The Baca Bill Every teacher  in America should be promoting the Baca bill. NOTE: The bill has no co-sponsor. It was referred  to the House Education and Labor Committee on  July 29, 2009. Contact members of the House Education Committee: HOUSE EDUCATION AND LABOR COMMITTEE MEMBERS Democrats                                           Phone #                                  Fax # George Miller, Chairman (CA-07)       202-225-2095                                   202-225-5609 Dale E. Kildee (MI-05)                          202-225-3611                                   202-225-6393 Donald M. Payne (NJ-10)               202-225-3436                                   202-225-4160 Robert E. Andrews (NJ-01)                   202-225-6501                                   Robert C. Scott (VA-03)                         202-225-8351                                   202-225-8354                       Lynn C. Woolsey (CA-06)                   202-225-5161                                   202-225-5163 Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15)                   202-225-2531                                   202-225-5688 Carolyn McCarthy (NY-04)                   202-225-5516                                   202-225-5758 John F. Tierney (MA-06)                   202-225-8020                                   202-225-5915 Dennis J. Kucinich (OH-10)                   202-225-5871                                   202-225-5745 David Wu (OR-01)                               202-225-0855                                   202-225-9497 Rush D. Holt (NJ-12)                          202-225-5801                                   202-225-6025 Susan A. Davis (CA-53)                         202-225-2040                                   202-225-2948 Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07)                   202-225-2435                                   202-225-1541 Timothy H. Bishop (NY-01)                         202-225-3826                                   202-225-3143 Joe Sestak (PA-07)                                     202-225-2011                                   202-226-0280 Dave Loebsack (IA-02)                   202-225-6576                                   202-226-0757 Mazie Hirono (HI-02)                          202-225-4906                                   202-225-4987           Jason Altmire (PA-04)                                     202-225-2565                                   202-226-2274 Phil Hare (IL-17)                               202-225-5905                                   202-225-5396 Yvette Clarke (NY-11)                                     202-225-6231                                   202-226-0112 Joe Courtney (CT-02)                                     202-225-2076                                   202-225-4977 Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01)             202-225-5456                                   202-225-5822 Marcia Fudge (OH-11)                                     202-225-7032                                   202-225-1339 Jared Polis (CO-2)                          202-225-2161                                   202-226-7840           Paul Tonko (NY-21)                                     202-225-5076                                   202-225-5077 Pedro Pierluisi (PR)                             202-225-6215                                   202-225-2615 Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (NMI) 202-225-2646                            202-226-4249 Dina Titus (NV-3)                                 202-225-3252                                   202-225-2185 Judy Chu (CA-32)                               202-225-5464                                   202-225-5467   Republicans                                         Phone                                                  Fax John Kline, Ranking Member (MN-02) 202-225-2271                             202-225-2595 Thomas E. Petri (WI-06)                 202-225-2476                                   202-225-2356 Howard "Buck" McKeon (CA-25)       202-225-1956                                   202-226-0863 Peter Hoekstra (MI-02)             202-225-4401                                   202-226-0779 Michael N. Castle (DE-At Large)   202-225-4165                                   202-225-2291 Mark E. Souder (IN-03)             202-225-4436                                   Vernon J. Ehlers (MI-03)               202-225-3831                                   202-225-5144 Judy Biggert (IL-13)                           202-225-3515                                   202-225-9420 Todd Russell Platts (PA-19)               202-225-5836                                   202-226-1000 Joe Wilson (SC-02)                                     202-225-2452                                   202-225-2455 Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05)       202-225-2006                                   202-225-3392 Tom Price (GA-06)                                     202-225-4501                                   202-225-4656 Rob Bishop (UT-01)                                     202-225-0453                                   202-225-5857 Brett Guthrie (KY-2)                           202-225-3501                                   202-226-2019 Bill Cassidy (LA-6)                           202-225-3901                                   202-225-7313 Tom McClintock (CA-4)               202-225-2511                                   202-225-2511 Duncan D. Hunter (CA-52)                         202-225-5672                                   202-225-0235 Phil Roe (TN-1)                                     202-225-6356                                   202-225-5714 Glenn "GT" Thompson (PA-05) 202-225-5121                                   