News and Observer Uses Smear Attempt To Protect #APUSH

Posted on December 4, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Alright, this is going to be a long article. Get your coffee and settle in.

At the News and Observer, the headline reads, “NC education department used Koch-funded group for proposed history lessons“. Take a moment to go read it, but don’t be sipping that coffee when you do.  I have to admit, even for News and Observer, this article was a bad joke.  I left a comment on the actual article which I am not going to rehash but has important points in it; you can hit that at the bottom of this article.

Narratives are now News
Narrative keanuThe thrust seems to be that because NC’s Department of Pubic Instruction (DPI) used resources from an education group who received a grant from the Koch brothers, that somehow the highly controversial and liberally biased new APUSH (AP U.S. History) framework is needed as some kind of counter-balance.

Stop laughing.
That’s what Bonner was likely shooting for.  A ‘hey look, evil tea party money!’ moment.  This is a narrative, not news.

The subtext here is that our Superintendent chose this path instead of drawing from NC resources and was likely innocently batting her eyelashes as Bonner questioned her on it for the article. This is the same woman who brought us the Common Core with no public vetting and signed NC up for Race To The Top Money by naming Common Core by name in the grant — nearly 6 months before the standards were released to the public. Factor in our state board of education did not vet the standards and rubber stamped their adoption on June 3rd, 2010. The standards were not released until June 10, 2010. Stick all that in your pipe and smoke it.
(Read the timeline on Common Core in NC here.)

Folks, this is a head fake.
It’s a transparent smear campaign to distract from the APUSH framework and the litany of issues with it. This method of distraction is what we bloggers call yelling ‘SQUIRREL!”.  Make a lot of noise over here, so that no one pays attention to the real issue over there.  Got it?

AtkinsonPresElectBy the way, June Atkinson is now the full President of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).

The CCSSO, along with the National Governors Association, hold the copyright on the Common Core. A copyright Dr. Atkinson has dismissed as no big deal, yet when asked about the APUSH framework at State Board of Education meeting, Atkinson said the copyright was important.
So which is it? Are copyrighted standards alright or not?

Atkinson, to date, appears to fond of outside entities controlling NC standards and curriculum.  That begs the question, what is Atkinson’s job then?  Given the legislature has had to step in and put things like multiplication tables and cursive writing back in, it is a valid question to ask. More to that point is the need for the Founding Principles Act in the first place.  What is going on that the legislature has to step in and patch holes in our state standards and curriculum?

Here’s the skinny on APUSH
It’s a hot mess.  As Jane Robbins accurately describes it, “a leftist polemic that presents American history in a relentlessly negative light”.

APUSH now seeks ‘reshape’ and to ‘internationalize‘ American history. (Related:Ron Radosh critique of APUSH changes)

Arguably, the new APUSH usurps state curriculum standards.

scG-coleman-unqualifiedThe new APUSH framework was led by David Coleman, President of the College Board. Coleman is also one of the chief architects of the hotly contested Common Core. Are you surprised Bonner left that out of the article?

On Monday, the State Board of Education held an ’emergency’ meeting to debate APUSH. Larry Krieger was on hand and went head to head with a representative of the College Board.

From accounts of those who attended, Krieger made his case. Audio that was supposed to be available for the public to listen in was riddled with errors and kept dropping people. I obtained the audio from DPI. Link to downloadable audio file; have pop-ups enabled so the download box appears: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/74990182/SBE120114.rm

Back to the squirrels and smear campaign
100k grant from the Koch brothers. That’s the big bogeyman attempting to be employed here. The charge here is to protect the narrative.

You protect it by not asking questions or you know, reporting? That means not ignoring the stark hypocrisy in pointing out money from one side, in this case a $100k grant versus the tidal wave on the another side.

Speaking of tidal wave – How about the over $3 billion Bill Gates has dumped into Common Core grant to curriculum writers, app makers, non-profits, school districts (including ones in NC) and even to the Dept. of Education? Even Diane Ravitch is calling for Congress to investigate this educational coup.

Nah, that doesn’t fit the narrative of protecting APUSH and providing Atkinson some cover while at the same time bashing the GOP held General Assembly.

Some additional thoughts
I left a lengthy comment on the article itself, which I will add at the bottom of this article.  NC media are notorious for this type of whitewashing of their ‘sources’.

Some highlights from that comment on those ‘sources’ Lynne Bonner turns to in order to support their position which include Moral Monday, Occupying, NCAE Organize2020 member Bryan Proffitt.

