Missouri Mom Discovers Common Core Can Erode First Amendment Rights

I received this from Missouri mom Stacy Shore on our Truth in Education email alert system.

This is absolutely worth spreading far and wide.  I know I don't have to tell anyone reading this blog that you can't POSSIBLY research ANY topic if you only have a specific parameter in which to search.  This is truly the kind of thing I think opponents of the Common Core are all afraid of.  

After Stacy's story, please continue reading to find what Mary Byrne, (an education consultant with a doctorate in education - she's also a mom and a grandmom who sees defense of liberty in this nation an avocation) says about the term "Academic Freedom" - it's an EYE OPENER! 

STACY'S STORY: 

My daughter told me a story a few weeks ago about doing a research paper for one of her classes this past Spring.  (She was a freshman at the time).   She told me that it was particularly difficult to do since she had to use the "common core approved" search engine "SIRS" for 4 of her 6 sources as required by her teacher. I found this to be very troubling, as did she since she said it was almost impossible to support her point of view by being forced to use that search engine to do her research.  

She said that at the top of the search engine site it shows a "Common Core Approved" banner.  

So, I found this information on SIRS:

Targeted resources for student research;

SIRS Knowledge Source (SKS) provides a portal to relevant, credible information carefully hand-selected by our SIRS editorial staff. When students use SKS, they receive best-of content designed to support student research, study, and homework in key curricula subjects. Databases cross-searchable within SKS will vary based on subscription. SIRS Knowledge Source offers National, State, Province and Common Core Standards aligned to content.

Use SKS to search these SIRS resources at once, or to link to each SIRS collection:

o    SIRS® Issues Researcher—Covering the pros and cons Leading Issues most studied and debated by students

o    SIRS® Government Reporter—Historic and Government Documents, Directories and Almanacs

o    SIRS® Renaissance—Current perspectives on the arts and humanities

SIRS® WebSelect—Collection of editorially-selected reliable and credible educational website covering all curriculum topics

You will find this web site here

"Hand selected" and "Credible"? How do we know something is credible that has been hand selected?  Those ideas are some that really bother me in this context. Research should not be relegated to "Common Core Approved".

We must put a stop to this madness.  When our children are not free to do research from any credible source they choose in order to get a grade, yet they are directed to a site where the message can be controlled in order to indoctrinate we have real problems. 

Okay, now read Mary Byrne's discussion on Academic Freedom: 

It looks like evidence of government control of information and freedom of speech for legislators to know about.  You may be interested in some information about academic freedom that refers to control of research as creation of a police state. Hmmmmm:

Academic freedom was first introduced as a judicial term of art (a term with a specific legal meaning) by Supreme Court Justice william o. douglas. In Adler v. Board of Education of City of New York, 342 U.S. 485, 72 S. Ct. 380, 96 L. Ed. 517 (1952), the Supreme Court upheld a New York law (N.Y. Civ. Service Law § 12-a) that prohibited employment of teachers in public institutions if they were members of "subversive organizations." In a scathing dissent joined by Justice hugo l. black, Douglas argued that such legislation created a police state and ran contrary to the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.

Justice Douglas equated academic freedom with the pursuit of truth. If academic freedom is the pursuit of truth and is protected by the First Amendment, reasoned Douglas, then the New York law should be struck down because it produced standardized thought. According to Douglas's dissent, the New York law created an academic atmosphere concerned not with intellectual stimulation but with such questions as "Why was the history teacher so openly hostile to Franco's Spain? Who heard overtones of revolution in the English teacher's discussion of The Grapes of Wrath? and What was behind the praise of Soviet progress in metallurgy in the chemistry class?" Douglas conceded that the public school systems need not become "cells for Communist activities," but he reminded the court that the Framers of the Constitution "knew the strength that comes when the mind is free."

ROPE has said time and again that Common Core is MORE THAN STANDARDS.  We have said time and time again that this is about creating FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE IN AMERICA.  I think this article is a really great place to go to get an overall idea of how far Arne Duncan thinks America needs to go.

