Mental Health Aspects of Common Core--Manipulating The Minds of Children

Hear interviews from Mental Health Counselor Joan Landes that sheds light on very important part of Common Core (Please visit her website--Psychouttheopposition.wordpress.com):

Part I:

Interview with Joan Landes and Jackie and Mark whose children suffered under the CC approach

Part II

Interview with Joan Landes and Alabama State Board Member Betty Peters (warns about ipads and relation to child's brain).

Part III

Interview with Joan Landes and aspects of emotional thinking, emotional distortions and introduces us to epigenetics

Who Are Raising Concerns Against Common Core Beyond Tea Partiers, Conspiracy Theorists etc.--Resolutions and More--Study Them

There has been so much said about those who are opposing Common Core.  Some have described them as conspiracy theorists, white suburban moms (per Arne Duncan), right wingers, Tea partiers etc.

Here are some that are staunch defenders of values.  Let's take a look and then you decide.  Hopefully you will see that all sorts of people as color does not matter, party does not matter and even teachers and Superintendents are making a stand.  All for the the love of children.

For example in Alabama:

• Two of Alabama's State Board of Education members--Betty Peters and Stephanie Bell whose vigilance against lies and corruption are speaking out tirelessly against Common Core. They were the only two board members that exposed Alabama State Board of Ed Chancellor Roy Johnson that was subsequently fired and tried along with 14 others, including a state representative; the case resulted in charges, guilty pleas or convictions of all 15.  Their record speaks volumes.
• Alabama Baptist Convention passed a Resolution on November 2013 over their concerns about the Common Core Initiative and warns parents to be more involved and vigilant in what is going on in their child's education.

I am sure in each state there are staunch defenders of children and family such as those above.  Here are some the whole nation needs to look at and pay attention to:

• The RNC (Republican National Committee) in April of 2013 passed a Resolution which says "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,”...
• 3,500 Principals in New York Speaking Out Against The Testings and Its Effect on Students & Teachers

