Are the Common Core Conservative? An Answer to Mike Huckabee's Common Core Support Letter

Maybe he mixed up Common Core with common sense?

The Okie Blaze asked me to pen a response to Mike Huckabee's Common Core support letter sent to Oklahoma legislators June 3, 2013.  I have permission to post it here as well.

Is Common Core Conservative?

An answer to Mike Huckabee’s letter to legislators, June 3, 2013.

Jenni White, President, Restore Oklahoma Public Education

July 24, 2013

First, let us define; What is a “Conservative”?

Readers may feel this to be a rhetorical question – something not unlike “What is the measure of a man?”  I assure you, it is not.

In fact, through countless political races I have heard, and on the pages of immeasurable numbers of articles of journalistic intent I have read, words to the effect of, “I am a Conservative.”  

Our Governor said it during her campaign.  Governor Fallin would have gone on to collect millions of dollars to implement a health care exchange here in Oklahoma on the way to a full blown implementation of ObamaCare – a notion thoroughly dispelled by vote of the people in 2012 – had she not been stopped in her tracks by angry citizens.

Our State Superintendent said it during her campaign.  Dr. Barresi – with help from the Governor – has gone on to accept, or apply for, one federal education grant after another to instill yet more controls over the way Oklahomans educate their children.

Though we can hardly say with a straight face that the Common Core State Standards, pushed endlessly, illegitimately, needlessly, deceitfully, by Dr. Baressi and Governor Fallin are federally promulgated, are they a Conservative notion?

What is Conservative?  The word has many different meanings, but the political meaning, as copied from the Merriam/Webster online dictionary is:

a political philosophy based on tradition and social stability, stressing established institutions, and preferring gradual development to abrupt change; specifically : such a philosophy calling for lower taxes, limited government regulation of business and investing, a strong national defense, and individual financial responsibility for personal needs (as retirement income or health-care coverage)

I’d actually call that fair, as I self-identify as a Conservative.

What about Mike Huckabee?

Governor Huckabee penned a letter to Oklahoma’s “Conservative” legislators last month to,

“encourage you to resist any attempt to delay implementation of the improved standards adopted by your State Board of Education in 2010.”

In the first sentence, he self-identifies as a “Conservative, so let’s put Common Core to the “Conservative” test.

1.    Will it lower taxes: NO.  Schools all over Oklahoma have had (will have) to either raise money through school bonds or apply for ERate grants to be able to afford the upgrades to their broadband systems necessary to take the ‘next generation’ tests necessary to appropriately assess the behavior, thoughts and ideas of students related to Common Core.  Taxpayers pay for school bonds.  Citizens pay taxes on their cell phones to fund ERate.  In addition, the state education budget has increased by 74 million dollars (and even that’s still not enough) – does that grow on one of the trees on the Capitol Complex?  No, those are taxpayer derived funds.

2.    Will it limit government?  NO.  As noted by the increase in the education budget, the Department of Education grows, hiring 4.3 million dollars of REAC3H coaches to train teachers in the Common Core – oops, sorry, the Oklahoma Academic Standards – oops, sorry, the C3 standards…

3.    Will it strengthen individual responsibility?  NO.  Schools will soon fall under the A-F grading scale.  Right now, no teacher, administrator, or school janitor has any idea of the manner in which students will be tested on the Common Core standards next year, but we are quite sure state test scores will be rolled up into the A-F grade.  If a school gets a D or an F (according to our NCLB waiver document), the school can be taken over by the State Department of Education or one of its contractors.  So how can administrators maintain individual responsibility for their schools?  How can teachers? 

Governor Huckabee says a number of other things to which I take umbrage.

1.    “Many of you voted in favor of these standards in 2010.”

Strange, but many of the legislators we have spoken to over the years were either not in their legislative seat in 2010, or knew much – if anything – about the standards themselves (encompassing 1 paragraph in a 35 page bill) when the bill that codified the standards into law finally passed on the second try (SB2033 – 2010)

2.     “These standards, known as Common Core State Standards, have been near and dear to my heart since I served as Governor of your neighboring state of Arkansas.”  

