Free Republic

A new law passed in the state of Tennessee has led Gov. Bill Haslam (R) and the state’s chief education officials to quietly quit the PARCC Common Core test consortium, leaving the multi-state test group with only 15 members. As Education Week reports, while H.B. 1549, which was signed into law last month, does not actually direct Tennessee to quit PARCC, it does require the state to use its current assessment, the TCAP, in the coming 2014-2015 school year and to issue a request for proposals for a new test to be administered in 2015-2016. In a letter to Laura...

Arizona schools superintendent John Huppenthal admitted earlier this week that he has been posting anonymously on a number of political blogs using a handful of pseudonyms. Some of the postings attributed to Huppenthal, a Republican, are inflammatory and impolitic. He called food stamp recipients “lazy pigs,” for example, and equated Margaret Sanger’s promotion of abortion for poor black people to the extermination of Jewish people by the Nazis, reports The Arizona Republic. He also blamed Franklin Roosevelt’s policies during the Great Depression for the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany and suggested that Obama’s policies are similar to Roosevelt’s.

The “zero-tolerance” policy has become pretty insane in recent years, with school officials drastically over-reacting to kids being, well, normal kids. In one incident last year, a little boy in Maryland chewed his Pop-tart into the shape of a gun, and the adults in his school went ballistic. Legislators in Florida are pushing back against the madness by passing a “Pop-tart bill.”

I thought this was interesting and Freepers might get a kick/laugh out of it. Look at number 1 major requiring the least amount of study and number 5.

Last week’s California superior court decision, which struck down teacher tenure law in California public schools, is good news for everyone worried about America’s future. The decision, finding these provisions unconstitutional and discriminatory against low-income and minority students, was even applauded by Education Secretary Arne Duncan. With the success of this lawsuit, similar suits can be anticipated around the country. Everyone, except the teachers unions, seems to grasp that public education in America, particularly in low-income communities, suffers because of lack of competition. The lawsuit, filed by 9 California public school students, was backed by a non-profit organization, Students...

When Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill repealing Common Core national standards from her state’s schools, it was perhaps the most ironic moment in the fight over the initiative. Fallin is chairwoman of the National Governors Association, one of the private groups that hold the copyright of Common Core. (Yes, this marks the first time in history a private group has owned school standards.) While Fallin wasn’t governor at the time the standards were created and adopted, she nonetheless rejected her own organization’s initiative. In the same week, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley signed a bill to repeal Common...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal may have got the ball rolling with Republican governors. According to The Clarion Ledger, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant is expressing dissatisfaction with the Common Core State Standards in his state. Watch their interview with Governor Bryant below. ... Full Article:http://www.fightthecore.com/mississippi-gov-phil-bryant-hints-at-common-core-repeal-failed-program/

The more we insist everyone must attend college, the less colleges will offer what students need. About a month ago, I came across a pair of letters online. The first, simply signed “Alumnus,” is an angry retort to his alma mater’s request for a donation. He is irritated that his degrees and the time and money spent on them have left him $40,000 in debt and unemployed for two years-plus after graduation. The second, signed “A Dedicated Professor,” is an attempt to take Alumnus to task for his lack of understanding about the significance of a true education—something he accuses...

O told Jimmy Fallon that Sasha and Malia never bring their friends to the WH. I wonder why. twitter.com/markknoller/st…— Sean Agnew (@seanagnew) June 20, 2014 Does this have something to do with it? Mrs Obama cites research that if you goof off all summer, "you can actually lose up to 3 months’ worth of knowledge from the previous year."— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) June 20, 2014 There’s no party like a FLOTUS party! @markknoller @HarrietBaldwin what is she pushing now under the guise of "social justice"? First a nutritionist, now an educator? PLEASE-STFU— PoliticallyIncorrect (@McCarthyKnew) June 20, 2014 Michelle "No...

TheBlackHomeSchool.com is a project created by Dr. Boyce Watkins and Nomalanga Mhlauli-Moses, two college professors who are deeply committed to helping parents occupy the education of African American children. For far too long, black children have been mis-educated and undereducated by failing public schools, leading to a crisis of opportunity within the African American community. So, working with leading scholars such as Dr. Christopher Emdin, Dr. Steve Perry, Dr. Cornel West and Dr. Tyra Seldon, Mhlauli-Moses and Watkins are seeking to bring educators to the black community to provide resources and information for parents seeking to ensure that their children...

