The following was sent to me by a friend and it’s a compilation of things said by Dick Morris. I tried to verify the information on SNOPES and found the entry about Hillary flunking the bar exam to be true and I’ve found a couple of things that were blown out of proportion and I made a few amendments so it would read as accurately as possible. -Jack
LETTER: If you happen to see the Bill Clinton 5-minute TV ad for Hillary in which he introduces the commercial by saying he wants to share some things we may not know about Hillary’s background, beware. As I was there for most of their presidency and know them better than just about anyone, I offer a few corrections.
Bill says: “In law school, Hillary worked on legal services for the poor.”
The facts are: In 1970, eight Black Panthers, including its national chairman Bobby Seale, were brought to trial in New Haven, Conn., on charges of murdering a fellow member, Alex Rackley, who was suspected of being a police informant. He was not a federal agent. Hillary played a very minor role with the Black Panthers who on trial in Connecticut for torturing and killing an alleged federal informant. As part of a student committee she offered legal advice to student protesters demonstrating on behalf of the Black Panthers. She allegedly went to court on occasion as part of a law student monitoring committee trying to spot civil rights violations. The trial consumed the Yale campus, and many Yale students rallied in support of the black defendants, or at least for their right to a fair trial.
Bill says: “Hillary spent a year after graduation working on a children’s rights project for poor kids.”
The facts are: Hillary interned with Bob Truehaft, once a member of Communist Party. She met Bob when he represented the Panthers and traveled all the way to San Francisco to take an internship with him. Treuhaft was once an active member of the American Communist Party. Treuhaft was listed by the House Un-American Activities Committee as one of the most dangerously subversive lawyers in the country, according to his 2001 obituary in the Times of London. But he became disillusioned with the party and left it in 1958, before Clinton started her internship with the firm. By all accounts the law firm was a fairly radical and left-wing, known for taking on discrimination and social injustice cases.
Bill says: “Hillary could have written her own job ticket, but she turned down all the lucrative job offers.”
The facts are: She flunked the DC bar exam; yes, flunked. It is a matter of record, and only passed the Arkansas bar. She had no job offers in Arkansas – none – and only got hired by the University of Arkansas Law School at Fayetteville because Bill was already teaching there. She did not join the prestigious Rose Law Firm until Bill became Arkansas Attorney General and was made a partner only after he was elected Arkansas Governor.
Bill says: “President Carter appointed Hillary to the Legal Services Board of Directors and she became its chairman.”
The facts are: The appointment was in exchange for Bill’s support for Carter in his 1980 primary against Ted Kennedy. Hillary then became chairman in a coup in which she won a majority away from Carter’s choice to be chairman.
Bill says: “She served on the board of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital.”
The facts are: Yes, she did. But her main board activity, not mentioned by Bill, was to sit on the Walmart board of directors for a substantial fee. She was silent about their labor and health care practices.
Bill says: “Hillary didn’t succeed at getting health care for all Americans in 1994, but she kept working at it and helped to create the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that provides five million children with health insurance.”
The facts are: Hillary had nothing to do with creating CHIP. It was included in the budget deal between Clinton and Republican Majority Leader Senator Trent Lott. I know; I helped negotiate the deal. The money came half from the budget deal and half from the Attorney Generals’ tobacco settlement. Hillary had nothing to do with either source of funds.
Bill says: “Hillary was the face of America all over the world.”
The facts are: Her visits were part of a program to get her out of town so that Bill would not appear weak by feeding stories that Hillary was running the White House. Her visits abroad were entirely touristic and symbolic and there was no substantive diplomacy on any of them.
Bill says: “Hillary was an excellent Senator who kept fighting for children’s and women’s issues.”
The facts are: Other than totally meaningless legislation like changing the names on courthouses and post offices, she has passed only four substantive pieces of legislation. One set up a national park in Puerto Rico . A second provided respite care for family members helping their relatives through Alzheimer’s or other conditions. And two were routine bills to aid 911 victims and responders which were sponsored by the entire NY delegation. Presently she is trying to have the US memorialize the Woodstock fiasco of 40 years ago.
Here is what bothers me more than anything else about Hillary Clinton:
She has done everything possible to weaken the President and our country (that’s you and me!) when it comes to the war on terror.
1. She wants to close GITMO and move the combatants to the USA where they would have access to our legal system.
2. She wants to eliminate the monitoring of suspected Al Qaeda phone calls to/from the USA .
3. She wants to grant constitutional rights to enemy combatants captured on the battlefield.
4. She wants to eliminate the monitoring of money transfers between suspected Al Qaeda cells and supporters in the USA .
5. She wants to eliminate the type of interrogation tactics used by the military & CIA where coercion might be used when questioning known terrorists even though such tactics might save American lives.
One cannot think of a single bill Hillary has introduced or a single comment she has made that would tend to strengthen our country in the War on Terror. But, one can think of a lot of comments she has made that weaken our country and make it a more dangerous situation for all of us.
Bottom line: She goes hand in hand with the ACLU on far too many issues where common sense is abandoned.
Share this with every democrat you know. Ask them to prove Dick Morris wrong.
Think about it — Dick Morris has said all of this openly, thus if he were not truthful he’d be liable for defamation of character!
And you better believe Hillary would sue him.
Is America ready for a woman president? Perhaps we are, but definitely NOT THIS one.
WOW, when it comes to the Clintons, what is IS?
It really is amazing how many current Republicans were once Democrats. Not aware of any Republicans who became Democrats for non-political reasons the governor of Florida.
Off topic, kind of.
Today was the best day of the year so far for me for two reasons. Ted Cruz announced he’s running for president and according to the Democrats he has a good chance of winning. I’d say their plans of trying to push Jeb Bush as our candidate is falling apart and their scared.
Democrats On Cruz Presidential Campaign Announcement: ‘Sent Shivers Down’ Our Spine:
“LYNCHBURG, Virginia — In what was clearly meant to be an attack on Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, announced shortly after midnight, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) may have accidentally admitted that it’s worried about a Cruz GOP presidential campaign—noting in an email to supporters that his announcement “sent shivers down” their spines.
“If you’re like us, just reading that phrase probably sent shivers down your spine or produced a pretty serious roll of the eyes,” the DNC said in what it calls a “Factivist” email to supporters early on Monday. “But as of this moment, Texas Senator Ted Cruz is officially running for president, and if we don’t do everything in our power to stop him, the possibility of President Ted Cruz could become a reality.”
It listed out three things the Democrats want their base to think about Cruz.
