Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted on November 27, 2014 by A.P. Dillon


I wish the best to you all this Thanksgiving.
Take time to count your blessing and be with loved ones.

I am thankful for your readership and generosity,

AP Dillon
Lady Liberty 1885

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Happy Thanksgiving!

NC Senate Bill 880 And The NC Superintendent Position

Posted on November 27, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Something for everyone’s radar prior to entering the holiday news dead zone.

In June of 2014, Senator Jerry Tillman filed Senate Bill 880 titled the Education Simplification Amendment.  It passed the first reading and was sent to the Education/Higher Education committee.  See the bill’s history here.

According to the SB 880’s opening text, the NC Superintendent of schools position would be changed significantly from and elected superintendent to a Governor appointed ‘secretary of education’ through a state Constitutional amendment:

AN ACT TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF NORTH CAROLINA TO SIMPLIFY THE MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION BY PROVIDING FOR A SECRETARY OF EDUCATION TO REPLACE THE CURRENT SYSTEM OF A SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION AND, STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  Section 4 of Article IX of the Constitution of North Carolina is repealed.

SECTION 1.(b)  Section 5 of Article IX of the Constitution of North Carolina reads as rewritten:

“Sec. 5. Powers and duties of Board.Department of Education.

The State Board of Education There is established within the Executive Branch a Department of Education which shall supervise and administer the free public school system and the educational funds provided for its support, except the funds mentioned in Section 7 of this Article, and shall make all needed rules and regulations in relation thereto, subject to laws enacted by the General Assembly. The head of the Department of Education shall be appointed by the Governor in accordance with law subject to confirmation by joint resolution of the General Assembly. The General Assembly shall provide by law for the filling of temporary vacancies in that position.“

My 2 Cents
While NC’s Department of Public Instruction has become bloated and wields far too much unchecked power, eliminating the election by the people of its leadership is not the answer. I know only about a dozen states have elected Superintendents, but personally, I’d rather the people decide than a single person.

It would appear North Carolina isn’t alone in this desire to remove an elected position. Indiana is also looking at a shift and that the ‘structure needs to change‘.  This proposal appears to be backed by the Chamber of Commerce there. Reminder: The US and local Chambers of Commerce are ardent Common Core supporters. They would not be backing this move if there were not some sort of logistical benefit.

The department needs far greater transparency, their website is a confusing labyrinth and the legal aspects of agreements and grants the current DPI has entered North Carolina into beg for increased oversight.

Oversight and transparency like the fact our State Superintendent is now President of one of the D.C. trade groups that holds the copyright on Common Core and is pushing the standards ten ways from Sunday?  If that doesn’t scream conflict of interest, I don’t know what does.

Related Reads:
About That Race To The Top Money

About That Race To The Top Grant – Part II

About That Race To The Top Grant – Part III

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

Education Group Survey Appears On Wake School Sites

Posted on November 26, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

An education group called ‘Project Tomorrow’  is promoting a survey on a Wake County elementary website. The school is Cary Elementary.

2014 SpeakUp Survey

WCPSS is a leader among school districts in instructional technology, but there is always more that can be done. One important component of giving our students the best we can offer academically is to listen to them, along with their parents, the broader community and, of course, our teachers.

WCPSS is partnering with Project Tomorrow SpeakUp, an online survey for teachers, parents, students and community supporters to provide input around learning, and specifically the use of technology in our school.

WCPSS encourages everyone who cares about their school to take the survey. You can do so by clicking on the link below and following the directions to select your category (parent, teacher, student, etc.), and then to select your school for the survey.

We want to hear from you so we can provide our students with the best instruction possible. Please take a few moments and click on the Project Tomorrow SpeakUp button to complete the survey.

We will be working with the students during their computer lab time to complete the survey. 

I also noted this survey on other Wake County elementary sites. This one below is Holly Ridge Elementary, where the description indicates again that this survey is being pushed county wide:

Take the WCPSS district-wide survey to share your viewpoints about key educational issues, particularly concerning 21st century education and technology. Select your category (parent, teacher, student, etc.), and then select Holly Ridge Elementary for the survey. IMPORTANT: Students must enter the password wake2014.The survey will close on Dec. 19.

 

Who is Project Tomorrow?

From the survey page:

Speak Up, a national online research project facilitated by Project Tomorrow®, gives individuals the opportunity to share their viewpoints about key educational issues, particularly concerning 21st century education and technology. Each year, findings are summarized and shared with national and state policy makers. Participating schools and districts can access their data online, free-of-charge in February 2015.

Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the survey page:

Project Tomorrow, the nonprofit organization that facilitates Speak Up, retains all legal rights to the data gathered as part of Speak Up and prohibits the use of the data for commercial or unauthorized purposes by any entity.

What is considered unauthorized?
Parents, we worry about our kids data being used, I’d worry about your own with this survey.