• 500 Early Childhood and Education Professionals warning about "conflict with compelling new research in cognitive science, neuroscience, child development, and early childhood education about how young children l earn, what they need to learn, and how best to teach them in kindergarten and the early grades. "  Here are names on that list:  G. Rollie Adams,
  President and CEO, Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, NY
  Cynthia K. Aldinger,
  Executive Director, LifeWays North America, Norman, OK
  Edith Adams Allison,
  Learning Disabilities Specialist, Amherst, MA
  Joan Almon,
  Executive Director, Alliance for Childhood, College Park, MD
  Defne Apul,
  Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH
  Ruth H. Aranow,
  Senior Academic Advisor, Krieger School
  of Arts & Sciences, Johns Hopkins
  University, Baltimore, MD
  Cara Armstrong,
  Curator of Education, Fallingwater, Mill Run, PA
  Anne Austin,
  Director, Early Learning Center, Baruch College, New York, NY
  Ray Bacchetti,
  Vice President, Planning and Management, Emer
  itus, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
  Lyda Beardsley,
  Director, Child Development Programs,
  College of Marin, Kentfield, CA
  Sara Bennett,
  Founder, Stop Homework, Brooklyn, NY
  Laura M. Bennett-Murphy,
  Associate Professor, Psychology, Westminster College, Salt Lake City, UT
  Marilyn Benoit, M.D.,
  Past President, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,
  Washington, DC
  Karen D. Benson,
  Professor, California State University, Sacramento, CA
  Eugene V. Beresin, M.D.,
  Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
  Wendy C. Blackwell,
  Director of Education, National Children's Museum, Washington, DC
  Wil Blechman, M.D.,
  President, Docs for Tots Florida; Past President, Kiwanis International, Miami, FL
  Herb Bleich,
  early childhood teacher, Community School 133, New York, NY
  Amy Blesi,
  board member, Winnetka Alliance for Early Childhood, Winnetka, IL
  Paula Jorde Bloom,
  Professor of Early Childhood Education, National-Louis University, Wheeling, IL
  Lila Braine,
  Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Psychology,
  Barnard College, Columbia University,
  New York, NY
  Michael Brody, M.D.,
  Chair, Media Committee, American Academy of Child and Adolescent
  Psychiatry, Washington, DC
  Stuart L. Brown, M.D.,
  Founder and President, National Institu
  te for Play, Carmel Valley, CA
  Sylvia Bulgar,
  Professor, Mathematics Education, Ri
  der University, Lawrenceville, NJ
  Blakely Bundy,
  Executive Director, Winnetka Alliance for Early Childhood, Winnetka, IL
  Kathleen Burriss,
  Professor, Early Childhood, Middle Tenn
  essee State University, Murfreesboro, TN
  Wei Cao,
  Assistant Professor, University of Michigan, Flint, MI
  Nancy Carlsson-Paige,
  Professor of Early Childhood Education,
  Lesley University, Cambridge, MA
  Catherine Carotta,
  Associate Director, Center for Childhood
  Deafness, Boys Town National Research
  Hospital, Omaha, NE
  Julie Ann Carroll,
  Founding President, Winnetka Alliance for Early Childhood, Winnetka, IL
  Ingrid Chalufour,
  Lead Developer, Foundations of Science
  Literacy, Education Development Center,
  Newton, MA
  Barbara C. Chauvin,
  Supervising Teacher, University of Ma
  ryland Baltimore County, Catonsville, MD
  Sherry Cleary,
  Executive Director, NYC Early Childhood
  Professional Development Institute, City
  University of New York, NY
  Carol Cole,
  Executive Director, Sophia Project, Oakland, CA
  Patricia M. Cooper,
  Assistant Professor of Literacy and Early Childhood Education, New York
  University, New York, NY
  Jayna Coppedge,
  Children’s Minister, First Baptist Church, Tahlequah, OK
  Colleen Cordes ,
  Executive Director, Psychologists for Social Responsibility, Washington, DC
  Donna Couchenour,
  Professor and early childhood teacher educator, Shippensburg University of
  Pennsylvania, Shippensburg, PA
  Milly Cowles,
  Dean, Principals’ Academy, Mobile, AL
  Ellen F. Crain, M.D.,
  Professor of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY
  William Crain,
  Professor of Psychology, City College of New York, NY
  Sara McCormick Davis,
  Associate Professor, University of Arkansas Fort Smith; President Elect,
  National Association of Early Childhood
  Teacher Educators, Fort Smith, AR
  Diane Trister Dodge,
  President, Teaching Strategies, Inc., Bethesda, MD
  Aviva Dorfman,
  Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, University of Michigan, Flint, MI
  Georgianna Duarte,
  Professor, University of Texas, Brownsville, TX
  Barbara Dubitsky,
  Director, Mathematics Leadership Programs, Bank Street College, New York, NY
  Eleanor Duckworth,
  Professor of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
  Sean Durham,
  Director, Early Learning Center for Research and Practice, University of Tennessee,
  Knoxville, TN
  Carolyn Pope Edwards,
  Willa Cather Professor of Psychology a