“He led the GOP’s government shutdown, costing the economy a staggering $24 billion, as part of a personal crusade to take away quality health care from millions of Americans and give control back to the insurance companies,” the DNC email stated. “He has obstructed everything from raising the minimum wage to paycheck fairness to immigration reform. He would give corporations and the richest Americans huge tax breaks, at the expense of working Americans.”
The email concluded by encouraging Democratic activists to sign up for DNC lists, and get involved in their “Factivists” program.
Cruz became the first high profile 2016 presidential candidate for the White House to announce his campaign, and did so via Twitter–a first. Even Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), an establishment Republican who previously called Cruz a “wackobird” and has endorsed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for president, acknowledged it’s very possible Cruz may win the Republican nomination. During an interview on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday before Cruz’s announcement, McCain said he would back Cruz should he win the GOP nomination.”
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/03/23/democrats-on-cruz-presidential-campaign-announcement-sent-shivers-down-our-spine/
Another off topic.
You know what they say about paybacks?
BREAKING: Netanyahu Makes His Move to DESTROY Obama’s Entire Agenda:
http://conservativetribune.com/netanyahu-makes-move-obama/
Hillary, the quintessential Democrat, all bull**** and no achievement.
I am not happy with Cruz sucking up to illegal alien voters who will not vote for him anyway.
Ted Cruz says he’s signing up for Obamacare
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ted-cruz-says-hes-signing-up-for-obamacare-2015-03-24?siteid=yhoof2
No one wants any of the candidates
Dick Morris is an unethical paid troll. You really fall for the political propaganda?
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/02/06/so-wrong-so-long-dick-morris-unethical-career-a/192548
Ted Cruz flip flopped on immigration, he was a Bush adviser
Jeb Bush is sucking up all the money hired the GW and pappy advisers and Dick Cheney is hanging out in Congress, the war hawks are back.
Hilliary was a Republican and is a corporatist, the left says come back to their values , be more like Warren. Democrats do not want Hilliary necessarily
Another setup by the elite. There are no candidates.
Question, did you know John MCCain got his citizenship declared in the senate Apr 2008, and Obama was a supporter of the resolution? He was born in Panama. American Parents.
Ted Cruz born in Canada Irish mother, us citizen, Cuban Father not citizen.
Sorry but Cruz has a history and his wife is Goldman Sacs… He is a crafty koch paid mouthpiece who will flip flop when it serves him. Cost us 24 billion in a false flag shutdown.
Obama born in Hawaii American mom, foreign father.
How many years did we have to hear the birther conspiracies?
they are all scum in my book
The next President needs to work for us not the elite
“Think about it — Dick Morris has said all of this openly, thus if he were not truthful he’d be liable for defamation of character!”
This part of the chain e-mail is shockingly naive. Politicians lie about other politicians every single day in this country. Almost no defamation of character suits are ever filed, because they are practically impossible for a public figure like a politician to win:
http://www.factcheck.org/2008/02/suing-over-false-political-advertising/
I haven’t had time to fact check the rest of the claims about Hilary made in the chain e-mail you cited, but this part really makes me doubt the credibility of the original author (whoever that might be).
Georgia, Cruz is signing up for ObamaCare because he has to, not because he wants to. It’s the law and he has no choice if he wants health coverage while he campaigns.
He was covered under his wife’s plan, but she’s taking a leave of absence leaving his family without coverage except for ObamaCare.
“Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), whose push to defund Obamacare led to a government shutdown, now plans to get insured through the federal exchange.
“We will presumably go on the exchange and sign up for health care and we’re in the process of transitioning over to do that,” Cruz told the Des Moines Register on Tuesday.
Previously, Cruz had been covered under his wife’s blue-chip employer health insurance plan.
But Bloomberg reported that Heidi Nelson Cruz, a managing director for Goldman Sachs in Houston, had taken an unpaid leave from the company in order to pitch in on her husband’s presidential campaign. Cruz confirmed to the Des Moines Register that his wife took a leave from the Wall Street firm.
When the Register asked Cruz if having to purchase insurance on the federal health care exchange bothered him, Cruz sidestepped the question.
“It is written in the law that members will be on the exchanges without subsidies just like millions of Americans so that’s – I think the same rules should apply to all of us. Members of Congress should not be exempt,” he told the newspaper, adding that he’d like still like to see Obamacare abolished.
Ironically, it’s Cruz’s fellow Republican senators that compelled him to turn to Obamacare after losing health insurance through his wife’s employer. An amendment Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) inserted into the law required all members of Congress and their staffers to purchase health insurance on the federal marketplace.”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ted-cruz-to-sign-up-obamacare-insurance
As much as I dislike the toe sucker I don’t think any Democrat, especially any member of the left wing that frequents the comments section of Post Scripts, will be proving Dick Morris wrong.
It’s OK to leak government secrets – as long as it benefits politicians
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/25/its-ok-to-leak-government-secrets-as-long-as-it-benefits-politicians
Did you see Cruz stating that he wants to “repeal” Common Core so as to take back education from the federal government? Only problems with this statement are that Common Core is not a law, not passed by the federal government, and there is nothing to “repeal.” The guy is a maroon. I don’t think Hilary Clinton is particularly likable and I don’t see much excitement for her even among liberals, but if Cruz is her competition she doesn’t have much to worry about.
Chris, not sure why you are trying to make Cruz look stupid. What he said was fine, its legitimate to use the word “repeal” when referring to the common core initiative. This only means to revoke or withdraw formally or officially and in:
1. “to repeal a grant.”
2. to revoke or annul (a law, tax, duty, etc.) by express legislative enactment; abrogate.
Gov. Bobby Jindal filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Obama administration, accusing it of illegally manipulating federal grant money and regulations to force states to adopt the Common Core education standards.
The U.S. Department of Education has used a $4.3 billion grant program and federal policy waivers to encourage states to adopt uniform education standards and testing. The Republican governor says that “effectively forces states down a path toward a national curriculum” in violation of the state sovereignty clause in the Constitution and federal laws that prohibit national control of education content.
You called Cruz a maroon, but take a look at this man’s accomplishments, then tell us he’s a maroon:
He graduated with honors from Princeton University and with high honors from Harvard Law School. Now there’s an accomplishment!
