Archives for category: Common Core
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New Yorkers Denounce Cuomo’s Stacked Panel to “Review” Common Core

By dianeravitch
February 9, 2014 //
30

After the past year’s troubled rollout of Common Core standards and tests, parents and legislative leaders spoke out against the New York State Education Department’s rush to impose and test standards that neither students nor teachers were prepared for. On the botched tests, passing rates fell to only 30% across the state. Only 3% of English learners passed the test, along with 5% of students with disabilities and less than 20% of African American and Hispanic students. In response to the fiasco, parents turned out by the thousands at public hearings, and legislators called for a moratorium of at least two years on the testing.

To date, the state Board of Regents has shown no willingness to review the developmental appropriateness of the standards, and Commissioner King has been insistent that no meaningful changes are likely.

Governor Cuomo entered the fray by appointing a panel to review the controversy, but parent advocates say the panel is stacked with known proponents of Common Core, who are unable to conduct an independent review.

Here is their press release, just issued:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 9, 2014

More information contact:

Eric Mihelbergel (716) 553-1123; nys.allies@gmail.com

Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com

NYS Allies for Public Education http://www.nysape.org

New Yorkers Outraged by Governor’s Flawed Common Core Panel

The leaders of the NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE), a coalition of more than 45 parent and educator groups from throughout the state, expressed their outrage at Governor Cuomo’s choice of appointees to his Common Core Panel.

As Lisa Rudley, Ossining public school parent and founding member of NYSAPE said, “As a parent I am offended that the Governor’s Panel is stacked with known supporters of the Common Core, eliminating the chance for an objective evaluation. The chair, Stanley Litow, Vice President of IBM, has already written an Op-ed saying full speed ahead with its implementation. Dr. Charles Russo is one of the very few Superintendents in the state to publicly support the standards, including the flawed NYSED modules known to be rife with errors and questionable content.”

As Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters pointed out, “Several members selected by the Governor belong to organizations that are heavily dependent on funding from the Gates Foundation, which has spent more than $170 million on developing and promoting the Common Core. These include Dan Weisberg of The New Teacher Project, which has received $23 million from the Gates Foundation, including $7 million in the last year alone. Nick Lawrence is a prominent member of Educators for Excellence, which received more than $3 million from the Gates Foundation in 2013. This evident conflict of interest undermines their credibility not only concerning the Common Core, but also the highly controversial issue of whether the state should go ahead with sharing personal student data with inBloom Inc., a corporation established by the Gates Foundation with $100 million.”

“Parents are tired of having education policy in this state hijacked by deep-pocketed billionaires who do not send their own children to public school and would never consider having their education stifled by a rigid regime of instructional text, scripted modules, test prep, and their personal data provided to for-profit companies without their consent,” said Eric Mihelbergel, Ken-Ton public school parent and founding member of NYSAPE.

Bianca Tanis a New Paltz public school parent and special education teacher noted, “Experts in special education, early childhood development and elementary school teachers have all noted that the Common Core standards are developmentally inappropriate, were created without their input and need significant reform. And yet not a single individual from any of these groups was selected for the Panel, ensuring that their recommendations will be profoundly deficient.”

“I am astounded that the governor would fail to include any teachers of younger students and those with special needs, especially since many of the criticisms and concerns surround the issue whether the standards are appropriately designed for these children,” pointed out Lori Griffin, a Copenhagen public school parent and educator.

“The Governor argues that no decision should be made on the Common Core until this Panel has come up with its recommendations. The fact that this Panel is so heavily stacked only reinforces our conviction that there is no reason to wait for the Panel’s conclusions. The Common Core standards must be immediately pulled back and revised, with input from educators and parents, the over-testing must come to a halt, the teacher evaluation system scrapped, and the contract with inBloom cancelled,” said Jeanette Deutermann, Bellmore public school parent and founder of Long Island Opt-Out.

Jessica McNair, New Hartford public school parent concluded, “Our children are suffering and cannot wait. If Commissioner King does not immediately stop the runaway train, call a halt to the standards and the testing, and withdraw his agreement with inBloom, the Legislature must act in his place.”

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Categories Common Core, Cuomo, Andrew, Education Industry, New York

Schneider: State-by-State Update on Common Core Controversies–Part 2

By dianeravitch
February 9, 2014 //
23

Schneider here provides part 2 of her state-by-state review of controversies over the Common Core standards and testing.

This one includes the following states: Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Tennessee.

Her part 1 appeared yesterday.

She describes the entire mess as a textbook example of how NOT to create national standards.

Top-down, states bribed with millions of federal dollars to adopt them, public unaware of them until the fait has been accomplished, Gates’ millions deployed to manufacture consent.

It is not working.

