Backlash Against Common Core

The national news media haven’t discovered it, but the issue that is bringing out hundreds of citizens who never before attended political meetings is Common Core (CC). More precisely, it is the attempt of Barack Obama’s Department of Education to force all states and schools to adopt specified national education standards for each grade level that will dictate what all kids learn and don’t learn.

Common Core means federal control of school curriculum, i.e., control by Obama administration left-wing bureaucrats. Federal control will replace all curriculum decisions by state and local school boards, state legislatures, parents and even Congress because Obama bypassed Congress by using $4 billion of Stimulus money to promote Common Core.

It’s not only public schools that must obey the fed’s dictates. Common Core will control the curriculum of charter schools, private schools, religious schools, Catholic schools and homeschooling.

The control mechanism is the tests. Kids must pass the tests in order to get a high school diploma, admittance to college or a GED. If they haven’t studied a curriculum based on Common Core, they won’t score well on the tests.

Common Core cannot be described as voluntary. Since CC is so costly to the states (estimated at $15 billion for each state for retraining teachers and purchase of computers for all kids to take the tests), CC is foisted on the locals by a combination of bribes, federal handouts, and as the price for getting a waiver to exempt a state from other obnoxious mandates, such as No Child Left Behind.

Don’t be under any illusion that Common Core will make kids smarter. The Common Core academic level is lower than what many states use now, and the math standards are so inferior that the only real mathematician on the validation committee refused to sign off on the math standards.

He said the CC standards are two years behind international expectations by the 8th grade, and fall further behind in grades 8 to 12. The CC math standards downgrade the years when algebra and geometry are to be taught.

Parents will have a hard time helping their children with their math homework. CC standards call for teaching kids to add columns of figures from left to right instead of right to left.

CC advocates claim that the new standards will make students college-ready. That promise is a play on words: Students will be ready only to enter a two-year non-selective community college.

Common Core means government agencies will gather and store all sorts of private information on every schoolchild into a longitudinal database from birth through all levels of schooling, plus giving government the right to share and exchange this nosy information with other government and private agencies, thus negating the federal law that now prohibits that.

This type of surveillance and control of individuals is the mark of a totalitarian government.

Common Core reminds us of how Communist China gathered nosy information on all its schoolchildren, stored it in manila folders called dangans and then turned the file over to the kid’s employer when he left school.

The New York Times once published a picture of a giant Chinese warehouse containing hundreds of thousands of these folders. That was in the pre-Internet era when information was stored on paper; now data collection and storage are efficiently managed on computers in a greater invasion of privacy.

Common Core is encrusted with lies. It is not, as advertised, “state” written; it is a national project created in secret without any input from teachers or state legislatures. It is not “internationally benchmarked”; that never happened.

The readings assigned in the CC English standards are 50 percent “informational” texts instead of great American and English literature and classics. The result is that CC standards are very political.

The suggested readings include a sales talk for government health care (such as Obamacare) and global warming propaganda (including a push for Agenda 21). Some of the fiction suggested is worthless and even pornographic, presumably chosen to reflect contemporary life. Another suggested reading favorably describes Fidel Castro and his associates without any indication they are tyrants, Communists and mass murderers.

We should take a bit of advice from our neighbor to the north. Canada has no national standards (all standards are adopted locally) and not even any national Department of Education.

CC advocates admit the standards cannot be changed or errors corrected because they are already printed and copyrighted by the private owners such as the Gates Foundation. Bills to repeal CC have been filed in Oklahoma, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Alabama, South Dakota and Georgia, and Indiana Governor Mike Pence just signed a law to “pause” the CC implementation and hold public hearings.

Common Core Forcing Marxism/Nazism on America’s Children

Recently, I met a remarkable woman who has accomplished an extraordinary work in her mission toward educating the American people of a clear and present danger to their children and the methods by which said danger can be stopped. This lady’s accomplishments speak for themselves.

Christina Michas is the Founder and Leader of the Palm Springs Patriots Coalition and President, Eagle Forum Palm Springs. Prior to getting involved in politics and issues facing our nation, Christina was the Owner of a Design and Development Business. Christina felt the calling to stop her business, completely, and get involved in saving her country. This led to her becoming involved in politics and their attendant issues full time. As a result, in February, 2009 she founded the Palm Springs Patriots Coalition. Since then, Christina has been involved in many organizations and events, while continuing to work with her group to educate and activate people in her community. She has worked diligently with her local officials to bring positive changes to local area cities. She was the VP of Marketing for Consumers Power Alliance (CPA), a coalition of groups dedicated to stopping Smart Meter Installations in California. Through the work of CPA, they won the right for all Californian’s to opt out of Wireless Smart Meters.

Christina is the recipient of the 2010 Salvatori Award from the Heritage Foundation for her instrumental work in the Tea Party Movement. Christina is also a producer for Breaking News Journal. Today Christina is the Co-founder of a newly formed Coalition called CURE (Citizens United for Responsible Education) to join in the fight to stop the Common Core Curriculum Standards of a Government led take over of our education system. She has been on numerous local and national radio shows in the effort to educate and activate citizens and to encourage all to get involved. As Christina states, “It is time for all of us to step up and take personal responsibility for what is happening in our nation”, to become our own representatives and to stop looking to Politicians to fix the problems. Christina is a Greek American and is strong believer in the Lord from which she draws her strength. This enables her to look at current events objectively through the prism of the Bible and end time prophecy.

