Another House In the Common Core Potemkin Village: Hope Street Group

Posted on June 29, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Over the course of the last three and a half years, I’ve come across more ‘education non-profits’ tied to Common Core than one can imagine. This sea of non-profit organizations all seem to have their roots in a core set of financial backers : Gates, Hewlitt, Walton, Lumina, Carnegie and many more.

A potemkin village of support for Common Core has been erected using this sea of non-profits as education reform astroturf.  Common Core has a key group of these potemkin village homes spanning back to 2010 and earlier:

On May 12, 2010, six reform leaders made their pitch to a roomful of funders, consultants, and staffers of nonprofits at the annual “summit” of the New Schools Venture Fund. The panel was called “Political Savvy: Guidebook for a New Landscape.”

Speakers included executives from Green Dot Public [charter] Schools (Gates, $9.7 million, 2006-2007), Bellwether Education Partners (Gates, $951,800 in 2011), Hope Street Group (Gates, $875,000 in 2008-2009), Stand for Children (as noted above, $5.2 million from Gates, 2003-20011), Democrats for Education Reform (a PAC), and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation (one of the largest ed reform funders, nonetheless a Gates grantee, $3.6 million, 2010).
– Dissent magazine, Spring 2012, “Hired Guns and Astrotuf: How to Buy and Sell School Reform“

I’ve identified a few of the houses in the village already, many of them listed in the passage above, but over the course of the last week I’ve spotted a McMansion I had missed previously.

This is a group that likely started with good intent, but really appears to be just another front group for Bill Gates’s next ‘big idea’ and a policy narrative vehicle for his education reformer friends.

Government here to help common coreMeet the Hope Street Group.

Hope Street Group has invaded North Carolina this year in their conquest to recruit and train teachers or what they refer to as “Fellows”.  NC’s Superintendent has welcomed Hope Street with open arms according to the March press release:

“As a teacher myself, I understand the benefits of taking lessons learned in the classroom and applying them to decisions made at the state level. I am excited to have Hope Street Group assist our North Carolina teachers in their quest to become the best educators possible for North Carolina’s children,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson.

“Participating North Carolina teachers are taught how to transform their passion for teaching into an actionable tool for improving the broader teaching profession. As stewards of our children’s education, it is imperative that teachers play an integral, empowered role in informing education policy,” said Dan Cruce, vice president of education at Hope Street Group.

[…]

The Hope Street Group North Carolina Teacher Voice Network will have access to a variety of professional development and training opportunities, including peer engagement, data collection and communications strategies. They will collect data from thousands of their colleagues to present to NCDPI. They will also serve as leaders within their own school communities.

This is a version of Teach Plus or Teach For America, but dedicated to Common Core.

Dr. Atkinson is aligning our state with yet another unelected, unaccountable outside group funded and directed by millionaires and Foundations. Why is she not doing her job and working on North Carolina’s sagging teacher college situation?

Remember the term “Teacher Voice Network“, this will be revisited at a later date in follow-up article.

The Teacher Fellows
These “Fellows” appear to be mainly young or new teachers and their training is centered on use and teaching of the Common Core standards. In fact, Hope Street Group recommends that state boards of education require Common Core specific training and proficiency be a requirement of teacher licensure and re-licensure.

This is not conjecture, this fact based directly on one of Hope Street Groups self-touted achievements: The Teacher Common Core Playbook.

The playbook has many endorsers, but this one sticks out:

“U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan highlights Hope Street Group’s work on Race to the Top and says collaboration between different groups could lead to better outcomes in education in this video.”

This playbook deserves deeper scrutiny and there needs to be a conversation on the purpose of teacher colleges, but that’s an article all its own. I’ll get to it.

Given some of what’s out there on Hope Street, the consensus seems to be that these “Fellows”  are also recruited to promote pro-testing/data collection  environments that Common Core needs to survive; with an emphasis on tying teacher evaluations to test scores.

