Help. No really...HELP!

Because the senate blocked the only bill to stop the Common Core in Oklahoma this session (HB1719 - through an addendum written by Representative Dennis Casey that was never even added to the bill on the state legislature website!), we MUST continue our fight against Common Core through the rest of the summer months.

Unfortunately, we've come to believe that it's possible T.W. Shannon is NOT really against the Common Core and the many legislative shenanigans going on at the end of this last legislative session regarding Common Core were because he - and other Republicans - were attempting to pacify the electorate rather than do the right thing for Oklahoma. 

I would like to think this untrue, but okaying language for a bill that accidentally gets into a Senate appropriations committee whose chair (Clark Jolley) is a HUGE Common Core proponent with only a week left to go in the session only to have the chair block the bill only then to introduce the HR on the House floor at the 11th hour...well, one's imagination does not have to make a Yoga-like stretch to see that constituents/parents/taxpayers definitely could have been manipulated.

Sadly, ROPE would not be surprised to find this true.  In an era in which Republicans hold the majority in BOTH houses of the legislature in our state Capitol, Oklahoma again leads the nation in state government spending; a trend started 10 years ago with common education spending alone up $74 million. 

How can you NOT help but think that a number of our Oklahoma Republican law makers are simply taking the tax dollars of hard working Oklahomans in one hand while taking money from special interest groups such as the Chamber of Commerce with the other; doing their bidding at the expense of REPRESENTATIVE government, all to secure funding and political clout for their next campaign.

Truly, enough is enough.

 

We can't affect the legislature right now as they are not in session.  The state School Board, however, meets monthly.  Many of you may have read our blog about us being denied comment at the last state School Board meeting.

Last month, we were told by Chief of Staff Joel Robison that we would be allowed to speak THIS MONTH, at the meeting on JULY 25! 

We are asking you to please come and help us FLOOD the tiny room in which the meetings are held.  WE MUST MAKE AN IMPACT!  If we're going to win this battle, WE MUST SHOW UP.  We know you are out there, we know there are THOUSANDS of you with us, but no one else will know unless you SHOW UP.

Please, be at the Oliver Hodge Building (the one northeast of the capitol on the Capitol Complex on Lincoln) on the first floor.  Go in the northwest facing door, walk passed the secretary's office door and turn right at the next.  Go all the way down the hall to the meeting room.  Outside the door, there will be a table.  Sign in for public comment, indicating Common Core.  You MUST be there NO LATER THAN 9:15 to sign in and speak.  You will only have 3 minutes to speak, so I suggest you type up your thoughts (bring some copies to hand out to the media) in order to say all you feel you need to say.

I know this isn't fun.  I know there are things you'd rather do.  Consider it "taking one for the team"!  We ask you to sign up and commit to coming.  You can do that here.

Please remember, Dr. Barresi gave our state board members a contract to sign very early on in her tenure, promising to uphold every one of her education 'reform' measures.  All but one (Joy Hoffmeister, who has since resigned) did.   

Since that time, the Common Core State Standards have been re-named in what can only be an attempt to fool the taxpaying public and Dr. Barresi has withdrawn from PARRC, only to say she will continue to use CTB/McGraw Hill through which the state will develop its own Common Core tests.

It is IMPERATIVE the Board hear the thoughts of parents, teachers and taxpayers on this issue.  WE NEED YOU TO BE THERE.

Now, if you are concerned about what to say, there are ANY NUMBER of pieces of literature you can find on our blog, or Scribd account - or on our Facebook page - about which to opine against the infringement on our state's educational liberty.  If you are still stumped by the end of next week, email me and I will be happy to help you out.  Remember, this isn't about ROPE - this is about Oklahoma's KIDS - our STUDENTS.  Let's do what we can to give them the LOCALLY inspired tools to help them do whatever they want in life!

Does The State Department of Education Think Oklahomans Are Stupid?

Bad...parents and taxpayers catching on to the 
Common Core and don't like the idea much!

Bad...no one really understood what this meant since 
many other states have similarly-named initiatives.

Good!!  Brand new totally awesome LOGO that 
taxpayers/parents will NOT associate with Common Core!

