Last September there was a video about the Maryland father who was arrested after being removed from a Common Core meeting. He felt that key questions, which had to be submitted on slips of paper, were being unanswered by officials from the Maryland Department of Education who were running the meeting. A security guard removed […]
Common Core and More — Federal and National Standards and Policies
Article Ten of the Bill of Rights to the US Constitution states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
This means that the federal government is not supposed to interfere in the educational affairs of any state. Yet since 1965, the federal government has heaped educational mandate upon mandate on the states through the strings attached to federal funding. The creation of the Department of Education in 1979 has not improved education but has eroded local control.
Scholastic Aptitude Test scores peaked in the mid 1960s and have declined ever since 1965, coincidentally when federal aid to local schools first started. We cannot infer causality, but it is clear federal aid did not help.
Public schools function best when they are truly run locally.
Read the humorous comments by Jay P. Greene about the creation of the standards. He tells us to be prepared for the US Chamber of Commerce’s steps to placate the public. This commentary comes via the Missouri Education Watchdog blog.
The Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) has produced an excellent video explaining the Common Core. Featured in the video are James Millgram and Sandra Stotsky, the only two content experts on the Common Core Validation Committee. Along with three others validation committee members, they did not sign off on the Common Core State Standards.
For more information about the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, see their website.
Back in the days of the WASL, and even before that, parents had the right and ability to opt their children out of assessments, surveys, and other activities. You can still opt out your child from the Smarter Balanced Assessment which assesses the learning of Common Core State Standards. The Smarter Balanced Assessment, meant to […]
It’s an old pattern of behavior on the part of change agents and societal transformers. If a program or concept becomes too objectionable, they don’t examine the criticisms to see if the concerns are valid. They don’t try to repair the program or cancel it. They rename it and push even harder. In the realm […]
A Batavia High School teacher, John Dryden, was disciplined for explaining to his high school students that they had Constitutional rights protecting them from answering personal questions on a survey the school was conducting. The survey was not anonymous. Current and past students of Mr. Dryden rallied around him in support. A report of disciplinary […]
Thomas Sowell, author of Inside American Education, has been following education for decades. He explains that John Dewey re-defined the role of a teacher.. “…not as a transmitter of a society’s culture to the young, but as an agent of change — someone strategically placed, with an opportunity to condition students to want a […]
“Hidden in Common Core is the real objective – presenting the minimal amount of material that high-school graduates need to be able to enter the work force in an entry-level job.” Dr. James Millgram and Emmet McGroarty have been examining the Common Core State Standards and have been speaking out against them. This article points […]
Of course we all want our children to have teachers who are compassionate, flexible, perceptive, good communicators, and experts in the subjects which they teach. In other words, we want our teachers to be almost superhuman. Under the Race to the Top initiative of which the Common Core State Standards are a part, the desired […]
If you are a student who took part of the GED and need to finish taking the rest, complete it before the end of December 2013, or you will have to start over. David Coleman, often called the “architect” of the Common Core State Standards, is now the president of the College Board which produces […]