Parents can opt out their children without permission…  Just like you are “supposed” to drive 55 on the I 95 corridor. they  can’t stop everyone.

But it would be nice if they had something solid to base their decisions on.  I mean, who would opt out of a test the teacher gave?  No one because both parents and students trust those tests to be fair…

Everyone has complained about the lack of sunshine in implementing Common Core. More like…. “surprise!  Sorry, no objections allowed; it was voted and signed yesterday…No, it was not on the agenda.”

The Attorney General even stated that Delaware Law required these secret groups to be open to the public.

As we rush into Common Core this year, with the Smarter Balanced Assessments scoring our children on difficulties two grades ahead of themselves, parents, teachers, administrators, the Chamber of Commerce, should be asking this question:  HOW  DID  THOSE  CHILDREN  IN COMMON  CORE PILOTS SCORE?

Yes, it makes great sense to ask that one question…..

Here is why.  If Common Core was indeed a great program, and I’m paraphrasing Governor Markell here:

“Second, Delaware is effectively transitioning to the Common Core education standards thanks to the leadership of our administrators and the educators in our classrooms . They have benefited from a voluntary statewide initiative called Common Ground, which meets individual school needs for resources and support for teachers. That program has also brought together educators throughout the state to share best practices and develop lesson plans. Raising expectations for our students to be ready for college or career is critical across the country and Delaware can set an example by tackling this issue successfully.”

We would have evidence shoved down our throats showing how Common Core students were able to perform at consistently higher levels… Instead  we get led through a labyrinth of thought-models and exquisite prose and no scores to back them up.  It should have gone like this:

“Here are the kids who piloted Common Core.  This is their “before”; this is their score “after”.  And these are the same age of students who didn’t take Common Core.  Their “before” … which was the same, and their “after” score here…..”

it is apparent there is no evidence… Not only in Delaware, but across the entire nation. No one has evidence showing any benefit from Common Core….

In fact, people who have seen the raw scores say the opposite is happening… They stress shock that the Common Core taught students scored poorly on the DCAS; far worse than the group that was not piloted on the new methods.

Since published scores are a complete aggregate, the Common Core classes are buried inside the entire school’s one score… This downward pressure from the Common Core test classes in years 2011-2012, 2012-2013, are the aggrevator which has kept Delaware scores flat since the the first year jump, in which zero Common Core was taught.

Furthermore, the scores do show that the non-Common Core classes continued the same gains made in the first year of the DCAS, while all those classes using the Common Core curriculum all performed in the negatives…..

This is important knowledge.   It is being kept secret by the Department of Education….

It is time all interested parties submit a FOIA request to see their school’s breakdown.   Exactly how well did the experimental Common Core class perform compared to the control class?

This needs to be FOIA’d by every concerned legislator.  It should be FOIA’s by all 19 School District’s superintendents.  It should be FOIA’s by the News Journal, whose credibility will be entirely erased when proper material is disclosed…. They were duped into cheering for Common Core, again over a complete lack of facts or data.

Everyone needs to know how bad this program is.  Everyone needs to know how this program is failing, especially before we commit all our evaluations upon this one test.

FOIA the data.  Simply fill out a FOIA form and email it in….. It can be found here, printed or copied,  and it looks like this….

REQUEST FOR PUBLIC RECORDS
PURSUANT TO THE DELAWARE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT
29 Del. C. ch. 100

TO: DELAWARE’S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

YOUR NAME DATE OF REQUEST__________________________________

MAILING ADDRESS________________________________________________

TELEPHONE (optional) EMAIL (optional)__________________________________________

RECORDS REQUESTED: (Be as specific as you can, describing types of records, dates, parties to correspondence, subject matter, etc. The public body will make every reasonable effort to assist you in identifying the record being sought . Requests for voluminous records may be delayed.)

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AM REQUESTING ALL RAW DCAS TEST SCORES GROUPED BY CLASSROOM IN ______________________________ DISTRICT SHOWING THE SCORE LEVELS ACHIEVED BY ALL COMMON CORE PILOT CLASSES AS WELL AS THOSE OF THE NON-COMMON CORE CLASSES EXISTING AT THE SAME GRADE LEVEL, WHICH WERE USED FOR COMPARISON.

AM REQUESTING DCAS SCORES FROM YEARS  2011-2012, 2012-2013 ..  WE REQUEST BOTH THE FALL SCORES AND THE WINTER OR SPRING SCORES OF EACH GROUP TO VERIFY GROWTH.

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There may be costs involved in responding to your request. The public body can require you to examine

the records at the office of the public body. Refer to the public body’s policy or regulations for
information about costs and access to records.
PLEASE CONTACT ME IF COSTS WILL BE GREATER THAN . $5.00

*Within 15 business days from receipt of your request the public body must either provide you with
access to the records, deny your request, or state that additional time is needed.*

NOTICE: Under Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act, 29 Del. C. §§ 10001-10006 (“FOIA”), a FOIA request or petition,
along with any information contained therein or any documents attached thereto, submitted to any “public body” subject to FOIA, including, without limitation, any board, bureau, commission, department, agency or committee of the State, may itself be deemed a “public record” subject to disclosure under FOIA.

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