This just in:
Dear Colleagues:
I write to you specifically to inform you of recent action taken at the Colorado Education Association’s delegate assembly.
This past Tuesday, April 22nd, Pat Kennedy and I met here at my office at UNC to discuss what had recently transpired at the Colorado Education Association’s delegate assembly held earlier this month. The CEA adopted a new business item which reads as follows:
“CEA shall join in coalition with other organizations demanding the withdrawal of Colorado from the PARCC assessment and will place a three year moratorium on high stakes standardized tests.”
At long last the CEA is willing to take action. Pat, who was a delegate at the assembly, was encouraged by the possibilities of such a new business item. She will take the names of organizations which have been created to resist the invasion of high stakes standardized testing which has so devastated public education. Pat will supply this information to the Communications Department and CEA executive offices including the office of President Kerrie Dallman.
Over 500 delegates (public school educators from across the state of Colorado) directed CEA to join in coalitions with other organizations to take the next steps to withdraw Colorado from the PARCC and seek a three year moratorium on high stakes standardized tests. Colleagues, let’s give this new business item some teeth. Please write to Pat (pkennedy1950@msn.com) and inform her of the details of your organizations. This will be a point of strength and a point of departure as the CEA makes demands on the Colorado Department of Education. We know what is pedagogically sound. We know what malpractice looks like. Let’s continue to speak from strength and demand truly humane policies that dignify the autonomy of our children and their professionals in the classroom.
In solidarity,
Don Perl
http://www.thecbe.org
Department of Hispanic Studies
University of Northern Colorado
Greeley, Colorado 80639
don.perl@unco.edu
970-351-2746
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thrilled to see a union finally stepping up to the plate on behalf of its members and Don Perl is a beacon of welcome leadership – has been for a very long time!
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Not to be a stick-in-the-mud, but what happens after the three years? Are they thinking that all the “bugs” in the system will somehow magically be worked out and high-stakes tests will then be okay?
Again I hate to be pessimistic, but sometimes doing “something” might be worse than not doing it. There’s always the argument not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good, but I’d worry that a moratorium gives the rephormers a chance to claim that they’ve addressed all the concerns and everything is now peachy keen, which puts teachers and other public education supporters in a worse position because then they just look like chronic whiners.
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I’ll be long gone three years from now. It will be found on the ash heap of failed education reform movements.
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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Agree. Moratorium for 3 yrs seems to be the typical political way of dumping an idea while allowing its originators to save a little face. 3 yrs later, it’s easy enough to extend the moratorium. Slow death.
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Hope you won’t be long gone in 3 years NY teacher. We would miss your voice. ;
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Just one of many typos. I omitted the “t”. I will be here until this thing is dead and gone.
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This is great news. Colorado K-2 teachers – PLEASE make your voices heard! The tests and resulting narrowing of curriculum being foisted upon our youngest children by the READ Act are as damaging, if not more damaging, as the PARCC. Kindergarten teachers barely have time to a wonderful picture book aloud to children because they have to “teach” pre-reading skills – I’m NOT kidding! Kids who are most at risk because they come to school with a HUGE language gap are NOT going to get what the other, less vulnerable (richer) kids come with (and will continue to get at home) – lots of experiences with books filled with rich language.
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I’m a second grade teacher, and my lowest kids, who need more intensive instruction to progress, have missed their intervention periods for a month now so their teachers can proctor standardized tests. Now tell me, is that what’s best for kids? One standardized test (MAP) had to be delayed so another standardized test (CMAS) could be administered. These tests are taken using the new laptops we had to buy to give the tests, which were purchased at the expense of an actual person that could instruct children.
BTW, I was at Delegate Assembly, and it was overwhelming support for this NBI. So proud of CCEA for bringing it to the table, and for the delegates for voting for it. It was kind of a magical moment that choked me up.
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I am an elementary teacher in San Francisco. I am thrilled that the Colorado Education Association took this stand. Its a step in the right direction. It could open the door to calling for an absolute end to high stakes testing but that will require that our union leadership and membership take a clear stand on this. In California, our legislature suspended using student test scores for the state’s accountability system for three years. This is referred to by some as an ” accountability vacation”. At the end of the three years, then what? There is every reason to believe that we’ll enter a new period of teaching to the test, school closings based on test scores, evaluations based on test scores and further privatization of our public schools.
