NC Academic Standards Review Commission – May Meeting Details

Posted on May 6, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Keep Calm Stop Common Core smThe May meeting of the NC Common Core Commission (officially known as the Academic Standards Review Commission or ASRC) have been published by the Dept. of Administration. Details below. Note – you will need Real Player to stream the audio. Also see the ASRC website.

This meeting will happen on May 18th.

Academic Standards Review Commission – The Commission will meet from1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the State Board of Education meeting room, Education Building, 301 N. Wilmington St., Raleigh. A live audio stream of the meeting can be found here: http://stateboard.ncpublicschools.gov/live-audio-streaming. The purpose of the meeting is to continue the Commission’s comprehensive review of all English Language and Mathematics standards that were adopted by the State Board of Education under G.S. 115C-12(9c), and propose modifications to ensure that those standards meet all of the criteria listed in Section 2(c) of Senate Bill 812. For more information, please contact Co-Chairs Andre Peek atAndre.Peek@nc.gov or Tammy Covil at Tammy.Covil@nhcs.net.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Academic Standards Review Commission, Common Core | Tagged | 1 Comment

Where Does The ‘Moral’ Money Come From?

Posted on May 5, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Who is funding these events?

Who is paying the tens of thousands in bail money?

I keep asking this, because no one in the NC media does.

 

Forward together. Not one cent back.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Moral Monday | Tagged | Comments Off on Where Does The ‘Moral’ Money Come From?

#SB561 Looks Like ‘Read To Achieve’ For College

Posted on May 5, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

At first, I was confused by this press release (full text at the bottom) from Senator Barefoot, who sat on the General Assembly’s Common Core Legislative Research Committee.

At first I wondered, how is the General Assembly going to direct community colleges “to develop a program that introduces college developmental mathematics and developmental reading and English courses into high school curriculums during the senior year.” when North Carolina’s K-12 standards (Common Core) are under review for replacement??

I also wondered, what does that term “developmental” mean??

And from this press release, it occurred to me that it looks like SB 561 is a higher ed version of Read To Achieve?

“Senate Bill 561 requires students who do not meet certain ACT score and GPA requirements to take college developmental mathematics, reading and English courses during their senior year of high school”

The idea seems to be to alleviate remediation, yet what this really looks like to me is giving remediation a new “developmental” name.  What happens if the student still falls short after taking the ‘developmental’ class?

Then I realized, perhaps some one out there sees the Common Core train wreck coming down the tracks?  So if at first they don’t succeed, give them another bite at the apple? Is this another round of bar lowering in order to save face and look good for federal reporting?

If Senator Barefoot reads this, I hope he knows the ACT, GED, SAT and all NC EOG’s are Common Core aligned.  If the kids aren’t passing these tests, it may not be their fault.

 

Press Release
Senator Chad Barefoot

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Eric Naisbitt
April 30, 2015
barefootla@ncleg.net
Senate Passes Bill to Ensure Career and College Ready Graduates

Raleigh – Senate Bill 561 entitled, “Career and College Ready Graduates,” passed the North Carolina Senate with unanimous approval this week. The bill directs the State Board of Community Colleges, in consultation with the State Board of Education, to develop a program that introduces college developmental mathematics and developmental reading and English courses into high school curriculums during the senior year.

The Community College system estimates that 52% of students who graduated from high school and immediately enrolled in community college were required to take one or more remedial courses. Of those students, 41% were required to take a remedial math course and 36% were required to take remedial reading and English.

“In today’s economy, the skills gap is growing, not shrinking,” said Senator Chad Barefoot (R-Wake), the primary sponsor of the bill. “It is more important than ever that when our students graduate from high school, they graduate proficient in math and reading.”

Senate Bill 561 requires students who do not meet certain ACT score and GPA requirements to take college developmental mathematics, reading and English courses during their senior year of high school. The courses will be offered by the high school, and in partnership with the local community college, and will allow students to fulfill senior mathematics and English graduation requirements. Students who successfully complete the course will not be required to also enroll in developmental courses at a North Carolina community college upon entry.

“Requiring students to be remediation free when they graduate from high school makes common sense. This bill will give our students the opportunity to enter their career or their college better prepared and with confidence.”

Senate Bill 561 now heads to the House of Representatives.