Common Core Cronies - Foundation for Excellence in Education, et. al.

 

Janet Barresi, chair of the Oklahoma CareerTech board, announced in January Robert Sommers, chief executive officer and managing partner of Carpe Diem Learning Systems, had been hired as the state’s new CareerTech director.  In July (2013), Governor Mary Fallin announced that former Education Secretary Phyllis Hudecki's position would not only be filled, but modified.  After announcing that Robert Sommers would be filling Hudecki's shoes, Fallin also changed the name of the office from "Secretary of Education" to the "Secretary of Education and Workforce Development".

According to his biography, Mr. Sommers has worked in various levels of education policy in the state of Ohio, at one point serving as Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s education policy adviser for elementary through university levels.  During his tenure in Ohio, reforms for increased school performance transparency, teacher evaluation, school choice, digital education options and failing school transformation were implemented. 

Oklahoma has gone down the same yellow brick road of 'education reform'.  Coincidence?  No, association.  All points lead back to Jeb Bush and his Foundation for Excellence in Education organization - a proponent of the large package of education reforms above, including Common Core.

Thanks to emails released through an FOI request earlier in the year by In the Public Interest,  a very inspired web of activity can be pieced together in which FEE writes legislation for states, often through an FEE-created program called Chiefs for Change, that push reforms which utilize software packages created by donors such as Pearson and makes room for such publicly funded, for profit charter schools such as Carpe Diem.  According to National Post;

Bush foundation donors include family philanthropies, such as those established by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Corporate donors include Connections Education, a division of global publishing giant Pearson; Amplify, the education division of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp; and K12, a publicly traded company that runs online schools.

Many of these donors sit on a Digital Learning Council that helped draft the Bush foundation’s policy agenda. Key planks call for states to require online course work in high school and to lift restrictions that hinder cyber-school growth, such as limits on class size.

In fact, Bush has flown educators from all across the country to Carpe Diem in Arizona to visit - including state superintendent Janet Barresi and former Indiana state superintendent Tony Bennett.  Today, Robert Sommers, CEO of Carpe Diem school, has become Oklahoma's new Secretary of Education and a new Carpe Diem campus opened in Fort Wayne Indiana before Bennett was relieved of duty as the state's superintendent.

In fact, Bush - through FEE - is so intimately involved in the process of instituting the education reform 'brand', Ogston said he and other charter and online school operators feel they can go to him to have the FEE write legislation or remove roadblocks that stand in the way of successful growth - which has happened in Ohio under Sommers.

"We come to them to say, 'These policies are in the way, and it would be great if you could change them,'" Ogston said. "That's what they do better than anyone."

In fact, as was written of Carpe Diem in Indiana,

Rather than seek a charter through Ball State or the Indianapolis Mayor's Office, Carpe Diem won its charter from the newly established Indiana Charter School Board, created as an easier path for charter expansion. 

I see little way this can be viewed as any other than cronyism (Karen Francisco of the Journal Gazette in Ft. Wayne, Indiana appears to see this plainly as well) but this isn't the only troubling aspect of the Bush education reform constellation. 

The Carpe Diem School in Yuma, recently had their test scores flagged. 

"In spring 2010, the company that administers the AIMS test, Pearson Education, flagged Carpe Diem's sophomore AIMS reading test for having a higher-than-average number of erasure marks. Flagging means the state gets an alert. Pearson's report said a group of 27 Carpe Diem students who took the AIMS reading test had a total number of wrong-to-right erasure marks seven times as high as the state average. The state has no plans to step up monitoring during the spring tests."

The Christel House Academy - another charter in Indiana run by a large Republican party donor - also ran into similar trouble by way of former State Superintendent Tony Bennett.  In a furor that ended in his resignation from Chiefs For Change (his subsequent place of employment following his loss to Democrat Glenda Ritz), evidence was found that Bennett had used a loophole in the charter regulations to take the 9th and 10th grade scores out of the school's grading formula in order to bring their overall rating up to an 'A'.

