- "These are just standards NOT curriculum."
- "There are going to make children college and career ready."
- "Oklahoma has an increased high school drop out rate, 25% of students that start 9th grade DO NOT graduate."
- "College students have a high remediation rate meaning they do not graduate once they start college, high college drop out rate."
- "These standards are great for students and teachers because they set the bar high with rigor."
- "Oklahoma schools are terrible, horrible, broken, the worst in the country, our PISA score stinks in the global outlook."
- "Oklahoma teachers need standards and evaluations because they stink at what they do and MUST be held accountable!"
- "These are a state-led initiative, it is NOT federal."
- Standards do drive much of the curriculum, yes a teacher can still pull the specific materials to teach how that benchmark is taught BUT the standards MUST be met, therefore, there are certain requirements that a teacher MUST teach in order to fulfill the standard. In the older grades, 3rd and higher a teacher MUST teach the contents that are going to be tested because they are being evaluated off of the test scores so they "teach" to the test whether they want to or not. For example, if a benchmark in 3rd grade is probability well the teacher MUST teach probability in order for the student to know how to do probability on the state test. If probability was NOT a required benchmark or standard the teacher would NOT teach it! Excessive writing EVEN in math is also a great example.
- College and Career Ready, how do these experimental standards PROVE that for every single child? How can they be so certain that EVERY child will be college and career ready, where is the evidence? And should EVERY single child attend college? Is attending and graduating from college the only thing that constitutes success? What about the child that wants to go be a farmer and business owner managing the 400-acre family farm?
- Increased high school drop out, where did this statistic come from and again where is the evidence of this? Also, how is setting the bar higher, taking away individualism, and stressing kids out over high-stakes tests going to improve this statistic? I worry about my child wanting to drop out in 3rd grade, forget high school or college. He's already so nervous and anxious hoping he can make it to 4th grade!! STRESS, frustration, panic causes way more harm than we ever had before
- College remediation, I am one of your statistics Mr. Legislator!! I dropped out at the end of my senior year because my NCAA Division I scholarship expired and the University wanted me to take out a $32,000 student loan in order to finish my last 4 courses. One of those was PE 101 (no kidding) and I was on a full ride scholarship traveling all over playing NCAA Division I soccer. The University would not let me take another course because this class was a REQUIREMENT, so was World Religions....needless to say I dropped out because I thought taking bogus classes because they were required and because the University knew my 4 year soccer scholarship had been fulfilled that they were exploiting me for $32,000. I was already lined up to take a job (Since this was in January) making $55,000, it was a no brainer! I was not going to be a slave to the lender, when I could be making $$ and I still have my transripts to prove it!! Nowadays, adults in their 60's are going back to finish their college degrees so that messes up your statistic and college costs are at an all time high, people are starting to realize that it takes 15+ years to pay off that $100,000 student loan, most of my friends are still paying on theirs and especially a teacher's salary for example, is on the bottom of that scale. SAD but true! (and most of my friends spent the majority of their $100,000 college education partying NOT excelling in coursework) I learned wayyyyyyyyy more attending business meetings, and career training through human resources than I ever did in Accounting 301! And the best part was they were paying me. :-)
- Rigor! Have you ever looked up the definition of rigor? How about common?
- Oklahoma schools are at the bottom for funding, but I must say I have attended the bond meetings and honestly our superintendent does a phenomenal job being resourceful and spending the money very wisely for what little we receive. And look at how amazing our schools are, nobody feels slighted, the students are VERY successful, in both academics, athletics and even band!! I understand some schools might need more help than others but why are we circumventing the entire system to fix the minority? Go help the schools that need help, and in the meantime allow us to continue being exceptional, we already are. Show us where we need to tweak some things, BUT we do not need a major overhaul. Our superintendent and especially our teachers are doing a PHENOMENAL job. Well rounded student avhievement proves it!! And Owasso is not alone...we toured 12 different schools districts about a year ago and ALL 12 were amazing!! Oh yes, and as far as global is concerned....I think you must be forgetting that other countries DO NOT test their entire population of school children. They only test their elite! Here in America EVERYONE counts not just our Harvard, Yale and Princeton students. Secondly, again, who is in charge of this statistic? The same company that helped write the standards? Our students and teachers are WAY more valuable than any given test score! Teaching and learning are "priceless" creating moral quailities that are not even measurable, and our schools are producing RESPONSIBLE adults, which does not fit into your formula, or ANY formula for that matter.
