Monday, June 17, 2013

Common core with Tom Luna

Common core townhall with tom luna

Well you gotta give credit to Kevin miller again attempting to get to the bottom of and to the truth of the issue. The really sad part is that the truth only is concerning to those that will be affected by common core not those who are hell bent on implementing it! 

I was asked to attend tonights meeting and thought about whether i should or not. After only a few minutes i realized it would be an utter waste of my time. Why? Because this is one more song and dance. This is one more chance not to be heard by our elected officials but one more chance to be indoctrinated or swayed  as to why we need it. What happened to town halls where the concerns of the people were of concern to the elected officials? What happened to getting down to the truth and not have some rosy bullshit story shoved down the throats of the tax payer?

If i had the chance i would hang these bastards by their balls not only for not telling the truth but to take the position of telling us what is good for us! 

I could go on a rant for days on why common core is a tragedy but it really should come down to one issue first, not is it a good idea but does the federal government have the authority to create and forcefully implement federalized standards within their limitations outlined in the constitution? If they don't, they are stepping outside their jurisdictional boundaries and usurping the authority of the state! Like healthcare this agenda is most likely money driven and because if this is exempt from any boundaries.

Below are several articles i collected on the reality of common core. As for Luna, one whom i called friend, i think he is either ignorant of the reality or has turned his back on his honor selling his fellow idahoans down the road. As well as i know him, i venture to say he has no idea the full ramifications of what he promotes. I only hope he wakes before its too late and realizes the harm that will be done by its unlawful abusive implementation

Common core

School choice is trojan horse

It Begins… Communist Indoctrination Included in Common Core Literature for First Graders (Video)
This will make you puke.
Reading, writing and arithmetic are out – Communist indoctrination is in!

The radical left is indoctrinating FIRST GRADERS in communist doctrine disguised as educational tools for first graders. The indoctrination is part of the Common Core curriculum for elementary students.

 

Sex and castro

This is a letter that was written by a retired judge in Utah. Please read it as it pertains to States' Rights, and substitute your State where appropriate. Thanks so much for your interest.

[STATE’S] PARENTS DENIED DUE DILIGENCE AND DUE PROCESS: STATE SCHOOL BOARD ADOPTS FEDERAL EDUCATION COMMON CORE STANDARDS AND ASSESSMENTS

By Norman H. Jackson, Judge, Utah Court of Appeals, Retired PAPER – January 28, 2013

[The State's] State Board[s] of Education adopted the Federal Common Core State Standards Initiative before they, or anyone else knew, what the Standards would be. The Federal curriculum, assessments and other materials had not been written and some are still being drafted. We, and our legislators, had no notice of this action, and have no voice in the ongoing production of Common Core. This procedure has usurped basic education policy and content decisions from parents and our elected representatives...these mandates are contrary to the Tenth Amendment of the U. S. Constitution which reserves control over education to the states and the people.

Here is the factual background and timeline for the creation and progress of Common Core.  Education “reformers” have worked for decades to impose national education standards.  The current phase began during the 2008 Presidential election when it was introduced as uniform “American Standards”.  As the Obama administration came into power, their vision for nationalizing education was labeled “Benchmarking For Success”.  To avoid the scrutiny of the democratic process, they used the Stimulus Bill to distribute an enormous pot of money to the U. S. Dept. of Education. And this taxpayer money is being used to shape state and local education without Congressional oversight.

In March 2009, the Department announced a two-part “Race-To-The-Top” competition for states to receive Common Core education funding. States could not get any money unless they signed contracts to adopt the Federal Standards. In March 2010, the “first official public draft” of the Standards (Math and English only) was released.  A final draft was released in June, and our State Board of Education immediately applied for funding and adopted Common Core.  Education Week reported Rutgers professor Joseph Rosenstein’s observation that: “Deciding so quickly … was irresponsible”.  Moreover, our School Board’s Application was not deemed meritorious. Funding was denied. But, Common Core mandates remain.

