Digitally “Fried”

Warriors, we’ve heard plenty of CCSS Machine rhetoric about “Personalized Learning”. The CCSS Machine has taken a classic teaching tool and destroyed its true purpose.

The phrase has been bounced around SO much by the propaganda, the ‘objective’ studies and research, and all those profiting off the NEW rendition of Personalized Learning (PL) that most everyone has no clue as to what PL should truly be. Most only know it means a computer. Too much computer time/instruction means a ‘digitally fried’ student, a frustrated teacher, and a sold out state of existence.

So, before we get much further into how ‘digitally fried’ our nation has become, I want you to consider the ‘burning’ question you see below:

*Note: While what you see above is NC specific, this is NOT a problem exclusive to the State. You will find similar in your State. We will be re-visiting the moves NC is making later. But first, a national view.

Classic PL:

Much like the tasty potatoes you order at a restaurant, you’ll notice there are choices. There are ‘classic’ fries (meaning cooked just right, a little salt, not too thin or thick cut), curly fries, seasoned fries, fries smothered in cheese, and other endless examples.

TRUE PL closely resembles the classic fries. How do I know? Ask a retired educator (The best people to ask  need to be over 40 or 50 years old). Look at a classical education model.

True PL plans show a lot of flexibility in both the teacher AND the student; a variety of teaching tools, styles, games to engage the student’s 5 senses or their whole body.

Today’s ‘digitally fried’ PL, uses agenda driven, watered down versions of plans, tools, and resources. Today’s PL hardly uses the student’s 5 senses/whole body.

Think about it from the fries example, lots of copy cat versions seeking to improve upon the classic order of fries, but not nearly as satisfying. Education is HARDLY the place for copy cat, failure embedded versions of what really works.

Ask a researcher or a child psychologist; look at the way in which some school desks have been redesigned. This picture (below)stated it was ideal for the kinesthetic  learner.

Well, which KIND of kinesthetic learner?! The student who needs to keep only their hands busy or the student who needs to move around, sit on their legs, or be able to turn around? As the mother of a kinesthetic learner, I can tell you, my child would not have liked this desk/bike at all. Why? Limited movement. Too much limited movement for some learners like this, stunts their thinking and will cause burn-out when it comes to completing assignments.

Oh, and the cost of one of these desk/bikes? A single one can be over $1,000.00; One like these 4 seater? Almost $3,700.00! True PL can be accomplished at a fraction of this cost. Who foots the bill for ‘school improvements’ like what you see above? TAXPAYERS! With the way the current education laws are written, P3s (public private partnerships) will also be helping with ‘improvements’ like this. Think of it this way, they want to be the ultimate order of ‘loaded fries’ in your school. A whole lot of ‘eye appealing yumminess’ and a lot of ‘bad for you’ calories.

What does the U.S. Dept. of Ed say PL is?  That depends..do you want the PL for teachers, leaders, or students? See below:

To find out more: http://tech.ed.gov/netp/assessment/
To continue our order or fries example, think 24/7 hours of nothing but AYCE (All You Can Eat).

To find out about the “Future Ready” PL, see: http://tech.ed.gov/netp/

Dear Old NC:

Now that you see how the nation is serving up PL, just what is SO important I have to (once again) call out NC’s activities?! For starters, the CCSS Machine mouthpieces shouted ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) would free the States, mean less testing (assessments), and so forth. As research is proving in real time since ESSA’s passage, States are creating ways in which to appear like they are taking control of education, but when you look closely, you see the national agenda in the plans. How so? Look below:

Before I share more, let me state for the record that I know some of our NC legislators personally. I know they absolutely hate the CCSS Machine and what it is doing to NC. I know you have legislators like this in your State. While not every legislator serving us will be a party to this kind of activity, there are countless others who either will or simply are not aware of how many strings are being put into place.

NC’s been in the news before for what looked like a repeal, but was in all honesty, a rebrand. That was when we supposedly repealed CCSS. Nope, the law which went into place was watered down to a name change. We had the chance to totally ditch the CCSS mustard and ketchup for our fries, and didn’t!

So what else does this ‘new’ Repeal-but-not-really Law do?
a) gives an illusion
b) will be taxpayer funded
c) to access the entire document from above: http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2015/Bills/House/HTML/H237V6.html
d) allows for retention of students from grade to grade
e) supposedly improves transition from elementary grades to middle school; middle to high school as defined by the NC State Board of Ed. Who heads our State Board of Ed? Dr. June Atkinson, State Superintendent AND President of the CCSSO (Council of Chief State School Officers)!
f) by repealing ‘personalized learning’ this Law opens the flood gates for ‘alternative assessments’.

What the State Board Says:

If your State Board of Ed is anything like NC’s, you are sick to no end of their selections they serve up when it comes to education. (Think rotten fries or spoiled potatoes..they stink!) Above, point E shifts the responsibility of defining PL from the lawmakers to the educators. While that is as it should be, the obvious fly in the room is that those serving as educators are sold out to the CCSS Machine’s agenda.

In a few days, our State Board will have a meeting (8/31 and 9/1). Among the topics?

Included in the announcement of this topic was a supporting 22 page document. By removing the PL as it had been defined, the State Board listed ALL the ‘alternative assessments’ they used in conducting a survey of what works and what doesn’t. The actions the Board will take with PL’s ‘repeal’ or revision will more than likely be based on this survey!

In other words, a steady diet of ’24/7 loaded fries’ will continue!

You have to see this. Not only have these ‘spuds which are really duds’ been  24/7 assessing, most, if not all are DIGITAL!

By the State Board’s apparent direction, that means humongous data mining will CONTINUE.  ESSA and WIOA (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act) increase this mining via State grants/incentives.

2016NCPLreport

To name a few for the K-3rd graders in English and Math: Dibels, iReady, Discovery Education,Dreambox, universal screening, performance monitoring, past performance, SchoolNet Benchmarks, and MAP.

For these students in their ‘success’ or ‘achievement’ measuring (remember, K-3rd graders): SAT Teams; teacher observations; outside entities like the Dept. of Social Service, law enforcement, etc.; below grade level activities; mental health involvement, and after-school programs.

You will find the same types of measuring students in grades 4th and 5th; 6th-8th; and 9th-12th. What I noticed is the K-3rd grade group has more than the others. When you consider ESSA embeds birth to 3rd overreach, this should have you ready to fry some spuds of your own.

If you’d like to listen in via an audio live link (8/31 and 9/1) to see what the NC State Board will do: http://stateboard.ncpublicschools.gov/live-audio-streaming

Closing:

What’s in your State’s PL activity? How many ‘cooks’ are in the education kitchen? How many ‘fryers’ are in State Legislative bodies? Do we really want to see America ‘digitally fried’ and marginalized?! After all this, I’m ready to launch a few potato rockets.