On this page you will find:
Follow the Money in Colorado
Opting Out does NOT result in loss of federal funds
There are other tests that can better measure a school/teacher AND a child: PARCC is not proven.
What , Why, and How of Common Core and PARCC
VIDEOS of Google rep, Ron Barnes, testifying against student data privacy SB173 in Colo House Ed watch April 15, 2015 Google testimony videos here:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkb-ClIiIis&feature=em-upload_owner#action=share
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmcP3r1c35A&feature=em-upload_owner
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMtj4Mhjbfk&feature=youtu.be
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC6aS0zaYN0
5. Audio of Rep Pabon offering to remove transparency while Rep Garnett demands protection of kids http://vocaroo.com/i/s0K4gJ8FopLD
Follow the Money in Colorado
Opting Out does NOT result in loss of federal funds
There are other tests that can better measure a school/teacher AND a child: PARCC is not proven.
What , Why, and How of Common Core and PARCC
VIDEOS of Google rep, Ron Barnes, testifying against student data privacy SB173 in Colo House Ed watch April 15, 2015 Google testimony videos here:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkb-ClIiIis&feature=em-upload_owner#action=share
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmcP3r1c35A&feature=em-upload_owner
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMtj4Mhjbfk&feature=youtu.be
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC6aS0zaYN0
5. Audio of Rep Pabon offering to remove transparency while Rep Garnett demands protection of kids http://vocaroo.com/i/s0K4gJ8FopLD
FOLLOW THE MONEY When you see businesses supporting common core, parcc or data mining, you know why--they are paid HUGE money to support these education reforms. In fact, these people are driving education policy in our state. In December of last year, the Joint Budget Committee questioned why there are 5 "on loan" staff, paid for by Bill Gates/ Colo Ed. Initiative working at Colo Dept of Ed. JBC asked several questions: "Who approved this? (Commissioner Hammond). "This is an odd way of doing things and sets a bad precedent." ..."where do the "on loan employee's" loyalties lie?" This could be a quid pro quo: we give you manpower, you give us access." "Do you see how that is troubling for parents?" This pay for play access of "stakeholders" is happening throughout our state. Dec 2014 JBC report, page 76 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7epgdVXe0gKUFVkMnZyS20yTXc/view
CHILDREN, PARENTS, TEACHERS -THE TRUE STAKEHOLDERS -ARE LEFT OUT OF THE EQUATION
Colorado Conflicts of interest
Stunning revelation Bill Gates has spent $2.3 Billion on Common Core, PARCC---Colorado Department of Education is one of the largest Gates recipients in the nation. http://northdenvernews.com/stunning-revelation-bill-gates-has-spent-2-3-billion-on-common-core/
Colorado Children's Campaign over $9 million from Gates Foundation http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database#q/k=colorado%20children's%20campaign
Colorado Succeeds - $400,000 to promote CC w/in the business Colorado community http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database#q/k=colorado%20children's%20campaign
Colorado Education Initiative/ formerly Colorado Legacy Foundation $22 million from Gates Foundation http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database#q/k=colorado%20legacy%20foundation
Stand for Children - $9.4 million from Gates Foundation http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database#q/k=stand%20for%20children
Chamber of Commerce $1.9 Million to promote common core http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database/Grants/2013/11/OPP1081590
Rose Community Foundation - $314,000 http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database#q/k=Rose%20Community%20Foundation
Center for Teaching Quality, Inc $645,307 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mercedes-schneider/gates-money-and-common-co_4_b_4050075.html
CO School Board Seemingly Bought & Sold–Did Gates Buy Your School Board, Too? --2014
http://www.politichicks.com/2014/01/co-school-board-seemingly-bought-sold-gates-buy-school-board/
Big education firms spend millions lobbying for pro-testing policies, several have not signed Student Privacy Pledge http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/03/30/report-big-education-firms-spend-millions-lobbying-for-pro-testing-policies/ The analysis says that Pearson and ETS have lobbies against privacy protection for student data; Pearson, it says, "continued to monitor" what impact the "legislative and regulatory activity on the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act" COPPA would have on its products.
