Leonie Haimson, leader of New York City’s Class Size Matters, reports that Governor Andrew Cuomo has named a panel to study the implementation of the Common Core standards in the state. The panel, she says, is stacked with supporters of Common Core.
She writes:
No early childhood experts, elementary or special ed teachers on commission, which is unfortunate because these are the people whose critiques have been most sharp.
Litow chair already wrote an oped in favor http://bit.ly/1ea69ge
Russo is one of the few Superintendents in entire state on record in favor http://bit.ly/1ea6wHP
He was booed by parents & teachers at a Common Core forum http://bit.ly/1ea6wHP and says CC curriculum “one of best things I’ve seen in education in 31, 32 yrs”
Dan Weisberg head of TNTP has received $23M from Gates Foundation including $7M in last yr alone http://bit.ly/1bDFNH8
Gates has spent >$170M on the Common Core and will not go down lightly http://wapo.st/1bDHggw
Cuomo names Common Core panel as rollout remains under fire
by Philissa Cramer on February 7, 2014
More in Albany ReportMORE IN ALBANY REPORT
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has named the members of a panel that he has asked to advise him about the way the state is implementing the Common Core standards.
The 11 panel members include state legislators, educators from New York City and upstate, an upstate parent, business leaders, and advocates. Linda Darling-Hammond, the Stanford University education professor who advised President Barack Obama on education, is also on the panel.
Cuomo announced in his budget address in January that he would convene the panel, after remaining silent for months amid growing concerns about the state’s rollout of the new standards. Parents and educators from across the state have said schools did not get enough time or support to adjust to the standards before being held accountable for having students meet them.
The panel’s work gained new significance this week when legislators — including the two on the panel — called for the state to untie Common Core test scores from teacher evaluations for at least two years. Darling-Hammond has supported Common Core testing but criticized using test scores to measure individual teachers.
“It would be premature to consider any moratorium before the panel is allowed to do its work,” Cuomo said in response.
The panel will deliver recommendations before the end of the legislative session this spring, according to Cuomo’s office.
The full list of panel members is below:
- Stanley S. Litow, Vice President, IBM Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs & President, IBM International Foundation (Chair)
- Senator John Flanagan, Senate Education Committee Chair (Senate appointee)
- Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, Assembly Education Committee Chair (Assembly appointee)
- Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University Graduate School of Education
- Todd Hathaway, Teacher, East Aurora High School (Erie County)
- Alice Jackson-Jolley, Parent (Westchester County)
- Anne Kress, President, Monroe Community College
- Nick Lawrence, Teacher, East Bronx Academy for the Future (NYC)
- Delia Pompa, Senior Vice President of Programs, National Council of La Raza
- Charles Russo, Superintendent, East Moriches UFSD (Long Island)
- Dan Weisberg, EVP & General Counsel, The New Teacher Project
Lawrence, the UFT lead teacher at his school, wrote last year about his experience with New York City’s teacher evaluation rules for Chalkbeat’s First Person section.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
Why? I’m sure the dollars would have been more effectively spent on a marketing/PR firm…
If NYSUT remains silent, it will be deafening.
You are so right. They have tremendous influence.
As a previous poster said so insightfully, “teachers have been politically orphaned”
We must try to remember that the overarching issue of corporate reform is not about a professional discourse surrounding educational problems and solution, it is an out and out political battle. If we don’t fight it as such we will lose.
UFT’s president, Michael Mulgrew, supports Andy’s every move……. http://www.uft.org/press-releases/mulgrew-praises-formation-governors-common-core-panel . Mulgrew also endorses the slate running against Dick Ianuzzi and his team in the upcoming elections that will decide the leadership of NYSUT. This is getting interesting.
I’d like those meeting recorded.
So write a letter to Todd Hathaway at East Aurora High School. It is a public high school in Western NY. Hopefully he will speak up or have a guilt complex.
Todd Hathaway is a great advocate for public education, educators, parents and of course students. He has helped fight the testing madness here in WNY. Depending on the parent selected, he may be the only voice of reason on the panel.
Todd is definitely a good choice, but will his voice be heard above the multitude?
