Seven Reasons Why Common Core Repeal in Oklahoma Isn't

Before I begin this post, please do not misunderstand; ROPE is/was VERY pleased and honored to have been included in so much of the Oklahoma Common Core repeal bill process. We are very grateful to Representative Nelson and Senator Brecheen for all their work and the many times they sought our input when they certainly needn't have.

That being said, I'm sure no one who contributed to HB3399 expected it to serve as a panacea for all things Common Core in the state. In fact, there were "wish list" items unquestionably discarded during the writing and amending stages due to concerns the bill wouldn't pass or be signed by the Governor - a majority jettisoned due to consternation over the possible loss of Oklahoma's No Child Left Behind Waiver. Though every effort was made to due diligence, without the gift of omniscience, no one could have known the effect of every aspect of the bill's mandates.

HB3399 had a rocky start. The bill wasn't passed by the House and Senate until the last day of the 2014 legislative session. It took 11 days for the Governor to sign the bill, yet the ink from the Governor's pen hadn't dried before a lawsuit was filed over its agreement with the Oklahoma Constitution. Once ruled Constitutionally sound by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, Oklahoma's State Regents for Higher Education began the process of certifying Oklahoma's previous PASS (Priority Academic Student Skills) standards - those mandated for use by the bill - as college and career ready. This action was prescribed in order for Oklahoma to keep its NCLB Waiver by allowing for option "B" (state institutions of higher education must certify state standards as college and career ready, page 14), option "A" having been our original choice = Common Core.

Simultaneously, Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, began issuing threats regarding the security of Oklahoma's NCLB Waiver. In the end, the Regents weren't fast enough for Duncan, and our Waiver was pulled, sparking a veritable mountain of ill-informed media meting out pronouncements of economic and educational ruin for our state. October l7 - approximately 6 weeks after the loss of our NCLB Waiver - the Oklahoma State Regents certify Oklahoma PASS as college and career ready. Following quickly behind this decision, now-deposed State Superintendent Janet Barresi announced the State Department of Education's effort to re-apply for a new NCLB Waiver, with the caveat that a new Waiver could not take effect until the 2015-2016 school year.

Since the beginning of the 2014-15 school year, ROPE has been inundated with emails and messages complaining their schools were continuing to use Common Core despite HB3399. In fact, we received so many messages, we spoke with the bills' authors and our Amicus brief attorneys to create a plan to help empower parents to stop schools from its continued use. Unfortunately, when you have the second largest school district in Oklahoma (Tulsa Public Schools) poking its finger in the eye of parents and the state by proudly proclaiming their use of Common Core, follow the leader becomes an issue. Oklahoma City Public Schools (the largest district in Oklahoma) says they are using a Common Core/PASS hybrid but at least their Kindergarten rubric is based solely on Common Core. Some outlying districts, such as Yukon Public Schools, have just told parents they could care less about their issues with Common Core, they've put the money into training and preparation, and they will continue using Common Core.

So, with all the effort so many of us put into repealing Common Core in Oklahoma, why then has it continued to persist? I think there are at least 7 factors that have thwarted the will of Oklahoma citizens and prevented a full repeal.

1. TEACHER LEADER EFFECTIVENESS (TLE) MODELS (NCLB WAIVER)
For those of you unacquainted with the finer points of the NCLB Waiver, you will note on page 76, the section marked 3a - Develop and Adopt Guidelines for Local Teacher and Principal Evaluation and Support Systems. I could provide a dissertation on this particular issue, but I do not have time here.

Suffice it to say, this is one of four pillars of the federal government's plan to re-make government education utilizing the carrot and stick method provided via the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund grants to states (stimulus dollars 2009), Race To The Top grant applications to states (2010) and the No Child Left Behind Waivers (2011) granted to states to counter the 'emergency' created when Congress refused to re-authorize No Child Left Behind. Unfortunately, the three other pillars (TLE, State Longitudinal Database System and Turning Around Low Performing Schools) work to reinforce Common Core while the grants and waivers urge states to cement each in place.

In Oklahoma, our Teacher Leader Effectiveness Commission (because government never shrinks) met and decided to use the Tulsa model and the Marzano model for grading our teachers as specified in our Waiver (if we're going to make them get a teaching degree and then make them take a test to be certified to teach and then make them re-certify to teach every five years at a cost of $50.00, and if building principals must observe teachers yearly as part of their building evaluations for continuous employment, is this not a form of overkill?). Both models were to begin use 2014-15 - and they have.

While I have no intimate knowledge of the Tulsa model, I can tell you without question that you cannot possibly score passing on the Marzano model IF YOU DO NOT TEACH COMMON CORE. I received screen shots from the Marzano model - plus an in depth training on the way it works - from an Oklahoma City Public School teacher now on a Plan of Improvement pending firing for not teaching the Common Core and not entering private personal student information into Google Docs (Google has been singled out as direct violators of student privacy) as directed by her Principal.

