Category Archives: Heartland Institute

Why I Oppose the ESEA HR 5 – Student Success Act

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WHY I OPPOSE THE HOUSE ESEA HR5 – Student Success Act!    

by Linda Bell
The House ESEA bill (HR5) is being voted on this morning.  This landmark bill was reintroduced, marked up and passed without public hearing, all within two weeks. Since that time, numerous bloggers have spent hours reading the bill and those analyses have been shared over and over. What is most egregious about HR 5 for me personally? The removal of states rights and authorities and parental rights.

I am going to quote two specific paragraphs from HR5 Section 6561 for you below. First note that paragraph (a) states, in a convoluted way, that states rights and parental rights have already been removed. HR 5 is purported to bring back those rights under “local control”! The first paragraph is music to my ears!
But then we go over to the 2nd paragraph (b-Amendment). Here is the true intent of this entire bill! If your state takes federal grant funds emanating from this ESEA re-write, states will “Waive their States Rights and Authorities”. In one fell swoop, we loose our states rights and along with that, a deeper loss of parental rights.   Local control is out the door and the feds are in charge of your schools, children and families.

Today is the House vote and it looks to be along party lines. Republicans (and a few Democrats) are shooting themselves in the foot as they push to centralize education in America. Most haven’t read the bills and lean on advisers. When I called my US Representative in Congressional District 3 and read portions of the bill over the phone to a staffer, they were frankly shocked. Did it make a difference? Is the US House listening to their constituents? There are many reasons to oppose this bill which includes what is about to happen to private schools and religious freedom. I hope this will help you understand why I (and our many members in MACC) are opposed to HR 5.

HR5 – The Student Success Act
Subpart 4—Restoration of State Sovereignty Over Public Education and Parental Rights Over the Education of Their Children

‘‘SEC. 6561. STATES TO RETAIN RIGHTS AND AUTHORITIES
THEY DO NOT EXPRESSLY WAIVE.
‘‘(a) RETENTION OF RIGHTS AND AUTHORITIES.— No officer, employee, or other authority of the Secretary shall enforce against an authority of a State, nor shall any authority of a State have any obligation to obey, any requirement imposed as a condition of receiving assistance under a grant program established under this Act, nor shall such program operate within a State, unless the legislature of that State shall have by law expressly approved that program and, in doing so, HAVE waived the State’s rights and authorities to act inconsistently with any requirement that might be imposed by the Secretary as a condition of receiving that assistance.” (Emphasis added)

“(b) AMENDMENT OF TERMS OF RECEIPT OF FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
An officer, employee, or other authority of the Secretary may release assistance under a grant program established under this Act to a State only after the legislature of the State has by law expressly approved the program (as described in sub- section (a)). This approval may be accomplished by a vote to affirm a State budget that includes the use of such Federal funds and any such State budget must expressly include any requirement imposed as a condition of receiving assistance under a grant program established under this Act so that by approving the budget, the State legislature is expressly approving the grant program and, in doing so, waiving the State’s rights and authorities to act inconsistently with any requirement that might be imposed by the Secretary as a condition of receiving that assistance.”

David Coleman Attacks Students’ Love of America

High School Students Sitting in Bleachers

It’s well known that David Coleman authored the Common Core Standards in English Language Arts in 2010.  He was not an educator nor had he ever written standards.  A year and a half later, Coleman was appointed president of College Board and has been fast at work in dismantling the College Board tests to align with the Common Core Standards. Tests like ACT, SAT, GED,  CLEP and AP (Advanced Placement) are taken by every student at some point in their academic career.

What’s new?  APUSH!  Advanced Placement U.S. History Framework. Texan Donna Garner describes the shocking components of the new APUSH (AP Frameworks) and how it will effect “550,000 of the U.S.’s best and brightest students”.  

Does your Minnesota school district offer Advanced Placement classes?  Parents have a right to review their child’s textbooks or online curriculum.   Tell your principals, superintendents and school board members that you do not want your children taught outright lies and falacies!  Then join your school’s curriculum committee that meets 5 to 6 times a year.  And join with a friend!

 

“David Coleman Attacks Students’ Love of America”

By Donna Garner 6.24.14

 

David Coleman is the architect of the Common Core Standards. When he finished his disastrous work there, he became the president of The College Board where he has publicly stated that the College Board products will now be aligned with the Common Core Standards. 

 

The College Board produces the SAT, the GED, and all the Advanced Placement (AP) tests.

 

Some 550,000 of our country’s brightest and best students take AP U. S. History.

 

The new AP U. S. History Framework (APUSH) consistently emphasizes the negative events of U. S. history while ignoring the positive achievements of the U. S.

 

“The new College Board Framework will replace the traditional 5-page topical outline with a 98-page document that dictates how teachers should cover the required topics…”

 

Larry Krieger, an experienced, widely acclaimed Advanced Placement teacher, says that the new Advanced Placement U. S. History Framework, “defines, discusses, and interprets ‘the required knowledge of each period.’”

 

The College Board’s own website confirms that the AP exam will focus exclusively on content specified in the Framework. In short, what is not tested will not be taught.