These facts demonstrate that we the people, and our children, were denied Due Diligence. Due Diligence is “such diligence as a reasonable person under the same circumstances would use.” It is “used most often in connection with the performance of a professional or fiduciary duty.”  It was not reasonable under these circumstances for the Board to act without giving notice to its constituents and providing an opportunity to respond. As fiduciaries, the Board had the duty to act in behalf of the public with care, candor and loyalty in fulfilling its obligations. I concur with Professor Rosenstein and conclude that the Board’s actions constitute a breach of their fiduciary duty to do “Due Diligence” in our behalf.

Further, these facts demonstrate that...citizens were denied Due Process. The boundaries of Due Process are not fixed. Fundamental to procedural due process is adequate notice prior to the government’s deprivation of one’s life, liberty, or property, and an opportunity to be heard and defend one’s rights. Substantive due process is a limit on the government’s power to affect the above rights. It is a safeguard against government action that is unfair, irrational or arbitrary in advancing a government interest.

The Federal mandates of Common Core dwarf No Child Left Behind mandates. They have the potential to be like Medicaid and ObamaCare with immense un-vetted and unfunded costs to taxpayers.  States and their citizens have the Constitutional right to local control. But, the Government requires that Common Core be fully implemented by 2014. Moreover, recent Federal revisions to the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) render student and family data – educational, health and otherwise – collectible by the Federal Government through the P-20W data systems they paid States to create. The State School Board’s denial of due process to citizens has made this possible.

I concur with Mitt Romney’s recent evaluation of Common Core: “I don’t subscribe to the idea of the Federal Government trying to push a Common Core on various states. It’s one thing to put out as a model and let people adopt it as they will, but to financially reward states based upon accepting the Federal Government’s idea of a curriculum, I think, is a mistake. And the reason I say that is that there may come a time when the Government has an agenda that it wants to promote”.

Obama’s “2020 Vision Roadmap” for America’s schools was co-written by his former education advisor, Linda Darling-Hammond. Darling-Hammond is now in charge of content specifications for half the country’s testing under Common Core. Yet, she attacks the use of standardized tests! In Nation Magazine, she compares America’s education system with South African apartheid and proposes that poverty requires the government to guarantee “housing, healthcare, and basic income security” to all. Then she praises nations that centrally control their schools.

At the end of her article, she touts Obama’s grand “2020 Vision Roadmap” (which she helped write) stating: “The Federal government should compel states to review inter-  and intra- school resource distribution using established indicators. States that fail to comply would be subject to withdrawal of Federal funds, and the Federal Government would have the right to the direct remedy to correct the problem.”

The citizens of Utah and the United States are in for some spectacular surprises, including federally controlled education and redistribution of State and school district resources during Obama’s second term. I urge [States'] lawyer legislators to evaluate the State Board’s denial of due diligence and due process to [its] citizens, and to protect taxpayers and students from Obama’s Education policies to be fully implemented by 2014.
 
Common Core is a big issue in Idaho now as the education bureaucracy is attempting to ramrod acceptance of Common Core in conjunction with the technocratic takeover of our schools.  It's important that when you talk to people about Common Core that you have the facts because the propaganda supporting it is coming from well-funded and highly connected places. 
 
It doesn't matter if you are in Idaho or not.  Common Core is a national plan.  This website is a great place to start learning about Common Core and why we don't want it for Idaho children
 
Missouri Coalition Against Common Core 
 
 
It's better to watch the video on youtube because you can watch all of them and not just the first one
 

Hope this is a helpful 15 min video on Common Core for your efforts to educate more people:


Don't forget to join the Tweet Up tomorrow from 12-2 against Common Core by searching for the hashtag, #StopCommonCore. See here for more information on tomorrow - http://truthinamericaneducation.com/common-core-state-standards/stopcommoncore-twitter-rally/

-- 
Virginia "Ginni" Thomas
Liberty Consulting & Daily Caller
vthomas@libertyinc.co/ginni@dailycaller.com

Latest Daily Caller posts: 

THIS WEEK: Will Estrada, Home School Legal Defense Assn -



Common core


I vote 'yes' to an extended meeting on Common Core in April.