Governor Huckabee was Arkansas’s governor from 1996-2007.  The Common Core weren’t even finished for review during the time he was in office.  Was he with Achieve?  How did he know about the Standards?  I thought they were ‘state led’.

3.    “And it’s disturbing to me there have been criticisms of these standards directed by other conservatives including the RNC.”

In other words, “Republicans should stick together and present a united front!  To heck with whether we’re wrong or right or following Conservative principals!”  That concept doesn’t work for me.  Many of us self-identifying, Oklahoma Conservatives still operate on the “right is right and wrong is wrong” principal not the “go along to get along” principal.  PS: he’s referring to the NATIONAL Republican Committee voting unanimously for a resolution against the Common Core.  Unanimously.

4.     “Speaking from one conservative to another”

Okay, that one’s easy.

5.    “I’ve heard the argument these standards “threaten local control” of what’s being taught in Oklahoma classrooms…and this just isn’t true.”

Wow, Governor, how do you come to that conclusion?  The standards impose what children are expected to “know and do” in each grade.  Yes, teachers may have latitude to determine how that is to be taught, however, all books and ancillary materials will be aligned to the Common Core.  In fact, in order to make a buck, many ‘education’ companies are creating curriculum packages so teachers can easily just pick one up and follow the dots.  Why would they do this?  REAC3H coaches have been providing spotty instruction in teaching to the Core all across Oklahoma.  You gotta teach to get a check and you gotta have the check to live.  One more thing…even states that adopted the standards completely, as did Oklahoma, have to abide by the 15% rule – we can’t add more than 15% to the standards – like cursive.  I guess I don’t follow where Common Core ‘local control’ is akin to the amount of local control present in the  previous PASS standards.

6.    “From an economic and workforce development perspective, these standards are critical. Innovation driving the successful companies in Oklahoma…These standards ensure Oklahoma remains competitive in the race to attract companies with the highest paying jobs for Oklahomans…”

Two questions in answer:  1. When did America begin educating their children for the workforce?  When did we educate children in America in order to fulfill an economic imperative?  The Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce wants little automatons that can be expected to churn out iPhone contracts like China?   2. When did INNOVATION spontaneously erupt from homogeneity?  How can one be ‘innovative’ and uniform at the same time?  Uniformity does NOT drive successful companies and innovation springs from choice and depth in education, not an “inch wide and a mile deep” standards (as opposed to the hated and disparaged “inch deep and a mile wide” standards of traditional elementary and mid high education).

7.    “Children of military families will not fall behind when their parents, who've chosen to defend our freedom, are asked to move from Fort Benning, Georgia to Fort Sill in Lawton or Vance Air force base in Enid.”

The Department of Defense has their own educational arm.  If they chose the Common Core path after consultation with military families, so be it.  That does not translate into a need for a set of national-level standards as military families make up a small overall percentage of most public schools.  Many military families also home school.  Why don’t we use homeschooling as our yardstick for a national education model?

In closing, the idea of a nationally uniform set of standards may seem righteous on first inspection.  Closer inspection finds it lacking on a number of fronts.  Please take the time to inspect the arguments for yourself.  Ask questions.  Seek answers.  Common Core isn’t “Conservative” nor is it appropriate for American students and the American way of life.

States Dumping PARRC Is An ORCHESTRATED Event - NOT "STATE LED"!

I had to write this blog after receiving this letter to Superintendents from Georgia Superintendent John D. Barge, Ed.D.  I will add the exact link to the letter as soon as I am able to find it, but for now, I am copying the entirety of the letter here below, followed by the letter Janet Barresi sent to Superintendents in Oklahoma.

My thesis; Achieve has figured out Common Core opponents have a case for federal involvement in testing with the argument that PARCC received federal funding to create the tests and now the feds want to 'help' decide what will be on the tests.   

What's the best way to nullify the argument?  Have states leave PARCC and 'develop their own state standards'.   

