The philosophy of the classroom today will be the philosophy of government tomorrow. Abraham Lincoln
I don't think anyone reading this doubts for a second the truth of those words. Over the last few months Sandra in Brevard's questioning why we we needed more standardized tests and how are we supposed to pay for them led her to the discovery that some politicians are planning on remaking American Education.. More importantly they're doing it quietly, preferring to do as much as possible through regulation instead of legislation. Regulatory changes seldom attract much notice, but they have the force of law.
The current reform effort will eventually centralize control of America's Education System in Washington DC,
While the move is currently being spearheaded by Obama's Administration, Jeb Bush is just as deeply involved as Barack Obama.. Billionaires who stand to make a great deal of money from the changes include the very conservative Robert Murdoch and the very liberal Bill Gates. Amazing how well progressives and conservatives can get along when there's the potential to make billions. Anyone trying to make this a Right versus Left political issue is at best mistaken, at worst, a liar who has something to gain.
During the course of her investigations, Sandra found out she wasn't the only wondering WTF was going on and getting more and more concerned by what she found out.. Several of those people have gotten together and formed Truth in American Education.. The organization just opened their website yesterday, you can find it at
http://truthinamericaneducation.com/
The site covers everything the average person needs to know in order to understand the changes that are taking place now through regulation, and the ones that Congress has to consider before they mandate the states find a way to pay for them...
Among the topics covered you'll find covered
Common Core State Standards
National Education Standards
Gates Foundation & NCEE Influence
State Costs for Adopting and Implementing the Common Core State Standards
National Curriculum
Common Core State Standards Content
Common Core Assessments
Race To The Top
Privacy Issues and State Longitudinal Data Systems
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
ESEA Briefing Book and Position Paper
Home School/Private School
Action Center
Stop CCSSI ToolKit
Parent and Community Action Plan
And one of my personal favorites, an Acronym Decoder so you can figure out what people are talking about when you read something like;
The effect of RTTT and NCLB on ESEA
The list doesn't have all the codes, but hopefully it has enough that you're not just staring at you're monitor wondering, what the hell does that mean.
TAE has also set up a chain of Network Participants
The groups and individuals participating in the network include parent-founded education watchdogs, grassroots organizations interested in fiscal and curriculum issues, family organizations, free-market think-tanks, private school groups, and nationwide advocacy groups. Each network participant, independent of all others, supports the sharing of ideas, information, and efforts to defeat or diminish the negative impact of the CCSS, CCSS assessments, RTTT, privacy issues and state longitudinal data systems, and ESEA. While network participants share concerns about these issues, it is recognized there are considerably differing views among them on other issues. The five areas of concern are not based on political preference or ideology, but rather based on what we see as being in the best interest of providing our nation’s school children with a solid academic educationBoth Today I'm Grumpy About and Grumpy Educators have been selected as Network Participants,, The credit for that goes to Sandra who has worked so hard to keep us informed about Education Reform and it's impact..
The Missouri Watchdog is also a Network Participant, the Watchdog's Editor, Gretchen Logue is one of the TAE Advocates. As most of you know, I've posted several of her blogs here on Grumpy. We have similar views on government and privacy
Gretchen also appears in this Heritage Foundation Video
Lincoln was right, the proposed changes to America's Education system are huge. If they take affect, the changes will impact entire generations..as well as your wallet.
so pay a visit to Truth in American Education and find out for yourself what's going in
great job so far folks!!
ReplyDeleteVisit their website and view the Advocates section. Two Advocates are authors, one Advocate lives right here in Brevard County, which was surprise for me, and the rest, from across the country, are equally knowledgeable on this topic. We all have a reference to go to for all the facts, with links to primary sources, in one location. I literally bumped into this while doing research.
ReplyDelete