The School Board Special, Part One

This Weekend News begins a special series for all those ‘anti CCSS Machine Warriors’ out there running for their school boards this election year. No matter if it is a local school board race or a state-wide race, this compendium is for you!!

If you should have an issue you would like more information on and you do NOT see it below, please do not HESITATE to let me know how I may help your campaign. Why would I do this? I want to support each of you as best as I can with information you can use to stand for a school system FREE from the CCSS Machine and ALL its overreaches into birth to pre-K, pre-K to K, K-12, community colleges, public and private colleges and universities, for profit post-secondary schools (proprietary), and any OTHER place Common Core (or as it’s new buzz phrase is known as “College and Career Readiness”) is found!

As the first in this series of articles, I would like to  devote them to these brave men and women who are seeking office for the RIGHT reasons! 1) To be a child’s hero; 2) to stand for the Constitutionally protected state sovereignty where education is concerned; and 3) to wipe out the CCSS Machine’s grasp on their local community and/or State!

 

Birth to Pre-K, Pre-K to K:

As we have seen and heard, NO age group, nor educational choice will be free from the illegally based (and now, rubber stamped via the ESSA, Every Student Succeeds Act) educational reform begun by the CCSSI (Common Core State Standards Initiative). My fellow anti CCSS Warrior from CA (Lydia Gutierrez) has a great Facebook post from 2014 which details Sen. Lamar Alexander’s plan to grab our students from birth and track them to career.
Why would I mention Sen. Alexander? He is one of the main sponsors of the ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act). His plan from way back when, just got a HUGE advancement via the ESSA! To see Lydia’s post: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152814417575498&id=226850210497 (*Note it has the embedded You Tube video from the 1980s where Alexander speaks his ‘Orwellian plan’ for our students.)

To see the birth to Pre-K plans via the ESSA from the Final Conference Report (that mammoth 1,061 page booger):
Section 2223 which begins on Page 373 and details “Subgrants to eligible entities in support of birth through kindergarten entry literacy.”.
Leading up to Section 2223, the following pages are also of great importance:
1) Page 365 where you can see how LEAs (Local Educational Agents) will encompass birth through 12th grade literacy, early childhood education programs including home based literacy programs, and more.
2) Page 370 where you will find percentages of funding the states are to have for any program or activity to ready birth through Kindergarten for school.
3) The bottom of Page 370 and into 371 where you will see birth to 5 years programs for low income families targeted.
4) Page 372 states the following for those teaching our youngest students: “Coordinating with institutions of  higher education in the State to provide recommendations to strengthen and enhance pre-service courses for students preparing to teach children from birth through grade 12 in explicit, systematic, and intensive instruction in  evidence-based literacy methods.”
5) Page 374 will show you how ‘data analysis’ will be used in regards to birth through kindergarten entry.
6) Page 375 details the assessments of the birth to kindergarten for the sake of successful entry into school.
7) That damnable educratic, pro Common Core term ‘pipeline’ (in reference to our students) is used on Page 600. “PIPELINE SERVICES.—The term ‘pipeline services’ means a continuum of coordinated supports, services, and opportunities for children from birth through entry into and success in postsecondary education, and career attainment. Such services shall include, at a minimum, strategies to address through services or programs (including integrated student supports) the following:  ‘‘(A) High-quality early childhood education programs.” (*Note: There is more, but you need to read it for yourselves.)
8) Page 615 will focus on the children (from birth) in the lowest income cities with a continuum of ‘high quality’ services. While this may not be a terrible thing, consider that further down the page, the data collection and reporting of said data goes to the U.S. Dept. of Education’s Secretary!
9) The homeless children’s lack of records will also be included in all this new education reform. See Pages 881, 889,  and 900.
10) Page 959, The States are to keep parents up to date on all the ‘mixed delivery systems’ of programs for birth to kindergarten entry level.
110 Lastly, on Page 967, you will need to know that the States will be assessing the families for successful improvement among  family members.

If you do not have access to the Final Report: ESSA FINAL CONFRPT_112915

In the much shorter U.S. Law version of the ESSA (391) pages, you will find Section 2223 is still the same. Page numbers, however, will be different. To find where the students from ‘birth’ and up are mentioned, see: 136, 138 (twice), 139 (5 times), 140, 223, 238, 326, 329, 333, 354, and 357. Each of the topics found in the Final Report have made their way into the Law version. To access the Law version: Finalessa.391pages

As Far As My Research, I Would Like to Offer You:

Zero to Three Common Core which has received the American Academy of Pediatrics backing as well as a major insurance company (MetLife)! See: https://www.commoncorediva.com/2015/07/04/sic-em-saturday-pint-sized-common-core/
What you, as a candidate, need to know about this article: Look to your area’s Early Head Start Program; that each of the 50 States has a ‘Baby Fact Sheet’; that some States (especially those deemed as successes with their Race to the Top funding) have a ‘Preschool Development Grant’ from the U.S. Dept. of Education; that the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), is backed, supported, and funded by some of the biggest names in the CCSS Machine!

Then here is my article pertaining to the massive amounts of research being conducted on our youngest students in the name of education. See: https://www.commoncorediva.com/2015/11/10/ftf-prek-research-ccss-cbe/
What you, as a candidate, need to look for from this article: Your state’s funding and use of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) and how CCSS has got its grasp on this money; how competency based education (is largely workforce based learning in nature) is being designed for our little people in the classrooms and related programs; how our youngsters are bringing shaped into BRICKS (I kid you not), and more!

How will the birth to pre-K and kindergartners figure into the WIOA (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014) which is also expressly tied via the language of the ESSA (as law)?! See my article: https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/01/05/essa-ties-to-wioa-2014-and-new-citizens/
What you, as a candidate, need to know from this article: Those ‘sub grants’ for ELA (English Language Arts) are to be used so that EVERY student, including these younger ones, will be in line for the cradle to career education;  how the language shift FROM “Common Core State Standards” TO ‘Challenging State Academic Standards’ is not only more of the same education reform, but will have massive amounts of money attached!

Encompassed into the Promise Neighborhoods and the 21st Century Community Learning Centers and/or Community Schools will be not only the youngest learners, but the ENTIRE family! See: https://www.commoncorediva.com/2015/08/17/supportive-acts-to-back-initiative/
What you, as a candidate, need to know: That while the Promise Neighborhoods is NOT a new piece of legislation, HOW it is included in the ESSA is new! Those 21st Century Community Learning Centers (which can also sometimes be referred to by a number of catchy names) are part of a White House Initiative, as well as a P3 (public-private partnership) effort to have entire communities aligned to the Common Core State Standards Initiative.  To see that information and to learn more: https://www.commoncorediva.com/2014/10/24/fom-friday-knowledgeworks-or-knowledge-quirks/ (*Note: This article lays out for you the cradle to career aligned community network already in place across America.)

CLOSING:

No matter where you are in America, the ESSA, the CCSS Machine, the Initiative and agenda behind Common Core, is going to continue to wreck our nation! This is just a look at a FEW of the researched pieces of evidence I have concerning birth through Kindergarten. Take the time to read each article, investigate for yourselves the reports, links, and programs featured. Ask LOTS of questions, be ferocious in your campaigns! Our children, our schools, and our nation are MUCH too precious to not protect. Part 2 of this series will address K-12 education.