Someone sent me a link to this Fox News report on a homeschooling family with 10 children that have a goal of sending them all to college by age 12. So far they’ve done it with several children. Watch the report video below. Here are links to their website and book.
http://kickstartercollegeby12.com/
College by 12 book
While this article conveniently doesn’t mention the 65.5% vote for the resolution, it does showcase a video featuring Christel Swasey, Renee Braddy, and Alisa Ellis.
https://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=25307359
Last Sunday, reporter Caleb Warnock at the Daily Herald wrote a great article on the data collection happening in Utah through the federal model. Check it out here:
http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/education/precollegiate/state-to-parents-common-core-will-not-invade-your-privacy/article_7423ae5e-bdab-52e2-987e-9f087fdf4be4.html
Dr. David Wright at BYU has posted information on a website (http://utahmath.org) alleging what appears to be shocking events inside the Utah State Office of Education and reaching into multiple Utah universities.
In the 2012 legislative session, a Math Materials Access Improvement Grant was passed (SB 217) which required the State Board of Education to select a content developer to develop new math textbooks for 7th and 8th graders, and an adaptive assessment program. The state office wrote the Request for Proposal (RFP) differently than the grant directed. Two proposals were submitted, one from Dr. Jeffrey Humpherys and the BYU math department, and one from Dr. Hugo Rossi at the University of Utah.
According to Dr. Wright’s documentation, there were irregularities in the U of U application including plagiarism of content and missing items that should have been included per the RFP. At least 4 USOE employees were aware of the plagiarism: Diana Suddreth, Brenda Hales, Sydnee Dickson, and Michael Rigby (who apparently found the plagiarism). Both Suddreth and Dickson were on the review committee to select a grant winner. Emails show Diana Suddreth dismissed this saying,
“It also appears that the U is unaware of the copyright violations since they pulled their materials from sources that were labeled as licensed under Creative Commons. Therefore, I do not think this invalidates their proposal.”
Two weeks later the USOE awarded the grant to the U of U and two days after awarding them the grant, Diana wrote Dr. Rossi stating,
“Before you dive in too quickly, we need to have a conversation on why the request for a response about plagiarism was required.”
Clearly people at the USOE knew plagiarism was a problem. In fact, in some circles, individuals would say this type of charge results in “academic death.”
Several other important factors also came up. During the review of the grants, Suddreth informed Rossi that he should add Dr. David Wiley in BYU’s education department to the grant. Suddreth was a co-principal investigator with Wiley on another sizeable grant.
During the RFP review, Rossi offered an honorarium to Suddreth on a project he was working on. In an email he states,
“All your expenses in connection with this project will be covered by the USHE, including an honorarium of $300/day for participation in the meetings, if you are able to accept such an honorarium given your professional role.”
This offer seems highly inappropriate given that Suddreth would evaluate the RFP’s and participate in awarding the grant.
Dr. James Cangelosi at Utah State was one of the 5 grant reviewers, and on the same day the grant was awarded to the U of U, Suddreth was able to secure another $70,000 for Cangelosi’s UMEP program at USU. That has a tainted smell to it.
Is it any surprise that on May 1st of this year, Tami Pyfer on the State Board of Education sent letters of Common Core support from Dr. Rossi and Dr. Cangelosi to state legislators? These two professors are in the back pocket of the USOE after having received hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants and apparent favoritism.
In Cangelosi’s letter to legislators, he concludes by emphasizing “Utah’s Mathematics Common Core is another in our string of efforts to supplant ‘schoolmath’ with research-based mathematical pedagogy.” He’s flat out wrong. He’s one of the top constructivists in the state and he’s misinterpreted the standards to be a call for pedagogical reform in the direction of constructivism.
Bill McCallum, one of the lead authors of Common Core math standards, was specifically asked about this misinterpretation of pedagogy some are espousing and stated,
“I don’t see the standards as dictating any particular teaching method, but rather setting goals for student understanding. Different people have different ideas about what is the best method for achieving that understanding. That said, I think it’s pretty clear that classrooms implementing the standards should have some way of fostering understanding and reasoning, and classrooms where students are just sitting and listening are unlikely to achieve that.”
Dr. Wright has links to all the documents on his website (http://utahmath.org/) and concludes with 6 questions that the public deserves answers to.
1. Were any of the reviewers of the grant proposal conflicted? Were all of them qualified to review mathematics?
2. Did the U of U proposal contain plagiarized material?
3. Did Diana Suddreth direct the U of U to pick a principal investigator who was a co-principal investigator on a grant with Suddreth?
4. Did the sample lesson for the U of U contain “any text” (i.e., content exposition for the students) which was a requirement of the RFP?
