In case you missed it, the Academic Standards Review Commission who met for 15 months decided to take a dive. Several of the members went cannibal on poor Dr. Scheick and as a result, killed the math recommendations.
The vanilla set of recommendations that were produced are weak. These recommendations now are with the State Board of Education, where they will be looked at by the Student Achievement Committee. That committee consists of two people: Eric Davis and Olivia Oxendine.
Oxendine served on the Academic Standards Review Commission and was one of the commission members who joined in on attacking Dr. Scheick. Someone tell me how it works that a person who killed part of the recommendationsnow gets to possibly further water them down?
Here are some possibilities that could happen now:
State Board of Education committee puts off looking at these recommendations until the General Assembly’s short session is mostly over. That effectively kills any action the NCGA could take on Common Core in the short-term.
It would be dumb or naive, rather, of the State Board of Education to think that there aren’t legislators who have a bill just sitting in a drawer waiting to be filed though. At least I get that impression from my moles in at the legislature and from Senator Jerry Tillman’s most recent newsletter:
Common Core – No More – Are You Sure? SBE Must Decide…
Current law does away with the Common Core Curriculum. I wish that was the end of the story. It’s only the beginning. The standards commission ended its work a few short weeks ago. After 15 months of meetings they produced a draft report. The report was fairly thorough and addressed the math curriculum problems well and the draft report recommended adopting Minnesota’s plan – an excellent plan and considered among the best in the nation. The standards commission on December 18th promptly voted down its own report and thus wasted 15 months of time, effort and money.
Now, the State Board of Education must act. The may accept, reject or modify the report. Essentially they got NOTHING from the standards commission – NOTHING. The Legislature, if my guess is right, will not stand for a whitewash, cheap rebranding of the Common Core Curriculum. The people of this state are smarter than that. The people I represent know better. The Legislature once again will have the final say. We’ll see…
Not sure what law Tillman is talking about, but Common Core are standards not curriculum and no law has gotten rid of it yet.
‘We’ll see’ alright — if the good Senator is all talk and no action.
Another thing to think about is that if the State Board of Education were to put off moving on the recommendations, it would then land closer to election time and give many candidates a renewed battle call.
Remember, Common Core is that sleeper issue everyone underestimates.
It took Jeb down. it took Kasich down. It took Walker down. It ain’t over yet — Who will be next?
Related Reading:
LL1885 
received this from James OKeefe at Veritas about Common Core..
http://projectveritas.com/explosive-new-series-about-common-core
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Yes! I’m very, very aware of it! 😉
I have one article up here: http://stopcommoncorenc.org/project-veritas-tackles-common-core-its-all-a-money-game-video/
Another one coming!
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WERE YOU SURPRISED BY THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE ASRC?
Why would anyone be surprised at the final position of the ASRC? Instead of my saying I told you so let us review a few of the heads up statements that were presented over a year ago.
1. The forming of the ASRC was a sham:
• It was a stacked deck for the Common Core supporters
• It had no authority or power to change anything
• It could not repeal Common Core
• It was a citizen “feel good” committee
2. The ASRC was a typical Progressive ploy to achieve their goals:
• Form a committee to talk an issue to a slow death
• Give the appearance that the citizens have an input
• Further divide the opposition
• Cause the opposition to become frustrated, weakened, in total disarray
3. Expected weak recommendations at best:
• Faint possibility of appearance of tweaking Common Core
• Any worthwhile recommendations would soon be debunked
• No consensus to repeal or replace Common Core
4. Citizens need to work towards the meaningful battles that are looming:
• Time spent with the ASRC is fruitless
• This was proven to be the case
5. The real battles will take place in the political trenches in 2016:
• Educate and organize the citizens of NC
• Search out legislators, and potential legislators, that oppose Common Core
• Support candidates in the 2015 elections that oppose Common Core
• Bring out the grassroots to vote
6. The war will be won or lost in the 2017 Legislature:
• This is the last opportunity to repeal and replace Common Core
• The citizens must get to know their Representatives and Senators personally
• The citizens must email, write, phone, fax, and visit their 2017 legislators.
These suggestions started to materialize in 2015 but by mid-year the Progressive game plan started to show results and the opposition to Common Core started to decay. Certain groups of people and organizations became enamored with their concepts and pursued their own goals instead of continuing a team approach. They thought that their proposals were so magnificent that the ASRC would have to recommend that the Legislature empower them, the anemic ASRC had no chance of empowering anything. See NC Common Core Commission Co-Chair To Members: You Disregarded Your Duty
How did that turn out? In reality by taking this approach and believing that the ASRC could bring any plan to fruition they lost one year of potential productivity. Chalk up the ASRC project as a victory for the Progressives. The issue got talked to death. When will so called Christians realize that leaving God out of the equation does not work? The Founders understood the importance of including God in their endeavors. It never ceases to amaze me that so called Christians don’t want to offend anyone by mentioning God. Personally I would rather offend mankind than God. Has anyone learned anything from the past 12 months of non-fruition?
The next question is has anyone learned anything from history? It does repeat itself. Will they admit that they were led down the primrose path by the progressive committee game plan? Will the citizens regroup in a joint effort to retake control of the education of their children or will individuals and small groups continue to pursue their own projects and objectives?
It will be interesting to observe what transpires over the next 18 months.
Don R. Watson
NC Academic Freedom Alliance
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