 

Categories Common Core

Schneider: A State-by-State Update on Common Core: Part 1

By dianeravitch
February 8, 2014 //
34

Mercedes Schneider is keeping track of the debates about the Common Core standards in the states.

So much is happening that she is breaking it into three posts.

This post covers the controversy surrounding Common Core in 12 states:

Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, and South Carolina.

Categories Common Core

Mercedes Schneider: NGA and Its Corporate Fellows

By dianeravitch
February 8, 2014 //
18

The National Governors Association has a corporate fellows program.

Mercedes Schneider takes a close look at which corporations are supporting NGA and where their money so spent.

Some of their leading corporate sponsors are deeply involved in education:

“Here is NGA’s complete corporate listing. However, allow me to list a sampling of corporate names that hold particular meaning in the current corporate-friendly, education reform atmosphere:

“ACT, Amplify, Apple, College Board, Educational Testing Service, ExxonMobil, General Electric, McKinsey and Company, Microsoft, Pearson, Scholastic, and Walmart.

“If these corporate names sound familiar, here’s why:

“ACT and College Board were on the CCSS insider work group. Also a CCSS insider, David Coleman is now president of College Board.

“Amplify is run by former NYC Chancellor, Joel Klein, and is connected to the CCSS assessment consortium, Smarter Balanced.

“Apple is involved in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) iPad fiasco. LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy owns Apple stock.

“Educational Testing Service (ETS) is connected to both CCSS testing consortia (PARCC and Smarter Balanced).

“ExxonMobil has taken a vocal stand for CCSS of late.

“General Electric (GE) donated $4 million to David Coleman’s Student Achievement Partners in 2010.

“McKinsey and Company is the former employer of David Coleman.

“Microsoft is Bill Gates’ company. It just abandoned the destructive employee evaluation methods that Gates is trying to impose upon public school teachers.

“Pearson is a major corporate reform presence. For one, Pearson is involved in the LAUSD iPad fiasco. Pearson is also connected to both CCSS testing consortia.

“Scholastic and Gates released partial results of a survey that notes (surprise, surprise) teachers are fine with CCSS.

“And finally, Walmart is owned by the Waltons, who are anti-union and pro-charter and spend millions on education privatization.”

Categories Common Core, Corporate Reformers

Reader Asks: Is Pearson Taking Control of AP?

By dianeravitch
February 8, 2014 //
118

An AP teacher sent me the following letter. I don’t know the answer. Can anyone answer her question? Maybe not, maybe we are all in the dark. It does not seem beyond belief that Pearson and the College Board are closely collaborating. Is there more afoot than collaboration? Shouldn’t they be competitors?

Here is the communication I received:

“Hi Diane,

Just wanted to bring this to your attention. As a member of the AP English listserv, er, college board-monitored discussion board, I received this message yesterday. When I logged in to follow the discussion thread, it had been removed. If true, it is important information that AP teachers have not yet been informed about. Several AP teachers, from AP Biology to AP Language, noted that their students reported “weird” questions on the exams, which are similar to the comments that have been made about the Pearson 3-8 exams in New York.

“I can’t find any proof written anywhere except that when I registered this year for the AP National Conference in Las Vegas, I called AP central about a question I had because Pearson was communicating with me about needing a code or something to complete my application and the young man on the phone said “Oh Pearson is handling AP now and GED so you’ll have to call this number. He said the website etc. would remain on College Board but that it was really “a separate entity” now. I am anxious to hear what they have to say at the National Conference. I fear we are going to see a major change in philosophy and more alignment with Common Core. It’s hard to pin them down. They are sneaky about things. Almost Everything our school does now is governed by Pearson. We are mostly government funded–Navajo school but it is a trickle down process. What happens with us will eventually worm its way into every school. We are the guinea pigs. They are updating our internet connections this summer so that we have more room for all these tests that will be taught online. 3rd graders will be taught to type on the computer all their work so they can do the tests, as well as everyone else. They are practicing because eventually the tests will become the determiner for passing the kid on. They say in 2 years but they keep moving it up.

“The above is from a recent conversation on a literary-minded thread on LinkedIn. Can anyone speak to this matter of Pearson and the CollegeBoard as bedfellows to the extent that things may be changing, and not for the better? Heck, I wonder if I am wrong for even posting this thread here…”

Categories Common Core, Pearson, Testing

Andrew Cuomo Names Panel to Study Common Core Implementation

By dianeravitch
February 7, 2014 //
75

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.

 
Categories Common Core, Cuomo, Andrew, New York

When Did Gibberish Replace Conventional English?

By dianeravitch
February 7, 2014 //
120

Colin McEnroe of NPR in Connecticut has discovered the root problem of corporate reformers: They have lost touch with common sense and the meaning of learning. To cover up their ignorance, they have invented rhetoric that sounds impressive but is no more than unintelligible verbiage.