5. Did the U of U grant proposal address “adaptive assessment” from the standard public education definition?
6. Did Hugo Rossi offer an honorarium to Diana Suddreth during the review period?
Each of those questions is hyperlinked to the relevant documents on Dr. Wright’s website (http://utahmath.org).
We expect public servants to use our tax dollars wisely. In this case, at a minimum, it would appear that the USOE violated the original instructions from the legislature. At the other extreme, they engaged in unethical and immoral behavior. The public deserves a full and thorough investigation to address these questions, perhaps in the education subcommittee of the legislature where the legislature can call on the USOE to account for their actions in going against the will of the legislature in the original grant.
I strongly encourage you to email State Superintendent Dr. Martell Menlove, point him to Dr. Wright’s website, and ask him to conduct a full and thorough public investigation of these questions. If true, everyone aware of the situation should be fired from the USOE, and all related parties outside the USOE who were involved in this should be forever banned from further grants and involvement with the state educational system.
Dr. Menlove can be emailed at Martell.Menlove@schools.utah.gov.
Please also copy your state school board member and legislators on that email as well. You can locate who your board member is and legislators at these urls.
http://le.utah.gov/GIS/findDistrict.jsp (find your legislators by your address)
http://www.schools.utah.gov/board/Board-Members/Find-Your-Board-Member.aspx (find your state board district here)
http://www.schools.utah.gov/board/Board-Members.aspx (look up your board member here)
You can also copy the 2 board of regents representatives on the state board to ensure they investigate and take action at the university level.
Teresa Theurer (teresatheurer1@gmail.com)
Marlin Jensen (jensenmk@ldschurch.org)
I got an email late Friday night, before the State convention, asking if I’d have both a 1 and 2 minute speech prepared for the GOP resolution opposing Common Core. Of course I would! The hard part was trying to determine what I would say in 2 minutes or less. How do you narrow down a gigantic tangled web of monstrosity into a short concise message? I was also living on 3 hours of sleep as I’d been working on adding to Allyson’s rebuttal to the USOE’s flier and adding all the sources. I was tired and had to get up at 4:30 to make it to the convention in time. Ahhh!
All I could do at that point was write down a few bullet point of things I wanted to cover and then hope it all came together in the morning. I slept soundly and woke up early but pushed snooze until 5 AM and then was on my way. I saw my dear friend Christel when I got there and told her I needed to write my speech still so I’d brought my laptop. She said, “I wrote it for you on the way down the canyon.” She went over and put some final touches on her thoughts. I didn’t end up using Christel’s words but will post them below.
After spending 3 hours talking to person after person about Common Core, I finally made my way to the convention floor. It was a long day and I very much enjoyed being a part of the process and talking with so many people that I’ve come to know over the past year. Midway through the day my speech started to come to me. I wrote down a short version and a longer version.
The time was getting close. I was watching the mics closely to make sure I’d get a chance to speak. There were lots of people lining up for the other resolutions and I wondered if some were lined up already to speak about Common Core. I went up and asked and those standing in line were waiting to speak about immigration. Phew… A little more time.
The time came and some of the men from the previous resolution didn’t leave. I was nervous that they were all there to speak to the opposing argument but the case wasn’t so. They were there to speak for the resolution. I then knew I wouldn’t get a chance to speak but I am thrilled how things turned out. By the time the speeches were over I was surprised at the length of the lines. Did you have something to say that you didn’t get to say?
Here are the words to my longer version:
Common Core is NOT just standards. Common Core is just one aspect of a much larger education reform package the President calls his “cradle to career” reform. The push to strip local control in favor of centralizing or nationalizing education is not new, but the Obama administration has sought to “fundamentally shift the federal role in education” through coercive grants and waivers.
The Governor is right. Utah MUST lead so let’s NOT follow 45 other states down a path toward a centralized education system. We can’t lead by following.
This supposed state-led initiative is led by the National Governor’s Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers or the state’s superintendents. While those sound like official government organizations, they are NOT. These private organizations are funded by both private businesses and the Federal government. They are not held accountable to the people or held subject to open meeting laws.
Changing the name to Utah core doesn’t change who controls the standards. We DO NOT own the copyright.
As Governor Nikki Haley said, states “shouldn’t relinquish control to a consensus of states any more than the Federal Government.”
VOTE YES ON THE RESOLUTION AND STAND FOR LOCAL CONTROL!