The Interview

Sher: Christina, thanks so much for being here with me, today. You are doing an extraordinary job of bringing the truth about what is happening in the government public school system in the USA…and it isn’t pretty. During his brutal reign in Russia, in which he established the Soviet Union or USSR, created the Secret Police, established Siberian prison camps, killed thousands of peasants when they did not work as hard as the ruling Communist elites demanded or if they questioned anything these same Communists did, Vladimir Lenin also, said: “Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.” He was referring to the Luciferian Communist Party’s child education—aka indoctrination—system. “Common Core” appears to have all of the earmarks of the old USSR’s programming system for children with several new innovative and chilling twists. It is also firmly tied to Agenda 21—the land-grabbing and human suppression and depopulation program.

Would you give us a brief synopsis of what Common Core is, and why it is so dangerous to our children and to us all?

Christina: Common Core is a Nationalized Federal government takeover of our Education system which of course is against the law, as the Federal Government is not allowed to set any educational curriculum standards—a right reserved to the States. Least of all do they have the power to create a one size fits all complete take over of education on all levels. This is a States rights issue. The Federal Government has standardized the education curriculum that will apply to all public schools, charter schools, private schools, Christian schools and homeschooling. No one is safe from this new mandate. Common Core Standards are being mandated and implemented by the Federal Government via organizations such as National Governors Association, Achieve, and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).

What makes common core so dangerous to our children and us is becoming more evident each day. First of all, it is a one size fits all, education takeover. So, let’s say your child has a learning disorder. He or she will be left behind, as CC has no provision for helping those that can’t keep up.

The comparison of Nazism and Common Core (CC) are uncanny. One such comparison is that Nazism had Leaders and Master Teachers in the National Socialists Teachers League that visited schools and kept data files on Teachers. The Obama Administration funded 10,000 Master Teachers (MT’S) to train Teachers on CC and the MT’s will keep data files on students and Teachers. Students were taught to spy on parents and teachers. CC will have students as young as 5 participating in the evaluation of Teachers. In Nazism, the curriculum was rewritten to provide a Nazi (government) approved curriculum.. Common Core curriculum is being rewritten to provide a global approved curriculum.

Nazism kept huge data files on students and teachers and Common Core will data mine the students with over 400 different data points on each child, their family and teachers from pre-kindergarten to workforce…And one final comparison is Nazism had strong Teachers’ Unions (NSTL). We have but to look at how powerful the Teacher’s unions are in our country and only growing stronger in power and influence under this current Obama Administration’s unholy alliance with them at America’s expense and the expense of the education of our children.. The quality of the educational standards of our children has suffered at the hands of these Teachers’ Unions. Common Core is no different.

Our children will suffer at the hand of a government controlled education system. They will no longer be able to have dreams and goals but only those that the government wishes them to have (UNESCO –A21). If this isn’t Nazism, Communism, Marxism and all the “ism’s”, I don’t know what is. The worst part is they are lying to parents and teachers about what Common Core really is and the effects it will have. Teachers don’t even realize that their jobs are in jeopardy for, if they do not conform, they will be removed.. But, then again, were not the people of Russia, Germany etc. all deceived until it was too late??

You asked why it is dangerous? In addition to the above, according to the Dept. of Education’s own document, Grit, Tenacity and Perseverance, they outline the data mining methods that will be used on the children. fMRI’s will be used through their computers to scan the child to see how they react to different stimuli (pg. 32)…On page 44 of the same document, they show the different technologies that will be used such as Facial Expression Camera’s that will be on the computer, Posture Analysis Seats, Pressure Mouse and Wireless Skin Conductance Sensors.. All of these methods, along with the other data they will collect on families, religious affiliations, voting affiliations, health records, whether or not families own guns etc. are just a few of the data points they want to collect from the children. Children will be encouraged to spy and report on what their families do at home…Sounds like one of the famous “ism’s” to me. Big Brother will know everything about how you and your children live, work and play… None of the technology being used has been tested to see what effects, if any, it will have on the children. And, if that is not enough, the Master Teachers will be instructing the Teachers to not teach our nations framework or any form of nationalism. Instead they will be trained to be “good global, sustainable citizens” prepared for a global world not our proud heritage as we were taught. They will become a “managed work force” for the New World Order…Many will be forced to choose a career path by 9 years old based on the data mined on each child.. Children will be separated based on how their data is analyzed to see if they will comply or be rebellious and will be placed into groups accordingly…Communist China has this method. The Chinese government decides what “career” you will have.. No longer will a child be able to strive to achieve his or her own goals.. They will be “managed.”

Children will no longer be taught the usual math, literature, history or social studies. The curriculum, as designed, will change how children learn as much of our history has been distorted or eliminated by the authors of Common Core.. Teachers will teach to the test only.. They say that it is to the child’s benefit not to teach them critical thinking and problem solving, but rather to memorize desired information; teaching to tests only.. It will be the dumbing down of our children.

Many of our states currently have superior curriculum to CC but it will be discarded in favor of the inferior CC Curriculum.. California is one State believe it or not.. The adoption of Common Core Curriculum Standards will be substantially identical across all states, “a one size fits all” and does not address the unique individuality of each child. It is teaching children all the same thing at the same time regardless of their developmental or language differences.

These are just a few examples of what Common Core is and why it is dangerous for our children and us. Many corporations are lining up at the gravy trough as they will be poised to make a bundle especially the tech industries.. Microsoft, Google, AT&T, and many others are signed on along with Exxon Mobile, Walmart, General Electric, Warren Buffet, and George Soros. William Ayres of the Weather Underground Terrorist organization along with his good friend, Linda Darling Hammond, both far left radicals; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Jeb Bush is a strong proponent.