Students all over the country are in a state of excitement. It is the end of the school year, and for many, the end of high school. Graduations are being celebrated in every state. Proud parents are posting photos of their children in caps and gowns, shopping for their prom outfits, and doing senior activities. Yearbooks are floating through classrooms, filled with heartfelt goodbyes and “keep in touch” messages. All of their hard work has paid off and many have their parents to thank for their good grades. Parents in African and Caribbean cultures are doing something new to make...

Bill Donohue comments on the response by Jody Ian Goeler, Superintendent of Schools for Regional School District 14 in Connecticut, to accusations that the Vatican website has been blocked in district schools because it promotes “hate speech”:Yesterday afternoon, I asked Superintendent Goeler to “please identify examples of ‘hate speech’ found on the Vatican’s website.” He responded last night saying that he never “stated or implied anywhere that the Vatican website promotes or has examples of hate speech.” This resolves nothing. In a public letter released today, Goeler admits that access is provided to liberal websites, but not conservative ones. Nowhere...

Sixty years ago, Benjamin Bloom came up with what he said was a superior way to categorize educational goals and activities. The Taxonomy was famous for reducing everything to six steps: remembering; understanding; applying; analyzing; evaluating; creating. Note that "remembering" (or "knowing") is the first and LOWEST step. Bloom concocted this taxonomy to describe education at the college level. College professors, however, ignored the Taxonomy. Meanwhile, the people in charge of our public schools put this thing on a pedestal. Why? Because the Taxonomy scorned what had always been considered the most important step: knowing information. Bloom and his Taxonomy...

WOODBURY, Conn. – A high school student claims that a firewall is blocking conservative websites at his school. Andrew Lampart, a senior at Nonnewaug High School, discovered that he couldn’t get on the National Rifle Association’s website while on campus as he was doing research for a classroom debate on gun control in May. “So, I went over to the other side,” Lampart told WTIC. “And I went over on sites such as Moms Demand Action or Newtown Action Alliance and I could get on these websites but not the others.” The 18-year-old decided to investigate further by broadening his...

In a presser now underway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has announced that Louisiana is withdrawing from Common Core. Jindal was one of the first governors to sign onto Common Core but has since soured on the concept. Hopefully, more governors will follow Jindal and withdraw. Common Core, whatever its alleged virtues, is focused on training compliant workers not engaged citizens.

Original article was published by The Daily Beast earlier this month. If you don't care to go to the original, these are the top 10: Texas A& M Stanford University University of Wisconsin Florida State University University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill University of Florida Brigham Young University University of Georgia University of Texas, Austin Kansas State University

“I have had students who are very strongly pro-the global warming movement in my classes, of course, because most young people have heard this already,” he said. “And when I have them actually do the study, and take apart an IPCC [International Panel on Climate Change] claim, sometimes they break into tears, and they say ‘I can’t believe this is the only class I’ve ever been in in which anyone has ever told me there is even an issue.’” American University statistician tells The Fix: Belief in climate catastrophe ‘simply not logical’ If one would have asked statistician Caleb Rossiter...

Have you ever wondered how Common Core went from a twinkle in a liberalÂ’s eye to widespread destruction throughout AmericaÂ’s schools in only a few short years? Well, all it took was money, lots of it. In 2008 Gene Wilhoit and David Coleman were looking to bring national standards to American education, which until then had been fragmented between the states, but they knew it would cost millions. So they went to see the man whose name is synonymous with wealth, Bill Gates. Gates was known for his meddling with American education, and failing miserably at it. He had invested...

A former porn star known as "Dave Pounder" plans to pound the pavement in hopes of getting elected to the Palm Beach County School Board. And yes, sex education is a major platform for this Boca Raton resident, whose real name is David Mech.

One person can make a difference, President John F. Kennedy said, and thanks to Hawaii State Rep. Bob McDermott (R) more people might try. The conservative dad took on the state’s Education Department and scored a partial victory. Since December, Rep. McDermott has been a campaign of one, working to roll back Hawaii’s explosive sex ed curriculum — which is so explicit it would make most adults blush. Homosexuality gets the state’s support, as well as other controversial practices that parents should reserve the right to explain to their kids themselves. bob mcdermott hawaii “I can assure you my 11-year-old...