How To Tell Which Candidates Support Common Core Tutorial

Just find out where former Intel CEO, Craig Barrett, donated his money.

Barrett is the Chairman of Achieve who was charged with developing the Common Core Standards.

Barrett is also the Chairman of Governor Brewer's Arizona Ready Council who has been marketing and promoting the new (sub) standards.

Obviously, he and his wife donated to John Huppenthal.  Although, it was only a measly $320.  Based on Huppenthal's recent debate performance, he probably won't be seeing any more financial help from the Barretts.

However, the biggest jackpot has gone to LD 16's Chamber of Commerce employee-newcomer, Taylor McArthur. Mr. and Mrs. Barrett have donated $4000 to Taylor's campaign.  

LD16 is home of the former Arizona State Senator, Medicaid sellout, Wyoming State Superintendent,  Rich Crandall.

McArthur has received over $24k in primary Independent Expenditure support from the "Stand for Children" PAC and the Chamber of Commerce.

According to the 2013 annual report, Stand for Children receives over $1M annually from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as donations from the Broad Foundation, Bashas Grocery Stores, Arizona Community Fund (whose board members include Paul Luna - President of the Helios Foundation who also donates to Stand for Children, and Lisa Arias with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce), and the Arizona Chamber's Greater Phoenix Leadership Council.

Accomplishments in the annual report state:

"We educated and engaged more than 66,000 parents and community members on Common Core, fighting misguided attacks against improved academic standards that will help more students succeed."

Also that they helped pass HB2425 "replacing the existing AIMS test with an improved performance assessment aligned with the Arizona College and Career Ready Standards.  In addition, Stand Arizona partnered with the Arizona School Boards Association to train over 125 school board members and other education leaders across the state on these standards."

The Chamber of Commerce, of course, has been actively marketing the Common Core standards.

STAY VIGILANT, MY FRIENDS!

Rich Crandall Is Heading To Wyoming

for a new job.  Destroying the Wyoming State Schools. 

Crandall will have the opportunity to oversee a $1B budget in Wyoming.  It's a good thing he's had lots of practice wasting other people's money.

It's just too bad he won't be around to enjoy the fruits of his labor here in Arizona.  From the multi millions our state will spend implementing the federal mandate of Common Core to his final finger in our face when he voted to expand Medicaid and fund abortions which will add millions in new, unsustainable taxes on the state. 

Figures Crandall would move to a state that has no personal income tax.

Such a shame that the "Republican" Victory Fund spent over $100,000 on Crandall in a primary election to defeat John Fillmore considering he knew he was only going to stick around for one session. 


We just wonder if Crandall's family in Utah will join him.


Don't let the door hit you on the way out....

Senator Rich Crandall Is Job Hunting...In Wyoming

Interviews Begin For

Wyoming Education Director

 

Look who's trying to high-tail it out of Arizona?

 

 

 

 

He's hoping to spread the Common Core poison in Wyoming.

 

"CHEYENNE – Candidates vying to be the next Wyoming Department of Education director shared their visions for accountability standards, the common core curriculum and other reforms during the first day of interviews for the position."

 

 

Crandall's Bio:

"Crandall, a Republican state senator in Arizona, said he wouldn’t shy away from “wholesale changes” that incorporate technology and other innovative learning methods into the classroom.

“This is not a Wyoming problem, this is nationwide problem,” he said. “We are very, very used to the way we have done it ... and I could walk into almost any school and it wouldn’t look that much different from the schools I’ve attended back in the ’70s and ’80s.”

Crandall said he is most passionate about “personalized learning” that customizes lessons to the specific needs of individual students.

“It is the future of K-12 because we are no longer restricted to teaching the same thing on the same day and moving at the same pace,” he said. “Technology allows us to do a complete overhaul of all of that.”

Crandall has been a past chairman of the Arizona Senate and House education committees. He also is the president and chief financial officer of a dietician firm that provides consulting services to nursing homes.

He said he announced earlier this year that he is retiring his state Senate seat so he can pursue his “dream job” of leading a school system.

“Things are such in Arizona right now that with all these crazy bills that come through, there are about six of us that kill them because they don’t do anything for education and they are just a distraction,” he said. “So I said I don’t want, at the end of 10, 12, 14 years (of being a legislator), to be known as the best ‘no’ voter Arizona has ever had.

“So I decided to retire midterm to pursue my passion, which is education.”