Okay but who will they use for Common Core tests then?  McGraw Hill?  Pearson? Both companies are part of the Common Core machine - both SELL Common Core tests - both are private organizations not having received money from ARRA but that have massive lobbying efforts across the nation.  As I've said before; THIS IS A SHELL GAME and the American public is being played.  When you look at the letters from TWO SEPARATE state superintendents in TWO SEPARATE states and they are so similar you can pick out common themes and wording?  You have an orchestrated event, most probably from Achieve - which has an entire website called the Future Ready Project to help states 'sell' the standards.  States get pushback on the Core, and instead of governors and/or state superintendents meeting the arguments head on in their own states - locally - they go to Achieve to get propaganda to 'sell' their citizenry on their education 'reform' measures (Common Core/Testing/TLE).  The term "state led" is meant to mean "local", but as is obvious, Common Core is not a local phenomena, but a nationally coordinated event geared toward promulgating progressive education and crony capitalism by providing more clients for the private corporations pushing the standards.

Dear Superintendents,

Earlier today, I, along with Governor Deal and our State Board Chair, Barbara Hampton, advised the leadership of the PARCC Governing Board that the state of Georgia is withdrawing from the consortium and as such, we will not administer the PARCC assessments in 2014-2015. Georgia will be pursuing other options for developing our own state assessments in English language arts and math at the elementary, middle and high school levels.  We will continue to work with Georgia educators, as we have in the past, to reconfigure and/or redevelop our state assessments to reflect the instructional focus and expectations inherent in our rigorous state standards in language arts and math.  This is not a suspension of the implementation of the CCGPS in language arts and math.

After talking with district superintendents, administrators, teachers, parents, lawmakers, and members of many communities, I believe this is the best decision for Georgia’s students.  Relative to assessment, our paramount goal is to deliver high-quality instruments.  It is critical that these instruments provide key information about student learning and contribute to the ongoing work of improving the educational opportunities for each student. 

The Georgia Department of Education estimates that several million dollars in savings will be realized, annually, by developing our own assessments. The cost estimates for PARCC will be released later today, and these costs far exceed what Georgia can afford.

As we have discussed the technology requirements for PARCC, we have realized that a majority of our districts are not ready for full-scale, online assessments across all grades.  The state does not currently have the technology infrastructure or sufficient hardware to handle the test administration demands of PARCC, which include technology- enhanced test items.

While any new test Georgia develops will require greater capacity, allowing for online administration, we will be in the position to work with districts to establish the timeline.  This is important, as many districts need greater bandwidth, improved connectivity, and more devices (i.e., hardware) to handle not only assessment administration but day to day instructional requirements.

Developing our own assessments also will allow Georgia to determine the amount of time our students spend testing.  Based on current estimates, PARCC anticipates up to 10 hours of student engagement, through multiple test sessions conducted across two testing windows in language arts and mathematics alone.  I am optimistic that Georgia’s tests will require significantly less time for these two content areas, within a single window, and still provide high-quality information about student learning.

Finally, and arguably the most important consideration, adopting the PARCC assessment would limit the ability of Georgia to make adjustments or changes to our standards as we see fit.  If Georgia educators determine that certain standards need to be shifted or revised, we would run the risk of no longer being aligned with the PARCC assessment.  Such misalignment would put our students at a disadvantage. 

As we begin to build new assessments, please note that our Georgia assessments:

·         will be aligned to the math and English language arts CCGPS;

·         will be of high-quality and rigorous;

·         will be developed for students in grades 3 through 8 and high school;

·         will be reviewed by Georgia teachers;

·         will require significantly less time to administer than the PARCC assessments;

·         will be administered within a single testing window;

·         will be offered in both computer- and paper-based formats; and

·         will include a variety of item types, such as performance-based and multiple-choice items.

I am confident that Georgia can use the information learned from our involvement in PARCC as we develop new tests.  We are grateful to Georgia educators who have worked hard to help develop our standards and assessments.  We look forward to continuing to work with them to develop a new assessment system for our state.

As we continue to prepare our students to be college and career ready by the time they graduate from high school, I believe this approach will benefit them greatly.  As the work continues, I will keep you informed.  In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.  

John D. Barge, Ed.D.

