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One thing that is important this election season is to find out who is for charter schools and who is against them… Then vote for someone who is against them….
Recently some regulations were changed deep inside the DOE to allow more money to go to charters and be taken out of public schools… They supposedly were stopped by loud noises from legislators. But such will keep coming again and again as long as Charter School law remains open and charters still remain an option….
Did you ever wonder why they always have to “sneak” charter school changes through? Why do YOU sneak things, like past your wife or husband, like past your boss, like past your children? Is it because you don’t want to get caught? Exactly… So why are we “sneaking” changes to charter law in the dead of night?
Because it is bad legislation for Delaware’s soon to be one million people, and it benefits probably 5 friends of those players pushing it forward…. The only way to pass something that will piss off one million to make 5 people happy, is to keep it hidden from those million people…
When someone says at any forum that they are FOR charter schools…. if you can, ask them in public this question:…. Since only one in five children go to charter schools in Delaware, and since Charter Schools take money away from those other four…. how do you propose re-compensating those Public Schools who get hurt by having a Charter take their money, so the levels of educations for 4 out of 5 Delaware children, can remain the same??
And that’s the rub… When they say we are going to improve education for one fifth of our children by great charter schools, what isn’t said at all, is that 4/5ths of our children now have to suffer educational losses due to funding cuts!
How can that even make education better?
If you have a +1 and then add a -4 to it, Common Core or not, you still get a -3 compared to zero change if you did nothing at all….
So ask them, in public, out loud, how if they promote a charter, what is their plan to fill the gap of funding in the public schools system caused by those very charters they support….
Then, don’t vote for them. Vote for their opponent…
Because in all campaigns leading up to this year…. there has been deep silence on that other side of the issue…..
But that other side, the harm they do to the MAJORITY of students, is exactly why charters in 25 years, have never adequately functioned to improve education across any wide area….
Hawaii (not shown) enters at 48% passing ELA and 41 passing Math.
Below is a chart put together using US Census Data.
Hmmmm. very interesting. It appears that Delaware’s blacks are superior to 5 other state’s whites. So don’t let them hit you with that achievement crap over your head…. In fact, Delaware’s score is pretty impressive. which means that the building blocks were in place long before we rushed into this test.
2016 United Opt Out Conference: Philadelphia, PA Feb 26-28, 2016
Workshop:..
For more info... go here….. all the big names are scheduled to speak…
AGENDA……
A. Type out letter to hand to my children’s Principal’s secretaries tomorrow while school is in session….
Dear Principal and other Education Officers.
Under the authority of HB50, vetoed by the governor but buttressed by statements that it only codifies rights we already have, I am withdrawing my child from being forced to take the Smarter Balanced Assessment. As his parent, I hereby opt my children out from taking this test….
Thank you,
B. Type up email telling all on my email list the reasons I have chosen to opt out and that I hope for the sake of their children that they do the same…… Then “send to all”…..
C. Iron a red blouse and a red shirt with red tie to wear tomorrow….
D.. Print up flyers to hand out in my neighborhood tomorrow evening as I walk to all the homes with children.
Attn. Parents:
You have the right to opt out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment. 100% of child psychologists recommend your child opts out. Most college professors have scorned Common Core and prefer their students to have been taught the old fashioned way. They say Common Core skips the most important basics… 25-30% of your tax dollars get sucked up by this one test. That money could be used to put more teachers in classrooms and have more educational experiences for our children… I live in this neighborhood and can help with any questions you have regarding either Common Core or the Smarter Balanced Assessment… You can take your child’s test yourself by visiting this site….
https://kavips.wordpress.com/delawares-smart-balanced-assessments-by-grade-level/
As a parent its the most important site you’ll ever see….
Thank you.
E. Go early to my child’s school and hand out bottled waters to parents with a sign behind me saying “Smarter Balanced Hurts Children– Opt Out.”
