Fact #1: Arizonans have been asking the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) for copies of the Common Core drafts and Arizona’s feedback on those drafts since 2013. I personally have requested them 3 times since January 2015. To date, nobody at ADE has been able to locate any of it.
Why is this important? Because the State Board of Education and the Arizona Department of Education have asserted that … "the Arizona Department of Education received hundreds of individual pieces of feedback and input on the standards from Arizona educators, content experts (including higher education representatives), and the public, that in turn was forwarded to the standards writers to include as the standards were created."
Click HERE to see "Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards (AZCCRS) Concerns and Responses." Specifically, read item #7. What changes, if any, resulted from all the public comment? What, specifically, did the standards writers "include" from Arizona?
Fact #2: I received an email in January 2014 from one of those "Arizona educators" asserting that she participated in a 2009 ADE committee that reviewed an early draft and provided feedback. Unfortunately, she could not provide me with a copy of the draft or Arizona’s feedback to the standards writers. She was able to provide two documents that summarized feedback from states across the USA. But nothing from Arizona. Click HERE to see "Summary of Public Feedback on the Draft College- and Career- Readiness Standards for English-Language Arts and Mathematics." Click HERE to see "Reactions to the March 2010 Draft Common Core State Standards: Highlights and Themes from the Public Feedback
Fact #3: In less than 24 hours of asking for a copy of the Common Core Draft documents on Stop Common Core in Arizona Facebook, I received the September 2009 Math and ELA Standards from a parent in New York. Those drafts came directly from the Gates Foundation. Click HERE to see the 2009 Draft Math Standards. Click HERE to see the 2009 Draft ELA Standards.
Fact #4: Five hundred early childhood health and educational professionals who warned the National Governor’s Association that the Common Core standards were developmentally inappropriate for K-3 were ignored by the standards writers. Click HERE to read the "Joint Statement of Early Childhood Health and Education Professionals on the Common Core Standards Initiative Issued by the Alliance for Childhood March 2, 2010."
How do we know they were ignored?
Because the final standards are still developmentally inappropriate for K-3.
Child Psychologist Dr. Megan Koschnick Explains Why Common Core Standards are Inappropriate for K-3
Every Parent Needs to Watch this! You Need to find out What your Child is Learning at School
Why is this important?
The CCSS writers ignored 500 child psychologist experts who warned them in March 2010 that the K-3 standards were “developmentally inappropriate.” Believe me, those in charge of the final standards didn’t give a flip about Arizona’s “copious’” feedback.
Arizonans were ignored, too.
MORE:
Common Core Rebellion: High School Students in Albuquerque Walk Out Over Tests
Open Letter to Arizona Legislators: Mother Speaks out Against Common Core
No More Common Core: Part 2 of 9
No More Common Core: Part 1 of 9
Get to know the Common Core Marketing Overlords
Dr. James Milgram – Common Core Forum Baton Rouge, LA
Dr. Sandra Stotsky – Common Core Forum, Part 1 Baton Rouge, LA
Dr. Sandra Stotsky – Common Core Forum, Part 2, Baton Rouge, LA
Teachers Revolt Over Common Core Tests
Every Parent Needs to Watch this! You Need to find out What your Child is Learning at School
Student Kennth Ye Farragut Takes Down Common Core in Tennessee
Common Core Math: Let’s Confuse Everybody
One Arizona teacher of American History considered the ACCS "suggested readings," and had this to say in her white paper analysis: "The thorns of America’s past teach us and warn us of the horrors of discrimination and inequality,lessons we do not want to repeat and should not repeat. However, if the thorns are the primary lesson taught to the students, are they even going to fully recognize the precious aroma and beauty and of the freedoms they have and what it took to create the foundation on which all of our liberties rest"? See How the Two Align: Common Core State Standards and Heritage Academy’s American History Curriculum.