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TEXAS EDUCATORS UNPROPESSIONALISM

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dali goddess

 

My activism in exposing CSCOPE has brought me a host of enemies in the Texas education industry.  They appear to be at ease with the controversial lessons where reading verses of the Quran in class, drawing new communist flags, portraying the Boston Tea Party as a terrorist act, etc. are the norm.  Despite that the lessons are biased and the teachers are being controlled and told what, when and how to teach with the CSCOPE program, they seem fine with that.  Many teachers have left the profession of teaching or have moved to work in private or charters schools.

 Dr. Brent Hawkins, ESC 6 Assistant Director and Cathy Moak, ESC 6 Component Director for School Transformation and Digital Learning have once again come out against me, showing their unprofessionalism in the process. My legal name is Rajene. I have never used the name RAJENE and someone must have taken the time to research me very thoroughly to have come across my legal name . Ms. Moak, in trying to paint me as something evil, searched my legal name on the internet and came up with the Sanskrit meaning of my legal name even though it’s reference has a different spelling and posted in on TWITTER. In her eyes I am the “dark one” a Hindu goddess. Dr. Hawkins also found this worthy information and chose to re-tweet it.

dark one

director hawkins

In 53 years I have never researched my legal name so I did some research of my own.  I summarize that Cathy must have looked pretty hard until she came up with something in order to demonize me with. I googled RAJENE and found another definition which I particularly favor in the following link, which is posted below and even has the correct spelling of my legal name. I am glad that my critics lead me to look up what my name really means and due to the fact that Dr. Hawkins told me months ago that I was not going to “tear apart something they have implemented”, it seems to fit really well. I don’t know who specifically “THEY”  are in Dr. Hawkins comment but I think I as well other activist across the state have been pretty successful in exposing the progressive agenda of these educators though the battle is far from over.

rajene

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CSCOPE’S…… FLIP FLOP PROGRAM!

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FLIP FLOP

 

CSCOPE or TEKS Resource System what ever you want to call the program has mastered the art of flip flopping dependent on the day and  current criticism of the program.   CSCOPE now known has the TEKS Resource System was operated by the non-profit Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative (TESCCC) is now being operated under the name Texas Curriculum Management Program Cooperative (TCMPC).  CSCOPE’s original promotional PowerPoint presentation used in promoting and selling their program to school districts outlined the research base in the creation of CSCOPE. Please make note that two of the most controversial individuals used in its creation of the program is  Marxist Lev Vygotsky and Radical Humanist Linda Darling Hammond (highlighted below). Hammond is associated with Communist Bill Ayers, the Weather underground bomber and is heavenly involved in the creation and implementation of the Common Core Standards.

HAMMOND

Performing another FLIP FLOP in hopes of  mending their damaged image the management team TCMPC has removed Vygotsky and Hammond from the research base though the foundation of CSCOPE has not changed. Despite it’s name change CSCOPE is the same, the management team consist of the same individuals. The program is all about implementing a Marxist Program called Project Based Learning built around the Collective, in  of promoting diversity, equity, and globalization.

ENGLISH

Due to the fact that CSCOPE was exposed last school year and received so much negative publicity the powers at be chose to change its name to the TEKS Resource System and to abolish its non profit.

Below is another slide from the PowerPoint notice they promote the idea of CSCOPE being Progressive and it is not a Parent Resource. Wow? They have tried for years to hide CSCOPE from the public and parents. Thankfully for the involvement in concerned Texas Citizens CSCOPE is now exposed for what it truly is, a complete radical progressive TRANSFORMATION of the education system in TEXAS.

WHAT CSCOPE IS AND NOT

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Students Hate Project Based Learning aka PBL

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pblThe progressive radical transformation of education today is called Project Based Learning. It is a teaching philosophy where the teacher is no longer as the progressives say “a sage on the stage” She/He becomes more like a coach, facilitator, and friend within this learning environment.  PBL is being implemented in Common Core states as well as those that did not adopt common core such as my home state Texas.  Project Based Learning is a  Marxist teaching philosophy based on the collective. Texas Parents need to wake up as to what is going on in your local school. Texas school districts have been implementing PBL with the use of CSCOPE and other curriculum tools for some time.

 

Students are not beginning to voice criticism about Project Based Learning on Social Media. We need more parents and students to voice their criticism of PBL as well using the hashtag #HATEPBL.

 

ramon

 

 

 

gun pbl

today

Comparison Chart between a Traditional Education and Project Based Learning

PBL COMPARISON

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The Downfall of the United States and It’s Education System

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stop common core

 

CSCOPE, Common Core, or Project Based Learning will contribute to the  downfall of the United States as most  have known it. All are based on a Marxist philosophy of teaching. It is based on the COLLECTIVE and not individual achievement. America’s  sovereignty is no longer taught. The lives of the men and women who fought and died for our freedom, you will not hear their names mentioned in a public school classroom.

God has been removed, though it is acceptable to learn about Allah and read the Quran, the religion enviromentalism is preached through all core subjects. It is acceptable for High School Students to draw new Communist Flags, etc.

 

The stupidity of of what is now transpiring in classrooms across America can be viewed in the videos below.

 

 

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Dad Arrested for Speaking out Against Common Core!

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Robert Small of Towson, Maryland attended an open forum to get his questions answered regarding Common Core standards. It did not take long for those attending to realize those running the meeting had no intentions of answering genuine questions from parents or concerned citizens. The meeting was set up to stifle free speech and followup questions when parents were asked to submit question in writing ahead of time. When Small when off script and stood up to ask his questions despite the meeting format he was then escorted out my an armed officer moonlighting as a security guard. Small was arrested and charged with 2nd degree assault though no assault visibly took place, facing a $2500.00 fine and up to 10 years in prison. All charges have sensed been dropped.

If America doesn’t wake up to what is going on they are in for some hard times. Texas at this moment has stifled their teachers from speaking out against the use of CSCOPE/Project Based Learning. The only ones that have spoken are the ones that are in position to retire or they have quit teaching. And then we have those that expose what is going on anonymously. While many chose to buy into the progressive agenda and are naive to the growing threat of fascism in America.

 

 

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Thomas Ratliff sucking up to The League of Women Voters

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Tonight, the League of Women Voters in Marshall, Texas  are holding an informational meeting on CSCOPE. Program Chair, Gail Beil extended an invitation to State Board of Education Member Thomas Ratliff and Senator Dan Patrick. Dan Patrick can’t make the meeting due to a prior commitment so I called Linda Adler  Linda A.Adler

with the leaque and offered to join the discussion via SKYPE. Ms. Adler did not seem the least bit interested and said it was not on the agenda for me to join in.  Beil will ask Ratliff 8 questions in regard to CSCOPE. I question the  non partisan nature of this meeting being  that the program Chair, Gail Beil is the Aunt to Houston’s lesbian mayor Annise Parker. Ms. Beil   made the following statement in on her facebook post in regard to the mayor “Texans that don’t support her to bigger things are “FOOLS”.  Yes, this is  the Annise Parker that is wanting to follow in the footsteps of San Antonio’s mayor Castro and pass non discrimination laws pushing their liberal agenda to the extreme asking for protection for gay, lesbian and transgender individuals despite a business owners religious views.

 

Update** Gail Beil just called me about my offer to be SKYPE’d into the debate.  As expected she was not interested in me joining the discussion either. The conversation lent me to believe Beil was liberal and the conversation turned south when I asked Ms. Beil ” So you are OK with students drawing a New Communist Flag’? She said “Absolutely, kids are visual and what better way to learn hand and eye coordination“? LOL.. do high school students need to learn hand and eye coordination? I then asked her if she was Annise Parkers Aunt knowing full well she was and when she responed yes I  told her “we have nothing in common and thank you for calling”.