First of all, the Marzano model is clearly aligned to CCSS:

http://www.marzanocenter.com/Teacher-Evaluation/2014-model/

Secondly, though the entire platform seems endlessly...well...mindless, once you understand how the whole scheme fits together, there is no way this isn't all about Common Core. For example, here is a screenshot of one of the evaluation screens for the way a teacher organizes her classroom.

This looks pretty antiseptic really, until you realize that most books - this teacher must use McGraw Hill Common Core aligned books to teach math - show exactly how to teach Common Core and then dictate specifically what must go on the board in the classroom to make sure the kids are absorbing all their Common Core content concepts. If you don't have the Common Core objective on the board for the day, you are marked down on your evaluations.

Here is an example of the same thing from Yukon Public Schools. 

2. COLLEGE PLACEMENT EXAMS: ACT/SAT

David Coleman, writer of the Common Core, is now the head of the College Board where he is aligning the SAT to the Common Core. The ACT has spent the last several years re-aligning its tests to the Common Core. Here is their statement of support for the Common Core.

https://www.act.org/commoncore/

The New America Foundation (established by George Soros) has said the following about the ACT:

"Despite the PARCC and SmarterBalance hysteria, the SAT and ACT - along with their remedial placement cousins, ACCUPLACER and COMPASS - are likely to continue to serve as the de facto performance standard for college entry. These assessments are already accepted within higher education, for better or worse, while the Common Core will be greeted with scrutiny and suspicion at many institutions."

So, in other words, "We know Common Core is being discovered and repudiated by the American public, but we must continue to indoctrinate and dumb down American children via the concept that everyone should be exactly the same. We'll just have to do it in backdoor ways to get around them." The ACT/SAT will help do just that. After all, one thing Coleman et al. do apparently understand well, is that seemingly inherent 'necessity' to teach to the test. If the tests that can help you get a college degree have been aligned to Common Core, how can you get into college without learning the Common Core? 

3. ADVANCED PLACEMENT COURSES (AP)

To be filed under the same category as above. You've likely been in a cave if you haven't heard about the push to re-write the US AP History Standards by David Coleman and the College Board. Now, not only will the College Board (David Coleman) continue down the road with their alignment of the SAT to Common Core, but AP courses will also be aligned as well. If we can judge this effort from the new APUSH standards, this will provide a decidedly anti-American spin on coursework along with providing the already identified Common Core shifts from classic literature and study.

4. TESTING VENDORS

As we worked to stop Common Core this year, we were very concerned about language in the bill specifying testing companies. Why? Two reasons: because the amount of personal student data collected by testing vendors is outrageous and because nearly every testing vendor in the known universe is Common Core aligned.

Measured Progress was discussed as a specified testing vendor during the standards re-write period while HB3399 was being amended. This concerned us greatly. Though Oklahoma had excused itself from its seat at the table with Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) ostensibly because the tests were too expensive, ROPE knew that PARCC was a vendor to Educational Testing Service (ETS), the company that received Race to the Top funds from the federal government to contract for the writing of Common Core tests. Measured Progress is in the exact same boat, it's just tied to Smarter Balanced Assessment Corporation (SBAC) as well as PARCC.

Of course, at its last special session, our State School Board gave the contract for our winter tests to MP. Yes, their website states they can help with "item creation" and "test construction" for "current programs", but their main emphasis is Common Core aligned testing. They were given money by the federal government to do just that. 

A recent EdWeek article outlines how all the large testing vendors are being paid to create Common Core aligned tests. What State School Board is going to take the time to root around for the smaller companies that haven't gotten federal money to create Common Core tests like Iowa? The sheer size and scope of the online testing market works against non-Common Core states.

5. TECHNOLOGY AND THE INTERNET

The largest textbook provider in the world (Pearson) is also one of the largest providers of online Common Core aligned programs. If you're in need of anything related to the Common Core, you have but to go to their one-stop shop - Common Core Solutions - to find solutions to any and ALL your Common Core issues from Professional Development to "Research and Innovation".  Of course there are also Pearson Common Core Webinars for those days when you just want to sit in a chair in your PJ's and learn how to better prepare yourself to teach and learn all things Common Core.

Just for fun, I searched the internet for "Common Core apps" (to use via cell phones and tablets). I came up with at least 26 individual apps aligned to Common Core from Common Core Rap to Common Core Look-fors - which allows teachers to integrate the Common Core State Standards into their classrooms. 