Superintendent Russo says. CC curriculum “one of best things I’ve seen in education in 31, 32 yrs”
He has unwittingly confirmed the principle attributed to Goebbels — that a lie has to be a really big lie and be endlessly repeated; then it is bound to be believed.
And this is why I compared the people behind the privatization of the public schools to Hitler and the Nazis—because they keep inventing and repeated endless lies that are bound to be believed by enough people so they will achieve their end goal.
Gates, the Koch brothers, the Walton family, etc—are no different. They just haven’t built any death camps. Yet!
But give them time. Anyone willing to lie to this degree and spend all that much money on PR campaigns to fool people are probably capable of justifying mass killings to end any voices that disagree with them.
All the monsters—for instance, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Augusto Pinochet, Francois Duvalier, Francisco Franco, Saddam Hussein—-started small. Then at some point when they had enough power, they implemented programs that are now considered crimes against humanity.
It always starts with the lies.
Boy, am I ever going have egg on my face when Bill Gates opens his first death camp!
I don’t think you have to go so far afield. Today’s US atmosphere is pretty much exactly as it was in Nixon days. Politicos used opposite-speak to talk up foreign policy while lower-middle & working poor found themselves cannon-fodder by fiat [drafted for a war which was counterintuitive, history-wise, doomed to failure, w/lipstick a la fraudulent body-counts et al lies applied to pig]. Idealistic campus kids– not just those protesting & marching, but even doing simple things like signing on for student-faculty committees to establish democratic student governments– found themselves photo’d & ID’d by Hoover’s FBI, held over for interrogation on draft-physical day. Then as now, ‘dirty tricks’ & abuse of power abounded. We even had mainstream investigative journalism in those days (lacking now)– but that was not enough to override the cynical manipulation by fed gov of cultural backwaters. The only thing that put an end to all that (we’d already been losing the war for years– ‘accountability’ never applied to those in power) was that POTUS, overweening in its exercise of power, committed criminal, impeachable acts. Mainstream investigative journalism saved the day. What will save us?
Some of the corporate plutocrats listed in Diane’s post may never become brutal tyrants but there are more than twenty of these billionaires pushing for public school reform that will benefit each of them one way or another.
I think it is arguable that some of these oligarchs are not in it for the money but to influence how our government operates—and a way to influence young minds who might end up in the private sector schools they helped create with their wealth.
All it takes is one oligarch to become the next Hitler or Stalin. Didn’t Hitler have his Hitler youth? Once a dictator controls the schools, they also control the message those young minds hear everyday. And isn’t that already happening where private sector charter schools aren’t teaching science but are teaching creation instead.
S&F, Lloyd, you make excellent points
When we centralize something, when we create a surveillance mechanism, that power falls into the hands of ANY FUTURE person or group that happens to hold the reins under ANY FUTURE economic or political conditions. If the potential for abuse exists, the abuse will occur.
Lloyd,
As you know, that’s why this whole reform movement is so detrimental. As young minds become wired, the idea of plutocrats controlling the way people think by buying their way through policy rather than forming it democratically, will become institutionalized as millions of people here become marginalized without even knowing it.
When a perversion becomes normalized, as it did in Third Reicht Germany, anything can happen.
Just ask the author of “The Hunger Games”.
The governor is taking page out of the President’s playbook—when a policy is clearly wrong headed and implementation would mean big political blowback, appoint a commission. Of course, the way this playbook works, when the commission issues its report, ignore the report and continue down the policy pathway you originally set out.
Is anyone else worried about Universal Pre-K implementation?
They should be. But I’m told every ten seconds that UPK is De Blasio’s “mandate,” so who am I to criticize.
Perhaps that’s why NYC doesn’t want to tie its wagon to the NYS PreK mandate. The kids are better off in day care than participating in CCSS.
Ironically, Kindergarten is not mandated. How is that supposed to work?