My friend JaKell did make it up to the microphone and here are her words:
In September 2011, Senator Marco Rubio wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Education stating that the Obama administration bypassed Congress to coerce states into adopting Common Core. He stated that they were violating 3 federal laws and our Constitutional structure by issuing waivers to states from No Child Left Behind IF we would adopt Common Core.In February 2012, I asked my father, a retired Utah Appellate Court judge to read the waiver Obama’s administration issued to Utah. He did. He said, “It reads like Medicaid. It could bankrupt us.”Mitt Romney said, “I don’t subscribe to the idea of the federal government trying to push a Common Core on States, and the reason is that there may be a time when the government has an agenda it wants to promote.”That time has arrived. Obama’s 2020 Vision Roadmap outlines the agenda:1. Control education2. Compel states into Resource Distribution3. “Direct Remedy” any failure to complyVote YES for this resolution and encourage our State leaders to restore our representation in education.
Is Not a Utah Standards Initiative:Teachers, administrators and parents governed by Common Core were given no voice in the creation or adoption of Common Core. Now that we’re governed by it, how many realize that there is no amendment process?Despite the term state-led, Common Core was not vetted by Utah legislators and teachers and parents were bypassed. Our State Board and Governor were not elected to give away our state authority, nor to represent us on a national stage.Inferior Standards:Common Core rests on untested, un-piloted, unproven theories such as the theory that replacing much of our classical literature with information texts will better prepare students for college, or that slowing down the time at which math algorithms are taught would somehow benefit students or create “international competitiveness.” (This is hogwash.)Unelected Boards and Consortia:The National Governor’s Association and Council of Chief State School Officers developed and copyrighted Common Core. Neither is a transparent organization and neither is accountable to voters. Utah’s current testing group AIR is partnered with Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia, a federally funded Common Core testing consortia.Let me remind you that under the 10th Amendment and GEPA (General Education and Provisions Act) law, the Federal government has no business doing federal reviews of CC tests, or promoting common standards, nor writing waivers contingent on federal standards.
What would you have said? If you were in line on Saturday and had a story to tell, we want to hear it. Please share in the comments below.
At the Utah GOP convention today, delegates passed a resolution to oppose Common Core with what’s been reported as a 65.5% YEA vote! That’s a huge margin on a resolution that the state office of education worked hard to oppose.
A big thank you to all volunteers who spent time passing out information this morning to help educate delegates, and a big thank you to the delegates who made the right choice.
Resolution on Common Core State Standards and Assessments
WHEREAS, The Common Core State Standards Initiative (“Common Core”), also known as “Utah’s Core,” [1] is not a Utah state standards initiative, but rather a set of inferior nationally-based standards and tests developed through a collaboration between two NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) and unelected boards and consortia from outside the state of Utah;[2] and,
WHEREAS, Common Core was financed with private foundation funds,[3] replacing the influence of our votes with wealth and influence to bypass our state legislature and impose control over Utah’s education standards and tests;[4] and,
WHEREAS, Common Core binds us to an established copyright over standards, from which we cannot subtract, replace or add to – beyond an additional 15%;[5] and,
WHEREAS, the General Educational Provisions Act [6] prohibits federal authority over curriculum and testing, yet the U.S. Department of Education’s “Cooperative Agreements”[7] confirm[8] Common Core’s test-building [9] and data collection[10] is federally managed;[11] and,
WHEREAS, “student behavior indicators”[12] – which include testing[13] for mental health, social and cultural (i.e. religious) habits and attitudes[14] and family status – are now being used for Common Core tests and assessments; and,
WHEREAS, Common Core violates Utah[15] state and federal privacy laws[16] by requiring the storage and sharing[17] of private[18] student[19] and family data without consent;[20] using a pre- school through post-graduate (P-20) tracking system and a federally-funded State Longitudinal Database (SLDS), creating surveillance capability[21] between states[22] and federal agencies,[23] in accordance with funding mandates;[24] and,
WHEREAS, Common Core violates constitutional[25] and statutory prohibitions by pressuring states to adopt the standards with financial incentives tied to President Obama’s Race to the Top, and if not adopted, penalties[26] including[27] loss of funds; and,
WHEREAS, the federal[28] government is imposing yet another unfunded mandate on our State[29] for unproven[30] Common Core instruction[31], training and testing platforms, without any pledge of financial support from federal, state or local governments; and,
WHEREAS, unproven experiments[32] on our children, lacking empirical data[33] to support them, are removing traditional math, replacing classic literature[34] with increased technical reading[35], and prohibiting teachers from reviewing the tests to know what they ought to be teaching; and,
WHEREAS, this top-down process and the principles behind Common Core[36] undermine the teacher’s role[37] and do not support American and Republican ideals of local control,[38] parental choice[39] in education, standards and testing; and,
WHEREAS, the Republican National Committee recently passed a resolution opposing Common Core State Standards;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that we call on the Governor[40] and the Utah State School Board to withdraw from, and we ask the Utah State Legislature to discontinue funding programs[41] in association with, The Common Core State Standards Initiative/Utah’s Core and any other alliance[42] that promotes and tests for un-American[43] and inferior,[44] curricula,[45] standards[46] and assessments; and,
THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution shall be delivered to the Governor and the State legislature for executive and legislative action.
