Conservatives are backing away from Common Core in response to angry parents who see it as a federal takeover of their local schools. Several states have dropped the Common Core assessments or the Common Core standards.
But one conservative is not backing down: Jeb Bush. He has become the flag-bearer for the Common Core. He and Arne Duncan are the most ardent proponents for the embattled national standards.
The Wall Street Journal reports that his gamble is risky in Republican primaries but would be a plus in general elections.
Critics note that the Gates Foundation, which paid to develop the standards, is one of Jeb Bush’s biggest donors, but foundation spokesmen scoff at the suggestion:
“No one doubted that Mr. Bush governed Florida from 1999 to 2007 as a conservative. He cut individual and corporate taxes, signed the “Stand Your Ground” law pushed by gun owners and ended affirmative action in university admissions and state contracting. On education, he spearheaded a law that assigned schools letter grades based on their test scores and required third-graders who couldn’t read to be held back. He also pushed for taxpayer-funded vouchers to let students in failing schools attend private schools, a program that courts struck down.
“As the GOP has shifted to the right, it is tea-party activists who are now among Mr. Bush’s most ardent opponents. In addition to unhappiness with the federal role in education, conservative activists see a corporate connection to the initiative.
“Since 2010, Mr. Bush’s foundation has received $5 million from the Gates Foundation, and it gets donations from companies in the education industry, including Pearson U.K.:Common Core. (News Corp publishes The Wall Street Journal.)
“All Common Core roads lead to K Street,” wrote commentator and activist Michelle Malkin, one of Mr. Bush’s biggest antagonists, referring to the Washington turf of many lobbyists.
“A spokeswoman for the foundation, Jaryn Emhof, rejected criticism over corporate funding. “We have a firewall,” she said. “They don’t get any say over our reform agenda.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I couldn’t access the whole Wall Street Journal article on Jeb Bush’s Common Core advocacy, but the top of the article suggests that the analysis focuses on electoral politics, not on (in Bill Gates terms) the “substance” of the Standards. For some writers, it doesn’t matter how bad the standards are or how bad the idea of national standards might be. The Common Core initiative is just another potential lever for office-seekers.
Maybe Haley Barber wants to run for President, too. Here’s a link to his USA Today Op-Ed arguing against the exploitation of private student data: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/06/29/liberty-freedom-eleutheria-praxis-column/10700101/
Is Barber, a right-wing Republican, hurrying to claim the obvious high ground of protecting student privacy, while Jeb Bush and his corporate cronies are in danger of getting stuck in a data mining quagmire? Maybe the WSJ could do something with that.
That’s Haley Barbour, not Barber.
No more Bushes in the White House – please. Our country cannot take it. When Obama leaves in 2017, our country will have been led 16 years by clueless leaders whose policies have destroyed our country. I cringe every time I see Jeb Bush on television. Why can’t a President be intelligent anymore?
It goes back further than 16 years. I think Reagan was the beginning of the widespread, openly-touted idea that dismantling the government and everything public would, by some crazy twist of logic, be a good thing. Reagan and every president since then has been nakedly neoliberal/neoconservative in the Milton Friedman mold. Not to say that presidents before that were necessarily much better, but the neoliberal ideas weren’t widely accepted before Reagan, so things had to be done more quietly and slowly.
IMO, it’s NOT really about the standards. Its about the Ed Tech and the hope to nurture that sector. Same thing with Cory Booker. The Common Standards just makes it easier to launch ed tech products bc the typical “five guys and some laptops” start-up can’t deal with the complexities of a fragmented market. All the ed reforms are really IMO very much about giving this sector what it wants to be able to innovate cheaply without having to know how to really sell/marketing into different districts. Uniformity makes their job easier.
Kate,
You are absolutely correct. The purpose of the Common Core, as Arne Duncan’s chief of staff wrote in a Harvard Business Review blog, is to create a national market for entrepreneurs and vendors.
Kate: read the following comments by Dr. Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute (December 2013), a charter member of the education status quo and a deep-in-the-belly-of-the-beast “education reform” insider.
[start quote]
In truth, the idea that the Common Core might be a “game-changer” has little to do with the Common Core standards themselves, and everything to do with stuff attached to them, especially the adoption of common tests that make it possible to readily compare schools, programs, districts, and states (of course, the announcement that one state after another is opting out of the two testing consortia is hollowing out this promise).
But the Common Core will only make a dramatic difference if those test results are used to evaluate schools or hire, pay, or fire teachers; or if the effort serves to alter teacher preparation, revamp instructional materials, or compel teachers to change what students read and do. And, of course, advocates have made clear that this is exactly what they have in mind. When they refer to the “Common Core,” they don’t just mean the words on paper–what they really have in mind is this whole complex of changes.
