This is in response to an
article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
This article is missing some key information. First and
foremost, we must look at the money trail. The common core standards are a cash
cow for the corporations who plan to implement new testing, new curriculum, new
professional development, and more, in order to adhere to the requirements
under Race to the Top, Obama’s education policy. Now, Missouri was not awarded
RTTT funding, however, Missouri took a NCLB waiver, which in essence, required
Missouri to adhere to all of the requirements of Race to the Top – without the
cash to do so.
As a teacher, an education activist, a graduate of Jefferson
City High School, I have some stake in what is going on in Missouri. I no
longer live there, but I was raised in Missouri and the mantra “show me” is
anchored deep in my heart. So, as a former Missourian, it is important that we
show everyone what is really going on here, and this article is greatly
lacking. What needs to be understood is that this is not a democrat or
republican issue. This is a corporate issue, and both sides have bought into it
– there is big money to be made via public education. Race to the Top policies include mandates
which allow for corporations to cash in – using our public tax dollars and our
children.
One of these mandates includes adopting common standards.
Missouri adopted these standards, and because Missouri asked for a NCLB waiver
(http://dese.mo.gov/qs/esea-waiver.html), MO now has to adhere to the rules of
RTTT.
One of the mandates requires linking common core standards
to tests. A second mandate includes linking teacher evaluation to these
tests..which are linked to the common core. A third requirement includes having
a longitudinal data system which allows all of the student data accessible to
“stakeholders.” A fourth mandate includes using the turnaround model for
schools, which means using several strategies – a few being - including firing
teachers, handing a school over to a charter operator – when school test scores
are low. Missouri did receive a grant to implement the turnaround model which
is a sure fire way to quickly privatize your public schools.
Now, back to the common core standards, which when examined
as simply “standards” might not be such a terrible thing. However, they are
simply not standards. They are standards that come with a lot of baggage
attached to them – if they aren’t taught and tested with resulting high scores,
a teacher could be fired, a child might not be promoted (this is here in CO
already where I live..not sure if MO has this yet), a school could get shut
down – all very HIGH stakes.
So, I, as a teacher, would be hard pressed not to teach to
the test knowing the stakes are so high – for myself and for my students. That’s
problem number one.
Second problem – because the stakes are so high, we have
created an opportunity for the publishing industry – such as Pearson – to come
in and SAVE the day so that we can figure out how to teach to these standards and
create curriculum and professional development, along with Bill Gates funding wherever
you turn -
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/04/27/30pearson.h30.html
.
Our public schools will now purchase
these materials – with YOUR tax dollars – in order to be certain they are
adhering to the common core state standards in order to succeed on the high
stakes tests. It’s a vicious cycle where the winners are not our students, our
teachers, our schools, or our community – the winners are the corporations
profiting off of our public schools.
Problem number three – teacher autonomy GONE. If the common
core state standards were simply a set of standards, I, as a teacher, could
work around this – whether I liked them or not – I could pick, choose and
tailor the standards to the needs of my school, students, and the culture of my
community. However, they are not simply a set of standards – they are a set of
standards that will be implemented with lockstep curriculum in order to be
certain we succeed on the new tests rolling out across the country via PARCC
and SBAC (testing consortias that our federal government gave $$ to – in the
millions – to create these common core assessments).
The common core standards will take away teacher autonomy.
In Finland they have national standards –and it works – one reason it works is
because they are not extensive (common core standards are hundreds of pages
long) and there are no high stakes tests attached to these standards.
Please understand, I am not opposed to a standardized test –
I may not personally like standardized tests and I may not find them very
valuable – but I can live with it – but NOT when high stakes are attached to
it. Finland gives one standardized test
when students graduate from high school, the rest of the testing is creating by
teachers. Here in the U.S., mainstream media is bound and determined to make
the general public believe that teachers are not capable of assessing our
students – there is truly mass amnesia around the concept of teachers being
capable of assessing their students - this is because there is a lot of money
to be made via corporate testing. The money is key to everything that is
currently going on in public education in the United States today. Testing will
increase under RTTT – some teachers now share that they test or test prep every
day. Some schools state that 5 ½ months of the year is spent testing – some say
more.
Fourth problem: There are indeed problems with the common
core standards. They aren’t developmentally appropriate
http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/standards
. There are more problems related to the standards which I won’t go in to here,
but suffice to day, I receive examples of common core homework given to
students daily – I am shocked by what I see. Not only is it developmentally
inappropriate, it is mind-numbing and lacking in creative and critical thinking.
But enough on that – that is a subject that I could discuss all day long – but do
know that children are not suddenly going to be overwhelmed with opportunities
for creative, critical and conceptual thinking – it will be the exact opposite.