Here is a link to view the bill: http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2015/Bills/Senate/PDF/S561v2.pdf

Here is a link to view the bill summary: http://www.ncleg.net/Applications/Dashboard/Chamber/Services/ BillSummary.aspx?sSessionCode=2015&sBarcode=S561-SMTC-47(e2)

Posted in Common Core | 1 Comment

Follow-Up: Another NC Reading Assignment Questioned

Posted on May 4, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

At the end of last month, I wrote about a former Buncombe School Board member questioning a reading assignment given to their child for an Honors class.

That board member is Lisa Baldwin and her scenario regarding the book The Kite Runner is a shining example of why I have begun blogging about parental rights in education in North Carolina.

Baldwin’s objections to The Kite Runner saw some traction and press from the Asheville-Citizen Times, but as is typical in NC media, the outlet didn’t tell the whole story.  This is part of why parents come to me.

The Asheville Citizens times left out key pieces, which Baldwin corrects on her blog in the article, What The Asheville Citizen-Times Didn’t Disclose…

 

Reading Is Fundamental
Mrs. Baldwin has shared many of the related email conversations with various individuals with me. This email chain included another parent, one Ann Ogg.

Ogg’s right to her own opinion is just as valid as Mrs. Baldwin’s.  Yet Ogg’s comments in the email conversation are dismissive, even mocking, of Mrs. Baldwin’s position. Better yet, she also takes a swipe at yours truly.

Big Mistake.

Here’s one email to set the stage:

On 5/2/2015 10:22 AM, Anne Ogg wrote:

Dear Lisa, Score one for Kite Runner! The best way to gets students to read a book is to have it banned. That aside, I was thrilled that Ms. Bowman had chosen a challenging, beautifully written novel for my daughter’s Honor’s English class. Have you read it? Yes, there are some issues in the novel that are sensitive. I trust Ms. Bowman to conduct the class in a way that allows the students to thoughtfully discuss the book without focusing on one part. Such a shame that you have chosen to target this book.

 

I know that I am among a majority of enlightened parents who see how important it is to have our children read contemporary authors from other cultures and gain a greater understanding of how the world is remarkably different from our own sheltered hamlet.

 

Don’t set us back 50 years by embroiling yourself in what happens in your daughter’s classroom. Let Ms. Bowman teach. Kite Runner has been a book used in Honors English for several years without problems.

 

Incidentally, have you read the violence in All’s Quiet? Here’s some samples:

“My thoughts become confused. This atmosphere of carbolic and gangrene clogs the lungs, it is a thick gruel, it suffocates.”
“When he sees that we cannot escape because under the sharp fire we must make the most of this cover, he takes a rifle, crawls out of the hole, and lying down propped on his elbows, he takes aim. He fires – the same moment a bullet smacks into him, they have got him.”

“While they continued to write and talk, we saw the wounded dying. While they taught that duty to one’s country is the greatest thing, we already knew that death-throes are stronger.” 

All’s Quiet is a miserable dissection of the human cost of a war front. I would not object to All’s Quiet simply because it has an challenging subject matter.  And I don’t object to Kite Runner either. Please let Ms. Bowman do what she is perfectly capable of doing – teaching Honors English.

 

Anne Ogg

 

Oh my. All aboard the Shame Train!

This bit was my favorite part.. because, SHUT UP! they explained…:

“Don’t set us back 50 years by embroiling yourself in what happens in your daughter’s classroom. Let Ms. Bowman teach. Kite Runner has been a book used in Honors English for several years without problems.”

Shorter: How dare you give a crap what your kid is reading and how dare you question your education overlords?

What’s worse in that passage, is that Ogg alleges no one has questioned it.

Why would that be? Maybe because parents don’t know about it, as Baldwin’s journey objecting to this book has shown?  Like it or not, Ms. Ogg — Mrs. Baldwin has the right to object.

Just like you have the right to start an ’email writing campaign’.

We’ve seen your ’emails’ on this topic so far, Ms. Ogg.
Be sure you’re ’email writing campaign’ is advocating for the book instead of smearing another parent.

As for excerpts, here’s one Ms. Ogg can use in your ’email writing campaign’:

Assef knelt behind Hassan, put his hands on Hassan’s hips and lifted his bare buttocks. He kept one hand on Hassan’s back and undid his own belt buckle with his free hand. He unzipped his jeans. Dropped his underwear. He positioned himself behind Hassan. Hassan didn’t struggle. Didn’t even whimper. He moved his head slightly and I caught a glimpse of his face. Saw the resignation in it. It was a look I had seen before. It was the look of the lamb.