[end quote]
Link: http://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/the-american-enterprise-institute-common-core-and-good-cop/
Now ask yourself—how do you scale up the tests and associated tech (including data mining) except by getting the big players on board who are “in it to win it”?
The “it” of course being humongous amounts of $tudent $ucce$$.
“It is not the answer that enlightens but the question.” [Ionesco]
😎
I’d say that Jeb Bush’s Ardent Advocacy is for maximum profit for the Bush family while simultaneously destroying teacher’s unions which thwarted him during his terms as governor. The Bush family is greedy, ruthless, and never forgets a slight. Study the history and shady dealings of the whole clan.
He knows that to maximize the profits he needs a national curriculum that makes it much cheaper to produce computer programs, tests, and teaching materials that can be mass-produced without the costly modifications that have to be made for each individual market.
He has no problem working with Arne Duncan because they are both members of the same party: the greedy corporatist party. Democrat and Republican are just 2 sides of the same coin now.
Tea Partiers are less than a quarter of the populace, the mouse that roared, but they do control the primary process for the Republican party in lots of places. He is in a bit of a dilemma here.
Catering to the Tea Party radicals ensures that he will be unelectable in a national election since they wield no power at all outside of their gerrymandered enclaves and they are about as popular as Lyme Disease with the general public.
He seems to be choosing the strategy of ignoring them believing that he can still win enough primaries to clinch the nomination. Should be an interesting election cycle.
Slightly off-topic here. I visited the Smarter Balanced website today and noticed that they are looking for people to help develop the cut scores for the “assessment”:
Registration now open for online panel of Achievement Level Setting
We are inviting up to a quarter of a million K-12 educators, higher education faculty, parents, and other interested parties to participate virtually in recommending achievement level scores. The online panel runs from October 6-17 and registration is now open. We encourage you to register because your voice matters! LEARN MORE
SmarterBalanced.org
Is asking random people a new, scientific way to measure whatever it is we’re measuring?
Well, crowdsourcing is all the rage these days. Sigh.
English Teacher in Ca.: you have just discovered how arbitrary cut scores are. There is no “science” there.
“There is no “science” there.”
Not only “there is” but also “there never was” and “there never will be.”
One of those dirty little secrets of the psychometricians and other high priests of the Church of Testology.
Great news English Teacher in California! When I lose my current job, I can help set arbitrary cut scores for the nation. Is there no method to the madness?
I’m sure there is a method to the madness, but I don’t know what it is. For instance, what will they do if the scores are set really low? I did sign up, but now I wonder if I made a mistake admitting that I’m a teacher.
Our country cannot survive another evil performance from the Bush family. If that twisted clan had any sense of human decency they would have gone into exile after “W’s” last debacle that pushed our country to the brink of annihilation where we are still teeter toddering and holding our breath! If Bill Gates wants to buy a presidency, he should put his money on someone who still has a measure of humanness and morality, like Elizabeth Warren!
I bet she’s too decent to accept money from the likes of Gates. Unfortunately, she has also said she will not be running for President in 2016.
Delaware.
SPONSOR:
Sen. Lawson
DELAWARE STATE SENATE
147th GENERAL ASSEMBLY
SENATE BILL NO. 269
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO COMMON CORE.
WHEREAS, Children have a right to an education without indoctrination; and
WHEREAS, Parents have a right to understand and have input into their children’s education; and
WHEREAS, children have a right to education without any political agenda.
NOW, THEREFORE:
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:
Section 1. Amend Chapter 41, Title 14 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:
§ 4137 Withdrawal from Common Core
(a) Any actions taken by the State Board of Education or the Department of Education to adopt or implement the Common Core State Standards as of the effective date of this bill are void ad initio.
(b) Upon the effective date of this bill, the State Board of Education and the State Department of Education shall immediately initiate the withdrawal of the state’s involvement with any and all agencies, consultants, and organizations that implement, train, or promote the Common Core Curriculum standards or evaluation. as they relate to the implementation, training, or promotion of the Common Core Curriculum standards or evaluation.
(c) On and after the effective date of this bill neither the Department of Education, the State Board of Education, nor any state education council, committee, or state employee shall enter into any commitments relating to the Federal Race to the Top Program.
