States continue to distance themselves from either the Common Core or the federally-funded Common Core tests. The following was reported by politico.com:
“DIVORCING ‘SMARTER BALANCED’: Anti-Common Core activists in Missouri activists opposed to the Common Core are revving up their legal fight to pull the state out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. Last month, they won a temporary restraining order barring the state from paying membership fees to SBAC. But that order has expired, so they’ve filed motions asking for another such order – or, better yet, for a summary judgment declaring the state’s affiliation with SBAC an illegal interstate compact. The activists know they can’t stop Missouri from administering SBAC this coming spring; state law requires it. But state committees made up of teachers, parents and administrators are writing new standards to replace the Common Core. In future years, the state will be free to pick a new test aligned with those standards. The lawsuit aims to ensure the state can start that process with a fresh slate rather than be tied to SBAC. In the meantime, the activists want to be sure that Missouri is free to set its own cut scores and control test administration without interference from the consortium. “We want local control, which means that we control the test,” plaintiff Anne Gassel told Morning Education.
– Missouri owes Smarter Balanced $4.2 million for the complete package of formative, interim and summative assessments for this school year. The state has already paid a portion of that fee and Sarah Potter, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said it will have to find a way to pay the remainder no matter what happens in court, since the law requires that the SBAC test be used this school year. A renewed restraining order “could impact our membership in the consortium, but we don’t think it will affect our actually buying and administering the test,” Potter said. In the event that the Show Me State’s payments are affected, the consortium is developing a policy for dealing with deadbeat states. Among the issues being discussed: Whether to block states from using the assessments if they fail to pay their bills, Potter said.
– “We are committed to working with the state of Missouri to provide the best tools and assessments to teachers and students,” Smarter Balanced spokeswoman Jacqueline King told Morning Education. “Beyond that, I cannot comment.”
“Exodus! Movement of Jah people.”
That’s the Spirit.
There is a great map showing how many states have buyer’s remorse and second thoughts on the CCSS and the tests. Find it here. http://www.ccrslegislation.info/legislation-by-year/2014/redress-map
“But state committees made up of teachers, parents and administrators are writing new standards to replace the Common Core. In future years, the state will be free to pick a new test aligned with those standards. The lawsuit aims to ensure the state can start that process with a fresh slate rather than be tied to SBAC. In the meantime, the activists want to be sure that Missouri is free to set its own cut scores and control test administration without interference from the consortium.”
And that’s from the anti-common core folks. Jumping from the frying pan right into the fire. With the pan being CCSS and the fire being educational standards and standardized testing. Seems to me that’s neck deep in the Big Muddy:
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXnJVkEX8O4
That’s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXnJVkEX8O4
“Missouri owes Smarter Balanced $4.2 million for the complete package of formative, interim and summative assessments for this school year. The state has already paid a portion of that fee and Sarah Potter, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said it will have to find a way to pay the remainder no matter what happens in court, since the law requires that the SBAC test be used this school year.”
Couldn’t that $4.2 million have been put to better use? Of course. At this point, the reform tail is wagging the very unwilling dog. It needs to stop. I think Smarter Balanced should have to RETURN the monies it collected from every city/state. The politicians, having shoved this down our throats, should be held accountable. The passing of regulations and laws to take money from already strapped districts is abhorrent. Why not just have the IRS take our tax returns and send it to Pearson, Microsoft, Walmarat, Koch industries? At least it’d be a more direct screwing.
Great map, Laura, thank you for the link. Apparently, the states that are the most anxious to get out of the CCS are the Red, Southern states. I can understand why they do not want to be ranked against other states for educational achievement..
If the “standards” are similar to CC, then it won’t really matter, frankly, if the state is in a consortia or not. Utah was the first state to pull out of SBAC, and we’re still stuck with horrendous, long, useless, and expensive CC testing. In fact, my district is requiring the students all take the interim testing this year, doubling the amount of testing each student has to do, beginning in grade 3. Each student must now take TWENTY HOURS of CC testing, in math, science, and ELA, every year. My school is saying that computer labs won’t be available beginning in late January, until the end of the year.
So much money spent on garbage.
What is so destructive is the high stakes testing and the lack of having standards implementation vary with developmental stage. An appropriate time to learn division is not the same for all children in an age cohort. Parents still want their children to learn how to divide fractions, etc. I don’t object to standards, per se.
Missouri may still be dealing with the football Rams wanting a new expensive sports stadium.
Of course, some people just want to re-brand the Common Core. I guess the idea is to use the same junk and confuse people with a different name. Ah…corporate America hard at work again.
“Rebrand it, refocus it but don’t retreat,” noted former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee who has also been.a presidential wannabe, God help us. Huckabee admitted last January that the Common Core name had become “toxic”. No kidding, Sherlock.
POP QUIZ on a Sunday evening! Which one of the following is actually a new name that was suggested for a state’s educational standards ? [Answer to follow later…]
The Buckeye Standards – Ohio
Show Me the Rigor State Standards – Missouri
Gambling With Our Children’s Future – Nevada
Take Tests or Die! -New Hampshire
The Big Apple Core – New York
Idaho’s Race to the Top of the Map -yup, Idaho
Next Generation Sunshine State Standards -Florida
Rigorous Standards for Rigorous People – North Dakota
Golden State’s Data Drive Core Standards 2.0 – California
Got Standards? -Wisconsin
Got Core? -Iowa
Follow the Yellow Brick Standards -Kansas
The South Carolina Core – South Carolina
“Florida’s Next Generation Sunshine State Standards” is correct. Though, given how zany things are in education, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the others I made up are actually being used now. Truth surely is stranger than fiction when it comes to our public schools. For example, I feel like you could put the phrase “data driven” in front of anything these days and most people are so numb they’d just say, okay, sure. Data driven detention. Data driven parking lot. Data driven pancakes. Whatever.
Here’s the link to the Huckabee quote, one of my favorites for 2014. What a year it’s been! http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/some-states-rebrand-controversial-common-core-education-standards/2014/01/30/a235843e-7ef7-11e3-9556-4a4bf7bcbd84_story.html