- I absolutely trust every single teacher far more than any computer data, over any test score and over ANY quantifiable statistic. These teachers bust their tales for these students, they spend every waking moment trying to make them better, meeting them where they are, drying their tears, pushing them and challenging them, they are these students ROCKS, teachers are courageous heroes, three of them have meant EVERYTHING to both of my kids!! I wholeheartedly trust their judgment, they know if they need to discipline them, encourage them, reward them, and they know when and how to test them if and when they need to. They know every single students strengths and weaknesses, they know if they are in a good mood or a bad mood, they know if their dog died or ran away, they know if they are not getting to eat at home, if their family is going through a divorce, if they don't have electricity, are waying the same clothes everyday, if they are in the hospital having surgery, if they are sick, or if they just need a hug!!! These are the AMAZING teachers thet you legislators are forcing out with your DUMB statistics, your dumb meetings, your dumb standards, your dumb paperwork and your even dumber evaluations!!!!
- State-Led does not require a copyright!!!! It also does not require the US Department of Education and or ANY amount of federal grant $$$$$ which is only being used for threats and bribes!!!
All of these reasons above are why I fight and refuse to give up! Everyday I look at my children's little eyes and their faces and I know they deserve to be more than a stupid statistic. I remember all of the pain and sorrow of crying with my 6 year old because he HATED school and we battled because he would throw books across his bedroom calling himself stupid and dumb. I remember feeling like a failure as a mom because my child started having behavior problems in class!! Because he couldn't ever move up a reading level because he was reading the passage in 1 minute 10 seconds NOT 1 minute flat. He gave up, he quit, he begged me EVERY single day to stay home. His heart raced and pounded when he even caught sight of that dreaded timer, he wanted to do it so badly!! I would be helping other children in the class and be devastated watching mine hide in the corner hoping the teacher would not call on him. I CRIED every time I left that school. I did my best to tell him that he was smart, we began rewards charts at home, I encouraged him to do his best, I sent him into that place everyday and they would tell him he failed....then it was my job to assure him he didn't! It was my job to pick up all the millions of pieces they broke him into. I dreaded seeing any homework in their backpacks because I knew it was going to be a battle. I hated seeing my children so confused and frustrated, and we really hated spending $8,000 on in home tutors for both of our children because I was their mom and I couldn't help them! I did not know how to teach phonics or fuzzy math!
Now I cry because our Senator refused to even allow the Senate Bill 1146 to stop common core to even make it through his committee to be voted on!! How can one dictator whom we pay to represent us with our tax dollars do that?
Please take action and make that dreaded phone call in order to save even one student from hating school!
Call John Ford and demand that he allow these Senate Bills (I put them in RED) below to make it through the education committee and demand that they at least get voted on!
Senator John W. Ford
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Rm. 424A
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 521-5634
fordj@oksenate.gov
Executive Assistant: Debbie Thurmond
Legislation for 2014 begins TODAY, February 3rd!! There are approximately 300 education bills that have been filed in the House and Senate. THREE HUNDRED laws or changes to laws that are going to potentially impact the classroom work of teachers and students. Yes, 300!!!!
You can see the specific wording of these Laws and interpret them for yourself by going to LegiScan.com and insert the bill number on the left side column.
I have made an attempt at being a legal attorney and translating these into what I think they mean, but I CAN ABSOLUTELY BE WRONG so DO NOT take my word for it. If there is one that is of interest to you I highly recommend you read the bills for yourself. I also STRONGLY urge you to call them and get explanation and/or voice your concern prior to Feb. 22nd after the committees are through meeting to discuss which ones move on to the floor for voting.