Submitted by State Delegate Cherilyn Eagar, Salt Lake County
State Delegate Co-Sponsors: Wasatch – Alisa Ellis, Norman Durtschi, Anissa Wardell, Patricia Deden, Suzanne Pollard Juab – Stella Lightfoot Washington – Mary Burkett Box Elder Jeff Hardy Weber – Lance Adams, Dan Deuel, Bea Cardwell, Clark Roberts, Laura Warburton, Gregory Martin, Becky Gerritsen Iron – Blake Cozzens Davis – Rod Arquette, Mark Arrington, Dale Hulse, Stephanie Terry, Kris Kimball, Phill Wright, Mark Cook, Christopher Snell, Bruce Bolingbroke, Barbara Derricott, Stephen P. Cloward, James Oldham, Elizabeth Mumford Summit – Jacqueline Smith Salt Lake – JaKell Sullivan, Jennifer Jensen, Maryann Christensen, Laureen Simper, Larry Jensen, Lisa Cummins, John M. Knab, Scott Miller, Rhonda Hair, Phoenix Roberts, Eric Fowler, Tana Allen, Chelsea Woodruff, Jennifer Jensen, Janalee Tobias, Kendall Springer, Kathryn Gritton, Brian Gallagher, Brent Maxwell, Rebecca Akester, Kurt Jaussi, Joseph Darger Utah – Gayle Ruzicka, Kristen Chevrier; Rod Mann, Larry Cerenzie, Clark Parker, Nancy Jex, Marie Nuccitelli, Amelia Powers, Brandon Watters, Barbara H. Ward, William C. Lee, Heather Williamson, Darren Rollins, Peter Morkel, Lisa Baldwin, Don Carlos Davies, Todd Seager, Rhonda Wilkinson, Alyson Williams, Sherilyn Colby, Diana Ballard, Delvon Bouwhuis, Mike Bready, Richard Jaussi, Tamara Atkin, Jamie Towse, Julie Blaney, Kent Besaw, Kevin Braddy
School Board-Legislative Endorsers: Congressman Jason Chaffetz; State Representatives Jake Anderegg, Brian Greene, Keith Grover, Mike Kennedy, David Lifferth, Curt Oda, Marc Roberts; State Senators Margaret Dayton, Mark Madsen, Stuart Reid; Curt Bramble School Board Members Joyce Sudweeks, (Piute), Peter Cannon (Davis), Brian Halladay, Wendy Hart, Paula Hill (Alpine)
[2] http://senatedist23.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/common-core-memo-from-judge-norman-h-jackson/
[3] http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2010/06/National-Governors-Association-and-State-Education-Chiefs-Launch-Common-State-Academic-Standards
[4] http://www.schools.utah.gov/arra/Uses/Utah-Race-to-the-Top-Application.aspx
[5] A State may supplement the common standards with additional standards, provided that the additional standards do not exceed 15 percent of the State’s total standards for that content area – http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/executive-summary.pdf
[6] “No provision of any applicable program shall be construed to authorize any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system, or over the selection of library resources, textbooks, or other printed or published instructional materials by any educational institution or school system…” – General Educational Provisions Act
[7] http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-assessment/sbac-cooperative-agreement.pdf
[8] http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-assessment/performance.html
[9] http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-assessment/performance.html
[10] http://nces.ed.gov/forum/datamodel/information/aboutThe.aspx
[11] http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/23/remarks-president-no-child-left-behind-flexibility
[12] http://le.utah.gov/~2012/bills/hbillenr/hb0015.htm
[13] https://www.utahnsagainstcommoncore.com/dr-thompsons-letter-to-superintendent-menlove/
[14] http://www.air.org/about/?fa=viewContent&content_id=96
[15] http://le.utah.gov/code/TITLE53A/htm/53A13_030100.htm
[16] http://epic.org/apa/ferpa/EPIC-ED-FERPA-MSJ.pdf
[17] http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/edfacts/index.html
[18] http://www.dataqualitycampaign.org/stateanalysis/states/UT/
[19] http://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/state.asp?stateabbr=UT
[20] http://whatiscommoncore.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/usoe-the-answer-is-no-can-a-student-attend-public-school-without-being-p-20slds-tracked/
[21] http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/19/unlocking-power-education-data-all-americans
[22] http://siec.utah.gov/
[23] http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2012/07/ed_urges_states_to_make_data_s.html
[24] http://www.ed.gov/recovery
[25] http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/tenth_amendment
[26] http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/publication_pg4.html
[27] http://dianeravitch.net/2012/12/27/teacher-common-core-harms-my-title-i-students/
[28] http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/vision-education-reform-united-states-secretary-arne-duncans-remarks-united-nations-ed
[29] http://www2.ed.gov/policy/eseaflex/ut.pdf
[30] http://www.aasa.org/uploadedfiles/publications/newsletters/jsp_winter2011.final.pdf
[31] http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/04/27/30pearson.h30.html
[32] http://www.uaedreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2000/01/Stotsky-Invited-Testimony-for-Kansas-on-Common-Core.pdf
