Uninvited Guests

Warriors Against the CCSS Machine, we’ve known for a while that the ‘uninvited guests’ in our educational system have done us no favors. We know that Congress’s participation in the CCSS Machine is just plain awful. It shouldn’t be happening, but it is.

We also know the amount of federal legislation in existence (which is so ‘anti-Constitution’) could bury any one of us. This is way it’s great to have so many of us working together.

Warriors, we’ve got more ‘uninvited guests’ (aka: Congressional bills) waiting for us to learn about and fight against.

HR 2859, “Advancing Competency Based Education Act of 2017”:

This bill was introduced back in June 2017 by no less than 8 sponsors and co-sponsors in the US House of Representatives. Representatives Polis , Messer, Davis(CA), Takano,
Espaillat, Scott(VA),  Sablan, and, Davis(IL).

It’s been in the House’s Education and Workforce Committee since then. Why is that a concern for 2018? Because it can be rolled out of Committee at any time, during this 115th Session, or, tweaked a bit and re-introduced in future Sessions. Also, consider the chairwoman of this Committee: Rep. Virginia Foxx. Her view on education is that it’s ALL CTE (Career Tech Education). A kingpin of CTE is CBE (Competency Based Education).

Warriors, look at the title of HR 2859.

Warriors, it’s not only Foxx we should be wary of, it’s also HR 2859’s main sponsor, Rep. Polis. He’s from Colorado. He’s also a senior member of the House Education and Workforce Committee. He’s also a huge ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) supporter, as well as serving on the subcommittee which works with the U.S. Dept. of Education to fully implement ESSA!

Polis’s Bill (HR 2859) will amend the HEA (Higher Education Act) as well as continue to experiment with our post-secondary students via CBE projects.

HR 2859 also opens ‘Pandora’s box’ of nebulous third party education partners.
U.S. Dept. of Ed will award any voluntary post-secondary school grants, waivers, and flexibility (aka: strings) for using your students as guinea pigs to see if  CBE really works. Of course, to see if it really works, you have to have CBE in everything before higher education. ESSA has that covered in spades. Especially where it states that all education must be post-secondary readiness aligned!

Polis’s 2014 Uninvited Move:

Back in 2014, Rep. Polis was part of the ‘team’ which sponsored the CBE bill (HR 3136), “Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project Act”. That Bill sailed through the entire House of Representatives by a vote of 414 to 0. Where did HR 3136 end up? In the Senate’s HELP Committee, under Sen. Lamar Alexander’s nose.

With Uninvited Guests Comes Baggage:

Warriors, this more current Bill (HR 2859) is 39 pages long and slam full of CCSS Machine moves for higher education.

“Data” is embedded in 12 passages. Page 9 (uses data to ensure benchmarks of CBE are adhered to); Page 16 (data mined from students goes to the U.S. Dept. of Ed’s ‘research’ arm the IES (Institute of Education Sciences); Page 17 (how the IES will use the data) {Warriors, IES uses data in multiple ways, written into this Bill or not}; Pages 22 and 23 will show more student data uses; Page 25 shows there’s been a little thought as far as privacy, but note the caveat embedded; and, on Page 26 you’ll find it prohibits the ‘sale’ of student data (but no mention about freely sharing). The cost? A measly $5 million dollars, Warriors.

“Assessments” are embedded a mere 9 times. Page 6 lays out that all assessments will be workforce aligned; Page 10 shows how participating schools must use assessments to even be considered as eligible to participate in the voluntary project; Page 17 shows that there won’t be much time between the time a student enrolls in post-secondary education and their first assessment, as well as how the assessments are tied to ‘credentials’ earned; Page 23 shows assessments are part of the student’s successful outcome; and, Page 27 shows:

Oh, before I forget, the built in sales pitch to all this CBE project and experimentation? It’ll lower costs for everyone (aka, taxpayers) by reducing how long a student is in school. Yep, you heard correctly. Hurry the students through post-secondary courses so they graduate faster so they can get a job sooner. It’s basically the ‘cart before the horse’ mentality.
(*Note: a New Zealand teacher has put a global spin on ‘cart before the horse’ in education. You really need to see how the shift there is illustrated. It’s what’s happening here in the US with bills like HR 2859)

The problem with this logic is absurd. Do I really want to see my post-secondary student rush through medical school courses if they are going to be a doctor? No! Do I really want to trust a graduate of the rushed education with my life? Absolutely not! Do I really want to feel secure if my car needs repair, but the serviceman or woman cannot do it because it wasn’t included in their rushed course work?

Warriors, I’m not over simplifying this. We are seeing proof of this type of ill educated people NOW. Yet Congress wants MORE?! Using our students in post-secondary education as more guinea pigs is also very unwelcome. I guess the government doesn’t mind abusing adults. It’s done a bang up job on the minors.

Closing:

Warriors, in the coming days, I’ll be laying out more Congressional fodder (I mean legislation). When I searched ‘education data’ on the Congressional website I use, there were almost 800 hits. Of the almost 30 I’ve made notes on, the agenda is crystal clear. The uninvited guest in education is the government’s control.