CHILDREN, PARENTS, TEACHERS -THE TRUE STAKEHOLDERS -ARE LEFT OUT OF THE EQUATION
Colorado Conflicts of interest
Stunning revelation Bill Gates has spent $2.3 Billion on Common Core, PARCC---Colorado Department of Education is one of the largest Gates recipients in the nation. http://northdenvernews.com/stunning-revelation-bill-gates-has-spent-2-3-billion-on-common-core/
Colorado Children's Campaign over $9 million from Gates Foundation http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database#q/k=colorado%20children's%20campaign
Colorado Succeeds - $400,000 to promote CC w/in the business Colorado community http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database#q/k=colorado%20children's%20campaign
Colorado Education Initiative/ formerly Colorado Legacy Foundation $22 million from Gates Foundation http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database#q/k=colorado%20legacy%20foundation
Stand for Children - $9.4 million from Gates Foundation http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database#q/k=stand%20for%20children
Chamber of Commerce $1.9 Million to promote common core http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database/Grants/2013/11/OPP1081590
Rose Community Foundation - $314,000 http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database#q/k=Rose%20Community%20Foundation
Center for Teaching Quality, Inc $645,307 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mercedes-schneider/gates-money-and-common-co_4_b_4050075.html
CO School Board Seemingly Bought & Sold–Did Gates Buy Your School Board, Too? --2014
http://www.politichicks.com/2014/01/co-school-board-seemingly-bought-sold-gates-buy-school-board/
Big education firms spend millions lobbying for pro-testing policies, several have not signed Student Privacy Pledge http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/03/30/report-big-education-firms-spend-millions-lobbying-for-pro-testing-policies/ The analysis says that Pearson and ETS have lobbies against privacy protection for student data; Pearson, it says, "continued to monitor" what impact the "legislative and regulatory activity on the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act" COPPA would have on its products.
FACT: YOU DON'T NEED PARCC TO COMPARE CHILDREN. THERE ARE OTHER TESTS THAT CAN DO THIS. State tests are only given once a year; these SUMMATIVE tests should only be used for school & district progress/accountability. The results come back the following school year. We don't need to test every student every year in all content areas to get accurate data.
Local tests are interim benchmarks, given a few times a year to measure meaningful growth and achievement of children. Local and FORMATIVE tests can be standardized and provide comparability at a national level, not just our state. The information comes back in time to help children and teachers. Formative practices are classroom assessments and are directly tied to the teaching and learning ... research proves that these are the most powerful in impacting student growth & achievement. Therefore a balanced approach is the right way to go ... just a small dose of state testing, local tests for comparability and growth, portfolios, and formative practice that gives immediate feedback. These Formative tests ARE scaled, normed, benchmarked can compare across the country and are in many schools now. (There are many more formatives tests used/available, this is just a small sample.) MAP (tests in math, reading, science) https://www.nwea.org/resources/cc-rit-digital-brochure/ https://www.nwea.org/assessments/map/scale-and-norms/ STAR (tests reading, math, literacy, early literacy) STAR assessments provide the most valid, reliable, actionable data in the least amount of testing time—usually 20 minutes or less. That empowers educators to focus on what matters most—individualizing instruction to accelerate learning for all students. https://www.renaissance.com/products/star-assessments http://doc.renlearn.com/KMNet/R004384910GJF6AC.pdf ACT Aspire http://www.discoveractaspire.org/assessments/score-scale/ ============================================================ Common Core encompasses more than standards. Every state adopting Common Core must adopt these Four Assurances from the US Dept of Education's mandate. Common Core is a 4 legged animal with each part inter-connected; without addressing each component, you cannot effectively replace one of the other components. 1. standards (developmentally inappropriate and not made by Colorado teachers, instead were written by 5 people ) 2. assessment (unfunded, not validated PARCC ) 3. data collection (SLDS) 2009: Colorado received $17.4 Million to build SLDS 4. teacher effectiveness (SB10-191) I. Assessments: Why replace PARCC: A. PARCC is dependent on standards and drives curriculum: 1. PARCC CEO Laura Slover ADMITS GOAL OF TEST TO CONTROL CURRICULUM http://gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&articleID=4655 2. Bill Gates admitting that the curriculum will follow common core standards and parcc test http://www.gatesfoundation.org/media-center/speeches/2009/07/bill-gates-national-conference-of-state-legislatures-ncsl 3.David Coleman, architect of CCSS,video admitting teachers must teach to PARCC test, @14 min and 18 min mark http://vimeo.com/35318592 4. WestEd "2014 Colorado Assessment Implementation Study" on state assessments commissioned by Robert Hammond (Colo Commissioner of Ed) found that after taking PARCC field test, teachers' and students' #1 fear and complaint: The material on the parcc test was new/never seen. They asked for classroom curriculum to match PARCC content. PARCC drives curriculum. 