In private practice in Houston, Ted spent five years as a partner at one of the nation’s largest law firms, where he led the firm’s U.S. Supreme Court and national Appellate Litigation practice. Ted has authored more than 80 U.S. Supreme Court briefs and argued 43 oral arguments, including nine before the U.S. Supreme Court. During Ted’s service as Solicitor General, Texas achieved an unprecedented series of landmark national victories, including successfully defending:
• U.S. sovereignty against the UN and the World Court in Medellin v. Texas;
• The Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms;
• The constitutionality of the Texas Ten Commandments monument;
• The constitutionality of the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance;
• The constitutionality of the Texas Sexually Violent Predator Civil Commitment law; and
• The Texas congressional redistricting plan.
The National Law Journal has called Ted “a key voice” to whom “the [U.S. Supreme Court] Justices listen.” Ted has been named by American Lawyer magazine as one of the 50 Best Litigators under 45 in America, by the National Law Journal as one of the 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America, and by Texas Lawyer as one of the 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter Century.
From 2004-09, he taught U.S. Supreme Court Litigation as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law.
Prior to becoming Solicitor General, he served as the Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, as Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as Domestic Policy Advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign.
He served as a law clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the U.S. Supreme Court. He was the first Hispanic ever to clerk for the Chief Justice of the United States.
There’s more, but I’m sure you get the picture. This man is no crackpot, he’s the real deal. And by all accounts he’s a heck of a lot smarter and more experienced than Hillary Clinton. He also ranks higher in the ethics area too. I would trust Cruz long before Hillary.
Chris: “The guy is a maroon.”
Hahaha Chris, thanks for the laugh. Cruz graduated cum laude from Princeton in 1992 and magna cum laude from Harvard Law in 1995. His class standing at both of these universities proves he is no “moron.”
You really need to stop relying on the liberal media for your information and form your own opinions.
He was also a award winning debater and has both republican and democrat presidential candidates scared to go up against him during the upcoming debates. That’s why they are all attacking him now. Hillary won’t stand a chance against him.
Princeton Debate Panel:
http://debate.princeton.edu/results/hall-of-fame/
As for his statement on federal involvement in Common Core maybe this 2013 and 2015 articles will help you understand the link between the two and Cruz’s concern.
Opinion: Common Core standards are federal overreach:
“Common Core represents the increasing nationalism of American K-12 education and the federalization of the standards we’ll use to educate our kids.
Although the standards were initially promoted as voluntary by their backers, they have become mandatory in most states, including Arizona, that agreed to implement the standards in exchange for one-time federal education grants and a waiver of other, onerous federal education mandates.”
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/peoria/2015/03/24/opinion-common-core-standards-federal-overreach/70374496/
“Federal involvement:
PolitiFact Florida also addressed the second part of Pope’s claim — that federal officials “do not have their fingerprints” on Common Core. Our colleagues found that, although Common Core is voluntary for states to adopt, the federal government has had a role in encouraging them to adopt the standards.
To get grants from Race to the Top — Obama’s signature education program — or waivers from the mandates of No Child Left Behind — an education reform law adopted under President George W. Bush — states have to prove they have standards to prepare students for college and work. They don’t have to adopt the Common Core Standards, but that works as one way to qualify for grants or waivers.
There was a rush by states to adopt Common Core by August 2010 because establishing standards won them points in the competition for a share of the billions in Race to the Top grants.
Tom McCarthy, a spokesman for Pope, acknowledged “there really wasn’t a credible alternative to Common Core” at the time.
So, the federal government didn’t force Common Core on the states, but it did create incentives for states to adopt the standards.
Our rating
Pope said: Common Core “is not from the federal government,” they “do not have their fingerprints on this thing at all.”
Federal officials did not initiate the state standards for public schools or force them on the states. But they have given states financial incentives to adopt the standards.
For a statement that is accurate but needs clarification, we give Pope a Mostly True.”
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/oct/24/sondy-pope/how-much-federal-government-involved-common-core-s/
Jack, Common Core is not a “curriculum.” It is a set of standards, or expectations, of what students should be able to do. How they get there is up to districts and teachers.
I invite you to read them; they have been easily available for quite a while. I’d be curious to know what you would find sinister or even objectionable in there.
http://www.corestandards.org/
States are free to choose whether to adopt the standards or not. Yes, the federal government provides incentives for adopting them, but that is hardly “coercion.”
In my experience Common Core has done the exact opposite of restricting teacher freedom. I did my initial student teaching at a school where every teacher in a given department was expected to do the same thing as every other teacher every day. The model was entirely EDI (explicit direct instruction) based, meaning the teacher lectures the students, they take notes, and then they answer a series of (usually multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank) questions. That was virtually every day. There was no real thinking involved, and I never saw the kids write more than a paragraph until the end of the year, when they were suddenly expected to write an essay with virtually zero practice. There was a joke in my credential program that some school administrators want to be able to walk from one classroom to the next and hear the second teacher finish the first one’s sentence; this school was as close to that being literally true as I have seen. The students were bored because the teachers were bored.
Fast forward to a year later and I am a long term sub at this same school. Now the school is transitioning to Common Core, with its emphasis on collaboration, critical thinking skills, and student creativity, while still emphasizing rigor. The administrators were nervous, but most of the teachers (especially the young ones) were thrilled; there were so many more opportunities for us to be creative and teach in a way that we found fit us, not just the lockstop way this school made us do.
The school I am at now has been Common Core-ready for years, and I look back at the work my eighth graders do for me every day vs. the work my former eighth graders did the year I did my student teaching at my previous school, and the contrast is insane. My students are at least a grade level ahead of the kids I student taught as far as quality, because the expectations are higher.
There have always been “standards” for each state but Common Core is far superior in my opinion to the old California standards. Yeah, the tests still suck, but that has always been the case. My current school cares a lot less about testing than my previous one, so schools still have plenty of room for individualization.
IMHO the opposition to Common Core is mostly uninformed and based on fear. “Federal control over education” is an easy boogeyman and politicians like Cruz are using it as a punching bag to rile up the base. It’s red meat, not a serious argument. They know most people don’t know what’s in Common Core and won’t bother to find out, so they’ve made it into a scary phrase in and of itself because that’s what works.
Your list of Cruz’s accomplishments just proves that any politician’s record can be spun to sound as positive or negative as the person describing them wants it to sound. I could easily make Hilary Clinton sound just as impressive. I have no doubt Cruz is very accomplished; you have to be to get where he is. That hasn’t stopped countless politicians from appealing to ignorance and anti-intellectualism before, and it isn’t stopping Cruz.
Chris I probably should have not said anything. I understand what Common Core is, although I admit you are in a far better position to evaluate it than I.
Honestly, I have no opinion on it one way or the other. My only comment was that Cruz could say he wants to ‘repeal” or change the standards because its technically correct to say so. It’s not like he thinks it is “legislation”, we know its just a set of standards. That’s all, but I appreciate your efforts to clarify Core and I used the link to inform myself.
