Tag Archives: CCSSO

Gates Grants Show Push On ‘Personalizing’ Learning

Posted on September 28, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

I’ve gotten in the habit of checking out the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant site on a regular basis.

I recently pulled up all the 2014 ‘college ready’ grants. The amount of money being doled out for 116 grants was over $87 million. This $87 million spans only 2014 through 9/28/14.

The second largest grant was to the CCSSO for over $6 million to support the implementation of their ‘strategic plan’:

KEEP READING, See who got the largest grant… Continue reading →

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“Buyers Remorse” On Common Core?

Posted on September 1, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

ABC has an AP article up called Buyers Remorse on Common Core for Policymakers. “Buyers Remorse” On Common Core? Years after adoption and after a slew of slick presentations and truckload of education buzzwords, the reality of Common Core is coming home to roost — but only after citizens stood up and made noise. Our policymakers were all to comfortable to just nod and pat each other on the backs over Common Core. There is the lesson learned here: don’t take your eyes and ears off the powers that be.

KEEP READING… Continue reading →

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

The Hunt Institute and YouTube Common Core Ads

Posted on July 17, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

While poking around on YouTube, I happened across the an advertisement for the Common Core. It was sponsored by the Hunt Institute. I know, you’re shocked right?

Just a quick reminder, the Hunt Institute has received millions (nearly $11 million) from the Gates Foundation for supporting and promoting the Common Core.
The Hunt Institute is also holding hands with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) in promoting the Core in North Carolina and have been from the very start. See the last line of the last page of this presentation made to the NC State Board of Education in 2010 by the NC Department of Public Instruction.
YouTube ads tailor themselves by pulling content relevant your IP address (and also browsing history), so it would appear this ad was in part intended to target North Carolina audiences. Still trying to reach the majority of people have never heard of ‘the greatest education reform’? A day late and a dollar short perhaps? NC’s about to repeal Common Core. Continue reading →

Posted in Common Core, June Atkinson | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Citizen’s Information Request Yields 60K In CCSSO Dues

Posted on July 14, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

A citizen request for information regarding one of the two D.C. trade groups responsible for the Common Core standards, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), yielded some interesting results from the NC Department of Public Instruction (NC DPI).

At least $60,000 in taxpayer funds paid for CCSSO related activity last year. Keep reading, there is more beyond the specific CCSSO dollar figure. Continue reading →

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NC Must Get Out Of The Common Core’s SBAC

Posted on June 20, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

I’ve written in the past about the SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) and its ramifications for keeping North Carolina tied to Common Core even with two bills in our General Assembly attempting to get us out of the standards. For those who have not dug into the SBAC, I encourage you to do so. Start with the Cooperative Agreement between the U.S. Department of Education and the Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium.

The Cooperative Agreement in a nutshell is the U.S. Dept. of Education getting around the law barring them from creating national tests and curriculum by farming it out to a private company. It was paid for with your tax dollars via the Obama administration’s Stimulus package, of which a portion of was funneled into the Race To The Top Grants. The purpose statement from the Cooperative Agreement:

The purpose of this agreement is to support the consortium recipient in developing new, common assessment systems that are valid, reliable and fair for their intended purposes and for all student subgroups, and that measure student knowledge and skills against a common set of college- and career-ready standards in mathematics and English language arts. In light of the technical nature of this grant and the fact that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) will likely be reauthorized during the course of this project, the Department will provide necessary flexibility to respond to changing circumstances, technology, and laws by working collaboratively with the recipient through this agreement. The objective is to assist the consortium in fulfilling, at minimum, the goals articulated in the consortium’s approved Race to the Top Assessment (RTTA) application, requirements established in the RTTA Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 that was published in the Federal Register on April 9, 2010, and any subsequent additions detailed through this agreement.

The price tag was large:

The estimated cost for the work to be performed under this Agreement is $159,976,843 and $15,872,696 for the supplemental award.

This article will hit some of the bigger reasons why North Carolina needs to get out of the SBAC. However, before going forward, it is worth noting that the SBAC tests were a confirmed “glitch” fiasco and the tests themselves, like PARCC’s, were shrouded in secrecy. Teachers have told me they were not allowed to see the pilot test beforehand in NC nor were they allowed to talk about specifics afterward.

Keep Reading…. Continue reading →

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

Another Reason Kay Is Wrong For NC: Common Core

Posted on May 7, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

If you’ve been on Twitter, you’ve likely seen Kay Hagan’s timeline in the past few days promoting teachers. That’s great in and of itself, teachers should be promoted. However, Hagan’s choice of guest for the State of the Union address was a teacher who just loves the hotly debated and increasingly loathed Common Core. That teacher was 2013-2014 Teacher of The Year, Karyn Dickerson.

As Teacher of the Year, Dickerson has supported the Common Core State Standards, which have been adopted by North Carolina and most other states. She has also called for more innovation in education to better prepare students for the future workforce. – News and Record

Teacher of the Year is pretty much known as a politically charged popularity contest in North Carolina. That assessment is not without merit, especially in this case given Ms. Dickerson made comments at a far Left Moral Monday rally. It’s folks like this who are questioning why we are dropping an experimental set of standards. I think NC should be more worried about replacing these folks. That includes Kay Hagan. Continue reading →

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