  nd Child, Youth, and Family Studies,
  University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
  David Elkind,
  Professor Emeritus of Child Development, Tufts University, Medford, MA
  Ann S. Epstein,
  Senior Director of Curriculum Devel
  opment, HighScope Educational Research
  Foundation, Ypsilanti, MI
  Beverly Falk,
  Professor, School of Education, City College of New York, NY
  Stephanie Feeney,
  Professor Emerita of Education, University of Hawaii; Chair of the Advocacy
  Committee, National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators, Honolulu, HI
  Margery B. Franklin,
  Professor Emerita of Psychology, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY
  Doris Fromberg,
  Professor and Director of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Hofstra University,
  Hempstead, NY
  Joe L. Frost,
  Parker Centennial Professor Emeritus, University of Texas, Austin, TX
  Ellen Galinsky,
  author and work life researcher, New York, NY
  Howard Gardner,
  Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Educa
  tion, Harvard Graduate School of
  Education, Cambridge, MA
  Suzanne Gellens,
  Executive Director, Florida Association for the Education of Young Children,
  Tampa, FL
  Roberta Golinkoff,
  H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Education,
  Psychology, and Linguistics and Cognitive
  Science, University of Delaware , Newark, DE
  Elizabeth N. Goodenough,
  Lecturer in Literature, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
  Rachel Grob,
  Director, Child Development Institute
  , Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY
  Marcy Guddemi,
  Executive Director, Gesell Institute of Human Development, New Haven, CT
  Joan Gussow,
  Professor Emerita of Nutrition and Education,
  Teachers College, Columbia University,
  New York, NY
  Winifred M. Hagan,
  Early Care and Education Consulta
  nt, CAYL Institute, Cambridge, MA
  Darell Hammond,
  CEO and co-founder, KaBOOM!, Washington, DC
  Jane M. Healy,
  educational psychologist and author, Vail, CO
  Kathy Hirsh-Pasek,
  Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Professor
  of Psychology, Temple University,
  Philadelphia, PA
  Craig Holdrege,
  biologist, educator; Director, The Nature Institute, Ghent, NY
  Carla M. Horwitz,
  Director, Calvin Hill Day Care Center a
  nd Kindergarten; Lecturer, Yale Child Study
  Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT
  Carollee Howes,
  Professor, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
  Kim Hughes,
  Therapeutic Teacher, Trainer, and Consulta
  nt; 1999-2000 North Carolina Teacher of the
  Year, Project Enlightenment, Wake County Schools, Raleigh, NC
  Mary Hynes-Berry,
  Faculty, Erikson Institute for Early Childhood, Chicago, IL
  Olga S. Jarrett,
  Associate Professor, Early Childhood Educati
  on, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
  Candace Jaruszewicz,
  Director, N. E. Miles Early Childhood Development Center, College of
  Charleston, Charleston, SC
  Jim Johnson,
  Professor-in-Charge of Early Childhood E
  ducation, Pennsylvania State University,
  University Park, PA
  Constance Kamii,
  Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL
  Lilian G. Katz,
  Professor Emeritus and Co-director, Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting,
  University of Illinois, Champaign, IL
  Merrie B. King,
  Montessori Program Director and Associate Professor of Education, Belmont
  University, Nashville, TN
  Ethan H. Kisch, M.D.,
  Child Psychiatrist; Medical Director, Quality Behavioral Health, Warwick, RI
  Robert H. Klein,
  Professor Emeritus of Physics, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH
  Tovah Klein,
  Director, Center for Toddler Developmen
  t, Barnard College, Columbia University,
  New York, NY
  Edgar Klugman,
  Professor Emeritus, Wheelock College, Boston, MA
  Alfie Kohn,
  author and lecturer, Belmont, MA
  Linda Kroll,
  Professor, School of Education, Mills College, Oakland, CA
  Vicki LaBoskey,
  Professor of Education, Mills College, Oakland, CA
  Linda Lantieri,
  Director, The Inner Resilience Program, New York, NY
  Deborah Lenny,
  Principal, Golden Valley Charter School of Sacramento, Orangevale, CA
  Diane E. Levin,
  Professor of Early Childhood Educa
  tion, Wheelock College, Boston, MA
  Susan Lyon,
  President, Susan Lyon Education Fou
  ndation, Mills College, Oakland, CA
  Yeou-Cheng Ma, M.D.,
  Developmental Pediatrician, Albert Ei
  nstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY
  Fran P. Mainella,
  Co-Chair, U.S. Play Coalition, Clemson University, Clemson, SC
  David Marshak,
  Professor Emeritus, Seattle University, Bellingham, WA
  Milbrey McLaughlin,
  David Jacks Professor of Education,
  Stanford Universi
  ty, Stanford, CA
  Gillian D. McNamee,
  Professor and Director, Teacher Education, Erikson Institute, Chicago, IL
  Deborah W. Meier,
  Educator and Senior Scholar, New York University, New York, NY
