You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘SB 51’ category.
Do you remember SB51? That Sokola Bill that no one read, and all were told that it was a no brainer because everyone was behind it, and it passes the Senate Unanimously and the Amendment was not even read; just passed anyway? And in the House, four people tried to slow it down, but it just raced through?
It will be very damaging to our teachers.
It is based on the premise that poverty and blacks are being held back by bad teachers. Therefore pumping up the “rigor” of becoming a teacher will make these students smart….
So how does one prove this?
One looks at the education of teachers from a good scoring school district, and compares it to those teachers from a bad scoring district, and one shows that all the teachers of affluent students came from really good schools and have additional degrees, and all the teachers of impoverished students came from really crappy schools, and most do not even have their full bachelors….
So when this is done, as was here, and one sees that the education levels in poorer districts stack up exactly the same as to those in affluent districts, and the additional degrees stack up exactly the same, the entire premise that poor scores are a teachers fault, becomes highly suspect.
Hell with becoming suspect. It IS false.
And what if one does the same experiment in two separate states and comes up with the exact same conclusion in both?
Hell with suspect. The idea that “it is all a teacher’s fault” if her students do not show growth across the span of a year, is now disproven…. For if teachers receive the exact same training,… ie . cut from the exact same cloth, but get different results, there has to be another factor. Period.
Here again, was the original study,……
With access to the DOE personnel folders, a similar study now guaranteed to show similar results, could be done for Delaware….
It appears that when it comes to reforming education… no body “up there” knows what they are talking about!
A task force is designed to get independent thought from a large outreach of people. The idea behind a task force is that if many minds are crawling over an issue, there is a greater chance someone will come up with a new solution far faster than if one person has to think through every scenario himself..
Of course it works that way… The thing one must watch for, is if any one party tries to influence a task force by putting their own people in to give itself a majority of votes, thereby solidifying it will choose exactly what that person wanted to do in the first place, long before the task force was forced upon him….
Thanks to Mike O for publishing the list for all to see….
On it we see the Secretary of Education, Mark Murphy. We also see:
- Three parents appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Education
- Two representatives from Charter Schools with selective enrollment criteria appointed by the Secretary of the Delaware Department of Education.
- Two representatives from Magnet Schools or Programs appointed by the Secretary of the Delaware Department of Education..
We have 7 Director of Education appointees and the Director himself… Particularly of interest, was that the formation of the this group was to include a wide range of viewpoints. All these 8 must subscribe to the viewpoint of the Director himself.
Now for those associated with the Director.
Randall Hughes – State Board of Education Board Member
Susan Francis Delaware School Board Association Executive Director
Those appointed to their positions by the Governor include.
The superintendent of each of the Vocational Technical Districts or designee(s) 1. Victoria Gehrt – NCC Votech; 2. Deborah Zych – Poly Tech; 3. AJ Lathbury – Sussex Tech
The president of the Delaware State Board of Education or designee; Randall Hughes – SBE Board Member
Lindsay O’Mara; Wife of a representative from the Office of the Governor appointed by the Governor.
A representative from the Governor’s Advisory Council for Exceptional Citizens (“GACEC”) appointed by the Council Chair; Terri Hancharick
Those on record as cheerleading for support of Common Core.
The president of the Delaware Parent Teacher Association or designee; Yvonne Johnson – State PTA President
The president of the Delaware School Boards Association or designee; Susan Francis DSBA Executive Director
The president of the Delaware State Board of Education or designee; Randall Hughes – SBE Board Member
Delaware Senator; David Sokola
Deleware Representative: Darryl Scott
A list of votes that parents could possibly sway to make modifications to Common Core Implementation.
Nicole Poore; Delaware Senator
Kim Williams; Delaware Representative
Frederika Jenner; President DSEA
It is apparent that overwhelming force must be applied from outside this task force to make every-day parent’s concerns known. Inside the meeting room, any parent who speaks with heart within the allowed time-frame, will be deemed by the sheer numbers arranged against her, as being a nice, quaint, but silly “crazy Eileen.”
