The Governor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force has held public meetings in two of six scheduled cities around the state. Cindy Peterson, mother, business owner and wife from the Chamberlain area attended the business leaders meeting in Chamberlain on June 2, 2015. She sent me this email with her thoughts and observations from the meeting and…
This morning, the following email was sent to all South Dakota Legislators from Tony Venhuizen, Chief of Staff to Gov. Daugaard, on behalf of Sen. Deb Soholt and Rep. Jacqueline Sly, Co-Chairs of the Blue Ribbon Task Force. From: “Venhuizen, Tony” <Tony.Venhuizen@state.sd.us> Date: Jun 2, 2015 9:03 AM Subject: Legislator Blue Ribbon Message To: “Deb…
Governor Daugaard appointed a task force to consider education funding in South Dakota. Because this task force seems to be heavily stacked in favor of the administration’s agenda – the education reform agenda – it is vital that parents and all members of the public attend and comment at the scheduled public meetings in June. Please…
Reasons parents are refusing the SBAC assessment: The Cooperative Agreement between SBAC and the Federal Department of Education, demands that SBAC share student level data with the federal government. (Link 1) The federal DOE changed FERPA to allow sharing of student level data with “stakeholders” without parental consent. (Link 2) A Missouri court has found…
Parents wanting to refuse the SBAC test for their children are running into push back from their school superintendent. Why? The School Performance Index (SPI). By South Dakota Public School Accountability Index, for elementary schools, 80% of the SPI is based on the SBAC results. For high schools, it’s 50%. …
What do you say when people tell you their child is doing great with the Common Core? In this video, Professor Nicholas Tampio of Fordham University, explains why everyone, including those who say their child has no problem with the Common Core, should refuse the Common Core. If Common Core is so wonderful, why aren’t…
According to the South Dakota Accountability Workbook, the school, not you, can make a request for medical exemption from statewide accountability exams. What are those medical exemptions? Students with very serious, chronic, and fragile medical conditions can and do participate successfully in statewide assessment. However, there are rare and unique situations in which a student is unable…
On March 18, 2015, Gov. Daugaard announced who will serve on the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Teachers and Students. PIERRE, S.D. – Gov. Dennis Daugaard today announced initial appointments to the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Teachers and Students. The task force, which was announced by the Governor and legislative leaders last month, will…
The SBAC testing season is upon your children. Those who are getting paid to promote this agenda tout the benefits of Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT). We are told that the test adjusts to each child. The test will adjust the next question depending on how the child answers the first question. When “selling” this concept, we…
SB53, the bill that moves the cost of state assessments, technology and sparse schools to the general fund was changed back to it’s original form. SDACC is deeply disappointed that technology, which is in all reality being mandated by the South Dakota Department of Education (SD DOE), the State Assessments, Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium (SBAC),…
South Dakotans Against Common Core 