Yesterday’s education committee hearing featured Jim Stergios from the Pioneer Institute, and Ted Rebarber CEO of AccountabilityWorks, testifying on issues with Common Core. We are so grateful they were able to come and engage and their testimony was well received. Audio of their testimony can be heard here and their comments last just 20 minutes. The full Common Core discussion was about an hour.
http://le.utah.gov/asp/audio/Player.asp?mtgid=9469&fn=1&start=6671
Senator Howard Stephenson commented during the meeting, “If I were the king of Utah, I would do precisely what you recommended.”
Also of tremendous note was Dr. Sandra Stotsky’s generous offer to write for free, ELA standards for Utah that would be the best in the nation. She has credibility too because she did this for Massachusetts and they became the top scoring state in the country.
The Deseret News and SL Tribune both carried articles and both reference this pathetic attempt by the state office of education to show legislators and the public that they actually want feedback on Common Core standards. How’s this for a feedback mechanism on the standards? One long massive page where each grade has a block just like this. Dear USOE, you’re a couple years late.
Here is a copy of the packet that was given to legislators at the meeting.
Packet for August 2012 Interim Meeting (PDF)
Here is a standalone copy of the awesome infographic made by JaKell Sullivan
I attended the meeting yesterday. I was simply disgusted. The USOE expects us to believe that Utah really has ANY control of the curriculum after that meeting. We simply do not. Those of us who attended as concerned parents and citizens were told that we don’t have advanced education ourselves, that we can’t possibly understand this complicated issue, that we need to “trust” the USOE and that we should “trust” the federal government not only with the education of our children, but with all kinds of personal information.
The USOE explained to the state legislators that $9.6 million has been spent in federal funds to go over guidelines, definitions and terminology. How does that help my child learn math?
We could be hiring the best teachers in the world and paying them six figure salaries to teach to the child; to help each child achieve to their own potential if we would stop wasting money on these “definitions” and “programs”.
This is graft at it’s worst. It is dishonesty. I hope that consumers of Utah’s education product with get involved in much higher numbers and realize what could be done without spending another dime on education.
I also attended the meeting as a concerned Parent and I was very disappointed. While I believe many of the legislators expressed concern I don’t think they are going to do anything about it. They need to get a back bone and stand up for something. Aaron Osmond said he has heard the arguments against Common Core so many times that he is nauseated by it. I have a solution for Osmond, HE NEEDS TO ACT and the complaining and the nauseated feeling will go away. Mr. Shumway couldn’t even present an intelligent argument for common core. I heard nothing of how Common Core will raise test scores and how it has been prove to produce higher test scores. In many ways, Mr. Shumway sounded more concerned about raising the graduation rate in Utah to make Utah look good. I was also very alarmed and concerned that they want to track our children’s success from kindergarten through high school And as they enter the work force. They spent 9.6 million in three years on their data base! That is alarming and I had to hold myself back from standing up and yelling about how that was a serious waste of our money and a data base isn’t helping our children to learn anything! I do want to applaud Represenative Ken Sumsion for having the courage to speak out against how the money is controlling the decision and as long as the federal government is handing out federal dollars Utah will accept it at the expense of our children’s education. That is really what this debate is about! Finally, the member of the USOE that said she doesnt care what the federal government has to say about the standards and they will change them if they aren’t working is either lying or completely Naive about how the federal government involvement works. After attending this meeting, I don’t feel right about sending my children to public school and I will home school. Over my dead body will the federal government track my child!!!
When I served on the ASD Board of Ed I was constantly remided to have ‘Trust’ in the administration. In fact, ‘Trust’ is a major facet of the way most of Public Ed is based. I was able to have ‘Trust but Verify’ added to the ASD’s Board of Ed Code of Conduct. Yep, but all it turned out to be was nothing but lip service.
There were several times in voting that the phrase came out, ‘I’m voting the way the admin has perscribed because I trust them.’ Many votes were taken with the Board not even having one iota of real knowledge because of their ‘Trust’ int he admin.
This Trust is prevalent about the whole Public Ed reign. The teachers are told to ‘Trust’ the association (Alpine Teachers Association). The Boards of Ed are told to ‘Trust’ the admins. This trust even is hammered at the conventions whether they be with the Utah School Boards Association or the National School Boards Association.
Seriously, if you want real change you have to make the ‘Trust’ the people have in their superiors questioned. Problem, I really don’t know if those who sit onthe Boards really have the knowledge to be able to question the admins and, what would happen if they found the admins have been leading the astray. What then?