2014-05-14 State Board Meeting - Pt. 4 5. Colorado allotted $16.8 million dollars for 2015 PARCC testing in the Colorado House Bill 14-1336 also known as the "long bill". Why should we continue to fund a test we do not want, collects and SHARES data on our children, and WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SEE? B. PARCC (and CMAS) collect DATA. Pearson, see privacy policy, has contract for both of these tests. Pearson has access to data: personally identifying information (pii), predictive data, behavioral data, biographical data, social patterns, meta and para data as seen on CMAS contract and PARCC contract and video of PARCC representative here. There are three federal laws covering data privacy of children (COPPA PPRA FERPA ) but as you can see from this Congressional testimony on student data, these laws are often overlooked, or in the case of FERPA, have been revised and weakened with many loopholes to allow sharing. Colorado needs an assessment which does not collect these types of behavioral, social, predictive meta data and does not share or sell data. II. Why replace Colorado's Common Core standards? A. Other states who have repealed PARCC, but kept Common Core standards, and that means they must still assess the standards. They end up with a test so similar (identical) to PARCC out of necessity. You must change the standards to change the test. Colorado SBE adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in August 2010, despite receiving 600 letters opposing their adoption. B. Why are we asking to review and revise standards in Math, English, Science and Social Studies? 1. Look at the FULL title: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects ("the standards") represent the next generation of K–12 standards designed to prepare all students for success in college, career, and life by the time they graduate from high school. (ie: Social studies is taught via "close reading" on material via the English Language Arts standards.) What's Missing in CCSS ELA What's Missing in CCSS MATH Problems with Next Generation Science Problems with Common Core History and Social Studies C. Are Colorado Academic Standards really Common Core? YES. Colorado adopted common core in August 2010, after just revising its own standards the previous year. BUT Colorado Academic Standards were not independently made by Colorado--they were based on guidelines for college and career standards and assessments set forth by ACHIEVE in 2009. (no wonder our standards were 95% similar when compared with Common Core. ACHIEVE is the maker of PARCC--the assessment based on Common Core.) While we make our own Colorado standards and assessments; per this bill, we will avoid using common core standards in the interim. We will instead use standards made by Colorado BEFORE Common Core, standards that, according to Dr. Stotksy (renowned standards expert) exceed common core. She asks, "Why did Colorado trade in a silk purse for a sow’s ear" of common core? D. The Common Core Standards are copyrighted. Colorado cannot revise the standards sufficiently because they are prohibited by copy right law, as other states, such as NC finding out. June Atkinson (CCSSO president) points to the Public License: those NOT supporting the Common Core Standards cannot use any part of CCSS, because of the copyright. CCSSO has threatened legal action against states revising common core standards. The Public License is clear: "The NGA Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) hereby grant a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to copy, publish, distribute, and display the Common Core State Standards for purposes that support the Common Core State Standards Initiative. These uses may involve the Common Core State Standards as a whole or selected excerpts or portions." E. 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. F. COMMON CORE AND THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP There is much proof that Common Core and aligned testing are WIDENING the achievement gap, further hurting our at risk populations. Myth of Common Core Equity http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/10/the-myth-of-common-core-equity/ Black and Hispanic children failing the test -The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/education/common-core-in-9-year-old-eyes.html?_r=3&utm_content=buffer64b53&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer Inner City Teacher: Common Core Is Often Bad For Poor Kids http://www.businessinsider.com.au/common-core-for-underprivileged-kids-2014-6 Pulling the race card to save NCLB testing http://www.nationalreview.com/article/396328/dems-pull-race-card-education-again-frederick-m-hess-michael-j-petrilli III. HOW do we replace Colorado's Common Core standards and assessments? A. THERE IS A PLAN to replace common core standards and assessments in Colorado, based on Dr. Sandra Stotsky's published outline and personal input. Dr. Stotsky has also offered to aid in the rewriting of standards, free of charge. 