These are the Common Core Weekend Reads for March 15, 2015.
This is a review of the past week of news on Common Core nationwide and in North Carolina.
Articles are organized by category.
Prior Edition of Weekend Reads: 03-08-15
NC Academic Standards Review Commission (ASRC) Updates:
NC ASRC Site
Next ASRC meeting: March 16th, 1-5 pm.
ALERT: Dr. Sandra Stotsky and Dr. James Milgram will be presenting at the March 16th meeting. If you make it to only one ASRC meeting, this one is it!
Related ASRC Articles:
- NC Common Core Commission Meets March 16th
- NC Common Core Commission Press Release: Stotsky, Milgram Coming To Town
- ALERT: NC Common Core Commission – March Meeting Details
NC UPDATES:
- FOIA: NC Chamber Pushing ASRC To Consider Rebrands Like Florida
- NC Chamber Has To Get The Last Word On Common Core?
- NC Chamber Letter Passed To ASRC By Professional Lobbyist
- NC Public School Forum ‘Eggs and Issues’ – Pushing Common Core
QUOTES OF THE WEEK:
“I think there’s a legitimacy to tying (Common Core assessments and teacher evaluations) together, but process always matters,” Zimpher said. As SUNY’s representative, Zimpher said she is interested in sitting at the table to work on piecing out a plan for teacher evaluations.
– Poughkeepsie Journal, VIDEO: SUNY Chancellor touts more funding, Common Core**So sayeth the SUNY Chancellor who formed “Higher Ed for Higher Standards”, a Pro-Common Core Higher-Ed shill group. Poughkeepsie Journal didn’t mention this group at all.
See: http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2014/06/suny-chancellor-forms-pro-common-core-coalition/*****
“When did ESEA begin to evolve in the opposite direction of what its sponsors intended (i.e., to provide federal funds for supplementary services to poor children)? It did so when federal policy makers first required tests in the name of accountability—the conceptual catalyst for changes in ESEA’s focus. Test-based accountability came into being when the Clinton administration added the requirement of one test at each educational level (elementary, middle, and high school) in the 1994 re-authorization of ESEA.”
-Missouri Education Watchdog, Definition of Insanity in ESEA Re-Write
*****Funding for EdReports.org comes from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which played a major role in the development and promotion of the Common Core, as well as several other philanthropic organizations, including the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.”
-Washington Post, New ‘Consumer Reports’ for Common Core finds learning materials lacking
LEGISLATIVE/LEGAL:
- South Carolina Replaces Common Core. Eyes Now Turn to North Carolina.
- Alabama Senators Introduce SB101 To Stop Common Core
- AZ House Advances Common Core Repeal Bill
- States to wield Missouri ruling on Common Core test group
- How a Missouri ruling might steer Common Core across the U.S.
- Education commissioner to testify on PARCC, Common Core before N.J. Senate committee
- Common Core academic standards trump California’s school accountability system, for now
- Common Core Parental Refusal Act introduced at NY Capitol
POLITICAL/PROTESTS:
- Jeb Bush’s 2016 Strategery: Insult Millions of Parents
- Repackaging Common Core In Iowa for Jeb Bush
- What are the lessons of Jeb Bush’s own Charter School?
- FEE’s CCSS ‘Opt Out’ Mocking
- John White Now Chairs Jeb Bush’s Seriously Dwindling “Chiefs for Change”
- Jeb Bush Creations: Newly-packaged “Chiefs for Change” and Relatively-unknown “Excellence in Education National”
- Conservatives Critique Jeb Bush’s Stance on No Child Left Behind, Common Core
- Here’s why Jeb Bush isn’t a lock to be the GOP nominee, in 1 PowerPoint slide
- Sen. Alexander and Rep. Kline Selling Out Your Children
- As state rolls out Common Core test, parents plan boycott
HIGHLIGHTED ARTICLES: Pearson Spying Edition
- Pearson Spying on Student Private Social Media Accounts to Determine if PARCC Information is Being Leaked. **UPDATED ** (READ THE UPDATE!)
- ALERT: Bob Braun’s Blog Has Been Attacked and Closed Down After Post About Pearson Spying on Students
- Hey, Kids: If You Tweet About Your PARCC Testing Experience, Pearson Will Call You Out
- This is Disturbing: Pearson Monitors Students Social Media
- Ravitch: Pearson’s Policy on Monitoring Social Media
- Pearson’s Edict on How Students MUST Use Social Media. Warning: Your Student Can be Charged With ‘Malpractice’ if they Don’t Follow Pearson Rules.
- The Powerful, Enforced Silence Around Standardized Testing
- Statement from Superintendent Regarding Pearson, PARCC Testing and Disciplinary Action at Watchung Hills Regional High School
- Smarter Balanced Offers Tips for Monitoring Students on Social Media
- Smarter Balanced Test Is Spying on Children
- California Monitors Students’ Social Media to Protect Test Security
THE WEEKEND READS:
- Common Core supporters admit not for gifted students
- CCSS’s “Present” to Special Needs
- “Teacher Voices” and Common Core
- Principal to parents: ‘We don’t need to get used to this. We need to stop it.
- Caddo’s 2014 Teacher of the Year speaks out at anti-Common Core meeting
TESTING UPDATES:
- Common Core fallout prompts Board of Regents shake-up
- SBAC Math Test is ‘Fatally Flawed’. So Why is NC still a Member?
- The Smarter Balanced Assessment Was Created for Teacher Evaluations
- Rigging the Louisiana High Stakes Testing Game
- No Common Core-aligned testing for 60 students in St. Tammany
- A 16-year-old takes the new PARCC exam. Here’s her disturbing report.
- Some parents refuse to let their children take standardized tests
- Mississippi Parents Protest Common Core Testing
- Students Across America Are Sick of Common Core Exams And Here’s What They’re Doing About It
- Why This Missouri Mom/Teacher is Refusing The SBAC Test for Her Children
- “NO SBAC ANYTHING for your kids! Do you hear me? I’M SHOUTING!”
- Common Core Tweet and Facebook Posting of the Day Regarding Opt-Outs
VIDEO OF THE WEEK:
- Common Core Rebellion Reaches Lindsey Graham (VIDEO)
- Parents Against The Core Video: We need a tsunami of moms
TWEETS OF THE WEEK:
End of East Wake High’s four small schools an example of Gates Foundation reform that didn’t stick http://t.co/6zXELlRpkd #tellewa
— Keung Hui (@nckhui) March 12, 2015
Testing opt-outs r welcome if for no other reason than they r people declaring, “government, u can’t tell me how to educate my child!”
— Neal McCluskey (@NealMcCluskey) March 6, 2015
Curious how @pearson monitors word of mouth? Students writing & passing notes, discussing tests at home, on phone etc. Where does it end?
— Christine (@quadgurl) March 14, 2015
@fnoschese Yes, & none of them are a private testing organization making billions & who have already been fined millions for misusing data.
— LL1885 – A.P. Dillon (@LadyLiberty1885) March 14, 2015
LL1885 
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