Hear the Press Conference of Tommy Bice Alabama's Superintendent of Education and his guarantees of local control over what he calls as Alabama's Common Core Standards which are different from Georgia's Common Core Standards. His guarantees were apparently good enough as the Senate Education Committee had two very staunch defenders of Common Core in Republican Senators Pittman and Holtzclaw along with the Democrats and the SB190 to repeal Common Core was killed in committee. Find out for yourself if they were right after all it's just going to affect generations of Alabamians.
In Part 2 you will hear this at the end--hope the confidence placed by our legislature in not acting today will be well founded otherwise our children will have to pay with the world formed by the lesson plans through Common Core...Excerpt from Bice speech:
"I can state with absolute confidence as State Superintendent that Alabama maintains total authority over our academic standards under the watchful eye of our State Board of Education. Local schools systems maintain control over development of curriculum, adoption of textbooks and other instructional materials. Teachers maintain control over lesson plans and students day to day activities and we do not collect nor disseminate personal information on individual students other than what teachers and principals need on a daily basis to make sure that they are meeting the needs of students."
The Press Conference today with Alabama State Superintendent Tommy Bice sounded like a laundry list of all that we need to hear to calm fears about Common Core Standards. Only problem is Common Core's basis for implemenation is a lie. The much touted tested and internationally benchmarked Common Core Standards when held up to the light of truth are very sadly based on hocus pocus. The facts are Alabama State Board of Ed along with many states because of desperation for money overlooked the fine line of truth that the standards of what were going to be taught their students were not even published when they chained their states education systems to it. The applications for RTT were signed by Alabama's Governor Riley on Jan 2010 along with then Superintendent Dr. Morton and the contact person was Tommy Bice. The final draft of the standards was not 'til March 2010 and standards were published in June 2010. Yet in Jan 2010 the signers had already agreed its full implemenation as part of the requirements to qualify for RTT. The Tommy Bice guarantees are rather sad when he fails to remove us from the set of lies that led to us getting into Common Core Standards in the first place--these standards were "not tested or internationally benchmarked." Something that when educators educate themselves on the truth, they would probably be the first to say no to it. Very troubling for Alabama parents and children. His talk about how they vetted it (after the fact we locked our state to it within two month without debate) is like a rubber stamp because parents were not notified amply specially when it involved loss of their input. Most parents would never give up their parental input and that really should never have been considered by the State Board of Alabama as most parents would see that is unconstitutional. Since they failed to do their job it is now the Senate's turn. More parents know the truth and this will affect future leadership in Alabama.
Hear audio of Q & A after the Tommy Bice Press Conference that most parents have not heard.
Tommy Bice kept saying we were not a Race To The Top State but all that means is we didn't get the money but the shackles of Common Core Standards that they agreed to implement fully are still there. And his continued promotion of the Common Core Standards which is awful as it was based on a lie in the first place (remember about the tested and internationally benchmarked) is understable considering the money already spent. But even Georgia who has spent more is trying to get out for their children's sake. Their finding that Seniors requirement readings are on today's 7th grade level and Math too confusing for even Accountant to figure elementary Math is too wrong to swallow. They would rather admit their error and free their children to have standards that will indeed lift the minds of children vs dumb them down. In the end they know it will lift their state. It is incredible when you contrast it with Robert Scott the former Texas Commissioner of Ed's testimony full of common sense saying he could not sign his state on because the standards were not even written let alone pilot tested. Wow so much common sense shows why Texas is the place where businesses flock to. Yes, business can thrive without Common Core in spite of what the proponents of common core says.
Watch true leadership in this video and pray we get men that can stand in the gap for our children:
There were board members such as Stephanie Bell and Betty Peters who have a track record of sounding the alarm and we pray the Alabama Legislature would heed their warnings and help Alabama become free of the shackles of Common Core Standards. Again, our neighbors in Georgia are filling up with more groanings for parents--so hopefully we will wisen up and move on and adopt free standards such as those in Texas who is leading the nation in business + common sense--a great winning combination for all citizens and I daresay legislators too.
Testimony before Alabama Legislature on groanings from neighboring Georgia
Here's video to help those who want to get unconfused about Common Core Standards!
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 at 10:32PM