FOM Friday: “Primary Source”, Friend or Foe of CCSS

First Up, The Fib-o-Meter:

When I first began my blog, I set aside Fridays to bust the myths surrounding Common Core wide open. Today’s entry is no different. I’m focusing the Fib-o-Meter on “Primary Source”.  I discovered this globally minded, 25 year old group from The Global Education Conference from 2014. If you’re not familiar with the Fib-o-Meter, it’s pretty straight forward, I find the facts, and see if they turn out to be ‘totally true’, ‘not sure’,  or ‘total fallacy’. To date, many ‘facts’ about CCSS have been measured. It’s tragic how many have been proven to be “Total Fallacy’, or as in this case, “Total Truth”.

“Primary Source”:

Website: http://www.primarysource.org/homepage ; it’s another non profit organization in America. They pride themselves on providing curriculum, learning opportunities, and other related resources to educators, particularly those who teach in history or humanities. (If we were to run this statement through the Fib-o-Meter, it would be “Total Truth”) However, as we know to be the case, IF Common Core’s involved, it’s lurking somewhere. Oh, one more truth, PS (Primary Source) helps shape what students learn.

Where’s the Core?:

Now, if you look at the PS website, nothing glares at you “Common Core”. So, is it there? After all, look at what PS does..shapes students for global life with curricula, etc. However, the website is quick to tell you how you can look up their non profit status. Through a company called “Guiding Star, Inc.”. So, off we go…Fib-o-Meter can call “Total Truth” to the fact this company does exist. It can also be trusted to snoop out the Gates Foundation Funding…another “Total Truth”! Guide Star is supposed to be a non profit information resource. Who knew Gates would be funding it! “Total Truth” is the amount spent so far by the Gates folks, tops the $3 million dollar mark. See below:

If you’d like to find out HOW Guide Star, Inc. uses the data on all those non-profits (remember, several are ties to CCSS and education), visit: http://www.guidestar.org/downloadable-files/GuideStar-Exchange-Data-Fields.pdf  Who knows, this may be a great resource for those of us FIGHTING Common Core to research other non profits tied to CCSS.

Now, just because Gates has given so much to a informational service connected to “Primary Source”, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily riddled with CCSS, now does it? Well, let’s see…. When you search the PS site for CCSS, you’ll get at least 24 different resources from the group! Here’s the MOST telling one, “Looking for ways to infuse curriculum units with high-quality instructional resources and meet the demands of the federally mandated Common Core State Standards, BPS reached out to Primary Source to design lesson activities for grades 2-5 involving close readings of informational texts. Each lesson contains an age-appropriate primary source, supporting materials for teaching about the text, and student-ready text-dependent questions. In an effort to take a more practical Common Core approach to teaching history and social studies, BPS requested close reading activities that matched the standards for each grade level, and allowed teachers to lead their students through intensive text analysis involving multiple and dynamic re-readings.” {Note: BPS stands for Boston Public Schools}. Here’s another “Total Truth”, “With multiple units needed to achieve a depth and breadth of content, our curriculum design approach was two-fold: adapt what we do to meet the needs of BPS while instilling our passion for global education. BPS now has curriculum resources that meet Common Core standards, reflect the diversity of their student population, and develop students’ historical thinking skills.” To see the entire press release, http://www.primarysource.org/primary-source-crafts-common-core-curriculum

Who Governs PS?:

Between the Advisors, Board of Directors, there are at least 3 well known CCSS tied groups. Asia Society, The U.S. Dept. of Ed, Harvard University, and many others. See: http://www.primarysource.org/advisory-board

About that Global Education Conference:

The PS website was used during a presentation during the 2014 Conference. The presentation was titled, “A Strategy for Globalizing Secondary School: Global Citizenship/Competency Certificates”. Here’s the short description of the workshop lead by the top person at PS, “This session will share the practice and theory of global citizenship/competency certificates as a method to increase the reach of global education throughout a secondary school while providing opportunities for some students to obtain a certificate upon completion of certain academic coursework, service activities and travel/cross-cultural goals.” The leader? Pete Gilmartin. He loves global education (“Total Truth “. He really loves China, another “Total Truth”). In fact, he has appeared at the Asia Society’s 2012 and 2013 National Conferences. Back in 2012, it wasn’t Mr. Gilmartin leading a CCSS workshop, but the workshop, “Common Core Getting There Globally” WAS lead by 2 PS leaders. (another “Total Truth”). 

Other Global Ed Conference/Common Core ties include “Cutting Through the Common Core (State Standards) Using a Global Approach” from the 2014 Conference. Here’s an excerpt that is “Total Truth”, “All across the U.S., educators are narrowly focusing in on the recently released Common Core State Standards (CCSS).  Despite the efforts of the Asia Society and other international organizations, the larger global perspective is largely being overlooked. Many educators are still unfamiliar even with the basic concept of Global Competence.   This presentation will briefly analyze the movement towards a national standards regime in the US and make a case for broadening the discussion of global education beyond PISA scores and Finnish Lessons.”

Added Bombshell (In My Opinion):

In the comments left for the above Global Ed Conference featured workshop, this was included, “Department of Education International Strategy”. So here’s an excerpt from the strategy plan (released in 2012 and expires in 2016), “The U.S. Department of Education has established its first-ever, fully articulated international strategy. The strategy is designed to simultaneously advance two strategic goals: strengthening U.S. education and advancing our nation’s international priorities. The strategy reflects the value and necessity of:
• a world-class education for all students;
• global competencies for all students;
• international benchmarking and applying lessons learned from other
countries; and
• education diplomacy and engagement with other countries.”

Then there’s this, “The Global Competence Task Force, formed and led by the Council
of Chief State School Officers and the Asia Society, defined globally competent individuals as those who use their knowledge and skills to  investigate the world beyond their immediate environment, recognize their own and others’ perspectives, communicate their ideas effectively with diverse audiences, and translate their ideas into appropriate actions. In short, global competencies are “21st century skills applied to the world.”” 

If you don’t download another single document I’ve discovered, THIS one is THE one to grab. It is amazingly detailed about how U.S. students are being set up to be, not Americans, but ‘Globalites’. international-strategy-2012-16

Then, try this one: http://mappingthenation.net/ {another detailed look at not America’s best, but rather, a global best.}

The link to the entire topic of CCSS at the Global Ed Conference and the ‘Cutting Edge’ workshop: http://www.globaleducationconference.com/forum/topics/cutting-through-the-common-core-state-standards-using-a-global .

Closing:

Well, folks, the Fib-o-Meter has done a tremendous job this Friday of exposing several truths we need to know in our fight against Common Core. Please, share this widely. Your students are counting on your voice in this dire issue. Should you still be curious, Primary Source is in fact, a devoted friend of CCSS.