Fellow Anti Fed Ed Warriors, I realize the title of this blog article is an ‘elephant in the room’ observation. We all have known for a while, now, how education has been used against our nation’s citizens. As the days in the ESSA Era (*Every Student Succeeds Act Era) continue to grind on, we’ve seen many new Warriors come to this observation.
Sadly, very few political and/or policy leaders have seen how the CCSS Machine vastly weakened academics. Because of this, it is becoming easier to see (on a daily basis) that education has become almost like a weapon used against us.
Think about it, Warriors.
When a person is being charged with a crime or is being taken into police custody, they are read their “Miranda rights”. Contained in those rights are these words, “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”
Now, in the context of education, it is becoming clear ‘Anything done in education is being held against us.’ Keep that thought as you read on.
One of the biggest ways education is being used against our teachers and students is in the guise of ‘accountability’.
ESSA’s language was especially ‘generous’ with the word. ESSA was also written to be very deceptive. Our schools are suffering even more now, than before ESSA’s passage into the law books.
So, just WHAT were/are the ‘accountability’ mandates in ESSA?
1) Data measured any way and every way possible.
2) To get the federal funds, States must fulfill certain obligations.
3) Control and power of education in the hands of the unqualified.
4) Global workforce agenda driven.
Warriors, of course this is a boiled down list. There are many, many other mandates woven into each of these four.
However, for the sake of those new Warriors, I’ve condensed the list.
*********************************************************************************
Back in August of this year, I shared with you how the U.S. Dept. of Ed’s misuse of ‘accountability’ was harming our States. Here we are, months later and the misuse not only continues, it’s growing.
***********************************************************
Warriors, take, for example, the announcement below. What has your State done to align and misguide you where ‘accountability’ can be found? In Superintendent Johnson’s announcement, ‘accountability’ is NOT used, but ‘transparency’ is.
Warriors, that brings up another ESSA fact. “Accountability” and ‘transparency’ are being used interchangeably!
Enter, NC’s “New” Report Cards:
Warriors, thanks to ESSA’s mandates for ALL education being aligned to workforce based industry standards, we know that means that all schools must have data which can be accessed and used. We know it means the ‘grading’ of entire schools across your States will increase in rewards and punishments. Of course, all this grading is the direct results of how well students are learning, how well teachers are leading, and how well principals are keeping everyone in line.
From Superintendent Johnson’s email, the fine print tells you there are 3 different websites for you to access the Report Cards. The first two are for researchers. The last one is for all those with questions. Now, Warriors, if we’re being so transparent and accountable, why 3 different sites? Why not use one?
Johnson unveiled the updated Report Card site (was brand new back in 2001) in his former school district, Winston-Salem Schools. To see the official announcement, visit here. A CCSS Machine member group, FEE (Foundation for Excellence in Education), has also published an article on their ExcelinEd blog about the updates. It’s based off THEIR principles for education!!
As far as the ‘new’ report cards, what’s attention grabbing about using the first of the two sites for researchers is you see a blue screen with SAS in the middle. (This quickly fades as the NC Dept. of Public Instruction page appears.) I’ve added emphasis, below:
Typically, when you access any NC DPI website page, there’s no such process. So, is SAS spying on me when I access the ‘research’ page? It’s more of a probability than a possibility. Even if you aren’t a researcher, you need to see the data sets and definitions.
If you wish to see the NC Report Card website on its own, go here. Once there, select any of the 100 counties. Then, click on a school. You’ll see all kinds of colors, numbers, and information. However, skip the glamour and go for the ‘downloadable’ District Reports. You’ll get a better understanding of what’s being reported on, as well as how it aligns to CCR (College and Career Readiness). CCR is a re-brand of Common Core for every State. For those States which received Race to the Tops funds, CCR will even show up in the applications and award letters. CCR is also used in ESSA.
I did check the NC Report Card for one of my county’s CTE (Career Tech Education) specific schools. What I found was awful. Not one textbook is in use. No academic growth, whatsoever. Knowing more and more States are shifting to this type of ‘education’ for requirements in graduating, we need to act quickly, Warriors! This cannot be acceptable!
Related and Relevant:
1) How Title One funds in ESSA’s Era are being used against us.
2) How ESSA’s embedded WIOA (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act) ties are being used against your students.
3) How the massive data mining (thanks to ESSA and many related legislative moves) is harming our families.
4) One of the biggest ESSA traps for ‘accountability’ and ‘transparency’ is for our teachers and their ‘performance’.
5) SAS has had a contract with the NC DPI since the days of the ARRA funds (American Recovery and Re-investment Act). SAS is a global data miner/contractor. If you wish to see where else I found the company has government contracts for NC (so you can see what is similar in your State). Warriors, remember, ESSA was full of all kinds of technology updates. SAS will play right into these.
6) SAS has supported a shift in education from academics to workforce not only in NC, but all the way to D.C..
7) Winston-Salem is part of the Strive Together national network of aligned communities for cradle to workforce collectivism.
8) ESSA’s educational use against us will also be felt in all school choices via ‘accreditation’.
9) ESSA will use school leaders against us, as well.
Closing:
Warriors, education is definitely becoming a weapon for conformity, not freedom. We have the power to stop our leaders! How? As my fellow Warrior, Karen Bracken, has stated, ‘Starve the Beast’! Don’t keep your kids hooked into the data mining school system. Remove them now! If you cannot remove them, be that persistent parent who is always visible at school. We cannot allow education to used against our children in this way.
Yes Lynne I am sorry to say that after 8 years of fighting we have truly accomplished very little in the battle to save our kids. There are already millions of kids that cannot be saved. I have always felt that while we fight we had to get our kids off the battle field. Now 8 years later we have so many kids that will be lost forever. How many more years are we going to allow this to happen. I truly believe that if parents really wanted to they could pull their kids out. There are so many ways even for working parents to make this happen. If we continue to send our kids into the belly of the beast we will lose future generations and eventually our country. Time to stand up and STARVE THE BEAST.
Another observation from your blog. Where you have listed the career paths parents need to understand this: when you are educated you can cross over from one career path to any of the others. BUT when you are trained for a particular career path in school you will not have the skills to cross over in the future. You will have to RETRAINED. This is what they refer to as life long learning.