Sadly, the Oklahoma Department of Education must think Oklahomans are stupid.  We just got a look at the Vision 2020 Program for this year.  Hmmmm....no Common Core State Standards mentioned on there anywhere, but there are lots of offerings with titles like this:

ROOM 9 Diane Stout

■ Oklahoma Academic Standards Made Easy 

Need an effective and efficient way to teach the Foundational Skills of Oklahoma Academic Standards? Learn how to engage K-2 students in fun games and activities while holding them  accountable to the benchmarks. Teaching tools will be shown for interactive whiteboards, computers, ipads, and hands-on activities. Participants even get to play on a SmartBoard!

ROOM 4 Timothy Laubach

■■ Aligning Scientific Practices with Oklahoma Academic Standards in Literacy for the Elementary School Classroom Participants will experience fun activities that exemplify the eight scientific practices, which were identified in “A Framework for K-12 Science Education.” These activities can be modified to meet the needs of the elementary school learner. Strategies of how to align these scientific practices with Oklahoma Academic Standards in Literacy will be shared and discussed. 

Question:  What are these new "Oklahoma Academic Standards"?   They look SUPER FUN!  I guess simple factual learning is out in this new era of 21st Century Skills (more on that later) where we simply think critically about everything.

Answer:  They are the Common Core State Standards repackaged as Oklahoma Academic Standards, but also called Oklahoma C3 Standards.

Notice they are not called PASS, as that designation would reference Oklahoma's PREVIOUS state standards - you know, the ones that got nearly the same grade as the Common Core!

Question:  If they are not referred to as "Common Core", are they still Common Core or are they something else? 

Answer:  Nomenclature means nothing here.  The Common Core are still the law of the land, but now, because of the national turmoil surrounding Common Core, the State Department of Education is having to try and FOOL the public into accepting the Common Core by using different terminology to sell it. 

The state has every intention of moving forward with the Common Core - they just don't apparently intend to call it that exactly.  Interestingly, Pennsylvania is doing exactly the same thing.  PA's new standards are the Common Core, renamed "PA Academic Standards". 

This is the website for Alabama's 'new' state standards.  Hmmm....nothing similar here to Oklahoma.  We're going on a trip, Alabama has the compass!  Note, these are not called the Common Core Standards, but the website says, 

The Alabama State Board of Education approved the adoption of the internationally benchmarked Common Core State Standards along with selected Alabama standards in November 2010.  By combining both Common Core and Alabama's standards, our state has adopted one of the most comprehensive sets of standards in the nation, ensuring students are prepared for a successful future in the ever-expanding global environment.  

Question:  So, is the attempt to sell the public on “new”, non-Common Core, state standards orchestrated?


Answer:  It sure looks that way.  The Future Ready Project is a website by Achieve - the private organization through which Common Core writer David Coleman sold the Common Core to states.  The project describes itself this way: 

This website represents all of Achieve’s communications, outreach and advocacy resources, and is designed to provide all college- and career-ready advocates with the information, strategies, messages, and tools needed to effectively make the case for the college- and career-ready agenda in their states. With customizable resources and fact sheets, we encourage you to take the materials you find here and tailor them to best fit your audiences.

Here's the National Governor's Association website that also indicates how to force feed the Common Core on the general public.  I'm sure there's just a coincidence that many states are renaming their standards (many of them with a travel theme!) and inventing new Common Core packages!  I'm sure the Governor's aren't getting talking points...I'm sure this is all just coincidence.

Of course, this is all powered by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the major source of money behind the nationalized standards movement.

Question:  Is it really such a far stretch to think that, with all the money involved and all the same organizations and individuals involved, states are getting their ideas from a ‘top’?   

Answer:  No, it’s not.  After all, many people were initially fooled by the idea that the Common Core State Standards initiative would be comprised of standards for Math and English/LA only!  Of course those who did can now be considered suckers, as the CCSSI website now describes the English/LA standards this way:

The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (“the Standards”) are the culmination of an extended, broad-based effort to fulfill the charge issued by the states to create the next generation of K–12 standards in order to help ensure that all students are college and career ready in literacy no later than the end of high school.

Immediately, Oklahomans should be revisiting that old axiom, “Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on ME!  

Oklahoma, you're NOT stupid!  DON’T BE FOOLED AGAIN!