The arrogance is thick.  If only those in Wyoming knew about Crandall's REAL track record here in Arizona....

Cheyenne Office (307) 777-7690

Board Contact: Chelsie Bailey (307) 777-6213

Board Members:

Ron Micheli, Chairman

Scotty Ratliff, Vice Chair

Pete Gosar, Treasurer

Sue Belish

Kathy Coon

Matt Garland

Hugh Hageman

Ken Rathbun

Gerald Reichardt

Walt Wilcox

Belenda Willson

 

Rich Crandall's Arrogance Is Showing

 

 Or should we say.....ignorance?

Our State Senator, Rich Crandall, responded to a constituents concern about the Common Core State Standards by emailing the following:

It is unfortunate that a few crazy folks have twisted so much what this bill did. There are four instigators (three in Arizona and one in Colorado) who are determined to undo the progress we have made the past five years on higher standards and a replacement for AIMS. I have met with them, so has John Huppenthal, and everyone else associated with Arizona education. No matter what we tell them they will not believe anything we say. They know the United Nations, Intel and Agenda 21 are brainwashing our children, all in the name of corporate profits. We have decided not to waste any more time since their minds are already made up. It doesn’t do any good to engage them because they are so filled with conspiracy theories. Not much more I can tell you. Sorry. If we are going to move to a new exam, whether it is Common Core, ACT, SAT or any other exam, we cannot have a requirement that it be required for high school graduation in its first few years of administration. That is all this bill did was eliminate the requirement that it be a high school graduation requirement and that we do not have to take a national norm referenced exam. It is not related to Common Core but the tin foil crowd will not believe anything John or I tell them.

Rich

 

Bill Gates and fellow billionaire Eli Broad spent $25M to put education front and center during the 2008 presidential election. When people were more interested in making fun of Sarah Palin than focusing on issues, their education effort was sidelined.

"Now Gates and Broad knew they were going to have to engage more directly with the school systems they hoped to change, by either influencing the elected officials and policymakers who ran them or getting their own people seats at the tables where the systemwide decisions were being made."

 

 

It's not a conspiracy if it's spelled out in black and white.  These same companies have already partnered with the United Nations to create a common core in Arab countries and the EU.  Just like they did in the United States.  Does Crandall think that corporations like Microsoft, Intel, and Cisco are developing the massive takeover of our education system for free?

 

But, what does Crandall care?  He did what he was supposed to do in the legislature to ensure that CCSS and the necessary testing was signed, sealed and delivered.

And like a true coward, is now retiring.

 

 

 

 

Alinsky's 5th Rule for Radicals: 

 

"Ridicule is man's most potent weapon."

 

There is no defense.  It's irrational.  It's infuriating.  It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.

 

Our Education Leaders Received "Gifts" From Groups Pushing CCSS

Some of our elected leaders have received some very generous "gifts" over the last few years from the very groups who have been shoving the CCSS mess down our throats.  These generous donors have been involved with writing the standards, coordinating for common testing and establishing a data collection system.  They also provide scholarship programs for low income and disadvantaged students and everything else in between.

For example, here is Rich Crandall's 2010 financial disclosure statement where he received over $2000:

Who are these donors?

National Conference of State Legislatures is the group allowing themselves to be used in an effort to make Common Core appear to be "state-led."  Our own Rep. Doris Goodale is also a member of the NCSL and who sponsored HB2047 to replace the AIMS testing with PARCC. When that bill failed, Rich Crandall was prepared to come up from behind and pick up the slack with his Crandall Amendment in HB2425. 

The Foundation for Excellence in Education is a "nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, focused on education reform, state-by-state."  A partner of the Foundation for Excellence in Education is Jeb Bush and Joel Klein's Digital Learning Council which Rich Crandall is a member.

Achieve, Inc was the organization tasked with writing the Common Core State Standards.  In fact, the Chairman of the Board is Dr. Craig Barrett, former CEO of Intel who Governor Brewer tapped to head her Arizona Ready Council in Arizona to push for the implementation of the CCSS.   Achieve's biggest donor is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation along with other leftist donors such as the Hewlett Foundation, Lumina Foundation, and Carnegie Corporation, just to name a few.

College Board facilitates the common college entrance exams and focuses on aide to low income and disadvantaged students.  College Board is also pushing for the CCSS to go along with their "common" college exams and receive hefty donations from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

 

Rich Crandall's 2011 "gifts"

(1) National Conference of State Legislatures

(2) Lumina Foundation who donates to groups such as the Center for American Progress, Brookings Institute and Aspen Institute.