(d) The State of Delaware shall retain sole control over the development and revision of the competencies and content standards established pursuant to this part. The State Board of Education shall not join any consortium or other association that cedes any measure of control to entities outside the state. No state-wide competency or content standards, including but not limited to the Next Generation Science Standards, the National curriculum Standards for Social Studies, the National Health Education Standards, and the National Sexuality Education Standards, nor any Common Core Standards Shall shall be adopted or implemented without public hearings held in each county regional districts, an open comment period of one year, open hearings before a joint committee composed of the House and Senate Committee on Education allowing for appropriate time and comments from both sides of the issue, and approved approval by majority vote of the General Assembly. The approval required by this subsection shall be by Act of the General Assembly or by adoption of a joint resolution of the General Assembly.
(e) On and after January 31, 2014 neither the Department of Education, The State Board of Education, Local School Boards, nor any state agency shall:
1) Expend any funds, whether from federal Race to the Top grants, stimulus funds, or elsewhere, on construction, enhancement, or expansion of any state-wide longitudinal data system designed to track students or compile their personally identifiable information beyond what is necessary for basic administration needs or for compliance with the requirements of the United States Department of Education as outlined in paragraph (5) of this subsection.
(2) Share any personally identifiable information compiled on students or teachers with any entity outside the State of Delaware, except as provided in paragraph (5) of this subsection: provided, however, that this shall not include cloud storage or data or hard data storage located in safe locations outside the state.
(3) Share any personally identifiable information about any student or teacher with any entity that intends to use that information for development of commercial products or services.
(4) Share any personally identifiable information about any student or teacher with any entity inside the State of Delaware unless that entity is an education agency or institution that does not intend to:
(A) Use the data to develop commercial products or services
(B) Transfer the data to any other entity to use in development of commercial products or services: or
(C) Use the data or transfer the data for economic or workforce development planning: or
(5) Share any personally identifiable information on students and teachers with the United States Department of Education unless:
(A) Such sharing is required by the United States Department of Education as condition of receiving a federal education grant.
(B) The United States Department of Education agrees in writing to use the data only to evaluate the program or programs funded by the grant.
(C) The United States Department of Education agrees in writing that the data will not be used for any research beyond that related to evaluation of the program or programs funded by the grant, unless the parent or legal guardian of any student, and any teacher, whose data will be used for such research affirmatively consents in writing to that use.
(D) The United States Department of Education agrees in writing to destroy the data upon completion of the evaluation of the program or programs for which the data were compiled and not make any copies or retain this information in any form; and
(E) The grant or program in connection with which the data are required is one authorized by federal statute or by federal rule properly promulgated under the federal Administrative Procedure Act 5 U.S. C. Section 500, et seq.
(f) If the United States Department of Education requires, as a condition of making a federal education grant, that the grant recipient shares student or teacher data under circumstances that do not comply with paragraph (5) of subsection (e) of this Code section, the grant recipient shall provide written notification to the parents or legal guardians of every student whose data will be shared or every teacher whose data will be shared of the following:
(1) That the grant recipient has been required to turn over the student’s or teacher’s data to the United States Department of Education;
(2) That neither the grant recipient nor any other entity within the State of Delaware will have control over the use or further sharing of that data:; and
(3) The contact information, including telephone number and e-mail address, of the United States Department of Education official who demands the data.
Section 2.
All laws and parts of law in conflict with this Act are repealed.
SYNOPSIS
We suspend all Delaware Department of Education support, training, or adherence to the Common Core Standards, materials, curriculum and training for teachers, school staff, or state employees of Delaware. Further, the Official Code of Delaware annotated, relating to competencies and core curriculum, will be amended so as to declare certain actions void ad initio relating to adoption of certain curricula; to prohibit state education agencies from entering into any commitments relating the federal Race to the Top program and or Common Core standards, curricula, testing, or standards, and to cease all use of Race to the Top and Common Core programs, curricula, and standards and require hearings and public input on both programs. Also, this law will amend Title 14 toto stop the compilation and sharing of personal student and teacher data to prohibit the expenditure of funds for a state-wide longitudinal data system except for administrative needs and federal grant compliance, to provide notice to students and teachers if certain student data are provided to the United States Department of Education as a condition of receiving federal education grant, to provide for related matters, to repeal conflicting law, and for other purposes.
Just the fact that Jeb Bush is even considered a candidate for president shows the “dumbing down” of American society. The Bush family is textbook covert Narcissistic ! These families are very dysfunctional in spite if their outward appearance. The Narcissistic wife is dominant and bullies her husband, who becomes submissive and obedient, but then projects his anger by bullying his son and smothering ( dominating) his daughter. The mother smothers (dominates) her son and scapegoats her daughter. It is classic Adult Children of Alcoholics & Dysfunctional Families behavior. This covert Narcissistic Bush family is a result of a “Mama’s Boy” marrying a “Daddy’s Girl”, and the lack of identity from attachment problems caused to the child of the same sex.