Mark Tucker, President of the National Center on Education and the Economy is another radical from the Clinton era and was instrumental in the development of this plan. His plan in a letter to Hillary Clinton in Nov. 1992 lays out his goal to “remold the entire American system” into a seamless web that literally extends from cradle to grave” and is the same system for everyone (Common Core). Tucker’s plan would change the mission of the schools from teaching children academic basics and knowledge to training them to serve the global economy in jobs selected by workforce boards. Hence all the corporate involvement.

Tucker’s plan was implemented in 3 laws and passed and signed by President Clinton in 1994. “The Goals 2000 Act”, “The School-to-Work Act” and the “Reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act”.

Arne Duncan, Sec. of Education is a strong proponent with UNESCO. So are the Pearson Foundation and Gulen Foundation (Charter Schools in the US), just to name a few.

Sher: Which US States have already agreed to the Communist Common Core teaching methods and why do you believe they did so?

Christina: 46 States signed on to Common Core and RTTT Grants between Nov. 2009 and Jan. 2010. The States were given 2 months to comply or lose their grant monies. When will the States learn to say “no” to the dangling carrot of the Federal Government money bribes? States need to wake up and just say “no”! Now if a State wants to opt out of Common Core, it will have to go through the legislatures and governors, which is what should have happened in the first place. Most all states signed on without their legislatures knowledge or input and none of them actually “read the standards” as they were not yet developed but signed on, sight unseen. There are currently approximately 23 states that are in the process in one form or another of removing Common Core from their respective states.

Common Core was funded through the stimulus bill in 2009. What happened to those “shovel ready jobs”? Instead, we got “shoveled” a United Nations UNESCO global education agenda. The Tides Foundation in conjunction with UNESCO and Bill Gates of Microsoft had this program prepared prior to Obama’s election and once elected, the funding was incorporated into the Stimulus and funded without knowledge or consent of Congress as usual. Deception! The government created a Race to the Top Grant program that was used to coerce the States into signing onto this Curriculum sight unseen. If they did not agree to implement the Common Core Curriculum, the educations grant monies for the States was withheld. This was bribery by our Government to force the States to sign or lose grants for education. The Common Core was developed and implemented without State legislative authority and funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation by at least $173 million dollars and still climbing. They claim it is a “State Led Initiative or Standard”. They Lie!! the States had no input or choice. They were coerced. Now that they have signed onto this Common Core Curriculum Standard, the States sadly abdicated their States rights to have local control of education.

Sher: I understand that teachers will now be renamed “facilitators” and that actual history will continue to be rewritten by the Common Core groups. In what other ways will classroom “facilitating” and children be trained to become the elites‘ ‘good new world order global citizens’?

Christina: They now have what they call “Master Teachers” that will be teaching the teachers on how to teach to Common Core.

At some point, teachers or “facilitators” will actually be irrelevant. They do not want Teachers force-feeding “education”. According to the Master Teacher’s presentation, they want a greater emphasis on development of the child’s voice vs the Teachers voice. Teachers or “Facilitators” are taught not to have an adherence to the text, as “Truth is relative”; that “history has no distinct truth”. Children will have no moral compass and no allegiance except to government. Of course, that is the goal to destroy the very fabric of our nation.. How do you change a society? Vladimir Lenin said, “Give me four years to teach children and the seeds I have sown will never be uprooted”. This is what is facing our children if we do not wake this nation up to the dangers of Common Core.

As per one Master Teacher who gave a presentation to Teachers said, “The teachers theme is to teach students that the Civic Mission of Schools are as guardians of Democracy and will promote a correlation between government and education. The key word here is Democracy. Communist nations are considered as democracies. The US is a democratic Republic. The collective is about “democracy” or “social justice, economic justice and redistribution, which is another way of saying Tyranny and Government Control.

They will teach a more Statist oriented education. As an example, for English Literature, required reading will be “informational texts” such as the EPA bills and regulations, the Affordable Healthcare Act etc. to promote the correlation of government and education. This is to teach children from an early age that they should look to “Big Brother” for their needs. Actual literature as we were taught will only be allowed if the States choose to implement under the provision that they can input 15% of the curriculum. Common Core is a copyrighted curriculum standard and cannot be changed or altered. It must be taught as is. They tell you that the States will be able to implement their own curriculum standards but that is a lie. Only 15% input is permitted.

This same MT discussed a parallel writing technique where students are encouraged to create division and class warfare in the classroom. Students love to argue in everything and to encourage this will enhance their ‘creative “ side; to be angry with parents; to encourage them and give them permission to be rude and nasty. Kids will love it and it will teach them “oppositional behavior”. It is all sick and designed to destroy the family unit.

Sher: Christina, how does Common Core ultimately tie into the Agenda 21 removal of all private property from human populations and the planned culling of multiple millions of us as Obama’s friend Bill Ayers suggested when he said in the 1970s that at least 25,000,000 Americans—alone—would have to be exterminated?

Christina: First of all, for those that are not familiar with Agenda 21, it is actually called the United Nations Agenda for the 21st Century. President H.W. Bush initially brought the UN Agenda into the US. He was the one that initially spoke those now infamous words, “New World Order.” The UN Treaty for this was never ratified by Congress so in 1993, President Bill Clinton signed an Executive Order creating the President’s Council on Sustainability Development (Sustainable America) dropped the UN Agenda into this order, thus incorporating Agenda 21 into our country and implementing a UN driven agenda through regulations and legislation bypassing Congress and the ratification of the UN treaty. Another deception foisted onto the American people!

