A far more effective approach would be organizing a referendum that legally bans high stake standardized testing in the state, or better yet - makes them meaningless by allowing people to opt out. The idea that I circulated some time ago is the "promotion of educational choice" that mandates giving every student a choice of different testing methods e.g. standardized test, oral examination, or a performance of a project. If every of these three alternatives were equally likely to be elected, the standardized testing would be meaningless because they are based on ranking the entire student population not a self-selected sample accounting for a third of that population.
I think the idea of "choice" is catchy enough to be attractive to a wide range of interests, including libertarians, christers, and conservatives.
Wojtek
On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 1:01 PM, JOANNA A. <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
>
>
> https://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/the-washington-state-democratic-party-central-committee-passed-a-resolution-opposing-common-core-state-standards/
>
>
> This is the first time a statewide Democratic Party committee has taken a
> public position against the Common Core and it happened in our great state.
> David Spring, a Parents Across America member and active in the Democratic
> Party in East King County and who was one of the education advocates who
> organized this effort, said:
>
>
> This was a huge victory for the children, parents, and teachers of
> Washington State to have the Washington State Democratic Party - the first
> Democratic Party in the nation to vote against Common Core. It is our hope
> that this is the beginning of the end for Bill Gates in the Common Core
> scam. This was the grassroots - the rank and file of the Democratic Party -
> who said NO to Common Core. They deserve all the credit, along with you
> teacher activists.
>
>
> The resolution as it was passed.
> Resolution Opposing Common Core State Standards
> WHEREAS the copyrighted (and therefore unchangeable) Common Core State
> Standards (CCSS) are a set of controversial top-down K-12 academic
> standards that were promulgated by wealthy private interests without
> research-based evidence of validity and are developmentally inappropriate
> in the lowest grades; and
>
> WHEREAS, as a means of avoiding the U.S. Constitution's 10th Amendment
> prohibition against federal meddling in state education policy, two
> unaccountable private trade associations-the National Governors Association
> (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)-have received
> millions of dollars in funding from the Gates Foundation and others to
> create the CCSS; and
>
> WHEREAS the U.S. Department of Education improperly pressured state
> legislatures into adopting the Common Core State Standards and high-stakes
> standardized testing based on them as a condition of competing for federal
> Race to the Top (RTTT) stimulus funds that should have been based on need;
> and
>
> WHEREAS as a result of Washington State Senate Bill 6669, which passed the
> State legislature on March 11, 2010, the Office of the Superintendent of
> Instruction (OSPI) adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS) on July 20,
> 2011; and
> WHEREAS this adoption effectively transfers control over public school
> standardized testing from locally elected school boards to the
> unaccountable corporate interests that control the CCSS and who stand to
> profit substantially; and
>
> WHEREAS the Washington State Constitution also calls for public education
> to be controlled by the State of Washington through our elected State
> legislature, our elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction and our
> elected local school boards; and
>
> WHEREAS implementation of CCSS will cost local school districts hundreds
> of millions of dollars to pay for standardized computer-based tests, new
> technology, new curricula and teacher training at a time when Washington is
> already insufficiently funding K-12 Basic Education without proven benefit
> to students; and WHEREAS some states have already withdrawn from CCSS;
>
> THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that we call upon the Washington State
> legislature and the Superintendent of Public Instruction to withdraw from
> the CCSS and keep K-12 education student-centered and accountable to the
> people of Washington State.
> Submitted by Sarajane Siegfried, Resolutions Chair
> When the vote was taken, about two thirds of the delegates voted in favor
> of Resolution 707.
> Congratulations to all who made this happen!
> For information on how your party can make this happen, go to "How to get
> your State Democratic Party Committee to Oppose Common Core."
>
> Submitted by Dora Taylor
>
>
>
>
> __._,_.___
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>
> Posted by: Dora Taylor <edumom2012 at gmail.com>
>
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-- Wojtek
"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."