According to the Washinton Post,

Bennett has said that changing the grade made the rating system credible because he knew Christel House to be a high-performing school.

The linkages in the 'Jeb Bush inner circle' continue.  In 2011, Janet Barresi - Oklahoma's Chief for Change - was invited to an event hosted for Jeb Bush and Tony Bennett by Louis A. Piconi, founder and senior vice president of Apangea Learning, Inc.  (Apangea has a registered lobbyist with the state of Oklahoma)  According to a Tulsa World article:

In January 2012, Barresi’s department announced it would be spending $470,000 on a pilot program with Apangea Learning Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pa., to provide supplemental, online math instruction and tutoring services to 10,000 eighth- through 10th-grade Algebra I students attending the lowest- and next-to-lowest-performing schools across Oklahoma.

The Apangea program was expanded statewide for 2012-13 at a cost of $1.5 million and is now called “Think Through Math.” As of Jan. 31, 267 school districts, 584 schools and 64,667 students were participating from across Oklahoma.

A teacher who has requested anonymity told me that at first, the state offered Think Through Math at no cost to her district - the teacher had only to provide a number for each student to use TTM.  After that first year, things changed.  In order to keep using TTM, teachers were to give out student test scores.  This troubled several teachers, so the district asked if they would be able to use TTM without student test scores.  They were told that in order for students to have a seat, test scores must be provided.  This teacher told me of her concern that TTM was offering seats only to "targeted individuals" (it was intimated that these 'targeted' students were those with higher test scores) and that so much of the 'motivation' for students using the program was 'competition' - pitting schools against other schools. 

From the Apangea website:

Apangea Learning's innovative motivation system inspires students to learn by building self-esteem and confidence.  By rewarding students for consistent effort and achievement, students are driven to use Apangea – even on nights and weekends. 

Kids are 'rewarded' with points they can then redeem for iPods and gift cards.

Also in 2011, Oklahoma began using a Teacher Leader Effectiveness measure provided by Battelle for Kids.  Battelle, located in Columbus, Ohio, is a private, non profit

global research and development organization committed to science and technology for the greater good. We are solving what matters most through innovation for our clients, the nation and the world.

Battelle For Kids was created by the Ohio Business Round Table and Battelle in 2001.  'Impact Partners' include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Carnegie Corporation and Pearson Assessment Training Institute.  It is a partner in providing states programming to assist in implementation of the Common Core.

Battelle for Kids also provides Oklahoma Roster Verification.

Battelle For Kids was used in Ohio schools while Robert Sommers was in Governor Kasich's office.   This is concerning not only because, once again, it appears that vendors are running the 'education reform show', but because Battelle not only has the 'value added' and roster verification programs for sale, but programs that will "transform" rural schools as well as inventory student thoughts and feelings - surveys that cannot be seen by the public unless purchased for $195 dollars.

Interestingly, Jeff Wadsworth, President and CEO of Battelle, is also on the board of Achieve - the organization that has pushed out the Common Core State Standards to the National Governor's Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Clearly, there is a revolving door of educrat 'cronies' that not only originate with the FEE and Jeb Bush Foundation, but that pick certain vendors to 'market' to states who push their education reform efforts.  This is not free-enterprise - this isn't even free thinking - it's just simply good old boy crony capitalism.

Liberty, Not Common Core; Liberty, Not Education Reform

I knew my post of yesterday would create a stir - I meant for it to. 

I believe without a doubt that Americans today do very little deep thinking on any topic other than who will win The Voice this season, sadly.  How can I say such a thing?  Look at the arts for example.  How many seats does a theater sell for a play versus the number of seats the a major league sports team sells for a single game?  How did we end up with 500 channels of television and yet the number of books being sold in a year has declined nearly exponentially over the course of the last 10 years.

As I showed my husband my previous post, he shook his head and said, "Yeah, well no one's gonna get it."

