Who To Contact About The Common Core Standards

1.  Call you Representative in the US House of Representatives.  Ask them to support Rep John Kline to have hearings and defund this.

2.  Contact your local school board and state board representatives and get them to start thinking about getting out of it--hard but doable.

Here are some points you may want to consider  (these from Allied Women of Alabama):

Don't let the feds grab control of Alabama education

 The standards themselves are the product of working groups set up by the National Governors Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers and other non-profitsfunded primarily by the Gates Foundation, but President Obama made it clear that his administration wants to force adoption.  On February 2/22/2010, he expressed his intent to require states  to adopt national standards to receive Title I funds [See http://youtu.be/OKjkp724j6k].  Thankfully, Congressman John Kline (R-MN), who is expected to chair the House Education Committee in 2011, has stated that he will not authorize such a mandate. "The idea that academic standards would have to be federally approved ... looks like national standards," he said.

The adoption of these standards by a majority of states has been incentivized by $4billion of federal grant money (Race to the Top), for which Alabama applied and was turned down.  Assessments based on these standards are being written by two consortia which are funded by $330 million in federal money.  What the federal government funds, it controls. 

Keep Alabama Curriculum Decisions in Alabama

According to the Alabama Department of Education, our standards are well over 90% in agreement with the national standards.  But such curriculum content experts as Dr. Sandra Stotsky and Dr. Jim Milgram call the CC standards "mediocre" and not college ready standards. Why should we adopt the national standards unless we are also going to submit to national assessments, too?  The assessments will not be ready until 2014 and are expected to guide everything from teachers' lesson plans to final exams. "Parents and the public will see their ability to influence education policies at the local level disappear, most likely forever." [See http://bit.ly/cppnlE]  

Please contact Governor Riley and your State Board of Education Member today to ask them to vote NO on adoption of Common Core Standards on November 18^th.  (Contact information for the State Board)

"The decades-long drive by various administration to federalize education, which seems to be hitting its peak under President Obama's effort to require national standards, is wrong-headed for a myriad of empirical and governance reasons.  It is likely to be a costly failure, with the cost measured not just in terms of dollars, but in the wasted lives of our children."  [See http://bit.ly/cppnlE]


For More Information:

"Washington Doesn't Know Best: The Perils of Federal Control of Education"
October, 2010, Pacific Research Institute, Lance Izumi, J.D. http://bit.ly/cppnlE

The "Common Core" Standards Initiative:  An Effective Reform Tool?
William J. Mathis  July 21, 2010  EPIC  http://bit.ly/aeAFjD

"National Standards Still Don't Make The Grade" 
Pioneer Institute White Paper http://bit.ly/cOPlqj

"Behind the Curtain: Assessing the Case for National Curriculum Standards"
The CATO Institute  http://bit.ly/9ecgJu

Texas Governor Rick Perry on the Danger of National Standards
The Heritage Foundation  http://bit.ly/cwu4R1

For the highest readability, start your letter with a short sentence.

Update on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 02:52PM by City On A Hill

Alabama along with most states have common core--next step is to get Legislature to help--get informed and call Legislators--SJR 49 will help to get us out!