News and Observer bills Proffitt in the article as a ‘Durham teacher’. The guy is anything but just a teacher.  Excerpt from N&O:

“People whose “principal concern is profit-making” should not develop curriculum, said Bryan Proffitt, a history teacher at Hillside High School in Durham. Curriculum should be developed “in a democratic fashion” by people closest to the classroom, he said.

Tell me, Mr. Proffitt – where do you stand on Common Core?
Because what is happening with APUSH is very similar.
Newsflash – very few groups or people are out there not making profits on something. Good luck finding someone out there to make things for free, including curriculum.

Another source quotes is Harry Watson, history professor at UNC-Chapel Hill.  Given the scholarly scandals going on at UNC Chapel Hill, I don’t know that I would have used that source. Perhaps Bonner thought because Watson spoke out, that made him above reproach to quote.

Also, Bonner neglects to mention UNC-CH has received Koch grants in the past. I think the most recent one was for just over $116k. So have a lot of schools across the country and right here in North Carolina like Duke, UNC Pembroke and UNC Greensboro.  Oh, the horror.

Text of my comment on this biased and journalistic embarrassment below.

There is so much wrong with this article, it’s hard to know where to start.

OH NOES, Koch brothers gave a grant of 100k to an education related group!
Oh no, that’s horrible. It’s also horrible they give money to PBS’s NOVA — are all of you going to stop watching that now?

First, recognize a desperate distraction via a smear campaign when you see one. This article is just that. One really had to dig deep on this on this to put some kind of bogeyman spin to give Atkinson cover for basically attempting to skirt the law. DPI has too much power and too little oversight.

Second, the premise that June Atkinson couldn’t find anyone else to consult with on History — Do some homework people, that’s bunk. Even if it wasn’t, that would mean that DPI, led by Atkinson, had no one here in the state to write history curriculum? Please, tell us some more lies since AP had no problem finding Ted Dickson to write for their new 95 page framework?

Third, $100k is a drop in the DPI contract bucket, Bonner and you know it. How about those big, juicy Pearson contracts costing taxpayers millions? Not a peep.

Fourth, let’s ignore Bill Gates dumped over $3 billion into Common Core, which DPI and June Atkinson have NO problems with. Gates, Lumina, Hewlett, Carnegie — these groups have basically BOUGHT our education system. N&O and media would rather trash parents than do their jobs and actually report on that or report on about Atkinson and Perdue signing NC’s Race To The Top grant and they put Common Core in it by name… around 5 months before the standards were even released or adopted by our state!? Nothing? Crickets?

Fifth, DPI has relationships with outfits here in NC with deep ties and funding coming from Gates. Have you looked at the Hunt Institute? Of course not, it doesn’t fit your narrative.

Sixth, Don’t forget the guy who in charge of changing the AP history framework? David Coleman? He was one of the main architects of Common Core. What a coincidence!

Seventh, Larry Krieger has been very specific and cited quite a bit wrong with the AP Framework. There was an emergency school board meeting Monday where Krieger took on a College Board representative. None of that is linked here in this story — doesn’t fit the narrative!
I’ll fix that lack of opposing views to APUSH here with quite a repository of links: http://stopcommoncorenc.org/?s=apush

Eighth, Rep. Horn – All due respect, but MAN UP and get a clue. You’re being roped into a smear job. Don’t aid them; Push back.

Ninth, Bryan Profitt? Not just some teacher from Durham. You guys keep quoting this guy and painting him as this run of the mill guy. Hardly. He’s an NCAE Organize2020 agitator, an occupy supporter, Moral Monday supporter and far left liberal (http://wp.me/p14vwx-2vl) with a thing for women’s genitalis and Hitler, no, not kidding. Scroll to the bottom here: http://wp.me/p14vwx-2KN

Tenth, the UNC guy? West? After the Wainstein report, I don[‘t think I’d be hitting Chapel Hill for any quotes any time soon. Just saying.

UPDATES: Some related reading over at John Locke. For those in the comments and their ‘smear claims’, enjoy.

The Kochs (!!!) are so powerful that even Democrats are under their control

RE: The Kochs (!!!)

At Civitas (12/7/14): Why Newspapers are dying

More Updates:  Thank you Carolina Plott Hound for linking.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION, June Atkinson, Media Bias, NC DPI, NCGA | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Is Gov. McCrory Getting Ready for 2016?

Posted on December 4, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Is Governor McCrory getting ready for 2016?  Yep.

McCrory CC RebrandQuestion is, 2016 nationally or in North Carolina?