Peggy: “Cruz graduated cum laude from Princeton in 1992 and magna cum laude from Harvard Law in 1995. His class standing at both of these universities proves he is no “moron.””
I can name plenty of liberal politicians who are just as educated whose intelligence you have insulted, so what exactly is your point?
Conservatives are always arguing that education doesn’t equal intelligence…until it comes to a conservative politician, of course.
“You really need to stop relying on the liberal media for your information and form your own opinions.”
You know perfectly well that my opinion on Common Core is based on my experience as a teacher. Why would you say this?
Why would I say this Chris? Because of all of the teachers I’ve heard and seen talk about how bad Common Core is for the students. I would think that as a teacher you would be more interested in learning the truth than trying to prove you are right.
You also must know the federal funding from Race to the Top was linked to Common Core. That’s the hook the feds used to get the states to participate.
The standards may have been good and noble, but like most things just follow the money. why are all test computerized and who’s supply the program and testing material. These are not my concerns Chris they are the concerns of teachers in every state.
Parents protest against Common Core:
March 26, 2015
“More parents refuse to let children participate
A growing number of New York parents want the state to stop testing students on Common Core standards — this year.
The parents are from school districts across the state and they’re better prepared than in years past to tell school administrators that their children won’t participate in this year’s English Language Arts and math state tests based on Common Core standards. The exams are scheduled to begin in mid-April. Armed with refusal letters and data, these parents are spreading out into their respective districts to educate other families on why they say the tests don’t help their children and what parents can do to make a difference in state testing mandates.
“We do not refuse these tests for our children because they are too hard or because we are against testing,” said Tricia Farmer, a parent who has children in Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Central Schools. “We refuse these tests because they are flawed and based on a set of flawed Common Core standards which were forced on our schools.”
The frustration of parents opposed to the tests has increased with the implementation of the Common Core. Opponents say the new standards have shaped questions on the tests and also blocked transparency from the state Education Department on the material being tested.”
http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-local/article/Parents-protest-against-Common-Core-6159647.php
Why Three Teachers Are Taking a Stand Against Common Core: ‘We Need to Remove It’:
“Susan Kimball, Tonya Pobst, and Heather Drury are all educators in the state of Missouri who have taken a stand against Common Core, a controversial new set of academic standards that critics say will “dumb down” America’s children and open the door for data mining activities on students.
“When my students walk into my classroom, I have a responsibility not only to those students — I have a responsibility to those parents,” Pobst said on the Glenn Beck Program Wednesday with guest hosts Stu Burguiere and Pat Gray. “These parents are entrusting me with their children … and I feel it’s my duty morally, ethically, to let them know, this is how your child has to be taught now. I don’t have any freedom.”
Kimball added that the new standards are so controlled that — rather than just being given the material to teach — teachers are given “scripts” to read, as well. She said if a student responds to a lesson with a certain question, teachers are told to read a corresponding line from the script. She also said educators have no power to alter the curriculum to cater to the needs of students who learn differently.
Another often-voiced concern of Common Core is that — because of the radically different way subjects like math are being taught — parents will be unable to help their children, leaving America’s youth completely dependent on the state for their education.
“Frustrated parent” Jeff Severt has a bachelor of science degree in electronics engineering, and was unable to help his second grader with his math homework because of the convoluted steps required to subtract 316 from 427.
Drury shares the concern, saying the worksheet-intensive nature of Common Core also makes it much more difficult for parents to completely examine what their children are learning.
“It’s trying to keep parents kind of out of the loop of what’s going on in our schools,” she said simply. “That’s very concerning to me.”
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/04/09/why-three-teachers-are-taking-a-stand-against-common-core-we-need-to-remove-it/
It’s your classroom so you can teach as you choose. But with Common Core do you really have a choice of what and how to teach and is it what’s best for your students?
Peggy: “Why would I say this Chris? Because of all of the teachers I’ve heard and seen talk about how bad Common Core is for the students.”
So teachers can’t have differing opinions on this? If I like the Common Core it’s because I have been indoctrinated by “liberal blogs,” not because I’ve made a rational opinion based on my own experience in using the standards?
That’s not fair, Peggy.
I am all for the parents protesting against standardized testing, but this has been a problem long before Common Core.
On of the teachers cited in your Blaze link is seriously uninformed:
“Kimball added that the new standards are so controlled that — rather than just being given the material to teach — teachers are given “scripts” to read, as well. She said if a student responds to a lesson with a certain question, teachers are told to read a corresponding line from the script. She also said educators have no power to alter the curriculum to cater to the needs of students who learn differently.”
Common Core does not mandate any “scripts,” except for testing situations. If she has been given a script to read for a day-to-day lesson, it is not a mandate from Common Core; it comes from her district or school site. Many districts and school sites have done this long before Common Core. As I explained, at my former school I had the exact opposite experience: teachers had more freedom after the implementation, not less.
I do want the truth, Peggy, which is why I do not appreciate some teachers using decisions made by their district or school site as evidence of how bad “Common Core” in general is. Again: Common Core does not mandate curriculum. Whatever worksheets you’re seeing, whatever “scripts” exist, are a creation of either teachers or administrators, and are not the only way to teach Common Core.
I ask again: can you look through the standards and find which ones, exactly, mandate such curriculum? Or any that you find objectionable at all?
One more side note: My district is completely Common Core aligned, and has been for several years. I make nearly all of my own materials, or use the materials we make as a department. I choose what texts are taught, within certain genres. And my administration is extremely supportive of this, even though I am technically considered a first year teacher.
Again, it is up to each individual school district to decide how they will implement Common Core. My district is Common Core aligned and gives its teachers plenty of freedom. The complaints you are hearing are misdirected.
The Attack on Common Core is for the Koch Agenda. Too Bad we can not have a real conversation on education. No all we get is the repeating Koch Agenda.
Ted Cruz is very very smart and is not an honest man. He wants the Koch education plan. Indoctrination in the schools.
Privatized education controlled by these donors is no more than mind control.
Try reading David koch’s VP election platform when he ran. All the Tea Party issues are on it.
Here are just a few excerpts of the Libertarian Party platform that David Koch ran on in 1980:
“We urge the repeal of federal campaign finance laws, and the immediate abolition of the despotic Federal Election Commission.”
“We favor the abolition of Medicare and Medicaid programs.”
“We oppose any compulsory insurance or tax-supported plan to provide health services, including those which finance abortion services.”