[33] http://greatlakescenter.org/docs/Policy_Briefs/Research-Based-Options/02-Mathis_CommonCore.pdf
[34] http://heinemann.com/shared/onlineresources%5CE02123%5CNewkirk_Speaking_Back_to_the_Common_Core.pdf
[35] http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/11-12
[36] http://www2.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/eec/equity-excellence-commission-report.pdf
[37] http://zhaolearning.com/2013/01/17/more-questions-about-the-common-core-response-to-marc-tucker/
[38] http://www.k12innovation.com/Manifesto/_V2_Home.html
[39] http://aclj.org/education/parental-rights-in-education
[40] http://www.utah.gov/governor/news_media/article.html?article=7433
[41] http://www.prosperity2020.com/2011/07/27/a-focus-on-the-basics/
[42] http://www.utahdataalliance.org/
[43] http://house.michigan.gov/sessiondocs/2013-2014/testimony/Committee223-3-20-2013-6.pdf
[44] http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_3_massachusetts-education.html
[45] http://hoosiersagainstcommoncore.com/james-milgram-testimony-to-the-indiana-senate-committee/
[46] http://www.uaedreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2000/01/Arkansas-Testimony-2013.pdf
The USOE (Utah State Office of Education) mailed out a flier (on our dime) to all GOP delegates making unsubstantiated statements to try and persuade them to vote against the anti-Common Core resolution on Saturday.
USOE’s QuickFacts in quotes, responses below:
1. In Utah, the term “Common Core” is limited to only the state level standards for mathematics and English language arts. In our state, those standards are not connected to data sharing, federal funding or mandates, or loss of local control of education.
Adopting Common Core standards, the only standards that fit the definition of “career and college ready standards,” was a condition of the federal Race to the Top RttT grant[1] application that also included requirements for data collection. The USOE committed to the standards in our application[2] before the standards were complete[3]. Utah did not receive RttT money[4] in the end, but by the time we knew this, the reforms were in place[5].
These are not just standards. Common core is just one piece of a much larger education reform agenda[6]. The State Fiscal Stabilization Fund[7], Race to the Top grant[8], Race to the Top for Assessments[9], and No Child Left Behind Waiver all share the same 4 reform tenents. Namely, standards and assessment reforms, accountability a.k.a teacher/principal evaluations-school grading, data systems, and school turn around reforms.[10]
2. The Common Core State Standards were created by the states, for the states. Utah adopted these standards in 2010, thus making them part of the Utah Core Standards.
“States” did not lead this effort. The National Governor’s Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) who led this process are non-governmental trade organizations who receive their funding from the federal government and private companies[13] [14]. Proponents of Common Core claim that President Obama is now trying to take credit for what the states started. While it is true that there has been a movement toward centralized/nationalized education for a long time, President Obama catapulted his vision of education reform on the states with enticements of Stimulus money[15] and threats of losing Title I[16] money. As noted in several states’ board meeting minutes and audio from spring of 2009, the States had been invited to develop national standards[17] [18] [19] by the US Dept. of Ed. Further, the NGA and CCSSO are not elected representative bodies and their meetings are not open to the public[20] [21]. This process is not compatible with those laid forth by our state or federal constitutions[22]. According to the Utah Constitution[23], the only people who set standards that the Governor has the authority to help pick are the ones that go on the ballot[24] for State School Board elections… not those who made up the privately-hired standards writing committee[25]. State School Board members are elected to represent the will of the people of this state, not to represent the will of the NGA/CCSSO to the people of this state.
3. Utah and the nation’s economic strength depend on how well we educate our children to compete in a global economy. Utah teamed with other states to adopt evidence-based standards standards that will improve our economic standing in the world, both as a country and as a state.
A correlation between high student test scores (which is how states and countries are compared and ranked in education policy setting) and economic prosperity has never been empirically established: “Unfortunately for proponents of this empirically vapid argument it is well established that a rank on an international test of academic skills and knowledge does not have the power to predict future economic competitiveness and is otherwise meaningless for a host of reasons (Baker, 2007; Bracey, 2009; Tienken, 2008).”