202-225-5796   Stephen Krashen Comment Unnoticed by the media, an extremely important piece of legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives at the end of July. Representative Joe Baca, a democrat representing Rialto, has introduced the Save Our Schools Bill, which would eliminate all required No Child Left Behind (NCLB) testing in the United States. NCLB has failed every time it has been evaluated. According to the gold standard, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), grade 4 reading scores are up, but the gains occurred before NCLB went into effect, and there have been no gains for grade 8 reading under NCLB. Math scores are up, but they have been rising at the same rate for years, since well before NCLB. It deserves no credit for the higher scores. NCLB has not narrowed the achievement gap. The gap between high- and low-income children has not changed since 2003, not for math, not for reading, not for Grades 4 and 8. We all want accountability, but the NCLB tests are excessive and inappropriate, and have turned our schools into test-prep centers. We should only test as much as we have to, and use means of assessment that encourage real learning. Removing the requirement of using NCLB tests has the potential of saving billions, and making life easier and more productive for students and teachers. Baca's bill deserves the support of every member of congress. Stephen Krashen Professor Emeritus University of Southern California U. S. Congressman Joe Baca Representing California's 43rd District Contact: John Lowrey (202) 225-6161, Linda Macias (202) 225-6161 Date: July 29, 2009 NEWS RELEASE BACA SPONSORS BILL TO END NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND TESTING REQUIREMENTS Bill Would End Costly Testing Requirements, Reign in "Teaching to the Test" Culture Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Joe Baca (D-Rialto, California) introduced legislation in the House of Representatives that creates a moratorium on the testing provisions in the No Child Left Behind Act, which currently govern the assessment standards used by each of the 50 states. The Save our Schools (S.O.S.) Act amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to remove all mandated testing provisions, freeing school districts and teachers from the “teaching to the test culture” and ending an inequitable system that punished, instead of assisted, those schools and students in the most dire need. "Since it’s enactment in 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act has been a complete and utter failure," said Rep. Baca. "Instead of ensuring all of America's children have access to a quality education, the legislation has tied the hands of teachers and school administrators, forced students to learn inane testing strategies instead of real-life skills, and made billions in profits for standardized testing companies. I am proud to introduce this long overdue legislation, which can finally put America's education policy back in the hands of local officials, teachers and parents, and remove the influence of big corporations and Washington bureaucrats." While the testing measures included in the No Child Left Behind Act were originally meant to serve as a means of holding school districts, administrators and teachers to the highest standards of accountability to ensure strong academic achievement for all students – the measures have in fact had the opposite effect. The persistent problems caused by the testing mandates in the No Child Left Behind Act include over-emphasizing standardized testing, narrowing curriculum and instruction to focus on test preparation rather than richer academic learning, using sanctions that do not help improve schools, inappropriately excluding low-scoring children in order to boost test results, and failing to come up with successful measures of assessment for students with limited English skills and special needs students. "No Child Left Behind Act prescribes a failed one-size-fits all approach to the development of America’s youth," said Rep. Baca. "The S.O.S. Act is responsible legislation which can eliminate the misguided testing requirements that are currently in place, and instead return education policy to where it belongs, in the hands of our states and local governments." ### =========================================================================================== EPATA Educators and Parents Against Testing Abuse EPATA Goals To Raise Awareness about high-stakes testing in California: Students in grades 2-11 take the CST and 3rd and 7th take the CAT/6 every year and must pass the CAHSEE in order to graduate. These tests do NOT measure a child's overall academic ability. They pretend to be scientific. They are not. These tests are filled with errors and are not standardized The results are not valid; multiple measures are. The classroom curriculum is structured to pass the tests. High-stakes testing is taking the genuine desire to learn and fun out of school for children. They lower classroom student expectations They make schools into test prep centers They emphasize rote memorization and regurgitation of disconnected bits of information. They reduce academic rigor and dumb down genuine learning They are making many children sick. To Empower Parents and Teachers: All parents will know that their child can opt out of CST and CAT/6 testing. Parents and teachers will provide insight on deciding future educational policies. Teachers will not be discouraged from voicing their opinions about high stakes testing. Legislators will value the expertise and concerns of parents and teachers. Parents, teachers and students will show legislators the consequences of