Common Core Fighters in North Carolina,

We need to act once again. It has come to my attention the Senate Education Committee is possibly trying to avoid conferencing with the House to merge HB 1061 and SB 812. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. SB 812, as it stands by itself, is a weaker bill than HB 1061. The two need to be merged.

To the NC Chamber folks reading this: We know you like SB 812 and we know why.

Section Five? SB 812 has language keeping the Common Core Testing Consortia on the table. Common Core is driven by data, which these consortia require as well. NC is still part of the SBAC and we MUST withdraw or all of this is for not.  North Carolina would do far better with a proven, public use set of tests that have no strings attached like the SBAC and PARCC do.

Let’s be clear: Without PARCC /SBAC, Common Core dies. With them, Common Core lives.

SECTION 5.  The State Board of Education shall report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee prior to the acquisition and implementation of a new assessment instrument to assess student achievement on the academic standards adopted pursuant to G.S. 115C‑12(9c), including the Common Core Smarter Balanced Consortium Assessments and the PARCC Assessment developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers. The assessments shall be nationally normed, aligned with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, and field tested. Examples of appropriate assessment models would include, but not be limited to, the ITBS, the SAT, ACT Aspire, and the NAEP. The State Board shall not acquire or implement such an assessment instrument without the enactment of legislation by the General Assembly authorizing the purchase.

ACTION ITEM:
The Senate Ed Committee is meeting tomorrow afternoon.
GET ON THE PHONE TODAY. SEND OUT AN EMAIL TODAY.

Sample email with contact list below it:

Dear Senator(s) ______,

I am a citizen concerned about Common Core. I wish to express to you that it is vital that SB 812 be merged with HB 1061 in order to be effective.  Both bills have their merits, however wording in SB 812 is troublesome and leaves the door open for this process to result in a rebrand.

Language in SB 812’s Section five  allows the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers (PARCC) to remain in play. This is unacceptable.

These assessments are directly tied to Common Core, in fact, North Carolina should be withdrawing from the SBAC Cooperative Agreement post-haste.  In case you were unaware, the U.S. Department of Education wrote the SBAC Cooperative Agreement. NC being tied to the SBAC means we will not be able to get rid of Common Core.

I urge you to read about why the SBAC is bad for North Carolina.

• North Carolina Must Withdraw from SBAC Part 1
• North Carolina Must Withdraw from SBAC Part 2

 Please, consider conferencing to  merge SB 812 and HB 1061.  The result of such a merge can only be a stronger bill to protect our state’s sovereignty over our schools and our students ability to actually receive a true education.

Respectfully,

<Your Name Here>