The agenda of Hope Street Group is clearly to push testing, evaluating teachers based on test scores, and common core.  They will hand-pick some naive teachers to be their “Fellows” (or as we like to say, “follows” or “foolows” since they will be following foolish orders on what to say and do), give them a little extra $3500 boost to their paychecks, and train them in how to sweet-talk legislators to vote for the reforms that their donors want.  So, it is just like the Teach Plus organization that has already been doing dirty work here in TN, except with a more hopeful-ish name and a rosier-pink lipstick.
– MommaBears.org, 2/27/15, Hope Street is a Dead End for TN and TEA

MommaBears.org characterizes these “Fellows” as trained pro-Common Core/pro-testing sound bite machines in to be trotted out in front of cameras and steered to whisper in the ears of politicians.

Of course, the “Fellows” themselves likely don’t see it that way. Too bad, because when you have to use “talking points” instead of the facts of the service or topic itself, guess what? You’re a sound bite machine.

I’d have to say, that characterization sounds right on target.  In North Carolina, we saw these sound bite machines first hand a few weeks back at the last Common Core Commission meeting.

Remember ‘just a math teacher’ Kim Arwood and her pal, Trey Ferguson?  Ferguson is one of the new “NC Teacher Voice Network Fellows“. Imagine that!

Who else is promoting these “Fellows” and the “Teacher Voice Network” in North Carolina? The PR Firm, EducationNC and the best pal of the NC Chamber of Commerce et al — the Common Core pushing Public Schools Forum NC.

There is A LOT more to Hope Street Group. Stay tuned, next time I’ll give some history and follow the money.

 

 

Posted in Common Core, EDUCATION, June Atkinson, NC DPI | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

#DM7 Article: The Path Of Predetermination

Posted on June 28, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

This is a repost of my Da Tech Guy column: The Path Of Predetermination

By A.P. Dillon

I don’t know about anyone else, but I just can’t read another “so and so bans Confederate flag” story. Granted, it’s an ugly piece, but it’s still part of our nation’s history.

What sickens me is how the media has been leading the charge against a flag instead of the person who used it for his own twisted reasons. There has been little to no separation of the two.  The hyper reporting of the ensuing onslaught of removals and bannings should make people mildly unsettled with the resemblance it bears to lemmings running over a cliff.

Enough. Just enough already.  I have Jonah Goldberg to thank for restoring some sanity, compassion and education to the issue. Go read his column this week, The Dignity of Charleston Flies in the Face of the Left’s Uninformed, Anti-South Bigotry

Let’s shift gears a moment and talk about education, because there is a distinct parallel to events going on right now. Education shapes a nation.The path for the future of our children is being shaped and predetermined, much like the media is shaping and predetermining what is and isn’t outrage news.

I’ve warned about what your education dollar is buying these days. That education dollar looks a lot like the tempest in the Confederate teapot we see going on right now.

I’ve warned about the increasing evidence that standardized testing and Common Core are creating pathways or silos for kids to be dropped into as they emerge from the K-12 school system and enter either the workforce or go on to college. This is no longer a warning, it’s a reality

Consider two stories on testing that emerged this week. One on Common Core test scoring, the other on the activities of the ACT.

First, the Common Core aligned PARCC test developed by Pearson. Breitbart reported that these scorers were recruited via “CraigsList, Monster.com, and Facebook”.

A Pearson official boasted about the scoring of these tests in a fashion that should have every parent running for the exits. I wrote about it at StopCommonCoreNC.org:

At times, the scoring process can evoke the way a restaurant chain monitors the work of its employees and the quality of its products.

“From the standpoint of comparing us to a Starbucks or McDonald’s, where you go into those places you know exactly what you’re going to get,” said Bob Sanders, vice president of content and scoring management at Pearson North America, when asked whether such an analogy was apt.

“McDonald’s has a process in place to make sure they put two patties on that Big Mac,” he continued. “We do that exact same thing. We have processes to oversee our processes, and to make sure they are being followed.”

Small wonder the Opt Out movement in testing is spreading like wildfire.

The other was a little nugget about the ACT tests. The ACT tests have been Common Core aligned as well, by the way.  Education blogger, Mercedes Schneider, reports on this change:

“ACT is revamping its test, creating new scoring subscales and combining other scales in new ways– and it also plans to advise colleges and universities regarding predicted student success in given majors.