Not every panel is a foregone conclusion. This one will be unless there is a lynching mob outside the front doors waiting for them to exit… that is the vehicle through which they will change their mind.
One final note. for this, the teachers’ voices were bought off and silenced, allowing uncontested passage of SB 51 and HB 165… Just sayin’….
Twas the night of mid May,
The clouds were long shed,
The stars were all out,
The moon was half dead.
I’d just closed my eyes
In dark deepest dread.
I had a forewarning
Of what was ahead.
The river was foggy
So full of thick mist,
My eyes played tricks.
A hand grabbed my wrist
“What is it ” I cried
As my wrist was entwined.
“Come Hither”, it hissed,
in a voice harsh and sublime.
“In your search of pure knowledge
Things are not as you know
Shapes shift, spin around.
Truth lies buried under snow
Down becomes up, and up, is then down”
“Plant only one seed
Something evil will grow”.
Something dark is afoot,
In spirit it has stalked,
If it wins out tomorrow,
Education is debauched….
Tomorrow at Two
It will take place in Bright Light.
What I feared from my heart,
In that deepest dark night.
The 147th House would vote,
Without any debate,
On something important
To all our children’s fate.
War would soon be declared
On all those teachers who were right.
They’d all have to leave
Or stand up and fight.
A Bill with nice thoughts
Will be laid on the dock.
But in the dark wording it shields,
A most powerful shock.
Instead of making better,
It tears down all the schools,
Putting up cheap imitations
That mock all the rules.
No more shall a teacher know
What her calling required?
She could only hope like her kids,
Her scores would help get her hired.
Instead of knowledge, proven and direct.
She’d be tested on simply how well she could bet.
Praxis One and Praxis Two
Those tests of the best.
Would now be retired.
By which test could “bid” best.
Instead of old classics,
New standards were wrought,
“Romeo and Juliette” now replaced
By “How To Properly Clean a Pot”.
Twas necessary to learn prose they said.
No matter if such a bore.
It left no brain cells still standing.
Well done, Common Core.
Delaware’s education is 35th best.
That Includes the Ivy Leagues,
And all those good schools out West
“Not Good Enough”!
The gauntlet was laid
We must tear it down quickly
Our consultant’s need paid.
We must start something new!
We don’t know what it is.
But without old constraints
We can create it like jizz.
Who will do this? Good question!
That we do not know.
But when it gets done,
Arne Duncun will be here to show.
So we’ll make it mysterious.
And hard to deduce.
Make the poor teachers sweat,
Think they’re all in the caboose.
We can brainwash them now,
Do it before they begin.
They will soon work for peanuts
Because that’s all we’ll send in.
We won’t let them pass
Till their eyes all have tears in,
We’ll switch things around
Like we do on kids with Pearson….
We’ll make them earn B’s
To get into our class.
Those who don’t earn them,
Can get in with a pass.
These new tough standards
Will make bad teaching stop.
Besides we will need them
In our Race To The Top.
It says right here on line 53
“Must redo college standards”
Let us buy them new teacher ID’s
Which they can hang from their lanyards.
It says “redo”, not “raise levels” I see
Let us make up our creed
Raise them higher or lower,
Or even sideways if we need.
So let’s scrap what we have,
Make new in our image.
Trash all classic standards,
We’ll make it a corporate scrimmage.
The tests we used to have,
Were so hard and so tough,
Lets’ sub them with easy ones,
Those scores will rise with fluff.
When the kids scream about testing
We’ll know we’ve done enough.
Let’s water the standards
But tell them they’re tough.
Do it with ed- gobblyspeak.
So those dummies in House
Without even a peek,
Vote YES like a mouse….
Since what you get out
Is What you put in,
We’ll have robots for teachers
Their union will end.
But we got to be careful,
We got to act fast,
If they catch what we’re doing,
This campaign can’t last.
Strike quickly, strike fast
Strike them hard like a flogger.
Can’t let them hear the truth,
Keep them far from that “blogger”.
Oh we’ll smile, we will praise,
We’ll do what we must.
What ever it takes
To turn those standards to dust.
Make Teachers in our image?
Yes, that’s what we’ll do.
