The US Department of Education supplies ~10% of the State/Local revenue. For that 10% they impose all sorts of rules and requirements. States and districts have gotten so desperate for money over time they fear doing anything that will staunch that flow of money. The ESSA (which replaced the No Child Left Behind failure) is the latest carrot. Common Core and associated testing must be used under threat of loss of funds. These programs started under Lyndon Johnson in the mid 1960's so we are nearly 60 years later...which should be enough time to figure out the value...right? So does any of this Federal money and intervention do any good? Answer: NO! Test scores in math and … [Read more...]
Washington State Superintendent Candidate Positions Comparisons
The ballots are showing up in the mail and people are starting to vote. For those who consider education one of the cornerstones of our future in Washington State you have a choice to make. Two candidates who differ in various ways. Based on their responses to questions we bring you a list of nine (9) questions with the side-by-side responses to each in the candidates own words. No summary from us...just their words. If you don't want to scroll through the page here is the document as a pdf: ospi-candidate-position-summary-comparison-2016 We've set up tables for each of the questions with columns for each candidate. If the finance side of the equation is important to you then here are … [Read more...]
Feds Choosing Each Student’s Vocation?
From Educationviews.org - author is Donna Garner On last night’s podcast of Women on the Wall, Alice Linahan and guests discussed two new Congressional bills that if passed would allow the federal government to control completely the vocational choices and the career/tech training of all students in America – public, private, charter, homeschools. Students would be “forced” into certain vocations chosen by the federal government – not based upon the student’s own talents and desires and not based upon parental guidance. Students’ vocations would be decided based upon the economy and the commerce in each regional area. Federally controlled certifications and federal … [Read more...]
Will Public Education Survive the Next Administration?
From an article at Save Maine Schools - author is Emily Talmage Donald Trump has called Common Core a “disaster.” The leaked DNC emails refer to the standards as a “political third rail.” At this point, however, the controversial standards may be more of a red herring than anything else. While the public remains largely in the dark, a massive upheaval of our public school system is well underway, and recent proposals from both major political parties indicate that the transformation will move full speed ahead regardless of who is elected president this fall. The new system is designed to expand the education market by allowing out-of-district providers – including online … [Read more...]
ESSA – Stop John King’s Test and Punish Regulations
From The Network for Public Education - by Carol Burris Editorial Comment - John King replaced Arnie Duncan and was appointed by Barack Obama in early 2016. Mr. King is a strong proponent of the ESSA (which replaced NCLB - No Child Left Behind). Mr. King claims the ESSA will give more local control to States and districts. He touts the abilities of parents to Opt-Out of the PARCC/SBAC high stakes testing. He claims a lighter hand. Now, read the article below and judge for yourself and then ACT. We urge you to take a stand against the proposed regulations drafted by U.S. Secretary of Education John King for implementing the accountability provisions of the Every Student Succeeds … [Read more...]
Legislators Send Letter to US Secretary of Ed John King about ESSA Mandated Testing
From Deutsch29 ..... On April 04, 2016, nineteen legislators sent a letter regarding the USDOE’s expressed intent to enforce the federal 95 percent testing mandate to US Secretary of Education John King. (See letter below). Regarding the language in the newly reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) version, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the legislators have some info correct and some incorrect as concerns exactly what ESSA states regarding the 95 percent participation in ESSA’s federally mandated tests tied to Title I funding. The legislators rightly point out that ESSA allows states to determine how, exactly, to factor the 95 percent of required testing … [Read more...]
Hillary Clinton Calls Education A ‘Non-Family Enterprise’ and Praises Common Core
From an article at The Federalist .......................... April 16, 2015 By Sean Davis During her first official campaign event in Iowa earlier this week, former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton praised Common Core and referred to children’s education as a “non-family enterprise.” Clinton’s controversial statements about education, which were captured by C-SPAN, came in response to a question from a participant about how to offer a quality education throughout the U.S. Clinton initially responded to the question about how to fix the U.S. educational system by praising Common Core. She then said that families today are too “negative” … [Read more...]
Former Pearson Exec Reveals Anti-American Agenda in Common Core – Part 3
A former marketing executive for textbook publishing giant Pearson Education reveals the anti-American agenda behind Common Core and the Advanced Placement U.S. History framework in the third video of a series produced by Project Veritas and focused on the corporate cronyism behind the education reform known as Common Core. Kim Koerber, a former Pearson executive who now works as a sales consultant for National Geographic – another Gates Foundation-funded Common Core publisher – tells the Project Veritas undercover journalist that “conservative voters are afraid of everything,” and proceeds to say why Common Core is important in her view. She explains that those behind Common Core and … [Read more...]
Ted Cruz’s Plan To Dump the Common Core and the U. S. Dept. of Education
From an article in Education News ............. Ted Cruz’s Plan To Dump the Common Core and the U. S. Dept. of Education — Policy Statement https://www.tedcruz.org/five-for-freedom/ DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Educational opportunity thrives on choice, ingenuity, and diversity; the Department of Education squelches all three. Largely created as an outgrowth of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society, the Department of Education has existed in its current form since 1980. Despite its stated aim to bring equal access to all, it has failed to close the gap between low-income communities and other communities, and instead has led to one-size-fits-all solutions imposed on millions of students … [Read more...]
Meet Your New ‘Neighbor’: ESSA, Seriously!
From: commoncorediva - > > > Being a great neighbor is a privilege. But what do you do when your new neighbor is a portion of the Every Student Succeeds Act{ESSA}?! Hang on, anti CCSS Warriors, the information you are about to read may cause shock! The Language: We all know the ESSA is over 1,000 pages and its ink was barely dry when it was voted on and passed into law. Very few took time to read it when it first came out. I wager many others STILL haven’t read through it today! However, we MUST keep digging, we MUST know what the language says. To date, several truths have been uncovered and shared. Warriors, we CANNOT stop now! This huge education bill has more … [Read more...]