City on a Hill Radio Show - City On A Hill Blogs

We need more parents to understand and share the truth that their parental input will be gone because standards will now be coming out of Washington DC through the "Common Core (National) Standards". Below are some key information that all parents should realize. There are the thoughts of the two professors that were asked to be part of forming those standards--learn the truth and realize this plan to nationalize education must die in our state and hopefully others also as it is very dangerous. No matter what anyone else may say--governors etc--these educators who have dedicated their lives to working and helping students know the inside story--may America listen and learn:

Most prominent are the perspective from Professor Jim Milgram and Professor Sandra Stotsky who were in the national validation committee as part of the development of the common core standards.

Majority of the states agreed to the common core states standards as part of their application to get "race to the top" grants-( Applications for Race to the Top funding were released by the U.S. Department of Education in November 2009 and were due in January 2010, even though most state legislatures aren’t in session during that time)

---before the standards were published in June 2010. And these are just some of the problems they see--will we listen?

"How can the State Boards of Education make decisions when they haven't even read the standards? Many state's Board Member had never been initiated into what was in these documents. What were the policy issues coming out of these documents and whether these analyses were truly were in a sense legitimate academic analysis-- a really serious issue of uninformed Boards of Education in this country which they would never do on most other issues. These are very serious issues about what self- government means at the state and local government level."--Sandra Stotsky, professor in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, and holds the 21st Century Chair in Teacher Quality.

Link to full explanation why Mrs. Sandra Stotsky could not endorse the common core standards

"...the requirement to automaticity on their own self- invented algorithms was one of the political issues that came in at the last moment and it's absolutely crazy. And then there was an entire list of similar ones, that equally made no sense whatsoever in terms of the long term development of children's mathematical capacity." -- Dr. R. James Milgram, professor of mathematics at Stanford University.

Please call your legislators and everyone in these committees and ask each to please support these two bilss HB254 and SB190 to fight Common Core and defend our children. Belowe are links with phone numbers.

House:

Chair; Mary Sue McClurkin, Vice Chair; Phil Williams, Ranking Minority Member; Marcel Black

Committee Clerk: Karen Reeves
(334) 242-7251

Elaine Beech, Mac Buttram, Ed Henry, Thomas Jackson, Joseph Mitchell, Kerry Rich, David Sessions, Lesley Vance

Subcommittees

Higher Education

Phil Williams, Chair; Marcel Black, Ed Henry, Joseph Mitchell, Allen Treadaway, Lesley Vance, David Sessions.

K - 12

Lesley Vance, Chair; Elaine Beech, Mac Buttram, Ed Henry, Thomas Jackson, David Sessions, Phil Williams.

Links to phone numbers of Alabama House of Representatives--Click Here

Links to phone numbers of Alabama Senate Members--Click Here

Seanate Education Committee:

EDUCATION
Brewbaker, Chairperson; Ross, Vice Chairperson; Allen, Blackwell, Figures, Holtzclaw, McGill, Pittman, Sanders.

HB254
By Representatives Barton, Long, Sessions and Henry
RFD Education Policy
Rd 1 12-FEB-13

SYNOPSIS:	Under existing law, the State Board of Education is directed to establish a core curriculum for every student in grades kindergarten through twelve in the state's public schools.
	This bill would prohibit the State Board of Education from adopting and the Department of Education from implementing the Common Core State Standards developed by the Common Core State Standards Initiative.
	This bill would prohibit the State Board of Education, the Department of Education, and other state bodies from compiling or sharing data about students or teachers, except under limited circumstances.
	This bill would prohibit the State Board of Education from entering into an agreement or joining a consortium that would cede any control to an entity outside the state.
	This bill would also require notice and public hearings before the State Board of Education adopts or implements any statewide standards.

A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT

Relating to education and core curriculum standards; to prohibit the State Board of Education from adopting and the Department of Education from implementing the Common Core State Standards developed by the Common Core State Standards Initiative; to prohibit the State Board of Education, the Department of Education, and other state bodies from compiling or sharing data about students or teachers, except under limited circumstances; to prohibit the State Board of Education from entering into an agreement or joining a consortium that would cede any control to an entity outside the state; and to require notice and public hearings before the State Board of Education adopts or implements any statewide standards.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:

Section 1. (a) The adoption and funding of the Common Core State Standards Initiative are hereby repealed.