Also for fun, I searched the internet for "Common Core Worksheets". I wound up with pages and pages and pages such as those from Help Teaching and Internet4Classrooms and the super precious, Common Core Kids. Virtually anything you would want Common Core aligned from ELA to Math, can be found in worksheet form from a veritable plethora of education-related websites. 

This is a huge issue for the few states that didn't take Common Core and Oklahoma, who has repealed Common Core. Any teacher at any school, or any administrator at any school, can troll the web and pull down any sort of information for use classrooms on any given day.  For teachers in a pinch - or teachers wanting to teach Common Core and/or being forced to teach Common Core by administrators such as those in Tulsa and Yukon government schools - the supply of classroom materials toward that end is, well, endless.

6. DOE/GATES END-AROUNDING STATES WITH GRANTS TO INSTITUTE/CONTINUE COMMON CORE

Another situation that has stimulated concern, is the fact that the Federal Government is such a willing accomplice in the Common Core re-education plan. For example, the Department of Education began to give Race to the Top grants to school districts in 2013 - outside the pervue of state education departments. 

Bill Gates has given a number of government schools - including Oklahoma's own Tulsa Public Schools - large grants for creating "college and career readiness" (Common Core). In this case, TPS was given a grant last year of nearly 4.5 million dollars to be used over the course of the next five years for the generically termed cause of "Professional Development" - and we now know about that, don't we? 

Then, there's the newest federal government carrot, the "Future Ready District Pledge", which 

"establishes a framework for districts to achieve the goals laid out in President Obama's ConectED Initiative and commits districts to move as quickly as possible toward our shared vision of preparing students for success in college, careers and citizenship."

Correct. The last bit sounds exactly like....Common Core. So, if the feds can get districts - via their superintendents - hooked into this nice new pay for play scheme, they can get money, or re-direct funds, as they need to create this wonderful 'shared vision', that Oklahoma citizens don't really share.

7. TEXTBOOKS

I became a homeschooling mom after my kids started experiencing the effects of Common Core in their classrooms. One of the arguments I made against Common Core early on, was very well stated by small book publisher (Institute For Excellence in Writing), Andrew Pudwa in his testimony before the Oklahoma House Rules Committee.

Additionally, because of the virtual monopoly of textbook publishers (Pearson, McGraw-Hill, Houghton-Mifflin), schools required to conform to the Common Core standards will have little choice when it comes to curricula, and the publishers’ largest customers (California, New York, Florida, and Texas) do have a great input on textbook content. In fact, CCSSI is a huge windfall for education publishers, since most districts in most states are being forced to replace their existing texts with CCSSI conforming texts, and any differentiations by state standards have been superseded by the Common Core standards. Consequently, the big publishers can now sell the same or very similar books to all the states, further increasing profitability. This, of course, makes it even harder for small publishers such as myself to keep a toehold in the public education market. 

How, I posited, can those of us not using Common Core find non-Common Core textbooks? The answer is, "It will be much harder", and for the reasons stated above. 

While individuals can simply utilize online sources to purchase textbooks for home/individual use, government schools require government contracts for such purchases. Smaller book companies cannot sell books at the reduced price sustainable by huge publishers. Districts who frequently howl about lack of funding, are not going to authorize the use of even more of their 'precious' resources on arguably better books. In fact, this is one of the reasons cited by both the TPS Superintendent and the Yukon Public Schools Superintendent (and others) as to why they simply can't 'stop teaching Common Core' - switching to Common Core cost them too much to turn back now.

SOLUTIONS

Let's face it, David Coleman and his Common Core buddies knew what they were doing. They knew if they got enough organizations/education sectors to buy in on the idea of 'national standards' - including the seated administration of the federal government - they could essentially stage a coup over government education in America. And they did just that. 

Today, it appears the future of Common Core must reside in the hands of the parent. Large school districts could simply care less what parents have to say about how their children are educated - and they don't have to. Government schools get government money no matter whether they follow the law or not and no matter whether or not they provide an excellent education for children or not. We MUST break this cycle. We must stop districts from simply being granted taxpayer money from both the federal and state level for no other reason than they claim to be institutions of education, when these dollars are clearly being used to build and defend fiefdoms without care for the public they serve. How else do you explain the fact that government schools have consumed more money while exhibiting diminishing return on investment even here in Oklahoma?

