Fundamentally Transforming America through our Children~

AND WE ARE PAYING FOR IT WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS!

“A short trip to HELL”

fish bateJust a note from Ray Myers to explain how Obama and his team plan to fundamentally change our country. His plan is simple, yet very sinister. Here is the short version.

Think of it like this: When any government agency, City Hall, School Board, County Commissioner or State Agency accepts stimulus money for anything. Obama will gladly send the requesting agent millions of stimulus dollars. Here’s the catch—when the stimulus money runs out, the fine print states that the agency must keep up the programs with continual tax dollars. When the in debt agency calls Mr. Obama and says, but Mr. President–we are out of stimulus money and we cannot afford to continue these programs. Here is the TRAP—He sets the Hook! Well that is GREAT—don’t worry about a thing—we will take your agency over and run it ourselves. The city /school etc has taken the bait. From the School House to the State House—“Don’t Take The Money!” “Don’t Take The Bait!”

 

grey_reef_shark45The challenge we face is that Congress may just throw us to the sharks….

Much like ObamaCare but this is ObamaCore….

S. 1094, the “Strengthening America’s Schools Act of 2013, is a 1200 page regulatory tsunami on local school systems.  All local control of your child’s education will be washed away if this bill passes.  It includes forced implementation of Common Core Standards and puts all decisions on education policy in the hands of Washington, DC bureaucrats.

They’re creating a national school board by Jason Laird

If you thought No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top were bad, think again.

The U.S. Senate is poised to pass a bill that’s far worse. 

S.1094, the “Strengthening America’s Schools Act of 2013,” is a 1200 page regulatory tsunami on local school systems.

All local control of your child’s education will be washed away if this bill passes.

Why is it so bad?

S.1094 puts approximately 150 new reporting requirements on states relating to:

  • Teacher evaluations
  • Learning goals
  • Curriculum standards
  • Standardized testing
  •  Annual reporting 
S.1094 also continues the war on local schools through FORCED implementation of Common Core Standards.
 
A longstanding line of defense used by Common Core advocates is that it is voluntary for the states to participate.
 
With the passage of S.1094, participation and implementation of Common Core Standards will be required of states.
 
This bill puts every single major decision on American education policy in the hands of Washington DC bureaucrats in the U.S. Department of Education. 

Yikes!What’s worse is that local school systems are required to implement all of these new federal mandates and standards in a very short time frame.

This means that teachers and local school administrators will be spending more time trying to comply with silly federal mandates and less time on actually teaching your child.

The Education Freedom Committee opposes S.1094 because we fundamentally reject the idea that the federal government should have any role in the education of our children.

 
We would like nothing more than for the Congress to replace No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top with. . .
 
NOTHING!
 
If this bill passes, parents, teachers, and students will be sent to the sidelines.The bill has already been rubber stamped in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and could be voted on in the U.S. Senate at any time.
Now is our time to protect Americas children…. 

“Lesson Learned” – CSCOPE

by Barbara Cargill

photo (3)Chair of Texas State Board of Education

Now is the time to ride the wave of public concern and outrage about CSCOPE. Although many past lessons may have been corrected or changed, why was there poorly written, biased content in the first place? (I read the lessons myself, using my own assigned password.) This issue is only the tip of a huge iceberg. There are other instructional materials that contain questionable content, and they are not being reviewed for the quality of their content.

 

In 1995 the legislature voted to limit the State Board of Education’s authority over the review of textbook content. Since that time, there has been no public, transparent, citizen-led process for vetting the quality of content in our children’s textbooks. Now that almost all textbooks are online, this becomes an even greater issue of concern because content can be changed with a few strokes on a keyboard. 

 

How were textbook reviews done in the past? Before 1995, the board could instruct review panels (consisting of volunteer parents, teachers, industry leaders, and other citizens) to check for factual errors and also to review thequality of the content.

 

Here are a few things panel members could review prior to 1995:

·        Does the textbook content present positive aspects of U.S. heritage?

·        Does it contain balanced, factual treatment of political and social movements?

·        Does the textbook promote respect for citizenship, patriotism, recognized authority, individual rights, the free enterprise, and respect for the work ethic? 

·        Does it reflect an awareness of various ethnic groups?

·        Does the book reflect the positive contributions of individuals and groups on American life? 

 

What changed? In the board’s current textbook review process, panelists are instructed to check for factual errors and for TEKS coverage, period. Checking for TEKS coverage is NOT checking for the quality with which the TEKS are covered. For example, George Washington is required to be covered in American history, since he is listed several times in the TEKS. How he is covered in the content, however, is not part of the review.

  

It is time for the citizens of Texas to demand change and to regain the right to vet the quality of content in our children’s textbooks! The same public passion that resulted in content changes in CSCOPE lessons must be harnessed and directed toward state policy-makers who can reinstate the vetting of content quality to the board’s adoption process.