I figured as much when I began the post, but that doesn't mean I won't try.  He actually went on to wax philosophic on the topic with such excellent elocution I was embarrassed at my own oratory skills (that sentence was for my English teacher mom!).  What he said, in a nutshell, was that schools need only teach the Constitution, civics and the key concepts of LIBERTY to create a populace capable of throwing off the cloak of tyranny wherever and whenever it should rear its ugly head.  I got to thinking about that and I could not deny the absolute truth of that statement.  People who understand the concepts of liberty have thriving economies where the cream rises to the top and mediocrity is soon pushed down to the bottom of the barrel.  

Unfortunately, we don't have that anymore, and that is mostly because our liberal colleges warp history at all levels.  I saw this post this morning about how liberal college professors call Hitler (of all people) a member of the right wing.  How odd.  Who would even believe that nonsense?  I mean, he was the CREATOR of the National SOCIALIST Workers Party (NAZI).

I also saw this today.  A very short (1:48) YouTube of a professor from Hillsdale College talking about just this very warping of history and how it is happening under the Common Core.  We don't STUDY the Constitution, we just compare parts of it to other documents.  We don't expect kids to understand what it means, we simply want to pay it lip service as we slide down the slippery slope of government controlled education into the sea of socialism where everyone is COMMON yet no one understands the problem with this fact.

Then you have another article I read today about how the State Longitudinal Database basis - the Data Quality Campaign (an organization created and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to make sure that states are collected information on all American students) is going to have yet a new arm.  Yes, instead of just collecting information on all STUDENTS we will now start collecting data on all students in the WORKFORCE.  Gosh.  Have we really gone so far in America that we don't understand the ramifications of that?  Do we NOT understand anymore that we DON'T educate students for jobs?

After my post yesterday, I received an email from a dear friend of mine - Howard Houchen - a fellow political activist.  Though I've known him for years, I did NOT know that his Bachelor's degree was actually in Political Science with a major in Communist Studies.

I am closing this blog with his words because they were echoed by my husband and because they mean something.  I desperately hope they mean something to you:

If others don't get it, its not your fault -- you can't MAKE them understand the history nor its magnitude.  That's a big struggle for many of us.  I've said it a thousand time -- Face it, we're nerds!

To 99% of the every day average folks, communism died around 1991.  Communism, to them, was a set of countries, not a lasting ideology.  When these countries fell, these folks believed it was THAT act which spelled the demise of an ideology and so what if N.Korea and Cuba held on -- Weirdos.

Now, we (The good ole U.S. of A.) were the victors over Communism so why would anyone contemplate America EVER adopting any policy(s) which equaled communist policy(s)?  That would be "insane"!!!  Its how people think because of the inherent trust of government Americans have evolved to have.  In two generations, Americans have accepted government as protector and provider over self-sufficiency and reliance.  Maybe a bit reluctantly but, they've accepted it nonetheless.  

Those that have could care less about history or future consequences.  The media (the 4th Branch of Government) and government itself, possesses the ability to get to people EVERY day and EVERY hour with the message (twisted as it is) THEY want to spread -- by nature, Americans have become informationally lazy and despise having to work (search) for truth.   The average American mind has been conditioned to soak up the 'institutionalized' (ABC, NBC, CBS) information, not the alternative information.  

Its not your fault or my fault the masses are unable to see truth...it's their fault combined with a centralized effort to keep them in the dark and those centralized forces have ALL the really good cards to play with!

Common Core Communist Standards?

I have just read the Oklahoman piece on Mary Fallin's ascent to greatness (she is only the FIRST FEMALE REPUBLICAN governor to scale this height of greatness) as the new Chairman (Chairwoman?) of the National Governor's Association.  

On our car ride from Wagner County the other evening, Julia and I counted up the times we have placed FORMAL requests to the Governor's office for an appointment to see the Governor of our state - a woman for whom we voted (after the primary) because she was a REPUBLICAN (so done with the R and D thing now, frankly).  We counted the number to be THREE.  

THREE times in three years we have placed formal requests to meet with the Governor of our state.  Think about that.  ROPE is the ONLY 100% grassroots organization devoted to education in the ENTIRE STATE of Oklahoma.  Individually, we also pay her salary, but I guess that's beside the point.