There are several ways to accomplish this task: 

1. Parents who can, should remove their children from government schools and either put them in private schools or educate them at home or by co-op, removing their child's education funding from the system.
2. Parents who can't remove their children from government schools should become civilly disobedient and begin to OBJECT to every single program/test/book/questionnaire that offends them, to the point of removing their child on days the offensive material is used/taught and requesting substitute educational materials. Government schools get taxpayer funds from the state when children are in class - they do not when they are not. Parents, use your powers here and don't be bullied by your school YOU are the parent, YOU have the control. Refer to Oklahoma's Parental Bill of Rights should you feel week-kneed in your resolve because of a shaky foundational knowledge.
3. Legislators should remove the free money supporting government education by allowing the creation of Educational Savings Accounts. ESA's put the funds spent on a child to be educated in the government system back into the hands of the parents to use in the way best for that child. This could be home school, private school or a neighborhood government school. It matters not where the money goes so long as it is used to the benefit of the child's education. The point is that the government school no longer gets a chunk of 'free money' to do with as THEY choose, forcing them, instead to actually have to compete for education dollars.
4. States currently creating anti-Common Core legislation should take heed of these issues and attempt to address as many of them as possible within.

Until/unless parents/legislators choose to draw clear lines in the sand, government schools will continue to run roughshod over parents, the law and what's best for the education of our children. There is no impetus for them to do otherwise.

Common Core Repeal Is...Political?

Since the repeal of Common Core in Oklahoma, I have noticed a spate of articles/editorials advancing the talking point that its demise was POLITICAL.

Here is a favorite - "Politics Are Crushing The Standards" by Dave Powell, a professor at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.

My guess is that they fear the common core not because it represents a "federal takeover" of education, but because it might allow us to draw true comparisons between the educational performance of students in different states—comparisons that cannot be so easily explained away....For all their limitations, standards at least hold the promise of bringing real accountability to the people who, for too long, have made rules and regulations about education without ever being held responsible for providing the resources needed to make their endless pronouncements a reality.

And another favorite - this time from the Chamber of Commerce Foundation - "Oklahoma Puts Politics Before Students".  This one is really rich because it is attached to a 'pledge' that you can sign to 'pledge' your support for "college- and career-ready standards".  It's also a perfect example of the Pot Calling the Kettle Black.  Yes, Chamber, we realize YOU have not used Bill Gates money to put pressure on the Oklahoma legislature and Governor to get them to PASS AND KEEP Common Core; it's only us poor parents that are engaging in a political battle.

These articles got my blood up and made me want to know exactly how politics is defined.  So what is politics?  I looked up the definition in Merriam Webster’s online dictionary.  The first subset of definitions was:

a :  the art or science of government

b :  the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy

c :  the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government

Though I was surprised at how many forms of politics there have been invented (identity politics, power politics, party politics…), after looking at the entire page of definitions, I began to wonder if something hadn’t been overlooked.  The government of the United States was created by the Constitution.  The first line of the Constitution reads,

“We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish the Constitution for the United States of America.”

Every shot fired in the “War against the Core” has been fired by regular, plain old, “we the people” citizenry.  The parents crowding into forums on Common Core lead by citizens themselves, or staying up half the night researching the initiative on their own because they are dealing with kids crying over math homework for which they can provide no help, are not power brokers who can afford lobbyists, three color mailers or 30 second spots on CNN.  These are ‘We the People’.  If these are ‘We the People’, how do they become ‘political’ simply for entering the political arena – defined as the art/science of government.

I guess this is where I disagree with good old Mirriam-Webster.  Citizens can’t ‘guide’ or ‘influence’ governmental policy – THEY ARE THE GOVERNMENT.  “We the People” ARE the government.  How can you influence yourself or win and/or hold control over a government when you ARE the government.

The Chamber of Commerce is NOT the government.  They, like so many organizations of the same ilk, are a body formed to DILUTE the effect of ‘We the People’.  Instead of accepting that each ‘People’ is the government (through their elected representation) and that individuals have the power of the government as stated in the Constitution, they have found that influencing government ‘People’ through large sums of money provides greater results.  This is the influencing and controlling of government officials that has come to be called politics.

Sadly, because we call a thing something, it becomes that thing it is called.  Today, people truly believe they have no power in their own government because they don’t understand the concept of “We the People”.  In fact, it’s almost bizarre to some folks that individuals can influence their government.

Some months ago I was interviewed by Motoko Rich of the New York Times.  Our initial conversation went something like this:

MR: So, Jenni, how do you support ROPE?

JW: Out of our own pockets.

MR: Oh, so you have corporate sponsors.

JW: No, we use our own personal funds.

MR: Ohhh, so you get grants and loans.

JW: No, whatever we have in our personal bank accounts we spend.

MR: I see, so you have private donors.

JW: Yes, his name is David White.

After I said that, Rich gave a sort of forced laugh and set out on the quest for another answer, but I felt like I’d been waterboarded.  It was entirely clear Motoko Rich had no idea what it meant to be a “We the People”.  She only related to ‘politics’ as the process of money and power influencing the course of government.

