Diane Douglas Underwater; Frank Riggs Swimming to the Top

According to a recent Capitol Times Yellow Sheet Report titled “Underwater is a Bad Place to Be,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas is going to have an uphill battle to get reelected.  

A recent poll by GOP consultant Chris Baker shows incumbent Douglas with ratings of 15 percent favorability and a whopping 47 percent unfavorability.  Another 38 percent had no opinion. “I think Diane Douglas has probably reached the point of no return,” Baker told the Capitol Times reporter.

As stated in the article, “the poll surveyed 500 self-described likely voters (all of whom have voted in at least one of the last two general elections) from June 14-15, with a partisan breakdown of 35 percent Republicans, 31 percent Democrats and 33 percent independents. Of those 500 voters, 70 percent were contacted on landlines via autodial, while 30 percent were interviewed by live callers on their cell phones. The poll had a margin of error of plus-minus 4.9 percent.”

This is what happens when a novice takes office with no business or executive experience. 

Arizona needs a strong, tested and proven Superintendent with the right combination of executive experience, managerial skills, knowledge of education policies and practices, integrity, and judgment to lead our state’s K-12 schools!  That person is Frank Riggs.  

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AZMerit High Stakes test now accounts for 90% of a school’s letter grade

An article published on April 28, 2017 in the Arizona Daily Independent, reports on a recent vote by the Arizona State Board of Education to use the results of Common Core-aligned AZMerit high stakes test to grade public schools.  

Arizonans Against Common Core, Mommy Lobby AZ, and Opt Out AZ, released a statement after the vote: “Parents advocating for their children and teachers are dismayed by the A-F Accountability plan adopted by the Arizona State Board of Education. One high stakes test now accounts for 90% of a school’s letter grade. This decision reveals the SBE believes parents are incapable of selecting schools on their own. Few other factors matter to the state; however, parents make thoughtful school choices based on their own values, research, and judgment.”

So, the AZ. State Board of Education is using the controversial, unvalidated, one-size-fits all, secretive, high stakes AZ Merit to “evaluate” every public school in Arizona. The only people who have seriously donned their thinking caps are SBE board member Jared Taylor, Choice Academies president Ms. Lisa Fink, and commentators “Listen to a Mom” and Edward Cizek. The letter grade a school receives using AZ Merit scores as the most critical criteria, will be useless to parents. Do the board members actually believe otherwise? What a waste of time, effort, and money. Ms. Fink, who is quoted extensively, uses Consumer Reports as an example of what truly passes for an evaluation of a product.  I would add that we use far more criteria evaluating the nutritional value of canned soup and cereal.

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A Picture is Worth a Thousand Common Core Standards

Golly, I don’t know who to believe.  Diane Douglas or my own lyin’ eyes?  

(Slide of the above image provided by Robert Michael.)

To read the Common Core Math Standards compared to the "Replacement," click HERE.  

To read the Common Core ELA (English/Language Arts) Standards compared to the "Replacement," click HERE. 

You don’t need a college degree to see that Arizona hasn’t "replaced" Common Core.  All you need is the ability to put on your thinking cap and read. 

See Also:

 

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How Much of the Common Core Standards Really Changed?

Wouldn’t you think that, by now, most Arizonans know that Superintendent Diane Douglas is lying when she repeatedly tells people that Arizona’s "new standards are ‘No way’ Common Core-like"!!  I guess she thinks that, if she repeats the lie often enough, people will believe it.  

Gilbert Watch has published two side-by-side comparisons, which were put together by a mother with the Mommy Lobby:  1) The old Common Core Math compared to Arizona’s New Math Standards, and 2) The old Common Core English/Language Arts standards compared to Arizona’s New English/Language Arts standards.   

Recently, a mother with the Mommy Lobby produced a simple, two-sided flyer that you can distribute to your friends, family, legislators, parents, children, by-standers, curiosity seekers, etc:  "How Much of the Common Core Standards Really Changed?"

For anyone who wants to know everything there is to know about Common Core, so you, too, can be sick to death of it, see below.  As for me, I’m researching homeschooling.

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Arizona’s Newest K-12 English/Language Arts Standards No Different than Common Core

As clearly shown in a previous article titled Arizona’s Newest K-12 Math Standards No Different than Common Core, the same is true of the English/Language Arts (ELA) Standards.  

One of the mothers with the Mommy Lobby has completed a 93-page side-by-side comparsion of the old Common Core K-12 ELA Standards to Arizona’s Final “repealed and replaced” Draft.  

