And now we have Common Core. A new system of standards imposed by the Gates Foundation that drives curriculum in our schools and forces teaching shifts to gimmicky methods of teaching math and reading designed by people who have no classroom experience. It forces shifts to methods that are not productive and not as effective as methods most teachers have used for years. Common Core will not improve academic performance, it will certainly not close the achievement gap as claimed by the proponents, but it will drive more dollars to testing companies and to the growing Pearson monopoly of texts, ipads, and test rehearsal products. That is the truth.
Did you notice that most of the traditional (status quo) media reporting has not adequately explained the above truths about the so the called education reform movement which Diane Ravitch and Mercedes Schneider are now referring to as the corporate takeover of public education. But here in Louisiana I am very proud to report that many strong voices have emerged through the use of blogs and social media to tell the real truth about education reform and to expose Arne Duncan and John White for their damaging tinkering with public education. And now I would like for my readers to hear from another independent educator who is blogging the truth about Common Core. She is Rev. Dr. Marie DeYoung and she teaches music in several rural public schools in South Louisiana. Please visit her blog, Our Inherent Worth, at: http://inherentworth.blogspot.com/. Here is her post on Common Core:
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Education Should Do No Harm - My Sunday Eunice News Commentary published July 27, 2014
Should Louisiana taxpayers “keep it simple,” and allow high-priced Common Core education contracts to be funded in violation of our state contracting laws?
That was the suggestion of Stephen Waguespack, LABI President, when he argued last Sunday that it was too late to remedy the badly designed Common Core Program by canceling the sole-source contracts the way our governor, Bobby Jindal, chose to do.
Mr. Waguespack does not seem to be aware of the public testimony of teachers, parents, and administrators who are clearly making the case that Louisiana's Common Core Program was disastrously adopted, recklessly imposed, without adequate design input from teachers, subject-matter experts, or education testing experts.
There have been dozens of hearings, media interviews, and expert testimonies in which education leaders argued that the Common Core Program is hurting our state public education system.
The legislature tried to halt the program, but, so many state legislators are financially beholding to education industry lobbyists, they dared not cross their patrons by voting down the Common Core, as their constituents asked them to.
Governor Bobby Jindal chose to halt the Common Core with a legal strategy. He vowed to restore some modicum of democratic process to the next phase of planning for Louisiana's public schools.
But, now, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is trying to force the Common Core through – no matter what the people and the experts say.
Enter Mr. Waguespack, spokesperson for the Louisiana Business Institute: Go through with the Common Core, because we've already invested four years in it. “It's just that simple.”
Mr. Waguespack did not address any of the critical concerns presented by dozens of nationally recognized educators. He ignored concerns expressed by thousands of teachers and parents who are worried that the Common Core is not age appropriate for younger school children, but at the same time, not rigorous enough for high school age children.
He minimized our concerns using the label “doubts,” then proceeded to argue we should do the easy thing: spend hundreds of millions of dollars MORE on tests that were never subject to scrutiny by experts in the field of education.
I can think of several disasters that resulted from this kind of thinking, this kind of inattention to fundamental design flaws.
Do you remember the Challenger Shuttle that was torn apart minutes after takeoff, killing six astronauts and the first teacher to travel in space? Days before takeoff, NASA engineers were still debating design flaws. NASA management chose to go through with the launch, because it was just that simple: they were fearful of the embarrassment guaranteed if there was another delayed take-off due to an inexpensive design flaw.
Do you remember our shock and awe as a nation, when the City of New Orleans was submerged under water – because design flaws in the New Orleans Levees resulted in devastating floods after Hurricane Katrina? Three months BEFORE Katrina, scientists were testifying that MRGO, a dirt moving project that was supposed to make it easier for ships to navigate to the port were rarely used, and they actually created a funnel for storm waters to surge through – guaranteeing major flooding. MRGO was nicknamed “Trojan Horse.” Warnings to correct the design flaw were not heeded. We know the rest of the story.
So many complex engineering plans have design flaws, but, we ignore them because “It's just that simple:” Disasters rarely happen.
Do you remember our disbelief as a nation when the Deepwater Horizon wells ruptured? This engineering project was rushed. Warnings of impending danger by trained staff were ignored. In the interest of getting oil to market quicker, managers took the simple solution. They rushed a job and ignored reports of design flaws. Eleven workers were killed.
The Deepwater Horizon Disaster caused one of the worst environmental crises in American History.
There's no reason to rush the Common Core Program through, now that design flaws and contracting flaws have been made obvious to our legislators, our Governor, and our parents and community leaders.
Sometimes, it's smart to pull the plug on badly engineered structures. It's just as smart to pull the plug on badly designed education programs.
In the short run, superintendents and directors and public leaders may be red-cheeked with embarrassment at the sudden change of course. After all, they've been forced to publicly endorse a very badly designed program that is already doing a lot of harm to our children.
But, in the long run, we can produce lasting positive changes in our schools by adopting research-based curriculum and testing strategies that meet the real needs of our diverse students and our 21st century workforce --- without doing harm in the process.
Public Education should do no harm. It's just that simple.
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