Compromise reached on Common Core repeal
Published July 3, 2014
by Mark Binker, WRAL, July 2, 2014.
House and Senate negotiators have reached agreement on a bill that they say will repeal North Carolina's use of Common Core standards for K-12 education.
Although a formal conference report, which would be the final compromise version of Senate Bill 812, has not yet been filed, negotiators from both chambers said Wednesday that they have reached a deal and described the legislation in the same way.
"It repeals and replaces the Common Core," Sen. Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph, said, adding that the measure would allow state education officials to pull pieces of the Common Core standards into the new state regime.
Common Core is not a curriculum. Rather, it is a set of guidelines for what students need to know. The state Board of Education and local school systems craft the curriculum needed to teach students to meet those standards.
Developed by a national groups of education officials and the National Governor's Association, Common Core is also backed by business and military leaders, who said the common set of standards will help prepare students for work life. They are also aimed at helping students who move between school systems because the requirements in their old classrooms will be roughly the same as what they will be expected to know in their new classes.
The standards got little attention until President Barack Obama's Education Department embraced them as an exemplar of what states needed to do in order to win grant funding. In the intervening years, a coalition of political conservatives and parents who say they require students to tackle inappropriate topics have urged states to replace Common Core. That pressure came to fruition this year.
The House and Senate both drafted repeal bills in recent weeks. Both bills would have created an Academic Standards Review Commission to review the benchmarks that students in K-12 must meet in order to progress though the public school system and eventually graduate. The recommendations from that commission would then be sent to the State Board of Education for adoption.
The House version of that bill would have prohibited the new commission from using anything having to do with Common Core in the new standards. The Senate version allowed the commission to use pieces of the Common Core, something that made critics of the repeal effort in the business community happier.
Both Tillman and Rep. Bryan Holloway, R-Stokes, say the new commission may uses pieces of Common Core in setting new standards for the state.
"They can take parts of it, but they cannot take it in its entirety," Holloway said.
Tillman said the commission was free to look at whatever "they deem as rigorous and appropriate" for the state.
"They might take a standard or two or whatever from the Common Core, but they're not bound to do that," Tillman said.
Once the conference committee report is formally turned into the House and Senate, both chambers must vote to approve it. It would then go to Gov. Pat McCrory for his signature or veto. He has expressed skepticism about the efforts to repeal Common Core.
http://www.wral.com/compromise-reached-on-common-core-repeal-bill/13783580/
July 3, 2014 at 1:33 pm
Norm Kelly says:
I suppose there is always more than 1 way to say the same thing. For instance, supporters of Communist Core say that '(t)he standards got little attention until President Barack Obama's Education Department embraced them as an exemplar of what states needed to do in order to win grant funding'. Those who oppose Communist Core say it slightly more honestly when we say that most states chose to ignore Communist Core until the central planners decided to bribe participation by simply buying conformity.
But the fact of the matter is that the central planners decided that having a national standard was the most important thing. Kinda like every fascist and communist country does. First they start to repeal religious freedoms and rights. Then they take over the education system. They do things like claim everything they do is 'for the children'. They claim that kids belong to the school system from the minute they leave the house to head to the bus stop until the second a foot enters the family home again. The school doesn't assume any responsibility for the kid while physically AT the school, but all behavior that the administration doesn't like that goes on before they step inside is under their control. Even facebook posts are now under the jurisdiction of school administrators when the kids are at home with their parents.
Communist Core is always described as a set of standards by proponents. It is almost always described as a curriculum by opponents. What the truth reveals is that it is more often than not, in most cases has turned out to be, a curriculum based on the same standards being paid for by the central planners. Communist Core does things like deduct points from a kids math work for NOT FOLLOWING THE STANDARD to arrive at an answer; it MUST be done according to the prescribed way or it is considered wrong. This is not a standard, this is a curriculum, but worse it is indoctrination. When kids are forced to always do it the way prescribed by the authorities, no deviation or creativity is allowed, then it is creating pliable citizens for a future world where the central planners make all decisions. Every kid going through Communist Core will eventually understand that the authorities are right, they must be followed and believed, and no deviation will be allowed. In other words, indoctrination.
Not all kids learn the same way. The same steps do NOT always make sense to every kid. But when you prevent creativity and flexibility, drive it out of the system, by deducting points for straying or being creative or not following the rules laid down by the authorities, then kids quickly learn to be obedient. I don't want my kids obedient so much as I want them knowledgeable, capable of making a logical, informed decision based on the facts available. Communist Core appears to have conformity as the end result. Communist Core does NOT appear to have teaching as the method to allow creative, logical, self-sufficient adults at the end of their education career.
Remember, the founder of the national education system stated that it was the method to implement conformity, adults who would understand that central authority was to be followed without question. I can't remember how it was stated exactly, but cowed subjects was the goal. Much like Communist Core appears to be and not very well camouflaged.
Now that the money appears to have run out and there's a level of experience with the Common Core curriculum (not standard) states are beginning to question their original decision. Since the curriculum is not living up to it's proponents claims, people with the ability to question the need for conformity are taking back some control. Should there be standards in education? Yes, every state should be allowed to generate their own standards, but it should be the same standard within the state. The idea of having 50 experiments to find the best solution had merit and support until the occupier decided he wanted a one-size-fits-all health care system - commonly known as socialized medicine. His desire to remove the ability to experiment and find the best solution, so other states could copy and/or modify the proven system, to generate the best system for the people at the local level is a new idea, strongly supported by socialists. Because conformity requires central planner control of the important parts of everyday life - education, religion, health care. Health care is taken care of - socialized medicine has been supported (somewhat) by SCOTUS. Religion that promotes other than the central planners is under attack. It's time to do more take-over in education to complete the spread of conformity and conformists. I refuse to submit. Resistance is NOT futile.