This is an uncut version of information sent to the local paper as an editorial letter. (It was submitted a couple of times, editing for length and content.) They state that they can't print it because the Idaho Department of Education refutes some of it, in spite of the fact that the footnotes were included in the submission. You can find many more supports on line. You be the judge...

Thanks for your interest and your action.

Deborah Henrie

Editor:

On March 16th Idaho State Superintendent of Education Tom Luna presented his support for the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI/CC/CCSS). In his presentation he stated repeatedly that Idaho “has its own K-12 standards, which he says he helped to write, and that “we will always have our own standards.” But the Idaho State Department of Education publishes on line that “The current Idaho State Language Usage and Reading Standards will be replaced by CCSS as of the 2013-2014 school year.” It says the same for the “current Mathematics standards”, and also that “all new curriculum alignments should now be made to the CCSS” (1) for both math and English Language Arts (ELA).
Supt. Luna said that a few years ago he was elected as president of the CCSSO (Council of Chief State School Officers--a private club for state superintendents and other school officers), and spoke favorably of the NGA (National Governor’s Association--a private club for governors). Proponents of Common Core argue that it is a state led initiative and that governors and state superintendents voluntarily signed on. But NGA and CCSSO, as private organizations, are backed by the Gates Foundation, among others. In 2004 Gates’ Microsoft Corporation entered into a contract with UNESCO, an arm of the United Nations, to create a global education system. In 2009 the Gates Foundation poured millions into the NGA and CCSSO, who “were involved in drafting, evaluating, and winning support for the standards.” (2) 
Textbook publisher McGraw-Hill states that they are “an endorsing partner of the NGA/CCSSO common core initiative”, and that “The Gates Foundation will spend an estimated $354 million between 2010 and 2014” (2) to install Common Core in our states. 
The Smarter Balanced Consortium web site states that they are “one of two multistate consortia awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Education to develop an assessment system based on the new Common Core Standards.” And proponents say that this is state-led, and not federal intrusion? (3) Supt. Luna said that there has been no exchange of money between the Fed and Idaho for CCSSI, but we are receiving federal dollars for education, and Pres. Obama told the states that he would withhold Title 1 money of states who do not sign on to CC, which amounts to coercion. (4) Also, “The nearly $16 billion in additional costs is nearly four times the federal government’s Race to the Top grant awards,” said Pioneer Institute Director Jim Stergios. “With state and local taxpayers footing 90 percent of the bill for K-12 public education, the federal government’s push to get states to adopt national standards and tests amount to one big unfunded mandate.” (5)
Pres. Obama also enticed states saying that if they would fully implement CC, he would reduce their obligation to No Child Left Behind (NCLB), (6) which was another federal intrusion fiasco that harmed our children’s education, our sovereignty and our pocketbooks. He further induced them with $4.35 billion in Race to the Top stimulus dollars. (7) These intrusions and methods violate multiple federal laws. (8)
When later asked about the requirements of CCSS that children will not be taught to write in cursive, (9) or taught to read using phonics (they will be taught whole language, as though memorizing Chinese characters), (10) Mr. Luna expressed no concern, and said that it is up to the local districts as to what methods and curriculum to use. (See the first paragraph above re Idaho’s curriculum alignments to CC.)
Reuters, an international news agency, reports a $100 million injection into data tracking, which is one of the requirements of CC: “In operation just three months, the database already holds files on millions of children identified by name, address and cometimes Social Security number. Learning disabilities are documented, test scores recorded, attendendance noted. In some cases, the database tracks student hobbies, career goals, attitudes toward school, even homework completion.” (11) Clinical Psychologist Gary Thompson states, “According to the U.S. Department of Education, CCSS will authorize the use of testing instruments that will measure the ‘attributes, dispositions, social skills, attitude’s and intra personal resources’ of public school students under CCSS (USDOE Feb, 2013 Report).  In a nutshell, CCSS simply states that it will develop highly effective assessments that measures….well….almost ‘everything.’” He states that “The accuracy of psychological testing has grown in the past 10 years to astonishing levels” and that he cannot professionally endorse CCSS as currently written, and that “The issues involving psychological testing and privacy are issues that should be of concern to every parent with a child enrolled in public school.” (12) He should add that this applies also to home and private schoolers.
  When asked about this national data base, Supt. Luna said, “No children in Idaho have had any data about them shared with the federal government.” Could that be because CC won’t be implemented until this fall? What is the purpose of this data being sent to the federal government and other entitles, even without the knowledge or permission of parents? The Gates Foundation funded a paper titled, “Framework for a Multistate Human Capital Development Data System.” The answer is in the title. The government will decide what educational opportunities and jobs will be available to our citizens. Every state is  to have a P-20 Council (P-20W) which means documentation from pre-school through 20 years of schooling, which includes 2 years of college level schooling, to the job the federal government has chosen for you. (13) 
Federal FERPA laws (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974) were passed in order to protect our children’s information from the Fed, but parental rights to deny the collection of this data, or to restrict who has access to it were changed through executive regulation, not the legislative process, paving the way for the State Longitudinal Database System (SLDS). (14)
The data will be gathered and stored at a mammoth facility that is currently being built by the National Security Agency (NSA) in energy-rich Utah on Camp Williams in Salt Lake County, and is scheduled for completion this fall. (15) 
What do we do without Common Core? Dr. Sandra Stotsky, who refused to sign off on the ELA CC standards as the only person on the CC Validation Committee who is an expert on the subject, because they are inferior in that they do not prepare students for authentic college level work and are not internationally benchmarked. Dr. Stotsky has offered her standards for free to the states. (16) She is one of the foremost authorities on ELA standards in the country, having studied the standards of each of the states, and helped Massachusetts to become one of the top states in the nation in ELA education. James Milgram was the only person on the Validation Committee who is an expert on math standards, and he also refused to sign off on them because of their inferiority. (17) Several states have higher math standards than Common Core, and those standards should be adopted instead of CC without the terrific expense, and without turning education over to the federal government, i.e. Singapore math or Saxon math.
Public knowledge, feeling and individual actions are the only chance we have to overcome the powerful influence on our governors and chief school officers by the federal government and special interest corporations. Please inform yourself, and require Governor Otter and Supt. Luna to get us out of Common Core.