4. The Common Core standards are internationally benchmarked to keep Utah students competitive in math and English language arts, not just with other students in the United States, but with students from around the world.
Sandra Stotsky and James Milgram, the only content experts who sat on the Common Core validation committee refused to sign off on the standards in part because no proof of international benchmarking was ever given. They asked for specific countries used and none were supplied[26]. Their own comparisons with other nations led them to conclude that students following the CCSS would be two years behind their peers in countries with high test performance[27].
Additionally, in a March 2010 Massachusetts State Board Meeting Jason Zimba, one of the writers of the standards admitted that the standards were written to prepare students for a non-selective two-year college not a four year university[28].
In April James Milgram wrote a letter[29] to a UT citizen for the State School Board and this is what he had to say about international benchmarking – “I can tell you that my main objection to the Core Standards, and the reason I didn’t sign off on them was that they did not match up to international expectations. They were at least 2 years behind the practices in the high achieving countries by the 7th grade, and, as a number of people have observed, only require partial understanding of what would be the content of normal, solid, course in Algebra I or Geometry. … They will not help our children match up to the students in the top foreign countries when it comes to being hired to top level jobs.”
5. The Utah State Board of Education controls the core for Utah and answers to no one but Utah voters on the issue.
The Utah State Board of Education answered to no one, especially not voters, in adopting the Common Core standards without publicity or public hearings. Just recently in the audio[30] from the May 2nd board meeting where a resolution supporting Common Core was passed the comment was made, “This is just the beginning of really communicating the way we need to with the general public” and “we need to take our political messaging more seriously and consider it carefully”. We elect the board to listen and represent the people not the other way around.
In this same meeting when discussing the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) waiver standards options, their legal counsel told the board, “Option B clearly says that you need the approval and certification of those institutions of higher education. In my opinion that is delegating authority, which may be scrutinized. Cases with regard to delegation of constitutional authority that’s been constitutionally delegated is very fact specific.” Yet, this is exactly what happened with the Common Core when the State Board delegated their authority to the NGA who certified the standards as “rigorous and internationally benchmarked”.
A step as significant as nationally aligned standards, affecting almost every student in the country should have involved a thorough public vetting process.
6. Utah can utilize any standards it chooses at any time with no penalty or repercussions. States created the standards and any state can withdraw at any time without penalty.
Great news! Let’s get out!
We’ve never said we can’t get out but that we want out. The longer we go down the implementation road the more money we spend on these reforms and the harder it will be to get out.
Withdrawal would likely affect our ESEA flexibility waiver. We should demand true Congressional relief from No Child Left Behind.
7. The Utah Core Standards are minimum standards of expectations of what students should be learning at each grade level and states are free to add to these standards. In fact, the Utah State Board of Educationis already developing additional standards in cursive and handwriting to add to the English language arts core.
The Utah State Board of Education voted in August 2010[31] to adopt the copyrighted standards as written, in their entirety. States can add a small amount to the standards, up to 15%.
The RTTT[32], RTTTA[33], NCLB waiver[34] all use the same 15% language.
8. Nothing in Utah’s adoption of the Common Core State Standards promotes data mining of student’s personal information or other inappropriate use of student data. The Utah State Board of Education is committed to student and teacher privacy and will not share personally identifiable data.
Common standards has been the holy grail of researchers and data mining proponents for years as it greatly enhances the comparable sample size and the ability to compare data across states. One private education data mining company called the CC standards the “glue that ties everything together.” A state longitudinal student data system SLDS was another requirement of both the RttT grant program and the ESEA flexibility waiver. National, “student-level” longitudinal data (de-identified with a student number) instead of aggregate data, is the desired outcome of combining the SLDS with common standards. Making sure data is not “personally identifiable” is only one small safety measure and in no way addresses the many other privacy and policy concerns.
As stated under “fact #1” Common Core is just one piece of a much larger education reform agenda[35]. The State Fiscal Stabilization Fund[36], Race to the Top grant[37], Race to the Top for Assessments[38], and No Child Left Behind Waiver all share the same 4 reform tenents. Namely, standards and assessment reforms, accountability a.k.a teacher/principal evaluations-school grading, data systems, and school turn around reforms.[39]
9. The Common Core is not a program, assessment system, data collection system, a curriculum, nor a federalization of state education programs. The Common Core is a set of standards – nothing more nor less than the Utah State Board of Education’s expectations for grade-level appropriate knowledge in core subjects. The determination on how to teach these standards rests solely with local schools.