We’ll count ourselves lucky
If they can count up to two.
The children? Don’t worry,
They’ll be fine as we speak.
We’ll teach them with tests,
So their knowledge will peak.
Then when it does,
We’ll know that we have won.
Common Core is in place.
Our work is now done.
Our friends in this Biz
Will now pay for our way.
When we meet our next challenger
Thinking he has something to say.
The Battle is ending
The war’s almost won.
We just need some dumb asses
To vote in S.B 51…..”
The specter was silent
It paused for a while
“Who are you? I said
I saw a faint smile.
It turned slowly towards me
And gave me a stare.
I could feel the electricity
From the bottom of each hair.
“Tell me” I inquired,
just one more time.
But the vision was fading
Into many fine lines
All that was left were the eyes,
And they gave me a shiver
It then grew transparent,
It was the Christina river.
So my friends, if you’re up,
If you read this in the morn.
It wasn’t a dream,
You must sound off your horn.
You must call down to Dover,
Let them know how you feel.
Hell copy and paste this.
Let them know this is for real.
We are being bamboozled
By clever and wit.
Our children won’t learn
Anything, not one little bit.
Teaching requires
Something you can’t test.
Requires a human you respect
Pushing to do your best.
We are moving away,
From what has worked well.
We are tearing down Rome
And burning it to hell.
This bill is too rash
Though it sounds pretty good.
It needs not to be rushed,
But debated as it should.
If anything is to change
It depends now on all of you.
Without your quick input,
Like in the Senate, it will pass too.
It’s tearing down what is good
And replacing it with “what-ever”
Gotta be bad for the kids,
No matter hard they endeavor.
This bill needs work.
Though it’s ideas are nice.
It will mess things up royally
Without changes concise.
A simple amendment
Is all it would take.
To undo all the damage
And terrible things soon at stake.
A little snip of a scissors will do
Component V and Evaluations…
Just separate the two.
Because the way this is written
If you teach and you fail.
It’s the blacks and the poor,
Who lose and wind up in jail.
Their great teachers got fired,
Because they worked in the city.
The teachers in rich schools.
Got good scores, just sitting pretty.
This is the damage this Bill will soon do.
For under this plan
If your kids don’t test well,
Your career is so through
Doesn’t matter if their poor,
Or if their homes are all broken.
When it comes down to corporate,
All excuses are token
“it’s your fault” they’ll say
“It can’t be the test.
You’re lazy and useless
You didn’t do your best”.
Meanwhile in Newark,
Where teaching’s a breeze.
Just wave a magic wand,
And there is no pay-freeze.
Scores roll in higher
Because the curriculum is dumbed down.
Kids do all the work.
You smile looking down.
So reader, what do you think…
As is, what will this bill do?
If you were a new teacher,
if it was you starting anew.
Would you go to the city?
Where opportunity lies?
Teach out your heart?
And stifle your cries?
Or would you choose
The easy way out.
A lifelong career
With no second doubt.
It is so important
That this bill get changed
Otherwise our system
Will split from the strain.
Decouple the evaluations
From component Five.
Let’s do what we can
To keep education alive.
This bill needs work
On quite a few levels
That will only happen,
If this vote gets disheveled.
If you love your kids,
And kids of all ages,
Make them retract their pledges.
They don’t know what’s in this bill.
Because they were told it’s ok.
Only the parents who vote
Can still save the day.
This is you I’m telling
Just so you know.
You need to go here,
And call all that you know.
Send them this poem,
It will get their attention,
Then give them the pitch,
Tell them they’ll go to detention.
What they’re about to do,
Is destroy our great state.
By Dismantling educational.quality
And by then it is too late.
This bill is on rush,
That i can tell you.
Vacation is coming.
But hopefully they’ll hear you.
Say “This Bill Cannot Pass”
Exactly as it is written.
“Change it, change it now
Before you get smitten”.
I hope these few words
Don’t fall on deaf ears.
I don’t want to see children
Through veils of thick tears….
It is you, it is me,
Who must carry this fight.
It is we who are parents.
We have the most right!.
.
kavips 