What This All Boils Down To Is Shutuppery

ShutupperyTo sum up – Ms. Ogg apparently has no problem with her child reading a”challenging” and “beautifully written” book with a recurring theme of homosexual child rape.

Well.. Bully for her!

Ogg’s opinion is the one that matters. Screw the other parents who might object, they must be book banning nuts, right?

Gimme a break lady.

Here’s where I get pulled into it – bolded below:

Lisa Baldwin Mon, May 4, 2015 at 8:59 AM
To: Lady Liberty <thell1885@gmail.com>

Andrea,

Her arguments are weak and don’t address what I sent her in my email. See number 4 where she takes a swipe at you.

————————–

Lisa

Thank you for responding, Lisa.

First of all, the book is far beyond the reading level of 6 grade, Lexile or otherwise. The author’s first language is not English. The artful craft the author uses to tell the story, the incredibly beautiful landscape as a backdrop for complicated relationships, is far from 6.8, as you infer. If you want to count words of more than one syllable, I’m afraid Hemingway would be tossed out. We cannot rely on a computer program to judge great literature.

Second, you cannot give Kite Flyer a “quick read” to fully appreciate the author’s skill at weaving his story.

Third, the book has been used by thousands of 10th grade classrooms across the country – they can’t all be wrong.

Fourth, you did ask them to pull the book – and use excerpts. Have you ever planned a lesson? It takes time and tons of preparation. You can’t ask a teacher to totally change what she/he had planned days before the unit is to begin. This shows no grasp of a teacher’s work life.

You have reduced a beautiful novel to a few sound bites in order to stir up a small number of constituents. Your blogger friend relies on Cliff notes to make her decision on whether the book has merit. Such a tragedy. And yet you begin your email to me suggesting I enjoy the beautiful weekend. I will enjoy it, but I need to take time to enjoy it – by taking a walk, or smelling the new blossoms. These special moments can’t be taken in by driving 70 miles an hour down a highway.

I do hope you can see the beauty in the writing of the book. I would suggest that you take time and read the book carefully. You might actually like it!

Anne Ogg

Oh, wow.
A woman who has been going on about ‘challenging’ reading is actually reading challenged herself?

I zipped a reply back to Mrs. Baldwin:

Lady Liberty <thell1885@gmail.com> Mon, May 4, 2015 at 9:17 AM
To: Lisa Baldwin

Yeah, her reading comprehension either sucks or she didn’t read the whole piece — and you can tell her I said that.

I said “I’ve read this book.”
I offered the link to Cliff’s notes for those who haven’t read it.

Feel free to point that out to her.

-Andrea

Here’s the direct quote from my prior article:

I’ve read this book. If you haven’t, you didn’t miss anything but here’s the Cliff’s notes.

Let me repeat that: I READ IT.  

Let me expand on that:  I read it… as AN ADULT.
It was graphic, violent, depressing and has many layers of themes that an adult, with historical knowledge and more breadth of living experience, can handle.

No one is arguing if The Kite Runner is well-written or not — it is; the argument is over content.  Is this appropriate for 10th graders?

You can read the whole passage where I talk about having read The Kite Runner in my previous blog post.

 

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, Media Bias, Parental Rights | Tagged , | 5 Comments

#DM7 Article: Dark Money On The Left Targets North Carolina

Posted on May 3, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

This is a repost of my weekly Da Tech Guy Column: Dark Money On The Left Targets North Carolina

By A.P. Dillon

Most of the conversation this week has been about the Baltimore Riots.  I’m not going to add to that well-traveled path today.  I want to direct your attention to my home state of North Carolina.

When I first started writing at Da Tech Guy, I did a series of articles centering on North Carolina that was meant to establish a foundation of the infrastructure of the Left in the state. These articles were A Primer on the Left in NC (Part I), Part II, Part III and Part IV.

These articles outlined the major players, strategies and funding sources of the BlueprintNC network.  Since my original articles, Civitas, which is a local conservative think tank, has mapped these connections. Civitas made their results available to the public on a searchable website called Mapping The Left.

Fast forward a moment to the April 12th article in the Washington Post describing wealthy Leftists and Democrat donors coordinating to ‘wrest control’ back from key states. In the article, one of the states targeted for ‘wresting control’ is North Carolina.

Even if donors step up their giving, the left is “not likely to be able to match the Kochs’ money,” LaMarche said. “So therefore we have to be smarter and more strategic.”