Big time, Mary, I’m right there with ya. Here’s a link to the PreK Common Core Standards for New York State. They already exist…
http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/common_core_standards/
This crap is already real in NJ. We used to have a really great set of ‘PreK Expectations’ from the ’90’s written by real early-childhood experts. They are still there, more or less. But if the PreK venue wishes to enroll any ‘Abbott School students’ (those from 31 low-income areas identified in the late ’80’s), enter 2-tier ed: the laudable NJ PreK Expectations are eschewed in favor of a separate curriculum [may select from a few approved ‘canned’ national PreK curricula] to which the PreK curriculum must be aligned. As one might anticipate, we’re talking a micromanaged schedule which reduces unstructured play to 45mins/day, replacing that w/multiple pre-reading & pre-math ‘circle times’ complete w/assessments, & specifying the ‘appropriate’ educational materials/toys/manipulables…
Need I say that private preK’s advertise themselves on citydata via 0% ‘free-lunch’?
It’s all about ‘accountability’, folks. God forbid one of those ‘Abbott School kids’– whose tuition taxpayers support– should enroll in one of those loosey-goosey private preschools whose beans we can’t count precisely.
Yo.
Cuomo needs to be “checked” on the nature of his “panel” ..surely this is no “study”.. but a panel to confirm a certain belief. I hope NYC teachers and administrators will call him out on this. The public should not be led by this nonsensical PR spin!
Is Westchester “upstate”? Cuomo’s panel is a joke-a political maneuver that will make him look like a reform hero if political forces align the way he wants them to (breaking the will of communities, their schools, and their dedicated educators), and the one true lobbyist for our children if conquering the core is convenient.
Don’t underestimated Flanigan! He is pretty angry about implementation!
On education, Cuomo = Christie =Rhee = Broad = Duncan = Bush (Jebbie) = Obama.
As long as people vote for the lesser evil (Obama will not be as bad on education as Rommney…) the politicians will never abandon the monied interests of the reformers.
In New York next fall, a vote for Cuomo is a vote FOR more Rhee style reform.
But as it turns out, how is Obama a lesser evil than Romney when it comes to ed reform? His man Duncan is a cheerleader for privatization of education.
The only difference I can see between the two is that one wears boxers and the other wears magic Mormon undergarments.
I generally appreciate your comments, Robert, but as member of the LDS (Mormon) faith, please be more respectful of my beliefs. Would you call a Jewish tallit or kipa “magic?” Then please don’t do that about my specialized clothing. Thank you.
Point well taken, Louisiana. My apologies.
Freelancer,
I believe Obama has actually been far, far worse and caused more damage to public education than Romney could have been. I posit that if Romney won and attacked education they way Obama and the Dunce have, oppositional minded Democrats would have defended public education JUST TO DERAIL “President Romney and his Secretary of Education.”
However, I do not attribute the theoretical support for public education from the opposition to be genuine; Democrats, by and large, are hardly distinguishable from Tea Party Republicans on education policy. Cuomo, Emanuel, Broad, Cerf, Obama, Duncan should be shunned by their party. They ate not.
Stop drinking dirty water, no more votes for Dems who destro public long won education advances.
If George W. Bush had attempted to do what Obama is doing now to privatize public education, the Democrats in Congress would have blocked him.
Galton – I recently participated in a political poll for Andrew Cuomo. There was not one question on education (except in regards to universal PreK). There was an open ended question where I complained about current educational policies. However, I gagged when I said I was willing to vote for Donald Trump or Carl Paladino. The poor girl doing the questioning didn’t know how to pronounce names or even what she was talking about.
Anyway – unless the Republicans come up with a better candidate, Cuomo will win again in November.
Thank you for your apology, Robert.
Ellen,
Yes, Cuomo will be re-elected, as was Christie. Worse, many PUBLIC TEACHERS AND SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS will send their own children to schools on “testing days” and thereby empower more stupidity.
Two big responses are called for. First , and most important, OPT OUT! Don’t allow a child you love to drink this kool aid! Second, do not cast a vote for a Democrat who has not Publicly denounced the reform movement. It may mean losing some ugly battles in order to win this war on public education though.
No more dirty water!
Galton – what will happen if we opt out? Will the school be rated a failing school? Will the teacher be fired? Will the student be labeled as a 1 or even a 0?
I think it is fear of the repercussions which hampers the opt out movement.
This is an INVASION of public education. Defend it with all you have. Be FIERCE and FEARLESS.
