What's happening educationally in Missouri in this dominant Republican legislature? We've been scratching our heads trying to figure it out and we believe we've found the trail that explains it all. We'll be detailing our investigation the next several days and then we'll ask the questions: do you believe the senators elected under the conservative banner are upholding their promises to the voters and why do they want to create educational plans that increase federal control and unfunded mandates?
Here is an article from the Washington Post refuting many of Arne Duncan's contentions about education. Arne Duncan is the bearer of Race to the Top which allows no local control of: curriculum, the hiring, firing or placement of teachers. One of the most important concepts to understand about Duncan and RTTT is the word "redistribution". What will be redistributed? Money, teachers, administrators, and students. Local districts won't have control over who they hire, who is placed in their classrooms/administrative offices, or the students who make up their classrooms. Total control. That's the name of the game of RTTT.
We don't have RTTT in Missouri, but we do have Common Core standards. By giving up state control of our curriculum, we received money in which to implement them. It was apparently of no interest to our State School Board, Commissioner of Education, or Governor that this would cause increased unfunded mandates to our state. It apparently is of no interest or concern to our legislature that these mandates violate state sovereignty. From the "Educated Citizenry 2020" report:
Commissioner Nicastro provided the Committee with a statewide context for issues of
standards and accountability. Missouri is one of many states that has adopted the
national Common Core Standards. DESE is also collaborating with other states in the
development of common assessments both as a complement to the Common Core
Standards and as a measure of cost savings. Commissioner Nicastro shared DESE’s
top priorities with the Committee which include early childhood education and effective
teaching and leadership. In addition, their aspiration is for Missouri to be a top 10 state
in academic performance, and the Committee supports this goal.
I question this sentence from the report: "DESE is also collaborating with other states in the development of common assessments both as a complement to the Common Core Standards and as a measure of cost savings". First, the common assessments ARE a complement to the Common Core standards BUT they take away the right of Missouri to set its own state standards for Missouri students. Second, I question the comment that Common Core standards will result in a cost savings to the state. Missouri received $248 Million in stimulus to begin implementing the standards, but as our proposed cost for RTTT was $400 Million, it is doubtful this initial funding will be sufficient to cover the entire cost. Common Core standards necessitate the implementation of a nationwide data system which will be quite expensive. I am curious if the legislators received cost estimates from DESE for the installed system.
As Homeschooling United noted in a previous blog, Scott Dieckhaus, the Chairman of the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee tweeted the following while attending a conference on Education:
Dieckhaus" width="48" height="48">sdieckhaus Scott Dieckhaus
Ready to spend three days with some of the greatest education reformers in the world. Better education is coming to Missouri soon!
Dieckhaus" width="48" height="48">sdieckhaus Scott Dieckhaus
At #EIA10 and excited to hear from Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Eva Moskowitz, Arne Duncan among others.
30 Nov Favorite Retweet Reply
Conservatives and libertarians need to be asking themselves this question: why would "conservative" Republicans be jumping on the Arne Duncan education bandwagon? Read the Washington Post article. There are valid points from the author questioning Duncan's basic tenets about educational theory. Aren't the theories of Duncan and conservatives miles apart when it pertains to the matter of funding and mandates? Why are our Republican legislators so eager to embrace this plan?
What does the representative mean when he says "better education is coming to Missouri soon?" If he embraces Duncan's vision, is he for redistribution of "human capital"? Is he for districts not having any control over curriculum or staffing decisions? Is this the better education he envisions?
We believe we know and we'll share it with you in subsequent postings. It truly is a bipartisan push, but it's not really for the children.
Conservatives and libertarians need to be asking themselves this question: why would "conservative" Republicans be jumping on the Arne Duncan education bandwagon? Read the Washington Post article. There are valid points from the author questioning Duncan's basic tenets about educational theory. Aren't the theories of Duncan and conservatives miles apart when it pertains to the matter of funding and mandates? Why are our Republican legislators so eager to embrace this plan?
What does the representative mean when he says "better education is coming to Missouri soon?" If he embraces Duncan's vision, is he for redistribution of "human capital"? Is he for districts not having any control over curriculum or staffing decisions? Is this the better education he envisions?
We believe we know and we'll share it with you in subsequent postings. It truly is a bipartisan push, but it's not really for the children.
“One of the most important concepts to understand about Duncan and RTTT is the word "redistribution". What will be redistributed? Money, teachers, administrators, and students. Local districts won't have control over who they hire, who is placed in their classrooms/administrative offices, or the students who make up their classrooms. Total control. That's the name of the game of RTTT.”
ReplyDeleteThat’s exactly the point of their program, the power to control what will be taught, who will teach it, who will have no say in it at all and will just have to keep quiet and allow their children to be subjected to it – for their own good.
I’m very interested to hear see what you’ve found that would cause conservatives, who supposedly want to conserve constitutional law and individual rights, to favor centralized power being used to reduce or remove parents influence over the education of their own children.
Very interested indeed.
I'd suggest that Republicans in the Missouri Legislature need to take a hard look at the Constitutional (US & MO) fact that, while the federal govt has a Dept. of ED, control over public education is not given to the federal govt. The state always does a better job of setting up its own goals and standards for Missouri's public schools. For the best education for Missouri students, our Legislature needs to shed their false understanding engendered by the federal govt and to take responsibility on the state level for the proper and excellent education of Missouri children. The federal govt is content with a 50% drop-out rate - they've failed us, and so does the Missouri Legislature unless they fulfill the duty they have to set the goals and rules for educating Missourians.
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