UNESCO is the educational and sustainable division of the United Nations. They are tasked to facilitate partnerships through a work program approved by the United Nations Council on Sustainable Development. . In 2004, Bill Gates signed an agreement with UNESCO to further their agenda here in the US and globally. Common Core Educational Standards originate from UNESCO and are being implemented and promoted by the Progressive left in the US.
To tie Agenda 21 Sustainability movement into Common Core one has but to look at excerpts of the UNESCO Mission Statement: “It may be hoped that in time anybody will be able to persuade anybody of anything if he can catch the patient young and is provided by the State with money and equipment”

“There are thus two tasks for the Mass Media division of UNESCO, the one general, the other special. The special one is to enlist the press and the radio and the cinema to the fullest extent in the service of education, of science and learning, of art and culture. The general one is to see that these agencies are used to promote the growth of the “common outlook” shared by all nations and cultures.

Education should aim at destroying free will, so that, after pupils have left school, they shall be incapable, thought the rest of their lives, of thinking or acting otherwise than as their schoolmasters would have wished”…written by Johann Gottlieb Fichte, he goes on to state: “The social psychologist of the future will have a number of classes of school children on whom they will try different methods of producing an unshakable conviction that snow is black. When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for more than a generation will be able to control its “subjects” securely without the need of armies or policemen.”

Julian Huxley, a major player for UNESCO in 1945, served as its first Director. Huxley was also the VP of the Eugenics (meaning: a science that deals with the improvement of hereditary qualities in a series of generation of a race or breed, esp, by control of human mating and reproduction) Society from 1937 thru 1944. In 1947, he wrote: “Thus even though it is quite true that any radical eugenic policy will be for many years politically and psychologically impossible, it will be important for UNESCO to see that the eugenic problem is examined and that the public mind is informed of the issues at stake so that much that now is unthinkable may become thinkable.”

From reading these quotes and excerpts, we can see how Common Core ties into Agenda 21’s global goals for the New World Order. Control!! Control!!

The ultimate goal of UNESCO, via the nationalization of our education system is to create “ good global, sustainable citizens who will be “managed” by a Global Government.. The ultimate goal is to have a “managed citizenry”, a managed economy, and a managed environment once again returning to Mother Earth worship.

This is where eugenics and William (Bill) Ayers, ObamaCare, the Nationalization of our Economy, Energy, Health and Education systems comes into play.. Ayers is a major driver behind Common Core and sadly is a very radical Professor today that has had much influence on students thinking … He and other key players including the Clinton’s, Bushes’, Gore, Gates, Soros, Rockefeller, Warren Buffet, Obama and his minions, etc.. Understand that one cannot “manage” most of adult America today. The ultimate goal of these radicals from the UN, the US and other nations is to set up Internment or Re-education camps for those that will not comply with their sick agenda.. You either are “retrained” or you will have to be eliminated.

The Healthcare Bill will take care of the “useless” senior population via “managed care”. The government will have free reign with the youth.. You cannot change a nation unless you change how it thinks and operates…Hence, the lesson learned from Lenin, Stalin, Marx et al, “get the children and you change generations”… I know this sounds insane, but sadly, it is a reality we are facing today.. Don’t take my word for it, do your research.. Just go to the United Nations and look at Agenda 21… do your own homework. Research the Sustainability Movement. There is no shortage of information available. This is a very real Agenda that is being thrust onto citizens here in America and across the globe.. The US stands in the way of ultimate implementation. Hence George Soros’s, Open Society, states: “we must have a managed decline of America in order to bring about the New World Order”… Do your research everyone.. This is very real and is happening at record speed.. The target is the US and our children. Hence the implementation of Common Core to achieve the mission goals of UNESCO stated above.

Agenda 21 is the UN’s vision for a centrally managed global society.. Agenda 21 has a plan for how you will live (as per Marx, “private property ownership must be eliminated”) where you will live (stack and pack communities; walkable communities, livable communities; “managed communities “under the guise of “sustainable and/or “smart growth”. Even the American Planning Assoc. is complicit in helping to implement this agenda via local planning, zoning, etc. in conjunction with ICLEI, another UN agency. Hence the removal of personal/private property via regulations).. how you commute (high speed rail and public transportation—cars a thing of the past); what you will eat (genetically modified foods –another unholy alliance with Monsanto and Archer Daniel Midland and others), and what you will learn or be taught (BINGO, COMMON CORE!).. And, even “who your God will be” –social justice anyone”…… When fully implemented, “Agenda 21 will have government involved in every aspect of life for every human on earth from cradle to grave.”

Global Warming was the vehicle invented to drive this Sustainable Agenda from the UN. Read, “Agenda 21: The Earth Summit Strategy to Save our Planet.. The goal is to save “Mother Earth”.

Quote from the Club of Rome (Gro Harlem Bruntland—previous President of Norway, the Bruntland Commission and all members of Club of Rome are huge supporter of eugenics. She worked with Al Gore on Climate Change Agenda) Indeed, the Rockefeller Foundation had population control, as it’s founding principle—all part of UN A-21.

One quote: “Agenda 21 proposes an array of actions which are intended to be implemented by ever person on earth.. it calls for specific changes in the activities of all people. It will require a profound reorientation of all human society, unlike anything the world has ever experienced—an unprecedented redeployment of human and financial resources.. The shift will demand that a concern for the environmental consequences of every human action be integrated into individual and collective decision making at every level.”

One last quote from Club of Rome: “the common enemy of humanity is man…in searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill.. All these dangers are callused by human intervention and it is only through changed attitudes and behavior that they can be overcome.. The real enemy then, is humanity itself…”

These are not my words but the actual words and quotes from the sources themselves. We don’t have to speculate; we have but to read their words…Research for yourself. It is not difficult to see what their agenda is and how important it is for the people of this nation to wake up to the dangers facing our children and us.

