by William Davis
As an educator, parent, and American citizen, I am very concerned that through the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) State Legislators across the country are Selling Control of their State Education System to the Federal Government!
For the promise of Federal Dollars, states all across the country are implementing the Federal Government’s National Curriculum known as CCSS. What does this mean to you as a taxpayer, parent, homeschooler, board member, teacher, principal, etc.?
The implementation of this curriculum means that you are about to lose ALL your rights when it comes to determining the curriculum for your kids, your school, and your state. When fully implemented in a state, ALL schools in the state will be required to follow this curriculum. This includes elementary, middle school, high school, college, private school, home school, etc. No one is exempt from following the CCSS curriculum. Yes, you will be told you can opt out. However, where the implementation is starting to take place, any parent that has completed the “Opt Out” form, has been denied.
After reading several articles and watching interviews of teachers and school administrators, it seems clear the “take over” by the Federal Government of ALL schools will take place through “Accreditation.” ALL schools, at ALL levels, will be required to be accredited. That’s the catch; because to be accredited, the school, including public, private, and homeschools, at ALL levels, must teach the CCSS curriculum. Upon further review, you will also find that in the near future, no college will be allowed to accept a student that has not attended a “Government Accredited” school.
By agreeing to teach CCSS, states give up all rights to overseeing their education system. If a parent or community is unhappy with the curriculum, there is absolutely nothing you will be able to do unless your state legislators are willing to act and refuse to teach this curriculum. In schools where CCSS is currently being used, faculty members have been told they cannot discuss the curriculum with any “non-employee” of the system. This includes PTA members, Site Based Council members, even school board members. Furthermore, if teachers do not teach the curriculum just like they are told, they are dismissed; as some teachers have recently found out. Also, to make sure the teacher is being the good little soldier and teaching the curriculum as told, classrooms are patrolled by curriculum overseers carrying their pad and pencil, making notes as they go on the job being done by the teacher.
The Federal Government claims this new curriculum was “state led”, but this statement does not contain an ounce of truth. The curriculum was actually initiated by private interests in Washington, DC, without any representation from the states. While creating the curriculum, it was realized the look of state involvement would be needed. At this point, in comes the National Governors Association (NGA), which is actually a trade association that doesn’t include all governors as well as the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), which is also another DC-based trade association. Neither of these groups had the authority or a request from any particular state or states to write the standards. Most of the work was actually done by Achieve, Inc., a DC-based nonprofit that includes many progressive education reformers who have been advocating national standards and curriculum for decades. As for the funding, this came from private interests such as the Gates Foundation.
One of the most disturbing parts of this curriculum is its requirement use a massive data tracking system on each child with over 400 points of information collected. This information can be shared among organizations and companies and parents don’t have to be informed about what data is being collecting. They will collect information such as: your child’s academic records, health care history, disciplinary record, family income range, family voting status, and religious affiliation, just to name a few. Your child will be watched and tracked by the government from preschool till college. The system being used for this is called the P20 Longitudinal Data System. Look up this system on the internet and you will see that it is already being used in many states to track their students. Furthermore, you as the parent are UNABLE to opt your child out of this tracking system.
Most of the blame for this mess must fall on the shoulders of our governors. How? You ask! Actually they were somewhat tricked, but they still should not agree to anything sight unseen. The Race to the Top (RTTT) stimulus funds and No Child Left Behind waivers were available ONLY to states signing on to CCSS. This specific requirement was inserted by the Department of Education and was not a part of the stimulus bill language as passed by Congress. Through the RTTT applications, many Governors and State School Superintendents signed onto CCSS without input from state legislatures, state school boards, parents, or taxpayers. This commitment to implement CCSS made before the standards were even written. (First round RTTT applications were due January 2010, first draft of CCSS arrived March 2010.) So they agreed to give total control of their state’s education to the Federal Government without evening knowing it!
By agreeing to go along with CCSS, the governors have also put their citizens on the hook for more tax increases. CCSS will cost millions of dollars to fully implement and guess who gets to pay for it? That’s right. You and all the other workers in your state will pay for this unfunded Federal Government Mandate.
Imagine this; you get to pay more taxes to implement a curriculum that does nothing but tell your kids what to think, not how to think.
Please don’t take my word for anything I have written. Do your own homework on this very important change to schools in America. CCSS are one giant step towards nationalized curriculum and does not support American Values! Much of the information I have received has come from Truth in American Education (www.truthinamericaneducation.com). This is a broad based community of contributors working to educate others on the implications of Common Core. (Myths vs. Truth http://truthinamericaneducation.com/common-core-state-standards/myths-verses-facts/)
William Davis, is a former high school teacher and currently a college professor.
