“If the bill is really to revoke the standards and replace them with North Carolina standards, that would be extremely destructive and very destabilizing,” said state Rep. Rick Glazier, a Democrat from Fayetteville and a former Cumberland County school board member. “But if all that’s happening is the (GOP) majority is patting the base on the head and just changing the name, then it’s a pretty fraudulent bill that won’t do much harm.”

But that still would be bad, he said, “because it sends a lack-of-stability message through a system that’s already struggling with upheaval.” – FayObserver 5/24/14

Exactly how would it be “extremely destructive and very destabilizing” to remove the fundamentally flawed and experimental standards from our schools, Mr. Glazier? I think Mr. Glazier is listening more to the money from the Chamber of Commerce than he is to the reality about Common Core.

To make a statement like that, it would require that Rep. Glazier is willfully politicizing this topic or that he lacks any real knowledge about Common Core. Tell me, who spoon-fed that talking point to you, because it’s very similar to ones we’ve heard from Rep. Marcus Brandon, Rep.Tricia Cotham and Sen. Josh Stein. Let’s not forget the NC Chamber of Commerce and The Raleigh Chamber either.

Reminder: Senators Stein implies you are racist if you oppose Common Core.

“During the first panel Sen. Josh Stein took the occasion to mention he had been told people are against it only because President Obama is for it.” – Statement made by Senator Stein at the May 21, Raleigh Chamber Common Core Forum as reported by Anthony Bruno and Felice Pete.

The tactic here is politicizing Common Core in hopes of polarizing the topic and killing HB1061/SB812. Newsflash: Rejection and opposition of the Common Core are Bipartisan and this kind of shutuppery and fear-mongering that you and your colleagues are engaging in is something you should all be ashamed of. STOP using our children as your political currency.

This advice goes double for our Governor.
Stop listening to your Democrat aides with extensive ties to Common Core pushing entities. Stop listening to the Chamber of Commerce, they just want their workers and have taken the Common Core sales job hook line and sinker despite the standards not being able to do what they claim to. The Chamber never thinks about the children as children. They are workers.

The chamber doesn’t elect you. The citizens do. 

Listen to the parents. We’re seeing this train wreck first hand at our kitchen tables and we’re telling you STOP THIS.

The Facts About Common Core 

Now, Rep. Glazier and others, here are the facts on the “Destructive and Destabilizing” Common Core.

First, recognize that our State Superintendent, Dr. June Atkinson, and Former Governor Perdue applied for federal grant money (Race To The Top) and cited Common Core in the application BEFORE the Common Core Standards were even released. That’s shady right there and if scrutinized it’s doubtful it would pass legal muster. Second, note that Dr. Atkinson is now President-Elect of the CCSSO, one of the two trade organizations that created the standards and hold the copyright. There is a clear conflict of interest here.  

Dr. Atkinson has made a cottage industry of calling anyone opposing her Common Core Standards a liar. Excuse me, the new term for liar is now “bearing false witness“. 

The CCSS In North Carolina
The North Carolina State Board of Education voted unanimously to adopt the Common Core State Standards in both mathematics and English language arts on June 2, 2010. Three months later, the state received a four-year, $400 million Race to the Top grant — at a time when North Carolina’s finances were in complete disarray due to the recession.

The CCSS Are Not Rigorous, High Reaching or ‘Internationally Benchmarked’
Experts contend that there is no uniform rigor in the CCSS. Two of the CCSS validation committee participants, Sandra Stotsky (English Language Arts or ELA) and Professor James Milgram (Mathematics), have both cited the standards lack rigor and declined to sign off. Read Sandra Stotsky’s report on the ‘Invalid Validation Committee’.  David Coleman admitted the people who put together the standards were unqualified.

Our children are not Experiments
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are a set of learning standards in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. They are untested, unproven and not internationally benchmarked. The standards have not been vetted by states, parents or the media. Our children should not be used as a national experiment.

The CCSS Are Not “State Developed”
The National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) helped to create the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI). Together, with Achieve, Inc., these three private entities or non-elected groups developed a set of academic standards that would become known as The Common Core Standards. Private foundations such as Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded the development of CCSS and the US Department of Education is funding national assessments. Gates alone has put in over $3 billion into groups to push Common Core.

The CCSS Are Not “State-Led” Or “State Controlled”
The NGA and CCSSO own the copyright to the CCSS. They are private associations and are not accountable to states, parents or citizens. States that adopt CCSS must adhere 100%, however, states may add up to an additional 15% to the standards. The current arrangement strips states of their authority and responsibility to direct public education.

“Common set of K–12 standards means a set of content standards that define what students must know and be able to do, and that are identical across all States in a consortium. Notwithstanding this, a State may supplement the common standards with additional standards, provided that the additional standards do not exceed 15 percent of the State’s total standards for that content area.”
– Federal Register, 07/29/2009

What proponents claim to be rigor in the K-3 grades has turned out to be the application of age-inappropriate standards. The inverse seems to be true of upper grades, as Professor Milgram has noted that math standards will put students two years behind nations with which we compete. CCSS fails to prepare kids for STEM. Sandra Stotsky has called attention to the flaw in the ELA focusing on “informational texts” instead of classic literature.

CCSS’s stated goal of “college readiness” is defined as “prepared to enter nonselective community colleges.” To be clear, the CCSS is designed to allow the middle 40% of 11th graders to enroll in a credit-bearing course at a “non-selective college”; Non-selective meaning an institution that accepts all applicants. This is not raising standards. This is teaching to the middle. It should also be noted that CCSS is being applied in all school settings – parochial, private, charter and even homeschoolers.

The CCSS Are Costly
Currently, Race To The Top grant funds ($399.5million awarded in 2010) is being used to pay for CCSS, but that grant expires in 2014. The Pioneer Institute estimates North Carolina will spend approximately $525 million to $641.9 million over the next seven years to implement Common Core.

Some of the costs for NC as estimated by the Pioneer Institute in July 2013:
New Technology: $242.4 million
Professional Development/Training: $202.8 million
Assessments: $109 million
Texts/Instructional Material: $87.6 million

The Department of Public Instruction has not provided an estimated of implementing and maintaining Common Core, nor, has it said who will bear the costs. As the bulk of these costs, will likely fall on North Carolina taxpayers, they will inevitably compete with other priorities such as pay increases for teachers.

Follow the Data
Federally funded Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium has developed national tests and RttT Grant Conditions that require student-level data collected be made available to the U.S. Department of Education.

6) The Grantee must provide timely and complete access to any and all data collected at the State level to ED or its designated program monitors, technical assistance providers, or researcher partners, and to GAO, and the auditors conducting the audit required by CFR section 80.26.