“We also favor the deregulation of the medical insurance industry.”
“We favor the repeal of the fraudulent, virtually bankrupt, and increasingly oppressive Social Security system. Pending that repeal, participation in Social Security should be made voluntary.”
“We propose the abolition of the governmental Postal Service. The present system, in addition to being inefficient, encourages governmental surveillance of private correspondence. Pending abolition, we call for an end to the monopoly system and for allowing free competition in all aspects of postal service.”
“We oppose all personal and corporate income taxation, including capital gains taxes.”
“We support the eventual repeal of all taxation.”
“As an interim measure, all criminal and civil sanctions against tax evasion should be terminated immediately.”
“We support repeal of all law which impede the ability of any person to find employment, such as minimum wage laws.”
RIGHT HERE!——————————-
“We advocate the complete separation of education and State. Government schools lead to the indoctrination of children and interfere with the free choice of individuals. Government ownership, operation, regulation, and subsidy of schools and colleges should be ended.”
“We condemn compulsory education laws … and we call for the immediate repeal of such laws.”
___________________________________________________-
“We support the repeal of all taxes on the income or property of private schools, whether profit or non-profit.”
“We support the abolition of the Environmental Protection Agency.”
“We support abolition of the Department of Energy.”
“We call for the dissolution of all government agencies concerned with transportation, including the Department of Transportation.”
“We demand the return of America’s railroad system to private ownership. We call for the privatization of the public roads and national highway system.”
“We specifically oppose laws requiring an individual to buy or use so-called “self-protection” equipment such as safety belts, air bags, or crash helmets.”
“We advocate the abolition of the Federal Aviation Administration.”
“We advocate the abolition of the Food and Drug Administration.”
“We support an end to all subsidies for child-bearing built into our present laws, including all welfare plans and the provision of tax-supported services for children.”
“We oppose all government welfare, relief projects, and ‘aid to the poor’ programs. All these government programs are privacy-invading, paternalistic, demeaning, and inefficient. The proper source of help for such persons is the voluntary efforts of private groups and individuals.”
“We call for the privatization of the inland waterways, and of the distribution system that brings water to industry, agriculture and households.”
“We call for the repeal of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.”
“We call for the abolition of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.”
“We support the repeal of all state usury laws.”
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/koch-brothers
Grassroots yea right. It’s called corporate fascism.
I do not want my kid taught conservative math or science. I want them to be taught the truth good and bad.
Stop following the news media and think!
This is classic Dewey. Propaganda par excellance’. You can’t argue with such people – they’re lost, stuck waste deep in their own rhetoric.
“The Attack on Common Core is for the Koch Agenda.” Georgia
When you start with this fringe politics stuff you lose people. I doubt anyone read beyond that opening line. It summed up everything else you said as total irrelevant BS from the loony left fringe, that’s all.
Re #21: Lost me long ago. Correction: “lunatic fringe politics stuff”.
Evidently Georgia takes her marching orders from The Daily Kos, Pacificia news, Mother Jones, et cetera, ad nauseam. You know, the Soros funded fringe.
Re #20: Precisely. But in this case I think “georgia” (aka Dewey) is submerged.
Re #10: Dear maroon, Common Core has effectively become the law of the land by fiat. Congress can correct it even if Cruz’s language is imprecise.
Chris, why is it so hard for you to accept other’s experiences as their truth? Just because your experience with Common Core is different does not invalidate theirs.
These teachers have made it very clear that because of Common Core their teaching abilities have been altered to make the learning process for their students more difficult. The source of the problem is Common Core even if it comes through their local district’s interpretation of it.
Here is a good article written in 2013 with questions you might find of interest. Things may have changed for the better since then, but I believe teachers and parents had major issues with CC that were justified.
Four Freedoms of Common Core:
“4. Freedom from Local Control
Under Common Core, the state administers mandatory assessments based on the standards. The results are used for student promotion or graduation, teacher evaluation, and school district reward or punishment.
The PA Department of Education (PDE) has a “voluntary” curriculum online, called the SAS Portal, aligned with Common Core.
PDE representatives stated in March 2010,
“the SAS portal is available to school districts, but everybody has got to teach to our standards. And everybody has got to implement our high school end-of-course exams. So in order for them to successfully get to their high school exams, they are going to need to access all that stuff….”
◦If every district MUST teach the one curriculum that is aligned to the one assessment that measures the one standard or face negative consequences for students, teachers, and schools, what happened to local control?”
http://foundedontruth.com/index.php/common-core-info/41-four-freedoms-of-common-core
As you know I’m all for the free market, but I have real concerns when gov’t regulations mandate the use of specific materials only available from specific providers. Red alarm bells go off in my brain when this happens making me question their motive.
Here is another good article I hope you’ll read in full.
Source-Focused Analysis of Common Core Starts Here: An Updated Syllabus:
“15.The Official Common Core Standards – English and Math standards. Here you will see Common Core calling itself a “living work” meaning that what Common Core is today, will not remain. There is no amendment process for states to have a voice in altering the commonly held standards because they’re under private copyright. See a recommended reading list in Appendix B that includes “The Bluest Eye,” a pornographic novel.
16.See academic testimonies of the official Common Core validation committee members who refused to sign off on the legitimacy of the standards; other professors have also testified that Common Core hurts legitimate college readiness. See in contrast the motive of Common Core promoters such as Marc Tucker of the Center for American Progress who report that “the United States will have to largely abandon the beloved emblem of American education: local control. …[N]ew authority will have to come at the expense of local control.”
17.Federal Definition of College and Career Ready Standards – the federal government hides the phrase “common core” from public view by using the term “college and career ready standards” in its documents. Know that they are the same thing.
18.Common Educational Data Standards – The same private groups (NGA/CCSSO) that created Common Core have also created Common Educational Data Standards, so that student data mining and citizen tracking is interoperable and easy. Coupled with the breakdown of family privacy law (federal FERPA, altered by the Dept. of Education) we see that children’s data lacks proper protections, and that students are being used as compulsory, unpaid research objects.
19.Follow the money trails – Study what advocacy and development of common standards Bill Gates has paid for; see how his unelected philanthropy affects education and its governance, and see how his partnerships with Pearson, with the United Nations and others monopolize the U.S. and global education markets, excluding voters as public-private partnerships make decisions, instead of voters or elected representatives such as school boards or legislators making decisions.”
https://whatiscommoncore.wordpress.com/tag/microsoft/
If your assumption is true that local districts are free to teach curriculum of their choice how will the students pass the CC standards set forth in the SAT and ACT?