 

What can you do?

I highly encourage you to ask your child’s teachers what curriculum and textbooks they use.  Parents must stay informed about what is being taught in the classroom; it is your right. According to the Texas Education Code 26.006, parents are “entitled to review all teaching materials, instructional materials, and other teaching aids used in the classroom of the parent’s child; and review each test administered to the parent’s child after the test is administered.” As we approach the 2014 election season, ask elected officials and candidates their position on this issue. We must be advocates on behalf of our schoolchildren; let’s show them that we have learned our lesson about what can happen when quality of content goes unchecked.

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If you are not going to allow your child, grandchild, niece or nephew to be used start by signing a petition to remove paid Microsoft lobbyist Thomas Ratliff from the Texas SBOE (State Board of Education) 

 

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What Kate Forgot to Mention: “CSCOPE Assessments Now Posted on Public Website”

Donna Garner

Education writer Donna Garner

By Donna Garner

Kate Alexander, liberal and biased reporter for the Austin American-Statesman, has written an article in today’s paper entitled “Activists publish CSCOPE tests online.” I have posted excerpts further on down the page.

 

WHAT KATE “FORGOT” TO MENTION

Kate mentions nothing in this article about the fact that the TESCCC (made up of all 20 Education Service Center directors) was the corporate owner of CSCOPE (and all its parts).  TESCCC announced on May 20, 2013, that TESCCC would cease to exist.

From what has been widely publicized, the TESCCC

decided to shut itself down because it was set up originally as a “shell corporation” without the appropriate business mechanisms having been put in place; millions of taxpayers’ dollars are still unaccounted for; and lawsuits may be in the offing because of plagiarism found in the CSCOPE lessons. The Texas State Auditor, John Keel, is presently doing a formal audit of TESCCC/ESC/CSCOPE; and shortly a formal complaint may be filed with the IRS.

The TESCCC directors signed a letter saying that the CSCOPE lessons would be taken off the website on Aug. 31, 2013, when the yearly school contracts expired.  In the same 5.20.13 letter, the TESCCC also announced that the ESC’s would produce and sell no more lesson plans to Texas schools.

Screen Shot 2013-08-19 at 9.53.19 PMTHOMAS RATLIFF INFLUENCES HIS CRONIES

Then up popped Thomas Ratliff who loudly began advising Texas public school administrators to let their teachers download the CSCOPE lessons and to keep using them anyway.  Ratliff is a registered lobbyist for Microsoft and gets richer each time online technology in Texas schools is utilized.  Because of his obvious conflict of interest, Ratliff is an illegal member of the Texas State Board of Education because of the monetary/business ties that the Texas Education Agency and SBOE have with Microsoft.

Grassroots citizens have generated a petition to have Ratliff impeached by the Texas House  — www. IMPEACHRATLIFF.COM.

 

CSCOPE IN PUBLIC DOMAIN

At the July 17-19, 2013 Texas State Board of Education meeting, David Anderson, legal counsel for the Texas Education Agency, verbalized his interpretation of this confusing situation, saying that after Aug. 31, 2013, the CSCOPE lessons would become a part of the public domain and could be utilized by any and all.  On 8.22.13, the Texas Tribune published the CSCOPE lessons on their website.

 

However, nothing has been decided legally about the ownership of the CSCOPE assessments. The TESCCC owned the CSCOPE lessons and the accompanying assessments; but since the TESCCC has shut itself down and its contracts with districts have ceased to exist, it seems reasonable to assume that the CSCOPE assessments should be in the public domain also.

 

MEANWHILE, TESCCC HAS MORPHED

On 8.12.13, the former TESCCC members met as a committee at ESC 13 in Austin and suddenly began calling themselves the Texas Curriculum Management Program Cooperative (TCMPC).  The name CSCOPE has been changed to the TEKS Resource System, and all of the same CSCOPE “parts” are being marketed by the ESC’s except for the CSCOPE lessons (which can now be accessed on the Texas Tribune website).

 

CSCOPE ASSESSMENTS PUBLISHED

This week a few of the CSCOPE assessments have been put into the public domain on a public website with more assessments sure to be published soon.  The question remains, “If TESCCC shut itself down, then who owns the CSCOPE assessments?”

 

Stop CSCOPETEXAS TEACHERS SPEAK OUT

Please go to this link to see how Texas teachers and students feel about the CSCOPE lessons, assessments, and scope and sequence:  http://www.voicesempower.com/voice-of-a-teacher-and-a-student-cscope-assessments/

 

SBOE REVIEW AND PUBLIC HEARING — CSCOPE SOCIAL STUDIES LESSONS

The Texas State Board of Education is supervising the review of the CSCOPE social studies lessons since many schools in Texas have decided to keep using the CSCOPE lessons which are now in the public domain.  The review teams are evaluating whether or not the CSCOPE lessons are aligned with the state-adopted-and-mandated curriculum standards (TEKS) and are free from factual errors.

