Dr. Gary Thompson Testifies to Wisconsin Legislature: Common Core Test is Cognitive Child Abuse

This is a long video – about 45 mins – but he lays out a good case against the new tests coming out next year. I actually was cheering him on when he was responding to questions from the legislators. He shot them down one by one!

COMMON CORE

Dr. Gary Thompson of the Utah-based Early Life Child Psychology and Education Center traveled to Wisconsin to testify about the damages of Common Core to the Wisconsin Legislature.

You can watch his whole testimony by clicking here.

Below is a lively commentary by Dr. Thompson about his reasons for testifying boldly against Common Core both as a father and as a clinical psychologist.

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Our Kids Are Bigger Than You: Final Thoughts on Wisconsin Common Core Legislative Testimony

by Dr. Gary Thompson

“All students are expected to participate in the state accountability system with only a few exceptions, as noted below. This principle of full participation includes EL students, students with an IEP, and students with a Section 504 plan…. The IEP, EL, Section 504, EL with disabilities, and EL on Section 504 team cannot exempt a student from the statewide testing requirements.”
-Utah State Office Of Education, 2013-14 Testing…

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USDOE Report on Promoting Tenacity, Grit, and Perseverence

Also known as the “Grit Report“. Have you heard talk about data mining, eye tracking? Have you seen the pictures of devices that are used? This is where that comes from.

New Methods for Measuring Behavioral Task Performance
Educational data mining (EDM) “develops methods and applies techniques from statistics, machine learning, and data mining to analyze data collected during teaching and learning. EDM tests learning theories and informs educational practice” (U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology, 2012, p. 9)
Learning analytics “applies techniques from information science, sociology, psychology, statistics, machine learning, and data mining to analyze data collected during education administration and services, teaching, and learning. Learning analytics creates applications that directly influence educational practice” (U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology, 2012, p. 9).
Affective computing is the study and development of systems and devices that can recognize, interpret, process, and simulate aspects of human affect. Emotional or physiological variables can be used to enrich the understanding and usefulness of behavioral indicators. Discrete emotions particularly relevant to reactions to challenge—such as interest, frustration, anxiety, and boredom—may be measured through analysis of facial expressions, EEG brain wave patterns, skin conductance, heart rate variability, posture, and eye- tracking.

The very fact that this is a report developed by the US Department of Education tells us that we need to get our children as far away from the federal government as possible. The first step is rejecting Common Core.

My response to Brett Duncan

My response to comments by Brett Duncan, member of Tangipahoa Parish School Board.

Dear Mr. Duncan,

In response to some comments that you made to the media last week:

 First, I must disagree with your position that Common Core is not going away. It has hit on a very personal level for parents as it directly affects our children. I know that I will personally fight it every step of the way and I will not stop until it is gone. It is an experiment. There is no evidence to support it. The more people know about what is going on, and the more research they do, the more backlash there will be. For example, yesterday I spoke with a random sampling of about 30 parents picking up their children from school and only ONE was a proponent of Common Core.

Second, I certainly do not consider your saying that the St. Tammany resolution against Common Core is a publicity stunt to be, what you would call, “sincere and honest dialogue”. I consider YOUR remark to be the “political-slash-publicity stunt” in an effort to keep the real issues from being heard. St. Tammany has done what they feel is right for our children, our teachers, and our educational system. I commend them for this and I hope that other parishes will step up alongside them and say no to Common Core.

Thank you for your time and I hope that you will take the time to really read through the information that I am sending.

Sincerely,

Terra Orgeron

Pearson Acquires ADHD Testing Company BioBehavioral Diagnostics

Pearson Acquires ADHD Testing Company BioBehavioral Diagnostics

Related to previous post.

Town Hall meeting with Rep. Schroder in Madisonville

TOWN HALL MEETING – Hosted by State Representative John Schroder
Topic: Common Core
Wednesday, October 23rd at 6pm
Madisonville Library (1123 Main Street)
PLEASE PASS ALONG!!!

