What are the Common Core Standards?
The Common Core "State" Standards are K-12 Mathematic and English language arts standards written by the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), creating a nationalized education. The NGA and CCSSO are based in Washington D.C.
Although there has been no official cost analysis, it is estimated that it will cost the state of Colorado $231 million just to implement, not including cost to maintain.
History of Common Core
In 1992 Marc Tucker wrote the Dear Hillary letter outlining how to implement a nationalized education while bypassing the American public and legislatures. Marc Tucker is still working hard to bypass local control. He states that “local control is the source of many of the nation’s problems related to education."
In 2009, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), aka the stimulus package, "provided" funds for the Race to the Top grant.
In order to qualify for the grant, states had to agree to adopt the not yet written College and Career Readiness Standards, later renamed the Common Core State Standards.
To further entice states, to "buy into" Common Core, the Obama administration offered No Child Left Behind waivers in exchange for agreeing to adopt the Common Core Standards.
In Colorado
In August 2010, the Colorado Department of Education approved the Common Core State Standards before the standards had even been written and despite 600 letters opposing their adoption.
In 2010 the Governor signed Senate Bill 191; in November 2011 CDE approved SB191. (The cost of SB 191 is estimated to be about
$53.00/student. With 757,000 students in Colorado, that's $40 million.) SB191 requires that all schools use the Common Core Assessment, called PARCC, to be taken multiple times per year. This high-stakes standardized test, which is longer than previous tests, (it replaces CSAP or TCAP taken once per year) is based on Common Core content. Teacher evaluations are based (50%) on how well their students perform on the PARCC test. Critics say this will lead to more teaching to the test and PARCC should not be mandatory.
The Common Core Standards in math and language arts are being used nationally but Common Core standards for other subject areas such as social studies, sex education and Next Generation Science are already being reviewed by many states, Colorado is no exception.
The Common Core Standards are not State Led
The standards were written by the NGA and the CCSSO, but this is not where the idea was initiated. Arne Duncan, said it himself in 2009: America was in a "perfect storm for reform" with the Obama effect, the Recovery Act and American economy in recession; it was the perfect time to seize the opportunity and transform education. Duncan says, "Once new standards are set and adopted you need to create new tests that measure whether students are meeting those standards. I am announcing that the Obama administration will help pay for the costs of developing those tests." (see page 2 and 7.)
The Common Core Standards* are copyrighted. Teachers have to pay for every photocopy they make.
The Common Core State Standards are NOT internationally competitive and are not rigorous
Even the Gates-funded, pro-CCSS Fordham Institute graded CC standards from numerous other states as equal to or superior to CCSS. Nowhere can we find evidence that the Common Core Standards are internationally benchmarked, as claimed. In fact, Colorado Common Core state standards stop at Algebra for high school; no trigonometry, no calculus. The Colorado Common Core standards also don't allot time to teach classic literature and narrative writing; the standards emphasize reading informational manuals and text. Common Core is not preparing students for college readiness nor is Common Core truly internationally benchmarked.
Data Collection From Birth to Grave
These so-called "standards" include an assessment mandate where all students will be included in a large scale data collection scheme, see SLDS. Additionally, this ed.gov website, is a shocking report that reveals data mining (collecting and sharing personal and predictive data on children). [see pg. 44, Chapter 3 for data collection devices] The report discusses the use of Facial Expression Camera, Posture Analysis Seat, Pressure Mouse that detects key stroke speed and pressure, Wireless Skin Conductance Sensor among others. Children's health records (including medications for ADHD, asthma, epilepsy, anxiety or depression) can also be shared, bypassing HIPPA.
400 points of personal data like birth history, bio-behavioral, medical, can be collected, shared and SOLD without parental consent. Colorado shares with many vendors at both the state and district level. One such vendor is Strategic Data Partners. Of course, Colorado shares with Pearson and McGraw Hill too. Ask CDE who else they share with; we think parents have a right to know where their child's data is going.
The data collection starts as early as birth, continues through grade 12 and it follows a child through college and the workforce. Click here to see great overview of SLDS data collection system currently collecting student data, including personal identifiable data on k-12 children in Colorado.
