King Arthur Won't be Taught in this Private School Classroom Because of Common Core

King Arthur's Knights
Was Arthur a true, historical figure or only a hero of legend? This is truly up to each and every one of us to decide for ourselves. Arthur represents a man who was the epitome of good against evil, light against darkness, and that eternal, never-ending struggle between what is right and that which is wrong.

Students at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, Indiana could have answered the question above in years past as this was part of their reading curriculum, but this year's class won't be studying King Arthur.  From Why One English Teacher Is Dropping The Legends Of King Arthur For The Life Of JFK at stateimpact.npr.org (note that this teacher teaches in a private school):

Melinda Bundy has taught at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis for 39 years. Students in her ninth grade English class usually spend February immersed in King Arthur, studying legend and learning to write research papers.

Last week her ninth graders learned to take research notes and cite bibliographical information. But this year they aren’t studying Arthurian legend — they’re learning about John F. Kennedy’s America.  Bundy sent this note home to parents explaining why she made the switch:

We are beginning the research paper for English 9H. I have changed the scope of the project because when I looked at the Core Standards, I saw that one of the standards was to analyze a historical document. I have chose President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration speech as the basis of the paper. The students have watched the video of the inauguration, read the speech, analyzed the content, and discussed it in class. Now they are going to research the ’60s and find out what was actually going on in the U.S. as well as the world during Kennedy’s administration. Then they will chose one event/issue/problem and relate it to President Kennedy.

How does Ms. Bundy feel about this move to informational text vs reading King Arthur?

Bundy loved teaching Arthurian legend. But she says with Indiana’s transition to the Common Core, a set of new academic standards adopted by 46 states and the District of Columbia, she’s had to incorporate more nonfiction into her curriculum to prepare students for state tests.

The new standards require 70 percent of everything high school students read be nonfiction. Common Core architects say teachers in all subjects should incorporate more informational texts.  But in practice, Bundy says that burden falls on English teachers preparing students for end-of-course assessments.

“The ECA is all nonfiction. They’re given an essay to read. If we don’t cover it in English, and it’s on the English part of the ECA, our kids are going to fail,” says Bundy. “We can’t totally disavow that we’re responsible. We are.”

Bundy likes teaching Kennedy’s inauguration speech. There’s an endless number of topics students can explore in 1960s America — the civil rights movement, the Cuban missile crisis, the space race, the Cold War, among others — and the library keeps sending down more resources for students to use. Yet Bundy still feels a pang for some of the subjects she used to teach.

“I don’t teach short stories anymore. I love short stories. But we read biographies and autobiographies now,” she says.

If your student attends a private Indiana school that accepts public school vouchers, then your private school student (even if you are paying tuition for your student), will see a shift to common core standards as well.  Private schools don't have as much autonomy as before.  Why are parents privately paying for the same standards, assessments and curriculum mapping present in the public school?  What now differentiates private school educational delivery/content from public schools? 

As a department, the English teachers at Cathedral have been working to develop common assessment tools like final exams. All students are on a college prep track and take the same finals. Teachers with honors or AP sections can add additional questions.

Bundy and Keyes (sophomore English teacher) both say people are surprised to hear Cathedral, a private school, has to align with the Common Core. The school participates in Indiana’s voucher program — a little less than 4 percent of the school’s 1,252 students receive state money — and students take the same standardized tests they would at public school.

Ah well.  Let parents explain to their children as they watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade what the Holy Grail is and represents.  They really need to know why a monk would stand guard over it for a few hundred years and why it garnered intense interest from the Nazis.   They might have learned about The Holy Grail from Ms. Bundy, but not now thanks to Common Core.

 

Will Home Schooled and Private Schooled Students Have to Take Common Core Assessments?

What happens when "choice" schools can't choose their own assessments due to legislative action?  What kind of choice is that for students and parents?  They will have the same education from either traditional public or "choice" schools.

There is some concerning news coming from Florida regarding private school testing requirements that bears watching not only in that state but other states as well.  There has been concern raised to Governor Scott by a private school administrator in Deland about possible testing changes in store for private schools.

From grumpythings.blogspot.com:

The smooth system of transferring credits from private schools to public schools has apparently been eliminated. According to an email sent to Governor Scott, the Volusia County Director of Assessment informed the Trinity Christian Academy in Deltona that credit will not be given to private school students who transfer to public school for courses, such as Algebra and Biology, because the standardized end-of-course tests are not available to them. If this information is correct, the Florida legislature, Commissioner of Education, and State School Board, by an act of incompetence or by design, have removed all alternative testing measures available to students in a private school that would serve in lieu of end-of-course-exams, leaving students unable to graduate from a public high school.

"Standardized end-of-course (EOC) tests" can be translated into Common Core assessments....meaning  the private school needs to utilize curriculum that tests well on Common Core assessments, otherwise, their students transitioning into public school settings will not receive credit for those private school courses.

The blogger continues:

Is this lapse a way to insert Florida's controversial testing and accountability system into private schools and exert control over religious schools? Will the standardized end-of-course requirement ultimately be required of all schools, public and private? Does the requirement apply to homeschoolers who transfer back to public school?

Bob Sikes, writing in Scathing Purple Musings: 

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Florida Governor Rick Scott followed through on his promise to be more open and created Project Sunburst, a web site which would publish the emails he receives and sends as governor. One email easily catches the eye of education policy observers across the state. It’s from a director of students affairs at a Florida private school.