As a part of the SBOE review of the CSCOPE social studies lessons, a public hearing will be held by the SBOE on Sept. 13 at 9:00 A. M. (changed from an earlier start time of 1:00 P. M.)  Here is the link to the information people need who wish to testify at that meeting: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/Communications/CSCOPE/Public_hearing_scheduled_on_CSCOPE/

 

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM – PARENTAL ACCESS

For those school districts that insist on using CSCOPE lessons (or whatever the new name may be), the “elephant in the room” is still parental access 24/7 to the CSCOPE curriculum.

Statute established in the Texas Education Code (TEC) states that the school district must “allow the student to take home any instructional materials used by the student…The parent must be allowed to review all teaching materials, instructional materials, and other teaching aids used in the classroom of the parent’s child…A school district shall make teaching materials and tests readily available for review by parents.”  (Texas Education Code, Title 2. Public Education, Subtitle E. Students and Parents, Chapter 26. Parental Rights and Responsibilities, Sec. 26.006. Access to Teaching Materials — http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/ED/htm/ED.26.htm#26.004 )

 

Definition of “instructional materials” – “The term includes a book, supplementary materials, a combination of a book, workbook, and supplementary materials, computer software, magnetic media, DVD, CD-ROM, computer courseware, on-line services, or an electronic medium, or other means of conveying information to the student or otherwise contributing to the learning process through electronic means, including open-source instructional material. (Texas Education Code, Title 2. Public Education, Subtitle F. Curriculum, Programs, and Services, Chapter 31. Instructional Materials, Subchapter A. General Provisions, Sec. 31.002, Definitions, Instructional Material —

http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/ED/htm/ED.31.htm )

 

As described by an experienced Texas teacher:

 Hypothetically, if a teacher ‘does’ a CSCOPE lesson, the parent will never be able to see it. It will be played out in the classroom. The only thing that will come home is a graphic organizer with a bunch of empty boxes — no explanation at the top, no content to review…

CSCOPE doesn’t provide the content — meaning the informational text for the student. That is why it is so dangerous.  It provides a script for the teacher, which the parent will never see. The teacher is left to scramble for material all over the internet. 

When dangerous links in the CSCOPE lessons were made public by concerned citizens, the TESCCC (corporate owner of CSCOPE) pulled those links. This is the big danger of CSCOPE and other online materials.  Links and other content can be taken out or put back in ‘at the click of a mouse’ without parental knowledge.  

Another expert on CSCOPE has stated:

We also need to keep going back to the fact that the TESCCC was never forced to provide actual access for parents  – a requirement of the Texas Education Code. TESCCC skirted by on pledges to create a new website with total access, which turned out to be a sham since parents did not have genuine access to the lessons being used in CLASSROOMS, only samples (as was the case with the original CSCOPE domain)…

No access was ever truly granted.  Therefore, the question of access is still a valid one for the courts and should be the primary focus of legal efforts. 

For success in court, parents need to seek injunctive relief on the basis of being denied access to the lessons used by both the District and TESCCC. Injury on the basis of ACCESS will give all parents standing. And standing, is what judges care about.  

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Austin American Statesman Writer Kate Alexander

Austin American Statesman Writer Kate Alexander

9.5.13 – “Activists Publish CSCOPE Tests Online” – by Kate Alexander, Austin American-Statesman —

 

Excerpts from this article:

A conservative blogger has published online the questions and answers for social studies tests available to hundreds of Texas school districts because she maintains they reflect a pro-Islam and anti-American bias.

 

The public release of the tests could render them unusable and is the latest development in an ongoing saga over a curriculum system, formerly known as CSCOPE, that has inflamed conservative and tea party activists over the past year.

 

Ginger Russell, half of the mother-daughter duo that sparked the CSCOPE controversy, posted the 10 tests on her website — redhotconservative.com — on Wednesday. Russell said she believed that parents needed to see the tests, which had been provided to her by teachers…

 

It will be left up to the school districts whether to continue using the tests, but many teachers and administrators have already expressed concern that the integrity of the assessments had been compromised, said Mason Moses, a spokesman for the state-funded Education Service Centers that developed the assessments.

 

“We take this very seriously. … This may be just 10 or so now, but there is concern that moving forward it could multiply significantly,” Moses said.

 

Posting the tests online harms the schools that have found them to be a useful resource, said State Board of Education member Thomas Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant.

 

“Clearly, what she’s trying to do is destroy the whole program,” Ratliff said of Russell…

Join the Movement!

If you are not going to allow your child, grandchild, niece or nephew to be used like this start by signing a petition to remove paid Microsoft lobbyist Thomas Ratliff from the Texas SBOE (State Board of Education) 

 

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