Category Archives: EDUCATION

Local OH PTA: Money Didn’t Play Into Common Core Support

Posted on September 9, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Money drives the Common Core. Money spent on it and money to be made from it. Gates has dropped over $2.6 million into the National PTA. So when a local PTA official in Ohio said the following, I chuckled and shook my head:

During the legislature’s Common Core hearings, Rep. Andy Thompson, R-Marietta, the sponsor of the bill to eliminate the standards, has pressed several pro-Common Core witnesses about their affiliations, influences and funding — focusing particularly on whether money came from the Gates Foundation.

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Posted in Common Core | Tagged North Carolina | Comments Off

Gov. Walker: ‘If Reelected, I’ll Replace Common Core’

Posted on September 8, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

This weekend, Scott Walker announced that if reelected he will replace Common Core. I’m sure the Common Core peddling Michael Brickman of the Fordham Institute is unhappy to hear that. Brickman was education adviser to Walker when Common Core was adopted. Brickman also did a song and dance at the NC legislature during the Common Core committee hearings. I also had a chat with him on Pete Kaliner’s show on WWNC.

WKOW.com:

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Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, Pat McCrory | Tagged Eric Guckian | 1 Comment

REMINDER: NC Common Core Symposium 9/27

Posted on September 8, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Just a reminder, I’ll be speaking at a symposium in Cary, NC on Common Core on September 27th. I’ll be talking about the Common Core Commission and how citizens can be aware of the attempt to rebrand Common Core in North Carolina.

Details are below: Continue reading →

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

Laugh or Cry: Validation Cmte Member’s 4 Sentence Defense of Common Core

Posted on September 8, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Laugh or cry? Somehow, I missed this one.
One of the Common Core Validation Committee members defended her rubber-stamp yes vote on the standards with 4 sentences in the News and Observer.

As the sole North Carolinian on the Validation Committee for the Common Core Standards in math, I studied the data, and the standards are not developmentally inappropriate; they are internationally competitive.

At a time when money is tight and we are starving out our best teachers, are we going to waste public funds and generate two years of chaos creating another set of standards for two years? Mathematics in North Carolina is no different from in any other state. The standards allow economies of scale around professional development, writing tests and developing materials, and they serve the needs of highly mobile, under-performing student populations.

This is nothing more than political maneuvering to curry to ideologues at a devastating cost to our kids.

JERE CONFREY, CARY

Wow. Phone-in that list of talking points much? Did no one tell her they’ve moved on from the “politicizing” talking point she threw in as her concluding sentence?

I left a comment:’

#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 ASRC, North Carolina | 1 Comment

Cabarrus High Schoolers Get ‘Welcome Bags’ That Include Condoms

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

After receiving a tip from a parent in Carbarrus county that condoms were being given out in “Welcome Bags” to high school students, I filed a Freedom of Information request with Carbarrus County Schools.

The response to the question were condoms distributed was a ‘yes’. A representative from Cabarrus County Schools however indicated the school itself did not distribute them. Instead, persons from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College gave out these “Welcome Bags”.

If you ask me, that’s splitting hairs by Cabarrus County Schools. They didn’t give the condoms out themselves, but allowed an outside group to do so? Weak.

I also included a request for information regarding the Gay-Straight-Alliance (GSA), which according to a parent was being actively promoted by a teacher at a Cabarrus school. The response was there were ‘no communications’ on that topic that the Cabarrus official was aware of. Perhaps we should check the emails at Cox Mills High, where GSA is listed as an extra-curricular activities club. Maybe we should look at North Rowan High?

Email exchange: Continue reading →