Gail Beil’s Facebook Post Below

 

Gail K Beilmayor parker

What does Gail know about CSCOPE? Why is Texas SBOE member, Thomas Ratliff gallivanting across the state promoting CSCOPE? What is in it for him? $$$$$$ Microsoft money! I don’t think for one minute the League of women voters set up tonight’s meeting with the goal of being non-partisan. America will suffer for the lack of truth.

Marshall Independent School District continues to use CSCOPE  and  take notice of the company Lead4Ward below on Marshall ISD’s curriculum page. One thing I have noticed is within the education industry, it is like ” you scratch my back and I will scratch yours”.  Individuals keep breaking away and starting their own consulting firms and school district buy their services. It is a money pit for Texas Tax Payers. marshall cscope

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Texan AG Calls For ‘Warriors’ For Freedom

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by John Griffing

World Net Daily

 

Only weeks after Texas attorney general candidate Barry Smitherman declared Texas should be prepared to go it alone if the U.S. economy collapses, the current occupant of the office, Greg Abbott, a Republican candidate for governor, is calling for “warriors” for freedom. gregabbott22

Smitherman, currently the chief of the Texas Railroad Commission, believes economic collapse could happen to the rest of the United States, not Texas. And he talked about energy policy as a way to make sure Texas commerce will continue. When he looks to the future, he focuses on Texas, because he believes there might not be the rest of the United States.

He said while he does not advocate secession, his state needs to be economically prepared for the expected coming tumult in the global energy market.

Now Abbott, who gave Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, his start in politics, is entering the national discourse on issues of state sovereignty and Texas self-government.

In an interview with WND, the state attorney general said Texas “will not back down in protecting our liberty or state sovereignty.”

“I’ve already sued the Obama administration 28 times to defend our rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution,” he said. “As governor, I will shift from the general in the battlefield to the commander-in-chief in our fight against federal government overreach.”

Before his election to the U.S. Senate, Cruz was Texas solicitor general and argued several landmark cases with Abbott before the U.S. Supreme Court. The cases included one challenging the intrusion of the World Court — to which the U.S. is not a party — into a state murder case and another protecting the display of the Ten Commandments on the Texas Capitol grounds.

In the World Court case against Mexican national Jose Medellín, Abbott recalled that he protected state sovereignty against not only the United States but also against Mexico and the World Court.

Medellín was sentenced to death in Texas for raping and killing two teenagers in Houston. Mexico, the International Court of Justice and the Bush administration insisted that the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations required Texas to give up its sovereign power to prosecute Medellín and that Texas was obliged to reopen his case and have it reconsidered, he said.

“The U.S. Supreme Court rejected those arguments and agreed with Texas, protecting our authority to enforce our state laws,” said Abbott.

Cruz and Abbott share an affinity for states’ rights as defined by the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Abbott joined other attorneys general around the country in a suit against the federal government for Obamacare, based on the Tenth Amendment.

The Tenth Amendment reads: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Abbott sees potential for the Tenth Amendment to be used to reclaim state-level jurisdiction in the place of what he calls federal “abusiveness.”

“The Tenth Amendment is gaining new life. I – and my fellow attorneys general – relied on the Tenth Amendment in the Obamacare case. Even though the Supreme Court ruled that Obamacare was a tax, the court also used the case to breath new life into the Tenth Amendment by ruling that Congress could not force states to expand Medicaid systems against their will,” he said.

“In voting rights, the Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the Tenth Amendment give states – not the federal government – the authority to regulate elections. Texas is applying that Tenth Amendment victory to enforce its Voter ID law,” Abbott continued.

The Tenth Amendment also has guided Abbott in his opposition to Transportation Security Administration airport passenger body searches and scanning technology, which many believe aalso violate the Fourth Amendment.

Legislation introduced in 2012 to bar unpopular and constitutionally questionable body searches in Texas public transit centers had broad support in both houses of the Texas legislature,. However, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, incumbent in a contentious primary, convinced a majority of senators to swing their vote when the Obama administration pressured Dewhurst on federal funding.

In addition to commenting at length on broad issues of constitutional and legal significance, Abbott stated his plan for the common core curriculum prototype used in 80 percent of Texas schools called “CSCOPE.”

As WND recently reported, months after the controversial curriculum that compared the Boston Tea Party to an act of terrorism and called Islamic radicals “freedom fighters” was pronounced dead by Texas state legislators, some school districts are refusing to stop using the curriculum.

Further, a few state education officials are encouraging disregard of the law banning CSCOPE lessons from classrooms.

“As governor, I will drive a stake through the heart of CSCOPE, he said. “It’s disturbing that Texas education curriculum would portray the Boston Tea Party patriots as terrorists. Just as disturbing is that the curriculum was shielded from parents. I believe parents should have access to all materials teachers provide to children. The state continues its investigation into the actions of CSCOPE.”

Abbott said that during the legislative session, he supported SB 1406 by Sen. Dan Patrick to restrict the use of CSCOPE materials in Texas classrooms.

“I’ve been working with the state auditor concerning issues raised about contracting for services commissioned by the governing board of CSCOPE,” he said.

In the latest report on CSCOPE, WND outlined financial irregularities prompting a full forensic audit by the state, including millions of taxpayer dollars paid to out-of-state individuals without formal contract.

On the future of America and whether or not it will endure as a free country, Abbott said: “Liberty lies at the heart of American greatness. America is great not because of government, but because of freedom.”

He said there is “an arc in the story of America, and it bends toward freedom.”

“From Valley Forge to Vicksburg, from the Civil War to Civil Rights, from the Cold War to the War on Terror, Americans have always remembered that freedom is worth fighting for. We must reignite the passion for that freedom. But it takes more than words or thoughts,” he said. “It takes warriors.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/texan-ag-calls-for-warriors-for-freedom/#p4VlKPBQTFDFrORs.99

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Islam was Tolerant! says “CSCOPE”

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9-17-2013 8-45-22 PM

 

This lesson is in the TEXAS World History CSCOPE curriculum speaks for itself. Now we know why the Texas Education Service Centers hid this MESS!! Texas Students deserve better. 

religious tolernace

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Texas Patriots Needed in Austin Friday, Sept 13th

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say no

The State Board of Education’s Ad Hoc Committee on CSCOPE is having a hearing this Friday, Sept. 13 @9am. If you care about the direction of our state, country and most importantly our children we need You! We are asking Parents & Taxpayers to come voice your opposition on the Marxist/Progressive takeover of our Texas Public School System with CSCOPE/Project Based Learning/CommonCore.  You may register up to Friday morning by calling  512-463-9007. 

The Hearing with be at the Texas Education Agency, 1701 N. Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas, 78701.

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Texas STEM Academies contribute to the Decline of American Sovereignty

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america 

 

“21st Century Learning Skills” has become the  “MANTRA” of progressive educators in hopes of implementing a total transformation in how students are taught with the end result being globalization, diversity and equity. WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!! Watch the video below and see what our educators have in mind when it comes to teaching you child…America will not last under this transformation which has a foothold in our Texas Schools.

 

America’s sovereignty is being torn apart at the seams and the Texas Education Agency is contributing to its demise. Through State, Federal and Grant funding the Texas Education Agency has set up Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Academies across the State of Texas. STEM Academies work to transform the way students are educated with the use of a Marxist teaching philosophy of Project Based Learning (PBL). PBL is based on the collective and not individual achievement. Absolute truth is not taught and everything is up for debate within a collective group.

The idea of project based learning is to create diversity and equity; with the United Nations is backing the agenda. IRINA BOKAVA, the Director General of  UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations, (UNESCO) was quoted as saying….

