• MORE than standards

• A comprehensive reform package

• Industrial Model based on Workforce skills and placement

• Led by Social Elitist Reformers,financed by tax dollars and promotedby private corporations & the USDOE

• Adopted by 45 states in 2010• Rejected by Alaska, Virginia, Nebraska

and Texas• Minnesota adopted ELA only

What is Common Core?

Common Standards

Federal Government

SLDS Data System

“State Led”

Assessments

WorkforceDevelopment

Aligned Curriculum

Who is really behind Common Core?

National Governors Association Council of Chief State School Officers

author and developer of the standards

Common Core Reform Agenda

“Traditionally, the federal government in the U.S. has had a limited role in education policy the current administration has sought to fundamentally shift the federal role…”

2010 UNESCO ConferenceSecretary of Education Arne Duncanhttps://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/vision-education-reform-united-states-secretary-arne-duncans-remarks-united-nations-ed

Arne Duncan Continues:

• “Our goal for the coming year will be to work closely with global partners, including UNESCO, to promote qualitative improvements and system-strengthening.”

• “That goal can only be achieved by creating a strong cradle-to-career continuum that starts with early childhood learning and extends all the way to college and careers”

https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/vision-education-reform-united-states-secretary-arne-duncans-remarks-united-nations-ed

2010 UNESCO Conference

• “We’ve been in an economic crisis for a year or so. But we’ve been in an education crisis for decades.”

• “U.S. [graduation] rates have not improved for 40 years.”

• “Yet college completion rates in the U.S. have been flat since the 1970s.”

- Bill Gates

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/media-center/speeches/2009/07/bill-gates-national-conference-of-state-legislatures-ncsl

Federal Government Involvement?

State Fiscal Stabilization Fund

2009 Stimulus Bill (ARRA) Race to the Top $4.35 BILLION

Waivers from No Child Left Behind Threatened Title I $ Funded NGA/CCSSO

• Race to the Top Contest • $4.35 billion federal money• NCLB Waiver• Title I threatened

• Complete Application

• Submit Reform Proposal

• 4 assurances

Race to the Top!

Common Core Violates 3 Laws

1- General Education Provisions Act

“…to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum…”

2- Dept. of Education Organization Act

3- Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

The 10th Amendment

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

It’s NOT just standards.

Common Standards

Federal Government

“State Led”

“State Led?”

• Standards have a copyright to NGA and CCSSO

• States wouldn’t have to be baited and coerced

• No need for millions to be spent• Education administrators and teachers would feel free to voice concerns

Republican National Committee

“The Republican National Committee recognizes the CCSS for what it is- an inappropriate overreach to standardize and control the education of our children…..”

Letter to Arne Duncan

Arne Duncan Letter-April 2013

No congressional input

Changes to federal data and disbursement policies

One size fits all policy

Standards

Concerns with

“…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…only require a partial understanding of what would be the content of a normal, solid, course in Algebra I or Geometry.”

R. James Milgram, Ph.D.Emeritus ProfessorDepartment of MathematicsStanford University

“Moreover, they cover very little of the content of Algebra 2, 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.”

R. James Milgram, Ph.D.Emeritus ProfessorDepartment of MathematicsStanford University

Math Standards• No prime factorization, least common denominators or greatest common factors; conversions among

fractions, decimals, and percent.

• de-emphasizes algebraic manipulation, a prerequisite for advanced mathematics, and instead effectively redefines algebra as “functional algebra”, which does not prepare students for STEM careers

1-2 Grades Behind International Peers:

• does not require proficiency with addition and subtraction until grade 4

• does not require proficiency with multiplication using the standard algorithm until grade 5, a grade behind the expectations our international competitors.

• does not require proficiency with division using the standard algorithm until gr. 6

• Starts teaching decimals only in grade 4, about two years behind the more rigorous state standards, and fails to use money as a natural introduction to this concept.

• Fails to teach in K-8 about key geometrical concepts such as the area of a triangle, sum of angles in a triangle, isosceles and equilateral triangles, or constructions with a straightedge and compass.

