Are Oklahoma Academic Standards Common Core?

Here, we're told that the OSDE is using Common Core.  CCSSI is being portrayed as an umbrella covering every aspect of Oklahoma Standards.

Letter from Brad Henry indicating that ALL Common Core State Standards were adopted by Oklahoma in order to get a Race to the Top Grant.  The left screen shot is of the OSDE website where the school code is found.  This is a screenshot of that page.  The right is the letter that can be found in Oklahoma's RTT grant on the Ed.gov website.

Screen shot showing that when you click on the URL for the English/LA standards, they go directly to the CCSSI document.

Here are some combined screenshots showing where every link to the English/LA standards go on the OSDE OAS page.

Here is the screenshot for the OAS Social Studies.  The underlined language and the box in the lower left shows that the Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies include the Common Core State Standards.

Here are the links to the OAS math standards page.  Note that the link to the Math standards themselves go directly to the CCSSI document.

This is a comparison of the National Council for Social Studies webpage about the national Social Studies standards and the FAQ page of the CCSSI webpage showing that the CCSSO worked on both standards and they are "state led".

The left is a screen shot from the Oklahoma Academic (C3) Standards Implementation Guide that shows that the OSDE is teaching our Oklahoma children that we live in an "American Constitutional Democracy".  I have asked Constitutional scholars about this term - they do not know what it means.  We live in a Republic - as I have written before.  The right side are screen shots from the National Social Studies standards.  Please note that they ALSO refer to America as a Constitutional Democracy.

The left side of this slide contains screen shots from the National History Standards.  The right side contains screen shots from the Oklahoma Academic Standards for History.  Please NOTE:  C3 is the same (one c is Citizen, the other is Civic Life), they BOTH have the four main areas as shown.  The national standards have something called an Inquiry Arc and the OAS have something called a 'coherency storyline' - these are essentially the same thing.

If You DO Nothing, NOTHING Happens

Yesterday I was on our family's monthly shopping adventure.  As I waited on line at one of the stores, a woman standing behind me looked at me tentatively and very quietly asked, "Aren't you that Common Core lady?"

This isn't the first time this has happened actually - I think it's because the white hair makes me easily recognizable - but it's always odd when it does.

"Yes, that would be me...", I laughed, as my son tried to hide behind the cart.

"I just really appreciate what you're doing to try and stop Common Core," she said quietly, but fervently.

She then turned to the woman she was with and began briefly explaining Common Core - that it was a national take-over of education and that it would help to quash parental involvement in education.

"You know, we're up against another hard deadline," I felt compelled to say.  "The bill should be going to the floor of the House today or tomorrow and if we don't tell our legislators to dictate the use of our old PASS standards and PASS-aligned tests during the time new standards are written, it will be very hard not to end up with revised Common Core standards as Oklahoma's NEW standards."

"Really?"

The woman seemed concerned, so I couldn't help but ask, "Have you contacted your state Senator and Representative to tell them you don't want Common Core?"

"No," she answered, as though she wasn't really sure that was her job.

"Well, if you don't call and make your voice heard," I explained, "we could end up with no change in Oklahoma's standards at all excepting the name."

At that, I realized I would be late picking up the other two kids at band, so I exited the conversation with that admonition and a friendly smile and ran for the door.

It has been said that only a very small fraction of the population participated in America's Independence from the British in the 1700's.  I suppose that's the nature of human beings - a desire for self preservation of not only the corporal body but the soul.  Most Americans can't grasp the notion of incurring bodily harm asserting their liberties, yet they also seem unable to overcome the emotional barriers of embarrassment or possible consternation resulting from conversation with an elected official in commission of their civic duties as well.

It seems there are now way too many categories into which Americans fall on the citizenship spectrum:

• Those that don't vote at all because the whole notion of political involvement is now blase in the least and despicable at its worst.  Besides, there are 650 TV channels and major sporting franchises on which to spend the majority of their time.
• No information voters base their votes on TV commercials and the physical appearance of a candidate.  Anything outside of, "Gee, he's cute and seems nice", are non-starters.  They have no clue who their elected officials are in any category.
• Low information voters believe their vote solves every issue.  In fact, voting is their only civic duty.  I couldn't possibly count the number of times I've heard people say - when I ask them if they've contacted their legislator - "No, I don't call them.  I voted them in so I expected them to (a. do what they said they would do) (b. follow the Party line) (c. do what I want them to do)."  They may know their Congressman and Senator, but have no idea who sits in their district chairs at the state capitol.
• Engaged voters are up-to-date on current issues.  They know what they want and they even know which politicians are going to get them there.  They've studied voting records and read intently about their subject and the issues.  They will tell their friends for whom to vote and put signs in their yard.  They might even give money to a candidate.  They know the names of nearly all their elected officials.
• Active voters are not only current on political issues and who is and isn't voting the way they want, but these people make phone calls and office visits not only to their legislators, but others as well.  They know all their elected representatives and are on a first name basis with each.  They get heaps of pushcards in the mail from active candidates and might even be consulted by a political candidate in their district.  These are the people who help their legislators make decisions in their best interest.