Here’s another article on the architect of the new SAT/ACT tests.
David Coleman, Common Core Writer, Gears Up For SAT Rewrite:
“Now, Coleman is in charge of the most important test score a student can receive. As president of the College Board, a national education company, he is redesigning the SAT, the standardized test taken by many high school seniors as a part of the college application process. He is also expanding the Advanced Placement program, which offers college-level classes and tests for high school students.
Coleman, a playful 43-year-old man who speaks at an urgent clip, is the most influential education figure you’ve never heard of.
He is perhaps best known as the architect of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, meant to bring divergent state learning goals into alignment. Public schools in 47 states will begin teaching the Common Core in English language fields this fall. But as standardized testing comes increasingly under attack, and as teachers and politicians from both the left and right try to roll back the Common Core, Coleman’s legacy is a bit up in the air.
The controversy over Common Core has become particularly fraught as states adopt its learning goals. In Alabama, for instance, a Republican political activist recently compared adoption of the core to Adolf Hitler’s indoctrination of German citizens. Although few states have dropped the Core entirely, several have distanced themselves from the program by withdrawing from the consortia charged with developing assessments to measure student achievement under its rubric.
Coleman said he hopes the standards can succeed without full national participation in the consortia, but many Core proponents disagree. “You’re going to end up with a bunch of states doing different things,” said Andy Rotherham, a friend of Coleman’s who worked in the Clinton administration and now leads Bellwether Education Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm. “Some of the same issues will persist, which undermines the premise of Common Core.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/30/david-coleman-common-core-sat_n_3818107.html
And finally the cost. Follow the money rule.
High cost of Common Core has states rethinking the national education standards:
“States are learning the cost of Common Core is uncommonly high.
The federally-backed standards initiative, first proposed by the nation’s governors and an educators’ association, seeks to impose a national standard for achievement among K-12 students. So far, 45 states plus the District of Columbia have signed on, with some implementing curriculum designed for the Common Core Standards Initiative during the current school year and the rest set to take part in the next school year. But several states are reconsidering their participation, and one big reason is the cost.
States will spend up to an estimated $10 billion up front, then as much as $800 million per year for the first seven years that the controversial program is up and running. Much of the cost is on new, Common Core-aligned textbooks and curriculum, but the added expenses also include teacher training, technology upgrades, testing and assessment. The figures are taking states by surprise.
“At a time when many states and school districts are struggling to stay afloat financially, the costs in this massive, unfunded mandate to these states will undoubtedly fall on the backs of the taxpayers.”
– Glyn Wright, executive director of the Eagle Forum
The study by Accountability Works, the Maryland-based nonprofit education advocacy group, estimated that schools nationwide will need $6.87 billion for technology, $5.26 billion for professional development, $2.47 billion for textbooks and $1.24 billion for assessment testing over the first seven years that Common Core is in effect.
But Common Core advocates point out that items like textbooks, study materials and technological upgrades must be funded whether under Common Core or any other program. A recent report found that schools already spend nearly $700 million per year testing and assessing students, which could mean even more of the new expenses are really just cost-shifting, according to Carissa Miller, deputy executive director of Council of Chief State School Officers.
In addition, the federal government is providing states with a total of $350 million in aid to make the transition to Common Core.
Still, no one is disputing that implementing the Common Core program will cost states, which could make it unpopular with taxpayers as well as parents who support local control of what kids are taught. Critics say the program, which now has the full backing of the federal government, amounts to Washington taking over curriculum and sticking locals with the bill.
“When first promoting Common Core State Standards, the Department of Education used a carrot-and-stick approach by awarding grant money and waivers from No Child Left Behind regulations in exchange for adoption of the standards,” Rep.Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO.) said in a statement to FoxNews.com. “At a time of economic recession and shrinking state budgets, this federal money enticed the vast majority of states to adopt CCSS and their aligned assessments, often without states being able to fully analyze the future costs of annual testing. I’m afraid the bloom is off the rose as Missouri, and a number of other states, are realizing the new assessments will cost nearly twice as much as the previous state-based tests.”
“Moreover, I am concerned that many of our rural districts will not even have the technological capability required for the new tests, adding even more costs,” he added.”
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/05/number-states-backing-out-common-core-testing-maryland-schools-low-on-funding/
Use your brain Chris. You may NOT have the freedom in your class you think you do. Don’t take my word for it, do your own research.
Thank you Pie. Federal funds are flowing into local schools from the carrots dangling in front of them from DC. What will they do when the federal funds stop and the millions needed to keep CC going are gone? Grab your wallet or expect layoffs and other major cuts.
Back on topic.
New poll in shows bad news for Hillary.
The Results Are In After Hillary’s Email Debacle, and Let’s Just Say America Didn’t Like It:
“The results of a new poll on the Hillary Clinton email scandal makes one thing very clear: Hillary’s favorability rating has been in a free-fall since the story first broke.
“CBS Evening News” anchor Scott Pelley reported the results of the poll on Thursday:
“That email scandal is taking a toll on Hillary Clinton’s image as she gets ready to run for president. In a CBS News poll out tonight, 29% of Americans say their opinion of her has grown worse as the result of revelations that she used her personal email account for State Department business.”
So how bad is it for Mrs. Clinton?”
Continued…
http://www.ijreview.com/2015/03/281761-results-hillarys-email-debacle-lets-just-say-america-didnt-like/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_content=conservativedaily&utm_campaign=Politics
Bad news for Hillary, good news for America.
Is anyone really surprised she claims she destroyed all trace of her emails during her term as Sec. of State? We need the hackers to start letting more of them out.
Trey Gowdy: Hillary Clinton wiped her server clean
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/gowdy-clinton-wiped-her-server-clean-116472.html#ixzz3VdQUljp5
Keep them coming hackers. Eventually we’ll get to the truth.
Leaked Private Emails Reveal Ex-Clinton Aide’s Secret Spy Network:
“Starting weeks before Islamic militants attacked the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, longtime Clinton family confidante Sidney Blumenthal supplied intelligence to then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gathered by a secret network that included a former CIA clandestine service officer, according to hacked emails from Blumenthal’s account.
The emails, which were posted on the internet in 2013, also show that Blumenthal and another close Clinton associate discussed contracting with a retired Army special operations commander to put operatives on the ground near the Libya-Tunisia border while Libya’s civil war raged in 2011.