 
(1)  http://www.sde.idaho.gov/site/content_standards/ContentStandards - Idaho State Department of Education - Idaho.gov under: Idaho State Department of Education - Content
*Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution, Article X: US DOE has promoted adoption and creation of national standards, and national assessments, and curriculum materials to support those standards.
      *Dept. of Education Organization Act (1979)
      No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
      Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution, Article IV: We have a right to be secure in our  persons. Common Core forces the creation of a SLDS in each state, to be shared with entities across and outside of government.
      General Educational Provisions Act: Senator Marco Rubio wrote a letter to the Obama administration demanding an explanation: “Furthermore, I am concerned that the administration’s requirements for granting a waiver from NCLB would entail states having to adopt a federally-approved ‘college and career ready’ curriculum: either the national Common Core standaards, or another federally-approved equivalent. I am also concerned that the US Department of Education has created, through its contractors, national curriculum materials to support these Common Core standards. Such activities are unacceptable; they violate three existing laws: NCLB, the Department of Education Organization Act, and the General Education Provision Act. All three laws prohibit the federal government from creating or prescribing national curriculum.” http://bobsidlethoughtandmusings.wordpress.com/author/sides1977/ 


If you've tried to be the responsible parent and attend any of the local school district meetings in order to get answers and accountability regarding the horrific adaptations of "Common Core" that's blanketing every school system in the U.S., then no doubt you've been delayed by some hard-core,old-fashioned delay tactics. These are bonafide TACTICS that are deliberately utilized to ensure you do NOT have a voice and that their dark works get to remain in darkness. YOU need to be able to take back the meeting though, and ensure that questions ARE answered. The following information and resources will help you do so.

