Common Core Forum from Souhegan High School 11/6/13 (SAU 39) More Propaganda
Common Core Forum from Souhegan High School 11/6/13 (SAU 39)
Coverage from the Girard Radio Show 11/7/2013
Here is a summary of what happened at the Amherst meeting on Common Core.
About 75 people attended the Common Core Forum at Souhegan High School last night.
Many expected to hear what was good about the Common Core Standards, what the problems were and how their district was going to implement them. Instead they were subjected to a “Sales job”.
The first person to sell Common Core was Dr. David Pook. He is a teacher at Derryfield School, a private/elite school that does not follow Common Core. Dr. Pook helped write the English Common Core Standards.
Dr. Pook talks about cross-curricular instruction in English/Language Arts. However English teachers in general have been “trained to teach literature, not reading across the curriculum.”
Go to VIDEO above 00:30:00 then see page 6: http://heartland.org/sites/default/files/commoncoreelastandards.pdf
Dr. Pook left out the fact that some of the recommended reading includes pornographic books.
He also failed to mention how children will learn about the Constitution. Hint: it will be done in a negative way, watch the video of Terrance Moore below…
The second person to sell Common Core was Dr. Scott Marion from The National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment, Inc.
The audience was told how their children will now be assessed on not just their knowledge through standardized testing but on their behaviors too. He never explained exactly how BEHAVIORS will be assessed. Go to 00:44:28 and look at the slide.
One parent asked Marion about disparaging remarks he made towards parents who have questioned the Common Core Standards in a comment on a blog.
He said, “Even though I see these debates first hand, especially considering how much time I spend in the mountain west, I still can’t understand why these Beck-inspired believers don’t want their kids to learn more meaningful content and skills than they are now. Unless of course, some people don’t want students to learn how to think critically, but why would they.”
She was clearly angry by what he said in that blog post. Go to the link above and forward to 1:24:00.
Scott Marion said that there were no states that included standards beyond Algebra II. Yet if you look at California’s State Standards prior to Common Core, you can clearly see they go well beyond Algebra II to Calculus. Go to the VIDEO above and forward to 1:28:30.
Maybe he missed where the lead writer for Common Core Math standards admits the standards do not prepare students for the selective colleges and programs in the STEM field.
He could not find the 400 data points that so many parents are concerned about. He might want to look at the U.S. Department of Education’s web site where they are listed. He called it a MYTH!
You will note that the US DOE is suggesting collecting information such as: Birthdate, Family Income, Immunization, Health plan, and even religious affiliation. (Go to 1:17:00)
He doesn’t think parents should worry about data being collected on your children because schools have been doing that for years. He even cited the FERPA law as a privacy protection. What he failed to mention was that in 2011 the regulations protecting that privacy were changed. Information collected on children and their families for non-academic purposes can now be released to third parties. This can all be done, without first obtaining written parental consent. Go to 1:11:00 then read about the lawsuit.
The Department of Education openly promotes schools collecting data about students’ personalities and beliefs in the report called “Promoting Grit, Tenacity and Perserverance.” This document promotes the use of facial expression cameras, posture analysis seats, wireless skin conductance sensors and other measures of students’ beliefs and emotions. See page 44.
This is such a big concern for parents that even U.S. Senator Markey recently wrote a letter to President Obama questioning the US DOE about the privacy of students.
Parents were under the assumption that a presentation to parents would include all information on Common Core Standards. Unfortunately that was not the case. Many left frustrated that misinformation was given to parents again, in a biased manner.