Pop quiz.  In which category should EVERY American citizen be today?  Answer:  THE LAST.

Where are you?  It's important to know.  Those that do, change the world.  Those that complain change nothing.  Now get out there and change the world by contacting your representatives and tell them to STOP COMMON CORE!

Under The Influence: Your private school could be using Common Core!

Perhaps you didn't know that many Catholic dioceses adopted Common Core as the standards for their schools.  It's true.  It's also true there has been significant push back among Catholic school parents against this initiative.

This is happening in Oklahoma to be sure, but what about other private schools?

One of the most insidious things about Common Core is the change in the way mathematics is taught.  This particular issue has been addressed to the nth degree among bloggers and mainstream journalists alike.  All one has to do is internet search the term "Common Core math" to get pages of dialogue on the topic.  In addition, I researched the genesis of the Common Core math and found that there is definitely a reason for concern.

One of the most concerning arguments about this particular situation was expressed recently by Erick Erickson of RedState.  He says:

The math does not make sense to the children and the math does not make sense to the parent. Kids are taught multiple ways to add totals together, must still add the totals correctly, but then must explain their answers — often having to write essays for math problems.

The best answer common core supporters have is to literally produce studies claiming that kids whose parents do not help them with homework will, over the long term, out perform kids whose parents do help them.

I am not kidding. That is their defense.

So imagine I was NOT surprised when I received the following letter from a friend whose child is in a private school here in Oklahoma.

I am unfortunately colored by my experience as an unwilling participant in some Everyday Math adoptions where it is being used exactly as envisioned by the authors... As I am wont to say, "one-size fits 60 million."

OKCPS, for example, ended up spending more in supplemental curriculum to support Everyday Math than it did on the original material and teacher training, not including the tutoring support OKSDE bought in bulk for frontline support (a $400k no-bid contract). I saw that repeated at a lot of other places too, plus one of the country's pioneering elementary STEM programs essentially re-silo-izing math out of its superb integrated curriculum. Tragic. Bottom line, though, is that I have yet to see any institution with outcomes even approaching the level of investment made in Common Core-aligned instruction! Exponentially tragic. I understand and support the goal of developing deeper understanding of concepts, particularly the "why" behind an algorithm. Youth coaching rule #1: You can teach a kid how to block and who to block, but until he understands why it's important and how it fits in the overall play, he's probably not going to be very good at it.

My bone with Everyday Math is that it's not very good at that approach. Generally speaking, it has a tendency to introduce the underlying logic of a algorithm in a vacuum, before the concept is covered, and only tenuously tie the underlying logic back to the applied algorithm. It's something akin to teaching a kid the Magnus effect before you train him how to throw a ball. 

Because of the way Everyday Math is written, it dovetails beautifully with the Common Core.  McGraw Hill is even proud to point that out.  In fact, they have a page on their website devoted to detailing how well Everyday Math performs with Common Core for each state - including Oklahoma.  To understand this connection fully, you'll probably need to see the video linked above detailing the document that founded Common Core math, but trust me, the connection is quite brilliant.

Here are the biggest problems:

1. Everyday Math stinks on ice.  Reviewer after reviewer will tell you this, outlining in specifics Erick Erickson's portrayal of the dismal reality at dining room tables all over the nation.
2. Because Everyday Math dovetails so well with the ridiculous Common Core math standards, it has been adopted by school after school after school in order to support the Common Core State Standards - including PRIVATE SCHOOLS.

So, if you thought, "Heck, my kids go to a private school, I don't need to worry about Common Core", you'd be wrong.  Please get in the fight and help us kill Common Core in Oklahoma today!  Contact your House and Senate member and tell them 1.  No Common Core while we're re-writing standards and 2.  No Common Core testing ever.