F. Paint “Refuse The Test On My Back Window” and tie my spouse’s beer cans to my back bumper…..
G. Pre-write 3 pads of 3M sticky-notes….. REFUSE THE TEST…… to be distributed where ever they might be read……..
H. Write a thank you note to my child’s teachers.. and slip in my child folder…
Dear Teacher:
On this day, I especially want to thank you for your service to my child. I am so proud of all you do. Teaching is a noble profession and only the most noblest of us, rise to take it on. Just wanted to let you know I opted my child out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment today, and that we are doing this for you and your peers as well as he and his peers too…. You work too hard to have our children’s scores bring you down and kick you out… We support you. We love what you do…
Thank you….
I. Write “REFUSE THE TEST” in colored chalk on sidewalks one block away from your child’s school…. Do a full circle around the school…
J... Send email soliciting support for your actions….
Dear All.
Today I begin my parental duty of refusing the test… I was a rebel. It was fun. I opted my child, I spread the word, and have become inspired by all the support I’ve gotten from parents across the board. I am not alone. All parents feel as do I, just have not gotten the courage yet to do what I did… I would like to help… if any of you have questions you think I can answer, don’t hesitate. It’s your child and I know you love them as much as I love mine… Refusing this test is the most important thing I’ve ever done… I would like you standing next to me…
(PS I can help you write your letter; just ask)
Thank you….
K. Read Exceptional Delaware at night to see all that happened since I can’t make it to Dover at 12:30 pm… If you can, send me a note…. Be brave; and thanks…
This is the new teachers’ salary rubric…. Self explanatory. it will no longer be flexible. The way to achieve income growth and financial stability, a teacher will be to become what will be known as a “leader.”
Again self explanatory.
When we get to this line of the report… we see the hidden goal….
Movement through the career pathway should be determined by years of experience and evidence of effective teaching:
- a. A summative rating of Effective or higher on DPAS should be required to progress to the next designation on the career pathway
- b. An educator should not face “demotion” on the career pathway; they should continue to receive the compensation associated with their current designation until they receive the required rating(s) required to progress to the next designation
By controlling the career ratings an administrator can cap the salary of ones flock.
Receiving no incoming revenue this upcoming year? Very well. Give out no “effective” ratings, no matter what the secondary evidence shows otherwise…
The Smarter Balanced Assessment hereby will control 65-75 % of whether an teacher is deemed effective or not,….. A test pegged directly to a student’s family’s income distribution. And that is what has to change. That is a wild card, a black box that allows management at will to interfere with every teacher’s compensation regardless of how well she/he is teaching… The example of a new teacher resting at minimum, not at risk of becoming more expensive, getting the majority of the effective ratings required to boost a school administrator’s scores, versus the example of those teachers who in all other criteria (but the Smarter Balanced) are excelling, being left to dangle on the last plateau before their income is scheduled to rise again.
What this does not address is how other states will not come in and steal those effective teachers, paying them higher with less suffering, less aggravation , less abuse being experienced by them at the hands of their administrators.
This is simply a corporate tactic to control labor cost.
This new system has bugs. The big one being its insistence on the Smarter Balanced as a teacher breaker.
I’ll send you over to Exceptional Delaware for the details…
But…. here is what you should take away from this….. The right to opt out…. which passed the House of Delegates by a margin of 36-3… which passed the Senate by a margin of 14-7…. which would now be law across the entire state, from Delmar to Claymont, from Fenwick Island to Corner Ketch but for a governor’s veto…. … is now law by independent action in the giant school district of Christina…
Any child can opt out in the Christina District without fear of any consequence whatsoever…. As an example, 20% of students opted out in New York State… THAT IS ONE OUT OF EVERY 5.
With such an overwhelming public support for getting rid of this test, can we not see all the other districts bypassing our cowardly bottled up legislature and following the same procedure?
Citizens… call your school boards and administrators and demand they make opt out without recrimination legal in your district too…. your child should not take this test!
Kent County
- Caesar Rodney School District
- Capital School District
- Lake Forest School District
- Milford School District (Also serves in Sussex)
- Polytech School District (County-wide overlay school district)
- Smyrna School District (Also serves in New Castle)
- Woodbridge School District (Also serves in Sussex)
New Castle County
- Appoquinimink School District
- Brandywine School District
- Christina School District
- Colonial School District
- New Castle County Vocational-Technical School District (County-wide overlay school district)
- Red Clay Consolidated School District
- Smyrna School District (Also serves in Kent)
Sussex County
- Cape Henlopen School District
- Delmar School District
- Indian River School District (Delaware)
- Laurel School District (Delaware)
- Milford School District (Also serves in Kent)
- Seaford School District
- Sussex Technical School District (County-wide overlay school district)
- Woodbridge School District (Also serves in Kent)
One down… 18 more to go…..
