Tax payers across the state are mostly unaware that thousands of dollars are being paid to two liberal organizations, Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) and Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) with their school taxes. TASA and TASB or just two organizations that promote a liberal ideology through the Texas Education System. Your school district uses your tax money to fund and pay their administrators and the school board membership fees (they decide who and how many) will be members. WHY? TASA and TASB hold conferences on a yearly basis and your tax money again is used to pay all attendee’s expenses (tickets, hotel, food) for the conference. The more entrenched superintendents or school boards are within TASA & TASB, should raise a red flag to parents and tax payers. TASA and TASB’s main offices are two blocks away from the TEXAS Capitol making is convenient for their staff to lobby legislatures for policies that benefit them. As they did with SB 6 from the 2011 legislative session that gave school districts their “instructional allotment” funds to use on any curriculum they choose without oversight.
The owners of CSCOPE is the non profit group, TEXAS EDUCATION SERVICE CENTER CURRICULUM COLLABORATIVE (TESCCC), which are made of the directors of the 20 Texas Education Service Centers. TESCCC have operated under secrecy for the last 7 years. How you may ask? 1) They had teachers sign a non disclosure statement under duress without attorney approval, stating that they would not release the contents of CSCOPE or say anything negative about it. 2) No text books (in many schools). 3) No Homework.
Despite the fact that CSCOPE controls the teachers with the administration’s intimidating walk throughs of classrooms and the taking of photos, and the fact controversial material is being taught to students you still have administrators showing their liberal side in promoting CSCOPE’s continued use.
We have seen lessons, asking students to draw new communist flags, The Boston Tea party being a terrorist act, Paul Revere was hiding drugs in his house, web links that led students to learn about the sex lives of Islamic women, lessons asking the teacher to hand out verses of the Quran to students, students were tested on Sharia Law, etc, etc, etc….. The following superintendents are still out promoting this progressive indoctrination, stating it is just a couple of lesson excerpts that have caused the controversy. Quite the Contrary! Where is all the money located from the sale of CSCOPE? Why is it still hidden from the public. Why are parents pulling their children out of school to home school them or place them in private schools? Why are teachers quitting (especially our veteran teachers)?
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The article below was written by three Texas Superintendents in support of CSCOPE. I would like to highlight the three authors. First in Superintendent of Hudson ISD, Mary Ann Whitaker . She has deep ties to TASA.
The next is Superintendent of Carthage ISD, Glenn J. Hambrick who is also is a regional representative for TASA and serves on the Executive Committee.
3rd we have Assistant Superintendent of Carthage ISD, Donna Porter who serves TASA by being being a member of their Central Office Advisory Committee.
Posted: Friday, April 19, 2013 5:46 pm | Updated: 6:02 pm, Fri Apr 19, 2013.
It is sometimes mindboggling how some controversies begin. Certainly, the wildfire that has swept across Texas concerning the CSCOPE curriculum has our heads spinning. Misinformation has spread rampantly and the truth backed by factual information has been difficult to get out in front of the folks that are taking small excerpts and lessons out of context. In some cases, the CSCOPE curriculum has been attacked with reckless, unsubstantiated accusations.
The shame is that CSCOPE should be a success story of how 870 public school districts, average enrollment of 2000 students, working together with the twenty Education Service Centers (ESCs) created a 21st century curriculum based on the state mandated Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Prior to selecting this curriculum for CISD, an extensive investigation was conducted to assure that it was a good fit for our district.
CSCOPE curriculum/lesson plans were created by master “Texas” teachers, not a textbook company, not a testing company, and not a private, for-profit vendor. Multiple resources, including digital resources, were integrated into the curriculum, with suggested lessons that proved to be extremely beneficial to less experienced teachers. The framework allowed districts and staff to integrate localized lessons within the scope and sequence of the system. Approximately 50% of the charter schools (i.e. KIPP Academy, UT Charter School, Bannockburn Christian Academy and the Texas School for the Deaf) also use CSCOPE. Private schools, such as Catholic Diocese of Austin, Wichita Christian, Hyde Park Baptist and Cornerstone Christian Academy use CSCOPE.
What is my point? CSCOPE and our ESCs have been accused of promoting non-Christian and unpatriotic values based on a couple of lessons that were taken out of context, the targeted lessons were based on state standards created and approved by the State Board of Education. Due to several districts refusing to purchase another “new” curriculum, the creators of this “new curriculum” began a mass media blitz misrepresenting two lessons that addressed the state required curriculum standards.
Districts are mandated to teach the major religions of the worlds and the beliefs of those religions. Districts are mandated to teach heroism and terrorism. CSCOPE curriculum units have designed lessons that explore these standards, allowing students to investigate, compare/contrast, and analyze perspectives based on cultural influences. Example, the Boston Tea Party was perceived as an act of heroism from an American’s point of view; however, patriots of England considered this an act of terrorism. Islam, one of the major religions of the world, believes their God is the only God. These are the two excerpts taken out of context of the instructional units that have resulted in mass social media messages from those wanting to sell “their curriculum”, accusing the writers of CSCOPE and the ESCs of treason and promoting the Islam religion! Recently, a superintendent received threatening emails because the district was using CSCOPE.
Carthage ISD was not one of the first districts to embrace the curriculum; however, the revised state standards and new state assessment system demanded a new curriculum. CSCOPE offers a well-designed curriculum framework that is vertically aligned to the state standards (NOT the Federal Core Standards as inaccurately reported), the state assessment system and 21st century life-long learning goals.
CSCOPE insures the appropriate skills are taught in specific grades using multiple resources. The instructional focus is college and career readiness at all levels. School districts have the flexibility of using the curriculum as a sole source or as an alignment framework – CSCOPE lessons/units optional. Skills such as spelling, cursive handwriting, and math facts are found aligned in CSCOPE. Teachers have the flexibility to adjust the amount of time spent practicing these skills.
CSCOPE is a learning curve for classroom instruction. It is not driven by one textbook or worksheets. It embraces multiple resources, integration of technology and higher order thinking skills.
Similar to purchased curriculum there are mistakes within the lessons, those are reported and corrected. An internal system exists where teachers are asked for input on any element of CSCOPE. It is a proprietary curriculum and shares the same protection as other vendors’ products one must purchase to access the content. Districts sign affidavits, comparable to those required by the state for STAAR testing, to protect the integrity of the system, not unlike copyright laws. The cost is based on the enrollment of the district.
Parents can view the content of a lesson at a parent meeting; however, giving parents free access to the lesson plans and tests would destroy the validity of the assessments and negatively impact the intent of the instructional lessons.
The attack against the supporters and users of CSCOPE may well become the first step toward the state assuming total control of all curriculum and lesson plans for all districts. A bill has been filed to begin this process. That would be another attack on local control by the state.
Article by:
Glenn Hambrick, Ed.D., Superintendent, Carthage ISD
Donna Porter, Ed.D., Asst. Superintendent, Carthage ISD
Mary Ann Whitaker, M.Ed., Superintendent, Hudson ISD
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Dr. Stan Hartzler quit his teaching job in Luling ISD this last fall, posed the following questions to superintendents who support CSCOPE?
If the program is as good as these superintendents claim, produced with the supposed expertise, then – –
· Why is so much essential content missing from the first-year algebra program, and why are there so many errors and poor lessons therein?
I can only pray for our children’s future with Administrators like this. Parents and Communities need to wake up!
YOU CAN’T TRUST YOUR SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS NO LONGER
Get involved!!