Parents cannot opt out of this data collection. They have lost their rights to privacy. This government document explains how FERPA and HIPPA were changed and bypassed, allowing data collection.
Lawsuits, such as EPIC's, point out that this invasion of privacy is illegal.
Why Stop Common Core in Colorado?
The standards are developmentally inappropriate, as Dr. Megan Koscnick explains in this short video.
The standards are too low; they are not preparing students for college readiness. The math standards stop at Algebra (no trigonometry or calculus) and the English standards put emphasis on informational texts (preparing students as workers in a global economy) rather than literature. Common Core is a race to the middle and Colorado can do better.
Common Core aligned curriculum is controversial, full of political indoctrination, inappropriate (warning this is graphic), and riddled with errors.
One size education does not fit all. Special needs students and gifted/talented studentsare BOTH left out.
Class time is reduced to "teaching to the test" because test scores as well as attendance are tied to school funding.
There has been no cost analysis of either Common Core or PARCC, both will cost Colorado taxpayers MILLIONS. Colorado needs to demand a fiscal audit.
Common Core takes away choice: Loss of school choice. Loss of privacy. PARCC will deliver information about your child to the Federal government. (see DATA page for MUCH more on privacy) Loss of local control.
Common Core and PARCC tests are an untested experiment and its development and implementation should have been rolled out slowly, reviewed and tweaked by teachers over at least a 3 year period, as typical for all reforms. Unfortunately, this was not the process that was used to develop and roll out the CCSS.
The standards were not written by teachers; they were written by 5 people.
Common Core is unconstitutional. The federal government is prohibited to direct, control, or supervise state or local elementary and secondary education. Former Counsels of U.S. Department of Education, Talbert and Eitel, recommend a congressional hearing on the legality of Common Core.
Additional Reading
The NGA
The CCSSO and its partners
Student Achievement Partners David Coleman, architect who wrote the common core standards, president of the College Board, co-founder of Student Achievement Partners, openly admits the Common Core standards were written by unqualified people like himself and Student Achievement Partners. (and remember, his partner is Jason Zimba, who admitted math standards are too low. Student Achievement Partners received 6.5 Million from Bill Gates.
at 14 minutes and again at 18 minutes: "Student Achievement Partners, all you need to know about us are a couple things. One is we’re composed of that collection of unqualified people who were involved in developing the common standards." 10 minutes, Coleman says “The standards are nothing if the assessments built in them are not worthy to TEACH TO. Teachers will teach towards the test. There is no force strong enough on this earth to prevent that.” Feel free to watch the entire Coleman video for yourself: http://vimeo.com/35318592
Achieve Inc.
Pearson , More on Pearson , Still More on Pearson
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funding common Core parts I through V
see Bill Gates say the curriculum must align to PARCC
Legacy Foundation, funded by Bill Gates, for the implementation of Colorado Common Core State Standards & teacher development
and evaluation systems
InBloom, and their connection to Common Core
*Common Core State Standards
Authors: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices,
Council of Chief State School Officers
Title: Common Core State Standards
Publisher: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices,
Council of Chief State School Officers, Washington D.C.
Copyright Date: 2010
Colorado Common Core Implementation Costs
by Henry W. Burke 8.23.13 (Revised)
It will cost Colorado $231 million (net amount) to implement PARCC and the Common Core Standards (CCS). Where will Colorado find $231 million to implement the mediocre Common Core Standards?
I will call your attention to an excellent Pioneer Institute report, "National Cost of Aligning States and Localities to the Common Core Standards," dated February 2012 (PI report) and my report, "States' Taxpayers Cannot Afford
Common Core Standards," by Henry W. Burke, dated 10.15.12 (Burke report). These are the links to the reports:
http://pioneerinstitute.org/download/national-cost-of-aligning-states-and-localities-to-the-common-core-standards/ http://educationviews.org/states-taxpayers-cannot-afford-common-core-standards-2/
Colorado gave up very good state standards to adopt the inferior Common Core read more here here
The Common Core "State" Standards are K-12 Mathematic and English language arts standards written by the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), creating a nationalized education. The NGA and CCSSO are based in Washington D.C.