Dear Governor Scott:

I am an administrator in a SACS accredited private school. Recently, laws have been passed requiring End of Course (EOC) assessments for classes such as Algebra I and Biology. I have been informed that students leaving our school will be denied credit for these classes because the EOC is not available to them, nor is there an alternative test that can be taken. This seems unfair to me since our students’ families pay their taxes as much as public school students.

What’s more, these families bear the cost of education that our government would have had to carry. Private school students should not be penalized for choosing to go to Florida’s private schools. Again, I have been informed by Volusia County Director of Assessments that our students who have received credit for these classes on their transcripts, will not be given credit in a Florida public school if they should transfer. Also, we could not give an EOC ourselves because it would not be a state standardized test. What are we to do?

On another front, given the current failure rate of Florida students on these tests, it seems short sighted to not have an alternative plan for these students. Our public school system will be burdened with students repeating classes and Florida’s drop-out rate will increase. There are many students who are poor test takers, but excellent students. I have seen these students flourish in college, but now, these same students would probably not have a chance to graduate in order to go to college. How does this benefit our state?

I would appreciate an answer to this email. Thank-you for your consideration in this matter.

Sincerely,
Darlene Hellender, MS of Ed
Director of Student Affairs
Trinity Christian Academy, Deltona

There are countless imperfections to the “choice” theme which drives Florida’s policymakers. Clearly concerned for her students, Hellender knows that Trinity’s students may return to public schools for any number of reasons. The accountability system that republicans have rammed down Floridian’s throats puts voucher and private school students in a serious  Catch-22. They could certainly take the test when they get to their new school, but they would be at a significant disadvantage as they did not go through an Algebra of Biology class which covered the standards which would be on the test.  Extending EOCs and other high stakes tests to private schools defeats the purpose for families who chose private schools to get away from tests.

Meanwhile Floridians will vote on Amendment 8 – the fraudulently named Religious Freedom Act – which will open the door for vouchers to schools like Trinity. The school’s SAC’s accreditation indicates it’s a fine school and the professional concern that Hellender has for her students is commendable. There are sure to be more instances where Florida’s test obsession puts families and children who are going to private schools or have vouchers in a bind.

It’s doubtful that Jeb Bush’s foundation doesn’t want Floridians to know about such problems when they vote on Amendment 8 in less than 80 days. They afterall named it in such a misleading way to begin with. Suppressing flaws, engaging in propaganda and attempting to trick voters is the way education privatization zealots roll.

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The question and concern then is this:

there is a quiet effort underway to slip the common core standards, assessment, and database into private schools. Vouchers and the Blaine Amendment are connected to this.

Ms. Hellender understands the danger of governmental interference in her school's testing decisions.  All of a sudden those vouchers that give parents "choice"....don't really give them "choice" at all when it comes to what their children are learning.  What their children learn in private school must adapt to the assessments mandated by the government.

Tomorrow we'll have a story about how Missouri legislators may have tried this same trick this past session.  It possibly could have affected home schoolers and required them to take common core assessments for credit.

The Sunday Education Weekly Reader: 11.13.11

Welcome to the Sunday Education Weekly Reader for 11.13.11.

This week we'll be highlighting:

• an example of the growing jobs in online education companies...that really don't require much knowledge in education
  
• an opinion that LOWER taxes, not HIGHER taxes ensure a better education for students
• how the cradle to grave agenda gearing up
  

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Do you need a job? Interested in working for private industry that uses taxpayer money? Check out a job posting for Apex Learning, the leading provider of digital curriculum for secondary education to the nation's school districts. Don't worry, you don't have to be particularly innovative or know much about educational theory in many of these jobs.

A description for an Account Executive in Education reads:

The selected candidate will prospect for new business for Apex Learning digital curriculum within the assigned territory, focusing on sales of packaged solutions.

"Packaged solutions" is the future of education via Common Core standards and a nationalized curriculum. Remember that the next time you are sitting at a school board meeting and the Board members emphasize how the district aims to provide "individual instruction" to your human capital.

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Why is the cost of educating children in the private realm so much cheaper than the cost of public education? Are these programs that provide vouchers for private schools a better plan for student achievement and Constitutional law?

Is it true that lowering taxes actually improves test scores?

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The government wants to give out more money for education! (The Department of Education apparently hasn't read the previous linked article). It wants your child in pre-school now. THAT'S the ticket for students to become STEM ready. That's right. Those Pre-K teachers are the answer for our dismal educational test scores.

Here is a proposed government program and newly created DOE department for your human capital beginning at age 3. The government just can't wait to go into Pre-K programs for child assessments and data mined information. I don't think this is what Mr. Rogers must have had in mind when he talked to young children.

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Educational thought of the day is from the book The Double Comfort Safari Club:

Mma Ramotswe thought about this. Having the right approach to life was a great gift in this life. Her father, the late Obed Ramotswe, had always had the right approach to life--she was sure of that. And for a moment, as she sat there with her friend, with the late-afternoon sun slanting in through the window, she thought about how she owed her father so much. He had taught her almost everything she knew about how to lead a good life, and the lessons she had learned from him were as fresh today as they ever had been. Do not complain about your life. Do not blame others for things that you have brought upon yourself. Be content with who you are and where you are, and do whatever you can do to bring to others such contentment, and joy, and understanding that you have managed to find yourself.