The term “Common Core” specifically refers the standards that are an essential and most visible piece of a broader reform package that has no official name. As a result, the term is also often used (whether the Board condones it or not) to refer to the full package of reforms that were included in the federal incentives of RttT and the ESEA waiver, i.e. Common Core reforms, or Common Core agenda. Policy that affects our children should not be made without consideration to how each small piece interacts with all other factors. When those in the highest positions of authority over education don’t acknowlege the impact of nationally aligned standards in the overall context of other reforms such as data collection, unreviewable assessments, teacher accountability and school grading laws it is highly concerning and fosters a loss of confidence.
10. The standards are not one-size-fits all. Common Core standards for English and math are the same for states that adopt them, but local school districts, charters, principals, teachers and parents decide how these rigorous standards will be met. Standards do not mandate how teachers should teach of how students should learn–Utah will continue to innovate and share its successes with other states.
Standards generally determine what will be taught and in what order. Aligned tests, to which teacher pay is tied, have a more specific influence on curriculum. Practice standards, included in the CCSS, have been interpreted consistently to favor certain methods of teaching. The small sliver of local control over a narrowed selection of materials within the confines of the standards and assessments leaves little room for innovation.
Listen to what Bill Gates[40] who has poured millions into the creation and promotion of CCSS has to say about the standards, assessments and aligned curriculum.
[2] http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/executive-summary.pdf – due date page 2
[3] http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/06/02/33common.h29.html – Release date June 2
[5] http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/executive-summary.pdf – page 2 UT applied for Phase 1 &2
[10] http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/k-12
[11] http://www.nga.org/cms/home/about/financial-statements.html
[12] http://www.ccsso.org/who_we_are.html
[16] http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-calls-new-steps-prepare-america-s-children-success-college-and-care
[18] http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/NR/rdonlyres/9A641014-F37B-4972-B6FA-44581628F433/20289/May.pdf
[26] http://www.uaedreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2000/01/Stotsky-Invited-Testimony-for-Missouri-on-Common-Core.pdf – page 3
[28] http://www.doe.mass.edu/boe/minutes/10/0323reg.pdf – page 5
[29] http://whatiscommoncore.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/utahns-discuss-common-core-math/
[30] http://stream.schools.utah.gov/videoarchive/board/audio/2013/05-02-13/06_Board_Chairs_Report.mp3
[31] http://www.schools.utah.gov/board/Minutes/2010/08-06-10.aspx
Judge Norman Jackson wrote an excellent article which the Deseret News published yesterday. Here’s how it starts and a link to the article.
We the people of the state of Utah declare that we and our children are free and independent of the federal government and absolved of any allegiance when educating our children.
First, the right to educate our children was reserved to parents by the 10th amendment of our U.S. Constitution. But for 50 years the feds have imposed creeping controls upon schools, children and teachers. It’s time to set them free from top-down government micromanagement at all levels.
Second, the Utah Legislature has declared: “It is the public policy of this state that parents retain the fundamental right and duty to exercise primary control over the care, supervision, upbringing and education of their children.”
Why then are our state and school leaders also usurping our fundamental rights?
This conversation between a mom and a state school board member was recently caught on film. ;)
In Utah, State School Board elections work like this, which is essentially taxation without representation. We get taxed to fund this entity but then when we try to run a candidate for office they are eliminated by those in power.
1) Everyone who wants to run for a school board seat files an application.
2) All those names go to a special committee comprised of 12 people appointed by the governor.
3) That committee interviews the candidates, eliminates everyone against Common Core, and shrinks the pool down to 3 names from however many there were that wanted to run. If you were eliminated by these unelected individuals, too bad.
4) Those 3 names go to the governor who eliminates 1, and generously gives the public the choice of voting for 1 of those 2 candidates.
5) The public gets 2 “safe and approved” choices to vote for.
(In other elections, you file and your name either goes to a body of elected delegates to vet all the candidates and select one to run for their party, or the public just votes for all the candidates in elections)
6) The state board then pulls stuff like this:
May 2, 2013
“…NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Utah State Board of Education requests the support of the citizens of Utah to insist on proper care and vigilance in the effort to secure and protect the sensitive personal data of students and teachers in Utah’s K-12 public education system, especially in seeking the the resources and legislation necessary to strongly secure and protect the aforementioned data ; andRESOLVED, that the Utah State Board of Education calls upon the members of the Utah legislature to pass and/or revise such laws as are necessary to strongly secure and protect the sensitive personal data of students and teachers and to work jointly with the Utah State Board of Education to appropriately define the delicate balance of that privacy with the proper transparency and availability of aggregated and non-identifiable data necessary to provide accountability and oversight of Utah’s K-12 public education system.”
