To: All Texans
Date: 9.18.10
Please read carefully these excerpts from one of my previous articles because there is a possibility that the Obama administration might try to tie Title I funds to Common Core Standards/ Race to the Top. If that were to happen, we in Texas would need to be prepared to wage a huge battle to keep the feds from completely taking over our public schools (e.g., as my article below explains).
Donna Garner
(1) On 9.16.10, I wrote “Am I a Wacko Now?” (http://www.educationnews.org/index.php?news=100137 ) in which I tried to warn people all around the country that the Obama administration has succeeded in taking over the public schools of nearly every state (except for Texas and Alaska) through Common Core Standards (CCS) and Race to the Top (RTTT). This was done while many conservatives and Republicans basically “sat on their hands” and did nothing.
Obama and his administration skillfully groomed CCS/RTTT to divide and conquer, thus silencing the usual conservative/Republican opposition to Big Government. Obama, working with U. S. Sect. of Education Arne Duncan and using Bill Gates’ money, managed to inject into CCS/RTTT an emphasis on charter schools (which the conservatives/Republicans basically like).
Secondly, the Obama administration also tied individual students’ assessment scores directly to teacher evaluations, thus inflaming the teachers’ unions (another aspect that conservatives/Republicans generally like because they prefer private enterprise to unions).
By inserting these two provisions into CCS/RTTT, the Obama administration and the Democrats successfully silenced the usual opposition; and while the country was fighting the federal takeover of the public schools, most citizens missed the fact that the federal government was taking over their children’s public schools.
Unfortunately, the charter schools that the Obama administration is supporting are not the kind of charter schools that the conservatives/Republicans are picturing. Remember that Sect. of Education Arne Duncan tried to establish a gay charter school while he was the superintendent in Chicago, and nothing could make the Obama crowd any happier than to have “social justice” charter schools.
As of Sept. 9, 2010, thirty-seven (37) states had signed up to follow the Common Core Standards.
The following states “won” the right to have their students thoroughly indoctrinated by the federal government because these states are taking the federal funds from Race to the Top: District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia,Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Delaware, and Tennessee
The ironic part is that the threat/carrot/stick of Race to the Top caused other states to push through the Obama administration’s CCS/RTTT stipulations to try to get the funds, but the federal funds only pay the state a one-time fee of approximately $75 per student. For this pittance, the above-mentioned states have put their students directly into the hands of the Obama administration.
As you study the graphic below (highlighted in red), please ask yourself how easy it would be for the Obama administration to input pro-Islam/anti-Christian, anti-Judeo and social justice bias (multiculturalism, political correctness, global warming, diversity, acceptance of homosexuality, etc.) into the national assessments.
The CCS (1) English / Language Arts and (2) Math standards have already been published; the (3) Science CCS are in the pipeline; and the (4) Social Studies CCS are coming soon.
No public hearings have been held on any of these curriculum requirement documents nor are any likely to be held in the future.
The people chosen to write these documents are aligned with the Obama administration. The entire CCS/RTTT plan was never voted on by our elected members of Congress.
As the graphic below shows, teachers will be forced by CCS/RTTT to “teach to the test” each and every day because their jobs will depend upon it. Sadly, the “tests” will actually be “national assessments” meaning that they will not have right-or-wrong, up-or-down answers.
Instead, the national assessments will be performance-based and subjectively scored based upon the value system of the scorer. Subjectivity allows for students’ opinions, beliefs, and emotions to be assessed by scorers who have opinions, beliefs, and emotions that may not be in line with those of students’ parents. The U. S. Department of Education has awarded $330 million for these national assessments to be developed.
Worse yet, to whom will the parent go to complain if he feels his child’s national assessments have been graded wrong -- to the U. S. Department of Education in the insular world of Washington, D. C.?
This is the way that the Common Core Standards and Race to the Top work. The arrows mean “lead to.”
National standards → national assessments → national curriculum → teachers’ salaries tied to students’ test scores → teachers teaching to the test each and every day → national indoctrination of our public school children → national database of students and teachers
It is past time for citizens to rise up and stop the takeover of the public schools by those who want to crush the principles upon which our country is founded.
I would encourage each person who reads this e-mail to contact those who are running for elected office on Nov. 2, 2010, and get a firm commitment from them that they will commit to repeal the appropriation of funds for Common Core Standards and Race to the Top.
So far, there was $100 Billion in the Stimulus package for public schools with $1.35 Billion in Obama’s 2011 budget for education. The jobs bill passed on 8.4.10 and contained $26 Billion for the public schools. Enough is enough.
I also believe it is time for Congress to repeal all funding for the
U. S. Department of Education because it has become a funnel through which indoctrination is pouring into our children’s minds. Those duties that the U. S. Dept. of Education does that are imperative need to be shuffled off to other government agencies to perform.
Remember that Kevin Jennings was chosen to head up the U. S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools.
Jennings is also the founder of Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN); and it was his organization that led discussions at a “Fistgate” seminar in Massachusetts where young teens were guided on how to perform dangerous homosexual perversions, including fisting.
If you want to learn even more about Common Core Standards/Race to the Top, please read further:
Posted by Donna Garner on 9.8.10:
CCSI Exposed--Can America Afford To Be In The Dark?--The Price Are The Children--Beware and Act Now with Knowledge
Hear the true story of the takeover of the public schools by the Obama administration (with the help of Bill Gates et al) under the Common Core Standards Initiative and the Race to the Top.
In this roundtable discussion, you will hear explanations from:
Professor Jim Milgram (mathematics content specialist, Stanford University)
Professor Sandra Stotsky (English / Language Arts content specialist,University of Arkansas)
Betty Peters (member of Alabama State Board of Education)
Peyton Wolcott (investigative journalist in Texas,www.peytonwolcott.com)
Beth Schultz (math educator, parent activist in Maine)
Diana Crews (Alabama radio host of City on a Hill,http://cityonahill.squarespace.com/city-on-a-hill-blogs/2010/9/4/nationalizing-or-federalizing-education-ccsi-the-inside-stor.html )
Donna Garner (activist and retired Texas teacher)
Summary graphic:
National standards → national tests → national curriculum → teachers’ salaries tied to students’ test scores → teachers teaching to the test each and every day → national indoctrination of our public school children → national database
Please click here to listen to the roundtable discussion:
Direct download: 9-1-10_CCSI_part_2.mp3
Donna Garner