Click HERE to see with your own eyes how the Math Standards compare.

Click HERE to see with your own eyes how the English/Language Arts Standards compare.

So, the next time you hear someone say how Arizona’s Common Core standards have been repealed or eliminated, you will know it’s a lie.  

You have the evidence at your fingertips.

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Comparing Common Core’s Kindergarten English/Language Arts Standards to Arizona’s 2016 “Final”

We are at the point where many children who are being taught under Common Core will never recover those lost years.  These children will be sent out unprepared into the world.  I have no faith that the "State" is capable of, or committed to, providing a quality education to Arizona’s children.  Our only hope is that more parents understand that they are far more competent and far more concerned about educating their children.  "Public and private teachers are but proxies, substitutes, surrogates for those ultimately responsible–the parents."  Dr. Ray E. Ballmann

The purpose of this article is to show you that Arizona’s Final ELA standards have changed very little from the original Common Core.   These standards are detrimental to a quality education. 

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Arizona’s Newest K-12 Math Standards No Different than Common Core

Superintendent Diane Douglas may have conned members of the state legislature, who have far more on their plate than to question her “repeal and replace” Common Core shell game.  She may also have successfully deceived the low information voters.  

But, no matter how much she rants, raves, and bullies, she didn’t succeed with the Mommy Lobby, members of the Arizona Standards Development Committee,  Arizonans Against Common Core, Breitbart, Itasca Small writing for the Arizona Daily Independent, Seeing Red Arizona, or various Stop Common Core facebook groups: Click HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. 

One of the mothers with the Mommy Lobby volunteered her time to do a 73-page comparison of the old Common Core K-12 Math Standards against Arizona’s Final “repealed and replaced” Draft.  

Judge for yourself.  You don’t need a college degree to figure it out.  Unless your definition of "repeal and replace" is "tweak," anyone who actually looks at the old versus the “new,” can see with their own eyes that the newest version is the same old, despised, age-inappropriate Common Core.

Diane Douglas, in so many words, is telling everyone:  "Who are you gonna believe?  Me, or your lyin’ eyes"?

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Why are Comments from Achieve, Inc. all over Arizona’s Redline version of the ELA and Math Standards?

Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas, whose campaign promise was to "eliminate the Common Core standards," issued a Dec. 19, 2016 Press Release to the public stating, “These new standards represent the final step in the repeal and replacement of Common Core in Arizona and they reflect the thoughts and recommendations of thousands of Arizona citizens.” 

Nowhere does she mention the role that Achieve, Inc. played in reviewing and commenting on Arizona’s "Redline" versions of the English/Language Arts (ELA) standards, the K-5 Math Standards, and the 6-8 and High School Math Standards.  You will find literally hundreds of comments from this organization, more than from anyone else.

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State Board of Education Ignores Governor, Parents, and Own Policy; Rubber Stamps Common Core for Another 7 Years

Members of the State Board of Education’s Arizona Standards Development Committee (ASDC) speak out.

"Preempting the Arizona Standards Development Committee (ASDC) that was about to conclude 18 months of work, on December 19 the State Board of Education (SBE) voted to impose Common Core standards on all Arizona schools—likely at a tremendous cost to the state’s recent education gains!  

In 2010, the SBE adopted "Common Core" for Arizona schools. Parents and teachers soon started having difficulty learning and teaching them. 

Like many government mandates, Common Core benefited those who place profits above our children’s future.   Children who loved math started to hate math.  Children who loved writing started to hate writing.  Parents recognized a problem.  Sometimes, parents with engineering and math degrees couldn’t help their children with basic arithmetic.  

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Please Comment on Arizona’s Existing Science Standards (2004) and Social Studies Standards (2005)

As you recall, public comments regarding Arizona’s 2016 Draft English/Language Arts and Math Standards ended October 3, 2016.  Thank you for commenting on them!

We now have the opportunity to comment on the existing Science Standards (2004) and Social Studies Standards (2005). The public survey to provide feedback on these existing standards will be available through December 3, 2016.

Click HERE for the direct link to the Science Standards (2004).

Click HERE for the direct link to the Social Studies Standards (2005).  

To provide feedback please visit Science and Social Studies Standards – Public Feedback.  According to the Arizona Department of Education, educators (K-12 and higher education) may apply to serve on a revision committee for each of the content areas. The application for committee members will remain open for the duration of the revision process.

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