Ellen,
Fear is paralyzing. All must decide which battles and issues are worth fighting. “Opting out” en masse is the best hope public education. Encourage all you know to overcome their fears and resist. Remember; ” the opposite of courage is not cowardice: it is compliance.”- J. Hightower (I think)
Is public education worth fighting for? Do all students have a right to a wholesome system of free public schools?
If you do not resist the evil you see and know, then….,
Be the hero you are, resist!
I’ll do my best to get my daughter to opt out my grand daughter. She started with a three, went to a two, and last year scored a one. I guess the public education system is making her dumber, not smarter.
Which test to believe? Her IQ score is high, her NYS assessment low. She finds school boring. I fear that she will get lost in the shuffle. Another test won’t fix that.
How many others are in the same boat?
Exactly, Galton!!! Very well said!!!
What’s Hillary think? The more the question is posed to her, the better. Let it be a front and center issue of 2016. Let the Republican frontrunner answer to the core, whomever that may be.
Hill is just another neo-liberal reformer.
A vote for Cuomo is a vote for JUDAS.
Cuomo stacked the deck again.. this won’t work this time because his arrogance has unleashed the power of mothers. They are watching and will respond. Don’t mess with a baby cub when mama bear is aware.
Blatant disregard for our special needs students. Where is the professional on the panel with the expertise on Special Education??!! Angry white suburban moms will vote him out of office come November. Governor, we can see right through you. Unfortunately our children are the ones who are currently suffering through this mess.
except…. Linda Darling-Hammond who should be and was expected to be in Arne Duncan’s chair. She was Candidate Obama’s educational policy go to person … then he got to Washington, changed his tune and his Secretary choice. If she had been selected it would not be a race and it would not be a competition where only some have access to “the top”
It doesn’t matter how many Klingon High Councils look at this thing. The true standards are in fact the tests which may or may not reflect the written standards. And we can’t see those. Plus the fact teachers are underrepresented means Design by Committee is doomed to fail. Common Core should be a guideline used by teachers tempered with professional judgement. It must first be field tested and refined through feedback from the classroom.
While I appreciate creating a panel to explore the implementation of Common Core Standards, if people are able to accurately predict the outcomes/reccs., what are we really doing?
from OPT OUT Long Island:
Please share!
From Al Graf: Meet Charles Russo, the Governor’s appointment to the “Common Core Commission.” You tell me if you think Cuomo’s trying to stack the deck. http://youtu.be/NH-R15x3dzc.
Meet Dr. Charles Russo from Cuomo Common Core Panel
Video from Eastport-South Manor Common Core Hearing on November 26, 2013 hosted by NYS Senate. Testifying is Dr. Charles Russo the Superintendent of East Mor…
By AssemblymanGraf|youtube.com
..
4 hours ago
Like
CommentShare
.
6 people like this.
.
Lee Justo Is anyone surprised
4 hours ago · Like · 1
..
Mary Cal Oh no, I was actually there when he made this speech. We booed him off the stage.
4 hours ago · Like · 7
..
Rob Pearl All the Pro cc appointments are a joke Russo, really!!!! I knew he was gunning for something big at Eastport forum!!! If this wasn’t real, I’d laugh!!!!
4 hours ago · Like
..
Rob Pearl All the Pro cc appointments are a joke Russo, really!!!! I knew he was gunning for something big at Eastport forum!!! If this wasn’t real, I’d laugh!!!!
4 hours ago · Like
..
John O’Boyle How did he get his job??
4 hours ago · Like
..
Jan Johnson Kissing ass…
4 hours ago · Like · 1
..
Terry Kalb Eastport was Russo’s audition. I guess he got his call back.
3 hours ago · Like · 4
..
Mary Cal Probably sent this video to Cuomo himself
3 hours ago · Like · 1
..
Keith Rennard Wondering if wasn’t already a Cuomo/NYSED/BOR lackey before Eastport.
3 hours ago · Like · 2
..
Cyndi McNamara I was SICK over this…now I’m PISSED!
3 hours ago · Like · 4
..
Keith Rennard East Moriches doesn’t have to worry about privatization. A super like this should send the whole district looking for charter/private schools.