I hope that the three very large fights won this year in Oklahoma (passing HB3399 and repealing Common Core, electing a new superintendent and winning a lawsuit against the bill) – not with the help of lobbyists or money or influence other than being “We the People” – will allow people to believe in the concept.  I hope “We the People” will now rise and commit to the jobs we’ve neglected for so long, BEING THE GOVERNMENT.

Testimony For Ohio's House Rules and Reference Committee - HB597 Repealing Common Core

I thought I would publish the remarks I made to the House Rules and Reference Committee this week in the event it might help someone in another state.  Please feel free to use/modify anything you see here if it will help.

COMMON CORE TESTIMONY: Ohio State Legislature 8/20/14

Jenni White, President: Restore Oklahoma Public Education

As Oklahoma began the effort to repeal Common Core in our state, we were confronted with numerous reasons (created mostly by think tanks and dues-paid organizations – some outside our state borders) why we should not repeal Common Core and develop our own standards.  I’m sure you’ve heard numerous of these yourselves.  I’m going to attempt to discuss a few this morning.

1.    Our state Chamber of Commerce pushed numerous false claims indicating that Common Core was better than Oklahoma’s previous standards (PASS) and that Common Core were ‘proven’ standards.

a.    They put together several mailers pointing to the ‘fact’ that Kentucky had seen higher results from using Common Core

b.    Dick Innes from the Bluegrass Policy Institute in Kentucky, was able to provide all the information I needed to show that the Chamber was, according to Innes, making “outrageously wrong” claims about Common Core.  (http://restoreoklahomapubliceducation.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-oklahoma-chamber-of-commerce-makes.html)

c.    False information will be used to attempt to sway public opinion; it can and should be debunked.

d.    It’s also important to remember that the US Chamber of Commerce was given a tidy sum by the Bill Gates Foundation to push/message the Common Core.

2.    The Fordham Institute frequently attempted to provide our legislature with ‘proof’ that Common Core were better than Oklahoma’s standards, though Fordham actually graded Oklahoma’s PASS as an A- in Math and a B+ in English in comparison to Common Core.

a.    When we addressed this issue, we were told Fordham had graded an earlier version of PASS, not the current version.

                                          i.    Consequently, we had Dr. Stotsky and Dr. Wurman both review the latest PASS in comparison to Common Core and both were in agreement that even the most recent PASS were at least equal to Common Core.  (http://restoreoklahomapubliceducation.blogspot.com/2014/05/this-week-is-important-in-life-of.html)

3.    Oklahoma was constantly assailed by allegations that Oklahoma would lose our NCLB waiver should we repeal Common Core.  We were able to make several cogent arguments against this prevailing theory.

a.    First of all – if any state is in danger of losing their NCLB waiver for repealing Common Core, how can Common Core be a ‘state-led’ issue?  In fact, that one query invalidates this often used claim and should, therefore, be a major talking point for repeal.

b.    If the waiver is the issue, the ‘assurance’ made to the federal government in the waiver is that the state’s standards be “college and career-ready”.  There is a provision for states not signing on to Common Core, to use their higher ed/career tech system to validate the state’s current standards – certifying them as “college and career-ready”.  Oklahoma is undergoing this process currently.

c.    The state of Washington lost their waiver due to an inability to come together over their teacher grading system.  After speaking with Liv Finne with the Washington Policy Institute, parents are finding they have more flexibility to get those students who need it, help in reading, as the state must give the money to the parents to find appropriate programs to help their children. (http://restoreoklahomapubliceducation.blogspot.com/2014/05/does-our-state-want-museum-or-education.html)

d.    No state will LOSE MONEY with a loss of their waiver. They only lose the ability to direct 20% of their Title 1 funding.  In Oklahoma, we found this amounts to only 0.50% of total education spending.  A percent of a percent would be the loss – not of money, but of DIRECTION of money.

e.    NCLB waivers are crumbling as states discover they are losing more and more of their autonomy in state education to the federal government in exchange for flexibility from a law that demanded 100% proficiency of American children in math and reading – a pie-in-the-sky ideal if ever there was one.  Many states other than WA have had to abandon ‘vital’ parts of their NCLB waiver for one reason or another, and several didn’t even take a waiver.  It is nearly impossible for the US Department of Education to seek reckoning from all the states which have desired to, or had to, buck their waiver.

                                          i.    CA did not get a waiver – though several districts have – but they say they’re happy to having to satisfy federal regulations for school turnarounds, teacher evaluations and standards.  In addition, Vermont and North Dakota didn’t take a waiver because they said they wanted more flexibility over their spending and policy.