To be fair, we were granted audience with one of the Governor's chief policy analysts, Katie Altshuler, after our first formal request.  Of course Katie nodded her head as Lynn and I spoke with her - and even took our paper - but of course, the next legislative session, she was informing legislators that we were misinformed and as such, should be discounted.

As I read the comments reported by McNutt, I was fairly disgusted.  Fallin's initiative as head of the NGA is called, "America Works: Education and Training for Tomorrow's Jobs".  Here is an excerpt of her comments:

“Improving our workforce and ensuring it remains internationally competitive is an issue that calls for national attention and demands gubernatorial leadership"

Gosh, is that true Governor?  You see it as your job to create an internationally competitive workforce?  

Please read the following and think upon where it might have originated:

"...needs to raise people's science awareness and education levels, and train skilled and qualified personnel in order to achieve modernization goals..."

So, who could this be?   

Well, it was Hu Jintao, President of China, speaking to a meeting attended by members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Still not convinced?  Let's compare and contrast.  Who said this?

Education is a priority in our overall development strategy and its reform must be deepened to support the building of a moderately prosperous society and the reinvigoration of the nation.

What about this?

Engaging education, business and government leaders in a dialogue about what governors can do to more closely align common education, universities, community and technical colleges and workforce training providers with future labor demands.

First one, Hu Jintao; second one, MARY FALLIN.  It gets worse.  She follows with this:

Supporting governors and their staff in using data and information to identify states' future labor demands, prioritize changes in state education and workforce training systems to meet those demands and take action to achieve desired results.

So, our governor is ALL in on this education 'reform' deal!  She wants your kids data to make sure Oklahoma can put them to work after compulsory schooling at the public expense.

Here are the final paragraphs from the Communist Manifesto.  Think on this - or scream!

8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc.

When, in the course of development, class distinctions have disappeared, and all production has been concentrated in the hands of a vast association of the whole nation, the public power will lose its political character. Political power, properly so called, is merely the organized power of one class for oppressing another. If the proletariat during its contest with the bourgeoisie is compelled, by the force of circumstances, to organize itself as a class; if, by means of a revolution, it makes itself the ruling class, and, as such, sweeps away by force the old conditions of production, then it will, along with these conditions, have swept away the conditions for the existence of class antagonisms and of classes generally, and will thereby have abolished its own supremacy as a class.

In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.

Critical Thinking and the Common Core - Snake Oil Salesmanship At Its Best!

Betty Peters is a member of the Alabama State School Board.  Unlike a majority of those on the Oklahoma State School Board, Betty is a longtime educator who knows well the dangers of the Common Core.  She has been listening to both sides of the issue for several years now.

Betty and I (Jenni) are on an email network together where a larger number of us every day are discussing the pitfalls of the Common Core.

One discussion recently, involved the Common Core PROPONENTS necessity to blather about how the Common Core standards will produce "critical thinking" in students.  How a set of standards is going to produce critical thinking has always been a bone of contention among us OPPONENTS, as this seems to be one of those 'lines' proponents say without any possible way of backing up the comment.  It's the line of a snake oil salesman who needs to sell the product, but knowing it won't work, has to come up with more and more interesting 'sales pitches' to do the job for him, knowing that people who buy the product can't refute his claims until they buy it and use it themselves.

There is no difference between selling snake oil and selling the Common Core.

Betty Peters' recent comments about critical thinking, made me ask for permission to reprint because, unlike the Common Core snake oil salesmen, her comments made sense!

I would expect that we will not understand how Common Core proponents define “critical thinking” until the assessments are in place. What’s included in the  assessments will be what is taught, and we know they will be assessing “critical thinking” skills. They have said so any times.  Critical thinking as explained in AL by the former Dean of Education at UA is not about knowing facts.  In fact he stated he does not want facts to be taught or assessed since he wants critical thinking.  Apparently  as  long as someone can access info, he can think critically about it, as defined by the Goals 2000/STW/NCLB/CCSSI gurus. 