high stakes testing . ============= Make Use of Existing Letters An elementary teacher sent Stephen Krashen's letter to a union official, asking for a conversation about it. There are lots of fine letters at www.susanohanian.org. Use them! Subject: no child left unfed Sent to the New York Times, August 23, 2009 Education Secretary Duncan feels that the first priority in improving education is more accountability and higher standards ("A $5 Billion Bet on Better Education," August 23). The first priority is reducing poverty. The US has the highest rate of child poverty of all industrialized countries. Poverty has a huge impact. Studies confirm that hunger, poor diet and lack of reading material seriously  affect academic performance. Gerald Bracey points out that US schools with fewer than 25% of children in poverty outscore all countries in the world in Math and Science. US children fall below the international average only when 75% or more of the students in a school are children of poverty. There is room for improvement in education, but when all our children have the advantages that children from high-income families have, our schools will be considered the best in the world. Susan Ohanian puts it this way: No Child Left Unfed. Stephen Krashen References: Bracey, G. 2009. Education Hell: Rhetoric vs. Reality. Educational Research Service Payne, K. and Biddle, B. 1999. Poor school funding, child poverty, and mathematics achievement. Educational Researcher 28 (6): 4-13. ================== Put Your Message on Your Mail Susan Ohanian had return mail address labels printed up with END NCLB. DO it NOW --plus her address and website. These labels go out on every piece of mail she sends and serve as an ongoing reminder to keep resisting. It's a small, inexpensive way to resist. Talk One on One In Utah, following up on his conversation with a member of the Utah state board of education, Lynn Stoddard has met with the president of the  Utah Education Association, telling her of his concerns. He reports having a good discussion. The president agreed to carry the petition to end NCLB--with 35,000+ signatures to NEA headquarters in Washington, D. C. when she meets with leaders there in September.          How about all union members asking leaders to take this petition to Washington? Use Facebook and Twitter Nancy posted the link to the Stop National Standards on my Facebook page and got several positive comments from former parents of students and teachers.  A couple posted the link to their Facebook page.  And so news of the resistance grows. There's a StopNationalStandards group on facebook, open for discussion. Coalition for Better Education Plans Billboard Campaign Don Perl reports that CBE is starting their fall campaign to raise mone for billboards. These billboards, placed at busy spots between Colorado Springs and Pueblo, are aimed at "raising the conscience level of parents of their rights" to opt their children out of high stakes standardized testing.  We can participate in this worthy act of resistance by sending a small contribution: The Coalition for Better Education 2424 22nd Avenue Greeley, Colorado 80631  IDEA for Activism: In the novel Every Man Dies Alone, Hans Fallada describes the real-life exploits of Otto and Elise Hampel, who scattered postcards advocating civil disobedience throughout war-time Nazi-controlled Berlin. What a great model for our resistance! What do you think the cards should say? I rather like the idea of cards appearing across the country--all having the same message. What do you think? Should some cards be just cards and others be postcards so person finding one can mail it to someone else?  My worry with making them mailable is cost. We could include a message, "Pass on the message. Mail this card to someone." And let them pay the postage. How about volunteering to be on a card committee--and let's get this campaign rolling. See how fa this works? This item started out as an idea, and a couple of paragraphs later, it's already a campaign. susano@gmavt.net   Go to The People Page and see what your colleagues across the country are doing. ====================================== Guest Commentary in the Ogden Standard Lynn Stoddard warns:  "Now you have a choice.  Do nothing and get national standards for student uniformity imposed  on your schools. OR . . . ." Stephen Krashen, Don Perl, Philip Kovacs, Yvonne Siu-Runyan, and Susan Ohanian wrote comments of support on the newspaper website, supporting Lynn Stoddard's education vision. =============================== California Teacher Takes Criticism of Race to the Top to the Union I requested an emergency meeting of my local teachers’ association executive board, of which I am an elected member, to discuss Race to the Top.  At this meeting I explained the 4 program goals of this project and what I thought they would mean to students and teachers.  Our California Teachers Association staff members were very lackadaisical.  These staff members are saying that CTA is not concerned, so why should we be?  Not concerned?  I find this outrageous.  Here is CTA President David Sanchez's mention of Arne Duncan's announcement as presented at CTA's Summer Institute in LA:   "There will be other issues that will need our attention in the coming year.  The reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act is expected to start in January.  CTA will again lead efforts to erase, rewrite and then reauthorize this punitive law.  President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have promised to work with educators on this reauthorization, but we also know they support merit pay and charter school proposals that we will be watching very carefully.  