Does Our State Want A Museum, Or Education For Oklahoma Children?

In 2002, George W. Bush took Bill Clinton's reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (created by Lyndon Banes Johnson in 1964), the Improving America's Schools Act, added a little something called AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) and renamed it No Child Left Behind.  This graphic is wonderful in showing that, although the federal Department of Education has no Constitutional authority to act within states in any capacity, states have spent FIFTY YEARS kowtowing to the federal government on education policy,

all the while American educational performance has plummeted, never to recover.

In December of last year, Governor Mary Fallin issued Executive Order (2014-40) that said, in part,

...in order to safeguard against any threat of federal intrusion

Oklahoma would use Oklahomans to create Oklahoma public education standards and tests.

It is apparent Oklahoma has 'federal intrusion' in Oklahoma education today - No Child Left Behind and Oklahoma's No Child Left Behind Waiver.

NCLB under George W. Bush was simply a re-gift to the American people of Bill Clinton's ESEA with one twist - the addition of something called Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).  Bush's NCLB said that by 2014, ALL children would be proficient in Math and English as decided by federally mandated yearly testing that would be used to create a 'grade card' for schools.  If schools were labeled failing under AYP (it is estimated that 90% of Oklahoma schools would be thus labeled), and/or if states weren't 'proficient' in Math and English by 2014, schools would be forced to take 20%  of their Title 1 funds (created by the first ESEA) and re-direct it to the federally mandated categories of supplemental educational services (such as reading programs) and school choice efforts.

In Oklahoma, our State Department of Education has said this figure would amount to $27,198 million dollars plus $3.8 million dollars for additional staff to administer the red tape associated with becoming a 'failure'.

We are also told by the OSDE that if we don't test students as required in grades 3-8 and 10-12, we will lose ALL federal funds from the USDE totaling $361,396,105 so the loss of the Waiver only amounts to 8% of all the federal funds we currently take.

Currently, many in our state legislature are concerned about losing our NCLB Waiver and providing the extra money necessary to perform federally mandated services that Oklahoma has already said - through our Governor - we don't recognize.

Why not use the state Unclaimed Property Funds designated to complete the Indian Cultural Center (40 million) to offset any loss of flexibility in spending Title 1 funding? 

Though Oklahomans have been clearly reticent to complete what has become another improperly funded project, the Governor has pushed for its completion.  Despite what Oklahomans want, Mary Fallin wants BOTH Common Core and the Indian Cultural Center.

Clearly she should prioritize CHILDREN over a museum.

Our Governor also needs to follow her own Executive Order and tell the federal government to take a long walk off a short pier. In fact, our Governor and legislature should be on the same page on this issue.  What in would happen if we lost the waiver?  What would happen if we just stopped following NCLB in the first place?

1.  Texas has an account (the Permanent School Fund) they use to offset the need for federal funds, allowing them (when they desire to) hold the federal government at bay and stand on the 10th Amendment. Oklahoma can and should work toward doing the same - now.  The unclaimed property money could seed that account.
2.  Washington State has lost their waiver over TLE.  In a recent blog post, Washington's Policy Center (similar in nature to Oklahoma's OCPA) has said this opens the door to another program that could allow for better implementation of school choice.  How can the argument be Oklahoma will have greater federal control if we throw off federal control?
3.  Indiana is at risk of losing its waiver now that they have attempted to redesign their 'College and Career Ready' standards.  So are Kansas, Arizona and Oregon, according to EdWeek's analysis.  How can Common Core be state led then? Doesn't that invalidate that entire argument?
4.  Gosh, if parents decided they were going to finally take back their parental rights and stop subjecting their kids to unnecessary and punitive testing, our state would break NCLB altogether.  What does that say about federal intrusion into Oklahoma education?
5. The federal government only has the powers the STATES allot it.  Why is it that when we bring up this fact with many legislators, there is eye-rolling (ostensibly, "nobody cares about that", "that's just silly") and/or a discussion about all the federal money we could lose for other projects like roads - again, all unconstitutional.
6.  Oklahoma is already adjusting our NCLB waiver for other issues, if we must pretend the Constitution doesn't exist, we can always amend/adjust the Waiver further.
7.  Much anecdotal evidence exists to indicate that Title 1 monies are not spent as required.  Maybe a loss of Oklahoma's waiver would actually provide desperately needed financial accountability.

