on the CC Validation Committee – Drs Stotsky (lexicographic literacy) and Stanford’s James Milgram (math) – refused to validate the standards and resigned from the 29-member committee. They wrote about their concerns in ‘Lowering the Bar: How Common Core Math Fails to Prepare High School Students for STEM’.

7. Opposition to CC is now non-partisan and growing, even among the 45 states that initially adopted it.

8. There exist no coherent CC testing procedures or test standards for CC curricula. The recommended testing approaches are designed for computer delivery and grading. The tests will be ‘dynamic’ in that successive questions will be delivered on the basis of the student’s answer on the current and previous questions. This makes rating, ranking, and other forms of comparing students’ accomplishments difficult to impossible. However, it does support achieving higher aggregate test scores.

9. Fed funding will initially come through the residual No Child Left Behind appropriation which only requires high test scores in the states’ adopted testing programs (here, of course, CC).

10. Parents have the right to opt their kids out of having to take CC assessment tests, although they must still participate in the CC curricula offered by the various school districts that are teaching to the standards.

Public school teacher blasts Common Core: “Today was the first day I was ever ashamed to be a teacher”

Ralph Ratto, an elementary school teacher from Long Island, New York, and president of his local teacher’s union, writes in this post that he was ashamed of his role in administering the tests last week.

Today was the first day I was ever ashamed to be a teacher.

Today I finished administering the sixth day of New York State Common Core assessments. I was a facilitator in a process that made my 10-year-old students struggle ,to the point of frustration, to complete yet another 90-minute test. I sat by as I watched my students attempt to answer questions today that were beyond their abilities. I knew the test booklets I put in front of them contained questions that were written in a way that 95 percent of them had no chance of solving. I even tried to give my students a pep talk, in hopes of alleviating their angst, when I knew damn well they didn’t stand a chance. Today I was part of the problem.

As I watched my students, I was angry that my efforts to stop this madness were not successful. I was angry at my students’ parents for not opting out their children. I was angry at my administrators for not stepping up to the plate and attempting to end this madness. I was angry at Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Education Commissioner King, the N.Y. Board of Regents, my state senator, my state assemblyman, President Obama, and even my state union. I was angry that my students were victims in the abusive game to drive a political agenda.

I lost it today. I lost a little bit of my self-esteem. I lost my faith in my party. I lost my faith in my ability to protect my students. I lost my faith in our future.

I watched my students valiantly attempt math questions that most adults could not answer. These questions were wordy, and purposely confusing in a warped way to prove some point about our public education system.

Historically, my students excel on standardized tests, often finishing near the top of our district and state. Today I witnessed –, no I was part of!! – a situation in which students were forced to endure what amounted to what I would call an abusive situation.

Today I am ashamed. I am ashamed I didn’t do enough to stop this madness.

But I am not done. I am pledging to double my efforts to stop this form of institutional abuse. If my state senator and assemblyman do not work to end this madness, I will work to have them replaced. I will work to expose the governor’s education agenda. I will work to have King replaced.

Today is a dark day…but not for long.