3 hours ago · Like · 1
..
Lauren Rothman Miller But what about the others?
3 hours ago · Like
..
Cyndi McNamara Just as bad if not worse Lauren
3 hours ago · Like · 2
..
Cyndi McNamara Teacher Nick Lawrence who is on the panel: “As a classroom teacher I live, breathe and implement the current attempts at improvement and I’ve seen the way that two of the most important reforms – teacher evaluation and Common Core State Standards have improved me as a teacher and most importantly, helped my students learn.”
3 hours ago · Like
..
Jan Johnson ^That teacher loves the borg collective.
3 hours ago · Like · 2
..
Terry Kalb Nick Lawrence must have been a very poor teacher prior to CC if he needed a script and testing that does NOT inform instruction to improve! He must be even worse now…
3 hours ago · Like · 6
..
Crystal N Jimmy Demeo Nicholas Lawrance is from E4E which got $3m from Gates ,http://www.gatesfoundation.org/…/Grants/2013/07/OPP1089892
3 hours ago · Edited · Like
..
April Campbell Quiggle I can’t bare to watch it again (I was there in person). I’m sure this is what he was hoping for. Kiss the commissioner’s butt and get a nice cushy appointment. I wonder if the review board gets paid? Hmmmm.
3 hours ago · Like
..
Jan Johnson Not just King… Gates… what a brown noser
3 hours ago · Like
..
Cyndi McNamara The ONLY parent on the panel said: “I hope they get an education that is rigorous, challenges them, and inspires them, so they never feel they are skating through,” she said. “When they get to college and beyond, I want them to feel prepared and competitive.” This is like a bad movie…a really, really BAD movie!!
3 hours ago · Like · 2
..
Jan Johnson Like this… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBvIweCIgwk
3 hours ago · Like
..
Keith Rennard Can somebody make a video to go viral of Cuomo?
1 Student lobbyist comment….See More
3 hours ago · Like · 1
..
Mary Alyce Rogers I feel sick to my stomach!
3 hours ago · Like · 1
..
Susan Lockwood Schartner Cuomo only picked people who are pro CC! Social Studies really? Ask the kids about math…you will get different answers for sure! What a joke! We…parents and teachers are smarter than that… nice try Cuomo!
2 hours ago · Edited · Like · 3
..
Karen Boyle Smith Yes social studies to a little kid is story time..what about math and having to remember 5 ways to come up with the same answer
about an hour ago · Like
..
Joseph Mugivan http://m.wwno.org/…
WWNO | Your source for NPR News, Music & Culture
m.wwno.org
WWNO Public Radio for New Orleans providing NPR news, culture and the stories of the people, places, and events that make New Orleans unique.
.
about an hour ago · Like · Remove Preview
..
Susan Lockwood Schartner Know Chuck for many years and I am so disappointed in him and his stand on CC! Disgraceful! Is he looking for a postion in Albany?
26 minutes ago · Like
Governor Cuomo,
Please watch this video and try to explain to the public, why Charles Russo, out of all the amazing superintendents in NY, was chosen for this committee. Your decision is a disgrace after viewing this man’s actions and words.
Joseph Mugivan
Governor Cuomo, Don’t make me over with the Common Core. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEgxuE7WD6U
.
Hang onto your hats kids. This what I have on SEVEN of the 11 members on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s CC Panel in New York State. It is a long read but worth every minute. Be prepared to be pissed when you see how easily the dots are connected. Time to turn up the HEAT!
************************************************************
Some information about our Gov. Cuomo’s Panel
1) Stanley S. Litow, Vice President, IBM Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs & President, IBM International Foundation (Chair):
Why is the panel’s Chairperson from the corporate world. AND “Who knew that Lou Gerstner, former IBM CEO is involved in Achieve, Inc? “ I do not believe in coincidence see link re Gerstner.