Although there has been no official cost analysis, it is estimated that it will cost the state of Colorado $231 million just to implement, not including cost to maintain.
History of Common Core
In 1992 Marc Tucker wrote the Dear Hillary letter outlining how to implement a nationalized education while bypassing the American public and legislatures. Marc Tucker is still working hard to bypass local control. He states that “local control is the source of many of the nation’s problems related to education."
In 2009, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), aka the stimulus package, "provided" funds for the Race to the Top grant.
In order to qualify for the grant, states had to agree to adopt the not yet written College and Career Readiness Standards, later renamed the Common Core State Standards.
To further entice states, to "buy into" Common Core, the Obama administration offered No Child Left Behind waivers in exchange for agreeing to adopt the Common Core Standards.
In Colorado
In August 2010, the Colorado Department of Education approved the Common Core State Standards before the standards had even been written and despite 600 letters opposing their adoption.
In 2010 the Governor signed Senate Bill 191; in November 2011 CDE approved SB191. (The cost of SB 191 is estimated to be about
$53.00/student. With 757,000 students in Colorado, that's $40 million.) SB191 requires that all schools use the Common Core Assessment, called PARCC, to be taken multiple times per year. This high-stakes standardized test, which is longer than previous tests, (it replaces CSAP or TCAP taken once per year) is based on Common Core content. Teacher evaluations are based (50%) on how well their students perform on the PARCC test. Critics say this will lead to more teaching to the test and PARCC should not be mandatory.
The Common Core Standards in math and language arts are being used nationally but Common Core standards for other subject areas such as social studies, sex education and Next Generation Science are already being reviewed by many states, Colorado is no exception.
The Common Core Standards are not State Led
The standards were written by the NGA and the CCSSO, but this is not where the idea was initiated. Arne Duncan, said it himself in 2009: America was in a "perfect storm for reform" with the Obama effect, the Recovery Act and American economy in recession; it was the perfect time to seize the opportunity and transform education. Duncan says, "Once new standards are set and adopted you need to create new tests that measure whether students are meeting those standards. I am announcing that the Obama administration will help pay for the costs of developing those tests." (see page 2 and 7.)
The Common Core Standards* are copyrighted. Teachers have to pay for every photocopy they make.
The Common Core State Standards are NOT internationally competitive and are not rigorous
Even the Gates-funded, pro-CCSS Fordham Institute graded CC standards from numerous other states as equal to or superior to CCSS. Nowhere can we find evidence that the Common Core Standards are internationally benchmarked, as claimed. In fact, Colorado Common Core state standards stop at Algebra for high school; no trigonometry, no calculus. The Colorado Common Core standards also don't allot time to teach classic literature and narrative writing; the standards emphasize reading informational manuals and text. Common Core is not preparing students for college readiness nor is Common Core truly internationally benchmarked.
Data Collection From Birth to Grave
These so-called "standards" include an assessment mandate where all students will be included in a large scale data collection scheme, see SLDS. Additionally, this ed.gov website, is a shocking report that reveals data mining (collecting and sharing personal and predictive data on children). [see pg. 44, Chapter 3 for data collection devices] The report discusses the use of Facial Expression Camera, Posture Analysis Seat, Pressure Mouse that detects key stroke speed and pressure, Wireless Skin Conductance Sensor among others. Children's health records (including medications for ADHD, asthma, epilepsy, anxiety or depression) can also be shared, bypassing HIPPA.
400 points of personal data like birth history, bio-behavioral, medical, can be collected, shared and SOLD without parental consent. Colorado shares with many vendors at both the state and district level. One such vendor is Strategic Data Partners. Of course, Colorado shares with Pearson and McGraw Hill too. Ask CDE who else they share with; we think parents have a right to know where their child's data is going.
The data collection starts as early as birth, continues through grade 12 and it follows a child through college and the workforce. Click here to see great overview of SLDS data collection system currently collecting student data, including personal identifiable data on k-12 children in Colorado.
