After six months of meetings, the NC Common Core Academic Standards Review Commission (ASRC) is finally going to hear from some experts on the opposition side.
Via Press release from the Common Core ASRC this morning, Dr. Sandra Stotsky and Dr. James Milgram will be testifying at the March 16th meeting.
Also coming is Kevin Perks, from WestEd. I have detailed information on Mr. Perks and WestEd following the press release below.
NC ACADEMIC STANDARDS REVIEW COMMISSION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Dr. Sandra Stotsky, Dr. James Milgram and Mr. Kevin Perks To Appear Before NC Academic Standards Review Commission
MARCH 9, 2015
On March 16th, the North Carolina Academic Standards Review Commission will welcome the testimony of former Common Core Validation Committee members, Dr. Sandra Stotsy and Dr. James Milgram, and Mr. Kevin Perks, an Associate with Learning Innovations, WestED.
Dr. Stotsky and Dr. Milgram will speak to the Academic Standards Review Commission about the various aspects of the Common Core Math and English Language Arts standards. Mr. Kevin Perks will address methods for effective implementation of standards to achieve desired outcomes.
The Academic Standards Review Commission meeting will take place March 16, 2015
1:00-5:00 PM in the State Board of Education Meeting Room, Education Building located at 301 N. Wilmington Street.About Dr. Sandra Stotsky
Dr. Stotsky served on Common Core’s Validation Committee from 2009-2010, as well as the National Mathematics Advisory Panel. From 1999 to 2003, she was the Senior Associate Commissioner in the Massachusetts Department of Education. From from 2006 to 2010 Dr. Stotsky served on the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. She is a Professor of Education Reform Emerita at the University of Arkansas and the 21st Century Chair in Teacher Quality.About Dr. James Milgram
Dr. James Milgram was a member of Common Core’s Validation Committee 2009-2010. He is currently a professor of mathematics emeritus at Stanford University.
Dr. Milgram received both his B.S. and M.S. from the University of Chicago, and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Milgram has served on a number of boards
and committees, including the NASA Advisory Council and National Board of Education
Sciences.About Mr. Kevin Perks
Kevin Perks is an Associate with Learning Innovations, WestED. WestED is a research, development, and service agency, that works with education and other communities to promote excellence, achieve equity, and improve learning for children, youth and adults. Mr. Perks works with schools, districts, state and federal agencies to improve their capacity to support learning outcomes for students and educators. Perks’ areas of expertise include literacy, motivation, and standards-based teaching and learning.Contact: Co-Chairs Tammy Covil and Andre Peek
Website: http://www.doa.nc.gov/asrc/
More About Mr. Perks
His main job appears to be helping school districts implement the Common Core. After researching him this morning, it seems clear he will bring nothing new to the table that NC DPI hasn’t already covered.
Co-author of the book “Motivation to Learn: Transforming Classroom Culture to Support Student Achievement (Classroom Insights from Educational Psychology)”
Bio on Amazon Book Listing – emphasis added:
Kevin Perks is a program and research associate with Learning Innovations at WestEd who works with schools and districts across the country to support motivation, engagement and achievement in such areas as standards-based education, literacy, and educational reform. Most recently, Kevin has been working with districts to support the implementation of the Common Core State Standards across all content areas. Kevin began his career in Ohio where he taught at a private school dedicated to addressing the needs of under-served learners with dyslexia and other learning disabilities. Since then he has taught a variety of subjects from K-12 to the university level. Kevin currently lives in Maine with his wife and daughter.
In 2013, Perks gave a presentation at the “Maine Assoc. for Middle Level Education” or MAMLE for short. The description of the session:
Reading to Learn (RtL) in all Disciplines (Double Session A &B) – Kevin Perks, WestEd
Featured Presenter – Kevin Perks
With the advent of the Common Core State Standards and the increase in reading standards for teachers in all disciplines, may educators are wondering how to best support students’ reading development. This workshop will describe a process for reading to learn that all teachers can use to support classroom literacy in a consistent and effective manner. Participants will become familiar with the process of Reading to Learn and how it can be used to develop objective-driven text-based lessons. The workshop will also explore strategies for implementing the process of Reading to Learn school- and district-wide.