 

unesco

It does not take long with a little research to see the tie to Obama’s agenda, global organizations and STEM. Don’t get me wrong I love the STEM disciplines but the STEM flag being waved here takes on a whole new agenda than just educating your children… the goad is a total transformation

Texas STEM Funding

 

t-stem funding

Texas STEM Centers

stem centers

 

Below is ESC REGION 13 Summer Schedule for their STEM Transformation Institutes.

9-10-2013 5-39-42 AM

 

About-STEM-Results-How-To

ESC #1 STEM Workshops for 2012/2013

tstem esc1

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EMPATHY AND THE COMMON CORE: “Oh, say can you feel?”

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save america

Merrill_Hope_photo

by Merrill Hope

Empathetic learning is all the rage in the Common Core.  They call it SEL (Social & Emotional Learning).  Sort of like the newfangled “empathetic medicine” where I suppose the surgeon feels the pain of the patient.  Hopefully, not while operating.   Yup, put yourself right into someone else’s shoes, literally.  Not sympathy where I feel your pain but rather, I KNOW your pain.  Yup, empathy.  Well, your 9-year-old better have a whole lot of it 10 months a year, Monday through Friday between the hours of 8am-3pm   because, like with everything else in CCSS (Common Core State Standards), empathy’s been revised, rebranded and repackaged for the 21st Century classroom.

 

So, what is empathy?  Webster’s defines it as the “identification with and understanding of the thoughts and feelings of another.” Well, I’m not so sure that little Johnny has very much of that character trait under his kindergarten belt.  How can he possibly identify with something he hasn’t lived to understand or have the learned trait of compassion for the feelings of another human being?  He can’t. 

 

Empathy is a feeling “deep in your soul, you were half now you’re whole…” That’s why you are a “people who needs people.”  But at this age, little Johnny isn’t among the luckiest people in the world.  He only knows the pain of a time out.  Nope, a 5-6-7-8-9 year old really doesn’t care all that much about his classmate’s feelings.  However, we are legislating empathetic learning in a classroom, ever walking the proverbial fine line between education and indoctrination. 

 

Yes, empathy is a great trait; however, we humans don’t really begin to flex our empathetic muscle much until after we set foot in a world outside of me, myself and I.  For some, that day never comes but for most of us, we get there through life’s experiences.  Yeah, move out of mom and dad’s basement!  Enter the rat race! Lose your job or a loved one!  Have a few joys and sorrows, successes and failures!  Still can’t find your empathy, become a parent.   Instant empathy!

 

But this is not how our children are coming to empathy compliments of CASEL (Collaborative Academic, Social & Emotional Learning); and this is the public educational mindset that’s been in a classroom for at least 10 years.   In fact, the 2013 CASEL guide titled “Effective Social and Emotional Learning Programs: Preschool and Elementary school edition” is “dedicated to advancing the science and practice of school-based social and emotional learning (SEL).  CASEL’s mission statement is to “make social and emotional learning an integral part of education from preschool through high school.”  Maybe that’s why there’s so little time for exact sciences, concrete math and classic literature. 

 

But what CASEL calls empathy isn’t empathy at all.  It’s sympathy.  You can feel or project feelings onto another person’s situation without ever experiencing it.  Ever see that online video of the British school children absolutely out-of-their-minds, sobbing, as they describe the many ways climate change and human beings are killing Mother Earth?  That’s sympathetic-learning.  Well, maybe, Clockwork Orange-style learning.

 

So, let’s look at sympathy, what we feel for our fellow humans sans the actual shared experience.  Sympathy is defined as a “relationship between individuals in which whatever affects one affects the other in a similar way; the capacity to share another’s feelings.”  But don’t let that dramatic difference stop the Common Core classroom where empathy is systematically implemented as a social skills tool used connotatively to mean sympathy.  Can you say Newspeak? 

 

Linda Darling-Hammond, a major stakeholder in CCSS and CSCOPE, sits on the CASEL board of directors while other esteemed colleagues hail from the reaches of the Fed Led Ed creative hub, the University of Chicago.  Should we be trusting these same folks, many of whom are behind the Common Core, to design these litmus tests of acceptable and “positive social behavior” for our children and future generations? 

Furthermore, CASEL touts it “began the tradition of identifying SELect programs in its ‘Safe and Sound: An Educational Leaders Guide to Evidence-Based Social and Emotional Learning” as far back as 2003; CASEL even self-proclaims their corresponding documentation as groundbreaking because it provided an overview of the SEL (Social and Emotional Learning) field.   Was there an outbreak of low E that year?  Was there an outcry for higher E-quotient?

 

There has been a meteoric rise  of the IEP (Individual Education Plan) over the past decade.  Any correlation to CASEL and their SELect?  In California, 2005 was a pivotal year in the redefinition of social/emotional/mental health in the classroom.  Check-listed traits of high-functioning autism were broadened on the spectrum and lobbyists fetched big bucks for many of our local public schools.  That same year little golden state suburban school districts used a peculiar term to describe a kindergartner’s behavior: “Little Johnny has no empathy.”

 

Long gone are the days where kids can be kids in school, especially little boys who, by nature, are empathy-deficient and are genetically wired to resolve differences with their fists.  But in the empathetic classroom we will have none of that behavior.  In fact, you might need to glue that fidgety kindergarten boy to that floor mat during story time.  Move and it may be ADHD.  By the way, have you heard that Common Core and Pearson have a “bonafide” tool to test for that now?  Yup. Bona-fide ADHD.

 

So what happens to the perfect child when (s)/he slips up?  Oh no, little Johnny woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  He is not feeling very empathetic.  He is feeling 6.  He’s had an outburst, punched a kid on the playground and now is crying.  He also called a kid a mean name and he brought peanut butter in his lunchbox. Red alert!  Little Johnny is now on the SEL radar but that’s okay because the intervention team is right around the corner, lined up as far as the eye can see! They are ready to assess, checklist, diagnose and make a empathy plan for your kid all under the safe school policies of your 21st Century public school education code.  But wait, did little Johnny destroy property?  Defame the schoolyard? Burn down a building?  Nope, just a little low E.

 

For all its claims of unbridled rigor, CCSS is a social & emotional learning apparatus.  CASEL brings the five competencies directly to your child’s hard drive: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making.  In theory, great ideas.  In reality,  to do all or any one of these things requires the ability to “recognize one’s emotions and thoughts” and their real or perceived impact on others around them.  It requires regulating one’s emotions, thoughts and behaviors during school hours.  This also includes “managing stress, controlling impulses, motivating oneself, and setting and working toward achieving personal and academic goals.”  Isn’t that a lot for a 3rd grader to do besides cursive.  Oh, I forgot, no cursive in school anymore. 

 

Today, children must have the wherewithal to “take the perspective of and empathize with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures, to understand social and ethical norms for behavior…” while maintaining “healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups.  This includes communicating clearly, listening actively, cooperating, resisting inappropriate social pressure, negotiating conflict constructively, and seeking and offering help when needed.” Is this before or after lunch? 

 

You know, by all internet accounts and puff pieces on Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and the late Steve Jobs, doesn’t seem any of the above were engaged or empathetic students in their K-12 days.  Yet these very same hands are all over 21st Century learning data-mining machine.   Oh, for goodness sake, how could such self-absorbed, self-involved and empathy-deficient boys grow up to become astounding innovators and entrepreneurs?  These are the traits of focused, geeky, genius, inspired, free-market leaning capitalists, not social entrepreneurs. Wonder how they would fare in today’s public school climate?   Asperger’s, Oppositional Defiance and ADHD with a side of OCD? IEPs for all.  You have to wonder though, does this brave new “empathy” move us closer to Orwell’s vision than to Einstein’s vision of the future.  Einstein, not the best student either…

 

Mom, dad, you okay with all this? 