WHOIS reveals this is a group based in California:

Registrant Name:Project Tomorrow
Registrant Organization:Project Tomorrow
Registrant Street: 15707 ROCKFIELD BLVD STE 250
Registrant City:Irvine
Registrant State/Province:CA
Registrant Postal Code:92618-2870
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.9496094660
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +1.9496094665
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email:jim@WESTED.ORG

Project Tomorrow shares an address with the ‘Future Educators Association‘.

A look at their staff, board of directors and advisory council shows a link to North Carolina via the Friday Institute. Multiple other groups on the Advisory list are Common Core supporters, such as the heavily Gates funded group Alliance for Excellent Education and iNACOL.

The investors list is long and includes major Common Core backers, Microsoft and Hewlett.

Unsurprising, since the surveys are technology heavy in focus and  Common Core’s use of technology is also heavy and will be come increasingly more heavy if continued. This is evidenced by the litany of grants that the Gates Foundation, Hewlett and Lumina foundations have made in ‘non-profits’ working in digital tech aligned to the Common Core.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION | Comments Off on Education Group Survey Appears On Wake School Sites

NC #APUSH Update: State Board of Ed Calls Special Meeting

Posted on November 26, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

According to an email from the Department of Public Instruction, the State Board of Education will be holding a special meeting where the new and controversial framework of APUSH (Advanced Placement U.S. History) will be discussed.

At the October meeting of the State School Board, it was promised that APUSH would be getting a debate. This appears to be happening with this special meeting being for Monday, December 1st.

I am glad to see Larry Krieger presenting as suggested by Ms. Oxendine. NC teacher Ted Dickerson was involved in the new and controversial APUSH framework and was originally mentioned to debate Krieger by Mr. Ford.  It would appear the College Board is sending in one of their big guns instead – Executive Director, John Williamson.

It is worth noting that on Tuesday, December 2nd, the North Carolina General Assembly’s Joint Education Oversight committee will be hearing APUSH testimony as well.

QUESTION: Why is a special meeting being called? Shouldn’t this discussion be at the regular meeting where public input and discussion happen?  Open and full public debate on this issue should be the goal and using an ’emergency’ meeting here seems sketchy at best.

Text of the special meeting announcement email:

The State Board of Education will hold a called meeting via conference call on Monday, Dec. 1, from 1-2:30 pm to hear presentations on AP US History and North Carolina Founding Principles course content.  The two presenters will be Mr. Larry Krieger, retired teacher and author, and Mr. John Williamson of College Board.

The meeting will be posted on eBoard and will be live audio-streamed through the link at the bottom of the eBoard agenda. (Available at www.ncpublicschools.org by clicking on SBE Meetings in the top right corner of the page.) The call will originate from the Education Building, 301 N. Wilmington St., Raleigh, 7th Floor Board Room, and the public can attend and listen to the meeting in that location. 

In addition, the Board will hold its regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 3, and Thursday, Dec. 4, also in Raleigh. That agenda and other details about the meeting are posted online in the same location. 

Thanks,

Vanessa W. Jeter, Director
Communication and Information Services
NC Department of Public Instruction
6306 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-6306

 919-807-3469 phone
919-807-3481 fax

 

 

Related Reading: #APUSH Is Going To Get A Debate In North Carolina

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, NC Board Of Education, NCGA | Tagged | 1 Comment

NCDPI Making Changes To Common Core Documents

Posted on November 26, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Last month, NC Department of Public Instruction (DPI) gave a presentation to the Common Core Academic Standards Review Commission (ASRC) on the English language arts portion of the standards.

This month, in the DPI newsletter, it appears updates have been made:

  1. Unpacking Standards For English Language Arts Updated

Updated Unpacking Standards for all grades for English Language Arts are now available at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/standards/common-core-tools/#unela. Unpacking Standards are documents for educators that define the skills students must master to accomplish specific goals. The documents list the essential standards for each grade level and subject, and provide detailed examples on how to teach a standard.

I have inquired with DPI as to where a summary of the changes can be found. When I receive a reply, I will update this article accordingly.

This information should be shared with the ASRC.

Posted in Academic Standards Review Commission, Common Core, NC DPI | Tagged | 1 Comment

Now Moral Monday Is About Ferguson

Posted on November 25, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Update: Welcome Carolina Plott Hound readers!

 

Littered all over the #MoralMonday hashtag are tweets like the ones below.

Moral Monday was just another incarnation of Occupy. People were injured, property damaged, buildings burned…and Moral Monday are standing on top of all that. Moral Monday used the turmoil in Ferguson to pull some stunts like closing down Wal-Marts and connecting it to Ferguson just to get some press.  That’s ghoulish.

 


Gee, this looks familiar:

REALTY CHECK…

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Moral Monday, Occupy 2.0, Twitter | Tagged , , | 1 Comment