1143 – By Standridge – basically requires the Pledge of Allegiance to be recited once a day in elementary schools, and permits it to be recited once a day in other schools.
1146 – By Fields – removes alignment with Common Core State Standards!!!!!!!!!
1154 – By Fields – removes 3rd grade retention laws and Reading Sufficiency Act.
1156 – By Shaw – prohibits schools being allowed to give out homework over summer break.
1157 – By Fields – financials with Oklahoma State Department of Education and mid-year carry over funds being adjusted.
1169 – By Garrison – prohibits Oklahoma State Department of Education from adjusting the cut scores on tests, as well as, performance levels except for during a specific time frame.
1179 – By Fields – allowing schools to do formative testing by school district according to PASS
1180 – By Brecheen – Law removing “winter holiday” saving the place for such things as Hanukkah & Christmas
1320 – By Loveless – modifies school funding calculations
1321 – By Loveless – consolidates administrative duties of school districts under 250 students.
1334 – By Bingman – modifies specific language related to Teacher Retirement funds.
1348 – By Stanislawski – provides exceptions for third grade law specifically English language learners
1349 – By Stanislawski – provides exceptions for third grade law specifically IEP students
1376 – By Sharp – provides potential for corporal punishment if parents approve and consent specific plan
1378 – By Paddack-- prohibits Oklahoma State Department of Education from administering any standardized test not mandated by federal law. (Field Tests) Requires that the cost savings will strictly be used toward providing teacher raises.
1381 – By Paddack – requires that the Oklahoma State Department of Education utilize “an established, independent agency or organization that is nationally recognized” for its expertise in psychometrics and statistics in order to conduct a reliability and validity study of our A-F grading scale.
1383 – By Paddack – raises the amount of money the OSDE would pay districts to remediate kids who scored “unsatisfactory” on state tests.
1422 – By Jolley – permits certain courses such as, AP computer science, to meet math requirements for graduation.
1460 – By Stanislawski – 26 PAGES of changes and modifications that change the definition of a private school?!
1464 – By Stanislawski –Requires TLE evaluations be used with specific priority with reduction in teacher workforce.
1470 – By Newberry – Protection of Parental Education Act, requires notice to parent/guardian of certain content material
1500 – By Boggs – requirement of daily citing of Pledge of Allegiance
1653 – By Halligan – Adds STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) to class list of course
1660 – By Ford – Higher Education requires private institutions receive certain accreditations.
1661 – By Ford – Adult education; transferring powers and duties of adult education to the State Board of Career and Technology Education
1662 – By Ford – student industry grants under Oklahoma Career Promise Act for certain industries pursuant to Executive Director of Oklahoma Department of Commerce
1663 – By Ford – Charter schools; directing a sponsor to terminate a contract if the charter school receives certain grades
1690 – By Sparks – clarifies language in Teacher Retirement Funds
1734 & 1735 – By Brinkley – clarifies language to Teacher Retirement Funds
1765 – By Brecheen – creates Oklahoma Science Education Act
1766 – By Sykes –school to work model career path, directing the development of guidelines for high school to work partnerships
1805 – By Standridge – creates Oklahoma American Heritage Education Act, which relates to classroom use of founding documents; requiring display of the United States of America motto; allowing principals and teachers to use certain materials; allowing teachers, principals, and administrators to display certain materials; requiring public school library collections to ensure access to certain material
1827 – By Newberry – permits a parent/guardian to excuse his/her child from any, and/or all parts of Oklahoma High-Stakes Testing, an OPT OUT LAW
1944 – By Burrage – Teachers; establishing the minimum salary schedule for teachers, does not state specifics
1960 – By Burrage – creates Oklahoma Teacher Loan Repayment Program Act. Teachers in Oklahoma public schools for at least three years would be eligible for an award to the bank holding their college loans, of no more than $5000.
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