Even in 1st grade when students are beginning to read (decode) and don’t know very much, textbooks such as the supplemental writing ones from Zaner Bloser  include assignments such as writing a persuasive letter using your “voice” to convince the town council to build a park, etc.  This requires no knowledge of facts.  The more I look at these books (I have studied  some of the ones we recently approved in AL), the more strongly I believe there will be no books to look at anyway—everything will soon be online inside the students’ computers where the information can be changed if someone does get caught indoctrinating. 

I have heard some state DOEs are already smirking about this—no troublesome busy-bodies can interfere with textbook selection if there are no textbooks.  One needs some background knowledge of Marxist terms such as critical theory to decipher what is being said or written today.   Many younger people, including educators and journalists and even elected officials,  do not even know what Marxism is!  It’s like Orwell's 1984—with lots of confusing jargon  which the Left defines and the public thinks it understands but actually does not. 

In our last board meeting, I pointed out what I had found in the Zaner Bloser books and that I felt we must rework our textbook committees to include more scrutiny of content and the inclusion of more k-2 content specialists to insure we are using age appropriate materials.  One of the ZB test booklets for the teachers had a question which required the student to locate the adjective and there was no adjective in that sentence.  This was for first graders. 

This is why I try to obtain the teachers’ editions of all textbooks.  I conclude we need to redirect our attention from standards to assessments and curriculum and textbooks; we do need to focus on the ELA exemplars which are published on the Common Core website.  And remember; all sorts of mischief can now be done via the ELA literacy readings in SS, science, etc. 

One AL school system is using Howard’s Zinn’s history book this way.  The English teachers may not  know much  about Zinn but they will be teaching it in 11th grade.  That book never could have made it through the SS textbook committee.  

I will give the CCSSI proponents credit for using their critical thinking skills when they came up with the ELA etc. standards.  You can now teach ANYTHING in the ELA classes, from wiring houses to Howard Zinn’s vantage point on American history to how to put on condoms.

Common Core in A Nutshell

This is a guest blog by one of ROPE's Board members, Julia Seay:

"How do I explain Common Core to another parent in one sentence that will make them want to look into this, and not just go along to get along?"   Jenni and I were asked that question by a mom at the Reclaim America conference this weekend.   We love to learn from our friends who stop by our table. Then the mom answered her own question.  It’s the Government replacing parents.  Here is one sentence that I believe will convey the urgency: 

·         Common Core will put Government in the place of parents the same way Welfare has put Government in the place of Churches.

Big Government is growing exponentially while the power of the church and the family is shrinking.  It’s a competition for influence over this generation.  We are facing a battle between those that love liberty, and those that lust for tyranny.

 The Church was once the center of almost every community in America, and the main source of charity.  Colleges and Universities were established by Churches.  Hospitals were established by Churches. Laws were based on the Bible.  Civility and dignity was expected from grown-ups. People believed their children would inherit a better world. 

Then LBJ spread the rumor that politics and church don’t mix, because pastors were talking about his poor character from the pulpit.  Facing the threat of taxation, many pastors started dumbing down their message. Fiery pastors stopped lifting people (especially elected officials) up to the highest of standards and teaching freedom through Christ and Biblical principles.   Pastors once led their congregations into battle for freedom from tyrants. Now many won’t even mention the rampant evil that is flourishing in our government, or encourage their church members to VOTE Biblical principles, much less run for office.  

Children of Christians are leaving the Church in droves.  Watered-down truth isn’t truth.
The Church sits silent as abortion wrecks the heart and soul of our nation, and the strength of Family is destroyed.  Poverty grows and the poor turn to the Government, not the church for help. 

No pastor-led congregations show up in the courtroom as the decision is made to take the 10 Commandments out of schools and the public square.  Anything Church can do, Government does better… but the price we pay is our freedom.

Government now provides health care, decides which businesses are allowed to succeed, dictates if a bug has more right to your property than you, picks the news and entertainment you hear, mis-educates, and decides who gets a scholarship, and just flat throws our money out the window or lines their pockets.  Church?  Shhhh….  Don’t offend anyone.

