Loss of Constitutional Rights?

I am a former school board member in Washington TWP – Sewell, retired school counselor from Cherry Hill, NJ and have continued to be an ardent follower of CCSS, PARCC, and Opt-out issues. I need some advice…

The NJ State Board of Education has taken its first vote to mandate the PARCC exam as a graduation requirement. A second vote will be coming up soon and I would like to address the unelected, non responsive, board regarding what I feel is a loss of my constitutional right as a parent to decide what is
best for my (grand)children and children in NJ. This is a move by the SBOE to call a halt to the OPT-OUT movement by parents. Even if they allow other
tests, i.e. SATS or ACT, Aspire, for graduation the child would still have to sit and be “punished” by the mandate for PARCC. Do my rights get abolished to decide what is best and if so, what recourse do I and others have, if any, to put a halt to it?

I would be pleased to have any direction/assistance if this issue…

Jack Scheidell
30 mcgregor ct
Turnersville NJ 08012
856-693-5657
jscheidell@comcast.net

NJSBA continues the Myths at a State Board of Ed hearing

The following is the presentation made by the NJSBA in a hearing on CC. Use your “close reading skills” and see how many mis-statements you can find. I will be doing another presentation on March 4th to the Greenwich tea party on CC and I am still amazed at the number of parents, administrators and teachers who have small bits of knowledge regarding the topic. I spend most of my time trying to clarify these false “facts” they provide. I ponder the follow question” If this NJSBA is responsible for teaching newly elected board members, I was school board member back in the 90s, imagine how they must function and reply to their constituencies when they return to their districts and they rely on this information – followed by their superintendents who say -“CC is here, do it”

COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS Assembly Education Committee Testimony – February 10, 2014

In June 2010, the Common Core State Standards Initiative, led by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, released the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for mathematics and English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science and technology. These standards were adopted by 45 states, (including New Jersey), the District of Columbia, four territories and the Department of Defense Education Activity.

In the intervening period between then and now there has been substantial pushback from grass-roots groups around the country fueled by misconceptions about what the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are and what they are not. According to a spring 2013 Gallup Poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans have never heard of these new standards. This has helped to fuel misinformation about the CCSS.

The CCSS are the “what” of education while curriculum and instruction are the “how”. This is an important distinction. The CCSS define what students need to know; they do not define what teachers should teach or how students should learn. Academic content standards are public statements about what students should know and be able to do. Local boards of education will continue to adopt curriculum developed specifically for their districts as well as purchase the texts and supporting materials they deem most appropriate for their children.

The CCSS program was not funded or directed by the federal government. It was a process approved, designed and financed by governors and chief state school officers from 48 states. The CCSS initiative is a state-led effort. Adoption of the CCSS is completely voluntary. The US Department of Education’s Race to the Top grant program does not name the CCSS or any other specific standards. The federal government only requires that states demonstrate they have adopted college-and-career ready standards for all students. The CCSS standards were not developed by the federal government but rather in collaboration with teachers, school administrators and experts to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce.

The Common Core State Standards are not a national mandate or a national curriculum. They are a clear set of shared goals and expectations for what knowledge and skills will help our students succeed. Local board members, teachers, principals, superintendents and others will decide how the standards are to be met. Teachers will continue to devise lesson plans and tailor instruction to the individual needs of the students in their classrooms. States voluntarily chose whether or not to adopt the standards and retain full authority for implementation, preventing the possibility of a federal takeover. State leaders, accountable to their constituents, can withdraw their states from the standards at any time.

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is likewise not a federal agency but rather a consortium of states, including New Jersey, working with Achieve Corporation in the development and field testing of measurements of the standards at all grade levels.

As part of broader education reform efforts, states have adopted data systems that allow educators and parents to measure the progress of student achievement and growth from year to year. Regardless of adopting the Common

Core, states remain in control of their students’ private information, just as they are now. The federal government does not have access to individual student-level data—just aggregate information by school on how children are performing. Hence the information generated when the PARCC tests are administered will not become part of any federal database.

In fact, there are no specific data-collection requirements placed on states adopting the CCSS. Standards define expectations of what students should know and be able to do by the end of each grade. The means of assessing students and the data that results from those assessments are completely up to the discretion of each state and are separate and unique from the CCSS.

From the vantage point of local boards of education, it will imperative for board members to develop a thorough understanding of the CCSS. Local boards will need to become data-driven bodies to identify what works for their students and whether their district is measuring individual growth and is on track as the CCSS initiative moves forward.

Local boards must establish a communication plan with their stakeholders –parents, teachers, students and community members – to explain the new standards. They must be prepared for the budget costs of the new standards including training for teachers, curriculum writing expenses, and the potential for additional student materials. In addition, boards must also support a technology plan to handle the new testing and assessment requirements.

The New Jersey School Boards Association, a non-partisan federation of boards of education, provides training, advocacy and support to advance public education and promote the achievement of all students through effective governance.