Parents cannot opt out of this data collection. They have lost their rights to privacy. This government document explains how FERPA and HIPPA were changed and bypassed, allowing data collection.
Lawsuits, such as EPIC's, point out that this invasion of privacy is illegal.
Why Stop Common Core in Colorado?
The standards are developmentally inappropriate, as Dr. Megan Koscnick explains in this short video.
The standards are too low; they are not preparing students for college readiness. The math standards stop at Algebra (no trigonometry or calculus) and the English standards put emphasis on informational texts (preparing students as workers in a global economy) rather than literature. Common Core is a race to the middle and Colorado can do better.
Common Core aligned curriculum is controversial, full of political indoctrination, inappropriate (warning this is graphic), and riddled with errors.
One size education does not fit all. Special needs students and gifted/talented studentsare BOTH left out.
Class time is reduced to "teaching to the test" because test scores as well as attendance are tied to school funding.
There has been no cost analysis of either Common Core or PARCC, both will cost Colorado taxpayers MILLIONS. Colorado needs to demand a fiscal audit.
Common Core takes away choice: Loss of school choice. Loss of privacy. PARCC will deliver information about your child to the Federal government. (see DATA page for MUCH more on privacy) Loss of local control.
Common Core and PARCC tests are an untested experiment and its development and implementation should have been rolled out slowly, reviewed and tweaked by teachers over at least a 3 year period, as typical for all reforms. Unfortunately, this was not the process that was used to develop and roll out the CCSS.
The standards were not written by teachers; they were written by 5 people.
Common Core is unconstitutional. The federal government is prohibited to direct, control, or supervise state or local elementary and secondary education. Former Counsels of U.S. Department of Education, Talbert and Eitel, recommend a congressional hearing on the legality of Common Core.
Additional Reading
The NGA
The CCSSO and its partners
Student Achievement Partners David Coleman, architect who wrote the common core standards, president of the College Board, co-founder of Student Achievement Partners, openly admits the Common Core standards were written by unqualified people like himself and Student Achievement Partners. (and remember, his partner is Jason Zimba, who admitted math standards are too low. Student Achievement Partners received 6.5 Million from Bill Gates.
at 14 minutes and again at 18 minutes: "Student Achievement Partners, all you need to know about us are a couple things. One is we’re composed of that collection of unqualified people who were involved in developing the common standards." 10 minutes, Coleman says “The standards are nothing if the assessments built in them are not worthy to TEACH TO. Teachers will teach towards the test. There is no force strong enough on this earth to prevent that.” Feel free to watch the entire Coleman video for yourself: http://vimeo.com/35318592
Achieve Inc.
Pearson , More on Pearson , Still More on Pearson
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funding common Core parts I through V
see Bill Gates say the curriculum must align to PARCC
Legacy Foundation, funded by Bill Gates, for the implementation of Colorado Common Core State Standards & teacher development
and evaluation systems
InBloom, and their connection to Common Core
*Common Core State Standards
Authors: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices,
Council of Chief State School Officers
Title: Common Core State Standards
Publisher: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices,
Council of Chief State School Officers, Washington D.C.
Copyright Date: 2010
Colorado Common Core Implementation Costs
by Henry W. Burke 8.23.13 (Revised)
It will cost Colorado $231 million (net amount) to implement PARCC and the Common Core Standards (CCS). Where will Colorado find $231 million to implement the mediocre Common Core Standards?
I will call your attention to an excellent Pioneer Institute report, "National Cost of Aligning States and Localities to the Common Core Standards," dated February 2012 (PI report) and my report, "States' Taxpayers Cannot Afford
Common Core Standards," by Henry W. Burke, dated 10.15.12 (Burke report). These are the links to the reports:
http://pioneerinstitute.org/download/national-cost-of-aligning-states-and-localities-to-the-common-core-standards/ http://educationviews.org/states-taxpayers-cannot-afford-common-core-standards-2/
Colorado gave up very good state standards to adopt the inferior Common Core read more here here