He starts here, and gets better:

“I don’t know about you, but I remember the moment when, as a boy, I fell in love with learning. It was 1964, in the spring. My fourth-grade teacher, Miss Vick, sat down with me in the late afternoon and gently pried from my hands Hardy Boys book No. 42, “The Secret of the Mummy’s Strategically Dynamic New Paradigms.”

“Colin,” she said. “I know you’re a good boy with a bright mind. But your EAPE scores don’t point to project-based learning across the curriculum. You need to scaffold texts to other texts, and to that end I’m going to start interfacing with your developmental space.”

“Miss Vick,” I stammered, “can you disintermediate that for me in a way that unpacks the convergence in assessment-driven terms?”

We talked for hours as the sun sank toward the horizon. I believe both of us wept. My mind opened like a flower. That night, I chopped my Hardy Boys books into little pieces and fed them to the neighbor’s python. I read Emerson’s “The American Scholar” instead.

Wait. Maybe it didn’t happen that way, because in 1964, American education was not drowning in incomprehensible crap.”

Have we lost the ability to say what we mean and mean what we say?

Categories Common Core, Connecticut, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Humor

NY PTA: Parents Outraged by CCSS, But…

By dianeravitch
February 7, 2014 //
29

A reader directed our attention to this curious phenomenon. The Néw York PTA conducted a survey showing that parents in the state are outraged by the botched implementation of the Common Core, yet the NYPTA remains strongly committed to CCSS.

The militant dedication of CCSS enthusiasts says something interesting: in the absence of any concrete evidence for the success of this initiative, why are their hopes so high? Why do they share the same talking points? why are they so certain that CCSS will be successful at making every child college-and-career-ready, in what are their hopes and boundless enthusiasm founded? Could it be Gates funding? Or could it be the triumph of marketing over critical thinking? Of hope over experience?

Says the reader:

“New York PTA gave a survey with results definitively anti-CCSS. But their conclusions are from another world. They still strongly support CCSS.”

Click to access Report_CCLS_Survey_Jan_2014.pdf

The National PTA has received at least $2.5 million from the Gates foundation, some of it specifically designated for promoting CCSS. In this statement, National PTA explained its position with this convoluted logic.

 National PTA has not received funding from any association to advocate for the Common Core State Standards.
 National PTA applied for and has received grants from several associations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and GE, to help fund its efforts to educate and support parents and educators across the country as the Common Core State Standards are implemented in classrooms.
 National PTA is committed to ensuring that parents and educators are knowledgeable about the standards and new assessments and also is committed to supporting them every step of way as states transition to the standards.

Now, there is clear and consistent reasoning!

BUT: Most PTAs do not get Gates funding to promote Common Core. Most PTAs are authentic parent voices.

If you want to save our schools, work with parents, work with your local PTAs.

The road to success depends on collaboration! Teamwork! All hands on deck to stop privatization!

Categories Common Core, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates

Why Mandatory Online Testing?

By dianeravitch
February 4, 2014 //
98

From a reader:

“FYI. Tennessee computers across entire state crashed on second day of writing test. Attached is letter from admin of White Station High School in Memphis. Thought you’d be interested:

White Station High School
February 4, 2014

Dear Parents,

We started our state writing assessments yesterday. Everything flowed smoothly. Today the online portal crashed statewide. As a result, today’s testing had to be stopped and no juniors scheduled for testing today were able to complete testing. We have been told there can be no testing done tomorrow either. We hope to resume testing on Thursday. Students who were originally supposed to test today will test Monday, February 10, 2014 and students who were supposed to test tomorrow will test Tuesday, February 11, 2014. We will keep you posted related to any other possible changes.

Thanks so much for your patience with us. We planned this one down to the smallest detail and then technology failed us. It is frustrating but we will regroup and make it work. Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Carrye Holland
White Station High School”

Categories Common Core, Technology, Computers, Testing

New York: Legislative Leaders Call for Two-Year Delay of Testing

By dianeravitch
February 4, 2014 //
29

Legislative leaders in the Assembly and Senate in Néw York called on the Board of Regents to delay implementation of Common Core testing for at least two years.

In addition,

“At the same time, the Senate backs a one-yuear moratorium on the proposal to share student data through the controversial third-party vendor inBloom.

“In addition, students, parents, teachers, privacy experts and school administrators have raised serious concerns about the ability of unauthorized third-parties to access personally identifiable information (PII) of students, teachers and principals that will be collected on the state-wide Education Data Portal (EDP). Therefore, we reiterate our call for the Regents to delay operation of the Education Data Portal for at least one year.”

This proposed delay is a sharp rebuke to Commissioner King and Regents Chancellor Tisch, who have shown no willingness to bend to the criticism of parents and educators.

Categories Common Core, Data and Data Mining, New York, Privacy and Privacy Rights
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