One of my favorite talk-show radio hosts in Delaware is Rick Jensen on WDEL. While I may not always agree with him on every issue, we stand united in our hatred of Common Core and both actively advocate for parent opt-out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment. Or as Rick calls it, the “Not So Smarter Balanced Assessment”. He had this guy from the Thomas Fordham Institute on the show today.
I love how this guy refuses to call Common Core a curriculum. Really? Then why is it I put an article up with a copy of my son’s math homework a year ago, and it generated 15,000 hits in less than 24 hours? Because parents across America were Googling this homework that night, when kids all across the country had the SAME homework, with teachers teaching to that math that day. If that is just a standard, then I strongly suggest this man buys a dictionary and learns the difference between standards and curriculum.
And let’s not forget one thing that most folks don’t know. The NAEP test, that has been a “steady” barometer of our children’s success in America, is based on tests designed by American Institutes for Research. Who is also a vendor for numerous states and their standardized assessment, including all the Smarter Balanced Assessment states. Of course kids would do worse on a test they helped create against a test they helped create. A company like that doesn’t get $38,000,000.00 from a small state like Delaware, and who knows how much at a national level, if all children are succeeding. They need kids to fail this test, in great numbers, so they can continue their profit margins. That’s what it’s all about. So when these “think tank” guys talk about how much we need this data, they need that data so they can line their pockets with taxpayer money. It’s not about the kids. It’s never been about the kids. It’s about greed, pure and simple.
Why are these Fordham guys showing up in the News Journal and WDEL all of a sudden? Because folks like Dr. Paul Herdman of Rodel are asking them to. Because they know opt-out numbers are going to go through the roof next spring, and they want to get the spin control out now. Because these corporate intruders, and that’s what they are, are scared to death of the 148th General Assembly overriding Governor Markell’s veto of House Bill 50. But like the Smarter Balanced Assessment itself, they will fail. Because they are missing the crucial ingredient in all of this. A parent’s love for their child. There is nothing greater aside from the Almighty Himself! So Jack, Paul, Mark, all of you, listen up. We will not give up. We will not surrender. We will not stop. We aren’t idiots who believe whatever lines you throw our way. We are parents. We are our children’s voice. You all need to stop before you embarrass yourselves even further.
The Season Of Myths 
This would be a good spot to insert the Gadfly video and let your audience know they are the same as that think-tank person on the Rick Jensen show. Back at Common Core’s first steps Fordham published a survey showing a hugely large percentage of surveyed colleges strongly supported common core in k-12 schools. The word was “surveyed” colleges. Most good colleges (over 75%) DID NOT answer the unsolicited survey and were very much (and still are) anti-Common Core. That incident permanently destroyed any credibility Fordham Institute ever had. Fordham is an paid advertiser for Common Core and nothing else. Their job is to sell one particular brand of toothpaste, nothing else. They are Katy Perry holding a toothpaste box and smiling.
When you hear anything good about Common Core, try to look at the source and remember the adage: “if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes policy….”
As questioning parents you should say this: “screw these fake educational experts; I want to hear more from real child experts: parents… and if you listen hard enough to parents… you hear no one, not one single parent…. say “Common Core really helped my child succeed”… Prior to common core, almost every parent believed their schools curriculum would help their child succeed…
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