THE ALTERNATIVE!

It is not more of the same, just do it better that will change American political outlook on education. It is grassroots, homeschool movements that will appreciate diversity rather than uniformity. God did not make all children the same, therefore they should not all have to move through the same curriculum... Homeschool appreciates creativity and personalizes education to the individual. At the present time the only reason we put up with standardization is that currently, there are no "HOME" Colleges! Check out this vid by Sir Ken Robinson. You will have to type it into your browser http://www.vimeo.com/58069426

AS WARNED, ITS HERE!

January 14, 2013 Barack Obama Interested in ‘Allah-Is-God’ Curriculum 01/14/2013 by John Griffing, WND Secondary Source “CSCOPE, the controversial online curriculum that taught ‘Allah is God’ and currently is used in 80 percent of Texas school districts, has caught the attention of the Obama administration’s Department of Education. A source in the Texas education system has told WND that Common Core operatives in the U.S. Department of Education are actively pursuing CSCOPE as a way around the Texas legislative process. Texas is one of the few states still resisting implementation of Common Core, Obama’s national standards initiative, which many feel is a transparent attempt to nationalize education and progressively control classroom content with minimal parental oversight. Implementation of Common Core is known to have been made a condition of school systems’ receipt of federal dollars under Obama’s ‘Race to the Top’ program. CSCOPE recently has come under fire for evidence of what sources claim to be radical content and secrecy. Now new information of such a radical agenda has surfaced showing CSCOPE connections to Obama mentor and self-acknowledged terror group member Bill Ayers. WND has documented a strong link between Ayers and CSCOPE heavyweight and Common Core advocate Linda Darling-Hammond. An unrepentant terror group member (and known Obama supporter, financier, and ghost-writer), William ‘Bill’ Ayers was part of the notorious Weather Underground which attempted to bomb the Pentagon in the seventies. After 9/11, Ayers was interviewed by the New York Times, and was quoted as saying he had ‘no regrets.’ Ayers gave Darling-Hammond an enthusiastic endorsement for education secretary when Obama was first elected. Ayers has worked extensively with Darling-Hammond on many of the same projects, even editing her work. Both are part of what some education experts have termed the ‘small schools movement,’ which allegedly emphasizes ‘emotional’ responses and output over factual mastery. Darling-Hammond is mentioned throughout CSCOPE literature, has given innumerable lectures on behalf of CSCOPE, and was part of Obama’s educational transition team. She is a primary advocate and proponent of Common Core in Texas, and observers see the acquisition of CSCOPE by the U.S. Department of Education as a logical next step. This scenario has alarmed those concerned about classroom content accountability. Previously, WND reported how CSCOPE lessons promote Islam, teaching conversion methods and presenting verses from the Quran that denigrate other faiths. In CSCOPE curriculum, the Boston Tea Party is likened to an act of terrorism on par with 9/11. In the wake of the Newtown massacre, the Second Amendment is portrayed as a ‘collective,’ not an individual right, despite the Supreme Court’s recent rulings to the contrary. The CSCOPE website has posted a response to concerns about certain lesson plans, including an extensive discussion of the Boston Tea Party. But critics say that such lessons should never have appeared in the first place. Sources within the Texas education system recently informed WND that Wicca, thought by many to be akin to witchcraft, was being taught in CSCOPE curriculum alongside Christianity, but was removed before the news media could access it, a fact which represents one of the biggest concerns for followers of CSCOPE. CSCOPE apparently immediately deletes controversial content once leaked, making it impossible at any one time to know exactly what students are learning and in what order. Defenders of this process say that this responsiveness to public scrutiny is a form of self-auditing. Others have said that it simply leaves parents, teachers and those in charge of curriculum oversight powerless to stop agenda-driven lesson plans and the damage the ideas therein might do to students. WND has documented numerous instances of lessons being deleted after their use in classrooms. When it was discovered that Islam was being given preferential status as a part of a study on the world’s major religions, CSCOPE administrators deleted the lesson plan and associated PowerPoint in the presence of two sources, leaving no trace online. However, through available technology, documentation of this lesson plan and other such controversial content has been retained and reviewed by Texas educators and WND. See the lesson. In CSCOPE World History/Social Studies, Lesson 2, Unit 3 under the heading, ‘Classical Rome,’ students are told that Christianity is a ‘cult,’ and given a link to a BBC article saying the early Christians were ‘cannibals,’ i.e. the Eucharist, which students are then led to conclude is the reason for Roman persecution. See the lesson. This lesson has since been removed, but documentation in WND’s possession confirms that the lesson existed. Critics contend that this ability to change content on a whim to evade scrutiny or accountability is a persistent risk with a system like CSCOPE. An organic curriculum – if regulated – might be advantageous, but without transparency, these types of occurrences will likely be more frequent, critics say. Speaking with WND, Texas Sen. Dan Patrick, new chairman of the education committee, communicated his intent to hold high-profile hearings and investigate CSCOPE. Sen. Patrick noted, ‘Any system where the chairman of the state board can’t get a password to explore their site in detail for six months, requires teachers to sign an agreement that could subject them to criminal penalties, and is not easily transparent to parents, needs to be closely examined by the legislature.’ When asked if he would support placing CSCOPE under state oversight and/or local school board oversight, Sen. Patrick answered carefully, explaining, ‘We will make that decision after our hearings. However, I have concerns of any curriculum program that is in the majority of our school districts without some level of oversight by either the SBOE, TEA, or the legislature.’ Patrick, along with many other Republicans, supported the 2011 legislation that took power over Internet curriculum review away from the SBOE, though this provision was admittedly ill-understood in its implications and was originally intended to reduce the cost-burden to school districts in obtaining and distributing the curriculum. While reducing costs, this move also created the basis of the current controversy. Opponents of CSCOPE, on the other hand, desire a lawsuit. They do not want to wait for hearings. As they contend, CSCOPE is already violating Texas public statutes, which require all ‘instructional materials’ to be available to parents. CSCOPE places all primary content – apart from summaries – behind a pay wall. Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative (TESCCC) Governing Board minutes, obtained only by Texas Public Information Act request, reveal that even the governing board in charge of CSCOPE may not be fully aware of CSCOPE content issues. Minutes for the meetings covered show that governing board members were told by CSCOPE Executive Director Wade Labay that they will only be involved in content-related issues if ‘politically sensitive,’ what Labay calls ‘’911′ type messages or those deemed critical.’ In other words, in addition to the absence of state oversight, corporate oversight within CSCOPE might be lacking. The fears of some that CSCOPE is replacing textbooks, a claim denied by Texas SBOE member Thomas Ratliff, would appear justified if governing board minutes are considered. In addition to outlining when and under what circumstances CSCOPE would communicate with the TESCCC governing board, pending textbook alignments with Pearson, McGraw Hill, et al., were discussed and delayed with the support of governing board members. Some attendees lamented even having to align CSCOPE content with textbooks, since ‘the mission of CSCOPE is to change instruction in the classroom.’ TESCCC has now asked the Texas Attorney General to make its minutes exempt from public information requirements.” Source – WND.