I could go on and on about this, but I think you get the idea. If you go back over this article, based on the above from UNESCO and the UN Agenda 21 goals, you will be able to readily see how Common Core ties into A-21/ UNESCO’s ultimate goals and visions.. Controlled Education Curriculum; Data Mining; Master Teachers, technology to monitor children et al… Connect the dots for yourself.. It is not a “warm and fuzzy” agenda…. Not difficult to connect the dots.. It is being thrust on America via lies and deception by this Government to serve their global, utopian agenda of a One World Order.

Sher: What can people do to stop this insidious onslaught and destruction of our children?

Christina: We have formed a national Coalition called CURE, Citizens United for Responsible Education. They can go to our website or contact me directly and we can hook them up to people in their respective states so they can get involved. I have only scratched the surface here today. I encourage everyone to research Common Core and Agenda 21 as they are part and parcel of each other.. Find out what is happening in your states. Join our coalition.. I strongly encourage parents to get their children out of the Public Education system into Christian Schools, private schools or homeschooling.. be sure to ask if they are implementing Common Core.. and not Charter Schools either.. They are involved with CC as they are a public/pvt. funded partnership. We also have Gulen Charter Schools of which Gulen supports CC…There are numerous homeschooling Associations and organizations to research.. Be wary of Sylvan Learning Centers as their National Headquarters were contacted by our organization and found that they are complicit to Common Core curriculum standards. Be sure to ask!! We are working on developing alternatives for parents as they struggle to navigate this new paradigm,

Sher: Thanks so much for your insight, your excellent work and your time, Christina. To which website can people go to keep updated on all you and others are doing to stop Common Core?

Christina: Our website is: www.natcore.org (Scheduled to go “live” by 5-12-2013) or one can reach me via email at: goldiebelle@reagan.com

Other helpful sites.

www.truthineduation.com
www.breakingnewsjournal.net
www.stopcommoncore.com

A homeschooling site:

www.theeducationalfreedomcoalition.org
Comments

Sher Zieve is an author and political commentator. Zieve’s op-ed columns are widely carried by multiple internet journals and sites, and she also writes hard news. Her columns have also appeared in The Oregon Herald, Dallas Times, Sacramento Sun, in international news publications, and on multiple university websites. Sher is also a guest on multiple national radio shows.

Sher can be reached at sherzieve@bajabb.com

Major Problems with Common Core in Florida

The Common Core Standards and related assessments being implemented in Florida have many problems including lack of rigor and transparency; loss of state, local, family, and teacher autonomy, as well as loss of data privacy; and high costs that will be borne by the state and counties analogously to the proposed Medicaid expansion.  The citizens of Florida and their elected representatives on county school boards and in the legislature should consider carefully before spending hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars more  and irreversibly changing the state’s education system with enormous impact on our children’s future, freedom, the economic health of the state, parental and teacher autonomy and data privacy.

Lack of Academic Rigor

Although the Thomas Fordham Institute is a strong Common Core proponent, their grading scale found that Florida’s current standards were near or above the level of the Common Core.  Why should so much be spent to change them?

The standards define college readiness as being the same for 4-year, 2-year, and vocational colleges[i]

Despite claims by Commissioner Tony Bennett and proponents that the standards are “internationally benchmarked,”[ii] repeated data requests by members of the Common Core validation committees were ignored[iii]

English (Much more detail available on request)

High school level, “college ready” standards actually at 6^th to 8^th grade level[iv]
Chief architects, David Coleman (now head of College Board) and Susan Pimentel, have had no experience teaching English or reading at any grade level from K-12[v]According to experts the standards are described as empty skill sets;  significant reduction in literary study leading  “to fewer opportunities for students to acquire the general academic vocabulary needed for college work;” and the division of reading standards leading to completely incoherent literature curriculum in grades 6-12[vi]
Texts being taught without historical context – e.g. Animal Farm[vii] and the Gettysburg Address[viii]

Mathematics (Much more detail available on request)

Chief architects, Professors William McCallum and Jason Zimba, have never taught mathematics at any grade level from K-12[ix]

According to experts, Common Core removes the mathematical concepts that are critical for four year college readiness, STEM careers, international competitiveness, and are major delays and steps backwards from the most highly rated state standards and those of other countries.[x]

Florida Not Ready for Implementation – Florida, the state leader of PARCC, the 22 state testing consortium, admits that the state is not ready to implement Common Core. Education Commissioner Tony Bennett said within the next few months his staff will devise  a “Plan B” in case implementation cannot proceed as planned by 2015.[xi]

Testing and Costs

Because computer adapted testing will change the difficulty of questions for each student depending on the answer to the previous question, there will be no uniform testing standard so that there cannot be uniform comparison between students, much less between states.^[xii]

Florida   $1,024,163,000 (projected cost for testing, technology, textbooks, and professional development)[xiii] – $905,838,000 (grants received) = $118,325,000 (costs to FL taxpayers)

Given that Tony Bennett and the SBOE are asking for $400 million in one year[xiv] to implement assessments equivalent to what the Florida has already spent on the FCAT between 1996[xv] and 2008, that $118 million amount might well be low and will serve as a huge unfunded mandate to already strapped county districts.