(4)  West Ed whose Board of Directors include John Huppenthal and several Arizona School Superintendents.  Their funding comes from groups such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation (who donates to the Soros' Tides Foundation and the United Nations).

(5) National Center on Education and the Economy  funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie, Lumina, Annie Casey Foundation, etc.  It was the NCEE who produced the international education benchmark piece called Tough Choices or Tough Times funded almost exclusively by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  Arizona's AIMS Task Force was introduced to this piece in March 2009. 


(6) Education Commission of the States.  Rep. Doris Goodale is a member of the ECS Committee and receives funding from many of the same organizations listed above.

(7)  Data Quality Campaign  who has been organizing the data collection for CCSS and assessments.  Major funding comes from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

(8)  American Diploma Project launched by Achieve in 2005.

(9)  Foundation for Excellence in Education  (see above)

 

Rich Crandall's 2012 "gifts"

 

 



Same groups as 2011 plus McGraw Hill, another company ready to implement CCSS.


How incredibly convenient that after the mess regarding the Republican Victory Fund, Crandall decides to quit.  Right after he helps push through the final important pieces of legislation to fully implement the  state-led  United Nations led CCSS.

Who else received "gifts"?

Newly elected State Superintendent, John Huppenthal in 2011: Trips to China, Brazil and Japan with the Pearson Foundation, a British education publishing company and partner of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pushing for digital learning programs. Pearson donates to Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education.  Why did Huppenthal have to travel to China, Brazil and Japan? 

Representative Doris Goodale in 2011 from Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education.

Senator Kimberly Yee in 2012 for her participation as a judge at a Microsoft Partners in Learning Forum.  Partners in Learning is Bill Gates' global technology and digital learning initiative to basically encourage educators around the world to use his products.

Speaker of the House Kirk Adams in 2010 who attended meetings paid for by the Lumina Foundation and that Aspen-Rodel Fellowship.  Aspen's goals are to 
 

Continue to grow the leadership initiatives globally and expand public programs.

Provide opportunities for more horizontal integration across programs by linking public programs, leadership initiatives and policy programs. Environment, education, and health are the initial areas for cross- fertilization.

Representative Steve Court in 2010 received gifts from the NCSL and the Foundation for Excellence in Education.

Representative Heather Carter attended a meeting in 2011 for the Data Quality Campaign.

Senator Linda Gray who attended a bunch of education conferences in 2011 for the NCSL, Education Commission of the States, and the Casey Foundation who donates to the NCEE and other groups supporting the CCSS.

Crandall, Goodale, Yee, Carter, Gray and Court were all members of the legislature's Education Committee at the time of the "gifts." Huppenthal, of course, had just been elected as the new State Superintendent.  Our Governor and Superintendent Horne had just signed the Memo of Understanding (MOU) to implement the CCSS in June 2010.  It would appear that our legislators were being schmoozed into supporting the necessary legislation in order to fully implement not only the CCSS but the important PARCC exams and data collection as well.

 

Feeling a little taken advantage of yet?

How Is Common Core Good For Arizona Again?

Why is Arizona so eager to implement the Common Core State Standards?

According to Vince Yanez, Executive Director of the Arizona Board of Education, it was because of Obama's enticing Race to the Top money which States fell all over themselves to get their hands on...thinking nothing of the anchor they would have to carry.

"So, Race to the Top comes along, States now had an incentive to come together to try and build these new set of standards."

Well, that plus Obama made it mandatory for the states who accepted RTTT funds to adopt the CCSS.


And then Mr. Yanez continued with the talking points narrative, courtesy of the leftist Foundations who are pushing for the reform.

"But it WAS, and I want to be VERY CLEAR, it was the STATES that developed these standards.  OUR Board of Education was insistent that we take a leadership role in how those standards were actually put together.  We were very much involved in terms of our teachers, our administrators, our parents in both the ELA standards and Mathematics standards.  In fact, THE lead writer for Mathematics was from the University of Arizona."  (Who happened to donate over $20,000 to democrats and Obama in 2012.  The UofA also happened to receive a generous grant from one of the Foundations who partnered with the Obama Administration in an effort to "equalize" the standards.)

Then an interesting omission was made by Mr. Yanez. See if you can catch it.