Merrill Hope is a contributing writer to Save America Foundation who has also blogged for other outlets including City on A Hill and Lady Patriots.   Her articles have also appeared in As A Mom’s (AAM) MinuteMom Magazine.  Over the years, she’s inked articles and columns for the Hollywood Reporter and Backstage West.  A founding member of CURE (Citizens United for Responsible Educaiton), a chair on AAM Workshop and a guest speaker, she is also on Twitter @ Merrill  Hope @outoftheboxmom.

Sources at http://casel.org/guide/http://startempathy.org/https://www.ashoka.org/;http://casel.org/wp-content/uploads/Final-Summary-for-HR-2437.pdf;http://sshs.promoteprevent.org/publications/prevention-briefs/social-and-emotional-learning

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Texas Teachers 2013/2014 CSCOPE.. GAG ORDER!

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CONTROL, CONTROL, CONTROL…. Below is what Texas Teachers have to agree to in order to enter the CSCOPE/TEKS Resource System. It is surprising that after all that has transpired over the last year and the controversy behind CSCOPE, the owners, the education service centers still want to control parents and teachers when it comes to viewing or speaking out against CSCOPE.

gag order

TEXAS CURRICULUM MANAGEMENT PROGRAM COOPERATIVE

TEKS Resource System Terms of Service

Welcome to the TEKS Resource System website. Please review the following Terms of Service carefully. These Terms of Service are a legally binding contract between you, as the user of this website, and the Texas Curriculum Management Program Cooperative (“Cooperative” or “our” or “we” or “us”). It applies to your use of the Site and all information, media, content, printed materials and electronic documentation accessible from teksresourcesystem.net or any of its sub-domains (collectively, the “Site”). An employee of a Texas independent school district, charter school, or private school that has licensed use of the TEKS Resource System (a “LEA”), parents of LEA students who access the Site from a LEA computer on a LEA campus in accordance with the policies and procedures of the LEA, and employees and representatives of regional education service centers or the Cooperative, and any individual who has received TCMPC’s express written consent is an “Authorized User.”

The “Services” available to Authorized Users through the Site are the curriculum system, including assessments and assessment items, answer keys, curriculum components and resources (collectively, the “Components”), and professional development courses on the Site. The Services are designed to facilitate the ability of Authorized Users to provide instruction to children enrolled in LEAs in the State of Texas. We will continue to further develop Services and operate the Site, in accordance with applicable state and federal laws and regulations, with a view to enhancing the ability of parents and of teachers and of other Authorized Users to provide high quality educational instruction.

 

1. Acceptance of Terms of Service.

Please review these Terms of Service carefully. By accessing or using the Site, you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by them. If you do not agree to these terms, do not use this Site.

 

2. Limited License; Permitted Uses; Restrictions on Use.

You are granted a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to:

  • permit parents to review the Components and Website in accordance with the policies and procedures of the LEA that is your employer and with Texas Education Code § 26.006;
  • permit parents to view the Site and have access to all Components when present at a school within the child’s LEA in accordance with the policies and procedures of the LEA;
  • access and use the Site, the Services, and all Components strictly in accordance with this Agreement and any other agreement entered into between you, the Cooperative and/or any entity by which you are employed or with which you contract, and in accordance with the policies and procedures of the LEA;
  • use the Site solely for purposes of furthering the educational goals of the public schools that are licensees, either in their own right or through their LEA or the Cooperative, in accordance with the terms of this Agreement and the policies and procedures of the LEA;
  • print out and modify Components solely for the purposes set forth in the preceding bullet, in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, and the policies and procedures of the LEA;
  • modify the Components and create derivative works from the Components in accordance with Section 2 of the terms of this Agreement and the policies and procedures of the LEA. All modifications and derivative works of the Components belong to the Cooperative;
  • share the Components you have modified with other Authorized Users in accordance with this Agreement and the policies and procedures of the LEA.

You may not make any other use of the Site or Components. Other than this license, you do not have any license, title, or ownership of/to the TEKS Resource System or any other intellectual property of the Cooperative or any third party.

Your license for access and use of the Site and Components is subject to the following restrictions:

  • You must comply with all applicable laws and regulations, as well as any policies and procedures imposed by the LEA regarding your use of the Site and the Components provided on the Site.
  • Except for access to parents and others as permitted by this Agreement, you may not make any portion of the Components available to someone who is not an Authorized User (including by copying, printing, transmitting, through any current or future technology or otherwise).
  • You may not, other than for the purpose of administering a test to students assigned to you, release any unit test or assessment or answer keys to parents, students, or individuals who are not Authorized Users within the LEA that is your employer (including copying, printing, posting or transmitting, through any current or future technology or otherwise).
  • You may not use the Site to make statements or Components that are defamatory, libelous, threatening, harassing, invasive of privacy, stalking, abusive, tortuous conduct, hateful, discriminatory based on race, ethnicity, gender, sex or disability, pornographic or obscene.
  • You may not use any Components in any manner that may violate or infringe any rights of the Cooperative or any third party.
  • You may not knowingly distribute viruses, Trojan horses, worms, or other harmful or programming routines.
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Do you agree?

 

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CSCOPE: Another Coat of Lipstick on the Pig

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pigThe owners of CSCOPE aka “TEKS Resource System” are not a group of educators to be trusted. They have deceived and lied to parents and taxpayers for years about their intentions of dumbing down our children’s education system with CSCOPE/Project Based Learning in Texas. The lessons have been protected by a password for teachers only. The teachers have been threatened with a criminal penalties for revealing lesson content. Now that activist have exposed this corruption the Texas Educators that produced the mess what to appear transparent by releasing lesson in the public domain. Really?

In their shallow attempt to appear transparent by putting CSCOPE lessons online for the public to view. The owners of CSCOPE have had many of the original lessons edited before making them public.

I will first highlight the obvious revision on a 3rd Grade Science lesson titled Investigating Rocks and Soil. The original lesson had a Teacher Resource titled: Hungry, Naked and Homeless.  The attachment is mysteriously missing from the lesson that is now posted on the Texas Tribune.

What I want readers to understand is those responsible for CSCOPE are indoctrinating our children with the religion of environmentalism. After reading through 100’s of lessons from K-12  whether it be in Math, Science, English or Social Studies the writers indoctrinate through the use of Project Based Learning (Group Learning & Collaboration) that the US is going to run out  of resources if drastic measure are not taken.  And there is no exception with this 3rd grader lesson were students are asked to pretend without soil they would be  Hungry, Naked and Homeless.

naked

grade 3 5

The Texas Tribune Copy on Naked

The original lesson

Texas Tribune Lesson 

We will now focus on a 3rd Grade unit titled The Free Enterprise System.

One of the unit lessons is titled WHAT IF WHAT WE NEED IS SCARCE?

 The original lesson had an attachment titled Types of Economic Systems Chart. Mysteriously the chart and lesson content that accompanied the it are missing from the lesson posted on the TEXAS TRIBUNE website.  Why? What are the reps trying to hide?

The original lesson……

Attachment on Economic Systems

3rd old

3rd Economic System new

TYPES OF ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

Below were the original instructions now missing that accompanied the chart.

9-6-2013 4-20-26 PM

9-6-2013 4-19-34 PM

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“21st Century Learning” is Dangerous!

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embrace

 

 

 

Jerry Maze is the director of Texas Education Service Center XII (ESC 12) and is also the chairman of the new CSCOPE management team, “Texas Curriculum Management Program Cooperative” (TCMPC).  Those responsible for CSCOPE are working frantically to salvage it’s reputation by giving it the new name of  “TEKS Resource System. Don’t be fooled, CSCOPE’s radical agenda is still in play working on implementing 21st Century Learning in Texas Schools, Project Based Learning (PBL).  