As an educator, parent, and American citizen, I am very concerned that through the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) State Legislators across the country are Selling Control of their State Education System to the Federal Government!
For the promise of Federal Dollars, states all across the country are implementing the Federal Government’s National Curriculum known as CCSS. What does this mean to you as a taxpayer, parent, homeschooler, board member, teacher, principal, etc.?
The implementation of this curriculum means that you are about to lose ALL your rights when it comes to determining the curriculum for your kids, your school, and your state. When fully implemented in a state, ALL schools in the state will be required to follow this curriculum. This includes elementary, middle school, high school, college, private school, home school, etc. No one is exempt from following the CCSS curriculum. Yes, you will be told you can opt out. However, where the implementation is starting to take place, any parent that has completed the “Opt Out” form, has been denied.
After reading several articles and watching interviews of teachers and school administrators, it seems clear the “take over” by the Federal Government of ALL schools will take place through “Accreditation.” ALL schools, at ALL levels, will be required to be accredited. That’s the catch; because to be accredited, the school, including public, private, and homeschools, at ALL levels, must teach the CCSS curriculum. Upon further review, you will also find that in the near future, no college will be allowed to accept a student that has not attended a “Government Accredited” school.
By agreeing to teach CCSS, states give up all rights to overseeing their education system. If a parent or community is unhappy with the curriculum, there is absolutely nothing you will be able to do unless your state legislators are willing to act and refuse to teach this curriculum. In schools where CCSS is currently being used, faculty members have been told they cannot discuss the curriculum with any “non-employee” of the system. This includes PTA members, Site Based Council members, even school board members. Furthermore, if teachers do not teach the curriculum just like they are told, they are dismissed; as some teachers have recently found out. Also, to make sure the teacher is being the good little soldier and teaching the curriculum as told, classrooms are patrolled by curriculum overseers carrying their pad and pencil, making notes as they go on the job being done by the teacher.
The Federal Government claims this new curriculum was “state led”, but this statement does not contain an ounce of truth. The curriculum was actually initiated by private interests in Washington, DC, without any representation from the states. While creating the curriculum, it was realized the look of state involvement would be needed. At this point, in comes the National Governors Association (NGA), which is actually a trade association that doesn’t include all governors as well as the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), which is also another DC-based trade association. Neither of these groups had the authority or a request from any particular state or states to write the standards. Most of the work was actually done by Achieve, Inc., a DC-based nonprofit that includes many progressive education reformers who have been advocating national standards and curriculum for decades. As for the funding, this came from private interests such as the Gates Foundation.
One of the most disturbing parts of this curriculum is its requirement use a massive data tracking system on each child with over 400 points of information collected. This information can be shared among organizations and companies and parents don’t have to be informed about what data is being collecting. They will collect information such as: your child’s academic records, health care history, disciplinary record, family income range, family voting status, and religious affiliation, just to name a few. Your child will be watched and tracked by the government from preschool till college. The system being used for this is called the P20 Longitudinal Data System. Look up this system on the internet and you will see that it is already being used in many states to track their students. Furthermore, you as the parent are UNABLE to opt your child out of this tracking system.
Most of the blame for this mess must fall on the shoulders of our governors. How? You ask! Actually they were somewhat tricked, but they still should not agree to anything sight unseen. The Race to the Top (RTTT) stimulus funds and No Child Left Behind waivers were available ONLY to states signing on to CCSS. This specific requirement was inserted by the Department of Education and was not a part of the stimulus bill language as passed by Congress. Through the RTTT applications, many Governors and State School Superintendents signed onto CCSS without input from state legislatures, state school boards, parents, or taxpayers. This commitment to implement CCSS made before the standards were even written. (First round RTTT applications were due January 2010, first draft of CCSS arrived March 2010.) So they agreed to give total control of their state’s education to the Federal Government without evening knowing it!
By agreeing to go along with CCSS, the governors have also put their citizens on the hook for more tax increases. CCSS will cost millions of dollars to fully implement and guess who gets to pay for it? That’s right. You and all the other workers in your state will pay for this unfunded Federal Government Mandate.
Imagine this; you get to pay more taxes to implement a curriculum that does nothing but tell your kids what to think, not how to think.
Please don’t take my word for anything I have written. Do your own homework on this very important change to schools in America. CCSS are one giant step towards nationalized curriculum and does not support American Values! Much of the information I have received has come from Truth in American Education (www.truthinamericaneducation.com). This is a broad based community of contributors working to educate others on the implications of Common Core. (Myths vs. Truth http://truthinamericaneducation.com/common-core-state-standards/myths-verses-facts/)
William Davis, is a former high school teacher and currently a college professor.