If you think that the implementation of this kind of information is too arduous or outside of the scope of what you're willing to do to protect your children,then allow me to make perfectly clear that the ENEMY most certainly is embracing and learning and is fully committed to using these tactics against you and your children. You will have NO recourse if you do not discipline yourself to address this issue with intelligence, determination, and self-restraint. 
So, please--get informed, and get armed.
Some of the state tactics used to avoid answering your questions that you need to be aware of are:
The presenter drones on and doesn’t leave time for questions.
The presenter deflects your question and tries to act like nobody else is interested and they’ll address your question after the meeting.
The presenter works to separate you from the group during the meeting so you or your position are isolated. There are cases elsewhere, where a person might be pulled out of the room for someone to answer your question.
This is called the Delphi Technique and if you read this excellent article you will be prepared to defend yourself against it.
http://www.vlrc.org/articles/110.html (please cut and paste the link as FB won't allow me to hyperlink it for some reason)

In general, when confronting such persons, your best tactics are:
Keep a calm voice and never lose your cool.
Bring the person you’ve asked the question to, back on subject to answer your question. Stay focused.
Don’t let them deflect or delay. Just calmly reiterate that your question hasn’t been answered.
If someone else is being deflected, support them by asking the question again.
Don't allow them to manipulate you to express anger or great emotion as they will leverage that to portray you as a "dangerous" or "frightening" person.
I realize that these meetings are being held all of the the U.S. however I feel that it's very valuable to parent to read of this report by Christel Swasey’s experience in a Wasatch School District meeting presentation by State Office of Education official Judy Park.(Utah)
 
 
Click here for some questions which you can ask at meetings. Please post your questions below in the comments.


This link will also help you better understand the issue of Common Core being put into our school systems regardless of where you live; you'll find it helpful. This program is most assuredly a blatant attack on the morality,family values, and the value of a family and the inherent authorities and responsibilities that parents hold in the family role. Don't wait until you LOSE your children before you're inclined to fight for them. Protect them now. 

Hello,

Idaho's Common Core Memorandum of Agreement says exactly what was expected: Chief State School Officer (CSSO) Luna is saying Idaho has her own standards because Idaho was one of the participants with the other states through the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), of which he was formerly the President, and National Governor's Association (NGA) in developing the CCSS standards and getting them adopted, which was funded by Gates and others. That's what Common Core State Standards are, so far--an NGA/CCSSO concoction funded by Gates (who reportedly recently told the Wall Street Journal that he has $5 BILLION in the game to this point http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903554904576461571362279948.html), the Fed, and others. 

Governor (NGA) Otter's job, and CSSO Luna's job, is stated as, "responsibility for coordinating the process that will lead to state adoption of a common core set of standards". Doesn't that mean their responsibility is not to Idahoans, who elected them and are paying their salary, but to those who are paying for the CCSSO and NGA? 

Idaho has agreed ("States that choose to align their standards to the common core standards agree to ensure that the common core represents at least 85 percent of the state's standards in English language arts and mathematics"--but keep in mind that science, social studies, and sex ed have already been written and are ready for inclusion) to use CCSS Common Core State Standards for 85% of their standards (which drives the assessments and curriculum),which means the states cannot change one word of the standards; they are only allowed to add 15% if they want to improve the education, and/or change the direction the conglomerate and Fed and Gates are taking them. That means the Fed can teach anything they want, take as much class time assessing as they want, and the curriculum must be aligned with those standards and assessments. If you don't like that they are using government documents and propaganda for ELA instead of the 'classics', teaching 'social justice'(taxpayer funded immorality and taking from those who work for a living to give to those who won't), and 'sustainable growth', which is population control such as we have already witnessed in places like China and India. 

