Category Archives: EDUCATION

What NC Citizens Can Do About #APUSH

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

On Friday, I wrote about how #APUSH Is Going To Get A Debate In North Carolina.

I noted in that article the talking points from State Superintendent Atkinson and Chairman Bill Cobey. These two have no intention of dropping APUSH and their remarks seemingly hint at skirting the Founding Principles Act.

It was also suggested that if they are going to keep APUSH as an option, that a fundamental prerequisite course be put into place. I concur. The State Board of Education should move fast and make History I and History II prerequisites for APUSH.

Bear in mind, it was also noted that somewhere around 20,000 North Carolina students take Advanced Placement courses. Of those, only a small percentage pass. The College Board makes their money regardless. This is something the General Assembly would to well to consider evaluating since they hold the purse strings and direct the Department of Public Instruction to work with the College Board.

As with the Common Core, North Carolina should not be relying on outside entities for materials we have no control over and that have no accountability to our citizens.

KEEP READING – SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT APUSH Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, NC Board Of Education, NC DPI | Tagged , | Comments Off on What NC Citizens Can Do About #APUSH

#APUSH Is Going To Get A Debate In North Carolina

Posted on October 3, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

At the October meeting of the NC State School Board, the topic of APUSH came up. For those unfamiliar, APUSH stands for Advanced Placement U.S. History.

Recently the College Board has made controversial revisions to the APUSH framework, taking it from a five page document to a 95 page document. The changes are alarming, so much so that a national conference call was put together on August 4, 2014. Audio of the call is available via Georgia Stop Common Core. More articles on APUSH can be found at StopCommonCoreNC.org and on my blog.

Important Reads
NC Superintendent on #APUSH
NC Board Of Ed Plans To Stick With #APUSH

Critics of the new APUSH framework contend that it undermines the current teaching of U.S. History and with regards to North Carolina, does not align with the current law and requirements known as the Founding Principles Act (HB 588).

Video of this discussion on APUSH can be seen here. Fast forward to around the 1:37:30 mark.

I have a few comments on the video:

KEEP READING…. Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, June Atkinson, NC Board Of Education | Tagged | 2 Comments

A Look At The #NC23 Senate Race (PT 2)

Posted on October 3, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Earlier this week, I started a look at the NC-23 Senate race between Valerie Foushee, the current appointment to the seat, and Mary Lopez-Carter, the challenger.

In the previous installment, we covered Valerie Foushee. This installment will cover Mary Lopez-Carter.

About Mary Lopez-Carter Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, ELECTIONS, NCGA, POLITICS NC, Video | Comments Off on A Look At The #NC23 Senate Race (PT 2)

CMS Schools Still Pushing Sales Tax Issue; Using School Resources?

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

More politicking being done in our schools.

A citizen on Twitter alerted me that CMS (Charlotte-Mecklenburg) schools are still pushing the sales tax referendum out to parents. It should be questioned if school resources were being employed to do so.

Here is the tweet containing a picture of the letter parents received from the J.M Alexander principal. It invites parents to join CMS Superintendent Heath Morrison at a meeting about the proposed sales tax increase:

I challenge teachers-provide “living wage” math problem using common core math. @LadyLiberty1885 pic.twitter.com/o4m23E7G3h

— Rebecca Smith (@TriBecca1014) October 2, 2014

These letters were not the only form of communication used.

Robo-calls were made as well. Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, POLITICS NC | Tagged | Comments Off on CMS Schools Still Pushing Sales Tax Issue; Using School Resources?

CA Student Data Privacy Bill Becomes Law

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

Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SB 1177) became law this week. California Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill which is aimed at curbing online vendors from selling student data to third parties. They are calling this a landmark bill, but it’s got some serious holes in it. A few key points: Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core | Tagged | Comments Off on CA Student Data Privacy Bill Becomes Law

10,000 Comments: NC Overall Feedback

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

Yesterday, I wrote about the The Infamous “10,000” Comments On Common Core. To quickly recap, the CoreStandards.org site took public feedback prior to the standards being published. Those comments were sold around the country as proof of transparency and vetting and are known by most as the “10,000 comments”. I received a copy of the comments from North Carolina residents along with an overall total from all respondent locations. It was not 10,000, but 8,731. North Carolina’s total was 195.

I said I would publish the comments once I had a suitable format for doing so. The document is an excel sheet, so transferring the data is going to take time. The excel sheet has multiple categories beyond overall comments dealing with K-5 ELA and math, grades 6 and up ELA and math, history/social studies, architecture of the standards, the appendices and more. It is a lot to sort through.

I have compiled the overall comment section with identifiers of the type of respondent for North Carolina. Not all respondents gave input in the overall feedback column, which is why I will have to publish multiple sections.

KEEP READING – See some of the comments, view all the NC general comments document. Continue reading →

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