Personally, his Common Core support means no support from me this time.

Email I received is below the fold.

 

It is with great pleasure today that I am announcing the launch of my new website – www.patmccrory.com – that continues to highlight the “Carolina Comeback.”

We have gotten so much accomplished during my first two years in office. We passed historic across-the-board tax reform to help you keep more of your hard-earned paycheck and shredded red tape that was holding our job creators back.  As a result, our state has seen one of the largest drops in the unemployment rate in the nation, going from 8.8% when I took office to 6.3% just days ago.  Tens of thousands of additional North Carolinians are now cashing paychecks and we have recovered all of the jobs lost during the recession. We have made reforms to education, giving teachers much needed raises, and made changes to give our children the quality education they need and deserve. Finally, we have embarked on countless other initiatives in energy and transportation to strive for energy independence in the near future and to modernize our infrastructure.

Despite these and many other achievements, there is still a lot left to be accomplished. The future for North Carolina is bright, and this Carolina Comeback cannot stay on its successful course without your continued help.  It took a lot of folks working together to start the Carolina Comeback – and, while this is a great start, we are just getting warmed up.

I invite you to join me at www.patmccrory.com, and to also take a moment to watch my new video “Bold Leadership”.

Help keep up the fight for North Carolina and for the Carolina Comeback. Once you have watched my new video and visited my new site, please consider making a donation to help us start off the 2016 campaign season with a bang. As always, thank you for your time and support.

Sincerely,

Governor Pat McCrory

www.patmccrory.com

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

All Dem Wake Cty Commission Picks ‘Leadership’

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

MoreWithFourNotOneCentBackWBOC14The all Democrat Wake County Board of Commissioners picked their ‘leadership’.

James West will be the chair and Carolina Sullivan vice chair.

 

You can read more about it at WRAL, including the comments of newly added Moral Monday candidates; the foursome is otherwise known as “More With Four“.

John Burns notes half of the voters don’t like him.
No kidding. Folks who read my reports on this foursome and on Burns and his support of doxing know why.

This excerpt makes me chuckle. Emphasis added:

In an interview Sunday, Hutchinson said the board would focus on two key issues.

“We heard the voters in November and what they said is they want to move forward on public education, start working with school board,” he said. “They want to move forward on transit.”

Forward, Together! Not One Cent Back!

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Government, Moral Monday | Tagged | Comments Off on All Dem Wake Cty Commission Picks ‘Leadership’

NC Common Core Commission December Meeting Notice (UPDATED)

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

Dont mend it end itThe next meeting of the NC Common Core Commission (a.k.a. Academic Standards Review Commission) will be held on December 15th from 1-5 pm.

This will be the fourth meeting. As far as we know, still no funding.

There is still next to NO content on their website. No minutes. No agendas. No email conversations. No presentation materials.
NADA.  This is transparency?!?

Details via Dept. of Administration website:

December 15, 2014

Academic Standards Review Commission – The Commission will meet from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Commission Room, 5th Floor, Administration Building, 116 W. Jones St., Raleigh. 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. Please contact Co-Chairs Andre Peek at andre.peek@nc.gov or Jeannie Metcalf at jeannie.metcalf@nc.gov for more information.

 

UPDATES

12/7/14
The website has been modified since the original posting of this article on 12/3/14.

Agenda, November’s meeting minutes and the ASRC ‘Issue Collection’ template have been added. These items can be found on the upcoming meetings schedule page.

From the looks of the agenda, the plan for the December 15th meeting is to evaluate the ELA and Math presentations given by DPI using their Issue Collection template. Really?

Since there’s a category for parent impact on that template, I encourage parents to send emails to co-chairs Andre Peek at andre.peek@nc.gov and Jeannie Metcalf at jeannie.metcalf@nc.gov.

Parents, copy your state representation on that that email and include the following line: “Share this email with the entire commission.”

Posted in Academic Standards Review Commission, Common Core | Tagged , | 2 Comments

More thoughts on WCPSS’s #Selfiegate

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

In case you missed it, Wake County Public Schools is considering banning selfies and videos taken by students during the school day.

The Daily Haymaker has a good run down. Go read it.

Daily Haymaker’s article stopped short of addressing the hypocritical and big brotherly comments made by Wake School Board member, Jim Martin.

Martin, the board member, said Wake needs to check with parents who don’t give consent. He called it an “equity issue” to make sure that students aren’t denied technology access because their parents forgot to fill out the paperwork.