(b) The State Board of Education may not adopt, and the Department of Education may not implement, the Common Core State Standards developed by the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Any actions taken to adopt or implement the Common Core State Standards at the state or district level as of the effective date of this act are void ab initio.

(c) Beginning with the remainder of the 2012-2013 fiscal year, the State Board of Education, the Department of Education, and any other state may not do the following:

(1) Expend any funds, whether originating from Race to the Top grants or elsewhere, on construction, enhancement, or expansion of any Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) designed to track students or compile their personal information beyond what is necessary for basic administrative needs or compliance with requirements of the United States Department of Education.

(2) Share any data compiled on students or teachers, whether personally identifiable or aggregate, with any entity outside the state, including any federal agency, except as follows:

a. Student or teacher data may be shared with the United States Department of Education only when:

1. Such data-sharing is required by the United States Department of Education as a condition of receiving a federal grant.

2. The United States Department of Education agrees in writing to use the data only to evaluate the program or programs funded by the grant.

3. The United States Department of Education agrees in writing that the data will not be used for any research beyond that related to evaluation of the program or programs funded by the grant, unless a parent or guardian of any student whose data are to be so used, or any teacher whose data are to be so used, affirmatively consents in writing to that use.

4. The United States Department of Education agrees in writing to destroy the data upon completion of the evaluation of the program or programs for which the data were compiled.

5. The grant or program in connection with which the data are required is one authorized by statute or by rule properly promulgated under the Federal Administrative Procedure Act.

b. If the United States Department of Education requires, as a condition of making an educational grant to a recipient in the state, that the recipient share student or teacher data under circumstances that do not comply with paragraph a. the recipient shall notify, in writing, the parents or guardians of every student whose data are demanded by the United States Department of Education,

1. That the recipient has been required to share the student's or teacher's data with the United States Department of Education;

2. That neither the recipient nor any other entity within the state will have control over the use or sharing of that student's or teacher's data by the United States Department of Education; and

3. The contact information, including telephone number and e-mail address, of the United States Department of Education official who demands the data.

(1) The data are transmitted in nonindividual record format; and

(2) The data are limited to information directly related to the testing, such as the student's grade level and test scores.

Section 2. The State of Alabama shall retain sole control over the development and revision of school standards. Therefore, the Alabama State Board of Education may not enter into any agreement or join any consortium or other association that cedes any measure of control to entities outside the state. Any statewide school standard may not be adopted or implemented unless:

(1) A public hearing is held in each Congressional District.

(2) The State Board of Education solicits input from educators, content experts, parents, and other members of the community during an open comment period of one year.

(3) Joint open hearings are held before the Senate Education Policy Committee and the House of Representatives Education Policy Committee.

(4) The standard receives a majority vote of the Alabama Legislature.

Section 3. The provisions of this act are severable. If any part of this act is declared invalid or unconstitutional, that declaration shall not affect the part which remains.

Section 4. This act shall become effective immediately following its passage and approval by the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.

_________________

SB190

SB190
By Senators Brewbaker, Ward, Scofield, Allen, Fielding, Whatley, Pittman, Beason, Sanford, McGill, Glover, Holtzclaw, Williams, Blackwell and Waggoner
RFD Education
Rd 1 12-FEB-13

SYNOPSIS:	Under existing law, the State Board of Education is directed to establish a core curriculum for every student in grades kindergarten through twelve in the state's public schools.
	This bill would prohibit the State Board of Education from adopting and the Department of Education from implementing the Common Core State Standards developed by the Common Core State Standards Initiative.
	This bill would prohibit the State Board of Education, the Department of Education, and other state bodies from compiling or sharing data about students or teachers, except under limited circumstances.
	This bill would prohibit the State Board of Education from entering into an agreement or joining a consortium that would cede any control to an entity outside the state.
	This bill would also require notice and public hearings before the State Board of Education adopts or implements any statewide standards.