  Edward Miller,
  Senior Researcher, Alliance for Childhood, New York, NY
  Mary Sue Miller,
  Lead Educator for Early Learning, Chicago Children’s Museum, Chicago, IL
  Lowell Monke,
  Associate Professor of Education, W
  ittenberg University, Springfield, OH
  Mary Ruth Moore,
  Professor, University of the In
  carnate Word, San Antonio, TX
  Dorine Morese,
  Instructional Coordinator, NYC Office of Early Childhood Education, New York, NY
  John Nimmo,
  Executive Director, Child Study and Developm
  ent Center, University of New Hampshire,
  Durham, NH
  Nel Noddings,
  Lee Jacks Professor Education Emerita, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
  Pedro A. Noguera,
  Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education
  and Executive Director, Metropolitan Center
  for Urban Education, New York University, New York, NY
  Susan Ohanian,
  Fellow, Education Policy Studies Laboratory,
  Arizona State University, Charlotte, VT
  Sharna Olfman,
  Professor of Clinical and Developmen
  tal Psychology, Point Park University,
  Pittsburgh, PA
  Linda Olivenbaum,
  Director, California Early Childhood Mentor Program, San Francisco, CA
  David Osher,
  Vice President, Education, Human Developm
  en
  t, Workforce, American Institutes for
  Research, Washington, DC
  Vivian Gussin Paley,
  author and teacher emerita, University of Chicago Laboratory
  Schools, Chicago, IL
  Kim John Payne,
  director, Center for Social Sustainability, Antioch University, Northampton, MA
  Jane P. Perry,
  Research Coordinator and Teacher, Harold E.
  Jones Child Study Center, University of
  California, Berkeley, CA
  Helene Pniewski, M.D.,
  Developmental Pediatrician and Child Psychiatrist, Family Service Association,
  Providence, RI
  Ruth Prescott,
  Professional Development Director, Chicago Metro Association for the Education of
  Young Children, Chicago, IL
  Baji Rankin,
  Executive Director, New Mexico Association for the Education of Young Children,
  Albuquerque, NM
  Fretta Reitzes,
  Director, Goldman Center for Youth and Family, 92nd Street Y, New York, NY
  Mary S. Rivkin,
  Associate Professor, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD
  Joe Robertson,
  Director of Parent/Child Programs, Free to Be Under Three, New York, NY
  Alvin Rosenfeld, M.D.,
  Child Psychiatrist; Lecturer, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
  A. G. Rud,
  Head, Department of Educational Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
  Eliza Russell,
  Director of Education, National Wildlife Federation, Reston, VA
  Susan Riemer Sacks,
  Professor of Psychology, Barnard Colle
  ge, Columbia University, New York, NY
  Eric Schaps,
  President, Developmental Studies Center, Oakland, CA
  Lawrence J. Schweinhart,
  President, HighScope Educational Research Foundation, Ypsilanti, MI
  Dorothy G. Singer,
  Senior Research Scientist, Dept. of Ps
  ychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT
  Jerome L. Singer,
  Professor Emeritus of Psychology,
  Yale University, New Haven, CT
  Mary Stone,
  President, Missouri Association for the E
  ducation of Young Children, Springfield, MO
  Maurice Sykes,
  Executive Director, Early Childhood Leadership
  Institute, University of the District of
  Columbia, Washington, DC
  Molly Thompson,
  Director, Early Childhood Programs, Breakwater School, Portland, ME
  Arlene Uss,
  Director, Center for Early Care and Edu
  cation, Bank Street College, New York, NY
  Rosario Villasana-Ruiz,
  Faculty, City College of San Francisco, CA
  Macy Welsh,
  Director, National Lekotek Center, Chicago, IL
  Donald Wertlieb,
  Professor, Eliot-Pearson Department of
  Child Development, Tufts University,
  Medford, MA
  Frank R. Wilson, M.D.,
  Neurologist (retired), Stanford University School of Medicine, Portland, OR
  Marie Winn,
  Writer, New York, NY
  Lisa Witkowski,
  Director, Future Workforce Unit, Workforce
  Solutions for Tarrant County, Fort Worth,
  TX
  Chip Wood,
  Author and educator, Courage and Renewal Northeast, Wellesley, MA
  George Wood,
  Principal, Federal Hocking Middle & High School, Amesville, OH
  Karen Worth,
  Instructor, Wheelock College, Boston, MA
  Note: Signers’ affiliations are listed for identif
  ication purposes only and do not signify the
  organizations’ endorsement of this statement. For a full list of signers, see
  www.allianceforchildhood.org
• Dr. Gary Thompson, a Democrat testifying as a mental health expert before the State of Wisconsin on the dangers of Common Core and testings--here is video link.
• A teacher and union local president, Beth Dimino, from Port Jefferson, Long Island speaking out Common Core.
• Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has seen her caseload increas dramatically speaks out against common core.  A must hear!!
• Former Texas Commissioner on Education speaks out against Common Core and RTT inducement to sign before standards were published. 