State School Superintendent

Georgia Department of Education

2066 Twin Towers East

205 Jesse Hill Jr. Dr. SE

Atlanta, GA 30334

Ofc:  404-657-6165

Fax:  404-651-8737

johnbarge@doe.k12.ga.us

www.gadoe.org

Follow us on Twitter: @gadoenews and @drjohnbarge

Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gadoe

"Making Education Work for All Georgians"

Now, here is the letter written to Superintendents by Janet Barresi.  No, the wording is not exact - let's not split hairs - but please tell me that not only the formatting, but the message are NOT the same.

MEMORANDUM

TO: District Superintendents

FROM: State Superintendent Janet Barresi

DATE: July 1, 2013

RE: Issuing RFP to Develop Oklahoma Assessments in Math and English Language Arts

Last week, I advised the leadership of the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers) Governing Board that the state of Oklahoma will not be participating in the spring 2015 administration of the PARCC Assessment. Oklahoma will be issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) to develop our own state assessments in English language arts and math for grades 3 through 8. We will work with our current testing vendor to align high school end-of-instruction exams to reflect the significant instructional shifts and the new rigorous state standards in English, math and social studies. I want to be clear; this is not a suspension of the implementation timeframe for the Oklahoma Academic Standards that include the Common Core State Standards for English and math.

After talking with and listening to district superintendents, teachers and parents, I believe this is the best decision for Oklahoma's children. Our first priority was to deliver a very high-quality assessment that would provide the type of information our teachers, administrators, parents, the legislature and the public need to continue to support ongoing work in improving educational opportunities for each child. In addition, developing our own assessments will reduce the amount of time children are testing, reduce the risk of technology problems and save money.

The State Department of Education estimates that upwards of $2 million a year in savings will be realized by developing our own assessments. The PARCC cost estimates for the exams will be released at a later date. Those cost estimates will not include formative assessments for teachers or multiple retakes of high school end-of-instruction exams. The Oklahoma assessments will include at least two formative assessments teachers may use on a voluntary basis each year and opportunities for students to retake the EOIs.

The Office of Instructional Technology conducted a speed test in April to determine our technology readiness. The study revealed 85 percent of the districts were not ready for online learning opportunities. The state does not currently have the technological infrastructure to handle the amount of time on task for students as well as the enhanced test items as required by PARCC.

These Oklahoma tests still will require students to fill in the blanks, drag and drop items, and manipulate objects on the screen, and this requires a higher level of technology. Many districts still need more bandwidth to handle these requirements, better connectivity and more devices for taking the examination. I am continuing to work with the governor and legislative leadership to find funding and viable options to increase technological capacity across the state.

The final reason for this decision is the time on task issue. As you know, the PARCC recommendations will call for up to 10 hours of student engagement on test items over two testing windows. Our RFP is calling for about half that amount over one window.

The 2014-2015 Oklahoma assessments:
• Will be aligned to the new math and English language arts Oklahoma Academic Standards that include the Common Core
• Will be reviewed by Oklahoma teachers
• Will require about half of the time on task as the PARCC assessments and will be administered over one testing window.
• Will be developed for students in grades 3 through 12 but only computerized for grades 6 through 12 as has been in the past
• Will offer paper and pencil tests throughout the duration of the contract as opposed to PARCC only allowing paper and pencil for one year
• Will be high-quality and display the same rigor as well as the same type of test items as the PARCC exams are expected to have
• Will have performance based items as well as some multiple choice, although fewer multiple choice items than in the past

Lastly, I am pleased the new testing vendor, when chosen, will be able to use the information we learned from participating in PARCC as we commission the new Oklahoma tests. We are grateful to the Oklahoma Educator Leader Cadre that has worked so hard to help prepare educators for the new standards and assessments. We will continue to work with them to support the development of the new Oklahoma assessments.

I look forward to going down this new road of developing Oklahoma assessments for Oklahoma children. As we continue to work to prepare our children to be college, career and citizen ready by the time they graduate, these new Oklahoma grown assessments will greatly benefit them.

As the RFP process continues, I will keep you informed. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you.

Janet C. Barresi

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!

What Would Einstein Think of Common Core?

