Category Archives: Common Core

Required Reading For The NC Common Core Replacement Commission

Over at the Pioneer Institute, Jim Stergios has a must read for the Common Core replacement commission. In fact, this is a must read for the legislators at the North Carolina General Assembly, who will be hearing from parents if the Commission is used for ‘show’ by those attempting to force a rebrand scenario.
The article addresses the false hand-wringing we saw over Race To The Top money, the unfunded mandate Common Core places onto the states and the unpredictability of future costs.

Some other main points the article draws, but pointing to Ohio and how they appear to be getting repeal done ‘right’: Continue reading

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION, NC State Standards, Testing | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Iredell Touts Improved Test Scores With “Lowered Bar”

You can’t make this stuff up. The headline at Statesville.com reads, “Iredell test scores improve with lowered achievement bar”.
Excerpt:
The positive numbers, though, are partly the result of a strategic decision the State Board of Education made in March to add an extra achievement level to EOG and EOC tests. For about two decades in North Carolina, students were given either a score of 1,2,3 or 4, with 3s and 4s considered passing. But in response to larger-than-expected numbers of third-graders being likely to need summer school for lack of reading on grade level per the state’s new Read to Achieve law, the State Board voted 8-4 in March to add a fifth level, and now scores of 3,4 and 5 are considered passing. Under the new system, level 3 students have “sufficient command” of the material, but level 4 and 5 students are “career and college ready.”

Well… DUH.
Of course if you lower the bar for scores it is going to look like there was improved inigoachievement. This is smoke and mirrors, folks.

KEEP READING…. Continue reading

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION, June Atkinson, NC DPI | Comments Off on Iredell Touts Improved Test Scores With “Lowered Bar”

Rep. Linda Johnson: ‘Common Core Reform by Jan 2015’

A reader sent me the comments made by Rep. Linda Johnson at the most recent meeting of the Republican Women of Greater Cabarrus County meeting.

It would seem that Operation Rebrand has recruited Rep. Johnson from her comments. Rep. Johnson made the puzzling comment that we’d see “Common Core reform by January 2015”. That’s just three months of work by the commission. That is not a feasible end date for re-writing the standards line by line. Three months is barely time to address the K-3 standards, which are atrocious.

Perhaps Rep. Johnson misspoke? We can hope, but given recent statements by the Governor and Superintendent Atkinson, I doubt it.

See below the fold for the comments reported to me.
CCSS = Common Core State Standards and APUSH = Advanced Placement U.S. History. Continue reading

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION, NCGA | Comments Off on Rep. Linda Johnson: ‘Common Core Reform by Jan 2015’

Governor Common Core Rebrand Appearing On Pete Kaliner Show Today

ATTENTION COMMON CORE FIGHTERS:

Governor Common Core Rebrand will be on the Pete Kaliner show today on WWNC.

If you have a question for Gov. @PatMcCroryNC – let me know. He’ll be on the show today. Listen: http://t.co/NKwGcsOack #ncpol #ncga #avl

— Pete Kaliner (@PeteKaliner) August 28, 2014

READ MORE Continue reading

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, Pat McCrory | Tagged | Comments Off on Governor Common Core Rebrand Appearing On Pete Kaliner Show Today

Guilford County Schools Spends $357,448.60 On One Symposium

The Guilford County School district has spent $357,448.60 on an “African-American Males Symposium” this Summer. The costs were paid for by a portion of the $1.6 million in Race To The Top funds given to the district, except for the catering. The catering bill came from local funds and totaled around $8,779.90. Stipends were given to teachers to attend the two-day event in the amount of $100 per day. Those stipends represented the bulk of the cost of the event at $264,500.

Keep Reading… Continue reading

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION, Racial Justice, Social Justice | Tagged , | 1 Comment

How North Carolina Pushed Back Against Common Core

The article “How North Carolina Pushed Back Against Common Core” first appeared at Freedomworks.

By Andrea Dillon (A.P. Dillon)

I’m a mom. I also blog. I’m very much in tune with how my children operate and am very plugged into their lives. I have two children, my oldest is school aged and my fight against Common Core began with them in Kindergarten. This was my first time in the public school round-up since I had been in the system as a student. Both my child and I were excited for this next chapter of his life. I joined the PTA, I got involved in volunteering and thought things were going well. I thought wrong.

KEEP READING Continue reading

Posted in Common Core | Comments Off on How North Carolina Pushed Back Against Common Core