The State Of Things

So, just WHAT is the ‘state’ of things in education?
Sadly, more of the same education ‘reform’. We’re not that far into the ESSA (Every Student Succeeds) Era and, Warriors, as you and I are witnessing, it stinks!

However, we Anti Fed Ed/CCSS Warriors, are NO dummies! We knew when those cheering the passage of ESSA on, that their lying was worse than a sack of rotting potatoes.

(Image: Reddit)

The State Of Education:

I’ve been asked by Warriors across the nation, from time to time, to look into happenings in their States. As always, it is an honor to be trusted. Below, are a few of those things. I share them, with their permission so that you can look into what’s going on in your State.

Have you seen what these Warriors are seeing? Do you have any connecting evidence to add? Do you have an educational issue or event which you cannot quite flesh out? That’s why we are SO good as a united front! When we share our information, we can know what to watch for in our States.

Those Rejected ESSA Plans:

The first round of States (included D.C.) to submit their respective State ESSA Plans to the US Dept. of Ed, have been announced as ‘rejected’.  Have any of the 16 States/1 District regrouped and turned in their 2nd version of ESSA State Plans?

If you look at the embedded link above (‘first round’), you can click on each State. There’ll you find the “Good Cop/Bad Cop” letter for each State. You’ll also see they were given a deadline for re-submission. “Fifteen days from August 7th”, to be exact. (in business days, that was 8/28/17)

Along with the ‘letter’ of why the States’ work wasn’t aligned enough (sorry, sarcastic moment), you can also find each State’s set of ‘Peer Notes’. These will be broken down into 2 groups. One for the Title funds and education and one for the McKinney-Vento Homeless Program and education. If you’d like the link to the US Dept. of Ed Peer Guidelines, find those here.

From the example State, AZ, here’s what we, as Warriors, should notice about the Notes received. AZ’s State ESSA Plan is a mere 68 Pages long, so knowing there were 43 Notes of needed actions; that’s quite of bit of hoop jumping AZ must do.
The number of federal legislative clauses and policies cited on only ONE page is below:

By the number of citations, seen here, it is clearer than ever how full of deceit the claim that ESSA ‘gives the States back control’.

(*Note: when I looked at AZ’s ESSA State Plan on their State Dept. of Education website, I saw no note indicating the Plan had been re-submitted.)

As far as the “Common Core” being gone from AZ, as the State Website boldly claims?
Refer to page 21 of their ESSA State Plan (where the CCR, College and Career Readiness grad rate is located. As you may well remember, Warriors, CCR was a re-brand name for Common Core!)

Does AZ have SEL (social emotional learning) and assessments related in their State Plan? See Page 36, where you’ll find SEL plans for PreK to K, and older students.

When I typed in “System” as a search word, about 50 results were returned. Almost every one of them was tied to a ‘unified state and federal system of accountability’! So much State-led control and authority!
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One State which did re-submit their ESSA Plan, is ND.  It shows the original date and the re-submitted one. (*Note: this State Plan is a whopping 400+ Pages!) See below:

What can we, as Warriors, glean from ND’s updated version of ESSA which is a warning signal?! I’ve got a list below:

On Page 11, it is revealed that 4 models for teachers to produce graduate ready students will be used: Danielson, Marshall, Marzano, and McREL
Danielson’s education plan includes UDL (Universal Design for Learning) which is mandated in ESSA.
(Marzano’s SEL work from my blog includes his Learning Sciences International organization)
Marshall’s designs in education are all about behavior modification. I covered this recently. (*Note: look for the screen shot from Opt Out Pasco)
McREL International is a non-profit, non-partisan group dedicated to improving education.

A definite warning is ‘international’. Anytime we see this, know the CCSS Machine is close at hand. Also, ‘international’ will lead us somehow to globalizing education in America, mainly via STEAM, STEM, and whatever else the UN has influenced these international education groups to throw in. But, the biggest rotten smell about McREL and ND is this McREL operates a ‘content center’ recognized by the U.S. Dept. of Ed  . (see below)

**Here, again, Warriors, any illusion of ESSA being  ‘state-led’ and in their control should be dismissed.**

Back to ND’s Updates for ESSA:
On Page 25, the 9 implement prongs for being ‘grad ready’:
• School Dashboard • Student Engagement • Graduation Rate • Student Growth • Choice Ready • School Improvement • Effective Teachers & Leaders • Financial Transparency • Innovative Learning  (*Note: Warriors, if you’ll remember, I’ve shared with you before about the close connections between ND’s Governor and the Gates Family, as well as the unashamed global strings in their education system.)

In ND’s updated pages, each of the implemented prongs will be broken down, but it’s the name of the data partner I want to draw your attention to Otis Ed

Warriors, I wasn’t successful in finding out very much about this management company. This is a bit troubling to me, as they want so much of our data, but they do not share much about their background. I did find the Privacy Policy, though.

You’ll first find Otis Ed’s involvement on page 25 among those 9 prongs.
Pages 45 and 46 calculation of ‘Student Engagement’ in younger grades as created by AdvancEd and shared with Otis Ed (*Note: Warriors, we know how tied to the CCSS Machine, AdvancEd is as well as how they have helped micro-manage the States and their ESSA Plans.)
Pages 48 and  49 (calculation of ‘Student Engagement’ in High School as created by AdvancEd and shared with Otis Ed) (*Note: How ‘compliance’, ‘disengaged’, or ‘engaged’ are the 3 domains.)

Warriors, this is a distinct SEL (social emotional learning) area! Consider how the 4 education models chosen will be used!!

**What can the States remaining to re-submit OR submit their State Plans to the U.S. Dept. of Ed glean from this type of activity?**

Look for more of the same as the first 16 States and 1 District received.

Related Resources for Your Warrior’s Belt:

KnowledgeWorks is a huge global and CCSS Machine member group with some pretty alarming community-wide cradle to grave strings attached. What do they have to do with ESSA? Look below for a screen shot (short) answer:

Warriors, if you look at every one of the States in their document, you’ll find that each is still using CCSS aligned assessments for BOTH ESSA required mandates of testing AND accountability!

You can also find that ACT, Inc., back in 2016, rolled out a SEL assessment for measuring teamwork, grit, and other non-cognitive brain activities for middle and high school students. The assessment is Tessera.  The Act, Inc’s website has the assessment splashed all over the main page. Warriors, you may want to know the assessment is also known by the name “ProExam”.

Watch this short You Tube Video, look in the upper right hand corner, do you see
“Salzburg Global Seminar”?:

The Salzburg Global Seminar’s website is full of educational overreach in sustainability, social justice, and imagination. Warriors, remember, the man speaking designs assessments for education!

Closing:

Warriors, even in the ‘sorry’ state of ESSA’s grasp on education we CANNOT give up.
We need to fight on against the CCSS Machine.

What’s a solution? Repealing ESSA and Restoring FERPA (which would end much of the illegally based data mining).
Visit the website Child Abuse in the Classroom, read the FERPA loopholes, see how you can join in.