Concerns with

• ELA• 50%-70% Informational Text

• Controversial Exemplar Reading list• The Bluest Eye• Dreaming in Cuban• Google Hacks

English Language Arts Standards

English Language Arts Standards

Of poor quality Empty skills set De-emphasis on

Literature 50% Informational text Low reading levels, such

as 7th grade for 12th graders

Dr. Sandra Stotsky

University of Arkansas

Common Core Validation Committee

“College and Career”

Two-year non-selective community college

Moving State to State

Less than 2% of students move from state to state each year

It’s NOT just standards.

Common Standards

Federal Government

“State Led”

Assessments

GEDAlready aligned to CCSS & bought by PearsonCost tripled

IOWAThe latest version is aligned; PARCC will replace in 2015 grades 3-8

ACT aligning to CCSSQuestions are being added to reflect the Common Core’s emphasis on tracing

ideas through multiple texts and increased focus on statisticsThe ACT will also contain optional open-ended questions to assess students’

ability to explain and support their claims

SATDavid Coleman now head of College BoardPSAT aligns in 2015, SAT will align in 2016Advanced Placement also owned by College Board

Assessments

• Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College & Careers (PARCC)

• Smarter Balanced (SBAC)

• American Institutes for Research (AIR)

• AIR and SBAC recently partnered

• Arkansas is a member of PARCC

• Both consortiums got $360 million from the federal government

Assessments

• $186 million from the Federal Government• Computer-based• 4-6 times per year• $32.80 per student, subject to change• $250,000 membership fee annually• Mandated by the state• Undisclosed to parents• Replaces IOWA and end of course assessments

in 2015• Pearson contracted

PARCC Assessments

PARCC Cooperative Agreement with US Dept. of Ed

Is this what local control looks like?

PARCC Cooperative Agreement

with US Dept. of Ed

• Evaluations tied to PARCC tests

• Teacher Excellence and Support System

• (Ark. Code Ann. § 6-17-2801 et seq.) http://www.arkansased.org/public/userfiles/rules/Current/ade_247_ACTAAP_-_Jan_2013.pdf

TESS

It’s NOT just standards.

Common Standards

Federal Government

SLDS Data System

“State Led”

Assessments

FERPAFamily Education Rights and Privacy Act

•Government can share information

•No longer need parental consent

• SLDS in lieu of national database

• P20 – Preschool to age 20

• PII includes biometrics and behavioral profile

• NEDM or CEDS – Open Data Standards• Over 400 data elements

• Gathered with surveys, testing and school records

• Accessible by federal agencies and corporations

• Career path, test scores, medical, behavioral, family, etc.

Cradle to Career

What is the problem with Data mining?

• Leads to National Data Collection which is Unconstitutional

• Loss of privacy

• Opens the door for discrimination

• Jobs and opportunities may be based on someone’s interpretation of the data

The constitution defines the God-given right to privacy: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated”

It’s NOT just standards.

Common Standards

Federal Government

SLDS Data System

“State Led”

AssessmentsAligned Curriculum

Standards Assessments Curriculum

“Any set of test questions that the federal government prescribed should surely be suspect as a first step toward a national curriculum…[Carried to its full extent,] national control of curriculum is a form of national control of ideas.”

Joseph Califano Former Health, Education, and Welfare Secretary

“I'd like to say something about the curriculum itself, rather than the assessment system. When we got started, we were calling what we did the development of content standards.  I found out from talking to an American journalist that we borrowed that term from you.  I also learned that in the United States you couldn't talk about national or state curriculum, so you used these words.  What we are doing now is saying that we are developing curriculum or the learning entitlements. We say to schools that by whatever means you teach, this is the knowledge, understanding and skills that your kids are entitled to have the opportunity to acquire. You've got to get around the constitutional arrangements in order to do the right thing. Australia has strong constitutional arrangements that say that education is the responsibility of the states, not the commonwealth, not the federal government. So how did we get there? We got there by making it a collaborative arrangement. All of this is decided not by the federal minister; all of this is decided by the six states, two territories and the one federal minister sitting at the table together.”