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typo…time to read a…
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Has anyone seen this site yet?
“Here are the states where American Principles Project is fighting the Common Core State Standards. The states in the red we have determined to be battleground states due to legislation that has been filed, hearings that have been held and a significant grassroots opposition. Indiana is currently purple because a Common Core pause has been enacted. Minnesota is also purple because they have rejected the Math standards. Blue states: Alaska, Nebraska, Texas and Virginia have initially rejected the Common Core. It should be noted that there are issues with Alaska and Virginia aligning their standards behind the scenes in order to receive a No Child Left Behind waiver. They may be determined to be battleground states in the future. The rest of the states are dark blue, they have adopted the Common Core, and there isn’t pending legislation-yet.”
http://fightcommoncore.com/battle-ground-states/
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From the American Principles Project:
“The American Principles Project recognizes the dignity of the person as the basis of the founding principles of the United States. We are committed to the declaration made by the Founding Fathers, that we are all “created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, and among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
APP believes that local and national policies that respect the dignity of the person will lead to a flourishing society. As such, we educate and advocate for public policy solutions that respect and affirm: human life from conception to natural death; the union of one man and one woman as the definition of marriage; the freedom to practice and proclaim religion; authentic economic progress for working Americans; education in service of the comprehensive development of the person; and, the legacy of immigrants in contributing to the American story.
We are dedicated to promoting these principles in the public square through rigorous debate, scholarship, education and advocacy. We welcome collaboration with all who embrace these principles.”
Notice the last sentence first. “We welcome all who believe what we believe. Gays, by definition, are not welcome, nor atheists, nor abortion rights defenders, nor free thinkers, nor commie pinko socialist faggots.”
But hey if they are against CCSS then, well the enemy of my enemy is my friend for now at least.
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“The enemy of my enemy is my friend, for now at least.”
This is the way the world has worked for thousands of years. Your friend today may be your enemy tomorrow.
Remember during WWII that the USSR fought against Nazi Germany alongside the US and UK but then as soon as the war ended, the Cold War set in where the free world was the enemy of the USSR and in the early 1970s, China became a friend of the US after President Nixon warned the USSR not to bomb China with nuclear weapons as the USSR had proposed. China then became our partner against the USSR and appears to remain that way today. China and the US have a common enemy in Russia and with Islamic terrorists. As long as those threats remain, China and the U.S. will work together.
Confusing
yes
Complex
yes
This situation has always been fluid.
Why?
Because there are times when old enemies must join forces to survive against a more powerful foe. Once that threat has passed, they may return to being enemies.
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I forgot to mention that this also worked for the US during the revolution in the late 18th century. France and the British Empire were enemies and the U.S. was in rebellion with the British.
Who did the French help?
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Here’s the American Principals Project video on You Tube.
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http://www.youtube.com/user/approjectdc
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very interesting…read my comment on this blog post about the principals that ran the show once the process was run by them.
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What Blog Post. I looked and could’ find anything.
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Reblogged this on 21st Century Theater.
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I am working on a doctoral research project inspired by Diane’s book, Death and Life of the Great American School System (2011). If the public school system–as many of us knew it, at least–is dead or near death, it would stand to reason that public school teachers who remember the system as it was prior to No Child Left Behind (2002) have experienced loss and grief. If you remember what it was like to teach prior to No Child Left Behind, if you feel as if teaching completely changed when No Child Left Behind was implemented, or if you ever felt saddened by some of the changes that resulted from educational reform, then you may be interested in taking my survey.
Professional Loss and Grief in Teachers (a survey)
https://ndstate.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_5nCLnPAFadWZX93
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Go Colorado, you give us hope!
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Congratulations to our brothers and sisters in Colorado!
Maybe we can get the UFT here in NY to do something to stop or at least slow the testing craziness instead of just collecting our dues and pretending to be a “union of professionals”.
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This wasn’t something CEA was willing to do, until the delegates forced the issue. I would suggest yours do the same.
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Great news! Wonderful!
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Please take the time to read, sign, and circulate the petition entitled:
STOP COMMON CORE TESTING.
Go Buffaloes! From Mount Elbert to the Arikaree River, Stop the corporate control of public education in Colorado. Thank you.
http://www.petition2congress.com/15080/stop-common-core-testing/?m=5265435
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