Blumenthal’s emails to Clinton, which were directed to her private email account, include at least a dozen detailed reports on events on the deteriorating political and security climate in Libya as well as events in other nations. They came to light after a hacker broke into Blumenthal’s account and have taken on new significance in light of the disclosure that she conducted State Department and personal business exclusively over an email server that she controlled and kept secret from State Department officials and which only recently was discovered by congressional investigators.
Continued..
http://gawker.com/leaked-private-emails-reveal-ex-clinton-aides-secret-sp-1694112647
Bill the brat could eat no fat
His wife could eat no lean
That is why between the two
Hillary wiped her server clean
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/gowdy-clinton-wiped-her-server-clean-116472.html
“If your assumption is true that local districts are free to teach curriculum of their choice how will the students pass the CC standards set forth in the SAT and ACT?”
I don’t understand your question. We can teach the curriculum of our choice, but that curriculum needs to teach students how to do the things required in the Common Core standards.
You do understand the difference between standards and curriculum, right?
Again I ask: what specific standards of you object to?
Sorry, that should say: What specific standards do you object to?
Peggy: “Chris, why is it so hard for you to accept other’s experiences as their truth? Just because your experience with Common Core is different does not invalidate theirs.”
Peggy, I don’t mean this as an insult but sometimes you seem to have a really hard time telling the difference between cases where we need to rely on subjective opinions and cases where we can easily determine objective truth.
In this case, the teachers you cite are making an objective claim: that Common Core mandates a certain way of teaching. This claim can be objectively testable as true or false. If it were true, then we would see all Common Core-aligned schools teaching the same way.
But that’s simply not what’s happening. My school is Common Core aligned, and has been for years. There is no script, no mandated curriculum, and more teacher freedom and creativity than before.
This would not be possible if the claims made by the teachers you cited were true.
Therefore, those claims are false.
“The source of the problem is Common Core even if it comes through their local district’s interpretation of it.”
No, the source of the problem is their local districts’ erroneous interpretations of it.
Chris, based on your experience in your class room I can only assume that Common Core has changed over the years driven by teacher’s and parent’s involved with it since it began. Glad to hear local and states have demanded more controls on how the information was to be presented.
I do remember hearing years ago upset parents who were told they per CC did NOT have access to what their children were learning and teachers were signing contracts preventing them from disclosing the curriculum and materials to parents. That wasn’t just bad it was wrong and parents had the right to be upset.
So, I’m glad you are benefiting from the teachers and parents who fought for those changes you are able to work with today.
The federal funds for Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind, with its backdoor CC support. It will also work its way back to local and state controls when they will have to decide to continue with the program and fund it with additional taxes or drop it if the voters don’t approve the increase.
Chris: “You do understand the difference between standards and curriculum, right?
Yes, Chris I understand the difference between curriculum and standards since I spent close to 20 years working with community college faculty, deans and the VP of Instruction to develop course outlines for stand alone courses approved by the state and courses approved for sequential progression for our vocational certificates and degrees. I also, as the articulation specialist worked with the CSUs and UC campuses to obtain written agreements for our courses to meet the same curriculum based on their standards so our students would obtain the same information as theirs facilitating and seamless transfer.
You do understand the curriculum would have to be sufficient to meet standardized testing which would, in turn, have to fit with Common Core? Just like the curriculum in schools in EVERY district would have to be aligned with the standards set forth in CC for students to pass the ACT and SAT test.
Do you understand now the federal link through CC and local schools like yours? If not, no disrespect intended, but you have no idea how curriculum is driven by standards and you won’t until you try writing the curriculum for a course or program you want to obtain approval.
Good luck. Be sure to let me know how it goes and if you used standards to write the curriculum.
I’m done on this subject. I feel like I’m wasting my time again with you.
Oops, eating my words.
FYI Chris.
From Colorado.
“Colorado school districts are collecting broad, detailed educational and psychological data on their students for use by private companies and the federal government, yet parental access to the same information remains limited and difficult to come by.
Local districts are giving parents the run-around and stalling, while the state Department of Education claims that it simply doesn’t have the ability to connect parents with their children’s data.
Recently, Watchdog Wire spoke to parents in Colorado who have been trying for months, to see their children’s data and the vendors who have access to this data.
Ft. Collins parent Cheri Kiesecker has written to the Colorado Dept of Education (CDE), which has said it cannot share data with parents. Dan Damagala, CDE’s CIO of Information Management Services, replied that, “The Colorado Department of Education does not have a mechanism for verifying parent/guardian relationships to students– and the release of student information to an unauthorized entity would be a violation of Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).”
In other words, CDE is citing the very law intended to assure parents access to justify denying them that same access.
Mrs. Kiesecker commented, “First, CDE said that they do not share student’s personal identifying information, with name, birth date, address, SSN, then we found their policy and video on how they do share it. Now CDE tells us that we can’t see the data or who it has been shared with? It seems crazy to me that complete strangers and vendors can have access to my children’s data, but I cannot.”
Jefferson County parent Natalie Adams was given a similar response by CDE. After personal requests to both State Commissioner of Education Robert Hammond and his Special Assistant Elliot Asp, Adams was told there was no way to connect her with her kids’ data, so she could not get data from the state.
Adams stated, “The state collects personally identifiable information about my child, that it gathered from my district, then CDE strips the parent from the record, which now allows CDE to have complete control over my child’s information and what happens to it.”
http://teach1776.ning.com/group/the-coalition-against-common-core/forum/topics/in-colorado-parents-are-denied-access-to-their-student-s-data
Good one Pie.
Hillary is the current definition of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.
History does repeat itself. The Hillary of 1974 does the same thing in 2014. Will the results be the same? Will she get “fired” or will she get away with it and become our next president? She could actually be worse than Obama.
“Democrat Jerry Zeifman, a counsel and chief of staff of the House Judiciary Committee, who supervised Clinton on the Watergate investigation. Zeifman’s 2006 book, “Hillary’s Pursuit of Power,” states that she “… engaged in a variety of self-serving unethical practices in violation of House rules.”
On his now-shuttered website, Zeifman said, “Hillary Clinton is ethically unfit to be either a senator or president — and if she were to become president, the last vestiges of the traditional moral authority of the party of Roosevelt, Truman and Johnson will be destroyed.”
Specifically, Zeifman contends that Rodham and others wanted Richard Nixon to remain in office to bolster the chances of Sen. Ted Kennedy or another Democrat being elected president.
Zeifman said that in 1974 a young lawyer who shared an office with Clinton came to him to apologize that he and Clinton had lied to him. The lawyer, John Labovitz, is quoted as saying that he was dismayed with “… her erroneous legal opinions and efforts to deny Nixon representation by counsel — as well as an unwillingness to investigate Nixon.”
