What you did not see in the auditorium at the Mills Anderson Justice Center were teachers or any other staff members of the Joplin R-8 School District.
Common Core is something that is already having a tremendous impact on education in the Joplin School District, but no teachers were there. No administrators were there. No board of education members were in attendance.
No one expected any of them to be there.
The word went out well before the meeting that teachers should not attend. Of course, that is not what Superintendent C. J. Huff told KZRG last week. Huff said he would encourage teachers to attend and learn about Common Core.
"The reason you don't see any Joplin teachers here is because they were told they were not to come to this meeting," said Missy Braun, an organizer of the meeting, who has two children in the R-8 school system.
The two hour meeting featured three main speakers- Stacy Shore, a parent who has fought Common Core in Camdenton, Jill Carter, a parent whose work paved the way for the recent decision of the East Newton R-6 Board of Education to approve a resolution questioning Common Core, and Dr. Mary Byrne of Missouri Coalition against Common Core (pictured).
"I have talked to lots and lots of teachers who don't feel they have a voice," Mrs. Shore said, adding that Common Core Standards were something "the powerful and the influential are pushing down our throats."
The connection between the federal government and Common Core was stressed throughout the evening. Though the standards are touted as being a product of the National Governors Association and not the federal government, the Obama Administration has put the power of the federal purse behind them.
States wanting waivers for No Child Left Behind and wanting to compete for billions of dollars in Race to the Top money were required to adopt a number of "reforms," including Common Core.
The speakers noted that in nearly all of the 45 states that have adopted the standards, it has been done by the governor, the head of the state's education departments, and school superintendents.
In this fashion, it quickly filtered into the schools without ever having to go through state legislatures or local school boards.
Mrs. Carter noted that when she first became concerned about Common Core, she went to the East Newton Board and discovered it knew as little about the standards as she did- even though the board and the superintendent were listed on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website as supporters of the bill.
Joplin Superintendent C. J. Huff and the Joplin Board of Education are also listed as supporters.
Dr. Byrne noted that there is a big problem with superintendents not letting their boards of education know what is going on. "If you don't tell them what you have been doing, they don't have control."
Among the reasons speakers noted for their opposition to Common Core Standards:
-Government collection of data about students, invading their privacy
-Ceding control over local curriculum to the federal government
-The Common Core Standards have been copyrighted by private firms and cannot be changed
-Teachers had almost no hand in the creation of the standards.
-Most of the people who created and approved of the standards were people associated with private businesses, in particular, those involved with technology, testing, and textbooks.
-Much of the approval of Common Core has been done through the use of providing technology to state education departments and school districts in exchange for their support, with no consideration as to how states and school districts will cover the costs when the technology has to be replaced or updated.
(More information on the meeting and videos will be posted later tonight)
"I have talked to lots and lots of teachers who don't feel they have a voice," Mrs. Shore said, adding that Common Core Standards were something "the powerful and the influential are pushing down our throats."
The connection between the federal government and Common Core was stressed throughout the evening. Though the standards are touted as being a product of the National Governors Association and not the federal government, the Obama Administration has put the power of the federal purse behind them.
States wanting waivers for No Child Left Behind and wanting to compete for billions of dollars in Race to the Top money were required to adopt a number of "reforms," including Common Core.
The speakers noted that in nearly all of the 45 states that have adopted the standards, it has been done by the governor, the head of the state's education departments, and school superintendents.
In this fashion, it quickly filtered into the schools without ever having to go through state legislatures or local school boards.
Mrs. Carter noted that when she first became concerned about Common Core, she went to the East Newton Board and discovered it knew as little about the standards as she did- even though the board and the superintendent were listed on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website as supporters of the bill.
Joplin Superintendent C. J. Huff and the Joplin Board of Education are also listed as supporters.
Dr. Byrne noted that there is a big problem with superintendents not letting their boards of education know what is going on. "If you don't tell them what you have been doing, they don't have control."
Among the reasons speakers noted for their opposition to Common Core Standards:
-Government collection of data about students, invading their privacy
-Ceding control over local curriculum to the federal government
-The Common Core Standards have been copyrighted by private firms and cannot be changed
-Teachers had almost no hand in the creation of the standards.
-Most of the people who created and approved of the standards were people associated with private businesses, in particular, those involved with technology, testing, and textbooks.
-Much of the approval of Common Core has been done through the use of providing technology to state education departments and school districts in exchange for their support, with no consideration as to how states and school districts will cover the costs when the technology has to be replaced or updated.
(More information on the meeting and videos will be posted later tonight)
No comments:
Post a Comment