1. A STEERING COMMITTEE will be chosen by the State Legislature, members of which can have no direct ties of financial interest in common core. 2. TIME standards: Because we are starting with recognized, proven high standards as a base, there is no reason this process of replacing standards needs to be excessively long. 3. TIME assessments: Colorado will accept bids for creating the state assessment, the turn around time for an assessment is estimated less than a year. 4. COST: Based on previous inquiry from the state BOE who sought to make our own Colorado state assessment as early as 2011, the cost of developing the test will be comparable if not less than we have already spent on PARCC. The State Board sought control over the development of Colorado statewide assessments, to be developed in Colorado in 2011; the State Board requested that funding be dedicated towards the development of Colorado assessments. That request was turned down by the General Assembly and instead the General Assembly enacted state legislation, mandating Colorado become a governing member of the PARCC consortium and to implement assessments developed through the consortium. The consortium funds the design cost for the assessments. Additionally, the General Assembly allocated approximately $6 million to develop state science and social studies assessments (today's CMAS). As states continue to drop out of the PARCC consortium, assessment costs per pupil continue to rise. IV. Revising and scaling back SB10-191 A. Why? Tying teacher evaluations to a student's standardized test score is not accurate and it dictates how and what gets taught in our schools. Standardized tests fail to accurately measure knowledge; rather, results can be predicted based on income and race. . The tests are snapshots, and don’t take into account other factors: ability to navigate a computer; having an "off" day, being tired/sick; having issues outside the classroom, etc. High school GPAs are a more reliable predictor of college readiness than the SAT, another prominent standardized text. And, as per American Statistical Association (ASA) findings, evaluating teachers based on students’ standardized test scores is highly questionable. SB-191 forces teachers to teach to the test because their job depends on it. Parents will tell you, starting January, many schools shift gears and focus only on the test, and HOW to answer the questions on the test. See this mandatory spring break homework for 4th graders (who were punished with no recess for a week if they did not complete the packet): 147 page TCAP test prep. Assessments have their place. However, Colorado exceeds Federal minimum of testing and everyone agrees, we are over testing our kids. With so many tests scattered throughout the year, (PARCC is being given twice annually) and schools and teachers being graded on these tests, our schools have become test prep factories. Any teacher will you, testing is not teaching and achievement is not assessment. B. A Denver Alliance Parent Survey found that 96% of parents responding would prefer NO or fewer state assessments. Additionally, the majority of parents reported not receiving feedback or often did not even see results of these tests. Many plan to have their children opt-out of state testing. C. CEA SURVEY "A recent survey of 2,700 Colorado teachers across all grade levels reveals they spend 16 hours each week on test related activities." Teachers in this survey also do NOT VALUE CMAS, TCAP or PARCC, as the results are not timely, the tests do not inform instruction. D. APA Assessment Study Report from HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force, found that teachers do not value state assessments and rate TCAP, CMAS (PARCC) as an overall 1.2 out of 5. *It is worth noting that the 1202 task force failed to account for necessary capital expenses, and is unclear in its calculation of student- and district-level averages. E. COST: SB10-191 is unfunded and was a $4.3 million (JBC page 53, item 15), cost to the state in 2014 alone, does not include cost to districts and schools which CDE admits is substantial. Schools have had to hire additional staff, even more principals to evaluate, process evaluations. This cost analysis does not include time lost or user fee associated with RANDA's Elevate Colorado. CDE reports that "it is likely that the costs for the RANDA Online Performance Management System would need to be passed to districts to support ongoing license fees; and user fees would need to be charged for the Elevate Colorado online inter-rater agreement system." (NOTE: Many parents are uncomfortable with the classroom surveillance video aspect of RANDA teacher evaluation.) F. Rather than over emphasize standardized test scores,reduce the minimum percentage from 50% & allow districts local control option to evaluate at 50% if they choose. Districts are encouraged to use more thoughtful set of criteria, including local assessments, portfolios, school climate, peer review including the level of support teachers and students receive, the way their facility is run and maintained, the way they deploy their budget to provide services to students, and so on. Many districts are already doing this: Why measure School climate http://www.nais.org/Magazines-Newsletters/ISMagazine/Pages/Evaluating-and-Improving-School-Climate.aspx Colorado 2014 school climate survey https://www.psdschools.org/webfm/7395/view Peer Assistance and Review http://www.livingindialogue.com/due-process-include-peer-assistance-review/ CalState Survey http://web.calstatela.edu/centers/schoolclimate/assessment/school_survey.html V. Right to choose: Parents / students may choose to take state tests with paper and pencil OR online. A. Parents and students should be allowed to choose paper tests rather than online tests. 1.Some schools or districts do not have necessary equipment, devices and infrastructure to meet the needs of online testing. 2. Some children may prefer to use paper pencil, do not process well when reading on a computer screen. 3. Some children are not familiar with computers. For these children, the online tests are more a measure of computer skills than content. 4. Some parents do not want their children taking tests online for fear of the predictive, adaptive, or meta data collected and shared. Allowing CHOICE of paper pencil tests alleviates these concerns. |