I commented on an article today regarding Michigan's attempts to shake free from the Common Core.  Many of the comments came from sadly misinformed individuals who seem to believe that "common" is good and anything to which a large number of others subscribe must amount to some kind of awe-inspiring notion, spawning my concern that none apparently had mothers like mine who constantly queried, "If Mary was going to jump off a bridge, would you?"

One man began his comment with this, "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)

This thought captured my  imagination thoroughly.  I have been blessed to know a man named Dr. Everett Piper, the President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University.  I love to hear him discuss the horrors of Common Core from a philosophical perspective, not only because he is such an excellent orator, but because people tend to forget the philosophical point of view - the notion that ideas shape the human condition and ideas reduced to commonalities do not advance the human condition.

The best opponents of Common Core predicate their arguments on fact - in stark opposition to proponents who tend to use half-truths and lies upon which to base their case - but the philosophy behind our Common Core concerns are palpable and real and I believe we need to advance these arguments at least as often as we tout our facts.

In this thought, I penned the following response:

The Common Core State Standards were written by several individuals - without education degrees I might add - who then, knowing national standards are against federal law, sent them out through a private organization - Achieve - to the nation's governors and superintendents with the promise of federal money waiting in the wings - 500 BILLION dollars through Race to the Top - if they adopted them for their state sight unseen. It happened here in Oklahoma exactly as it happened in Michigan and all other adopting states.

Granted, the term "Common" was used to mean ubiquitous, however, another meaning for "Common" is the OPPOSITE of "individual", which begs the question:  How in the world can America continue to be seen as the most innovative country in the world when states fully intend to collaboratively adopt standards to "commonize" all students across all states? 

How do you INCREASE student knowledge levels by pulling successful students down to the level of the 'common'? 

Are there really that many low performing students in every school in every state in the nation that we need to stop everything to bring them up to the 'common' level of each class? 

Do we bring down 25 kids for 1 kid or even 6 kids in a class? 

If so, then what are we doing to the other 21? 

The simple, straightforward answer is that we're dumbing them down - there is no other characterization possible - and we can't scream "civil rights" for those at the bottom without inquiring about the "civil rights" of the individuals in the majority being pulled down.

For those of you in the Chamber of Commerce sect, how do you convince a company to come to Michigan when your students will be taught in a thoroughly homogenous way, forcing out uniqueness, drive and imagination - the very qualities necessary to produce the Einstein's and Edison's of this world? 

How well do you think Einstein would fair with the Common Core? 

Do you think we would have had a Theory of Relativity with the Common Core...well silly question...of course we would - the Common Core is nothing if not 'relative' among every state and every child.
 
Common Core is what it is - nonsense dreamed up by well-connected philanthropists (Carnegie, Broad, etc)  and innovator/billionaires such as Bill Gates, with a dollar to be made in the education "industry". 

I hope no one escapes the irony imbued in the fact that these people who worked and scrapped and sacrificed to make their dreams reality - who reached the pinnacle of success by truly innovating in America - suddenly seem to forget that the great thing about America - the thing that gave them the ability to get to the top - was the variety inherent in every aspect of the American condition - the FREEDOM to receive the best education one could seek out from the very variety contained within.

Why Are We Doing Common Core Again?

I found some very interesting statistics today in the 2013 Kids Count Data Book.

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This was quite the snapshot.  Think about it.  We have to do Common Core on a national level because teens are dropping out of high school and kids are not proficient in English and Math.  Seems to me that the Common Core was proposed long AFTER 2005.  It certainly hasn't been in effect long enough (since 2010 with full implementation in 2014) to cause changes in these numbers.

But let's not stop there.  Let's look at Oklahoma.

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Now this: (from Kids Count via NAEP)

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And this:  (from Kids Count via NAEP)

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Gosh.  I totally see the need for Common Core for math in Oklahoma!  We have not improved since...well, I guess we've been improving since 2003.  That's odd.

What about reading?

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Okay, granted, not the stellar achievement levels of math, but still going in the right direction...WITHOUT COMMON CORE.

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Okay, apparently we're not doing that great a job here, however, what in the heck is the point of spending all the money and time and re-training teachers to teach in a way they wouldn't normally do, just so we can have NATIONAL standards?

Are you scratching your head yet?  I am.