“ACT is intentionally shifting its role from reporting test scores to advising postsecondary institutions regarding admissions decisions.”

Schneider also notes that parents and students are not in the ACT equation for this ‘advising’ to postsecondary institutions.

Little Johnny wants to be a Doctor? TOO BAD! His ACT score says he should be an English major.

Little Susie wants to be a Engineer? TOO BAD! Her PARCC scorer dumped her into a 2 year community college for food prep studies.

Your child’s path is being predetermined, just like the media has predetermined the news we watch.

DM7 small LL1885A.P. Dillon resides in the Triangle area of North Carolina and is the founder of LadyLiberty1885.com.
Her current and past writing can also be found at IJ Review, StopCommonCoreNC.org and Watchdog Wire NC.
Catch her on Twitter: @LadyLiberty1885

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Bree Newsome’s “Daring” Climb

Posted on June 28, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Have you heard about the woman who scaled a flagpole in South Carolina to remove the Confederate Flag?  Some are calling that “daring”.

Given that she was wearing climbing gear and had a spotter I’d call it “staged”.

 

Anyway, the woman’s name is Bree Newsome.

By her own description she’s a “Writer, Director, Producer, Singer, Songwriter, Activist, Consultant and Speaker”. Newsome is no stranger to being on camera on purpose.

That is her business. She’s a “powerhouse“, folks.

She should look familiar to North Carolinians — she’s a Moral Monday arrestee from July 2013.  So was her SC climbing spotter, James Tyson. Once again, not daring, but staged:

That July 2013 arrest was in protest of voting rights. A quick search for “Bree Newsome” in the North Carolina voter look up tool shows no record of a “Bree Newsome” being registered. Perhaps that’s not her legal name.

Barber wasted NO time getting in front of the media to claim his slice of Newsome’s 15 minutes of fame.  It was so fast, one has to wonder if he knew it was going to happen.

Barber in a statement he gave to both Huffington Post and local outlet WRAL , Barber compared Newsome to Rosa Parks and Fannie Lou Hamer.

In both statements Barber referred to Newsome as a  ‘committed, trained, non-violent messenger of the truth’ .

The Huffington Post has a link to more footage of Newsome. That footage is also of her being arrested because yes, Moral Monday has its own videographer.

It is no accident Newsome’s Moral Monday arrest video is posted on the “Story of Us” YouTube channel. This arrest is the documentary Reverend Barber is peddling about Moral Monday. You see, the Reverend is a shy guy who can’t bear any self promotion.

Newsome’s website has a section for her activism:

A staunch advocate for human rights and social justice, Newsome was arrested last year during a sit-in at the North Carolina State Capitol where she spoke out against the state’s recent attack on voting rights. She continues to work as an activist and youth organizer in North Carolina, serving in the capacity of Western Field Organizer for the youth-led organization Ignite NC. 

Ignite NC gets its support from Democracy NC, which is run by that “non-partisan advocate for clean elections”, Bob Hall.

Ignite NC is a far left group that basically recruits and trains young kids to protest.  I haven’t sort of written on before, but it was on the other members.  Namely, Bryan Perlmutter.

Perlmutter leads multiple groups with young kids, including such groups as NC HEAT and Youth Organizing Institute.  Perlmutter also participated in the Fast Food Strikes supported by Moral Monday.

There is a gaggle of organizations associated with Ignite NC. Here is the list via the North Carolina Secretary of State website:

Ignite NC
Education Justice Alliance (EJA)
NC Coalition for Education Justice (NCCEJ)
Student Power
Youth Organizing Institute (YOI)
NC Queer Youth Power Coalition

When one clicks on the NC Secretary of State document filings for Ignite NC, the name “Southern Vision Alliance” is displayed. Quite an alliance.

Oh Snap!

 

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Moral Monday, Racial Justice, Reverend Barber, THE LEFT | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

A Free Press Is Essential To Liberty

Posted on June 26, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Without argument, a free press is essential to maintaining liberty and democracy.  It’s so important, it is included in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

A free press should also be a transparent and honest press.

Yesterday, a Policy Watch reporter was escorted out of the annual NCBCE meeting.  An invitation went out, citing ‘credentialed’ press only.