More about WestEd
WestEd is another ‘Education Non-Profit’. In 2013, they pulled in $137 million and claimed to have over 530 partners and funders. View the 2013 Annual report.
According to their about page, “The roots of WestEd go back to 1966, when Congress funded regional laboratories across the country to find practical ways to improve the education of our nation’s children.”
They have deep financial ties and has partnered with all the major Common Core supporters like Lumina, Gates, Packard and Hewlitt. WestEd has also secured multiple grants from the US Department of Labor and US Department of Education.
WestEd is also tied to the CCSSO. Coming up in June of this year, is the CCSSO’s National Conference on Student Assessment. It appears WestEd is either partnering with CCSSO or sponsoring that conference.
More on where WestEd gets its money:
In Gates Foundation grants, WestEd has received $6,445,454.00 to date.
Applied for USDOE grant in 2010. Requested over $1.7 million.
Link: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/foia/grants/nlawested.pdf
Applied for a USDOL grant in 2013. Requested $5 million.
Link: http://webapps.dol.gov/dolgrantdata/grantinformation.aspx?appid=13359
(Expand the arrows on this page to see more details on the app.)
Hewlitt Foundation Grant – 2014, $1.3 million
http://webapps.foundationcenter.org/rss/grantsfire/html/71634.html
Packard Foundation – 2010, $50,000
http://www.packard.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2010-Statement-29.pdf
Silicon Valley Foundation – 2012, $50,000
https://www.siliconvalleycf.org/sites/default/files/documents/financial/SVCF-2012-form-990-and-990-T-Public-Disclosure.pdf
Lumina Foundation – 2008, $208k (p59)
https://bdgrdemocracy.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/lumina-form-990pf-2008.pdf
Santa Clara Board of Education – 2014, $66,611
http://www.sccoe.org/countyboard/Documents/2013-14/040914/9B.pdf
By the way, WestEd is a project manager partner for the Common Core SBAC tests – for $16.3 million:
WestEd is honored to serve as the Project Management Partner for the multi-state Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) — the first collaboration of its kind building a common assessment system among a majority of states
LL1885 
Pingback: VIDEO: NC Common Core March #ASRC Meeting | Lady Liberty 1885
Pingback: The Common Core Weekend Reads – 03-15-15 | Lady Liberty 1885
Pingback: Common Core supporters admit not for gifted students - Stop Common Core NCStop Common Core NC
Pingback: NC ASRC Press Release For March 16th Meeting: Stotsky, Milgram To Attend - Stop Common Core NCStop Common Core NC
They all sleep around with the same people. The entire process is so incestuous and corrupt. But I have faith in Dr. Stotsky and Dr. Migram to set the record straight. Problem is the truth only matters when the truth matters to them and believe me the truth about CC does not matter to these people. It is like global warming. After all the proof and people caught in lies and falsified data they still push the agenda because the agenda has nothing to do with protecting the environment. Just like Obamacare has nothing to do with health care…..Obamacore has nothing to do with education. The states are locked in to Common Core and the federal government owns EVERY state and it is time we woke up and realized we have to change our strategy. To date, after 3 years of fighting Common Core not one state has REALLY repealed it and those that never signed up have it under another name because of the NCLB waiver. Time to change our focus. Time to stand up and take back our power. Because parents and teachers have the power to stop it tomorrow if they had the courage to do so. It is called STARVE THE BEAST. The beast lives on our children. Take away the children the beast dies. Simple as that folks. For those that absolutely have no choice but to send their kids to the den of the beast then you need to be the parent every teacher hates to see coming. REFUSE all high stakes tests and ALL surveys. Do not participate in NAEP, AP courses, SAT-PSAT. DO NOT allow your kid to be hooked up to a computer all day long. Demand your child learn from books. There are over 800 colleges that accept kids without SAT. There also 3 on line colleges that do not require SAT or ACT. AP-SAT-PSAT feed the College Board beast and they too need to be starved to death. AP does nothing more than feed parents and students ego. It does little to get a student into college and helps a bit in helping them get out in 4 years but the price is way too high for such little return.
LikeLike