                                        ii.    In fact, Margaret Spellings, an architect of the original NCLB law under George W. Bush, has said, “The Waivers were a mistake.  It’s a crazy quilt of a system which I think will die [on its] own.” (http://restoreoklahomapubliceducation.blogspot.com/2014/05/hb3399-why-are-we-arguing-over-percent.html)

4.    In a last ditch effort to stop Oklahoma from repealing Common Core, the Fordham Institute sent a letter to Governor Fallin and the members of our legislators addressing a wide range of topics – all of which we refuted for legislators, but I’d like to address two quickly (http://restoreoklahomapubliceducation.blogspot.com/2014/06/response-to-brickman-fordham-and.html)

a.    The Fiscal and Educational Costs of Repeal:  Common Core costs have largely been left unmentioned.  In fact, I was not able to find record of associated costs in any state prior to the fact.  I just performed a recent search on the topic and found that the  National Conference of State Legislators doesn’t know.  Governing magazine doesn’t know.  In fact, Oklahoma’s own legislators couldn’t have known what it would cost to implement the CCSS because they were passed into state law before they were even fully written and prepared for public view. You can’t estimate cots of an initiative for which you’re not fully familiar, yet now cost has become an issue to prevent repeal?  A number of organizations  provided reasonable estimates early on in the process – one researcher even adapted these for each state - but they got very little discussion time – as though it seemed easier to just ignore the thought and see if it would go away.  In Oklahoma, Representative Gus Blackwell attempted to bring a Task Force to bear for study of the costs of Common Core in Oklahoma during the 2013 legislative session, but that bill was blocked from a hearing on the floor after passing the rules committee resoundingly, seeming to indicate that the answer to the question wasn’t really an issue.

b.    A Political Advantage with Most Voters:  A new poll has apparently shown four star Republican voters are for CCSS, but the questions in the poll don’t ask, “How do you feel about the Common Core State Standards?” they ask, “How do you feel about higher standards?”   Only the most out of touch policy wonks could spin that inquiry to mean Common Core specifically.  The candidates for 2014 office who have commissioned polls on Common Core in Oklahoma have reported to me results showing nearly nil public support for CC.   Though our Secretary of Education may be out explaining to the public that white suburban moms are mad because we’ve found our kids aren’t as brilliant as we think they are, most parents WANT higher standards for their children.  Moms all over Oklahoma – and the nation –are prepared to vote like they may never have voted before simply because they’ve watched their children cry over homework and become more and more frustrated with the whole notion of school.  Polls don’t catch these voters – these are wildcard votes spurred by emotional voters that only want to see the best for their children.

                                          i.    A new Gallup/Phi Delta Kappa poll has been released that indicates much more opposition for Common Core than previously.  In fact, 60% of respondents oppose CC because they think it will limit the way teachers teach.  Partisan opposition breakdown: R=76%, I=60% and D = 38%

5.    We’ve often been told that we can only compare students if states have the same educational standards, but doesn’t it seem at least plausible that people in their own states would best know that definition of a ‘right’ education for their own state? If not, then why have states at all? Why don’t we just open up all borders and allow every state to be ruled by one central government that knows the best definition of ‘right’ for the entire country?

6.    The argument has also been made that Common Core repeal is political – that policymakers are trying to stop Common Core because of pressure from opponents.  This one notion should probably be most offensive to everyone involved because I think it points to a certain amount of derision for the regular citizen.  Somehow, parents have become ‘opponents’ – saboteurs – reactionaries.  In fact, this argument seems to undercut the notion of personal liberty by indicating parents/citizens are not smart enough to understand that the state knows what’s best for us.

7.    Accountability has been another issue used to denounce state standards in favor of Common Core, but the truth is that the only ones to whom ANY school needs to prove educational relevance and accountability are those parents and students actually served by that school in that community. That was the greatest notion in all the ideals during the creation of America – the fact that no one was going to have the definition of ‘right’ for any state or individual. That the individual first, and then the state, had the best idea of ‘right’. (http://restoreoklahomapubliceducation.blogspot.com/2014/05/whats-fight-against-common-core-really.html)

In closing, no matter what argument we faced for keeping Common Core in Oklahoma, we were able to debunk every single concrete, factual argument (as in the Kentucky issue with the Chamber) and provide sufficient ideological argument to refute any political or philosophical complaint.  If that can happen in Oklahoma, it can certainly happen in Ohio.  There is no magic “Common Core bullet”.  Ohio – like Oklahoma - has your own unique arsenal for educational excellence; you just need to arm yourself with what works for you, aim and fire.

Rudderless Teachers?

I read an article recently in EdWeek by an Oklahoma teacher, "Without The Common Core in Oklahoma". Obviously, as someone who fought to repeal the standards, I feel sad that without Common Core, this teacher feels "rudderless". 