ONLINE SCHOOL

The following article by Wynton Hall offers a great 1st step, but why not go all the way? Education should be free, period. Teachers pay to go to school to learn to teach. If they are NOT good teachers, they never will be, no matter who they watch online. Free online school, elementary, secondary and college is the answer for all families (babysitting services aside). This is the only way out of the miry pit of bureaucracy and government control. It would deal a heavy blow to socialism and marxism, now pushed in our public institutions. If doing this cripples our economy, then we know the educational system is only about money and NOT about education. Well, we really already know that. As for a successful education system, we need to quit beating the dead horse. If cursive writing can go the way of the dinosaur so can teachers and the school prison as we know it. Here is Wynton Hall's Nov. 25, 2012 article. "It’s an idea so simple and so transformational it’s stunning it hasn’t already been implemented nationally. Here it is: film America’s greatest K-12 teachers delivering their lessons and put them online in a one-stop shop website for students, parents, and young teachers to watch and learn from for free. Imagine the possibilities and benefits. Every child, regardless of income, circumstance, or school district would now be able to watch and learn from American All-Star teachers—the “Michael Jordans of pedagogy”—delivering key lessons. Likewise, parents would be able to watch and learn so they can help reinforce concepts to their kids (if we’re honest, most of us could probably use a little brushing up on our cellular division and calculus to help our kids with their homework). Best of all, teachers in training would get to see best practices in motion, thereby shaving years off their learning curves. Think of it as the popular TED.com for teaching. Or the excellent (but expensive) Great Courses mail-order video program. At first, we could start with just the core concept lessons in each area of learning: fractions in math, osmosis in science, the Revolutionary War in history, the musical scale, etc. The format for video teaching sessions could vary; some would have live student audiences, others standalone lectures. Experiment! Switch things up! Let creativity rule to spark new and innovative ideas and ways of approaching lessons and students. Each year, there could be an All-Star educator competition to incentivize and reward excellence in teaching for those who develop new ways of making learning fun and effective. Eventually, one could envision having an entire year’s worth of the greatest American teachers on film teaching every lesson for every day of the school year. The purpose wouldn’t be to “do away with teachers”; rather, it would be to give parents, students, and educators a way to “cement” core concepts and lessons by having a one-stop online resource to go to for learning throughout the year. Think of it as a sort of digital tutor that parents and students can turn to when they are struggling with a particular area of learning—and all for free. Efforts like the brilliant and wonderful Khan Academy, which offers quick lessons online for free, are a quantum leap in the right direction. In their present form, however, Khan videos feature just black screens with writing and therefore don’t offer young teachers a way to see and model powerful classroom teaching practices. And young teachers may be the ones who would benefit most. Those of us who have taught know that the teacher we were the first day we entered the classroom was not the teacher we were when we retired. As with most things, you learn what works and what doesn’t with time. By exposing beginning teachers to the “Michael Jordans” of teaching early in their careers, beginning teachers would be empowered to borrow best practices sooner and integrate them into their own unique styles, thereby accelerating the learning curve in public education. How much would such a thing cost? That’s the best part. By harnessing the low-cost power of technology, we could create a virtual K-12 of American All-Star instruction for relative peanuts, especially when one considers that taxpayers spend a quarter million per classroom per year on public school education. And what would we get for such a tiny technological investment? Excellence in teaching preserved and digitally archived for time immemorial. Every child deserves access to excellent teaching. The solution is just a mouse click away."