The Government will shackle the people who work hard and give the fruits of their labor to those who hold out their hand.  That is theft.  That is slavery.  They will then take credit for the gift, and demonize the true giver as selfish and greedy for not giving more. No hard work or morality is expected to receive that pilfered gift; no dreams required; no inspiration to become better or pass the blessing to others.  You don’t even have to be nice to anyone.  They have warped societal thinking to the point that no morality is expected even from elected leaders.  Corruption is working well for a ever-increasing segment of our society.  The Government shadow has hidden the light of Church.

Now the Government wants to replace Family.  The elitists want to mold your children into compliant Human Capital.  To both parties, it is their dream come true:   Big Government for the Democrats; Big Business for the Republicans.  Both have an enormous appetite for a skilled workforce.

 To a parent who wants their children to become all God created them to be, or to become a high achiever, it is your worst nightmare.  What is family anyway?  The Government will teach a Global worldview.  Your child can strive to be common with every other child in every other state, and become all MicroSoft needs them to be.   After all, it takes a village… 

The State will decide what your child will eat.  The State will decide what your child will learn.  The State will decide what vaccinations and medications your child will need. The State will assess what job your child is suited for. The State is working to grow itself in a partnership between Big Government and Big Business.  The family will be largely shut out of the process.  Even homeschools and private schools, while they still exist, will be subject to Government’s testing.  The ACT, SAT and College Entrance exams are being re-written to follow Common Core.  What.is.Common.Core? 

Teachers in Oklahoma – OKLAHOMA! – told David Barton “No, thank you.  We can’t do that.” to his suggestion of teaching the History of American Exceptionalism.  The History Standards are based on America being a “Constitutional Democracy.”  WE ARE A REPUBLIC and AMERICA IS EXCEPTIONAL!  But that doesn’t fit into the Global worldview or the cookie cutter image your child will be molded into.  The American Dream will have to be oppressed to have Global equality.  They can’t possibly teach our American Heritage and Constitution.  They aren’t following it!

Janet Barresi, Oklahoma Supt. of Schools, and PAARC board member (where we buy our tests…Is that a problem?) is giving speech after speech saying that we have not accepted Common Core in History and Science.  It only takes a Google or two to figure out SHE IS LYING. 

Parents will not be allowed to see what their children are tested over.  Not allowed to see the content of what they are teaching our children?  Even teachers are not allowed to see some of the assessments.  An assessment is an opinion that is formed, not a test of knowledge.  They don’t care what students know; they care how they think… 

“Teaching them to think critically” is the buzz-phrase there.  It is code for physiological data is being collected.  They want to know how you live.  The assessments go straight to the database.  You will never know who “assesses” your children and your lifestyle or to whom that information is sold to or shared with.  Why worry about hackers?  Your children are giving their pristine information to strangers, and creeps in our midst are shamelessly being exposed every day.  

We asked why they want this data system.  The answer:   Somebody might move. “We’re a mobile society and parents don’t always take the transcript to the new school” said Ok. Sen. Clark Jolley (and by now we have heard this same phrase about a dozen times).   I said, “You mean to tell me that we are going to spend $Millions collecting intricate data on students because a parent may not pick up a packet fast enough for you?”  He ran away from me, and left Lynn and I standing there shaking our heads. 

Clark Jolley, who ran as a self-proclaimed Conservative Republican in OK, his campaign ads just short of a halo over his head…. the most powerful Chairmanship in the State of Oklahoma wants to collect your children’s information for the use of Big Government and Big Business.  And while I’m in the mood to out people, add Senator Ford to that list, and Reps Ann Coody from Lawton and Lee Denney from Stillwater to the BS list.  You see, according to Common Core proponents, teachers apparently cannot teach children that move without knowing their blood type and the family’s voting history

Now this is personal:  If a child ever had a run-in with a teacher and the family decided to move to a new district, that bad behavior tag will follow that child for the rest of his or her life.  Have you ever been in a teachers’ lounge?   Some teachers just do not like some kids.  A parent could do nothing about it.  Are you as a parent going to risk having your child’s record tainted forever by complaining about a teacher?  They have your information.  They have control. 