The teacher explains:

The thought of moving backward to PASS (or worse) fills me and thousands of other Oklahoma teachers and administrators with mind-numbing angst. The state has invested countless hours and a great deal of professional-development money so that educators, curriculum specialists, and districts would be in a strong position to put the standards in place. To this end, my own district implemented new standards-aligned academic vocabulary, which mandates a grade-level list of words for K-5 students. We purchased many standards-aligned professional materials for teachers to help them in the implementation of instructional units. While those materials and new word lists can be tweaked to reflect whatever might replace the common core, many of my colleagues are shaking their heads in disbelief at the complete waste of time and resources that has resulted from this turn in state politics.

Mind-numbing angst?  I find this peculiar, I really do.  I truly cannot understand why any teacher would be filled with “mind-numbing angst” by the removal of a set of standards – especially when the testing portion of the standards will be more general knowledge in nature and not truly ‘high stakes’ for this next two years (and hopefully long term).

In my opinion, really great teachers are those that simply need to know the developmental age of their children.  Once they are very familiar with that, they can pull information from across the World Wide Web, the library, older text books – it matters not.  Information to impart to children of all ages is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week anymore. 

When I taught - and it’s not much different today, according to my discussions with teacher friends - Professional Development was/is something you did/do to keep your teacher’s certification.  In the 6 years I taught public school, never one time did I learn something I felt I would feel comfortable using, or desire to use, in my classroom from teacher ‘training’.  One teacher friend I have known for years, just told me about a teacher training event she went to that so upset her conservative views she felt robbed of the time she had to travel to and from and stay.  That simply isn’t right in my view.

Maybe I’m just way too independent (and conservative) for my own good – I’m happy to acknowledge that – but I’m concerned that this ‘angst’ has to do with the way teachers are taught today, from the classroom through teacher training.

I achieved a Master’s Degree in Biology and became Alternatively Certified.  I must say, the three classes I had to take in order to become certified to teach in Oklahoma made me shake my head.  The course on testing frustrated me so badly I felt it necessary to argue (respectfully) with my instructor frequently about her very liberal philosophy which she would insert into class discussions dealing with everything from teaching to breathing. 

While studying for both my Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees, everyone in the College of Math and Science receiving science degrees knew the students who were getting teaching degrees.  They took a very small fraction of the coursework we took, but yet, were expected to teach others science.  That frustrated me.  Why would those teaching others about science need to have so many fewer hours LEARNING science than I as a scientist?  It’s still a conundrum to me.

I have many wonderful teacher friends and I know many wonderful teachers.  I KNOW these teachers can succeed teaching anything to anyone no matter what their administrations – or the state – throws at them.  It’s more than just a job – it’s a VOCATION – a way of life.

Is it possible that teachers who find themselves ‘rudderless’ following this last in a long line of changes created by the state meddling in local education*, might want to find a profession less frustrating?  I wonder.

In closing, here is a thought I added to our ROPE Facebook page a few days ago about teaching.  You may not agree, and I can appreciate that, but I would hope it’s always good to see another’s perspective:

Once upon a time, when I was a teacher, in the days before high stakes testing, I managed my own classroom. That meant, I looked at the PASS standards, aligned my lesson plans to what the kids were expected to know, and I taught them the best way I knew how. I had a ton of animals in my classroom, I did as many labs as I could with limited resources, used videos, computer programs and simple note taking to impart the information I felt it was important for them to know as individuals living in the world. I didn't teach because it would be on the test, I taught because I thought it was important for them to know - the information would help them make sense of the world around them. Why we've turned the process of educating children into a game of who's spending money more accountably, instead of who's teaching kids what they need to know to be well rounded individuals who can be anything they want, I don't know, but it's frustrating to both students and teachers and is leading to education that is anything but educating. We must make high stakes testing stop. We have no choice.

*Does anyone realize that if the money for public education was provided locally for schools and not by the state, local control would take on a greater meaning and schools would finally be accountable to the community they serve – not the larger entity of the state?  Think about it; schools managed by the communities they serve under the guidelines of rules provided by parents via the school board, executed by the administration (not the state).  It sounds like a 'charter' school - with the accountability to taxpayers they don't have. THAT sounds like real school choice. Don't you think that sound like the way it was supposed to be in the first place?  I do!

Letters To Copy And Paste For Governor Fallin - PLEASE SIGN HB3399

As many of you know, HB3399 (the repeal and replacement of Common Core) passed from both the Oklahoma House and Senate by an overwhelming majority Friday the 23rd.  Shortly thereafter, the legislature went Sine Di.  Governor Fallin has until June 7 to sign HB3399 to sign the bill into law.  If she chooses not to act, the bill will die by pocket veto.

