Common Core Standards are More Rigorous

One of the many “good” things we have been told about the Common Core Standards is that they are more rigorous. The question has been asked, “What is meant by more rigorous?”First let’s define rigorous. According the dictionary.com:rig·or·ous  [rig-er-uhs]  adjective1. characterized by rigor; rigidly severe or harsh, as people, rules, or discipline: rigorous laws.2. severely…

Douglas County School Board, Colorado, Adopts Resolution Opposing Common Core

From Castlerock, Colorado The Douglas County School Board unanimously adopted a resolution July 16 opposing the Common Core Standards in favor of the district’s own.The Douglas County School District’s standards are “more rigorous, more demanding, more thorough, and reflect higher expectations and aspirations for our students than any national standard now in existence, including the…

Governor Daugaard Leading South Dakota to the New World Order

From Steve Sibson, January 2012: I attended Governor Daugaard’s budget presentation this morning in Mitchell. His goal was to promote two initiatives. One was a Workforce Initiative and the other was in education, as the Secretary of Education was present. He actually admitted that the two were to be connected at the hip. He started out…

Christians Should Reject David Coleman’s Charm Offensive

Great piece by American Principles Project’s Jane Robbins.  David Coleman, the non-English teacher who wrote the Common Core national English language arts (ELA) standards, is conducting a charm offensive to persuade Christians to embrace the new national standards. According to Mr. Coleman, students “educated” under Common Core will be better readers and better able to…

Common Core – The Latest Reform Directive

We have shared with you the video of Shirley McCune, the Senior Director of McRel, at the 1989 National Governors’ Conference on Education. She shares these three new objectives of education  Total transformation of our society (sound familiar?) Facts and information(knowledge) no longer primary purpose of education The close connection between economic(sustainable) development and human…

Teacher Paul Horton Writes Open Letter to Obama

From EdWeek: Dear Mr. President,Like thousands of experienced classroom teachers throughout our great country, I am very concerned about how you decided to go the way that you did with your Education policies. I was recently told by a close friend of the yours that “Arne’s Team looked at all of the options” and decided…

Feds Possibly Raising Phone Taxes to Pay For CC Test Taking

New taxes to pay for this national education because history has shown that federal money in public education has raised student achievement? From Heartland: The Obama administration may raise taxes on everyone’s phone lines by about $5 per year to increase K-12 tech subsidies because most schools cannot administer the computerized Common Core tests coming…

South Dakota STARS

Many call the data collection of common core, the “creepy” part of Common Core. Part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, required all 50 states to build a Statewide Longitudinal Data System(SLDS). States are required to build a P-20 database, pre-school through doctorate. South Dakota’s is called Student Teacher Accountability System (STARS). We have…