"What most people DON'T know is that while the Common Core was adopted by 46 States, each state that participated was permitted to augment those standards with items that were important to them.  So, in Arizona, we did that.  The CORE of the standards remains the same but at the direction of the State Board, the department did an excellent job of scouring our existing standards, find out items that we felt were important, that we felt added to the rigor and value of the CCSS and the Board did add to both the Math standards and the ELA standards.  So, while there is a CORE that is identical across those 46 states, taken as a whole, they're not completely and totally identical.  Again, states were able to add to them and we did take advantage of that."

If you guessed that he omitted the fact that states in this "State-led" initiative, are only allowed to contribute up to 15% of the curriculum, you would be correct.  


Standards and Assessments:

If all of the "voluntarily" participating states have been allowed to add 15% of their own material, how will this not lead to separate assessment exams for each State?  Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a "Common" assessment?  Or is that just the bone that states were given to get them to sign up, giving them the illusion that they are in charge, but students won't really be tested on that 15%? 

And what about AIMS?

So, what about the AIMS test for science? 

We don't really believe that the Board of Education will continue to give two separate tests forever.  As Mr. Yanez said about implementing the new Science Standards, "It's a lot to bite off all at once."  It's not a matter of IF but WHEN.  It won't be long before we start to hear that the reason for the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards is because it doesn't make sense to have two different assessments.

Another component to the assessments is that the test grade will act as a final exam and be averaged in to the student's final grade as opposed to a stand alone score.

The reason for this, according to Mr. Yanez, is that a student may receive good grades in class but then fail an exam like PARCC. Likewise, he said that some students may fail the class but pass the exam.  Huh?  It's hard to imagine that this would be such a regular occurrence that it would require all States to surrender to a federal take-over of the system.  Either you understand the material and PASS, or you don't. 

Why bother giving a PARCC test at all then if we can just issue a regular final exam and have that grade incorporated into the final grade, like we used to do?  And for a lot less money? 
 

What IF a student fails the PARCC?  Can they retake the test?  If so, how will that affect the course grade? 

Logistically, how would this even make sense?

You have two tests.  AIMS for science and PARCC for ELA and math.  PARCC tests will be weighted and averaged into the final ELA and math grades, but the AIMS for science will not.  What about other classes like Social Studies or foreign language?  Is the idea of averaging the two grades together only being done in Arizona or will this be done by ALL of the participating States?    

Cost: 
The technology necessary to implement the PARCC exams will be the next pursuit of the federal government.  Another string that will be attached by the federal government to those states who voluntarily adopt the CCSS.  And it won't be free.

According to Jaime Molera from the Arizona State Board,

"AIMS is a very inexpensive assessment program...The test was given in April and teachers had to wait until the following September for the results. Also, the assessments were only given to certain grades to cut down on cost."

1.  Assuming we had all of the available technology (which we won't until 2017), a PARCC test would cost $15 per student.  Mr. Molera admits that the AIMS test is very inexpensive and to save TAX DOLLARS, is only given in grades 3-8 and again in 10th.   The PARCC exams will be given for all grades K-12 which will obviously incur additional costs to administer.

2.  According to Ms. Stacey Morley from the Policy Development & Government Affairs Office at the Arizona Department of Education, AIMS tests are taken in March or April and the results "aren't in until the end of May."

 

So, which is it?  May or September?

Which leads us to...

 

How will the tests be graded and will it REALLY save time (and money)?

Ms. Morley pointed out that the current AIMS tests require mostly filling in a bubble in conjunction with a small amount of written work for the ELA portion.  The PARCC exams will be more writing which will take longer initially to grade.  That is until computers are capable of reading the answers (assuming they will be able to read the handwriting) and pick out certain key words.  You know, key words like "sustainable" or "renewable energy."

How will this give us the immediate results that

Mr. Yanez stated was a benefit with PARCC? 

 

How can the PARCC scores be averaged with a student's grade if the results aren't in before the end of school?

No plans have been made as to who or what will actually be grading the tests.  Ms. Morley joked that when she was in law school, her professor

 

"was like, 'You don't want me to grade more than five blue books a day.' "

 

There's a vote of confidence for you.

Which leaves us with the two people who were supposed to convince the committee that this government take-over was so wonderful, and who didn't have all of the answers for themselves.  So here we are, once again, passing something before we know what is in it. 