http://webworks.typepad.com/lakecountyfiscalrangers/factsheet-on-common-core-education-standards-pushed-by-federal-government.html
2) Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University Graduate School of Education:
She is listed under the “Governing Body” link of the group “Alliance for Excellent Education.” The groups supporters include a lot of corporate America and yes…GATES:
AT&T Foundation /Atlantic Philanthropies / Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation / Carnegie Corporation of New York / Ford Foundation / GE Foundation / Intel Foundation / James Irvine Foundation / Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Foundation / MacArthur Foundation / MetLife Foundation / State Farm / William & Flora Hewlett Foundation
Stanford University, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education
Linda Darling-Hammond, EdD is the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University, where she has launched the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute and the School Redesign Network. Dr. Darling-Hammond was the founding executive director of the National Commission for Teaching and America’s Future, the blue-ribbon panel whose 1996 report What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future catalyzed major policy changes across the United States to improve the quality of teacher education and teaching. Her research, teaching, and policy work focus on issues of teaching quality, school reform, and educational equity.
Among Dr. Darling-Hammond’s more than two hundred publications is The Right to Learn, recipient of the American Educational Research Association’s Outstanding Book Award for 1998, and Teaching as the Learning Profession (coedited with Gary Sykes), recipient of the National Staff Development Council’s Outstanding Book Award for 2000.
http://all4ed.org/issues/common-core-state-standards/
“By moving away from the mile-wide and inch-deep academic standards of the past, the CCSS have the potential to transform teaching and learning in this country, ensuring that students master key concepts and skills that form the powerful building blocks of lifelong learners. They also hold the promise that high expectations will exist for all students, regardless of their zip code. As a result, the CCSS enjoy broad support from teachers, businesses, higher education, civil rights organizations, and other groups.”
3) Nick Lawrence, Teacher, East Bronx Academy for the Future (NYC)
Public School according to answer I received on phone. However, they are affiliated with Teaching Matters, which sings the praises of Arne Duncan and Michelle Rhee
For more on the Teaching Matters connection read below:
Statement of Lynette Guastaferro, Executive Director, re: Governor Cuomo’s Budget Address
New York, NY – January 21, 2014:
“Teaching Matters appreciates Governor Cuomo’s renewed vote of confidence in Common Core State Standards. We support his proposal to review implementation concerns.”
Also:
Submitted by Lynette Guastaferro on Tue, 09/10/2013 – 10:29am
The following blog post, co-authored by Lynette Guastaferro and Pedro Noguera, was originally published by the Huffington Post on 9-9-13:
“The new Common Core era has generated great insecurity, largely because some states, such as New York, implemented the new assessments before rolling out new curricula designed to match the rigorous exams. Despite its great promise, the Common Core is unlikely to be the “game changer” our policymakers hope it will be unless sensitive and skillful leadership is provided to shepherd the profound changes necessary. Undoubtedly, that leadership will have to come from principals who must take the lead in helping teachers and students meet the challenge of elevated expectations.”
http://www.teachingmatters.org/blog/brink-common-core-era-principals-leading
4) Delia Pompa, Senior Vice President of Programs, National Council of La Raza
I called and spoke with Cindy. I asked her about what NCLRs stance was on Common Core…she had no answer and transferred to Joseph Rendeiro: Media Relations Specialist. I asked him the same question. Rather than answer he said he had to ask someone else. Ask yourself: “wouldn’t the Media Relations Specialist know the answer to this question?” If not then he should fired. Essentially I got run a round so I did my own digging:
They ARE supportive of CCSS as you can see here:
http://www.nclr.org/index.php/issues_and_programs/education/ece/policy/common_core_standards/
And they have HUGE CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP:
http://www.nclr.org/index.php/support_us/corporate_champions/
5) Dan Weisberg, EVP & General Counsel, The New Teacher Project
Click to access TNTP_FishmanPrize_DiscussionGuide_2013.pdf
RECEIVED $7,000,000 from GATES FOUNDATION in 2009!
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database/Grants/2009/07/OPPCR053
6) Charles Russo, Superintendent, East Moriches UFSD (Long Island);
Russo is one of the few Superintendents in entire state on record in favor http://bit.ly/1ea6wHP
He was booed by parents & teachers at a Common Core forum
http://bit.ly/1ea6wHP and says CC curriculum “one of best things I’ve seen in education in 31, 32 yrs”
7) Anne Kress, President, Monroe Community College
Monroe Community has received funding from and is part of the Gateway To College Network. The program is in part funded by none other than the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and is beholden to the Obama Administration.
http://kresge.org/news/gateway-college-national-network-receives-13-million-expand-programs
**************************************************************
I urge you to pay attention WHEREVER YOU ARE. SHARE THIS POST
Be aware, be educated, be involved, BE!
