EPIC: DoD Collecting Sensitive Student Data

Posted on April 19, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

This news from the EPIC website is disturbing.

EPIC Uncovers DOD Student Data Collection Procedures: The Department of Defense has released to EPIC documents on the “Joint Advertising and Market Research Studies” Recruiting Database. The database includes sensitive student information, including home address and grade point average. DOD obtains this information from high schools offering military aptitude tests, state DMVs, and commercial data brokers. The documents sought by EPIC shed light on how DOD collects, retains, uses, and safeguards student information within the database. The documents provided to EPIC also reveal that many parents demanded that DOD remove their children’s records from the system. In 2005, EPIC, joined by more than 100 organizations, urged former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to end the database because it collected unnecessary information, did not permit individuals to opt-out, and was housed at a private-sector direct marketing company. The agency now permits individuals to opt-out. For more information, see EPIC: Student Privacy and EPIC: DOD Recruiting Database. (Nov. 26, 2014)

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION | Tagged | 4 Comments

The Common Core Weekend Reads – 4-19-15

Posted on April 19, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

JeblaryThese are the Common Core Weekend Reads for April 19, 2015.

This is a review of the past week of news on Common Core nationwide and in North Carolina.

Articles are organized by category.

Prior Edition of Weekend Reads: 4-12-15

 

NC Academic Standards Review Commission (ASRC) Updates:

NC ASRC Site 
Next ASRC meeting: Next NC Common Core #ASRC Meeting: April 20th

NC UPDATES:

QUOTES OF THE WEEK:

But your question is really a larger one. How did we end up at a point where we are so negative about the most important non-family enterprise in the raising of the next generation which is how our kids are educated?” Hillary Clinton – Caffeinated Thoughts

LEGISLATIVE/LEGAL:

POLITICAL/PROTESTS:

HIGHLIGHTED ARTICLES:

THE WEEKEND READS:

TESTING UPDATES:

VIDEO OF THE WEEK:

TWEETS OF THE WEEK:

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

Pearson Is Everywhere: Dumped By LA School District

Posted on April 16, 2015 by A.P. Dillon
Pearson: Always Earning

Pearson: Always Earning

Welcome back to another edition of Pearson Is Everywhere!

Last time we looked at Pearson’s cozy relationship with the Gates Foundation.

Today, we look at LA Unifed School District’s decision to dump Pearson’s iPad software like a bad habit.

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) $1.3 billion dollar iPad saga continues.

Excerpts from Washington Post:

The Los Angeles Unified School District sent a letter to Apple Inc., this week saying that it will no longer pay for Pearson-created software installed on iPads purchased from Apple because it does not work. The District also said it wants a refund.

Southern California Public Radio reported that school district General Counsel David Holmquist sent a letter to Apple making the demands, saying, “While Apple and Pearson promised a state-of-the-art technological solution for ITI implementation, they have yet to deliver it.”  (You can read the full letter, obtained from the school district, below.)

[…]

Last December, the FBI seized 20 boxes of  district documents related to the iPad purchase that were sought in a federal grand jury subpoena related to the bidding process and to the winning bidders in the iPad program, the Los Angeles Times reported.  (Just a week after the boxes were taken by the FBI, the district’s school board last December approved $13 million in new funds to buy more iPads and other devices so students could take new Common Core-aligned standardized tests this year.)

Now it turns out, according to Holmuist’s letter, that most students were never able to properly use the Pearson content despite promises that problems would be fixed. The letter, dated April 13, says: “As we approach the end of the school year, the vast majority of students are still unable to access the Pearson curriculum on iPads.”

Reminder – this is not the first time Pearson has been accused of bidding improprieties.
See: Pearson Is Everywhere: New Mexico Bid-Rigging Lawsuit Is Still On

Related:

Posted in Common Core | Tagged | 4 Comments

WRAL Finally Includes The “Who” Behind The Fast Food Protests

Posted on April 15, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Mark the calendar. WRAL actually named the money behind the choreographed Fast Food protests.

Only took a year. Meanwhile, new media nailed it the first time around.

Excerpt:

The “Fight for $15” campaign, which is backed financially by the Service Employees International Union and others, has gained national attention at a time when the wage gap between the poor and the rich has become a hot political issue.

The North Carolina State AFL-CIO said the rallies are “the vanguard of a resurgent labor movement in the south.”

“Hot political issue”?

I think WRAL means manufactured political issue courtesy of unions seeking to add to their ranks and invade right to work states.

Now, will WRAL follow through and report on the Moral Monday ties to these protests? Heck, I get an email about it from the NC NAACP almost daily.  

