Utah’s education has recently been up for sale. Teachers divide sharply over the new Common Core federal educational standards.
Educators
who want the nation “on the same page” will tolerate bigger government
to get it. Others see this as ominous and think the federal government
should stick to its legally assigned duties, none of which involve
education. They see a rotten core in this apple.
Common Core is touted as a grassroots, state-led movement that started with educators, but the money trail says otherwise. States can “tweak” their particular program, which fools the unsuspecting, but this octopus was nationally born.
Federal funds developed the intrusive, much-maligned tests at the core of Common Core. President Obama’s favorite education initiatives are at the heart of the program, according to Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education. He claims the program is state-led, but crows over states who took Common Core’s federal payoffs without debate.
Utah’s Governor Gary Herbert is among that group. Surprise, surprise: Federal goodies guarantee federal control.
Three-fourths of America’s school children now intellectually ingest Common Core’s English and math curricula.
Some on the committee to plan the curricula rebuke it. James Milgram, emeritus mathematics professor from Stanford, refused to sign the completed program, saying Common Core standards are academically deficient.
Committee member Professor Sandra Stotsky, University of Arkansas, agrees. Common Core claims to be “internationally benchmarked” to meet the best educational standards worldwide. Educators who examine it say that claim is bogus; the program falls well below advanced international standards.
Some teachers have put their careers on the line in protest. Utah physics teacher Stuart Harper resigned over Common Core, which requires teachers to follow a script: what to say and how to say it. Forget about individual help, or teacher talents and creativity.
Harper says, “My hands are tied within this system."
Middle school English teacher Elizabeth Natale, of West Hartford, Conn., joins him. She believes the art of teaching is being snuffed out. She also says, “I do not believe the current trend in education will lead to adults better prepared ... to be better citizens.”
Utah’s Granite
School District teacher Ann Florence was fired during the 2014 Spring
Break for speaking out against Common Core. Apparently Granite School
District hasn’t heard of the First Amendment’s freedom of speech. (No
wonder; the Constitution spends little time in the school curricula
nowadays.)
Ann wants to teach through her skills and be judged accordingly, rather than be judged by the endless test scores from Common Core. A teacher can get fired if her students don’t perform well on the tests. (Wasn’t this new system supposed to fix this problem from No Child Left Behind?)
States who rushed blindly and greedily into Common Core’s open arms, such as New York and Indiana, are now backing away. Missouri may join them.
The federal government, intent on having its way, has put Indiana “on the rack” for its reversal. Georgia wants in, however.
Mary and Tracy Finney, who tried to opt their children out of Common Core’s murky test environment, were called trespassers by police, as administrators denied their request. Georgia’s parent involvement apparently ends when school doors close around their children.
A determined grassroots movement to reverse Common Core in Utah is under way, led by Oak Norton of Highland and Christel Swasey, who appeared recently on The Blaze network to showcase the problem.
There are a lot of parents consequently deciding to home school, and a lot of Utah teachers trash-talking this program. They should know what’s best in the classroom. Gov. Herbert, let go of the federal goodies and undo your error, please.
Common Core is touted as a grassroots, state-led movement that started with educators, but the money trail says otherwise. States can “tweak” their particular program, which fools the unsuspecting, but this octopus was nationally born.
Federal funds developed the intrusive, much-maligned tests at the core of Common Core. President Obama’s favorite education initiatives are at the heart of the program, according to Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education. He claims the program is state-led, but crows over states who took Common Core’s federal payoffs without debate.
Utah’s Governor Gary Herbert is among that group. Surprise, surprise: Federal goodies guarantee federal control.
Three-fourths of America’s school children now intellectually ingest Common Core’s English and math curricula.
Some on the committee to plan the curricula rebuke it. James Milgram, emeritus mathematics professor from Stanford, refused to sign the completed program, saying Common Core standards are academically deficient.
Committee member Professor Sandra Stotsky, University of Arkansas, agrees. Common Core claims to be “internationally benchmarked” to meet the best educational standards worldwide. Educators who examine it say that claim is bogus; the program falls well below advanced international standards.
Do teachers like the program?
Some do, but others balk, particularly over the intrusive testing required by Common Core. Teachers and parents alike ask "Why so many
tests?" The pesky, illogicaltests eat up to 20 percent of a teacher’s
teaching time.
Shouldn’t teachers teach and test occasionally,
rather than the opposite test and teach occasionally? The tests are not
the end goal; learning is. Will test-stressed classrooms improve
education?Some teachers have put their careers on the line in protest. Utah physics teacher Stuart Harper resigned over Common Core, which requires teachers to follow a script: what to say and how to say it. Forget about individual help, or teacher talents and creativity.
Harper says, “My hands are tied within this system."
Middle school English teacher Elizabeth Natale, of West Hartford, Conn., joins him. She believes the art of teaching is being snuffed out. She also says, “I do not believe the current trend in education will lead to adults better prepared ... to be better citizens.”
Ann wants to teach through her skills and be judged accordingly, rather than be judged by the endless test scores from Common Core. A teacher can get fired if her students don’t perform well on the tests. (Wasn’t this new system supposed to fix this problem from No Child Left Behind?)
States who rushed blindly and greedily into Common Core’s open arms, such as New York and Indiana, are now backing away. Missouri may join them.
The federal government, intent on having its way, has put Indiana “on the rack” for its reversal. Georgia wants in, however.
Mary and Tracy Finney, who tried to opt their children out of Common Core’s murky test environment, were called trespassers by police, as administrators denied their request. Georgia’s parent involvement apparently ends when school doors close around their children.
A determined grassroots movement to reverse Common Core in Utah is under way, led by Oak Norton of Highland and Christel Swasey, who appeared recently on The Blaze network to showcase the problem.
There are a lot of parents consequently deciding to home school, and a lot of Utah teachers trash-talking this program. They should know what’s best in the classroom. Gov. Herbert, let go of the federal goodies and undo your error, please.
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