Here some tips for parents who have found out the truth about common core and would like to speak to their School Board members:

1.  Watch this video to help you remember why you can not give up--you are saving children from harm--hear this testimony from clinical social worker on how it is affecting children and teachers.

Complete Hearing--worth watching--thank God for Stop Common Core in NY (stopccssinnys.com)

2.  Let school board members realize the writer of Common Core--Achieve and its then Pres. had the demise of the authority of local school boards in mind as they "just get in the way"...

MR. GERSTNER: I’m going to say to the president-elect that the fundamental thing we have to do is change the governance model and accountability and execution model for education in this country. And what I’m going to suggest is that he convene the 50 governors, and the first thing they do is they abolish the 16,000 school districts we have in the United States. Sixteen thousand school districts are what we’re trying to cram this reform through.

Now, when I took over IBM I found I had 81 profit centers. Oh my God: How am I going to create change with 81 profit centers? How’d you like to create change with 16,000 profit centers? These organizations stand in the way of what we want to do.
Now, the governors could decide, we’ll keep them as advisory, we can keep them as community support, but they will not be involved in the fundamental direction of public education in America. Second, this group of governors will then select 50 school districts, plus I’d say 20 major cities, so we got 70 school districts. Seventy instead of 16,000.

They will within one year develop a national set of standards for math, science, reading and social studies. Twelve months after that they will develop a national testing regime, so that there’ll be one day in America where every third, sixth, ninth and twelfth grader will take a national test against a national curriculum.

 3.  Give each school board member copy of audio CD (here's link you can download and make copy of from our interviews).  Make copy of list of speakers on audio from here.  Very Very IMPORTANT!!!

4.  Give them also a copy of this brochure

     send them postcards individually (am working on one that can be -mailed to your local printshops -Office Depot etc.)

5.  Bring a friend with you when you go talk to your school board member (it is always good to have a witness.)

6.  Get community prayer partners--see this link to educate pastor and church.

7.  Pray and share this with teachers and maybe they will give a testimony at a meeting (even a handwritten testimony would be good.)

8.  Ask other concerned parents to contact their local school board members and come together to present your concerns at a school board meeting.  Help educate them as most are hearing only one side of the story. 

9.  Cover actions with lots of prayer and with God all things are possible.

How Common Core Can Affect Minds Of Children--Perspectives from Mental Health Professionals

Here are links to interviews with Joan Landes (mental health therapist) on the Developmentally Inappropriate Common Core:

Interview dated 11-14-13

Interview dated 10-16-13

Here is a "Tough Critique on Common Core" on Washington Post

Link to:

Joint Statement of Early Childhood

Health and Education Professionals

on the Common Core Standards Initiative

--

And here is a copy of the speech from Mary Calamia who testified on effects of Common Core.  This is a must read:

Please Stand In The Gap For Your Children
    I am a licensed clinical social worker in New York State and have been providing psychotherapy services since 1995. I work with parents, teachers, and students from all socioeconomic backgrounds representing more than 20 different school districts in Suffolk County. Almost half of my caseload consists of teachers.In the summer of 2012, my elementary school teachers began to report increased anxiety over having to learn two entirely new curricula for Math and ELA. I discovered that school districts across the board were completely dismantling the current curricula and replacing them with something more scripted, emphasizing “one size fits all” and taking any imagination and innovation out of the hands of the teachers.In the fall of 2012, I started to receive an inordinate number of student referrals from several different school districts. A large number of honors students—mostly 8th graders—was streaming into my practice.The kids were self-mutilating—cutting themselves with sharp objects and burning themselves with cigarettes. My phone never stopped ringing.What was prompting this increase in self-mutilating behavior? Why now?The answer I received from every single teenager was the same. “I can’t handle the pressure. It’s too much work.”I also started to receive more calls referring elementary school students who were refusing to go to school. They said they felt “stupid” and school was “too hard.” They were throwing tantrums, begging to stay home, and upset even to the point of vomiting.I was also hearing from parents about kids bringing home homework that the parents didn’t understand and they couldn’t help their children to complete. I was alarmed to hear that in some cases there were no textbooks for the parents to peruse and they had no idea what their children were learning.My teachers were reporting a startling level of anxiety and depression. For the first time, I heard the term “Common Core” and I became awakened to a new set of standards that all schools were to adhere to—standards that we now say “set the bar so high, anyone can walk right under them.”Everyone was talking about “The Tests.” As the school year progressed and “The Tests” loomed, my patients began to report increased self-mutilating behaviors, insomnia, panic attacks, loss of appetite, depressed mood, and in one case, suicidal thoughts that resulted in a 2-week hospital stay for an adolescent.I do not know of any formal studies that connect these symptoms directly to the Common Core, but I do not think we need to sacrifice an entire generation of children just so we can find a correlation.The Common Core and high stakes testing create a hostile working environment for teachers, thus becoming a hostile learning environment for students. The level of anxiety I am seeing in teachers can only trickle down to the students. Everyone I see is describing a palpable level of tension in the schools.The Common Core standards do not account for societal problems. When I first learned about APPR and high stakes testing, my first thought was, “Who is going to rate the parents?”I see children and teenagers who are exhausted, running from activity to activity, living on fast food, then texting, using social media, and playing games well into the wee hours of the morning on school nights.We also have children taking cell phones right into the classrooms, “tweeting” and texting each other throughout the day. We have parents—yes PARENTS—who are sending their children text messages during school hours. Let’s add in the bullying and cyberbullying that torments and preoccupies millions of school children even to the point of suicide. Add to that an interminable drug problem.These are only some of the variables affecting student performance that are outside of the teachers’ control. Yet the SED holds them accountable, substituting innovation and individualism with cookie-cutter standards, believing this will fix our schools.We cannot regulate biology. Young children are simply not wired to engage in the type of critical thinking that the Common Core calls for. That would require a fully developed prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain that is not fully functional until early adulthood. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for critical thinking, rational decision-making, and abstract thinking—all things the Common Core demands prematurely.We teach children to succeed then give them pre-assessments on material they have never seen and tell them it’s okay to fail. Children are not equipped to resolve the mixed message this presents.Last spring, a 6-year-old who encountered a multiplication sign on the NWEA first grade math exam asked the teacher what it was. The teacher was not allowed to help him and told him to just do his best to answer.From that point on, the student’s test performance went downhill. Not only couldn’t the student shake off the unfamiliar symbol, he also couldn’t believe his teacher wouldn’t help him.Common Core requires children to read informational texts that are owned by a handful of corporations. Lacking any filter to distinguish good information from bad, children will readily absorb whatever text is put in front of them as gospel. So, for example, when we give children a textbook that explains the second amendment in these terms: "The people have a right to keep and bear arms in a state militia," they will look no further for clarification.We are asking children to write critically, using emotionally charged language to “persuade” rather than inform. Lacking a functional prefrontal cortex, a child will tap into their limbic system, a set of primitive brain structures involved in basic human emotions, fear and anger being foremost. So when we are asking young children to use emotionally charged language, we are actually asking them to fuel their persuasiveness with fear and anger. They are not capable of the judgment required to temper this with reason and logic.So we have abandoned innovative teaching and instead “teach to the tests,” the dreaded exams that had students, parents and teachers in a complete anxiety state last spring. These tests do not measure learning—what they really measure is endurance and resilience. Only a child who can sit and focus for 90 minutes can succeed. The child who can bounce back after one grueling day of testing and do it all over again the next day has an even better chance.A recent Cornell University study revealed that students who were overly stressed while preparing for high stakes exams performed worse than students who experienced less stress during the test preparation period. Their prefrontal cortexes—the same parts of the brain that we are prematurely trying to engage in our youngsters—were under-performing.We are dealing with real people’s lives here. Allow me introduce you to some of them:…an entire third grade class that spent the rest of the day sobbing after just one testing session,…a 2nd grader who witnessed this and is now refusing to attend the 3rd grade—this 7-year-old is now being evaluated for psychotropic medication just to go to school,…a 6-year-old who came home crying because in September of the first grade, she did not know what a vertex was,…two 8-year-olds who opted out of the ELA exam and were publicly denied cookies when the teacher gave them to the rest of her third grade class,…the teacher who, under duress, felt compelled to do such a thing,…a sixth grader who once aspired to be a writer but now hates it because they “do it all day long—even in math,”…a mother who has to leave work because her child is hysterical over his math homework and his CPA grandfather doesn’t even understand it,…and countless other children who dread going to school, feel “stupid" and "like failures," and are now completely turned off to education.I will conclude by adding this thought. Our country became a superpower on the backs of men and women who studied in one-room schoolhouses.I do not think it takes a great deal of technology or corporate and government involvement for kids to succeed. We need to rethink the Common Core and the associated high stakes testing and get back to the business of educating our children in a safe, healthy, and productive manner.   - Mary Calamia, LCSW, CASAC--Statement for New York State Assembly Education Forum Bentwood, New York October 10, 2013