I also recommend you check out:
http://www.nysape.org
They’re all in bed together frolicking in a big pile of money, laughing at our efforts to slow down the reform monster (cash cow).
This is a line from a Lou Reed song referencing the Viet Nam War:
“The Gooks were fierce and fearless, that’s the price you pay when you invade.”
The way I see it the corporate reform movement is nothing short of an invasion of the public schools. Will we be fierce and fearless?
There are two classroom teachers on the panel – one belongs to E4E, the Gates-funded clone – and has testified in support of APPR and the Common Core – his organization supports the elimination of tenure and seniority, the other teacher is an activist in the State Teacher Union – NYSUT. Linda Darling-Hammond is one the most respected educators in the nation with a reputation for independence.
“Delia Pompa, Senior Vice President of Programs, National Council of La Raza”
She has written many articles promoting Common Core and charter schools. She was also a member of the review board for the Broad Prize for Urban Education.
http://broadprize.org/about/decision_makers/review_board.html
This just in Sinaoa Cartel forms commission to study drug policy.
My temperature enhanced caffeinated beverage just fast-tracked out my nasal passage. Now that’s funny. But as Freud once said, “There’s no such thing as a joke.”
That would be Sinaloa. Typo. Thanks, NY. And that was something Freud was actually right about. LOL.
Linda Darling-Hammond, I respect. The others, meh.
If I were to choose a panel to discuss the implementation of the CCS, I would select a math teacher who has directly and completely experienced the change in standards within his/her classroom. Unless panelists have read a 700 page NYS math module newly published during this second year of CCS implementation, at the same time they are understanding and preparing students for the new assessments, at the same time they are trying to meet their responsibilities under a new evaluation system, at the same time they are performing all regular teaching duties, at the same time providing the best education possible for their students, panelists can not truly understand the impact of implementation.
Education has been under attack because there are economic interests that look to privatize the system. With the rise of Common Core parents have a chance to examine the “school system” in general. Originally, it was created to serve our industrial economy, which no longer exists. Parents rose up against schooling when it first began and were crushed. In the digital world, they may have a better chance to revisit the role of schools in a failed economy, the Common Core and testing has made the nonsense more apparent, pushing them to question the whole paradigm in a shrinking and disappearing middle class.
One just needs to review the role of schools from a sociological perspective. We were never exactly what we appeared to be.
“Parents rose up against schooling when it first began and were crushed.”
Are you talking about the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act that for the first time set minimum ages of employment and hours of work for children eventually resulting in sending kids to school instead?
If so, it is arguable that the parent protests had nothing to do with mandatory schooling and everything to do with Americans living in poverty or the threshold of poverty and the fact that before that law and mandatory education, children were part of the work force and contributed to the annual income of poor families. Removing children form the workforce was an economic blow to poor families in the US.
In fact, before that law children as young as 5 (seven was the average starting age) could be sold by parents into servitude to work in the coal mines and factories. And factory owners preferred young children who were not adolescents because they were paid less and easier to manage. (for instance, records show that in Philadelphia alone half of the factory work force was made up of children under the age of 12) In addition, children, mostly girls but also a few boys, were sold into sexual servitude as young as seven to work out of bordellos in the sex trade servicing clients (there were laws that limited the age of sexual consent but mostly they were ignored).
Public schooling, the rise of labor unions and women getting the vote all helped combat poverty and now with this movement to privatize schools and the war on labor unions, that is threatened. If we are to reverse this trend, I think the women’s vote will make the difference.
It’s obvious that many who are among the top .01% economically want to go back to the era of robber barons and high poverty rates in the US. The majority of those billionaires have never lived in poverty and at least half if not more inherited their wealth so they have a mindset that doesn’t match that of the majority of working Americans.