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Occupy 2.0, THE LEFT, Unions | Tagged | 1 Comment

Pearson Is Everywhere: Pearson and Gates Edition

Posted on April 14, 2015 by A.P. Dillon
Pearson: Always Earning

Pearson: Always Earning

Welcome back to another edition of Pearson Is Everywhere!

Last time we looked at Pearson’s staggeringly large profits, including profits made from the testing of our children.

Today, we look at related topics and the ties between the Gates Foundation and Pearson. In particular, the formation of the Digital Promise League.

Before moving forward to the main event, a few points need mentioning.

1 – It is worth noting Pearson has a board member who previously worked for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

2 – It appears the fox is guarding the hen-house, as the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) has brought Pearson in to determine the ‘reliability of the tests‘.

Standards drive the tests. The tests drive the curriculum, materials and… digital apps.

Remember, in 2009 Bill Gates saw the enormous profit to be made off of our kids and all of it centered around the flawed and experimental Common Core.

“When the tests are aligned to the common standards, the curriculum will line up as well—and that will unleash powerful market forces in the service of better teaching. For the first time, there will be a large base of customers eager to buy products that can help every kid learn and every teacher get better. Imagine having the people who create electrifying video games applying their intelligence to online tools that pull kids in and make algebra fun.”
– Bill Gates, 2009 Natl. Conference Of State Legislatures

 

We’ll start today’s installment of Pearson Is Everywhere with a flashback to a press release from 2011:

Pearson Foundation Partners with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Create Digital Learning Programs

NEW YORK–The Pearson Foundation today announced a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support America’s teachers by creating a full series of digital instructional resources. Online courses in math and reading/English language arts will offer a coherent and systemic approach to teaching the new Common Core State Standards. Common Core Standards were developed by the National Governors Association, in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers. Forty-one states, two territories, and the District of Columbia have adopted the standards.

Unique and original, this project is dedicated to creating a complete, foundational system of instruction built around the Common Core Standards. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will provide funding and research to support this partnership.

Over the next three years, the Pearson Foundation will develop 24 courses covering math for grades K-10 and reading/English language arts for grades K-12. The courses will enable teachers and students to access the latest and most effective digital learning technologies as they prepare to meet the internationally benchmarked college readiness goals of the Common Core Standards.

Flash forward to 2014 and we find the Gates Foundation was very busy being involved in creating online apps and instructional materials for ‘personalized learning‘.

Also in 2014, Congress authorized the launch of the “Digital Promise League“.  Digital Promise was formed through Congress’s 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

The U.S. Department of Education, Gates and Carnegie gave Digital Promise it’s seed money.   The 2008 presentation given by Digital Promise asked for $5 million from the Omnibus bill and an additional $50 million to be granted in 2010.

Digital Promise League’s Corporate partners and Foundation partners are a who’s who of Common Core supporters, including Amplify, Microsoft and Pearson.  As I’ve said before, Digital Promise League represents the ultimate in Public-Private Partnership organizations.

North Carolina’s largest school district, Wake County, jumped in to the Digital Promise League’s “League of Innovative Schools” with both feet.

Follow The Digital Promise Grant Money

The following are ‘foundation partners’ of Digital Promise:

Gates, Carnegie, Grable, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Morgridge Family Foundation. The Verizon Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Many of the grants below reference a ‘micro-credentialing system‘.  Many of these ‘micro-credentials’ go hand-in-hand with Common Core.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grants:

Digital Promise League has received 5 grants totaling $3,106,324.00. You won’t find the listing for Digital Promise in the grants list under that name, but instead under “National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies“.

  1. 2014 – “to identify and share with the public a set of practices that U.S. public school districts can use to pilot learning technology products as part of the procurement process” –  $498,156
  2. 2013 – “to support school districts’ efforts to redesign procurement processes” – $499,547
  3. 2013 – “o provide project management support for the Teacher Wallets pilot program” – $10,500
  4. 2012 – “to support districts in sharing knowledge and building demand for digital content and tools” – $2,048,121
  5. 2012 – “to initiate a strategic planning process in order to develop an operating plan for the organization and its work with the League of Innovation Schools” – $50,000

Carnegie Foundation grants:

  1. 2014 – “Strengthen Human Capital” – $1,000,000
  2. 2014 – “New Designs For Education Systems” – $350,000
  3. 2012 – “New Designs For Education Systems” – $350,000

Grable Foundation grants:

  1. 2014 – “Community Vitality” – $100,000 (Pittsburgh, Raleigh-Durham, NC focus)
  2. 2014 – “Community Vitality” – $20,000

MacArthur Foundation grants:

  1. 2014 – “In support of the development of digital badges for educators” – $180,000
  2. 2013 – “Digital badges for educators as part of Connected Educator Month” – $150,00

Joyce Foundation grants:

  1. Their site is like a maze and there isn’t a single grant database to be searched. One has to go year by year through annual reports. I did this for 2009-2013 and found no grants for Digital Promise. However, there was a press release detailing $1.4 million to be spread over 3 grants to three groups in which Digital Promise was one of the three. See: “Joyce Announces College Pipeline Commitment at The White House“
  2. Joyce Foundation also supports the Clinton Global Initiative and spend hundreds of thousands each year on anti-gun advocacy groups.