You maybe wondering what is wrong with 21st Century Learning? 21 Century Learning is based on the premise of totally transforming our world to a more diverse, globalized society. 21 Century Learning is not based on absolute truth, American Sovereignty is not taught.  Greater focus is placed on “Feelings and Emotions” in a modern “21 Century classroom”  than the core subjects of Math, English, Science, and History.

Framework for 21st Century Learning 

21 Century Learning Vocabulary 

 

21st vocabulary

 

I found the following post below on ESC 12’s FACEBOOK Page,  Empathy: the Most Important Back-to-School Supply. Being fully aware that the US is transforming how and what students are taught, the post grabbed my attention. It is shocking to say the least to see that TEXAS has fallen into line with this soft “feel good” “we are all going to love everyone” education philosophy in hopes of creating diversity and globalization.

Christian families who have taught their children the scripture as in John 14:6  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life, No one comes to the Father except through me”, that homosexuality is a sin, that abortion is murder, unfortunately will be under under pressure to compromise their values with 21st Century Learning for the desired result of creating diversity and globalization. 21st Century Learning is Dangerous!

 

emphaty

The article links to the following poster for teachers to hang in their classroom.

diversity poster

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Backpack and Boots on the Ground Education Summit…CSCOPE Exposed!

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Join the WomenOnTheWall.org Team as we take on the issue of Education. The topic will be CSCOPE & Common Core. CSCOPE is being used in Mt. Pleasant schools as well as the surrounding communities. The line-up of speakers will be giving information that uncovers the Truth about education in American and how Texas is the last stand!

Time

Saturday, September 14th 10:00 AM — Saturday, September 14th 02:00 PM

Location

TWO SENORITAS
2601 W. Ferguson Rd.
Mt. Pleasant, Texas 75455

Get your tickets HERE! Cost is $20.00 includes lunch

 

boots

 

 

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CSCOPE Gets New Name… TEKS Resource System

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8-29-2013 1-30-27 PM

 

 

The directors of the Texas Education Service Centers who created CSCOPE are jumping through hoops trying to salvage  CSCOPE’s well deserved tainted image. The fact that you have individuals create a non profit within a state agency, fund it with tax dollars to create a product and in turn sell the product back to the tax payers is ludicrous if not illegal.

This week the director of ESC 12, Jerry Maze sent out the letter below stating that CSCOPE will now be referred to as TEKS RESOURCE SYSTEM. It has been said “you can run but you can’t hide & a “rose by any other name is still a rose”.. CSCOPE is still the implementation of a progressive ideology in our Texas schools, no matter what they call it. Nothing about CSCOPE has changed except for the fact that through  grassroots involvement the Exemplar lessons are now (after revisions from exposure) have been put in the public domain. The governing board originally called Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative (TESCCC) is getting a face lift as well. Their new name is Texas Curriculum Management Program Cooperative.

 

TESCCC Original Formation for the Secretary of State

TESCCC Public Information Report

 

jerry maze

 

 

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Tx Superintendent calls San Antonio Mayor, Castro a STATESMAN! SERIOUS?

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Dr. Jeff Turner.. photo

 

When I became aware of CSCOPE I would try to email superintendents, teachers, community members and make them aware of what was in CSCOPE. Unaware at the time that CSCOPE was about the  TEXAS education establishment implementing a progressive teaching philosophy in our school system statewide called, Project Based Learning.

I emailed Dr. Turner the superintendent of Coppell ISD in Coppell, Texas and then the President of Texas Association of School Administrators. I would like to give Mr. Tuner credit for being gentlemen in his response, though I would expected at the time he may have asked some questions. I now know why he did not. He along with the TEXAS education establishment are working on implementing a progressive NEW VISION TRANSFORMATION in our Texas schools. A new system where American Sovereignty is not emphasized, where globalization and diversity are promoted.

Dr. Jeff Turner email

The folllowing tweet is from Dr. Jeff Turner on his meeting with San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro. Castro who working to ban Christians from City Government appears to be a man that Dr. Turner Turner admires. Dr. Turner views Mr. Casto as a statesman…. surely he meant a statist. Astonishing what progressives we have in education leadership today. Will America’s freedom last?

It was once said that Benjamin Franklin emerged from Independence Hall at the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 18, 1787, a woman asked him, “Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”. 

Mr. Franklin replied, “A republic, madam-if you can keep it.” With more and more progressives in leadership positions like San Antonio Mayor, Castro and Jeff Turner our “Republic” is at stake. 

dr turner

 

 

 

 

 San Atonio Mayor Julian Castro

 

 

Alert: CSCOPE gets a name change starting August 30th…..TEKS RESOURCE SYSTEM

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CSCOPE.. Not What It’s Quacked Up To Be!!

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duckwalk

 

The CSCOPE “duck walk”  is in play once again. CSCOPE, is a curriculum management system that changes on a daily basis that will now get a new name in hopes of salvaging it’s undesirable image. It will be referred to as  TEKS RESOURCE SYSTEM beginning August 30th. The governing board has already disbanded under pressure from the Texas legislature and is now operating under the new name “Texas Curriculum Management Program Cooperative.”

As the Lt. Governor David Dewhurst tweeted today “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…” and I will finish by saying “It is a duck” Absolutely nothing about CSCOPE will change except for the fact that the “exemplar lessons” that were to be removed by August 31st are now in the public domain. The controlling aspect that teachers have to deal with, as progressive educrats work to implement “Project Based Learning” will remain in place.  The CSCOPE assessments will still be administered. These completed assessments are not sent home to help students review what they need to improve. These assessment are more subjective and the results are entered into database as school .

 

david D tweet

The link on the tweet takes you to the document below.

jerry maze

The letter is signed by Jerry Maze, director of ESC 12. 

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CSCOPE… the Dumbing Down of TEXAS Students!

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dumbing down

 

 

In the video below, Dr. Stan Harltzer is interviewed by Peggy Venable. Dr. Hartlzer received his Doctorate in Mathematics from The University of Texas and taught algebra in the Luling public school system among many others for over forty years. I have personally spoken with Dr. Hartlzer and he relayed to me his frustration with the CSCOPE method and lessons. He explained that the CSCOPE curriculum as it pertains to algebra, is like building a skyscraper but the first two floors are missing. The fundamental building blocks necessary to understand and then move on to higher algebraic equations are just not there. He lamented that his students, while perfectly capable of learning and excelling at algebra, were losing confidence in themselves and thought that they were incapable of learning the material. Dr. Hartlzer started tutoring the students with material not found in CSCOPE that included this crucial information and he said that the students were actually excited to learn that they weren’t incapable at all. He also said that their confidence level in themselves could be seen right away. One would think that Dr. Hartlzer would be rewarded and used as an example in the district for this major change that he was able to effect in his students. Instead he was written up for not staying on the CSCOPE timetable and staying in lock step with the regimented program. Multiple episodes of this lead Dr. Hartlzer’s to resign his position at the Luling ISD which also lead to his running for and winning a position on the school board. Please listen closely in the video below at 3:45 to 5:09 where Dr. Hartzler says the following. “I was taught in graduate school at The University of Texas in Austin that as a professional mathematics education person, I should leave the disadvantaged students to their disadvantages. That there are a certain number of jobs in our society that no one really wants to do and it will help us to find good people to do those unpleasant jobs if we can persuade them that they are incapable of doing anything else.”  You might want to read and listen to that part more than once and let that settle in for a moment. Could CSCOPE, Project Based Learning, Tranformational Education, Common Core, etc. really be that evil? Would this system of “education” really want to take us back to the day when we hid education from certain genders or races of people to keep them in their place? I’ll let you be the judge but there is no escaping the fact that these changes in our educational methods and instructional materials are in fact dumbing down our students day after day. Examples are no spelling programs, no handwriting drills and on and on and on. This criticism of CSCOPE, cannot be easily ignored by claiming a bias held by us as has been attempted by various CSCOPE supporters in the past. Mathematics has no bias or political agenda and as such leaves little room for such claims.