Teachers don’t take the stupid test…. Children do…
This test is the most stupid piece of organized corporate illiteracy ever seen….. and any of us who’ve worked for corporations have certainly seen our fair share. That is why every parent needs to protect their child, gather them up in their arms, and opt out against the test…. Our kids should be learning, not trying to succeed by chasing constantly shifting goal posts which will never stay still if we don’t stop the process by opting out NOW.
The adulations corporatists use in defense of this test, fall to pieces whenever an adult finally takes the test… This is about the test… This test is abysmal, this test is ridiculous, this test is dangerous if allowed to dictate Delaware’s education over years to come. We’ve been tearing apart this test for a year now. The time has come to accept it is offal and rid ourselves of it… anyway we can… Which, of all the choices given to us…. the easiest is to opt out…
If more, and more, and more, and more parents opt out every day…. the teachers will then have the clout they need in legislature to join us… right now, if teachers tell the truth… they get dismissed…. Privately, you cannot find an experienced teacher who is no longer wet behind the ears, still supporting this or Common Core. If every district even gets one opt out a day, forget charter schools, at 19 each day in 100 school days, or by test time, we will have 1900 opt outs.. = 1.5 %… if two? 3.0%.. if just three per district every school day… 4.5%! So let’s get 4!!!
Really I wonder how many parents would let their children be put in harms way if public school teachers were behind something almost as silly such as mandatory hypnosis… I’m sure all parents would chipe up and say… “Well, we know it is harmful but we will put our kids in harms way just to support the teachers union…..”
HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!
If it doesn’t work that way, Mr. Corporate, it can’t work your way…….
So I’m just going to come right out and say it…. “What a stupid jerk you all are….. ” Thinking parents are opting out because of teachers unions… The reason we opt out is because we saw the test; we took the test, as adults, we loathed the test. You are worried about money… Don’t be. They print more money every day…. As for our children…. there are not any other like them in the whole world….
You all are so stupid….
HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!
On September 21st the Federal Government takes over Special Education... Prior to that, states could create independent tests for special ed students and modify their curriculum as well for those special students.
1. All learning-disabled students can become grade level scholars with no differentiated learning– they just need great teaching and great supports.
2. The new testing (Common Core/SAGE) is valid for ALL students with ALL learning disabilities.
3. These new tests are so good that we don’t need alternative or modified tests.
4. The ONLY thing reading and math disabled students need, to become grade level scholars, are good teachers.
5. These new tests are so perfect that they were designed specifically to perfectly measure academic achievement in ALL learning-disabled children.
6. States and ground-level teachers have denied proper instruction for divergent-learning students; therefore, we no longer need individual states to make special tests, because now special education students will be saved by the new Common Core Standards.
This was done by decree by the Secretary of Education.. No Congress. No discussion. No parental involvement. In fact this took place a the same time the Secretary was placating Congress with how states would reign supreme, not the Federal government, in order to get ESEA passed.
To support the Department’s decree, that special education students don’t need special education, it cited a 2010 research journal article: “Do Special Education Interventions Improve Learning of Secondary Content? A MetaAnalysis.”
Here is what the researchers have found about that report……
- That research did not include any kindergarteners through fifth graders– no elementary school aged children were studied! Most of the students were in eighth grade. –Yet the Department is applying their conclusion to all students.
- The “study” was paid for by the US Department of Education.
- Math and reading weren’t included. The studies used science, social studies, and English; and, only 10% of those studies actually reported on English at all. –Yet the Department includes math and reading in its approved Common tests, to be applied to all, now including special education students.
- Most of the students included in the meta-analysis were of average I.Q. Yet the Department is applying their conclusion to special education.