The new state plan aims to replicate the strategies used in places such as Minnesota and Colorado, where well-funded networks of nonprofit groups have helped Democrats dominate politics. Similar efforts are underway in states such as North Carolina, where Republicans in recent years gained control of both the legislature and governor’s mansion for the first time since 1870.
–Washington Post, 4/12/15 – ‘Wealthy donors on left launch new plan to wrest back control in the states’

Of note in the above passages, the Washington Post repeats the canard that the Left can’t beat the Koch Brothers money, ignoring that the Koch brothers ranked 59th in donations in the last election cycle behind a majority of Democrat, Union and Leftist donors.

Civitas-map-of-Blueprint-NCBlueprintNC and its vast network of Leftist organizations and partners will undoubtedly be the vehicle for ‘wresting control’ back in North Carolina.

It will be important to keep tabs on new PACS being formed and money flowing into the current major donors of BlueprintNC — The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, AJ Fletcher Foundation, the AFL-CIO and the Tides Foundation.

The Washington Post article implies that a wave of Dark money is about to be infused into the existing BlueprintNC network.

Remember, two years ago, BlueprintNC and its partners launched their attack on Republicans in the state. Their mission, via an internal memo leaked to the press, was to  “Eviscerate, Mitigate, Litigate, Cogitate, and Agitate”.

As LaMarche said in the Washington Post article, they need to be strategic. Democrats only announce something that obvious after they’ve already begun. Logic follows that the mission begun two years ago by the BlueprintNC network was just a warm-up for an upcoming campaign.

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

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), BlueprintNC, Moral Monday, NCGA | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Has Our Education System Become The Post Office?

Posted on May 1, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Over the last few years, I’ve taken note of a trend in our public education system. That trend mimics the federal government on a number of levels.

These levels include, but are not limited to:

  • Disintegrating transparency; not just at the local or state board levels, but also right at the parent-teacher level
  • The rapid erosion of Parental Rights in the realm of public education
  • Increasingly labyrinthine organizational structure at both the local and state levels
  • More and more ‘social’ related programs pushing out instruction time on essential courses like reading, math, science and history
  • Rising budgets and lowering ROI’s
  • An explosion in administrative staffing bloat
  • Monetizing our kids and turning them into data sets to be studied
  • The explosion of ‘education non-profits’ whose funding is often spent circumventing parents and voters in order to influence legislation — because it’s for the kids!

Has our education system become the Post Office?  I say yes.

I’d like to go back to the first point above — “disintegrating transparency”.

As a blogger and free-lance news journalist, I am used to filing Freedom of Information Act Requests, emailing officials for comment or documents and having to dig for sometimes what should be very basic, easily located information.

My digging, especially on Common Core and issues related to parental rights, has led parents in North Carolina to seek me out for help in finding information.  I used to get a few of emails and a requests here and there, but lately, my inbox is on fire with parents who can’t get a straight answer from education officials they talk to.

An recent example would be a Mom from the Triangle area who wanted an answer to what is the question: What is the opt-out policy for testing in North Carolina and what is the legal foundation for it?

The school told her to refer to the State Board. So she asked.

The response came back from the State Board’s attorney, which in part said:

“The State Board Attorney’s Office does not give legal advise or information to the public.  You will need to address your concerns and questions directly to the Wake County Public School System’s Board of Education.  In the alternative, you may wish to obtain the services of your own private attorney.”

The mom moved on to Wake County Schools attorney. The answer was nearly the same:

Thank you for your email.  Our firm does represent the Wake County Public School System (“WCPSS”).  However, due to legal, ethical, and professional obligations we cannot offer advice or analysis about WCPSS legal matters to third parties.  You can certainly submit your questions to staff in the WCPSS Communications Department.

Frustrated, she forwarded her request as the Wake attorney recommended. Then, she turned to me for help.

I hit Twitter, knowing that the WCPSS account is very responsive — and we got our answer quicker than inquiring through ‘official channels’.

 

 

This is just one example of one parent having to chase all over the place to get an answer to a question.

The school couldn’t or wouldn’t help her – perhaps they have been told to refer people to the State Board, who knows?

The State Board bounced her to the Local District, who then bounced her to the local district communications department.

Ultimately, it was a blogger who pinned it down.

The parent was shuffled down the line like a letter on a Post Office conveyer belt until a regular citizen rescued them.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, Parental Rights | Tagged , | 2 Comments