Category Archives: June Atkinson

NC State Senator Questions #APUSH

Posted on September 12, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

North Carolina State Senator Jerry Tillman is questioning the new AP U.S. History (APUSH) framework. (See Tillman’s Newsletter snippet below the fold.)

scG-coleman-unqualifiedHe is wise to do so. APUSH went from a 5 page framework to a 95 page one, which largely marginalizes early U.S. History in favor of a Leftist Global view and includes the theme that America is not exceptional. This new framework totally undermines the teaching of U.S. History both nationwide and in North Carolina. This new framework is led by Common Core architect, David Coleman.

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Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Academic Standards Review Commission, Common Core, EDUCATION, June Atkinson, NC Board Of Education, NC DPI, NCGA, Pat McCrory, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

About That NC Textbook Commission… (PT 2)

Posted on September 11, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

The North Carolina Textbook Commission was announced back in July. Catch up on who was appointed here. The commission is supposed to meet 4 times by law, however since the announcement, not much has been heard about this commission that was appointed by Governor McCrory. We have heard nothing about who has been made chair of this commission, when it will meet for the first time or really, anything else.

Well, we do know a chair has been selected via Twitter, but who is it?

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Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, June Atkinson, NC DPI, Pat McCrory | Comments Off on About That NC Textbook Commission… (PT 2)

NC EOC’s Show Less Than 1% Improvement

Posted on September 10, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

The North Carolina End of Course (EOC) or End of Grade (EOG) results have been reported. The media has done it’s best to ignore that the scoring system was changed from last year to this year, making comparison of the scores impossible.

Remember, the scores for the first year under Common Core were at horrifying 37.3% drop state-wide. Factor in the hot mess that Read To Achieve is becoming and one can see why they wanted to pad the scoring system.

Related Read: NC State Superintendent Spins Changing Testing Scoring System (Video)

Lindalyn Kakadelis of John Locke Foundation has dug into the scores and cobbled together a comparison as best as can be done, given the way the scoring was changed. Kakadelis looks at the overall 3rd through 8th grade reading and math scores. The changes in achievement levels went from a scale of four to a scale of five this year. Even with the change, the scores in reading and math only improved .8%. Hooray for high reaching Common Core?

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Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, June Atkinson, NC DPI | Tagged | 2 Comments

#DM7 Article: NC’s Common Core Commission

Posted on September 7, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

This is a repost of my weekly article at DaTechGuy: The NC Common Core Commission

By A.P. Dillon

Last week, I have an update on the status of replacing Common Core in North Carolina. To recap, from the looks of it, North Carolina’s Governor and State Superintendent are counting on the State Board of Education to shrug off the Academic Standards Review Commission’s (ASRC) work and go with a rebrand. I’d like to hope I’m wrong in that assessment, but that seems to be what they’re saying.

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Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Academic Standards Review Commission, Common Core, June Atkinson, NC DPI, NC State Standards, Pat McCrory | Tagged , | 1 Comment

NC State Superintendent Spins Changing Testing Scoring System (Video)

Posted on September 5, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Spin, June. Spin.

Atkinson says it was to make information more “granular”. Come again?
Tammy Howard reiterates and says the system gives more information to teachers. Really?

Both Atkinson and Howard manage to not to mention Common Core a single time. Common Core is supposed to be high reaching, but yet we have DPI moving the goal posts.

Folks, Common Core is the reason they changed the scoring after last year’s disastrous EOC’s. By changing the scoring system, no one can compare them to last year and that is the whole point — not more “granular” information.

Watch:

VIDEO

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Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION, June Atkinson, NC DPI, Testing | Tagged | 2 Comments

NC Superintendent on #APUSH

Posted on September 2, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

An email exchange on the appalling changes to APUSH (AP U.S. History) was forwarded to me by NC Citizen Nancy Murdoch. With her permission I am publishing it on this blog.

Reminder: APUSH changes were driven by unqualified David Coleman — a Common Core architect.

Note Dr. Atkinson’s comment that the College Board is an outside entity and DPI has no control over it.

“The College Board develops and manages all AP courses, including AP U.S. History. Neither DPI nor the State Board of Education approve the standards or course implementation of outside organizations, including those of College Board. ”

That begs the question, why are we using this if we have no control over it and this new framework clearly undermines North Carolina’s history curriculum? What role do DPI and the State Board of Education play if not to vet and maintain quality education in North Carolina? Dr. Atkinson seems to be shrugging her shoulders here and that’s just as appalling as the changes to the APUSH framework.

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Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, June Atkinson, NC DPI | Tagged | Comments Off on NC Superintendent on #APUSH