 

DAVID COLEMAN’S NEW ADVANCED PLACEMENT U. S. HISTORY FRAMEWORK EXCLUDES:

 

James Madison

Benjamin Franklin

George Washington (reduced to a 1 sentence fragment about Farewell Address)

Roger Williams

Thomas Jefferson

Andrew Jackson

Henry Clay

Jane Addams

Theodore Roosevelt

Lost Generation authors (Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Lewis)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sinclair Lewis

Dorothea Dix

 

HISTORICAL EVENTS EXCLUDED BY DAVID COLEMAN:

 

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

America’s Lend-Lease program (provided over $50 billion in military equipment to help our allies defeat Hitler) 

The heroism and sacrifices of American servicemen and women

 

DAVID COLEMAN’S OBVIOUSLY BIASED FRAMEWORK REQUIREMENTS:

 

Dominant theme – “European exploitation led to native decline and black bondage” 

Discusses architecture of Spanish missions rather than the merits of our 1776 heroes

Stresses colonial America as having “rigid racial hierarchy” and a “strong belief in British racial and cultural superiority”  — ignores U. S. founding principles that inspired the movement to abolish slavery

 

Reinterprets Manifest Destiny by not emphasizing the spreading of democracy and new technologies – instead dwells on white racial superiority

 

Reduces study of Declaration of Independence to one phrase in one sentence — ignores sacrifices signers made who pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to the cause of freedom

 

Ignores efforts of U. S. civilians and armed forces to defeat fascism — instead dwells upon internment of  Japanese Americans, dropping of atomic bombs,  race and segregation

 

WORKS OMITTED BY DAVID COLEMAN:

 

Winthrop’s” City on a Hill” sermon

Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address

Excerpts from de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America

Frederick Jackson Turner’s essay on “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”

Excerpts from John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath

Excerpts from Dr. King’s writings

Barbara Jordan’s speech on the Constitution before the House Judiciary Committee during the Nixon impeachment hearings

 

Jane Robbins and Larry Krieger stated on 6.19.14:

 

“The redesigned Framework is best described as a curricular coup. The College Board now imposes detailed ‘required knowledge’ that is very different from the curriculum mandated by state curriculum guides.  For example, the College Board commissioned a group of Texas teachers to determine how well the mandated Texas state curriculum (TEKS) correlates with the  new APUSH Framework. They found a shocking lack of correlation.  In Units 6 – 9 alone of the APUSH framework, the teachers found 181 TEKS elements omitted from the APUSH. And the Texas situation is repeated in many other states that will see their mandated history curriculum displaced by the radical new APUSH Framework.”

 

 

RESOURCES USED IN THIS ARTICLE:

 

http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2014/03/26/new-advanced-placement-framework-distorts-americas-history

 

http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2014/04/09/yes-new-ap-framework-does-distort-us-history

 

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/05/28/The-College-Boards-Attack-on-American-History

 

http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2014/05/05/new-ap-us-history-exam-providing-opportunities-indoctrination

 

MACC State-wide Conference Call: Testing and Data Mining: How the Opt-Out Movement Leads to Beneficial Consequences for Students, Families, Teachers and Principals – Nov 12th 7pm

Common Core Statewide Conference Call with Seton Hall Professor Christopher Tienken!
Topic:  Testing and Data Collection/Mining:  How the Opt-Out Movement Leads to Beneficial Consequences for Students, Families, Teachers and Principals
State-Wide Conference Call – November 12th 7 p.m.
Dial: 1-267-507-0240 Enter the Conference Code: 362722

Christopher Tienken, Ed.D. is an assistant professor of Education Administration at Seton Hall University. He has public school administration experience as a PK-12 assistant superintendent, middle school principal, and elementary school assistant principal. He began his career in education as an elementary school teacher. Dr Tienken’s research interests include the effect and influence of professional development on teacher practice and student achievement, the construct validity of high-stakes standardized tests as decision-making tools about student achievement and school effectiveness, and curricular interventions used in schools to improve achievement. His research about the effects of professional development on student achievement has been recognized by the Institute of Education Sciences and the National Staff Development Council awarded him the Best Research Award in 2008.

Dr. Tienken has authored a book, book chapters, and articles on his research interests and presents papers regularly at state, national, and international venues. His new book with Donald Orlich is The School Reform Landscape: Fraud, Myth, and Lies. He has ongoing research collaborations with colleagues at the University of Rome, Italy, the University of Catania, Sicily, and he has been an invited lecturer there as part of a European Union masters degree program. Dr. Tienken is the editor of the American Association of School Administrators Journal of Scholarship and Practice and the Kappa Delta Pi Record. Dr. Tienken was also named as a Visiting Scholar at the Universita` degli Studi Roma Tre, in Rome, Italy for the 2009-2010 academic year as part of their masters degree program: Master Pedagogia per la Persona, L’Organizzazione, La Societa`.

State-Wide Conference Call – November 12th 7 p.m.
Dial: 1-267-507-0240 Enter the Conference Code: 362722

STOP COMMON CORE Profile Campaign

Mark your calendars!!! On Tuesday, November 12 – 15, Minnesotans Against Common Core is taking part in a National Stop Common Core Profile Campaign on Facebook, Twitter and through Education Blogs. We ask everyone who is against Common Core to do the following:
1. Change your profile pic to the same Stop Common Core photo (to be provided).
2. Post on your personal wall asking each of your friends to also change their profile pic if they are against Common Core.
3. Post one article each day that week about Common Core. I am working on which articles to suggest. You can choose an alternate article if you don’t like the suggestions. The suggestions are meant to make this easy for everyone to just click share. The articles will be basic and avoid anything too political.

Many of the state groups are participating in this too so the photo and article suggestions will be the same everywhere. The idea is to flood our online social circle with the same message for four days. We are starting on Tuesday to avoid Veterans Day since many people like to post a themed photo on that day. The event will end on that Friday.

If you are not comfortable posting Common Core articles due to pushback from your facebook friends, make sure you have some facebook friends that have your back and can respond and comment on your wall.

We only have a few months to get the word out before our legislature begins their work. Let’s make sure everyone understands this issue!

Here is the link for profile pictures.