The Idaho MOA states that there will be a National Validation Committee, made up of experts, to validate "end-of-course expectations, provid[e] leadership for...development of K-12 standards, and certifying state adoption of the common core...[and will] provide an independent review of the common core...and...use evidence as the driving factor in validating...." It also says that the standards will be "internationally benchmarked". However, the only two 'experts' on the validation committee both refused to sign off on the standards because of their inferiority. Dr. Sandra Stotsky, who has evaluated the ELA standards of every State, and is credited with helping Massachusetts to develop their top ELA standards (until they adopted CCSS), said that the Common Core State Standards are inferior in that they do not prepare students for authentic college level work and are NOT internationally benchmarked. She has offered her standards for free to any state (http://educationviews.org/dr-sandra-stotskys-gift-to-america-an-education)  James (Jim) Milgram is the other expert on the validation committee who refused to sign off on the CCSS (http://parentsacrossamerica.org/james-milgram-on-the-new-core-curriculum-standards-in-math/ and http://concernedabouteducation.posterous.com/review-of-common-core-math-standards and http://wheresthemath.com/math-standards/common-core-state-standards/.)
Several states have higher math standards than Common Core, and those standards should be adopted by the separate states as they desire. Singapore Math and Saxon Math are both proven math programs, and would not require the horrific cost of CCSS' inferior standards, not to mention the TOTAL loss of parental, educator, and state control.


The MOA that CSSO Luna and Governor Otter committed Idaho to defines the involvement of the federal government: It gives the Fed control through "key financial support" in "developing a common core of state standards and in moving toward common assessments, such as through the Race to the Top Fund authorized in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Further, the federal government can incentivize this effort through a range of tiered incentives, such as providing states with greater flexibility in the use of existing federal funds [Title 1? No Child Left Behind? etc., etc.], supporting a revised state accountability structure, [the states will be accountable for the massive increases in education costs, because all money that doesn't come from the federal printing presses and rapidly accumulating massive debt, comes from the states] and offering financial support for states to effectively implement the standards [Could "effectively implement" refer to the funding strings attached if the children are not sufficiently indoctrinated?]. Additionally, the federal government can provide long-term financial support for the development of common assessments, teacher and professional development [teachers and principals potentially may lose their jobs if they do not 'effectively implement' what the Fed tells them in their 'professional development'--there will likely be a financial response to such inadequacy], other related common core standards supports [What 'other' supports? That appears to leave the door wide open], and a research agenda that can help continually improve the common core over time [notice that Idaho agrees that 'improvement'/change will come from the Fed]. Finally, the federal government can revise and align existing federal education laws with the lessons learned from states' international benchmarking efforts and from federal research." That looks like carte blanche to me--they can change federal laws re education without representation of the people through our legislatures, federal or state. This is where (SLDS) data mining comes into the picture, which is currently going on in States that are already implementing CCSS. This agreement says that there is total federal government control, except for the 15% that can be added, if there is time/energy left in the day/year. 


It is signed by Governor: C. ? Butch Otter and Chief State School Officer: Tom Luna

Read the entire Idaho Common Core 'Memorandum of Agreement' here:   Go to ttp://www.sde.idaho.gov/site/common/
Then click on 'Background on the Idaho Core Standards'
then in the first paragraph click on 'work together'.


Thanks so much for your interest in this very critical issue.

Deborah Henrie
Graduate of the Nampa School System
Still an Idahoan at Heart 

p.s. In case you are interested,"In 2004, Gates signed a 26 page agreement with UNESCO  (an arm of the United Nations that President Reagan got us out of, but President Bush got us back into) to develop a master curriculum for global teacher training.  Robert Muller, the former assistant secretary general of the U.N. is the grandfather of the world core curriculum, the goal being to bring all schools in all nations under one common core curriculum."  I went to a meeting this week where a speaker referred to international testing called PISA that shows the U.S. is way behind other developed and educated countries. But when I looked it up on line http://ahypatia.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/pisa-what-the-rankings-dont-tell-you/    I found that this dumbing down is international, started in 2000 (in close chronology to the Federal 'Goals 2000 Act', 'School-to-Work-Act', and 'Elementary and Secondary Education Act'.*) The blogger talks about the fact that Finland, who ranks first, has some educators who are saying that these tests are based on inferior math, 'fuzzy' math such as is already being taught in many of the States, that is very difficult to learn, turning children off to math, and limiting what they can learn in so much time and effort. Perhaps this is what they mean by 'international benchmarks'.