Laura and John Arnold Foundation grants:

  1. 2013-14 – “To support the creation of a tool that will provide information on blended learning and other educational technologies.” – $130,000

Michael and Susan Dell Foundation grants:

  1. 2014 – “To support Digital Promise build competency-based micro-credentials and digital badges for professional educators.” – $300,000

The Morgridge Family Foundation does not have annual reports or any grant information on their site.

The Verizon Foundation site did not offer a searchable grant database, however the following are items related to Digital Promise:

  1. Tablet Deployment Monitoring – More than 4,500 students and 350 educators will be given either an iPad or Samsung Galaxy tablet, with the ability to use them at home, under the two-year project organized by Digital Promise and the Verizon Foundation.
  2. Verizon Expands Innovative Learning Schools Program To Reach Out 8 More Schools
  3. Verizon Support of ConnectED – A program in conjunction with Digital Promise to supply $20,000 grants to schools for technology.

William and Flora Hewlitt Foundation Grants:

  1. 2014 – “For the design, build, and distribution of a system for teacher credentialing via badging” – $400,000
  2. 2013 – “For the design, build, and distribution of a system for teacher credentialing via badging” – $400,000
  3. 2011 – “General operating support” – $25,000

 

 

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

NC Academic Freedom Alliance Event – April 18th

Posted on April 13, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Action ButtonThe Asheville Tea Party will be hosting the NC Academic Freedom Alliance for an event on Saturday, April 18th.

Press release below.

ASHEVILLE TEA PARTY News Release                   News Release                           News Release                       April 12, 2015

                                                                                           Contact: Jane Bilello
                                                                                                            828 692-3117
                                                                                         jane@ashevilleteaparty.org
On Saturday, April 18th, 2015 Asheville Tea Party, Inc. is hosting the North Carolina Freedom Alliance Workshop – a workshop full of tools to repeal and replace Common Core.   The workshop will be held at the Skyland Fire Department, 9 Miller Road in Asheville between 10AM and 12PM. A 1PM workshop is optional.  The event is free to the public.  However, contributions are welcome to help defray the cost of materials and travel.  Coffee and cookies will be served.
Are you as concerned about our educational system as your fellow citizens?  ATP Chair Jane Bilello reflects the frustration of many with Common Core.
“This unconstitutional intrusion of the federal government enslaves the states with yet one more social engineering scheme.  Common Core elevates testing above student success, relegates the teacher to the growing educational bureaucratic bloat of data collecting, eliminates parental involvement, and stifles student and teacher creativity.   America’s dynamism is embedded in the celebration of the individual. Our educational standards should reflect that philosophy.  Common Core supports central control over education with its one size fits all, regardless of what the individual child needs.”
Like the North Carolina Freedom Alliance, do you want to join in the quest to repeal and replace Common Core?  Arm yourself with the tools you need. Whether you are a home school parent, a private or public school parent, grandparent, or teacher, Common Core will affect you.  Find out how and then learn how be an effective advocate for “Achieving Excellence in Academics” using the tools of the North Carolina Freedom Alliance.  Their mission  –  to ’Educate,’ to ‘Activate,’ to ‘Legislate,’ and to ‘Perpetuate.’
The Workshop features “Watch Dog” recruitment, training, and material for distribution to school boards, county commissioners, and our representatives.  In addition, the “Common Core 101” handbook will be available for perusal.  There will be an update on “The North Carolina Plan” followed by question and answer period from the audience.  At 1PM, there will be an optional workshop.
Kathy Young, Lynn Taylor, and Guy Smith, speakers of the NC Academic Freedom Alliance Task Force, will arm you with resources on The North Carolina Curriculum, Common Core math “problems,” Common Core ELA “problems,” and The Educational “WatchDog” Network.  A FREE BOOKLET WILL BE AVAILABLE: HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILD SURVIVE COMMON CORE MATH WHILE WE ARE ABOLISHING IT. – KATHY YOUNG
Asheville Tea Party, Incorporated (ATP) is a 501 C4 organization dedicated to bringing the public educational forums such as this one.  Our purpose in forming ATP is  to provide an organizational foundation for the execution of projects that advance our core values; those being specifically:  the promotion and preservation of individual rights, Constitutionally limited government, fiscal responsibility, and free markets. Thank you, and hope to see you there.
Posted in Common Core | 1 Comment