Three years after the Department of Education announced a contest called Race-to-the-Top for $4.35 billion in stimulus funds, some parents, teachers, governors, and citizen and public policy groups are coming to an awful realization about the likely outcomes:◼ We all know it, America’s public school system is failing our kids, and there are few among us that don’t agree that something needs to be done fix the problems; but what? Perhaps a new centralized system paid for by the federal government is the answer – HA! - TavernKeepers
A national curriculum called Common Core
Regionalism, or the replacement of local governments by federally appointed bureaucrats
A leveling of all schools to one, low national standard, and a redistribution of education funds among school districts
An effective federal tracking of all students
The loss of the option of avoiding the national curriculum and tests through private school and home school
While it is technically still “voluntary”, Common Core became tied to federal dollars at a time when state and local municipalities were struggling to keep teachers and police officers on the payroll. A recent article in IndyStar.com, an Indiana based news site, described the circumstances well:
While 45 states have adopted the Common Core, don’t mistake that for enthusiastic, nationwide support. States were essentially coerced into adopting by the President’s Race to the Top program, which tied federal dough to signing on. Even if policymakers in recession-hobbled states would have preferred open debate, there was no time. Blink, and the money would be gone. Which isn’t to say there wasn’t opposition — there certainly was among policy wonks — but most people hadn’t heard of the standards at adoption time, and their effects wouldn’t be felt for several years.◼ Common Core: Nationalized State-Run Education - Dean Kalahar/American Thinker
Like all Orwellian euphemisms, "Common Core" is not about innocent ideas like the word "common" or the term "core." The phrase "Common Core" is used to hide the real aspects of an education policy which if articulated openly would never be taken seriously, let alone be implemented....◼ Blog: Common Core Standards and the Future of Homeschooling - homeschool mom on www.time4learning.net
The foundational philosophy of Common Core is to create students ready for social action so they can force a social-justice agenda. Common Core is not about students who actually have a grasp of the intricate facts of a true set of what E.D. Hirsch would call "core knowledge." Common Core is about, as David Feith would say "an obsession with race, class, gender, and sexuality as the forces of history and political identity." Nationalizing education via Common Core is about promoting an agenda of Anti-capitalism, sustainability, white guilt, global citizenship, self-esteem, affective math, and culture sensitive spelling and language. This is done in the name of consciousness raising, moral relativity, fairness, diversity, and multiculturalism....
President Obama and Education Secretary Duncan falsely said the Common Core standards were developed by the states and voluntarily adopted. Common Core was actually developed by an organization called Achieve and the National Governors Association, funded by the Gates Foundation by at least $173 million dollars. The states were bribed by $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" dollars if they adopted the standards. Former Texas State Commissioner of Education, Robert Scott, stated for the record that he was urged to adopt the Common Core standards before they were written.
Federal laws prohibit the U.S. Department of Education from prescribing any curriculum, but four billion is a big carrot -- or is it a stick? Forty-six states and the District of Columbia have sold out... I mean "signed on."
◼ Common Core for English-Language Learners: Take a look at districts making the standards accessible to ELLs and see how teachers are preparing for instruction and assessment challenges. - Education Week
◼ Literacy and the Common Core: Understand how curriculum and assessments are shifting as a result of the English/language arts standards and how literacy is being implemented across the subject areas. - Education Week
◼ Math and the Common Core: Discover how math instruction is changing in light of the common standards and see how teachers are preparing at-risk students for the common core. - Education Week
◼ Data-Driven Decision making: Learn about successful district efforts in data-driven reform and put your school’s data into practice. - Education Week
◼ Implementing the Common Core State Standards in Your Class, School, or District (Math Focus) with Nanci Smith - ASCD
◼ Common Core State Standards and the Whole Child (PDF) - ASCD
◼ Should the White House control what your kids learn? - FOX
Obama is quietly busy making an end-run around our constitutional system, which forbids federal control of what your children learn in school. Step one, already well under way, is a dumbed-down national curriculum designed to artificially suppress achievement gaps between urban and suburban students. The right way to help poorly performing students is not to gut standards but to raise achievement, yet Obama is committed to defining performance down. That’s why the president’s ultimate goal is to erase the differences between local school districts with a massive redistribution of suburban education spending to the cities.◼ OBAMACORE: THE SUBSTITUTION OF PROPAGANDA FOR GREAT LITERATURE IN OUR SCHOOLS - Powerline
According to the Washington Post, English teachers across the country are upset by what they consider the government’s effort “to drive literature out of the classroom.”◼ Common core sparks war over words - Lyndsey Layton/Washington Post
The rest of us can fight back, though. Indiana and Utah already have popular rebellions in progress against the Common Core. If you want help with this fight in your area, contact ◼ the American Principles Project.
◼ Heartland Daily Podcast: Stanley Kurtz on Obama’s Education Takeover (podcast) - Keely Drukala/Heartland
◼ Rotten to the Core: Obama’s War on Academic Standards (Part 1) - Michelle Malkin
◼ Rotten to the Core (Part 2): Readin’, Writin’ and Deconstructionism - Michelle Malkin◼ Rotten to the Core, (Part 3): Lessons from Texas and the Growing Grassroots Revolt - Michelle Malkin
◼ Rotten to the Core (Part 4): The Feds’ Invasive Student Tracking Database - Michelle Malkin
◼ Time To Opt Out of Creepy Fed Ed Data-Mining Racket - Michelle Malkin
◼ Attention, parents: Common Core opt-out form now available - Michelle Malkin