I happened to also receive this invite in my email. Would I have been escorted out? According to the News and Observer, yes, I would have:

A spokesman for McCrory, Josh Ellis, said N.C. Policy Watch is not credentialed by the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters, the North Carolina Press Association, the Capitol Press Corps or members of a widely-recognized media cooperative such as the Associated Press.

The event, held at PNC Arena, was for the committee members and open to credentialed press. The meeting is not considered a public meeting under state law.

News and Observer has an interesting article on this turn of events, here’s an excerpt with emphasis added:

N.C. Policy Watch, which maintains a Web site, describes itself as having a “guiding objective” of bringing about “social, political and economic justice in North Carolina.”

“Since its founding in 2004,” the group says on its site, “NC Policy Watch has established itself as the state’s most prolific and influential progressive voice and a direct and effective counterpoint to the state’s conservative think tanks.”

Its director, Chris Fitzsimon, is a frequent critic of the McCrory administration.

Lindsay Wagner, who covers education issues for Policy Watch, wrote in an online post, which included audio of what happened, that she was escorted from the business committee meeting with little explanation just as it began at the PNC Arena. Arena security asked her to leave at the direction of the governor’s office.

The article goes on to say that Twitter users criticized this action by the McCrory administration. I myself re-tweeted many of these objections. I personally don’t believe any form of press should be kept out of a public event where our elected officials are speaking.

Having said that, the News and Observer article has a glaring omission or two.

Policy Watch is an endeavor of the NC Justice Center.

The NC Justice Center is the parent of Blueprint NC.

Blueprint NC had an attack memo leaked to ‘the press’ in 2013, which detailed a campaign to ‘cripple, eviscerate’, pressure and slam‘ Governor McCrory at every possible opportunity.

Blueprint NC’s network includes every Left leaning organization you can think of.

Chris Fitzsimon was on Blueprint NC’s original board, according to the organizations 2010 filings at the NC Secretary of State.  Funny how he’s quoted by News and Observer, ‘slamming’ the Governor, huh?

Should they have allowed Ms. Wagner into this event, especially seeing as she received an invitation? Definitely Yes.

But perhaps the reservations of this administration regarding Ms. Wagner’s parent group’s activities should also be considered?

 

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), BlueprintNC, Media Bias, Pat McCrory | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

WCPSS Expands The “Bring Your Own Device” Program – What Parents Should Know

Posted on June 26, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) has expanded the ‘bring your own device’ program. More schools will now be added to the list where the program is being employed.

I figured some sort of privacy policy or monitoring would also be in existence, so I asked News and Observer reporter, Keung Hui:

The answer was yes. Parents allowing their child to bring their own device need to consent to let the school monitor their child’s activities:

What that monitoring means is WCPSS will require parental consent for kids bringing their own device so that school officials can discipline the child if they are using the device for non-school related reasons. Examples would likely be something like using Facebook, Twitter, gaming websites or viewing inappropriate websites or videos.

Mr. Hiu provided the link to the ‘technology responsible use‘ section from the State Board policy manual.  It’s brief and contains useful information for parents.

Section D is the Parental Consent section. On top of the monitoring of websites, the parent has to agree to allow monitoring the child’s e-mail too?

The section reads as follows, emphasis added:

The board recognizes that parents of minors are responsible for setting and conveying the standards their children should follow when using media and information sources. Accordingly, before a student may independently access the Internet, the student’s parent must be made aware of the possibility that the student could obtain access to inappropriate material while engaged in independent use of the Internet. The parent and student must consent to the student’s independent access to the Internet and to monitoring of the student’s Internet activity and e-mail communication by school personnel.

In addition, in accordance with the board’s goals and visions for technology, students may require accounts in third party systems for school related projects designed to assist students in mastering effective and proper online communications or to meet other educational goals. Parental permission will be obtained when necessary to create and manage such third party accounts.

This last paragraph is basically telling parents your kid might use a third party website and be asked for personal information to set up an account to use it.  That third party will have a privacy and data use policy all its own. It’s nice they state they will ask your permission, that’s actually kind of a first in my experience.  I’ve had teachers sign their class up for “free” apps without even telling the parents before.