Paying and evaluating teachers based on a single test score does not improve student learning and does not help attract and retain quality teachers in lower performing schools.  And we will not stand for it.  Secretary Duncan is also a little confused about California's law for tracking student and teacher data.  You may have read something about this as Secretary Duncan has been threatening to prevent California from qualifying for some federal education grants.  What Secretary Duncan doesn't understand is that California law doesn't prohibit linking student and teacher data.  In fact, it already is linked at the local level.  California law also doesn't prohibit the use of student assessments in evaluating teachers, but if and how that is done is bargained at a local level.  The CTA Board of Directors has already appointed a member and staff workgroup to guide our efforts throughout the reauthorization.  CTA will also be making sure NEA holds strong and does what's right around NCLB." I am a California Teachers Association elected representative and am a voting member at the 4 state councils, so I wrote my CTA Board member and asked what response CTA will be making regarding the Race to the Top on their public comments web site.  I have not heard anything from him.  I am trying to get people to understand the severity of the Obama administration's philosophy of education, but as you can see I am hitting some roadblocks.  --Virginia Tibbetts    =================== Utah Educator Makes Good Use of Educator Roundtable Petition Dear EfHG Crusaders [Education for Human Greatness], Today I will pick up my copy of the petition from the Utah State Office of Education and deliver it to the office of the UEA, the Utah Education Association. I have requested a meeting with the president of UEA when she gets back from Oregon next week and after she has had a chance to study the comments of signers of the petition. In the meeting I will attempt to show the calamity that is about to fall upon us with national standards for uniformity. I will also show a way to prevent this tragedy from occurring by asking teachers to rise up in favor of having high standards for nurturing student individuality. I will use my Op Ed piece, "Educating for Individuality"  that is scheduled for publication in a local newspaper this weekend.  I will also show a way to restore public school teaching as an honored profession by adopting the "Educating for Greatness" framework for transforming our obsolete school system so we can develop valuable contributors to society. (Also attached) The "identity" priority of the framework is the chief reason for having high standards for student individuality. In the meeting with the President of UEA I will suggest having a meeting with the total UEA Board of Directors. I welcome suggestions and prayers from all of you in regard to my efforts next week to convince the teacher's union to actively fight standards for student uniformity and instead, have high standards for student individuality. Respectfully, Lynn Stoddard ===================================== Evidence Shows Common Core Standards Advocates Are Blowing Hot Air Noted scholar Stephen Krashen has posted evidence on the NCTE ning  about the Common Core Standards. He rebuts false claims of the corporate interests claiming we need national standards because public schools are failing. Join this conversation. There is strength in numbers. If even 100 people joined this conversation, NCTE leaders would have to listen. There are two critical NCTE nings. This one and the one started by Don Perl,  role of NCTE as activist. Join both! Right now, NCTE, like all other unions and professional organizations, has taken on role of apologist and collaborationist. YOU can change this. Act now. ============================ It's Time to Make Them Afraid of Us, Again . . . . We're just peaceful, well informed American Citizens who have given up trying to "work within the system". The system doesn't work for us anymore does it? And we need to know the individuals that sign the paychecks for our government so we can target them for some "reform." We voted! We asked, we demanded, we begged. We tried talking, walking, writing and more. It's Time to Make Them Afraid of Us, Again. They have forgotten just how many of us there are. Time to remind them. ============================= . Colorado activist Don Perl has started a discussion on the NCTE ning, the role of NCTE as activist Join in! We need to get a vigorous discussion going. . . with lots of participants. On another NCTE ning, Richard Beach started Formulation of the new Common Core Standards for 49 states Again, join in! Too often, we preach to the choir. Here's our chance to get the attention of the NCTE leaders who are helping out with national standards. See you over at the NCTE nings. ========================================================== A Good Read A wonderful summary of the toxic outcomes of NCLB and highstakes testing in general can be found in When Childhood Collides with NCLB, by Susan Ohanian (2008). Ohanian uses one column of each page to write an epic, free-verse poem about the disaster of NCLB. She uses the other column for quotes. Some quotes from the likes of the Business Roundtable And Achieve, Inc., support NCLB and testing, some repudiate. In the end, though, her book makes NCLB look stupid and dangerous, which it is. --Gerald Bracey, Education Hell: Rhetoric vs. Reality: Transforming the Fire Consuming America's Schools To get your copy of When Childhood Collides with NCLB, send $8.95 to Susan Ohanian PO Box 26 Charlotte, VT 05445 To keep it cheap, this is a transaction between me and the reader: no middlemen. ============ Join in Song Against