Zeifman charges that Rodham regularly consulted with Ted Kennedy’s chief political strategist, a violation of House rules.
Hillary Rodham’s conduct, according to Zeifman, also was the result of not wanting Nixon to face an impeachment trial because Democrats worried that Nixon might bring up abuses of office by President John Kennedy.
…Rodham wrote a fraudulent legal brief, and confiscated public documents.
After the Nixon impeachment investigation was finished, Zeifman fired Rodham and said he refused to give her a letter of recommendation.
According to the Calabrese column as reported by TruthOrFiction.com, Zeifman said he regrets not reporting Rodham to the appropriate bar association.”
http://jacksonville.com/reason/fact-check/2014-03-08/story/fact-check-was-hillary-clinton-fired-watergate-investigation
Peggy: “I do remember hearing years ago upset parents who were told they per CC did NOT have access to what their children were learning and teachers were signing contracts preventing them from disclosing the curriculum and materials to parents.”
Do you have a source for this claim?
If the story about Colorado refusing to give student data is true, then I agree with you that that is disgusting. I’m not quite seeing how that’s the fault of Common Core, but if it is, then that is definitely an aspect I would be in favor of fixing.
I do use the standards to drive my curriculum. Right now I and two of the other new teachers are developing a unit on mythology to help our students prepare for a narrative writing assessment. This is the standard:
“CSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.9
Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new.”
We are compiling about six different myths along with a few articles to help kids understand how myths are still relevant today, and then having the students write their own myths using the features they have learned about. We get to choose all of the texts and the culminating assignment ourselves. The rest of the department can use what we have or they can choose to do their own thing. Again, the standards determine what students must be able to do; we have a lot of leeway in determining how to get them there.
Here’s what I could find just after a quick look. You may find more during the 2013 year if you want.
“Until recently, access to the material had been denied, even for elected officials.
Last year, it took State Board of Education Chairman Barbara Cargill six months before she was finally granted access to the lesson plans. Parents were denied access to CSCOPE material in violation of state law, which requires lesson plans be available to them.
CSCOPE: A Classic Lesson in Secrecy:
“The ESC/directors were willing to allow Barbara Cargill to view the CSCOPE material if she would sign a non-disclosure contract. In other words, Barbara could see the CSCOPE lessons but could not tell anyone about them. Barbara finally had free access to the CSCOPE material, but it took the governor of Texas to demand that Barbara be given a password to the CSCOPE website.” Janice VanCleave”
http://www.txcscopereview.com/2013/the-cscope-scandal/
CScope Senator Dan Patrick 03272013:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=sen.+dan+patrick%2c+r-houston+common+core&FORM=VIRE4#view=detail&mid=01620D15400D11D7054701620D15400D11D70547
Here is a very interesting article from a principle you should find of interest.
Principal: ‘I was naïve about Common Core’:
“Here’s a powerful piece about how an award-winning principal went from being a Common Core supporter to an opponent. This was written by Carol Burris, principal of South Side High School in New York. She was named the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State. She is one of the co-authors of the principals’ letter against evaluating teachers by student test scores, which has been signed by 1,535 New York principals.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/03/04/principal-i-was-naive-about-common-core
Since this all happened before you became a teacher, it might be worth your time to do a little digging in to the short history of CC and how it came to be and who were the players involved.
Good luck with your mythology course. My grandson loved his lessons and is into all of the books he can find.
Thanks for the good luck wish, Peggy. And thanks for the articles; they were both really fascinating.
I too am outraged that the CSCOPE lessons were not made publicly available. That is outrageous. Parents have every right to know what their students are being taught, and teachers and administrators should encourage cooperation. I’m not quite seeing how Common Core is to blame in this case, however; it seems to me it has more to do with the company who made CSCOPE being overly aggressive with copyright issues.
It seems the full CSCOPE program is now available online:
http://www.texastribune.org/interactive/search-cscope-lesson-plans/
I also found the editorial by that principal very illuminating. I agree with her that the emphasis on testing is destructive. Luckily my current district does not place as much emphasis on testing as many others, including my former district, which lived and died by test scores. The kids’ test scores were high but I have to say the quality and depth of work my students produce this year is at a level far higher than what my students there produced.
But even that principal seems to be arguing that Common Core could be used well, if it weren’t for the emphasis on high stakes testing. She writes:
“Data should be used as a strategy for improvement, not for accountability purposes. The Common Core is a powerful tool, but it is being implemented using the wrong drivers.”
My district seems to be using Common Core the right way: to help kids learn, not pass tests. Hopefully others will follow.
Glad you took the time to read and watch the information I sent. As I said earlier CC has changed since its beginning because of the complaints filed by all involved including teachers and parents.
The name has also been changed over the years from CC at the recommendation, I’m told, by both Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee who were/are CC supporters.
I was trying to make you aware of the problems it’s had in the past and to be aware of them in current or future concerns that may come up.
While I’m not in favor of federal gov’t controls in our education I can see that certain levels of achievement and accomplished goals should be met for every grade. How those standards are met I strongly believe are up to state and local decisions.
The big red flag for me was how many educators who were originally involved in the CC development dropped out in disgust when the testing component became the core driver and the curriculum and method of delivery was taken away from the teachers. Like I said this was back when it started and I believe the cause of so many turning against it.
It was wrong to block parents from being informed of what their own children were being taught. And it was wrong for CC/CSCOP/and others names to force teachers to sign contracts saying they couldn’t share the information with parents.
Stay on it Chris and you’ll be fine with your students. There’s lots more information about the CC problems out there, but most of the really bad stuff goes back several years and takes time to find. I hope you’ll take the time just so you’ll be aware of them.
Sounds like your district is using CC the right way, because of those parents and teachers who forced the changes years ago. There may still be needed changes for you to deal with. I hope your district is not like the one in Colorado where the parents are being denied access to their child’s data.
Data collection on students should NOT be used to pigeon hole students through tracking and forced career placement. I pray the day never comes students are told what they’ll do for the rest of their lives instead of being able to pursue their own dreams. Could you see yourself as a mechanic now instead of a teacher? No disrespect to mechanics intended.
Mike Rowe presents a common sense approach to why Common Core would not be right for all students.
Howard Dean gets owned by Mike Rowe ‘the worst idea I’ve ever heard’:
http://www.glennbeck.com/2015/02/18/do-you-need-a-college-degree-to-run-for-office-heres-mike-rowes-perfect-answer/?utm_source=glennbeck&utm_medium=contentcopy_link