Barry McGawValidation Committee MemberChair of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority

“How Australia Implemented National Curriculum”

http://mobile.edweek.org/c.jsp?DISPATCHED=true&cid=25983841&item=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.edweek.org%2Fedweek%2Ftop_performers%2F2012%2F04%2Fhow_australia_developed_a_national_curriculum_and_assessment_system.html

Who is behind common core?What are their objectives?

• ALL ONE NEEDS TO DO IS FOLLOW THE MONEY AND PHILOSOPHY TRAIL TO DETERMINE WHO THE DEVELOPERS ARE, WHO WILL PROFIT, AND WHERE ARE THEY TAKING US?

Bill Gates-Funded over $250 million

• Partnered with Pearson Foundation

• Microsoft signed a cooperative agreement with UNESCO in 2004 to fund/create a Global Education System

• Gates states “Microsoft supports the objectives of UNESCO”

“CAN ANYONE TAKE SERIOUSLY THOSE WHO PRAISE COMMON CORE WHILE BEING PAID TO DO SO?” –Christel Swasey

UNESCO

• UNESCO mandates to its Education-based NGO’s (including IB):

1. Downplay nationality in teaching, lest the kids identify too strongly with their country.

2. Teach “peace” - defined by the UN as more than the absence of war, requiring social equity (redistribution of resources)

3. Teach “sustainable development” (putting resources out of reach and redistributing others under the guise of social and environmental justice).

4. Teach local-to-global activism; and

5. Execute UNESCO’s educational objectives and report back to UNESCO on activities and results.

• UNESCO handbook, “Is There a Way of Teaching for Peace?

UNESCO

• “As long as the child breathes the poisoned air of nationalism, education in world-mindedness can produce only rather precarious results. As we have pointed out, it is frequently the family that infects the child with extreme nationalism. The school should therefore use the means described earlier to combat family attitudes that favor jingoism.”(UNESCO Publication 356, “In The Classroom With Children Under Thirteen Years of Age, Towards World Understanding – V

The text book mogul.

• Sir Michael Barber of England, Chief Education Advisor at Pearson and Common Core promoter extraordinaire, is also a global education standards promoter.

• Barber talks about “sustainable reform” as “irreversible reform” and he directs education policy makers to “make it so it can never go back to how it was before.”

• If you want irreversible reforms, work on the culture and the minds of teachers and parents.” Otherwise, he says, people might repeal what’s been done because of their “wish for the past.” “make it so it can never go back to how it was before.”

It’s NOT just standards.

Common Standards

Federal Government

SLDS Data System

“State Led”

Assessments

WorkforceDevelopment

Aligned Curriculum

Marc Tucker- ‘Dear Hillary Letter’

…lays out a plan “to remold the entire American system” into “a seamless web that literally extends from cradle to grave and is the same system for everyone,” coordinated by “a system of labor market boards at the local, state and federal levels “where curriculum and ‘job matching’ will be handled by counselors “accessing the integrated computer-based program.”

CC Reform Agenda is a Puzzle

“They were as parts in a puzzle—analyzed by themselves, each of these projects appeared to be either harmless or an expression of someone’s “dream.” When linked together with other “harmless” programs, they were no longer formless but could be seen as an entire package of plans outlining methods of implementation, organization structures (including flow-charts), computerization, use of behavioral profile catalogs, and goals and objectives determination.”

-Robert H. Burke

Addressing the California Legislature in 1971

What is at stake

What are we losing?• Ability to Direct our

Children’s Education

• Loss of privacy

• Losing our constitutional rights to make these decisions for ourselves!

• Loss of Tax money ($16 billion)

Where are they taking us?

• National Control without accountability

• Workforce/Career planning through data mining

• Managed Economy

• Globalism

Call to Action

1.Educate yourself and others, visit Arkansas Against Common Core or Truth in American Education websites

2. Call your local legislator and senator, tell them you are against Common Core, we want out of PARCC and the Data Mining.

3. Talk to people-post articles on Facebook and twitter

4. Write letters to the editor.

5. Attend and speak to local/state school boards and superintendents.

Question & Answer

ArkansasAgainstCommonCore.com