Rotten to the Core: Conservatives Spearhead Drive at RNC Meeting to Stop Common Core
Ohanian Comment: It is possible that the degree of one's opposition to the Common Core can be measured by just whom one can hold hands with. Most progressives I know would never visit Michelle Malkin's website, never mind pass on any of her words. Nor have most progressives organized enough to put real pressure on their Congressional representatives.
Although critical of Bush and like-minded Republicans, Malkin refers to such enemies as "left-wing publishers." In truth, the education enemy passeth all party labels. The education enemy is Corporate and holds hands with Republicans and Democrats alike. The conservative resolution below does not decry Corporate control of school. Far from it. They call on "a free market approach to education for students to achieve individual excellence."
Yes I flinch at the words, but nonetheless, I still hang around conservative territory. Risky as it might seem, I think Progressives should be able to join Conservatives in saying the words "local control" out loud-- without fear of plunging over the cliff into a quicksand of hysterical right wing denunciation of everything from Social Security to the United Nations.
I remember that it was Republicans who prevented Bill Clinton getting the national test he wanted. And I applaud the way Conservatives have organized against the Common Core. I hope Progressives will join them.
by Michelle Malkin
Thanks to grass-roots activism, limited-government think tanks, whistle-blowing educators and bloggers, vigilant local and state legislators, and tireless parents committed to protecting their children, the truth about federalized Common Core standards is spreading. Every voice counts. Glenn Beck and his team at The Blaze have done invaluable work exposing the corrupt, privacy-undermining Fed Ed scheme to a wider audience. Glenn and I have been under fire for joining education watchdogs and shedding light on the Common Core racket. Predictably, all of us Common Core opponents who challenge the constitutionality, effectiveness, conflicts of interest have been mocked and attacked as conspiracy-mongers and extremists.
Big Government Republicans like Jeb Bush (and before him, brother W. and father G.H.W.) have little regard for local control of education. They and their statist partners in both Big Business and the public school establishment have tried for decades to impose dumbed-down, politicized curricular conformity in America's classrooms. As I've emphasized from the time I started covering "outcome-based education" in the early 1990s through "Goals 2000," "No Child Left Behind," and "Race to the Top," the bipartisan Fed Ed standards movement isn't about raising standards at all. Whether under Bush or Obama, it's about top-down control engineered through government-administered tests and left-wing textbook monopolies.
Some stalwart conservatives inside the RNC get it. They're bucking the mooooooderate Republican line on Common Core and have put forth a resolution being considered this afternoon at the RNC spring meeting. I heard from one of the co-sponsors of the resolution today, who believes it will pass. I'll update with developments.
Here's the full text of the resolution, via Shane Vander Hart at Truth in American Education. The takeaway: Common Core is not "state-led," never piloted, undermines choice, threatens student/family privacy, and is "an inappropriate overreach to standardize and control the education of our children so they will conform. . . . " Exactly.