Update on format:

State Representative John Schroder

Wednesday Town Hall – October 23 6:00pm Madisonville Public Library Because the library closes at 8 pm, the meeting must end by 7:45pm. Format for the meeting: 1. Questions should be written on paper and submitted to the handler. (If you would like to prepare your questions in advance and bring them with you, please …do.) 2. Questions will be drawn and read to the audience and panel. 3. We will have opponents and proponents that will be able to reply to questions. 4. The panel’s emails will be provided in case your question was not answered or if you have additional questions.

Studies are showing a link between standardized testing as a measure of school performance and treatment for ADHD

Studies show a correlation between the use of standardized testing to rate school performance, along with other factors, and the rise of ADHD treatment.

The No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush, was the first federal effort to link school financing to standardized-test performance. But various states had been slowly rolling out similar policies for the last three decades. North Carolina was one of the first to adopt such a program; California was one of the last. The correlations between the implementation of these laws and the rates of A.D.H.D. diagnosis matched on a regional scale as well. When Hinshaw compared the rollout of these school policies with incidences of A.D.H.D., he found that when a state passed laws punishing or rewarding schools for their standardized-test scores, A.D.H.D. diagnoses in that state would increase not long afterward. Nationwide, the rates of A.D.H.D. diagnosis increased by 22 percent in the first four years after No Child Left Behind was implemented.

Read the whole NY Times article.

More John White lies about salaries, layoffs and raises

Some more truth about what goes on at LDOE

Crazy Crawfish

I tried to speak to John White’s credibility, or lack thereof, at the BESE meeting, (now yesterday) as I write this. I presented handouts that call into question White’s honesty on numerous issues. I gave handouts about the various inBloom memos and correspondence to each BESE member as well as a little bit of bonus material I picked up today on a rumor I heard and thought to verify.

I was told that White and his executive “unclassified” staff are slated to get 6% raises this budget year coming up. I’m still waiting to see if any specific documentation is forthcoming on that (I’m sure it is being buried in the darkest hole he find after he burns the paperwork) However while looking for info on this I came across some other info that seems to call into question White’s credibility on numerous things he’s done recently, including legal documents…

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Common Core Rally – BESE update for Oct 15 2013

Spot on analysis of the BESE meeting (October 15, 2013) by Crazy Crawfish!!

Crazy Crawfish

That did not go as well as I’d hoped, but I suppose as well as I expected. The BESE meeting was a hot mess with CCSS not being started till almost 8 at night, after John White sprung on the audience that had been waiting for 12 hours that he had a 10 minute presentation to deliver (that took 10 minutes to even load) and an additional 45 minutes to cover what seemed like 20 or 30 slides. That was a mockery of the democratic process. I had learned that John White was summoning companies like Exxon, and faux parents groups funded by Bill Gates, not local parents, like Stand for Children, Louisiana to testify. It must be nice for people like Rayne Martin (a former RSD and LDOE employee) to be able to do that as part of your very high paid job. Perhaps as good as Holly Boffy’s…

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The Fight to Save Common Core: Count Me Out

Another killer post by Mercedes! It is a must read.

deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

I have written a number of posts on the so-called Common Core State Standards (CCSS), an unprecedented effort by those outside of the classroom to exercise control over the classroom by standardizing what is taught in classrooms across the nation.

Since CCSS did not originate with those forced to accept it, there has been resistance. Legislators are drafting bills to drop CCSS.

But CCSS is a real money maker. Corporate reform is fighting back.

Arne Duncan: Defending CCSS

I find it interesting to read about both the individuals and organizations fighting to “save” CCSS– and their justifications for doing so. First is US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s repeated attempts to defend what he insists are not federal standards.

Yet he campaigns for CCSS, even to Congress:

During a question-and-answer period, reporters pressed Duncan on why the Common Core standards have become so toxic, particularly with GOP activists. He gave his…

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St. Tammany Parish School Board Resolution Against Common Core

The link to the October 10, 2013, meeting agenda. The resolution is on page 6.

Thank you to every member for all of your hard work in supporting our local schools!!!!