Great work by the State School Board on this one. We totally agree that we should strengthen privacy laws. In fact, the most secure way to secure our children’s personally identifiable information is to NOT STORE IT IN A DATABASE. It’s pathetic that the USOE and State Board signed us onto this whole mess with grant and wavier applications and now go running to the legislature (whom they constantly criticize for interfering in education), and ask them to protect them from themselves. HELLO??? Who signed the waivers and applications? The Board President, State Superintendent, and the Governor. The best way to protect this data is to unwind it.This one contains the usual nonsense about how Common Core had significant public input, and how it was closely reviewed by members of the board before adoption. Both lies shown elsewhere so lets get right to the fun…
“…BE IT RESOLVED that the Utah State Board of Education calls upon the Governor of the State of Utah and the members of the Utah Senate and the Utah House of Representatives 1) to support the goal of career and college ready outcomes for Utah students, 2) to resist the demands calling to “remove Utah from the common core” based on erroneous information, and 3) to collaborate with the State Board of Education in supporting teachers, parents and students during the transition to these new Utah Core Standards.”
The board must be getting pretty desperate to pass such an action. It’s sort of like spitting into the wind though. Our momentum is just beginning to build. We passed 5,000 signatures last night! The more the public learns about Common Core, the less they like it. Yesterday on Twitter there was a national anti-Common Core rally. Here’s how the stats looked between #stopcommoncore and #supportthecore.
Back to the board’s desperation resolution…here’s a few comments.
Item 1) We all support having high schoolers prepared to do anything they want to when they graduate. That’s one of the major reasons we are against Common Core.
“I can tell you that my main objection to Core Standards, and the reason I didn’t sign off on them was that they did not match up to international expectations. They were at least 2 years behind the practices in the high achieving countries by 7th grade, and, as a number of people have observed, only require partial understanding of what would be the content of a normal, solid, course in Algebra I or Geometry. Moreover, they cover very little of the content of Algebra II, and none of any higher level course… They will not help our children match up to the students in the top foreign countries when it comes to being hired to top level jobs.” – Dr. James Milgram, Stanford, the only professional mathematician on the Common Core validation committee
“The standards which I have analyzed in detail many times over, do not signify readiness or authentic college level work, at best they point to readiness for a high school diploma.” – Dr. Sandra Stotsky, ELA validation committee member, former Asst. Superintendent of MA, helping MA design their top rated standards that put them on par with international high achievers
Item 2) We also fully support not removing Utah from Common Core based on erroneous information. All the reasons we state for exiting Common Core are factual, and therefore, should be highly considered by government officials. Initial ignorance on the part of state school board members was forgivable. They hadn’t done their homework and were overly trusting of USOE personnel who told them “we have to have this signed by Monday or we’ll lose funding.” However, now that so much has been made public, their continued loyalty to this agenda brings their own honesty into question. In fact, their own defense of Common Core has become comical with Joel Coleman declaring on his blog that people against Common Core don’t care about standards in education, and Dixie Allen telling Uintah parents that Common Core isn’t costing the state anything. Like anyone but Common Core zombies would believe that nonsense. Desperate and pathetic.
Item 3) The state board wants all elected officials to fall in line and collaborate with them in transitioning teachers, parents, and students to a program designed from inception to standardize children so it’s easier to find the exact formula that makes for smart kids, behavioral test them, and store that data in the world’s most secure longitudinal database. Oh wait, I guess “most secure” would be erroneous so don’t base your decision off those words.
Utah’s State School Board elections perfectly illustrate taxation without representation, and their duty to serve the public interest is education without representation. Who is their customer? Parents, not the State Office of Education, and not the Governor. Listen to your customers State Board, or your customers will go away. That’s business 101.
If you want to solve this problem, demand that people who want to run for school board are allowed to. No secret handshakes in back rooms anymore that prevent the public from electing the best candidate who meets their desires for education. An elected body that basically has general control of half of Utah’s budget must also be looked at closely because the public will never whittle down 24 candidates to the best 2 to run against each other. As such, it is necessary that elections for such a major fiscally-responsible position be made partisan. There is no such thing as a non-partisan position or race. Look at what happened to Nicole-Toomey Davis when she ran against Kim Burningham for a state school board seat. These people are over a massive multi-billion-dollar budget which draws power and influence like nothing else. Candidates should declare a party affiliation they will run under and let locally elected delegates from their party ask the tough questions and then vote on the best candidate. The best candidates will then square off in a general election and the public will finally have their voice heard on the state school board (and the same should happen for district school board races as well).
If you agree, please contact your legislators today and ask them to give Utah partisan school board races so the public gets the best candidates and not the ones with the most power brokers backing them.