And we have elected leaders who amid the numerous unanswered questions and concerns, proceeded to vote for the federal government take-over.  There is a reason why Governor Brewer appointed Senators Crandall and Yee and Rep. Goodale to her Ready Arizona CCSS marketing committee.

These foreseeable concerns will naturally lead us to using PARCC for all of the core classes which means if we are going to have a common exam, we need to test the students on common material.

Exit States Rights.  Enter the Next Generation Science Standards.

Common Core State Standards: Science Curriculum

Being rolled out to a State near you this month...

Suppose Senator Crandall and the State Board of Education have seen it yet?

Oh wait.  They probably have, considering Arizona is a lead state in developing the standards.  Feel free to leave feedback, although it's probably too late.

Next Generation Science Standards

 

"The way to change a system of equalibrium is to create a stress on the system.  These standards have an opportunity to do that....We have an opportunity, and we kinda need to make sure we don't screw this up."

 - Stephen Pruit/ Achieve

 

"States Developing Next Generation Science Standards In a process managed by Achieve, states will lead the development of K–12 science standards, rich in content and practice, arranged in a coherent manner across disciplines and grades to provide all students an internationally-benchmarked science education. The NGSS will be based on the Framework and will prepare students for college and careers. The NGSS will be developed collaboratively with states and other stakeholders in science, science education, higher education and industry. Additional review and guidance will be provided by advisory committees composed of nationally-recognized leaders in science and science education as well as business and industry. As part of the development process, the standards will undergo multiple reviews from many stakeholders including two public drafts, allowing all who have a stake in science education an opportunity to inform the development of the standards. This process will produce a set of high quality, college- and career-ready K–12 Next Generation Science Standards ready for state adoption. The standards will be published on this website when they are completed, in late 2012 or early 2013."

 

 

The Partners:  If you have been following our previous entries, a few of these names should sound familiar to you.

 

National Research Council

National Science Teacher Association

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Achieve

 

 

The Sponsors:

 

Carnegie Corporation of New York  (The irony isn't lost on the fact that this organization is based in a city where 80% of the high school graduates are illiterate and can't even read Bloomberg's mandated  nutrition information on restaurant menus.)

 

Carnegie Corporation has donated millions to groups like:

Center for American Progress

Migration Policy Institute

Tides Foundation

Achieve

PARCC

Council of Chief State School Officers-  in 2012 and 2009 to implement CCSS

American Association for the Advancement of Science - for the Global Knowledge Initiative's Science, Technology and Innovation Collaboration.

Arizona State University- for a symposium on the social, educational and economic impact of Arizona immigration laws 

ACT - 2009 For an initiative to increase the number of students graduating high school who are college and career ready (See previous entries)

 

 

The Noyce Foundation whose board member, Phil Daro,  happens to have been on the committee to write the Math Standards, donates to groups like

 

Achieve

National Governors Association

 

 

The number one concern from the feedback received on the first draft of the "rigorous" standards was that it covered too much material.  This resulted in the removal of some content and other content shifted grade levels in elementary school.

 

 

Curriculum:

 

Things people do can affect the environment but they can make choices to reduce their impacts

Societal activities have had major effects on the land, ocean, atmosphere and even outer space; Students describe things society does to protect Earth’s resources and environments

Human activities have altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging it, although changes to environments can have different impacts for different living things; Activities and technologies can be engineered to reduce people’s impacts on Earth

Resource availability has guided the development of human society and use of natural resources has associated costs, risks and benefits

Sustainability of human societies and the biodiversity that supports them requires responsible management of natural resources, including the development of technologies and regulations

Global climate models used to predict changes continue to be improved, although discoveries about the global climate system are ongoing and continually needed

Humans depend on biodiversity but also have adverse impacts on it, including the potential of major extinctions that may be harmful to humans and other organisms; Sustaining biodiversity is essential to supporting life on Earth.

If a biological or physical disturbance to an ecosystem occurs, including one induced by human activity, the ecosystem may return to its more or less original state or become a very different ecosystem, depending on the complex set of interactions within the ecosystem.

Humans and other organisms will be affected in many different ways if Earth’s global mean temperature continues to rise

Human activities affect global warming; Decisions to reduce the impact of global warming depend on understanding climate science, engineering capabilities, and social dynamics

Natural hazards and other geological events have shaped the course of human history at local, regional and global scales; in turn, human activities contribute to the frequency and intensity of some natural hazards