Gauged Education

Warriors, you’ve heard me say time and time again, that based on research, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) is directly connected to the CCSS Machine.

You’ve also heard me, and, seen the proof.
Together, we’ve been able to piece together that the acroynm “STEM” was a marketing tool created by the NSF (National Science Foundation). NSF is a government funded, non-government agency. It’s also fully supportive of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the recent past, I’ve written at least 2 in-depth articles about the UN SDGs.

Below is a screen shot of the the history of NSF. Notice the side bar. Then, read the bottom box. You’ll need to enlarge the picture.

To see more about GOALI, click here. (*Note: this is not an NSF website, but one of the partners.)
To see the 2015 NSF Partners for Innovation Report, access it here.

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The biggest take away from all of the above information is simply this:

STEM is an intregal part of the UN’s SDGs and America’s up to its neck in alignment.

What better way to usher STEM into our classrooms for ALL ages that the Common Core (aka: College and Career Readiness), CTE (Career Tech Ed), and more?

That’s exactly what the PCAST Report to former President Obama laid out.

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Fast forward to 2017. I’m sure you’ve heard of NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards). I’ve even written about them in the past. Below are just a few questions I’m sure you may have by now.

Those “Burning” Questions:

1) What group is behind the NGSS?
2) What States are involved in using (or preparing to use) NGSS?
3) How does all this connect to a new curriculum called IQWST (Investigating and Questioning Our World Through Technology)?
4) How does all this tie back to NSF? CCSS Machine? STEM? Common Core (aka: College/Career Readiness)? CTE (Career Tech Ed)?
5) Are there connections, in any way, to the UN SDGs?
6) Is there any action geared toward all this in my State? Where would I look?

The Revealing Answers:

1 and 2; some of 3 and 4) NGSS is a ‘collaborative’ effort between Achieve, Inc. several States across America, the National Research Council, the NSTA (National Science Teachers Assoc.), and, AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science). According to another related organization producing materials to support NGSS, the Standards are registered trademark of Achieve, Inc. (see below) Warriors, did we not raise the question about ‘trademarked educational standards’ with CCSS?!

Educational standards which are trademarked CANNOT be altered!

By contrast, see how Truth in American Education’s article reveals California’s battle over NGSS assessments. How Achieve, Inc. impacts home education , or, what else is happening via Achieve, Inc. in more traditional education choices; access the highlighted links.
What Achieve, Inc’s website describes the organization as, “Achieve is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit education reform organization dedicated to working with states to raise academic standards and graduation requirements, improve assessments, and strengthen accountability.”

IQWST (Investigating and Questioning Our World Through Science and Technology) is just one of the ‘services’ Activate Learning has created. What is Activate Learning (AL)? The organization produces K-8th grade resources focusing on STEM. AL also partners with Achieve, Inc and Measured Progress to support and extend NGSS. Specifically, the IQWST is PBL (project based learning) with a digital component.

A pause for a question:
Now, why is ‘STEM for babies’ (Kindergarten) a bad idea? It starts our children off for an aligned agenda NOT for academic prowess, but workforce based aligned careers paths. See this and this.

If you’d like to see IQWST’s alignment to NGSS, click on the highlighted word. This will also help answer question number 4 when you see how NSF funded the writing of the curriculum.
If you’d like to see NGSS’s alignment to CCSS (which leads to alignment to CTE/STEM/CCR):
http://ngss.nsta.org/making-connections-common-core.aspx

For a visual of interconnection, look at the example from Washington State, below:

To answer number 5, from above, Population Education has quite a bit about the ease of adding the UN’s SDGs to existing CCSS and NGSS. By default, doing this adds in CTE, CCR, and STEM. Here are  two excerpts, “The SDGs can be an excellent way to take a solution-minded approach to teaching about climate change and social justice in the classroom.”  Then, this is followed by this, “…fit teaching the SDGs into an already crammed schedule, which has to prioritize CCSS and NGSS, state standards, and meeting district or school-wide curriculum goals.”
To see the Populate Education’s plan for SDG goals to be embedded in CCSS and NGSS, click here.

Populate Education is a  project of Populate Connection. Populate Connection was previously known as ZPG or Zero Population Growth. It was formed back in the late 1960s. If you’d like to see an example of the group’s global attitude about teen pregnancies and how it is addressed in a classroom: PopEd.

To access the entire Population Connection’s PAC Financial Statement, go here.

So, what about Question 6..what’s going on in our States? Here’s an example from this past week in NC.

A STEM Teaching Program got the go-ahead from our legislators. State Representatives Horn and Barefoot, along with UNC President Spellings, and, others made the headline news. Here is ABC 11’s Report on the re-release of the STEM Teacher Program. (*Note: Rep. Barefoot, at one time was anti Common Core. ) If the name Spellings rings in your head, that is because it would be Margaret Spellings, as in former U.S. Secretary of Education.
The most important thing about this re-introduction is it is targeting STEM for special needs students.

To see how a NC Bond ties STEM to more than you realize, use this article as an example of where to look in your State.

From MS and including a NC STEM leader, this article with disturbing language like ‘we must understand STEM as a culture’, and more.

Connecting All This to ESSA, WIOA, and the HEA:

Warriors, in ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) STEM Master Teacher Corps are embedded.
Since social justice is being taught, those who will be teaching MUST be trained to embed it.
This is where the ESSA mandates for teacher preparation also link to CTE (Career Tech Education) and therefore link to the HEA (Higher Education Act).
Since CTE includes Career Pathways, that links you back to WIOA (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act).

Related Resources:
1) https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/01/25/school-board-special-part-two/
Where you’ll see the STEM pipeline picture with more information.

2) https://www.commoncorediva.com/2015/07/02/tech-thursday-cte-ccss-and-special-needs-in-post-secondary-education/ (shows the targeted efforts toward special needs and their families to align to the CCSS Machine

3) Copyright laws prohibit me from linking you to the Measured Progress’s 3D (3 Dimensional) STEM Gauge Guide (where STEM is aligned to NGSS), but I can point you to where to look. Use your internet to search for Measured Progress STEM Gauge. You should find a free poster you can download.

4) Go here to learn how 3D Learning is the ‘new’ best gift in education.

5) To tie NSF to the assessments used in our classrooms, go here.