Our tax dollars are being spent to tell pretty little lies about Common Core to our teachers. Teachers’ jobs depend on their compliance. We have educators come to us all the time horrified by Common Core, but afraid to speak out.  I learned of another teacher today afraid to talk about the abuse in our Special Ed department.  He is certain he will lose his job if he talks.  Barresi says that ALL the teachers tell her they love Common Core.  I bet they do!  They love it or risk getting their district’s funding cut or losing their job. 

The Government will feed your children.  They will decide what your child will eat and WHEN the child will eat and how much your child will eat.  Every meal will be served at school.   If they ask a parent to send a snack and a parent sends the “wrong” snack, the child will not get to have a snack and a note will be sent home telling the parent the snack was not on the Government-approved list.  Think about that.  The Government withholds food, and then corrects the parent via the child. That is already happening in at least one elementary school in Yukon, OK.  A teacher had implemented this program after learning it in her National Merit classes. Teachers are offered a $5000 reward for those classes.

The Government will decide the books your child should read.  Some of the books that are on the suggested reading list are books that go against everything you hold dear.  There are psychological questions on the assessment that your child must answer correctly according to the Government, not according to the parent’s values.  In the last two days, we have come across some sick books on the approved list, for instance:  “'The Bluest Eye’ which is full of INTENSE child molestation content. The author's intent is to establish empathy FOR THE PERPETRATOR.”  (Thank you, Ann-Marie Murrell)  Their thinking must align with “Global” thinking. Parents just don’t get it, after all.   They don’t even care about carbon footprints.   

Younger and younger children will be given problems to solve and questions to be answered to assess your lifestyle.  The adaptive testing will then reform their thought processes into a more Global worldview, a.k.a. indoctrination.

If your child believes in God and believes in American Exceptionalism, you are in big trouble already. You already know students are taught lies in History and Science, but now the teachers and schools will be graded on how well your student does on these so-called rigorous assessments, higher standards and critical thinking. Although there is zero evidence that any of this will be good, since it has never been tried anywhere, the educrats will assure you that your guinea pig child will be COMMON with all the other guinea pig children across the nation.  Now there’s something to work for!

Do you think you will have any input?  If a school’s assessments are low according to these assessments that parents cannot see, it will be taken over by the State Dept. of Education (3 minutes if it works for the State)  and your local school board will have no voice.  Your new board will either be the State itself, or an assigned board that might be a business looking for some good little workers.  

Do you think the elitists in the State Dept. of Ed or at the Chamber of Commerce will be interested in your child’s dreams and visions?   We’ve talked to them.  They are not.  John Kramen from the OK Dept. of Ed, formerly with Achieve in D.C., actually said on July 10 to a group of 5 of us, “I do not care about the children.  I care about getting my job done.”  His job is to collect data on our students.  Parents, do not remain silent!

When your school is taken over, good luck finding someone to talk to about a problem you might have with what your child is learning or the books they are required to read. To speak to the OK State Board of Education, you MAY have 3 minutes to speak IF your child’s problem is regarding something on their agenda. During this time, Supt. Barresi and the State school board appointed by Gov. Fallin will watch the 3 minute clock tick down so they can pronounce that your time is up. 

 The U.S. Senate has already written legislation for a National School Board, so you can see where this is going. Imagine trying to talk to the National School Board members, even if you could manage a trip to D.C.  You will have zero input in your child’s education.  Government has replaced Family in your child’s education and career choice.  The College entrance exams require Common Core, so homeschools, private schools, church schools as well as public schools and charter schools are all involved.  

·         Parents, please do not remain silent.  Join us in our fight.  Plan to show up to our events or the events in your state. Restore Oklahoma Public Education has a FB page, and you can get the latest information there.  There are also many other groups nation-wide.  Almost every state has them.  We are friends with many of them on our page.  #stopcommoncore #RopeOK