Hyper-Testing      15 Songs for $15  Sing OUT! Save Our Schools What Did You Learn in School Today For Whom the Bell Curves No Child Left Behind Free the Child Test the Kids No Child Left Untested Flowers are Red So Many Ways to Be Smart Someone Taught Me New Tomorrows Leave It Like It Is How Could Anyone Ever Tell You? Cancion de la Communidad These Schools Are Your Schools Order the CD of the Resistance: "No Child Left Behind? Bring Back the Joy." To order online (and hear samples from the songs), go to CD Baby           ================== Write a Letter Carole Edelsky (Professor Emerita, Arizona State University) wrote to Representative Joe Baca, thanking him for sponsoring the Save Our Schools Bill, sending copies to her Congressional representatives. =========== Alert Students Veteran educator Marion Brady has prepared a Power Point to alert students to the way they are being cheated by an emphasis on standardized testing. Hey Kid! Listen Up! ================== Put On the Heat One action you can take is putting some heat on the Executive Committees, Boards of Directors, and leaders of professional organizations to which you belong. Here is contact information: NCTE Executive Committee IRA Board of Directors AASL Board of Directors and officers NCTM Board of Directors NEA Leadership AFT President AFT Vice-Presidents National PTA Leadership ============ What Have You Done Today to Resist the Corporate-Politico takeover of our schools? Joined the Stop National Standards group on Facebook? Subscribed to Substance , the only education newspaper of resistance? Written a letter? Refuted a newspaper article? Editorial? Op ed? Blogged? Twittered? Phoned a member of Congress? Talked to a member of the local Board of Education? Talked to a member of the state board of education? Written or talked to your governor? (Remember, they signed on to the Content Standards) Contacted the professional organizations and unions about their caving in to Duncan threats? Helped a colleague see she is not alone in this struggle? Enlisted the help of parents? Help teachers and parents break the silence. No act of speaking out is insignificant. Send news to susano@gmavt.net . ============ Freedom in Education Meeting Fresno, CA is the place to be on Aug. 29. 5th grade teacher Joe Lucido is organizing grassroots resistance to standards & testing. monicalucido@comcast.net (559) 225-1888; (559)-978-5082 WHAT: Freedom in Education meeting DATE: Aug. 29 PLACE: Fresno State University, Kremen School of Education TIME: 11 am--6 p.m. FOOD: Lunch and Dinner provided The airport is Fresno Air Terminal and the nearest hotel to Fresno STate is Piccadilly Inn. Here is the hotel information: 4961 North Cedar Ave Fresno, CA 93726 (559) 224-4200 (800) 468-3587 Kremen School of Education  Atrium Rm. 54 (downstairs)  See map URL here (the building right off of Shaw Ave. on the map) :  http://www.csufresno.edu/ucomm/maps/pdf/CampusMapLTR3-09.pdf Groups Supporting This Event: Coalition for Better Education, Educators and Parents Against Test Abuse, California Coalition For Assessment Reform in Education, Trinational U.S., Susan Ohanian.org, AERO, Californians for Justice, Parent Empowerment Network, Schools Matter, Parents for United Responsible Education, The Orion Society, Time Out From Testing, and Education for Human Greatness. DO YOUR PART: Spread the word. TWITTER this event and put it on Facebook. And ATTEND. ======================== From Vermont, Amber suggests: Go to online forums wherever there's an active conversation,  create free accounts, and post links to  http://StopNationalStandards, with a brief description of what we're up to. Adding to Amber's suggestion: Register at newspapers and make a comment support resistance to national standards. e sure to put in the url http://www.stopnationalstandards.org. Thanks2Teachers twittered: "We are not without standards...." http://bit.ly Go forth and do likewise! ============ An Open Letter about Common Core State Standards from NCTE President Kylene Beers--with comments July 28, 2009 Dear NCTE Members: I have traveled throughout the United States this summer working with teachers across content areas and grade levels, in large urban areas and small rural communities. In almost every place, teachers have asked what NCTE’s response is to the Common Core State Standards for language arts. At times, some teachers have misunderstood what NCTE’s role has been in the development of these standards. Other teachers have taken the time to write to me, with concern, about what the Council’s response will be to these national standards. I offer this letter to members to clarify what the Council's role has been in the development of the Common Core State Standards with the hope that you will feel assured about the direction of the Council, the commitment of the Executive Committee to upholding long-standing Council values, and the promise of this president to always keep the needs of teachers and students first. This spring, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) convened a work group to draft a common core of state standards in math and language arts for grades K–12. These college and workforce readiness standards were written by a group whose names were released to the public on July 1 by the National Governors Association, a partner in the initiative. While drafting the standards document, this work group received feedback from individuals. Though one member of NCTE, Carol Jago, agreed to serve as a member of the feedback group, she did not represent NCTE in that capacity. In late June, the Chiefs invited NCTE to offer a response to the draft of the standards. Upon receiving that request, the Executive Committee met (via