We must begin IMMEDIATELY to ask our Governor to sign this bill into law.  Toward that end, we have written two separate letters. One is for Oklahomans to use and the other may be used by anyone outside the state who would like to participate.

Here's what we would like for you to do:

1. Copy and paste the letter of your choice (you can modify them or write your own as well) into an email.
2. Send it to Mary.Fallin@gov.ok.gov
3. CC it to this address pleasesignHB3399@mail.com so that we can keep track of the number of emails sent
4. If you live in Oklahoma, please also CC your state Representative and Senator so there is a record of the correspondence
5. If you live outside the state, please identify your state in your correspondence

Please pass this information on.  The more letters we can get to her, the better off we'll be. Also, please send your emails prior to WED. MAY 28th if possible, so we have time to print them out and give them to her if need be.

If you have any trouble with the email listed, you can also contact Governor Fallin through the Contact page on the state website.  There is a place into which you can copy and paste your email.

Thank you so very much for helping us with this mission!  We truly must prevail!
*If you have trouble copying and pasting from this blog, try this page on our website.

IN STATE LETTER:

Dear Governor Fallin,

No matter how disparate their circumstances or ideologies, parents across the state of Oklahoma come into agreement over the desire for their children to receive an excellent education.  A truly excellent education must include high standards and expectations, as these factors allow students to develop knowledge and habits to carry them into their adult lives possessing an ability to do anything – be anything – they want to be. 

Study after study has shown a truly excellent education to be that provided at the most local level to the student.  Beyond a child’s parent, no one knows their educational strengths and weaknesses better than their teacher and no one is more equipped to provide a child the tools they need to succeed than their classroom educator working in tandem with parents.

December of last year, you restated your desire for all Oklahoma children to have just that kind of excellent education through Executive Order 2013-40.  As Governor of our great state, you recognize the ingenuity, wisdom and resourcefulness Oklahomans possess, as these traits are the pistons in one of the strongest economic engines in the nation.  Clearly, Oklahomans have the aptitude for creating educational standards and tests to mirror our great economic success. 

Unfortunately, Oklahoma succumbed to federal overreach of our standards and tests once we chose to accept a No Child Left Behind waiver and with it, standards and tests created outside the state, promoted by the Department of Education.

May 23^rd, HB3399 passed the House and Senate with wide majorities.  This bill echoes your desire for all Oklahoma students to have an education utilizing high educational standards and tests developed here in Oklahoma.  HB3399 recognizes that without developmentally appropriate standards utilizing the best, most widely recognized educational methods, Oklahoma’s students cannot succeed.  Beyond returning control of educational standards and testing to the local level, HB3399 also places the review and approval of new state-derived standards in the hands of the legislature and as such, back into the hands of the people of Oklahoma who know best how to serve and guide Oklahoma’s public education system.

Please sign HB3399.  Please allow Oklahoma the opportunity to lead the nation in development of the best, most comprehensive set of educational standards; standards by which we can educate Oklahoma students at the highest level in the country. 

Thank you for your time and immediate attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

OUT OF STATE LETTER:

Dear Governor Fallin,

Oklahoma has the opportunity to set a national precedent – that of breaking the hold over local education exhibited by the Common Core State Standards Initiative.  Please do so by signing HB3399.

Since the federal Department of Education began promoting the Common Core via State Fiscal Stabilization Fund and Race to the Top grants, as well as the No Child Left Behind waivers, it has been virtually impossible for individual states who accepted any of these programs to retain local control over their educational standards and tests.  This has translated into, not only parental confusion and frustration over testing and assignments, but isolation from their ability to control and direct the education of their child.

While nearly all parents desire and expect educational excellence for their children, this cannot come without parental input and parent/teacher interaction.  When teachers spend more time on testing than classroom instruction, students flounder and the bond between teacher, student and parent becomes fragile.  Learning is not imparted via testing, but teaching.  The desire for their children to exhibit critical thinking is also nearly universal among parents, yet critical thinking skills are not mastered during protracted periods at a computer that better judges how well a child has mastered the use of electronics than has been educated by their own local teacher inside their local classroom.

Though my family does not reside in Oklahoma, like Oklahoma, our state adopted the Common Core State Standards.   As many Oklahoma families, our family has experienced the frustration of isolation from our children’s educational process set into motion by implementation of the Common Core.

With your signature on HB3399, you not only allow Oklahoma to create those standards and tests best suited for Oklahoma parents and children, but you set a precedent for our state to follow in creating and adopting our own local standards; those best for our state.   By signing HB3399 you not only become a hero to Oklahoma parents and educators, but you provide hope for those in my state as well. 

Please sign HB3399.  Put public education back into the hands of those whom best it serves – parents and students.

Sincerely,