South Carolina Senator Mike Fair cites data that testing cost will increase from $12/student to $100/student[xvi] in that state which is a member of the other testing consortium called SBAC.  Both PARCC & SBAC require multiple computerized assessments during one school year. Florida’s testing cost for the FCAT in 2008, the most recent year available, was $19.44 per student[xvii]

All states in each of the large testing consortia (PARCC, of which Florida is a part, and SBAC) must agree on cut scores and the test item banks despite wide disparities in education philosophy, attainment, and funding[xviii]

Without enough computer equipment and IT staff to allow every student to take multiple tests every year, students will have to rotate through computer labs creating less than uniform administration for students as well as major test security problems[xix]

Student Data Collection

The Electronic Information Privacy Center is suing the U.S. Department of Education over the weakening via regulation of FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act) passed by Congress to prevent the use of student level data without consent in the state longitudinal data systems required for Race to the Top.^[xx]

“A new database tracks learning disabilities, test scores, attendance, as well as student hobbies, career goals, attitudes toward school, even homework completion. Federal Department of Education officials say that the “database project complies with privacy laws. Schools do not need parental consent to share student records with any “school official” who has a “legitimate educational interest,” according to the Department of Education. The department defines “school official” to include private companies hired by the school, so long as they use the data only for the purposes spelled out in their contracts.”[xxi]

Information from the U. S. Department of Education leads one to conclude that our children will be used as psychological guinea pigs:[xxii]

Conclusion 10: There are important opportunities to leverage new and emerging advances in technology (e.g., educational data mining, affective computing, online resources, tools for teachers) to develop unprecedented approaches for a wide range of students.

Recommendation 10: Researchers should work closely with technology developers to continue to explore how to integrate best practices into new and emerging digital learning environments that are well positioned to promote grit, tenacity, and perseverance, and key psychological resources (mindsets, learning strategies, and effortful control) for a range of purposes.

Loss of State Sovereignty & Local Control – Despite claims by proponents[xxiii] very little about Common Core is voluntary or state led.  The U.S. Constitution is silent on the matter of education.  Education is not an enumerated power of the federal government, therefore according to the tenth amendment; education is to be controlled by the state and the people. The implementation of Common Core and the No Child Left Behind waivers is making state legislators irrelevant, except to write the checks.

Not “State Led” – States were required to adopt the standards verbatim.  Many states did so before they were even finished.  They could have added up to 15% of their own material, but not deleted anything or made any amendments. This additional 15% will not be included on national tests developed by PARCC and SBAC.  Standards are copyrighted by Achieve, The National Governor’s Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, who deny any responsibility or liability for their accuracy, and demand that the standards must be used for “for purposes that support the Common Core State Standards Initiative.”

Not “Voluntary” – States with large deficits and desperate for funding during the recession had to adopt these standards in order to qualify for Race to the Top finds. Standards were also required to gain flexibility from No Child Left Behind.

Not “Locally Controlled” – The appointed State Board of Education in Florida made the final decision to adopt Common Core without explanation to the public or the public’s elected representatives on county school boards or in the state legislature despite major academic concerns, high costs and unfunded mandates.

Legality – Three federal laws prohibit federal interference in matters of curriculum, standards, or instruction-The Department of Education Organization Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, and the General Education Provisions Act.[xxiv]

Effect on Private and Home Schooled Students

Governor Scott said on 12/12/12 that he believes that students attending private schools using tax-credit scholarships should meet the same standards as students in traditional public schools and, “Ultimately, everybody is going to Common Core.“[xxv]

Since David Coleman, one of the chief authors of the Common Core Standards in English is now president of the College Board, one of two major college entrance exams, and says he plans to align the SAT with the Common Core, private and homeschooled students will have to be concerned about how Common Core affects them.

The Home School Legal Defense Association is concerned that these “voluntary” state standards are “too close to a national curriculum.[xxvi]

Effect on Teachers

Data Collection – The Data Quality Campaign for teacher data is currently tracking whether a state has a teacher of record definition; whether the state’s teacher-student data link can connect more than one educator to a particular student in a given course, the state has in place a process for teacher roster verification; and whether the state collects data linking teachers and students multiple times per year.  Florida said “yes” to all four questions.^[xxvii] This means that teachers are being held accountable for the tests results on standards for individual students they had little or no involvement in developing and must teach them regardless of their professional opinion on whether they are helpful for children and how they should be taught.

“The left fears “one size fits all” instruction that will turn teachers into widget makers whose primary purpose is to prepare students for testing, not learning….People’s World, a media outlet of organized labor, has raised concerns about the role played in Common Core adoption by Stand for Children. Although the group began with children’s rights advocacy as its focus, it now pushes a corporate education agenda focused on union-busting, People’s World reports.  Stand for Children’s donors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, New Profit Inc. and the Walton Family Foundation.”[xxviii]

More than 500 early childhood professionals opposed the Common Core by signing The Joint Statement of Early Childhood Health and Education Professionals on the Common Core Standards Initiative[xxix]

“Common Core’s ELA standards will entail drastic costs in order to change academic coursework, professional preparation programs, and professional development for prospective or current English teachers”.[xxx]

Significant Grassroots Opposition to Common Core

2013 – Legislative efforts already in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, and South Carolina to scale back or withdraw  from Common Core.  Alabama and Utah have withdrawn from the testing consortia, meaning that even if they keep the Common Core on paper, if they don’t do the tests, they can’t really be forcing schools and teachers to comply

2012 – 26/46.5 states + DC showed some sort of hesitancy, resistance, or rebellion to the Common Core = 56%[xxxi]

WATCH – WHAT IS COMMON CORE

What is Common Core Standards?  Common Core and aligned assessments violate three Federal Statutes. Student-tracking system collects personally identifiable data. Tests designed by Progressive reformers. Bill Ayers and the late George Soros are one of the people that are behind Common Core. See the videos.