phone and Web conferencing) and decided that providing input on the draft was more advisable than not. It's obvious that we will have national twelfth-grade exit standards. As of now, 46 states have agreed to adopt them. Refusing to offer input means having no chance of influencing this document. I'm not naïve enough to think that all suggestions for revisions we make will be followed. At this point, though, the Executive Committee is dedicated to providing the input needed so that this document will be as aligned as possible with NCTE positions on key issues--positions enacted through democratic processes by NCTE members. So, the Executive Committee has convened a blue-ribbon panel of NCTE members to review the standards with NCTE policies and positions in mind. Last week, this group received a copy of the ELA common core standards draft, and it is currently beginning its review. Unlike the feedback group that provided advice to the CCSSO from each individual’s perspective, this NCTE review team will review the standards through the lens of NCTE policy. I have no idea what the Chiefs will do with the report they will receive from NCTE during the second week of August. What I do know is that if we refuse to be a part of this process, then any chance NCTE has of making the document better is lost. Perhaps the Chiefs will disregard any suggestions for revisions that are made. But perhaps not. That chance is why the Executive Committee chose to accept the offer to provide a review. At this point, it would be premature for me to speculate on what will happen next. I know that after the standards document is completed (early September) and released to the public, then the Chiefs will begin work on grade-level benchmarks. The Chiefs have invited NCTE to be a part of that process, but the Executive Committee has not yet addressed this request. It seemed hasty at best, ill advised at worst, to agree to do that before studying the end-of-grade-12 standards document carefully. That is what is happening now with the review team. I want each NCTE member to be assured that the Executive Committee is committed to upholding NCTE policies and positions. If it becomes apparent that the standards document stands in opposition to those policies and positions, then NCTE will not hesitate to point out the discrepancies. But to speak against the document before it has been reviewed could undercut our ability to offer a credible and cogent critique later in the standards setting process. Additionally, NCTE will continue to support the position that while standards—a policy document—might be created by policy groups, assessments of student learning and curriculum/pedagogical choices that lead to achievement of standards are best left to teachers. My goal for the Council is that policymakers turn to us first when they address policies and practices in English language arts. So, yes, I was disappointed that the Chiefs did not consult NCTE when they began their work on the standards document. However, once they did turn to us, I was happy that the Executive Committee agreed to provide input. At this point, we are cautiously cooperative. If that cooperative stance proves ineffective, then we will be respectfully vocal with our concerns. Kylene Beers President, National Council of Teachers of English The following responses are from the NCTE comment site. You can add yours. Anonymous Establishing national common core standards (and the tests which will inevitably follow) is crap. Margarget Phinney Response I agree with the comments of others that the concept of national standards is unnecessary and harmful. In China individuals' prospects for opportunities  are dashed when they can't quite pass a particular, single national test. My biggest concern is that soon "the Chiefs will begin to work on grade-level benchmarks." "Grade level" is "average": it ignores individual differences in  pace and nature of development. "Grade level benchmarks" are a travesty because  they put children in a bell curve, forcing the failure of half the population. . . . Susan Ohanian Response Kylene Beers writes, It's obvious that we will have national twelfth-grade exit standards. Obvious to whom? Obvious because of what? It wouldn't be obvious if we didn't lie down, roll over, and play dead. Silence is definitely the enemy here. I'm grateful for Kylene's letter, but I think as professionals we are entirely too  polite. It is way past time for professionals to stand up and declare, "No!" We need to do it for the children; we need to do it for the very existence of teaching  as a profession. I invite everybody who cares about NCTE to join the resistance: http://www.StopNationalStandards.org Stephen Krashen Response It is good to know that NCTE does not yet have a position on the standards movement. Will NCTE's input assume that national standards and tests are necessary and only comment on the substance of the standards? Are we limited to providing input on the draft or can we question the idea of investing so much time and money on standards and tests? I am a member of several organizations supporting or planning to support the standards movement because they think it is inevitable. If these organizations were to question the standards, maybe they would not be inevitable. Children in the US are staggering under the load of tests. Schools have turned into test-prep factories. It is astonishing that a major priority of the administration is new standards and tests. I argue that new standards and tests are unnecessary and unhelpful in a very short paper called NUT: No Unnecessary Testing. Write me for a copy: skrashen@yahoo.com. Stephen Krashen Anonymous Common Core State Standards are