Dr. Hartlzer’s perspective on CSCOPE in the video below should alert all parents.

 

 

 

Texas teachers have to anonymously alert us to what is happening in the Texas public school system. Below is an email sent to Donna Garner in reference to the CSCOPE English program.

 

8.21.13 – From a Texas Elementary Teacher – sent to Donna Garner

 

My district is a CSCOPE district and has been for several years. Today we had an elementary English teachers’ meeting with around 50 people in attendance. A visitor from the community attended. Evidently he is now teaching at a private school but had been a public school teacher previously.

During the discussion at the end of the session, the facilitator was asked by the visitor what spelling program we used. The facilitator said, “None. The district has no spelling program because the principals have said spelling instruction was not necessary.” The visitor said that spelling should simply be a means of testing how well the students were learning the English orthographic system (phonics). He said that the words that kids can spell are read fluently and that the best way to improve reading fluency was to teach spelling. Several of the teachers in the group agreed but said that their administrators had other ideas.

The visitor then went on to say that good, legible handwriting was a powerful tool for teaching kids to spell better. Everyone nodded. Then he asked, “What handwriting program do you use?” We replied, “None!” The visitor stated, “Well, I was just told by a previous facilitator that you have an embedded handwriting program in your Guided Reading program.” That brought a round of derisive laughter from the group. The visitor then mentioned that the kindergarten kids at his school all wrote fluent cursive and were able to write the entire alphabet from A to Z readily. We were amazed. The visitor continued on and mentioned that none of the kids coming to him from the public schools knew how to hold a pencil properly or write their letters correctly.

The visitor, seeing the amazed response from the rest of us, suggested that they need to get the Zaner-Bloser handwriting program which would solve all their problems. After the workshop was concluded, several of us teachers gathered around him as he showed us the Zaner-Bloser method for teaching fluent cursive. After a few minutes of instruction, several of us said we had learned more about how to teach cursive handwriting with him in less than 10 minutes than we had learned in all our years of teaching. We all indicated to him how unhappy we are with Guided Reading and the lack of handwriting and spelling instruction.

The visitor went on to say that when he was a public-school teacher, his second-grade, bilingual students wrote 3,500 words and 600 sentences in his phonics-based reading, cursive writing, and spelling program. We told him that we had no time to teach spelling and handwriting because we have to get kids ready for STAAR. He said that was backwards because kids need to know phonics, spelling, and handwriting to be able to score high on the STAAR. He said that with kids floating around from workstation to workstation all day long, there would be no time for direct instruction.

I have to admit that the visitor made so much sense, and now I know why out of 38 campuses in our district, not one of them received a Distinction in Reading/ELA on the STAAR/EOC tests. We had one only campus that received a Distinction in Math, and no campuses were awarded Top 25%.

 

Donna Garner

Wgarner1@hot.rr.com

 

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CSCOPE Debate.. Who won?

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by Donna Garner

 

8.25.13

Below are a few of my thoughts on the CSCOPE debate last night between Sen. Dan Patrick vs. Thomas Ratliff (ineligible member of the Texas State Board of Education). It was evident to me that Sen. Dan Patrick won the debate.

 

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Represented grassroots citizens: Sen. Dan Patrick (chair of Senate Education Committee/running for Lt. Gov.) defended the right of parents and the public to see the curriculum 24/7 that is being taught to public school children. Sen. Patrick is concerned about the millions of public dollars spent by the Education Service Centers on CSCOPE without their following the proper bidding and contractual processes.

Represented the education establishment: Thomas Ratliff is a millionaire lobbyist for Microsoft who has cultivated relationships with the education establishment for 15 years to get them to buy his products. Obviously he is going to take a position that supports the administrators who control the purse strings of local school district funds for vendor expenditures.

Represented the education establishment: Mary Anne Whiteker was a pro-CSCOPE panelist, is the superintendent of Hudson ISD, and is president of the Texas Association of Community Schools (TACS).

Represented the grassroots citizens: JoAnn Fleming was a second panelist. She was chosen because of her strong support for the Constitution; and as the Executive Director of Grassroots America, she believes strongly in the rights of “We the people” to direct the education of their children.

 

TWO DOCTORAL PAPERS USED TAKS DATA – NOW OUTDATED

During the debate, it was Thomas Ratliff and Mary Ann Whiteker who sought to support CSCOPE by criticizing a report done by E. W. Burt (Business/Marketing teacher in Blanket ISD) in which his students compared CSCOPE schools’ STAAR/End-of-Course scores with state averages.

After repeatedly trashing Burt’s creative classroom assignment which captured a teachable moment for his students, Ratliff/Whiteker lauded two doctoral studies on CSCOPE done by students at Texas Tech and Baylor University.

I found the two doctoral studies by doing an Internet search. Both dissertations used TAKS data which means the conclusions from those two doctoral studies are completely irrelevant to today’s discussions. The TAKS tests were built upon the “old” TEKS curriculum standards (1997), and those standards and TAKS tests are a thing of the past:

Texas Tech University Libraries – CSCOPE Search –– http://repositories.tdl.org/ttu-ir/bitstream/handle/2346/45242/SPINN-DISSERTATION.pdf?sequence=1

(2) Gaylon Craig Spinn – “Instructional Leadership: The Efficacy of Student Performance with CSCOPE Curriculum Implementation” – Abstract page ix:

“The purpose of this study was to evaluate, via latent growth modeling, the effects of CSCOPE curriculum implementation upon student academic performance in mathematics as measured by the Texas Assessments of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) tests.”

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BEARdocs – Baylor University — Electronic Theses and Dissertations — https://beardocs.baylor.edu/xmlui/handle/2104/8231

“CSCOPE’s effect on Texas’ state mandated standardized test scores in mathematics” by Brent Ross Merritt

 “The purpose of the study was to examine standardized test scores of school districts in the state of Texas that have implemented CSCOPE…in an effort to determine what effect, if any, its implementation has had. The standardized test used in the state of the Texas is titled the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). This study used a sample size of 56 school districts and included test scores from over 125 individual campuses. Archival TAKS data were collected from the 2007-2008, 2008-2009, and 2009-2010 school years for grades 3-8…”

 

E. W. BURT’S REPORT BASED UPON CURRENT STAAR/END-OF-COURSE DATA

 On the other hand, E. W. Burt’s report was current because it was done on the new STAAR/End-of-Course test data (see Burt’s comments posted further on down the page). Sen. Dan Patrick praised E. W. Burt and his students for their hard work and for the relevancy of their report.

To prove whether or not the CSCOPE lessons effectively raise academic achievement, the data must come from the STAAR/EOC tests given in School Year 2011-12 and School Year 2012-13 – the only two years from which we have tests aligned with the SBOE-approved TEKS (adopted from May 2008 – July 2012).

If Ratliff/Whiteker were trying to use the two doctoral studies to prove that CSCOPE raises current academic achievement, their assertion was false because the TAKS data is completely out of alignment with the new TEKS. In fact, the TAKS tests have been widely discredited because of their mediocre-to-low rigor.

Saying that CSCOPE is a superior system because students scored high on the TAKS tests is like saying that high-school students are well-educated because they can read the children’s nursery rhyme “Little Bo Peep.”