The wealth and position of these people have led them to think they are better than everyone else and more suited to lead the country. They want to remove the majority of people from the democratic decision making process. A major step would be to destroy the democratically run schools that model how democracy works in the US and replace those schools with authoritarian run schools beyond the reach of the law.
In 1900 only the children of the top 6% (socioeconomically) graduated from high school and went on to college. But by 1950, the graduation rate had reached 50.8% and continued to climb at a slow and steady pace.
It’s arguable that this all came about because of the rise of labor unions and women winning the right to vote, and let’s not forget that the only way women won the long battle (starting in 1848) for the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 was gaining enough support from men to make it happen because it was a more of a man’s world then than it is today.
I just heard Skelos on NPR. He claims that if King and the BOR do not act to implement a moratorium on CCSS/APPR that the legislature will. He blamed the democrats for installing the current members of the BOR.
The HEAT is ON!
Call/email your Assembly and Senate reps NOW.
Call/email Governor Cuomo NOW
Tell them to SEND the (RTTT) MONEY BACK to DC
I agree. Send the handout back. We just can’t afford it.
There are so many standards that children have to meet in PRE K. Will they be labeled at even an earlier age with “learning disabilities”. We will need to use that Special Education slush fund to label kids and track them at such an early age if they don’t meet the “motivational” standards of a 3 and 4 year old.
Click to access nyslsprek.pdf
Demonstrates persistence.
a) Maintains focus on a task.
b )Seeks assistance when the next step seems unclear or appears too difficult.
c) Modifies strategies used to complete a task.
What about persistence to escape the Common Core? Does that count?
Ha, ha! I’m thinking of my three year old grandson in regards to those three points. He’ll be in PreK next year, at this point still in diapers/pull ups. Task commitment? Finding strategies to solve problems? Asking for help?
Does screaming count? I was talking about my screams, not necessarily his.
That’s a good example. Taylor Gatto also believes that children were put in schools because their ambitions and energy were a threat to the monopolies. My point was that some early public schools were burned to the ground when parents realized that the system was intended to condition the kids and not just to teach them literacy. The purpose being that the children belonged to the State and no longer to the parents. Children’s literature took a turn away from children seeing themselves in a community
but as unique individuals, where parents became a problem. Look at Huck Finn or even Harry Potter. Child labor laws and schools took children out of the economy and prevented them from learning a trade or receiving an apprenticeship.
So you think that children “belong to”, (are owned by) their parents? It is interesting to think about the different ways that people see children.
Diane
You need to hire a better headline writer; should read:
Andrew Cuomo Cherry Picks Panel to Rubber Stamp Common Core Implementation
Reblogged this on Naked Teaching and commented:
Do we wonder why our schools are reported as “failing?” Here’s why. Not an educator in the room.
Mr Cuomo continues to play political games over Common Core…but he doesn’t realize that New Yorkers are able to see through all of this nonsense. It’s time to stand up for our children now. The words “lobbyist for the children” are a hollow smokescreen…shame on anyone who would place profit and power over our most innocent citizens.
The Common Core proponents can spin their curriculum and ideas in sick, twisted, ways, as they pursue their goals of profit and power. But truth always prevails in the end.
Will history remember him as a tool for the Common Core, or will he join with the people of New York and end this nightmare that his pen has brought to so many?
History will remember him for being the political weasel that he is.
Currently he is a de-facto tool for CC, despite his bogus pretense of being impartial (see headline title). However if the political winds blow strongly against CC, he will walk it all back because his only guiding light is his political ambition. There are some sign that the winds are shifting in the favor of students, concerned parents, and teachers who care. Money may become the stumbling block. A moratorium may require that Cuomo return the $700 million “won” in the RTTT contest and it may also require the forfeiture of even more desperately needed money. It was a rather clever trap set by the feds/corporate reformers if you think about it!
It’s just sad to see this kind of governor representing himself as a Blue Dog Democrat. Cuomo is making an utterly bad move for budget cuts, and takes side to reformers to support their campaign to sell their defective product called “Conscious Customers Should Screw” (CCSS). He not only hurts students and teachers, but also betrays taxpayers and his voters, by diverting himself far away from the basic principle of political party he belongs to.