bullshit. ====================== Several activists have suggested this strategy for increasing volume on this site. We need to increase volume in order to get Google and other search term recognition when people search for information on the Common Core standards. I'm writing to everyone I know who is interested in best practices for literacy education! Arne Duncan, Obama's secretary of education, is pushing for national standards, accompanied by national tests. I saw this kind of system in China, with it's accompanying devastation of the lives of individuals. Such system ignores individual learning styles, the variable pace of learning, and varied background knowledge and experiences. Those behind the movement are developing grade level benchmarks, and grade level means teaching to the average. We need to have our voices heard if we feel that "once size fits all" and teaching to the average are not good ideas. There is a website being developed that will act as a clearing house for information and ideas on how to have our voices heard. It is: http://www.stopnationalstandards.org/index.html ======================= If you have a pithy and cogent remark to make about the Race to the Top, Beth Yeh (below) is listed as a  contact person. Your time might be better spent looking at Resisters' letters and then writing to: Your local newspaper Your union Your professional organization Beth Yeh racetothetop@ed.gov (800) 872-5327 or (800) USA-LEARN Suggestions: 1)  Don't whine. 2)  Don't ramble. =============================   Posted on EDDRA,  July 26, 2009 Permission granted for anybody to post any version they want anywhere. by Susan Ohanian I've read the Common Core Standards draft for Language Arts,  which are being pushed by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and I'm appalled that ALL students would be dragged through literary theory, narrative writing, etc.  These Standardistos indicated they are going to get the h.s. regimen set and then push the principles to lower grades with these grandiose principles. There will be many bodies left along the way to this "everybody college-ready" goal. And kids won't know there are wonderful  (and worthy) books that they would enjoy, books that could convince them to become lifelong readers. Instead, they will be dragged through "complex" works and never pick up another book in their lives after they escape from school. I say if college want students to write term papers, let them train the students to engage in such pursuits. WHY do we insist that everybody be "college ready" when U. S. Bureau of Labor statistics indicate that the great number of jobs do not require college or much technical training? Being deprived of a high school diploma will shut students off from such jobs as: auto mechanic, barber, bus driver, draftsman, baker, broadcast technician, cardiology technologist, communications dispatcher, electroneurodiagnos tic technologist, fingerprint classifier, forklift operator, graphics designer, heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanic, hotel desk clerk, land surveyor, legal secretary, medical transcriptionist, numerical control machinist, optometric technician, paramedic, plumber, robotics technician, sheet metal worker, shorthand reporter/court reporter, solar energy system installer, small appliance repairer, surgical technician, tool and die maker, translator/interpre ter, veterinary technician, ward clerk (medical), webpage designer, etc. etc. I don't think any of these people need to be able to do the kind of reading/writing delineated in the draft standards. But these are very necessary jobs for our communities. I taught in an alternative high school--part of the public school system but the kids were kids excluded from the regular campus. Among their writing requirements were: a letter to the editor expressing a point of view about a community issue, a consumer letter of complaint,  a letter to a political representative, and so on. The effect was phenomenal when students saw things happen because of their carefully-crafted letters.. I made the same assignments when I taught engineering students at RPI, with the same amazed results as they received cases of soup, vacuum cleaners hoses, etc. as a result of their consumer letters. Last year I read the frustrated exam of a Vermont teen who, although he has an IEP, was forced to sit through the NECAP. Here's part of his response to the writing test.  He did not delete any part of the expletives.      "You f_ _ _ _ing a_ _holes I have been taking these f_ _ _ _ing tests since first grade and I am f_ _ _ing sick of it. I know I can't spell you know I can't spell. I have more important things to do than this bulls_ _ _test." Six pages of expletives and rage and pain and mourning for lost learning. A proctor turned in his test, he was suspended, and therefore he missed the test to qualify as a lumberjack given the next day--and forfeited the $500 test fee. One size does NOT fit everybody. Why are we so determined to ruin the lives of so many students? ================================ from California and Vermont, July 18, 2009 A Seat at the Table: Capitulation to the National Standards Movement? by Stephen Krashen and Susan Ohanian Sent to The Council Chronicle (NCTE) and Reading Today (IRA) . As on July 26 "in press" at Reading Today, no word from NCTE. To the Editor: According to an article that appeared in Education Week on June 15, NCTE and IRA both want a "seat at the table" to create national standards along the lines proposed by Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Apparently, both organizations agree that spending billions developing national standards and national tests is a good idea, and are upset only