RNC Adopts Anti-Common Core Resolution & Florida Goes in Wrong Direction

Despite the fact that the Republican National Committee has listened to the grassroots and moved towards freedom in education and student privacy by unanimously adopting an anti-Common Core resolution, the Florida Legislature has moved in the completely opposite direction.   The education appropriations bill, SB 1076 that implements the Common Core standards and aligned assessments passed the full legislature and is being sent to Governor Scott and SB 878, the horrific data tracking bill passed the full Florida Senate. (See our reports about SB 878 here and here).

Although there were some good efforts to protect some sensitive student data and Florida activists used their best efforts to warn senators about the truly invasive data collection in SB 878, Jeb Bush and corporate interests whispered in the ears of leadership and other senators and won the day.  The bill passed on April 10^th unanimously, because the senators had been deceived into believing that student data had been protected.  Although Senator Galvano did put some stronger language in to shield some of the more sensitive data and make it anonymous from outside researchers and corporations, for which he deserves thanks, the fact remains that far too much personal data is still being collected by the State of Florida on innocent children and their families and given to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).  Thanks to the weakening of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) that data can be shared with other federal agencies.  The attitude is that all of this data on our children belongs to the government and if we, their benighted parents scream and beg, maybe they will protect it or say they are going to do so.  The questions never get asked, “Why are you collecting so much data on our children without consent?” and “By what authority do you do so?”

Although he may not have intended it to come off that way, when author of SB 878, Senator Galvano, was interviewed for the Bradenton Herald after Chrissy Blevio and other members of Liberty in Action who live in his district protested the still alarming amount of data collection in the passed bill, his remarks seemed very patronizing.  He said these parents “are well-intended but they misunderstand” and the paper portrayed his views of his constituents as laboring under a cloud of “confusion” and “a case of misinformation.”  For the edification of Senator Galvano and the rest of the legislature, these parents are not confused or misinformed, they are justifiably angry as the rest of the parents in the state will be when they find out what has happened to their children’s privacy.  Here are the facts:

1)      Although the bill limits some of the sensitive data given to corporations and outside researchers, all of that sensitive data that we showed from the National Center for Education Statistics National Data Model is and will still be collected by the state and given to the federal government whether parents like it or not. This data still includes:  Bus Route, Bus Stop, Arrival Time, At Risk Status, Amount of Non-school Activity Involvement, Distance From Home to School and hundreds of other data points.  Because the bill requires the Governing Board to “promote adoption of a common set of data elements identified by the National Center for Education Statistics to support the effective exchange of data within and across states,” one can be sure that those data points will still be included.

2)      The data that is not covered by Senator Galvano’s good amendment (“student’s or a student’s family’s juvenile delinquency records, criminal records, medical records, biometric information, religious affiliations, beliefs, political affiliations or beliefs, and sexual or attitudes, or behavior”) will still be given or sold to outside corporations and researchers.

3)      Hopefully the data will be aggregated, anonymized and de-identified as stated in the amendment.  However, because of the wording used in the amendment,” the Florida Department of Education is not required to, but “may assign an anonymized random identification number to each record before providing access to data.”

4)      Conspicuously absent from the list, despite our multiple pleas, are mental health records and psychological data such as the  “psychological resources, mindsets, learning strategies, effortful control, attributes, dispositions, social skills, attitudes, and intrapersonal resources” that the U.S. Department of Education plans to measure in the Common Core aligned assessments (p. 17 and 49 of pdf) via all of their fancy affective computing equipment, such as wireless skin conductance bracelets, facial expression cameras, etc. (See p. 62 of the pdf from the same report).

In addition to all of the data privacy issues in SB 878, SB 1076, the education appropriations bill about to be signed by Governor Scott is moving full steam ahead to force Common Core standards and their aligned, psychologically manipulative assessments on every public school, student, and teacher in the state of Florida.  Here are some of the many issues with this bill:

1)      The phrase “Common Core” is used over 40 times in this bill.

2)      SB 1076 absolutely requires every public school to give the Common Core Assessments even though they are still not complete and there is NO COST ANALYSIS, so districts and counties have no idea what is coming in the form of enormous unfunded mandates.

3)      The only hope is that there is some language that requires the State Board of Education to consider “funding, sufficient field and baseline data, access to assessments, instructional alignment, and school district readiness to administer the common core assessments online” when developing the implementation schedule will allow the public, teachers and the counties to time enough to scream about how bad and expensive this all is.

4)      There is a tremendous amount of career tracking and emphasis on vocational education over academics in the bill. The word “career” is used 115 times in the bill and the word “academic” or ”academics” is used only 61 times.  Even that is misleading, because the term “applied academics”: is used nine of those times.  Applied academics is defined in the bill as “adult general education through which persons attain academic and workforce readiness skills at the level of functional literacy (grade levels 6.0-8.9) or higher so that such persons may pursue technical certificate education or higher-level technical education.”  It is tragically notable that the functional level of the so called “college and career ready” Common Core standards has been pegged by experts to be right at 7^th grade.

5)       There are now two different “designations” for a standard high school diploma in the State of Florida, an academic one called a “scholar designation” and a career and technical one called a “merit designation” that requires students to graduate with one or more industry certifications.”  This appears to be a diluting of the academic worth of a standard high school diploma.  Combine this with the strategic plan of the State Board of Education to have lower academic goals for some students based on race, with the goal for only 74% of African-American students reading and doing math at or above grade level compared to 86-88% of white students and you have the recipe for what one African American activist called a “caste system.”