Petition To Uphold Parental Authority

Here are a few videos (below)  to help those who are asleep about the trouble with our education system.  These are videos about its effects on children.  Also please be careful about the Parental Rights Amendment--here is a warning on it.

Here is a brochure/flyer that you can use.  There is room on bottom left of outside page to enter your contact info for your group or state or self--please feel free to use and help educate. 

Inside of Brochure

Outside of Brochure

 Link to Opt-Out Form

To sum it up the educational systems being touted such as the Common Core Standards, Charter Schools and School Choice are all very dangerous for they all are built on an unconstitutional foundation of taking away parental authority and local control.  The founding fathers had set up a great system of local control as we saw with local elected officials such as school boards, accountable to the people in their communities.  But alas there is a change in the making to erode the power of WE the people right smack under the disguise of making our kids College and Career Ready.  Listen to the interview of Mona Lisa and Kip Harding and realize the failure of our education system when compared to the Founders system of PARENTAL AUTHORITY over their children's education.

Those touting Common Core uses the military problem of moving place to place as the mantra for the Common Core and this is debunked early in the conversation with this family.

More parents are waking up as we are hearing the cries of the children.  We hope you will join us and make a stand.  Here is a petition written up by Mrs. Barbara Moore (historian) we hope you will bring to your legislators as they come to your community:

Petition To Uphold Parental Authority--here is link to form

We, the undersigned, exercise our 1st Amendment right to petition the
government for a redress of grievances by placing our signatures to this
document.  We oppose all attempts by the government to authorize the Common
Core Educational System, School Choice and Charter Schools.  All of these
undermine parental authority and local school boards.  We support defunding
Common Core, School Choice, Charter Schools, and the Dept. of Education.  The
10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that, "The powers not delegated
to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are
reserved to the states respectively, or to the people".  No power is delegated
to the U.S. regarding education so it is clearly unconstitutional for the national
government to be involved in it, dictating standards and policies.  We uphold
parental authority and respectfully require our government to do likewise.

Please copy and paste above and get people to sign on.

Make a statement and maybe even inform them as some may not realize the bottom line is that we will not tolerate the loss of PARENTAL AUTHORITY.  We who know where our blessings come from, also know we have a God-given responsibility to raise the children.  Those who want to take that authority away should hear from you.  Please take this petition with signatures to your legislators and impress upon them the importance of your PARENTAL AUTHORITY.

Click on video where you hear Professor Jim Milgram (top Math expert that was on the National Validation Committee), Professor Sandra Stotsky (top English expert that was on the National Validation expert) and Charlotte Iserbyt who is the whistle-blower on the manipulation of the minds of America's children.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZCGK2trgOI

Stop this trend now--we can't afford for parents to lose out--because

here is more of what we will see in the future

May God help us see America needs Him--The Founders did and it made all the difference----Proverbs 9:10