Compiling New Evidence Against The Common Core

Now that we are 7 years into the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and related Assessments- we are charged with providing new evidence on where Common Core fails (and even harms!) our children in the HERE and NOW. This blog post attempts to summarize the smoking guns and set us up with additional arguments and evidence against this control system. We will start with simple facts and build our way up into more complex analysis that we encounter from the experts. It’s not just about data- we need to understand current events which predict future trends in a rapidly changing system that approaches Ed Reform 2.0, and we will explain why this is not true inspirational learning is about.

PREREQUISITE FACTS
The development of Common Core was invalid to begin with- PROCESS MATTERS!
1. Standards-Development Process: 5 of the 15 individuals on the CCSS ELA work group had classroom experience teaching English. None was a classroom teacher in 2009. None taught elementary grades, special education, or ESL, and none hold certifications in these areas. Of the 15 CCSS ELA work group members also served on the CCSS math work group. Two are from Achieve; two, from ACT, and one, from College Board. In sum, only 3 of the 15 individuals on the 2009 CCSS math work group held positions as classroom teachers of mathematics. None was a classroom teacher in 2009. None taught elementary or middle school mathematics. Three other members have other classroom teaching experience in biology, English, and social studies. None taught elementary school. None taught special education or was certified in special education or English as a Second Language (ESL).
https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2014/04/23/those-24-common-core-2009-work-group-members/

2. Standards-Development Process: Unqualifed individuals were responsive for standards that ultimately were copyrighted by the CCSSO and NGA without publicly held hearings or minutes subject to any sunshine laws. Workgroup participants had to sign confidentiality agreements.

3. Standards-Development Process: States were bribed under Race to the Top which included $330 Million in developing two testing consortia: SBAC and PARCC.
“Joanne Weiss, who is now an “independent education consultant,” writes at the Stanford Social Innovation Review that the RttT grant program, funded through President Obama’s 2009 stimulus bill in the name of helping low-income, poor-performing schools, “offers lessons in high-impact grantmaking that are applicable not only in education but also in other fields….Weiss, who led RttT from its start, explains the federal government took advantage of the fact that states were strapped for cash due to the recession.“[S]o the large pot of funding that we had to offer was a significant inducement for states to compete,” she writes, adding the surprise number of 46 states willing to sign onto the Common Core standards initiative was due to “our decision to leverage the spirit of competition.”
https://ssir.org/articles/entry/competing_principles#bio-footer

4. Standards-Content: Dr. Sandra Stotsky (ELA) and Dr. James Milgram (Math) were the leading content experts on the CCSSI Validation Committee and they refused to sign off with any approval.

5. Standards-Content: Joint Statement of Early Childhood Health and Education Professionals on the Common Core Standards Initiative

Click to access joint_statement_on_core_standards.pdf

6. Assessments: Cut scores inappropriately developed for failure
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/29/the-scary-way-common-core-test-cut-scores-are-selected/?utm_term=.c9be234b3942
https://coalitiontoprotectourpublicschools.org/end-the-unfair-sbac-test/the-real-reason-the-sbac-math-test-fails-67-percent-of-all-students

7. Data Collection: Development of Statewide Longitudinal Databases

See more details here about the 4 Fundamentals of Common Core: https://wapie.wordpress.com/the-basics-of-understanding-common-core-and-its-effects/

SUMMARY OF PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMON CORE:
https://stopcommoncorewa.wordpress.com/ccss-in-wa/the-common-core-state-standards-what-are-they-and-why-should-i-care/

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NEW/ MORE RECENT FACTS
Exhibit #1) Standards and Curriculum impact on NAEP performance
Let’s start with the large emphasis by many on alignment with Common Core Math Standards to be seriously misguided. NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) testing is done every two years. NAEP results showed a statistically significant decline in Math for the first time ever (from 2013 to 2015). This decline came amid lots of spending on CCSS-M aligned instructional materials.

http://mathunderground.blogspot.com/2017/04/time-for-common-core-math-reality-check.html?m=1

http://missourieducationwatchdog.com/national-test-scores-decline-in-common-core-era/

Exhibit #2) The Assessments themselves
The Smarter Balanced Assessment and PARCC tests are unfair, invalid, and unreliable. They have never been proven to be otherwise and certainly not for high stakes testings. The extraneous factors in the lives of our precious children, this accounts for about 10% in the population where performance might not have otherwise, according to Dr. Peg Luksik. We will post her video times later that speaks to this fact where these tests are not reliable in a high stakes world. As noted in the 2016 SBA results in Washington State, the minuscule increases in proficiency are well below the 10% statistical error rate that Dr. Luksik mentions.