Martin said some parents may feel strongly about their children not having access to a device, which could be used to reach inappropriate material. The downside to requiring parents to opt in, however, could arise if some parents simply fail to take steps that would allow their children increased opportunities for learning, he said. – News and Observer

inigoGot that?

Because you, the parent, didn’t opt-in, WCPSS gets to check you out because… ‘equity’.

Martin uses the guise of ‘equity’ for possibly collecting information through an opt-in program to assess what your household does or does not have in terms of technology devices.

Update: Students rebelling?

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, Wake County School Board | Tagged , , | Comments Off on More thoughts on WCPSS’s #Selfiegate

Have You Read John Hood’s Latest Education Article?

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

If you lean conservative in North Carolina, you’ve likely read Carolina Journal or are possibly familiar with the John Locke Foundation.

If so, you know John Hood is the head of John Locke and as such is thought of as libertarian/conservative. I used to think so too.

Now, this is a hunch, but I think he’s either running for office or expecting a gubernatorial appointment. It’s also possible he is spending too much time rubbing elbows with liberals Educrats who think ‘all our kids belong to them’.

Why do I say that?

Just read Hood’s most recent latest education article.

Mark my words: This article is a set up piece for something coming down the road later on.

Read the whole thing carefully and pay attention to the words he chooses.

On Common Core, all due respect, Mr. Hood has been relatively clueless from the start. He hasn’t done his close reading nor apparently has he listened to the parents any more than the Governor or DPI has.

All of them seem more concerned with what business wants that they have ignored the ultimate stakeholders and decision makers of their ‘product’: the parents. Reality check — We call the shots with our kids, not you.

Here is what he says about Common Core and the Commission, which if you recall was the idea of John Lock Foundation’s Dr. Terry Stoops.  Emphasis is mine:

For example, whatever comes of the new commission reviewing the Common Core State Standards, lawmakers of both parties agree that North Carolina ought to have high academic standards and a clear, rigorous curriculum to implement them. Student mastery of this curriculum ought to be assessed in part by a battery of tests that allow for valid comparisons across schools, districts, and states. And when schools as a whole or teachers in particular demonstrate a consistent pattern of delivering higher-than-average student gains on these tests — or receive high marks from other evaluations — their efforts ought to be financially rewarded and replicated as much as possible in other classrooms.

Well, that paragraph could have been written by Achieve, Inc. or any Common Core tied entity.

Did you like how Hood tied the “battery of testing”  of “this curriculum” to teacher evaluations and compensation? That’s the same song and dance routine that Arne  Duncan and the Obama administration are doing.

You think teachers in this state are pissed off now? Just wait. Go head. Try to tie their compensation to the fundamentally flawed Common Core and it’s pack of crappy tests.

The next section is where Hood pretty much telegraphs his support for Senator Tillman’s bill to make Superintendent an appointed position.

Similarly, politicians, educators, and the general public have long struggled with North Carolina’s goofy governance structure for education. The governor appoints most of the state board of education. The state superintendent of public instruction is independently elected. The General Assembly legislates education policy, subject to gubernatorial veto. Elected school boards and appointed district superintendents implement policies at the local level.

Most agree we need a different system to create clearer lines of authority and accountability. My own preference is to make the state school board look more like the state community college board: a mixture of gubernatorial and legislative appointees who are then responsible for hiring a CEO. But other models may be worth considering, too.

Yep.
Pretty sure Hood has higher aspirations than head of a Libertarian think tank.

Bipartisanship is rare in this country.  Education is one area where we do see crossing of party lines. It’s people, not the powers that be who are crossing those lines.

Having said that, people are not crossing party lines to get behind a national set of standards brought in with no transparency that states are now locked into with illegal grants and waivers. They are not crossing party lines because over-testing our kids and data mining the crap out of them.

No.

The people are crossing party lines before they want Common Core and the gaggle of problems it has with it to be gone.

They want local control back. They want less testing. They want to have confidence in public schools again; but the more the fed and private, unelected entities intrude, the more that confidence erodes.  Just look at the homeschooling spike. A shift is in progress; parents are taking control back.

I didn’t intend to pick a fight with this article, but I guess I might have.  I’ll say that this frustration here isn’t rooted in actions by Democrats, but by those considered allies until now.

It is getting very tiresome for conservatives in North Carolina to have a super-majority in this state, yet be constantly fishing knives out of our backs.

 

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Academic Standards Review Commission, Common Core, EDUCATION, Testing | Comments Off on Have You Read John Hood’s Latest Education Article?