The 1997 Type #2 TEKS/TAKS are completely different from the new 2008-2010 Type #1 TEKS/STAAR/EOC’s: http://educationviews.org/2-types-of-education-philosophies-chart/

TEXAS LAW

According to Texas law, school administrators should be using public dollars to purchase instructional materials that prepare students to learn the new SBOE-approved TEKS and the tests built upon them (STAAR/EOC’s – Type #1) – not the out-of-date TEKS and TAKS built upon a completely different philosophy of education (Type #2).

TYLER ISD – PROGRESS OR LACK THERE OF

Ratliff/Whiteker went on to assert that Tyler ISD students are benefiting from the use of CSCOPE based upon three years of test data. However, that data again was undoubtedly built upon the old TAKS and old TEKS because we do not have data for three years on the new STAAR/EOC’s – only two.

How did Tyler ISD students score on the 2013 Accountability Ratings released by the TEA on 8.9.13? The TEA’s data IS built upon the STAAR/EOC’s which are built upon the new TEKS. In other words, the following data is built upon the current law not upon obsolete tests and obsolete curriculum standards:

Here is the TEA link to use: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/2013/statelist.pdf

 

 

EXPLANATION OF DISTINCTIONS

The three Distinctions columns are indicative of superior performance because they are based upon objective data that rates academic achievement (the primary goal of the public schools.) The campuses/districts are only compared with their same like-characteristic group of 40.

The first column under Distinctions means outstanding academic achievement in English/Language Arts/Reading.

The second column means outstanding academic achievement in Math.

The third column means the campus/district was in the Top 25% of schools among the 40 like-comparison group of campuses.

 

SUMMARY – TYLER ISD:

 

5 out of 26 Tyler ISD campuses (19%) received the harshest rating – Improvement Required.

 Only 10 out of 26 Tyler ISD campuses received the Reading/ELA Distinction (62% did not).

 Only 6 out of 26 Tyler ISD campuses received the Math Distinction (77% did not).

 Only 7 out of 26 Tyler ISD campuses received the Top 25% Distinction (73% did not).

 This tells me that for the multiple-thousands of dollars that Tyler ISD has spent on CSCOPE, the students’ STAAR/EOC scores do not show district-wide academic achievement.

 

WHITEKER’S HUDSON ISD

Now, how did Whiteker’s Hudson ISD do on the 2013 Accountability Ratings? Her district is a CSCOPE district just as is Tyler ISD. Surely as much as Whiteker seems to adore CSCOPE, every campus in her district must have received the three Distinctions, right? Not so —

If I were Whiteker, I would find it particularly alarming that the school in which the basis for all other success in reading/writing/spelling is set (W. H. Bonner Elementary School in Hudson ISD) did not receive a Reading/ELA Distinction. I believe this lack of prowess is due to CSCOPE’s lack of systematic instruction in phonemic awareness/phonics and in grammar/usage.

 

 hudson isd

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MORE SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY RATINGS

 

To view other CSCOPE school data pulled from the 2013 Accountability Ratings, please go to these links:

http://educationviews.org/proof-that-cscope-is-not-needed-valuable-links/

 

http://educationviews.org/cscope-the-truth-revealed-for-all-to-see/

 

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Sen. Dan Patrick repeatedly defended the work of E. W. Burt, a Texas classroom teacher who challenged his Marketing/Finance students with a real-world project:

 

CSCOPE REPORT — March 15, 2013

 

E. W. Burt, Business/Marketing Teacher

 Blanket High School

Blanket, Texas

As a Texas high-school Business/Marketing teacher, I am to teach my students about spreadsheets according to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). I had been wanting to design a real-world unit for my students that would have high-interest level because of its practical applicability.

In class one day, a student asked, “What is CSCOPE?” That prompted me to create a unit in which my students could compare a topic after creating spreadsheets built upon factual data.

I said, “Let’s do a study comparing test scores of schools that use CSCOPE and ones that do not; then we can compare the outcomes.”

The students had no preconceived views but decided they would compare Algebra I, Biology, World Geography, and English Writing.

We acquired a list of STAAR/End-of-Course test scores (School Year 2011-12) published on the Texas Tribune’s public website in which they had downloaded the STAAR/End-of-Course data from Pearson. Next, we did a search online and found a list of schools in Texas that use CSCOPE.

These are the public website URL’s that the class used:

Link to STAAR/EOC 2011-12 Scores — http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/staar-district-results-2011-2012/

List of CSCOPE Schools: http://www.txcscopereview.com/2012/cscope-rotten-apple-award/

 

 

I divided the class into groups and divided up the list of CSCOPE schools among the class groups. The goal of each class group was to create a spreadsheet that compared the failure rate of CSCOPE schools with the failure rate of non-CSCOPE schools.

We did not pull a sample but attempted to list every ISD/CSD in the state. Each student’s work was checked by every other student.

The final study shows test outcomes in schools that use CSCOPE compared to schools that do not. We allowed the readers to draw their own conclusions.

This CSCOPE/STAAR/EOC unit utilized a teachable moment in my classroom in which I developed a hands-on learning experience using technology, the Internet, real-time data, spreadsheets, peer tutoring, group discussions, economics, career development, higher-level thinking skills, and statistical analysis.

 

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CSCOPE Study – Compiled by 9th Grade Business Class, Blanket ISD, Blanket, Texas

My business class asked me what CSCOPE is and if it works. I told them, “Let’s find out if schools that use CSCOPE score better or worse compared to schools that do not use it.”

To this end, we took a list of CSCOPE schools and a list of STAAR/End-of-Course scores (2011-12 School Year) from public schools statewide. Each class member took a portion of the more than 1,000 Texas public schools and recorded the STAAR/EOC test results on a spreadsheet. We compared Algebra I, Biology I, English Writing 1, and Geography. Here is what we found:

 

Percent of test takers scoring unacceptable on STAAR/EOC tests –

 

Algebra I

CSCOPE 20.35%

Non- CSCOPE 13.74%

48% more CSCOPE students scored unsatisfactory than Non-CSCOPE

 

 

Biology I

CSCOPE 14.86%

Non- CSCOPE 10.50%

42% more CSCOPE students scored unsatisfactory than Non-CSCOPE

 

English Writing I

CSCOPE 46.30%

Non- CSCOPE 39.48%

19.57% more CSCOPE students scored unsatisfactory than Non-CSCOPE

 

Geography

CSCOPE 23.30%

Non- CSCOPE 17.78%

37.06% more CSCOPE students scored unsatisfactory than Non-CSCOPE

 

Average 36.67% higher unsatisfactory rate among CSCOPE students on all tests

 

*Over 950 Texas ISDs surveyed

 

Data from

http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/staar-district-results-2011-2012/

http://www.txcscopereview.com/2012/cscope-rotten-apple-award/

 

 

E. W. Burt

Business Teacher

Blanket ISD

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MORE CSCOPE RESOURCES

 

8.19.13 – “CSCOPE: Change in Strategy” — http://educationviews.org/cscope-change-in-strategy/

 

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8.23.13 – “CSCOPE: A Texas Elementary Teacher Speaks”http://educationviews.org/cscope-a-texas-elementary-teacher-speaks/

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8.20.13 – “Proof That CSCOPE Is Not Needed – Valuable Links” — http://educationviews.org/proof-that-cscope-is-not-needed-valuable-links/

 

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8.22.13 – “Texas Tribune Publishes CSCOPE Lesson Plans” —http://educationviews.org/texas-tribune-posts-interactive-search-of-cscope-lesson-plans/

 

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8.22.13 — “Alice Linahan Show: Texas School Student Tells All, CSCOPE, STAAR/EOC’s” – link to podcast — http://soundcloud.com/alice-linahan/women-on-the-wall-1?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=twitter

 

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8.24.13 – From Mary Lou Bruner – as posted on Facebook, 4:12 A. M., Aug. 25, 2013

I attended the debate tonight in Tyler between Senator Dan Patrick and Thomas Ratliff. Senator Patrick is a Conservative Republican in the Texas Senate, and he is also chairman of the education committee. He is standing with Texas parents who have provided documentation that the CSCOPE lessons are biased and unpatriotic. Thomas Ratliff is a Republican on the State Board of Education in favor of the use of CSCOPE in Texas even though the State Board of Education has ruled that the school districts discontinue the use of CSCOPE lessons until an audit and an investigation into the program has been completed.

