Youth Envisioned

Anti CCSS/ESSA Warriors, in the past couple of weeks, I shared with you a look at Envision and how it is tied to the CCSS Machine. If you missed it, the article exposed how Act, Inc. is partnering with Envision in the name of globally workforce ready students. (See:
https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/06/24/envisioning-you/ )

While researching the Envision entity, I uncovered a similarly named group. It appears that only the names are almost the same. So, today’s article will look at this other ‘Envision’ group which is designed for gifted students.

Envisioning Gifted Students:

To access this Envision program, http://www.mindvinepress.com/about.html
Look below at the screen shot. The question in red (mine) will be where we spend the remainder of this article.:

Mind Vine Press:

According to the Mind Vine Press website, the Envision tools you see in the picture begin in Grade 3, last one year, and are great for personalized learning. Remember the question above? I am most interested in how the ‘Career Aspiration’ connects to the CCSS Machine. We can get to how this connects to the ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) in a bit.

See this screen shot as an example of how this gifted program is tied to the Common Core AND the Career Tech Education (adult CCSS):

When you use the address to find the other Student Links, note that it is interesting how few Career links are actually given. Of those, it is also not a surprise to see how the CCSS Machine is included. You may also catch that the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is among the links. It has been proven that the EPA is tied to CCSS/CTE and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). See: https://www.commoncorediva.com/2015/10/21/wybi-tying-stem-to-ccss-again/

So, who is behind Mine Vine Press? I can only find one person on the website. The Mind Vine Press is based in TX. Melanie Bondy is not only the only person I could find on the website, she is also the author and consultant for Mind Vine Press. Below is the latest brochure from the Press:

To see Ms. Bondy, speech topics (and see her fee based schedule):
http://www.mindvinepress.com/consulting.html

According to LinkedIn, Bondy has been at the Mind Vine since 2007. See:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-bondy-b4919246 (*Note: her educational background is listed as  Central Michigan University.)
If you would like to access CMU’s CCSS information,
See: http://libguides.cmich.edu/c.php?g=104186&p=677683
If you would like to see CMU’s CTE (Career Tech Education) and STEM information, see:  https://www.cmich.edu/colleges/ehs/unit/css/Pages/Future-Teachers.aspx (*Note: the CTE information will be in plain sight. The STEM information can be found at the bottom of the page.)

You may find it also noteworthy that back in 2014 (the same copyright date on the presentation below), Central Michigan University partnered with the Michigan Dept. of Ed to target high school students desiring to become educators in a CTE based program. See: https://www.cmich.edu/news/article/Pages/cmu-to-offer-course-credit-to-high-schoolers-looking-to-become-teachers.aspx

Other Bondy information:
1) Access this  previous presentation Bondy gave and note how the Bloom Taxonomy is the basis for the Mind Vine Press publications. (Slide #5)
http://www.gagc.org/Resources/Documents/2015%20Convention/Handouts/Mind%20Vine%20Press/2015%20Bondy%20Handouts%20(1).pdf (*Note: be sure to see her slides on the Career Paths)
2) Related is Bondy’s 2007 Career Path resources from Texas, see: http://www.humbleisd.net/cms/lib2/TX01001414/Centricity/Domain/150/careeraspirationposter.pdf
3) If you’d like to find more of Bondy’s Career/Envision Path tools, resources (all geared to PBLs (project based learning) ), where you can find the U.S. Dept. of Labor, various State Depts of Labor, etc, be sure you check out her Pinterest page:

What you WON’T see on Bondy’s work is a copyright from CCSS or CTE, BUT you do see the ties. You can see the support she gives the CCSS/CTE Machine!

Tying CTE to the ESSA:

Since it appears the overall goal of Envision for Gifted Students, is workforce (I mean career based) education, how DOES CTE fit in the ESSA?! Will gifted students be standardized just like all the other students via ESSA?!

For a quick answer, CTE is found in the ESSA under a few different phrases. For example, ‘post-secondary readiness’. CTE is also woven into the WIOA (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act). WIOA is specifically named in the ESSA multiple times.

A bit more in-depth answer is that while CTE (is also called Career Pathways, Career Clusters) is in the ESSA under other phrases (in addition to CTE), the post-secondary readiness (PSR) factors includes ALL students AND all teachers. Students must learn to be PSR AND teachers MUST teach everything to PSR factors. Who is deciding those factors? Supposedly the States, but look at the current Proposed U.S. Dept. of Ed ESSA Regulations where PSR is among the mandates. If you look closely at the Proposals, you can see other CCSS Machine member groups as cited in research/evidence sources for justifying these proposed measures.

We also need to consider that Career Pathways (another one of the CTE names) is embedded in WIOA (2014) at least 21 different times..again, interchanging phrases! We also need to remember that the HEA (Higher Education Act) is full of ALL of this as well!

Below are links to not only my articles with research/evidence to support the answers you see here, but to the Proposed ESSA Regulations.

To see how I found WIOA in the ESSA (and connecting them to the HEA and STEM Acts):
https://www.commoncorediva.com/2015/12/05/weekend-news-essas-untold-ties-to-hea/

To see how AP (Advanced Placement) Courses, Exams (usually attended by gifted students) ties into the standardization of ESSA:
https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/03/01/warriors-guide-to-essa-and-private-education/
(*Note: while this article is geared for private education, AP is most definitely included.)

To see how teachers will be rewarded/punished via the ESSA and student achievement:
https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/02/18/essa-and-teacher-pay/

To find where the ‘post-secondary readiness’ is in ESSA (and how it is craftily substituted for ‘college/career readiness’):
https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/02/25/conformity-readiness/

To see how PBLs tie to CCSS and CCR:
https://www.commoncorediva.com/2014/10/25/sic-em-saturday-ccss-progressives-and-pbls/

To find the ESSA Proposed Regulations:
1) https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2016/05/31/2016-12451/elementary-and-secondary-education-act-of-1965-as-amended-by-the-every-student-succeeds
2) https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=ED-2016-OESE-0032
3) My response to the Regulations (so far): https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/06/30/leading-the-charge/

Closing:

Warriors, we need to know that there are many large pro CCSS/ESSA groups AS WELL as some smaller groups. We need to know how they are carrying on the ESSA, CCSS reform, AS WELL as the push to continue shifting education to Career-based NOT traditional based.
We need to continue to hold accountable ANY person, group, or company in education or ANYTHING connected IN any WAY to education! Why? ESSA will level and standardize every student (young, old, rich, poor, gifted, special needs, private educated, homeschooled or not).

ESSA will go down as one of the greatest bridges in the educational reform. Why? It bridges birth to K and higher ed for a streamlined workforce full of competency based quasi-education. One of the worst parts in all this? Companies (big or small), speakers (well known or not-so-much) are making lots of money while seemingly pedaling student supportive educational materials.