Parents need to consider that not only is the school tracking the child, now a third party vendor might possibly be too. If the app claims it is “Free”, that is a big tip off that this third party vendor is very likely logging your child’s every click and selling that data to someone else. This often includes their IP address. Caveat Emptor!

Read the privacy statement section. This section mainly seems to apply to school owned technology, but if applied to the ‘bring your own device’ program, anything your kid does while on the school network is fair game. “Without notice” the school can “monitor, track, and/or log network access, communications, and use;“.

Consider if you, the parent, used that device that is now going to school with your child. Will the school be able to look at your activity like website browsing history?  Sure, why not?

If it were me allowing my child to participate, I would be wiping all history for all users profiles and of all the apps off the device. Daily. I’d also be checking to see what was accessed, when and by whom each day.

The Friday Institute keeps coming up when it comes to digital learning.  According to the WCPSS FAQ on the program, “WCPSS is working in partnership with the NC State University Friday Institute to offer professional development for BYOD teachers.” 

RELATED – How School Provided Tablets in Guilford County NC Gave Students X-rated Access: Parent does the right thing, principal tells officer to arrest father

Posted in EDUCATION, Wake County School Board | Tagged | Comments Off on WCPSS Expands The “Bring Your Own Device” Program – What Parents Should Know

Let’s Face It, Government Dictated School Lunches Suck

Posted on June 25, 2015 by A.P. Dillon
Here, have a leaf. It's healthful. Me? I'm having the cheeseburger. With Fries.

Here, have a leaf. It’s healthful. Me? I’m having the cheeseburger. With Fries.

Michelle Obama’s initiative to dictate what schools can and can’t sell has gone over as well as discovering a pickle in a peanut butter sandwich.

Heck, even a Second grader said FLOTUS ruined Taco Tuesday.

For a few years now, we’ve seen the students in public schools reject the government regulated school lunches.  They’ve turned up their noses, tweeted pictures of the rather disgusting items deemed ‘good for them’ by our Lunch Overlords.

For fun, go search “My School Lunch Sucks” on Twitter.  Parents are in that Twitter mix:

 

Now kids are turning to condiments like salt and pepper to ease the pain.  These kids are so desperate, they are selling salt and pepper in the halls, however, these items are “contraband”.

Washington Examiner:

School lunches are so bland that kids are selling salt and pepper to spice them up, a school official told lawmakers Wednesday.

This “contraband economy” is result of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act Of 2010, said John Payne, a school board president in Indiana.

The 2010 bill directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create national standards for food served and sold in schools, which included limits on what could be served and how much, as well as a maximum amount of calories that can be included in school meals.

Payne, president of the Blackford County School Board in Hartford City, Ind., told House lawmakers that students in his school district have been “caught bringing in — and even selling — salt, pepper and sugar in school to add taste to perceived bland and tasteless cafeteria food.”

Payne said the USDA standards are strangling school districts by making them provide food students won’t eat in addition to increasing the cost of lunch for school districts.

Stay with me here, because North Carolina participates in this micromanaging nanny state lunacy.  Washington Examiner continues:

Lynn Harvey, of North Carolina’s school nutrition services, testified that participation in school meals has dropped 5 percent in North Carolina under the new restrictions even as enrollment has increased.

Ninety percent of North Carolina school nutrition directors said a requirement that all grains must be whole grain is the main culprit, Harvey said.

For example, Harvey said that since breakfast biscuits were switched to whole grain, participation in breakfast has dropped in 60 percent of her state’s school districts.

“No amount of training or technical assistance for schools will change students’ distaste for foods that look and taste unappealing to them,” she said.

GEE.
How much food is wasted?  How much money is going into the garbage along with uneaten food?

Related:  New Hanover school district to offer free summer lunches …even though school is out. Who is paying?

Also, flashback:  Student ‘Health Assessment’ Helps ‘Track the Fat Kids’. Bonus: US is a Democracy?

Related Reads

FLOTUS extends ban on photographing her eating to cover asking her questions.

First Hamburglar Strikes Again; Soda Ban Praise, Mickey Mouse Eats Carrots

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION | 1 Comment