World Net Daily has posted an excellent article on the data collection issues under Common Core.

The spying on Americans by the National Security Agency and the Internal Revenue Service’s attacks on conservative groups are “like a walk in the park” compared to government plans to track school children, says a prominent national education researcher, analyst and Johns Hopkins-trained pediatrician.

Dr. Karen Effrem, president of the national watchdog group, Education Liberty Watch, is sounding an alarm about Common Core, the federal education standards that almost all states are adopting by accepting federal “Race to the Top” funding.

Under Common Core, Effrem said, students’ personal information increasingly is being collected, measured and assessed while the standards shift the focus away from academics and toward psychological training and testing of personal attitudes and behaviors.

Read more at: http://www.wnd.com/2014/01/nsa-ops-walk-in-park-next-to-plans-to-track-kids/

Browsing the web there are more and more teachers speaking out against Common Core. Here’s one by teacher Elizabeth Natale that is a sad commentary on the plight of teachers.

Amazing news. Blue state New York looks to be the first on its way to fully dropping Common Core, and it’s a push from teachers who saw first hand the damage done to children with Common Core’s high stakes adaptive testing. I never would have thought the NY teachers union was taking its marching orders from the extreme right wing… :) Looks like that argument will have to be replaced.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/01/26/ny-teachers-union-pulls-its-support-from-common-core-urges-removal-of-state-ed-chief/

“The Board of Directors of the New York State United Teachers, a union with more than 600,000 members, has approved a resolution that withdraws its earlier support for the Common Core State Standards ”as implemented and interpreted” by the New York Education Department. It also declares ”no confidence” in the policies of State Education Commissioner John King and calls for a three-year moratorium on high-stakes consequences from standardized testing.”

…

The resolution declares “no confidence” in King, calling for his removal, and, according to a union release, is asking for the following:

* completion of all modules, or lessons, aligned with the Common Core and time for educators to review them to ensure they are grade-level appropriate and aligned with classroom practice;

* better engagement with parents, including listening to their concerns about their children’s needs;

* additional tools, professional development and resources for teachers to address the needs of diverse learners, including students with disabilities and English language learners;

* full transparency in state testing, including the release of all test questions, so teachers can use them in improving instruction;

* postponement of Common Core Regents exams as a graduation requirement;

* the funding necessary to ensure all students have an equal opportunity to achieve the Common Core standards. The proposed Executive Budget would leave nearly 70 percent of the state’s school districts with less state aid in 2014-15 than they had in 2009-10; and

* a moratorium, or delay, in the high-stakes consequences for students and teachers from standardized testing to give the State Education Department – and school districts – more time to correctly implement the Common Core.