 

First of all it should be pointed out that the debate was not exactly held in a neutral place. It was held in at the University of Texas at Tyler where there is a building named after Thomas Ratliff’s father, and the debate was held in Tyler where Tyler ISD uses CSCOPE. Secondly it should be noted that Senator Patrick spoke first during the opening statement section of the debate. Therefore Patrick should have been given the last word in the summary portion of the debate. Senator Patrick pointed this out when the moderator told him to speak first during the summaries. It appeared that Thomas Ratliff agreed with Senator Patrick, but the moderator stepped in and said he wanted Senator Patrick to go first in the summaries and he wanted Thomas Ratliff to have the last word. This matter should have been decided by a coin toss before the debate began if the debate was completely fair because whoever has the last word has an advantage.

 

Also, there was an 800 pound gorilla in the room during the debate which was not even mentioned. Thomas Ratliff, a member of the State Board of Education, is a paid lobbyist. One of his most influential clients is Microsoft. Since CSCOPE has been used in Texas, Microsoft has tripled in sales in Texas. No wonder Thomas Ratliff is fighting to keep CSCOPE. CSCOPE helps his client, and when he makes money for his client he gets paid nicely. Also The SBOE has state tax money invested in companies and Microsoft has an unfair advantage knowing everything the SBOE is planning to do before other companies know. Thomas Ratliff should not be on the State Board of Education while he is a paid lobbyist. Thomas Ratliff rented a room in Austin during the Texas Legislative session and lobbied members of the Texas House and Texas Senate all through the legislative session. The SBOE members are not paid a salary for their work, so it is likely that Ratliff was paid by lobbyists to stay in Austin and lobby members of the Texas Legislature. IT IS AGAINST TEXAS LAW FOR THOMAS RATLIFF TO BE ON THE SBOE BECAUSE IT IS A CONFLICT OF INTEREST.

 

Now about the actual debate. Senator Patrick made his points that CSCOPE began illegally because CSCOPE was funded with tax money. But even though it was developed with tax money through the Regional Education Service Centers, a private company sold CSCOPE to the school districts for three times more than they should have paid for it. How did a private company get to sell CSCOPE if it was developed by the Regional Education Service Centers? This is what taxpayers want to know? Also, the school districts which used CSCOPE never took competitive bids on the very expensive curriculum before they bought it. School districts are supposed to get competitive bids on expensive items or they are supposed to make their purchases from a vendor list, approved by the state of Texas. When districts make their purchases from the approved vendor list, the state has done the work to make sure the prices are competitive. Districts don’t always have to take the lowest bid because quality and service should sometimes be considered, but they are required to get sealed competitive bids to try to get the taxpayers the best value for their tax money. IN MY OPINION, THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS WHICH USED CSCOPE WITHOUT TAKING COMPETITIVE BIDS BROKE THE LAW.

 

Senator Patrick also made the point that teachers and administrators signed a contract which said they could go to prison for revealing what is in the CSCOPE lessons. To view the lessons on-line a person had to have a password and parents were not given the opportunity to view lesson plans their children were being taught. Even the chair of the SBOE was denied access to see the lesson plans for six months. When a company goes to so much trouble to keep information hidden, it is natural to believe the company might have a good reason to keep their secret. Since all of the controversy, CSCOPE has placed the lessons on-line as public domain material so that anyone can see the lessons or use them. But it was not that way for 6 years and it was not that way until attention was called to the possible corruption, and PARENTS DEMANDED TO SEE THE LESSONS.

 

What CSCOPE is hiding is the fact that the lessons are written by a very liberal person who thinks globally very much like the Democrats in control of the government. In fact the lessons glorify the Democratic Party and use negative terms when discussing the Republican Party. The lessons glorify MULTICULTURALISM. This means the lessons infer no religion is any better than any other religion and no nation is any better than any other nation. But we know that is not true because some nations are very backward and their people are still living like people lived in the dark ages. And some barbaric religions such as Islam cut off hands, gouge out eyes, and stone women to death without a trial if they are suspected of adultery. In fact, Multiculturalism speaks positively of Islam but goes to great dept to demonize Christians for The Crusades and the witch hunts. I agree all history should be told even the part we are not proud of. But the truth should also be told about Islam and countries with dictators who tax starving people to the point they can hardly survive while the rulers live lavishly in castles hiring more personal servants and marrying more virgins.

 

CSCOPE TEACHES CHILDREN TO LOOK AT EVENTS FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE. IT DOES NOT TEACH CHILDREN TO BE PROUD OF THE USA OR THE CONSTITUTION AND DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. CSCOPE TEACHES CHILDREN TO SEE THE WORLD FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF OTHER NATIONS. IN OTHER WORDS. WHY DO YOU THINK THE JAPANESE FELT JUSTIFIED IN BOMBING PEARL HARBOR? WHY DO YOU THINK THE BRITISH CONSIDERED THE COLONISTS AS TERRORISTS WHEN THEY REBELLED AGAINST THE RULE OF THE ENGLISH KING? Of course the CSCOPE lessons do not mention that the king of England was unfair and tyrannical; the CSCOPE lessons considered the Americans in the American Revolution as TERRORISTS just like THE TERRORISTS who flew airplanes into the Twin Towers on 09-01-01. THE MULTICULTURAL LESSON PLANS CONSIDER THE TEA PARTY PEOPLE AND OTHER PATRIOTIC PEOPLE AS TERRORISTS.

 

Both debaters said they were for local control but their definitions of local control were different. Thomas Ratliff defined local control as the local school district. He said the SBOE was trying to micro-manage and dictate what the local districts can and cannot teach, yet he demonized the Irving ISD because Irving threw out CSCOPE. Ratliff said Irving created a hardship for the teachers.

 

Senator Patrick defined local control as control of education by the parents and local taxpayers. He said parents should have a say in their children’s education and when they come to him with complaints that they are not allowed to see what their children are being taught he is going to listen to them. He said the legislature is elected to protect the people. He said that is his job.

 

Ratliff said an individual teacher can have a bad or biased lesson just as CSCOPE could have a bad or biased lesson. That is true, but if one teacher has a bad lesson that is just one class which is misinformed or indoctrinated. But CSCOPE fully intended to expand to the point that all or most school districts in Texas were using the CSCOPE lessons. When a bad or biased lesson was in CSCOPE it was being used by many districts and many students throughout the state were affected.

 

Local control is not the entire state of Texas choosing CSCOPE. Local control is local teachers developing their own lesson plans or partnering with other districts with similar backgrounds and sharing lesson plans to cut down on the work. Lesson plans should constantly be revised and upgraded and expanded as new information is found to make the lessons more interesting and more relevant.

 

CSCOPE is the easy way out for teachers who have been overburdened with a school curriculum which teaches to the tests. I sympathize with teachers. Teachers have a very difficult job. But CSCOPE, a global curriculum written by a person with a liberal bias is not the answer for Texas Schools. We need a curriculum which teaches our children to be proud of our country when it has done a great job. We also need a curriculum which teaches our children fundamental values of right and wrong.

 

We do not want our children to be taught there is no such thing as right or wrong, it all depends on a person’s perspective. That is what CSCOPE teaches subliminally.

 

Donna Garner

Wgarner1@hot.rr.com

 

 

 

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