It is apparent; NCLB is not appropriate for states, schools, parents, or kids. Why would Oklahoma continue to attempt to support NCLB when there are ways to circumvent it and our Governor indicates her disdain for federal involvement?  These are important questions to ask that should be clearly delineated election items in November.

Mary Fallin Wants Common Core Whether You Want It Or Not

Just so we are all clear, Governor Mary Fallin is absolutely Hell-bent on thrusting Common Core down the throats of Oklahomans through the legislature whether they want it or not.  Even in the face of a LETTER asking her to stop signed by many, many educational leaders and others all across the nation! Here's one of the latest articles being used to entice the legislature to stop bothering with us 'little people', aka 'parents'.

GOP Pollster: Republicans should be careful on Common Core. Basically this article makes the case that sampling of 'likely Republican voters' indicates that despite their votes on Common Core, all will keep their seats.  There are three things wrong with this notion:

1. Poling can say whatever pollsters want it to say - can anyone say 'skew the data'? 
2. 'Likely' Republican voters are more than not - NOT parents.  Sad to say, but most people today fall into two categories 1.  I'm too uninterested/lazy/busy to vote, and/or 2. I only vote at the last second based on commercials.  HOWEVER, you mess with kids, parents - especially moms - get furious.  Ask ex-Jeb-Bush-Cheif-For-Change Tony Bennet about that.  He lost his superintendency in Indiana over Common Core - among other 'Republican' 'reforms'.
3. You think Oklahomans aren't going to run to the Democrat saying, "No Common Core"?  If not, you're dead wrong.  Oklahoma can swing in Governorship from red to blue in a year - everyone knows that.  If you choose to ignore that here in Oklahoma, you definitely do so at your peril.

Again, voters may be at best agnostic over many issues that activists come out of their chairs over, but when you mess with their kids, the Grizzly comes out and those agnostics become activists too.

My gosh!  Even with the number of low-information-voters out there today, we managed to get HUNDREDS of people to the capitol to protest our Senate not hearing Common Core bills, blocking the will of the people and to ask our Senate to vote for the repeal of Common Core on St. Patrick's Day.  The only thing we DIDN'T do, was to get primary challengers for every seat in the House and the Senate where the legislator was firmly in the court of education 'reform' - including Common Core.  Legislators who legislate via polls and the Governor tells them to do, need to be reminded they are responsible to the people in their districts who elect them.  It's sad to acknowledge, but there are some legislators who hear the cry of those that fund their campaigns over those of the 'average voter'.

So, "WHY WON'T OUR GOVERNOR LISTEN TO HER PEOPLE?".  It is obvious that Common Core is an issue people do not want - overwhelmingly in Oklahoma. Polls show that - if you want to play the polling game - and there are candidates out there with whom I have had discussions that have gotten polling data to indicated such.

So why?  Clearly, as much as I've written on the topic of Common Core - the jury is out as to it's effectiveness as a college and career ready tool and the tests have been a nightmare.  There is NO WAY to collect enough data in the time we've had Common Core in Oklahoma because it wasn't mandated for use until 2014 and few schools have utilized it to 100%.  There is no way to cite accurate data - let alone ANY data - on whether or not kids are doing better under Common Core because there hasn't been any time to collect it.  Even if there had been, in order to be relevant at all, there would have to be a minimum of 6 years of test scores to even make any kind of comparison (kids would have to get through k-5 and the upper grades would have to fully matriculate through 4 years of high school).

Interestingly, there have been enough years of NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress - a national test given to a sampling of kids in each grade in each state and compared across states) data using PASS to make that determination.  Grades have continued to climb in mathematics particularly and also in reading, yet the Oklahoma Department of Education waives this data away by saying this data is do to "excellent teaching".  Are you kidding me?  Who could even write that with a straight face?  Isn't that what study after study after white paper have said for years - that standards don't really matter as long as teachers are doing a great job in the classroom?

Seriously, both the Oklahoma State Department of Education, and the office of the Governor seem to be simply switching the talking points on whatever facts and figures we find to argue against Common Core to their benefit - even if it makes no sense.  

So, again I ask, "WHY?"   Why, Governor?  Why Superintendent?  Why do you so desperately need to get all Oklahomans onto the Common Core even when Oklahomans do not want them? 

Every reason both these elected officials have given as Common Core necessity, we have debunked.  So, as I've asked a hundred times, is Common Core about parents and kids, or about political power and money?  I think we only need to acknowledge this fact:  If Common Core was about parents and kids, this nonsense would stop.