- Virtually none of the students were behaviorally or emotionally disturbed (only 4%) Yet the Department is applying their conclusion to special education students who are behaviorally or emotionally disturbed.
- It was not an original research study. It was a holistic, literary study of other studies.
- Demographics were lacking, so nobody knows how these studies impact children who come from groups who historically test very poorly.
In other words, another faked study.
To support the Department of Education’s decree that special education students will benefit from taking Common Core/SAGE tests, it claimed that “new assessments have been designed to facilitate the valid, reliable, and fair assessment of most students, including students with disabilities who previously took an alternate assessment”.
- There was no research study cited.
- There was no evidence given.
- The claim that these new tests have been designed to be fair and valid and reliable for special education students, is utterly baseless.
- Not one of the Common Core testing consortia, funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Education the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (such as SBAC, PARCC, and AIR which designs Utah’s SAGE test) have published independently reviewed validity data on special education students (or any students for that matter).
Other studies, that were also used as references by the USDOE, openly urged “caution in interpretation of our findings given the small number of participants,” and warned: “no instructional method, even those validated using randomized control studies, works for all students” — serious cautions that the USDOE clearly did not heed….
They only get away with it because you let them…….
Every parent and teacher knows that if you teach special education students in regular classrooms, they miss what’s important because it is taught faster than they can grasp, and the rest of the class never advances past his level.. You can only go as fast as the slowest student.
They were 39 days late… but we got them… The preliminary Smarter Balanced Assessments….
The big takeaway was: is that all there is to it?
We’ve been arguing over this for 4 years. (I’ve been doing it for 3). We’ve spent $119 million dollars of Race To The Top Money to bring this to fruition. And we’ve been promised so much good would come from this test that we had no choice BUT to go forward with it…
But looking at the scores, it is the same as it ever was…. Nothing changed. Kids didn’t learn more. Kids may have learned less. If one takes the word of students and teachers, each student spent 8 hours taking this test spread over an average of 3.25 days…
At 70,000 Delawarean students taking the test, a total of 560,000 learning hours were spent on this actual test… One has to ask if that is worth the cost…
Over half a million hours were spent on this test… just so we can fire teachers. Is that the best use of our students time? Or should every parent be concerned with this, and insist that we return to the DCAS, one which took far less time and unlike this test, gave teachers feedback they could give students immediately afterwards.
Because we all know.
If experts say 8 years olds should be able to jump over a 3 foot high bar and you raise it to 5 feet, you are going to have fewer successful jumps… So anyone who says “see, how terrible education is today?: by looking at these scores, needs to be laughed out, ridiculed, and then ignored…. Because they don’t mean anything… Nothing at all.
The real question that needs to be asked is this… By raising the bar to 5 feet, did more people jump over the 3 foot bar then before… That data would tell us if this program was a success or failure…
But we don’t have that data… All we know is that fewer people “passed” because we made “passing” beyond the capabilities of all but our most developed and well trained….
So.. parents… is this truly worth $119 million dollars? So teachers…. is this truly worth $119 million dollars… So administrators… is this truly worth $119 million dollars?
Money that was taken from reading coaches that the Minner administration placed in every school. Money that was taken from math coaches that the Minner administration placed in every school. Money that was taken from having a policeman in every school… Money that was taken from supplying classrooms. Money that was taken from extra curricular activities. Money that was taken from the libraries. Money that was taken away from field trips. Money that was taken away… .. from you… After all, it is your money now being spent on this…
Did you get all the worth over what you paid? Are your kids Smarter? Do they seem more balanced?
If yes, we can’t knock the program … It appears to have worked… But if no, then as many of us have pointed out, this is a boondoggle of epic proportions….
So, when you looked over the preliminaries… did you too say…. “Is that all there is?