Do Your Homework-NO LOSS OF FEDERAL FUNDING
17 states have dropped out of the PARCC consortium -did not lose a dime of Federal Funding. Oklahoma and Indiana completely dropped Common Core and PARCC-did not lose ANY Federal Funding. No school or district anywhere in the country has ever been penalized for failing to test enough (95%) of its students. If a school drops below 95% test participation, may have to redirect 5-15% of its federal Title I and II funding within the school to use in state-approved programs in the school for various school improvement efforts like tutoring. Seven states (Utah, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and California) have laws allowing opt out, and none have been sanctioned or lost money. ...and they still give the state tests. (They just don't bully kids and parents who opt out.) Washington state $40Million of their NCLB waiver/control of lost a portion of their federal funding because they took too long, they failed to enact legislation tying teacher evaluations to test scores. They did not lose their wavier because of the 95% testing participation rate. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/24/washington-no-child-left-_n_5207245.html and letter from Arne Duncan explaining Washington state http://www.scribd.com/doc/220113110/042414-WA-ESEA-Flex-Extension-Determination-Letter-Final http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/a-modest-proposal-to-restore-local-control-of-40-million-from-no-child-left-behind-waiver/ ========================================================================= New ESEA waiver in U.S. Senate Ends federal test-based accountability Allow states to decide accountability system, NOT tied to fed mandated test AND states will have flexibility to design / pilot their own tests. http://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/The_Every_Child_Achieves_Act_of_2015--summary.pdf =========================================================================== OPT OUT is not a Democrat or a Republican thing. IT IS ABOUT KIDS, over testing, unknown, unproven, unfunded, data collecting, over-emphasized, curriculum driving, inaccurate, high stakes standardized tests, and most of all....about PROTECTING kids. We need this bill to stop the bullying, the intimidation for those parents who do choose to opt their kids out. The bill only says schools must provide clear protocol and no more arrest threats, suspensions, sitting in office while others eat pizza or go on field trips...no more testing your child even when you clearly communicated no. These are OUR children and parents already do have the right to refuse-we want to stop the confusion and protect children. ============================= NUMBERS SO FAR SHOW MAJORITY OF COLO OPT-OUTS IN AFFLUENT, WHITE SCHOOLS CHERRY CREEK (78% WHITE) BOULDER (76% WHITE) DOUGLAS COUNTY (77% WHITE) JEFFERSON COUNTY (88% WHITE) demographics site http://proximityone.com/co_sdc.htm Mike Johnston likened the bill to a ban on school coaches running their athletes through sprints, and said that the bill threatened to cut off $360 million in federal funding if the participation rate drops below federal requirements. He also stressed that the students who skip the tests tend to come from lower-income and minority groups. "Has it been a lot of upper middle class white folks," Johnston said. "No." -Mike Johnston at Colo Senate April 6, 2014 http://dianeravitch.net/2015/04/07/colorado-test-advocate-says-that-most-who-opt-out-are-low-income-and-minorities/ THOUSANDS OF COLORADO KIDS OPT OUT Nov. 2014 http://www.cpr.org/news/story/thousands-students-protest-colorado-standardized-tests ============================== The bills. SB233 and SB 257 passed the Senate Ed committee --April9 SB173 (data privacy) passed full senate unanimously - heard in House Ed on April 15. SB223 (opt out bill) SB257 reduces mandatory testing to federal minimums (currently Colorado takes more tests than are Federally required)paper pencil for state mandated tests if school or parent asks test for Read Act only once per year if student tests proficient, and can delay the test --test w/in first 60 days of school, (test after children are acclimated --instead of within the first weeks of school) schools can choose from a battery of local assessments in lieu of state assessment districts can apply for pilot waivers (somewhat like NH waiver pilot. see here for example http://www.education.nh.gov/assessment-systems/pace.htm ) no SB191 accountability tied to parcc for 2014/2015, then optional for 3 years alternative assessment for ELA (for up to 3 yrs) alternative assessment for student w disabilities repeals post secondary/workforce readiness assessments (PARCC)will move towards accountability systems that are more locally based http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2015a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont/F406E0B9EDBCB14687257E0C005DAFF1?Open&file=257_01.pdf =========================================== |