Category Archives: Authors

School Choice Week: AFP Hosting Viewings of ‘Waiting For Superman’

Posted on January 16, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

School Choice week is coming!

Americans For Prosperity (AFP) will be holding screenings of the film ‘Waiting for Superman’ in Cary and Garner on back to back evenings in January.

I’ve seen the film and highly recommend it. Watch one of the trailers here.
Here are the details and locations:

Monday, January 26, 2015 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (EST)
Garner Performing Arts Center
Garner, NC
MORE INFO

Tuesday, January 27, 2015 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (EST)
Cary Arts Center
Cary, NC
MORE INFO
Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885) | Comments Off

Convention of States Tour – 2015 NC Schedule

Posted on January 16, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

The Convention of States (CoS) tour schedule for North Carolina is now available. For those unfamiliar with CoS, you can read my previous article on it. Michael Westrich of CoS summarized what CoS is about quite nicely:
“Citizens for Self-Governance (CSG) recently launched the Convention of States (COS) Project with the expressed purpose of urging and empowering state legislators to call a Convention of States. Under the COS Project plan, this convention would be called “for the purpose of limiting the power and jurisdiction of the federal government.” Only amendments that fall under this category would be germane and up for debate.“

Downloadable CoS 2015 NC schedule

These scheduled stops are free and open to the public:

KEEP READING – SEE THE SCHEDULE – DOWNLOAD IT – Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885) | 2 Comments

Common Core Aligned: Getting Smart

Posted on January 16, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

“…to create just these kinds of tests—next-generation assessments aligned to the common core. When the tests are aligned to the common standards, the curriculum will line up as well—and that will unleash powerful market forces in the service of better teaching.” – Bill Gates, 2009 Speech To Natl. Conference of State Legislatures

The goal is to align everything so that students and the money have nowhere to go but Common Core.

Reason TV has published a video titled, Silicon Valley Wants to Teach Your Kids.

Read the description for the video, emphasis added is mine:

Published on Jan 14, 2015
If you are someone who grew up sitting in a classroom every day; facing the chalkboard and watching the seconds tick by on a clock until the bell rang, then online education may feel a bit strange at first. But people like Tom Vander Ark, the CEO of Getting Smart, say that learning online is not only the future of education but one of the ways to make it more effective.

KEEP READING…. Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core | Tagged Common Core Aligned | 1 Comment

CCSSO President’s Homeschool Tweet Sees Backlash

Posted on January 15, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

In yesterday’s article, CCSSO President Questions Testing For Homeschoolers, the question was posed by Dr. Atkinson that perhaps homeschoolers and private schooled children should be taking the same tests as public school children.

Here’s the original tweet:

With choice, should homeschool & private school students have to take the same tests as public school students? If no, why not? #HLR2015

— June Atkinson (@DrJuneAtkinson) January 12, 2015

This question has led to some backlash.
Better watch it, ya’ll. You might be accused of bearing false witness.

Some replies:

KEEP READING… Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Homeschool, June Atkinson, Testing, Twitter | Tagged CCSSO, Homeschool, Testing | 1 Comment

NC #ASRC Handout has Author Missing

Posted on January 15, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

In going over the December meeting materials from the Common Core Academic Standards Review Commission (ASRC), there was one handout that was missing any notation of who the author was.

This handout had a header on it that said, “Legislatively Required Standards Review Process in Other States”. A closer inspection of the original document’s properties showed it was authored by Michael Gilligan.

KEEP READING…. Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Academic Standards Review Commission, Common Core, Pat McCrory | Tagged ASRC, Transparency | 2 Comments

What they’re saying about Common Core and Education in NC

Posted on January 15, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Two items ran through my Twitter feed yesterday which nearly made me do a spit-take.

First, the new “nonpartisan news” non-profit, EducationNC, ran one of its first major articles. It was from the Governors Aide, Eric Guckian, titled “Every student deserves the right to reach their potential”.

Second, NPR has an article out about North Carolina and the Academic Standards Review Commission. It’s titled, “North Carolina Rethinks The Common Core”.

KEEP READING…. Continue reading →