6) The bill requires that students must choose their career by the end of 8th grade by taking a mandatory course that “must result in a completed personalized academic and career plan for the student.”  How many kids know their career plan in detail by 8th grade?  Why should the State of Florida be forcing children to choose that early unless it is to develop a career tracking system that caters to the needs of business and the state more than to children and their families?

This method of education and career tracking has been tried in other countries in the past and has been a dismal failure.  It was stopped in Minnesota and and across the country in the early 2000s by dedicated activists in groups like EdWatch and the Constitutional Coalition, including Renee Doyle, Allen and Julie Quist, Michele Bachmann, Michael Chapman and Donna Hearne. If we are going to educate our students to reach for their own goals and dreams, not those of the state and corporations, preserve our children’s and families’ privacy and have future generations to which to pass on the American heritage of freedom, this system must be stopped.  Specific action steps for those in Florida will be available at Floridians Against Common Core Education.

Homeschool parents have 1 shot to see son again

Last chance: Domenic snatched by armed Swedish police 4 years ago

Swedish parents Annie and Christer Johansson have launched what may be their last hope to see their son again – with an appeal to the Supreme Court of Sweden to overturn a lower court’s decision to end their parental rights over homeschooling.

Michael Farris, the chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association, says it’s among the most brutal cases he’s ever seen.

His parents haven’t seen Domenic Johansson for almost three years. He was abducted by armed Swedish police officers operating on the orders of social services agencies from on board Turkish Air Flight 990 on June 25, 2009.

He was seven at the time.

The family was in the process of moving permanently to India, Annie’s home country, but the armed officers were ordered to board the jet and seize the boy – because he was being homeschooled.

The seizure took place even though school was out of session.

WND reported last December that an appeals court panel in Sweden had imposed the “death penalty” on the homeschooling family, granting the state full custody of Domenic.

The appeals panel reversed a lower court ruling that granted Annie and Christer Johansson custody of their son.

The HSLDA has been working on Domenic’s case, along with officials from the Alliance Defending Freedom.

During the first months following his seizure, the parents were only permitted to visit Domenic once every two weeks. The visits soon became every five weeks, and in 2010, all visitations were cut off, HSLDA said.

“The United States Supreme Court has written that terminating parental rights is the family court equivalent of the death penalty,” HSLDA said.

The Johansson case in Sweden, the group said, “demonstrates what can happen when the family is not respected as an integral unit of society.”

In American courts, HSLDA explained, clear and convincing evidence, the civil equivalent of “beyond a reasonable doubt,” is necessary before parental rights are terminated.

It was last June when a Swedish district court had said the parental rights would not be terminated. In a 23-page opinion, the court said it could not ignore the unanimous and extensive testimony of firsthand accounts of friends, family and others that Domenic Johansson was being properly cared for by his parents prior to Swedish authorities seizing him in 2009.

The HSLDA said, “The strain of the forced separation is inflicting unbearable pain and pressure on the family who still live on the same island just miles from where their son lives – yet they are not permitted to have any contact with him whatsoever.”

HSLDA said it is asking homeschooling and concerned parents from all over the world to join in a letter-writing campaign to plead with the Swedish Supreme Court to take the case and to return Domenic to his parents.

Ruby Harrold-Claesson, the attorney for the family, told HSLDA that it is important that the Swedish government know that they are being watched.

Christer and Domenic Johansson

“Let them know the world is watching,” Harrold-Claesson told HSLDA. “I think that it is positive that the justices at the Supreme Court should know that the world is watching them. Shower them with emails, inundate their fax with letters. Everything – email or fax – that is sent to the court has to be registered and made available for public scrutiny.”

Michael Donnelly, HSLDA’s director for international affairs, has been working with the family since 2009 and says this may be their last hope.

“If the Swedish Supreme Court does not intervene it is likely they will never see their son again. It is like a death sentence, except that Domenic is alive and just a few miles away from his mother. The strain on her is becoming unbearable. She is having increasingly frequent physical and mental breakdowns. I fear for her life,” Donnelly said.

Farris said the actions by Swedish officials cannot be explained.

“The taking of this child for homeschooling and while the family was moving out of the country is an egregious violation of basic human rights and international law standards. Sweden is a party to numerous treaties that require them to respect the rights of parents to make education decisions and to leave the country if they choose. This is a dangerous precedent if permitted to stand.”

HSLDA’s President J. Michael Smith said that there is no known reason for Sweden’s behavior in the case.

“Based on the review of available documentation of this case, we don’t know of anything that would justify either the long-term separation of the family or the termination of their parental rights. There is no doubt that this family needs help,” he said.

Harrold-Claesson is a noted international human rights attorney who has dedicated her life to fighting what she describes as the brutal Swedish social services system.

“The evidence was overwhelming in favor of the Johanssons, and that is why the district court found in their favor,” she said. “These are good parents who were taking good care of their son. This is an unbelievable case of overreaching on the part of Gotland’s politicians. It is despicable that the Swedish courts – with the exception of the district court – have been willing to back up the social workers in this case.”

The attorney said the Swedish system is tilted so that social workers and foster care professionals gain financially when children are removed from their homes.

“They take children to feed a bureaucratic machine of foster homes based on subsidies. They impose their will on vulnerable families who don’t have the resources to fight back, and most lawyers don’t dare to challenge the system for fear of their career,” she said.

HSLDA said it hopes a letter-writing campaign will get the court’s attention and help them distinguish this case from the thousands they receive.

HSLDA’s involvement in the case has involved financial and emotional support to the beleaguered mother and father. Among other efforts, it has set up a donation procedure for those who wish to help.