Fifth problem: History shows us quite clearly that countries
who attempt to force standards upon schools by attaching high stakes to them,
create learners who are good at one thing – test taking. They do not think
independently, they cannot problem solve and they cannot think out of the box –
no creative thinking. Simply read more about China to learn more. China, by the
way, is attempting to move away from the teach to the test mentality and they
are in shock that we are so foolishly headed in this direction.
Check out Yong Zhao’s blog here:
http://zhaolearning.com/2013/01/02/five-questions-to-ask-about-the-common-core/
Sixth problem: Implementing the common core standards will
cost a ton of money, which thrills the publishing companies as they drool over
your public tax dollars. While your districts begin to prepare for the new
assessments which are attached to high stakes, they will be determining how to
afford the new curriculum, the new tests, the computers and the technology
needed to make this happen. It will be necessary to spend money on all of this
because of the high stakes attached to it – as a result, you are sure to see
cuts in the arts, physical education, teachers, libraries and more. Also,
consider this – where is the money necessary to support the children in your
communities who are living in poverty – currently 23% of our children live in
poverty – I wonder how these students will do on these tests? And I wonder how
these poorer districts will manage to compete with equal footing when they don’t
have the money found in Ladue or Clayton?
My guess is that these schools will end up in turn around status and
will find themselves subjected to the vultures circling overhead as they
(profiteers) discuss with glee how they might cash in on these districts that
cannot fend for themselves. One need only look to Detroit, Philadelphia or
Chicago to see how this will play out.
Seventh problem: Yes, you will lose local control. These
standards are high stakes – they are COMMON. Do you want common children? I
thought this was the Show Me state? Are all the children now going to being
showing us the same thing as they learn? Regarding the standards, each state is
allowed a little wiggle room to tweak the standards to meet their needs, but
that won’t cut it. And teachers will be asked to write common core curriculum
to save money in your districts, they will be asked to do multiple things
necessary to succeed in this high stakes world while having less time to attend
to the individual needs of students and their school communities. The ability
to focus on what is needed locally – for your children, your schools and your
communities will be hampered greatly by the necessities surrounding succeeding
on high stakes tests. And these standards were not created by hundreds of
teachers – that’s a lie –
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2009/07/national_standards_process_ign.html
.
Eighth problem: Is this a federal takeover? Well, in my
opinion the politicians and the corporations are one and the same. I call it a
corporate takeover because everything children will learn in school will be
created by the corporations in order to profit the corporations. The teachers will have no decision-making
power and the children will simply regurgitate what the corporations want them
to know in order to fulfill the low level entry jobs the corporations will
provide for them. The politicians are merely puppets who gain status and money
along the way using our public tax dollars and our children to advance their
individual needs. Romney and Obama’s education policies differed on one count –
Romney supported vouchers and Obama did not – just food for thought.
Ninth problem: The common core standards have never been
field tested. Our children are being used as lab rats in an experiment.
Something to consider – do the private schools, such as the school Obama’s
children attend and the school Bill Gates’ children attend adhere to the
“common” core standards? Of course not, you see, these standards are for OUR
children – not their children. Everyone who is demanding we adhere to these
policies send their children to private schools where high stakes testing and
lockstep curriculum does not exist. Final thought – when anyone does research
in a public school parents are asked to sign a research agreement stating that they
accept the conditions of the research study which will occur in their child’s
classroom. Did any of you get such an agreement to sign for your child’s class,
when MO signed on to the common core?
Tenth problem: Yes, your child’s data will eventually be
placed in a data system that corporations have access too – thanks to the FERPA
laws that were rewritten under the Obama administration.
It is already happening here in Colorado. The
data from the Jefferson County public schools in CO is being funneled into
inBloom which will allow for profit corporations access to the data in order to
determine what new educational products via the common core they can create to
meet the needs of our children…cha ching cha ching.
https://sites.google.com/site/schoolbelongstothechildren/
Of course the goal is to have this in every state, which is why RTTT required everyone
to have a database set up and ready to go! By the way, currently parents cannot
opt out of this because the FERPA laws were changed to allow it.
The data they will collect on your child is
much more than test data I can assure you. Dig a bit to find out more about
inBloom. I guarantee you won’t like what you see.
I took time to write this today on Mother’s Day because I
love Missouri, I love my hometown of Jefferson City and I wish no harm to come
your way. If I can be of assistance to anyone please let me know. I am
currently a public school teacher in Colorado in my sixteenth year of teaching.
I am also an education activist and I am one of the founders of United Opt Out
National.
My email is
writepeg@juno.com
For what it’s worth, I strongly encourage you to fight the
common core – refuse it – refuse the curriculum, the tests – refuse the
corporate takeover of your public schools. Your children deserve more.
Best,
Peggy Robertson