Someone is getting rich… somewhere…
We don’t live in Communist Russia, no matter how hard he tries to make it so…
You have to go over here and read this…
This is a blow by blow account of how the Delaware Corporate Educational (DCE)establishment tried to disrupt the Christina Board by innuendo, and flat out lies. It was the junior-high classic… hey, did you hear what Boo-Boo said about you? Said you were a dick with pussy hair for a beard… Said you looked like you washed your hair in mayonnaise and didn’t rinse…. So when Cindy hears what’s said, she takes it as truth considering the whispering source and begins preparing for a huge battle and on the next meeting, opens fire with a 21 gun salvo… So Boo-Boo is sitting there wondering what’s going on; why’s this person attacking me for no reason? After about 5 salvos landing near him he realizes: Hey, I’m getting killed if I don’t fight back and launches salvos of her own.
it was like that…
But there was this guy Kevin.. Who they used to send the messages…. They told him our top secret phone taps show that this person is a snake and is about to tear into another on the board. They forgot to account for the fact that as a dad of an exceptional son, he was very brave. He approached the subjects at a meeting and confronted them with the info, and… just as quickly, realize he had been played…
So, this dude, let’s say awesome dude, publishes everything that was whispered to him for all to see, publishes every thing this plant told them and immediately it stood up very clear… that none was true and that Donna Johnson, Executive of the State Board of Education, was feeding lies to create havoc…
It is now quite clear. That this State Board and Governor Markell and Mark Murphy and the Corporate Establishment can not win with the facts… it is like if they knew a new medicine they sold was making you sick.. And you too know the new medicine is making you sick, because every time you take it… you get sick. Every time you stayed away, you got better. But instead of apologizing for their mistake, they use tricks to make other people believe something else… “You’re not sick from our medicine they say… its Sycamore Pollen that is making you sick”.. “You’re not sick from our medicine” they say, “it is algae that is making you sick… etc…”
They know,… you know, …and now everyone knows, Governor Markell’s education program has been a disaster… Every other state will be out of Common Core by 2018, is the prediction… Every other state will be moving forward with the antidote for healing, but our state administration is stuck on this one pill and has to pull out all stops to trick us into still taking their poison which is very bad for us…
As an adult… tell the truth now. Do you ever have to trick yourself into taking your medicine? I don’t think any adult does. You do it willingly correct? Because you want to get better, right?
Well these players, Donna Johnson, Mark Murphy, Phil Herdeman, Rodel, Markell, Sokola, and Earl Jacques are treating you like little kids… The only way you’ll take their medicine they figure is if they trick you into taking their medicine which we all know, will make us sick.. “Here, sonny,” says Earl Jacques, “you want a peanut butter sandwich?”
Tricking the populace into something,… is not…. democracy… It is pre-school.
Democracy is supposed to go like this…
“Here are the good things about the Smarter Balanced Assessment ( It has a tree for a logo)” .. The other side stands up and says, “here are why we think this is a very bad idea for all”… The press is supposed to offer you both sides and continue the arguments on their op-ed pages. You look at the pros, you look at the cons, you figure the cons are infinite in number, and the pros are down to one, and you tell your legislator what you discovered… He hears from all sides and he determines what he think will be the best vote for all. He votes and if his side has more, his side wins. If is side as less, his side loses… and we go on knowing that both sides were looked at and though there may be some bumps, there is also a lot of merit to back it up….
Instead, what we got… is this… Dave Sokola says: “this is a good bill. I’ve looked at it. We need to vote if forward.” Kowalko. “Uhh, can we talk about it a little, I’ve got some qualms.” Dave Sokola: “No. All in favor say “Aye”…. and that is how this poisonous medicine got out of its committee and into your child’s system..
If Common Core was good, I’d be for it. If the Smarter Balanced did any benefit, I’d be for it. If Charter Schools raised a districts measured level of learning, I’d be for them… The problem is none of them do what they are supposed to do.. Not only that, they make things worse. They are poison….
And as adults we should be grown up enough to turn down poison saying… “No, thanks. it always make me sick”… and as adults we should be able to trust that they don’t Crosbytize our drinks when we look away from them…
It is all about “tricks” with this administration… and for one, as an adult, I am sick and tired of it…
Thank you Kevin for blowing them out of the water… NO ONE. NO ONE, I MEAN NO ONE, CAN EVER TAKE ANYTHING THESE PEOPLE SAY SERIOUSLY EVER AGAIN…
If you do…. Shame on you… You’ve been shown. You know better….
kavips 