*These laws establish the implementation of the plan outlined by Mark Tucker in the "Dear Hillary" [Clinton] letter that was placed in the Congressional Record on September 25, 1998, originally written on November 11, 1992, with the following mechanisms to restructure the public schools:
1. Bypass all elected officials on school boards and in state legislatures by making federal funds flow to the Governor and his appointees on workforce development boards; [thus the takeover of the NGA and CCSSO by the Fed and Gates]
2. Use a computer database, a.k.a. "a labor market information system," into which school personnel would scan all information about every child and his family identified by the child's social security number, or other number assigned to him/her: academic, medical mental psychological, behavioral, and interrogations by counselors. The computerized [this is one of the places where the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation comes in--a return on their, so far, $5 Billion investment]  data would be available to [anyone the government deems worthy...as well as hackers, obviously].
3. Use "national standards" and "national testing" to cement national control of tests, assessments, school honors and rewards, financial aid, and the Certificate of Initial Mastery (CMI), which is designed to replace the high school diploma.

I have spoken with a teacher who is afraid to even receive information opposing CCSS, let alone to speak out against it. She said repeatedly that she was afraid for her job. Is this still America? I have heard this from other sources as well, and just received another e- today saying as much:

 “I recently attended a common core day of cheer leading for the sixth grade teachers in my district.  Money was used to pay for subs so that we could all hear for a day why the common core was so wonderful.  We were told that students would no longer be graded on completion of assignments or an average of assignment and test scores over a grading period.  Instead grading will be based on mastery of a subject.  How do we determine mastery?  The district has provided bench mark tests in language arts.  We were told that these are not mandatory BUT that if we did not use them they would become mandatory.  I find it scary that students will now be graded only on tests written by the core.  The final assessment was a research paper on modern revolutions.  Interesting how now in the sixth grade learning can be skewed to a political point of view that may or may not be historically accurate.  I find the curriculum scary and the measurement of learning terrifying. I know though that any questions I asked contrary to the core were met with anger and frustration. It was NOT allowed and dismissed to ask a question that was not common core friendly. I along with other teachers are afraid to speak out publicly against the core for fear of losing our jobs. I work in the Jordan school district.”

 
 
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: Common Core
From: Rosann
Date: Sun, May 19, 2013 11:53 pm

Vicky,

I just got a first-hand, super-dose of the Common Core. This is my fifth year substitute teaching in the Boise School District. For two days last week I taught in a Boise elementary school that is implementing the Federal Common Core curriculum. It was horrible! I've taught at this school before, and it wasn't like this then. I couldn't believe the way they micro-managed every move the kids made, even on the playground. The principle was marching up and down the halls like a little general.  And the way they had taught the kids math was absurd! I’ve read about Common Core, and I have been concerned. But this experience "inspired" me to take a deeper look.  I went on youtube, and lo and behold there was a quote from Idaho’s own Tom Luna on Glenn Beck. Here's the link to that, and a second one.
 

 
Missouri Coalition Against Common Core 
 
I am sending these three links to the parents of every Idaho school-age child I know. This is for real. Feel free to use my story, if you like. We've got to get it out of Idaho before the parents have no more say in what is being taught in their schools, and Common Core ruins the lives of their kids! 
 
Rosann

 
Subject: Common Core
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:50:09 -0700

 
Common Core is a big issue in Idaho now as the education bureaucracy is attempting to ramrod acceptance of Common Core in conjunction with the technocratic takeover of our schools.  It's important that when you talk to people about Common Core that you have the facts because the propaganda supporting it is coming from well-funded and highly connected places. 
 
It doesn't matter if you are in Idaho or not.  Common Core is a national plan.  This website is a great place to start learning about Common Core and why we don't want it for Idaho children
 
Missouri Coalition Against Common Core 
 
 
It's better to watch the video on youtube because you can watch all of them and not just the first one
 
 
 
 
 
 

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