because they have not been invited to join the party. Apparently, both NCTE and IRA agree that our major priority in education is more precise and uniform measurement, that all children should know where they are "on every step of their educational trajectory" (Arne Duncan) in all subjects. Apparently they agree that this assembly-line rigid approach is in tune with the way children learn. Apparently, some of the leaders of the two major literacy organizations have not spent much time with children, and are unfamiliar with the vast research literature that says this approach is all wrong. — Stephen Krashen & Susan Ohanian from Colorado, July 11, 2009   Former police officer  and a Ph.D. in educational psychology teaching at Front Range Community College, Laurel Manuel wrote an article for the Greeley Tribune, July 11, 2009, explaining the Educator Roundtable Petition, the grassroots effort to end NCLB. Remember, The Obama/Duncan plan for changing NCLB is to institute National Standards and Testing and tie teacher evaluations to student scores on standardized tests.  from Florida Retired educator Bill Archer wrote this letter to the News Journal: Adopting National Standards for public education will turn public schools into training centers from which individual graduates can boast of having achieved nothing more than uniform "fact bytes". And there is little else that will distinguish these individuals from one another as graduates of a National Standards driven system. Those advocating such a system of public education will succeed in producing a system that serves their own needs. What are the dimensions of this national standards system they envision, and hope to substitute for America's traditional public education?  That question needs to be answered with great specificity before adopting a program of National Standards is allowed to happen. The probable consequences of adoption are so comprehensively stultifying that I am shocked at the present low level of professional educator challenge. It borders on professional negligence.   Where is the great show of outrage from professional educators whose profession is being eroded by the forces of a political and corporate cabal that stands to earn unimaginably large profits if it can transform the public education system into an instrument for its private use? Where is the outrage from teachers who see the "sky's the limit" potential for individuals in traditional public education being transformed into a tracking vehicle for social sculpting that will be used to squash individuality? The logical future for those "graduating" from a National Standards-driven system will be to enter into follow-on programs according to their level of mastery of those standards. Some fortunate ones, those in higher socio-economic situations, will be eligible for continuing education in colleges. Others, those who are living in impoverished and deprived situations, those whom research has shown to consistently do poorly on tests, will be relegated to training programs for various kinds of employment to include public services and trades, military opportunities and other "tracked" possibilities. Gone will be the days of equal opportunity that education once offered. In its place will be the government mandated   options for those according to how they did on those National Standards. Why teachers are not vehemently confronting the takeover of their profession and citizens are not actively protesting against this determined cabal can have one basic reason. They have little or no awareness of the potential disaster adopting National Standards will create in the social fabric of our nation. The state will become the gatekeeper for individual social and professional progression nationwide if it is allowed to set the standard of educational success nationwide. Have teachers and citizens forgotten that public education is the engine of democracy and the opportunity equalizer? In the void of their memory loss the cabal has substituted a myth about failed public education and promised education reform through  "corporatization" and National Standards. If the myth is believed then the teachers will be the scapegoats of a grand deception and all citizens will begin to experience the restraints of a new political atmosphere called Facism.  from Washington, July 1, 2009 Parent Empowerment Network made custom buttons  for National Standards resistance in Vermont.   from Vermont, the entire month of July NOTE: Susan Ohanian wore this sandwich board in the 4th of July parade in Warren, VT and continues to display it in a solitary vigil on Fridays in the popular Church Street Marketplace in Burlington. Feds Hijacking Local Schools The Feds impose timetables, labeling young children winners and losers. Vermont knows a better way: Treat 8-year-olds like 8-year-olds, celebrating their individual diversity and variety and uniqueness. The Feds define schoolchildren as future workers in a global economy. Vermont knows a better way: Keep schools local. Put schools at the center of the community and encourage students to explore forests, ponds, farms, artists' studios, industrial sites, museums. The Feds insist all students must take the same pre-college curriculum. Vermont knows a better way: Encourage students to work with their hands as well as their heads so they learn that communities need farmers, carpenters, lumberjacks, and musicians along with engineers and chemists. The Feds demand a national timetable: National Standards and a National Test. Vermont knows a better way: We must ask, "Who's in charge?" and we must refuse to turn over the control of our schools to the Feds. We must insist on Vermont schools by and for Vermonters.