http://www.thegreateducationstruggle.com/videos/dr-peg-luksiks-idaho-presentation/luksik-pt-idaho/

Here is the the SWWEducation.org blog post about the OSPI press release for the 2016 results in WA State. Any gains are far below the 10% error rate.
http://www.swweducation.org/?p=3170

March of 2016: Over 100 Education Researchers Sign Statement Calling for Moratorium on High-Stakes Testing, SBAC // California Alliance of Researchers for Equity in Education stating:
“…We support the public call for a moratorium on high-stakes testing broadly, and in particular, on the use of scientifically discredited assessment instruments (like the current SBAC, PARCC, and Pearson instruments) and on faulty methods of analysis (like value-added modeling of test scores for high-stakes decision making).”…
https://eduresearcher.com/2016/03/16/sbac-moratorium/amp/

Exhibit #3) Current Data Collection and Privacy Concerns and Trends
How else is Common Core detracting from local control, a good classical education, and student data privacy? We are now seeing an explosion of data collection efforts via unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats, called the Commission of Evidence Based Policymaking.
“The Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking was created to pursue a laudable goal: To improve analysis of the effectiveness of federal programs. But when such a pursuit is used to justify collecting, conglomerating, and tracking massive amounts of Americans’ personal data, as is certainly true in the realm of education, it’s necessary to examine the dangers and the tradeoffs. American Principles Project (APP) believes that such activities suppress the liberties of the people and pervert the relationship between the people and government. We urge the Commission to reject calls to establish a federal student unit-record system and to engage in such Orwellian activity…This is not a description of a free and open United States of America. This is a description of a totalitarian society that keeps tabs on its own citizens – for their own good, of course. It’s also a description of what would inevitably happen with the establishment of a student unit-record system, all in the name of “better consumer information,” “accountability,” and “transparency.”

Anita Hoge Exposes Psychological Profiling, Unique Nat’l ID’s and Common Core
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMRRuH8XtAE

Exhibit #4) The Every Student Succeeds Act was built around Common Core and is more toxic than No Child Left Behind

http://edlibertywatch.org/2015/10/for-immediate-release-national-coalition-opposes-no-child-left-behind-rewrite-conference-bill/
http://www.educationviews.org/essa-bad-america/
http://missourieducationwatchdog.com/sandra-stotsky-opines-on-lamar-alexander-usdoed-essa-interpretation-dc-as-wonderland/

Rep. Tim Ryan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4GYRlvXRNs
Proof #ESEA is the #NewCommonCore, which is not about teaching our kids to read, write and do math. It is about attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors! The state and federal government has no place mandating and conducting of the psychological profiling of our children.

Texas implementation after ESSA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GybI9aXHOY

Exhibit #5) We are being led to Education Reform 2.0 (Competency Based Ed)
Where does this all lead us? Let’s project out 5-10 years by watching the following presentation held in Seattle (March 2017):
“Alison McDowell – What Silicon Valley Has Planned for Public Education”

CONCLUSIONS
Does any of the above look like a Classical Education to inspire learning?
Or have our kids become cogs in the wheel of the 21st century managed economy?
Where is the evidence that Common Core and Competency Based Education inspires learning and results?

Parental Complaints and Concerns DO MATTER! After all, in business the customer is always right. Remember who the client is and who the products are in this control system.

We will post more comprehensive complaints later that parents have had about:

Standards-based Grading.
Ridiculous homework problems and vacuous curricula.
Excessive Testing and More Teaching to the Test.
https://wapie.wordpress.com/2017/04/25/a-mom-shares-how-test-prep-is-causing-missed-classroom-instruction/
Loss of Data Privacy.
Improper Requirements to use 1:1 devices in school.
Teachers are quitting earlier and are more discouraged. The teaching profession has become deprofessionalized by the Ed Reformers. Result is a shortage of teachers.It is evident that Common Core does not solve these problems- it only exacerbates them! Children are becoming the product with teachers being the factory workers.

You can learn more by joining the outstanding discussion group:

“Washington State Against Common Core”

https://www.facebook.com/groups/WAstateAgainstCommonCore/

We need parents to get involved
https://wapie.wordpress.com/current-call-to-actions-needed/

Washington State Parents Involved In Education- a State Affiliate of USPIE

WAPIE