In October 2012, David Coleman, often called the “architect” of the Common Core State Standards, became the president of the College Board which produces the SAT exam. More recently he announced he is aligning the SAT with the Common Core State Standards. The ACT exam was already aligned with the Common Core State Standards in […]
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.
Pull quotes:
“Consider the recent history of high stakes testing in the state of Washington. We spent more than a decade and a billion dollars on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) only to find that the test was deeply flawed…..”
“The truth is that as long as we try to force every kid through a one size fits all system we will never see improvement. No other country in the world is running an education system on the pretense that all students are the same and as long as we pursue that folly we will continue to waste precious resources and fall further behind our competitors.”
Read the commentary by Bob Dean
The Department of Education’s Race to the Top initiative, along with it’s components, including the Common Core State Standards, are questionable on so many levels. They are the Executive Branch’s attempt to do the Congress’s job and make education law. Furthermore, education isn’t even a federal enumerated power.
Race to the Top funding was placed in the 2009 Stimulus Bill.
We are glad that some lawmakers are now taking notice and taking action. Senator Grassley has written a letter and has invited his fellow senators to sign on. Read the letter.
We urge all the Senators to sign on to restore sovereignty to the states, and to restore respect for the separation of powers.
One of the functions of education is to pass the history, culture, and values from one generation to the next. In this regard, the Common Core State Standards’ chopping off many of the classic samples of traditional literature will effectively insure that the next generation will NOT know America’s classic literature, nor the values it embodied.
Read the analysis by Sandra Stotsky.
Universal preschool is one of the components of President Obama’s Race-to-the-Top initiative. Of course the plan is to first start with low-income youngsters, but as with so many other programs, this will eventually extend to every preschooler. The Homeschool Legal Defense Association is a long-time supporter of parents rights, and the Chairman, Michael Farris, explains why this is a bad move. Read the article.
Since currently, most preschools are either private enterprises or church-affiliated, this means these independent preschools will be drawn under government preschool mandates and lose their independence.
“Very few U.S. citizens want to see their government even slightly imitate that of China, which keeps dossiers on all citizens’ performance and attitudes. These records influence work, political, and school opportunities. Because “everything they do will be recorded for the rest of their life …” read more
And in another article: “Over the past 18 months, a massive $100 million public-school database spearheaded by the $36.4 billion-strong Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been in the making that freely shares student information with private companies…” “…..Yet the company which will manage this information says in its company documentation, “cannot guarantee the security of the information stored … or that the information will not be intercepted when it is being transmitted…..” read more…
Find out more about the federal data collection in this article by Emmett McGroarty and Jane robbins of the American Principles Project. The plan is to collect children’s personal information from their first early learning experience to adulthood. This article is from a few months ago, but it is still relevant now because, with the inauguration behind us, the federal government will feel free to move boldly ahead.
Imagine a future world in which every aspect of each citizen is compiled in a data base. Oh, wait, it’s already happening….starting with the early learning data base that is being implemented. Watch this video . Although it mentions Oklahoma, it applies to us in Washington as well.
“Anytime you’ve got a one size fits all attitude regarding education, it’s never good for the students, the parents, or education in general,..”
Have you been hearing about the “Common Core State Standards”? Here is a video which explains the frightening concept and which explains that this is just one component of a larger agenda. The speaker, Jane Robbins of the American Principles Project, begins the explanation with the Race to the Top program, but the roots of transformation of education began decades ago. A significant year was 1965 when federal moneys were first given to states bringing federal mandates to local districts, and another critical year was 1994 when Goals 2000 and the School-to-Work Opportunities Act were passed. President Obama’s Race to the Top program is the most recent step in the destruction of American education. Local control has been systematically destroyed. Please watch all five parts of this video.