RESOLUTION CONCERNING COMMON CORE EDUCATION STANDARDS
WHEREAS, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are a set of academic standards, promoted and supported by two private membership organizations, the National Governor’s Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) as a method for conforming American students to uniform ("one size fits all") achievement goals to make them more competitive in a global marketplace, (1.) and
WHEREAS, the NGA and the CCSSO, received tens of millions of dollars from private third parties to advocate for and develop the CCSS strategy, subsequently created the CCSS through a process that was not subject to any freedom of information acts or other sunshine laws, and never piloted the CCSS, and
WHEREAS, even though Federal Law prohibits the federalizing of curriculum (2.), the Obama Administration accepted the CCSS plan and used 2009 Stimulus Bill money to reward the states that were most committed to the president's CCSS agenda; but, they failed to give states, their legislatures and their citizens time to evaluate the CCSS before having to commit to them, and
WHEREAS, the NGA and CCSSO in concert with the same corporations developing the CCSS 'assessments' have created new textbooks, digital media and other teaching materials aligned to the standards which must be purchased and adopted by local school districts in order that students may effectively compete on CCSS 'assessments', and
WHEREAS,the CCSS program includes federally funded testing and the collection and sharing of massive amounts of personal student and teacher data, and
WHEREAS, the CCSS effectively removes educational choice and competition since all schools and all districts must use Common Core 'assessments' based on the Common Core standards to allow all students to advance in the school system and to advance to higher education pursuits; therefore be it
RESOLVED, the Republican National Committee, as stated in the 2012 Republican Party Platform, "do not believe in a one size fits all approach to education and support providing broad education choices to parents and children at the State and local level," (p35)(3.), which is best based on a free market approach to education for students to achieve individual excellence; and, be it further
RESOLVED, the Republican National Committee recognizes the CCSS for what it is-- an inappropriate overreach to standardize and control the education of our children so they will conform to a preconceived "normal," and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Republican National Committee rejects the collection of personal student data for any non-educational purpose without the prior written consent of an adult student or a child student's parent and that it rejects the sharing of such personal data, without the prior written consent of an adult student or a child student's parent, with any person or entity other than schools or education agencies within the state, and be it finally
RESOLVED, the 2012 Republican Party Platform specifically states the need to repeal the numerous federal regulations which interfere with State and local control of public schools, (p36) (3.); and therefore, the Republican National Committee rejects this CCSS plan which creates and fits the country with a nationwide straitjacket on academic freedom and achievement.
References:
2. Federal Law 20 USC 1232a-Sec. 1232a. and The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Pub.L. 89-10, 79 Stat. 27, 20 US.C. ch. 70.
http://us-code.vlex.com/vid/prohibition-against-federal-control-19195093
***
Rotten to the Core series:
Attention, parents: Common Core opt-out form now available
Rotten to the Core, Part 4: The Feds' Invasive Student Tracking Database
Rotten to the Core, Part 3: Lessons from Texas and the Growing Grassroots Revolt
Rotten to the Core, Part 2: Readin’, writin’ and deconstructionism
Rotten to the Core, Part 1: Obama’s War on Academic Standards
Rotten to the Core: Reader feedback from the frontlines
My child's Common Core-aligned Algebra book is crap
***
Stay on top of #stopcommoncore news and network with other social media activists, scholars, and parents: -Subscribe to my Stop Common Core Twitter list here.
***
On a related note, via The Blaze: ‘LET GO OF THE SYSTEM’: HOW CAN PARENTS & TEACHERS STOP CSCOPE?
***
Previous:
Fuzzy math: A nationwide epidemic
Everyday Math = junk
Obama’s Sputter-nik moment: Cash for Education Clunkers
January 2005: NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND, ACT II
February 2005: THE REVOLT AGAINST NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
Stupid education fad of the day: “Mayan Math”
***
More resources/background/links:
Barry Garelick: A New Kind of Problem: The Common Core Math Standards
EmpoweredGA.org – Georgia activists: Here, here, here and here.
Pennsylvania revolt against TERC Investigations math.
http://truthinamericaneducation.com/
http://www.utahnsagainstcommoncore.com/
Indiana: hoosiersagainstcommoncore.com
***
And more:
Related Websites from Truth in American Education has links to all of the following:
Alabamians United for Excellence in Education
Arizonans Against Common Core
Californians United Against Common Core
Closing the Door on Innovation Why One National Curriculum Is Bad for America
Common Core: Education Without Representation
Common Core Facts
Hoosiers Against Common Core
Keep Education Local
Missouri Coalition Against Common Core
Pioneer Institute Public Policy Research: Academic Standards
Stop Common Core: Reclaiming Local Control in Education
Tennessee Against Common Core
United States Coalition for World Class Math: Common Core Standards
Utahns Against Common Core
Utah’s Republic: Common Core Standards
Where’s the Math? Common Core State Standards
Where’s the Math? Standard Algorithms in the Common Core State Standards — Michelle Malkin with Ohanian comments April 10, 2013
This blog post has been shared by permission from the author.
Readers wishing to comment on the content are encouraged to do so via the link to the original post.
Find the original post here:
The views expressed by the blogger are not necessarily those of NEPC.
