K-12 education standards through the looking glass
Submitted by Carson Now Reader on Tue, 01/20/2015 - 7:13am
In a previous CarsonNow comment, Carson GOP Chair Maurice White called for Dr. Steve Canavero of the Nevada Department of Education to "be immediately dismissed for his public disrespectful conduct."
Now Peter Hennessey is calling James Milgram and Sandra Stotsky "widely known and respected experts on eduction standards."
This kind of thing reminds me of a famous quote from Lewis Carroll: “If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?”
Here in the real world, Sandra Stotsky and James Milgram are best known for being sham experts on the Common Core state standards who speak at sham symposia staged as part of the Pioneer Institute's Common Core misinformation program, which has been in train since 2009.
If you're in any doubt about this, read this review of Stotsky's arguments from 2013:
http://dropoutnation.net/2013/06/21/more-common-core-mythmaking-sandra-s...
And if you missed this devastating review by a real Common Core expert from Missouri, here it is again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UPT075rcNA
Last but not least, this critique resulted from a Stotsky appearance in New Hampshire:
http://anhpe.org/2013/11/10/a-closer-look-at-sandra-stotskys-critique-of...
The best arguments yet made for not allowing the Pioneer Institute's misinformation program to derail the implementation of the new standards come from the conservative Fordham Institute, who which Sandra Stotsky worked before she decided that grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was a sign of the apocalypse:
http://www.edexcellencemedia.net/Ohio/Petrilli%20Ohio%20Common%20Core%20...
Lastly, here is the statement issued by Dale Erquiaga, Gov. Sandoval's Superintendent of Public Instruction, the day after Assemblyman O'Neill's Common Core symposium:
"The Nevada Department of Education was invited by the Citizens for Sound Academic Standards to participate in a forum they organized in Carson City to discuss the Nevada Academic Content Standards based on Common Core. The organizers invited two professors from out-of-state to participate in the forum. As with all requests to engage in a discussion about Nevada standards, my staff invited Nevada teachers to participate in this discussion. I consider our educators to be the most credible and knowledgeable speakers about Nevada’s standards. This fact was communicated to the organizers and to the legislator who reserved the room in Carson City. When my staff arrived at the forum last night, they were abruptly notified that the Department’s teacher presenters, including an associate superintendent and educators from the Carson City School District, would not be allowed to speak at the forum. Attempts by my staff to provide teachers a voice in the conversation about their standards were met with a disrespectful, if not aggressive, response. Worse, one of the organizers physically removed a Nevada educator invited to speak on behalf of the Department; that educator filed assault charges with Legislative Police earlier today.
"This is not the Nevada way of engaging in public discourse. I am compelled to denounce the Citizens for Sound Academic Standards and the visiting professors for silencing Nevada teachers to speak at a public forum and for resorting to intimidation tactics before and during the meeting to silence teacher voices. There is room for differences of opinion on this topic, but I cannot support participation in a forum that incites bullying and censorship. Department staff will not participate in the Symposium on Common Core scheduled to occur in Fallon tonight, or any other event involving these organizers and their out-of-state professors. Furthermore, I expect these individuals to apologize to Nevada educators."
- Carson City
- Carson City School District
- assault
- carson
- Carson GOP
- City
- Common Core
- Common Core State Standards
- Conservative
- conversation
- Dale Erquiaga
- day
- Department of Education
- Educators
- eduction standards
- event
- Fallon
- foundation
- GOP
- grants
- Hennessey
- k-12 education
- Maurice
- Maurice White
- meeting
- Milgram
- Nevada
- Nevada Department of Education
- new
- Opinion
- opinion
- Peter Hennessey
- Pioneer
- police
- program
- Program:
- public
- school
- school district
- staff
- standards
- state
- Steve Canavero
- Stotsky
- Support
- Teacher
- teachers
- White
- youtube
- Education
