Thank you, Legislators, for hearing the concerns of parents, teachers, & administrators in Tennessee!

Representative Bo Mitchell, Representative Gloria Johnson, and Representative Mike Stewart filed a detailed request under the Tennessee Open Records Act seeking records related to the suspicious TCAP delay, post-equating process, and strange results.  

Representative Mitchell said, "I hope this information will shed light on the saga so that we can have some level of confidence in the results of this test for which our students, teachers, and administrators were forced to spend much of the year preparing."
 Visit this link to see the request from the Representatives
 
Meanwhile...

Representative Billy Spivey and Senator Janice Bowling requested that Comptroller Justin Wilson investigate the expenditures and conduct of the Department of Education regarding last week’s delay in releasing TCAP scores.  (as reported by Rocky Top Politics)
 
Check out what is going on in Louisiana...  it is the same fishy scenario as TN!
Click HERE to read the strange situation in Louisiana

A TN Momma Bear writes:
"That is like deja vu with what is going on in Tennessee! Kevin Huffman (also a Chief fire Change) is putting pixie dust on TCAP scores here… messing with cut scores and aligning TCAP questions with Common Core supposedly. The test results were not ready from the state when they were supposed to be (everyone is wondering if the scores show that his reforms and Common Core aren’t working). Districts found out the day the quick scores were due to be released to them that there would be a 10 day delay (announced conveniently after a huge education conference in Nashville was finished and after Arne Duncan was gone) so districts couldn’t get final report cards out in time. So, Huffman said districts could apply for waivers to exempt them from including TCAP in student grades. Huffman granted over a hundred waivers to districts BUT he didn’t have the legal authority to do so. It will be interesting to see how he wiggles his way out of this hot mess! People are awful furious at him right now and with the Governor for appointing him. Even the news media isn’t painting a pretty picture of him like they usually do. Hopefully, Huffman will be fired or will resign soon."

Important Fact You Need to Know:  Kevin Huffman & John White are both in an exclusive organization created by Jeb Bush called "Chiefs for Change".   There are only 7 members in this organization, (Plus Tony Bennett who was given "Emeritus membership" after he was involved in a highly-embarrassing grade-tampering scandal in Indiana to protect a wealthy contributor of Governor Scott who owned a charter school that earned an embarrassingly bad score.  Shortly after Bennett's damning and indisputable emails became public, Bennett resigned.)  
 

"The sad fact is that testing no longer functions as a way to inform teachers and parents and to help children but as a blunt instrument to wear children down and demoralize their teachers."  - Diane Ravitch
 

Tennessee Teachers are stressed out to the max.  

Some teachers were told by their administrators to teach the old TN standards (SPIs) this past school year in order to get TCAP scores higher both for their own personal evaluation and also for their school & district.  Understandably, those administrators made this decision to not teach Common Core last year because of the abysmally low TCAP scores of the previous year when their students were taught Common Core.  Their TCAP scores plummeted under Common Core, so who can blame them to returning to the old standards to boost this year's TCAP scores?   

It was a punch to the gut last week for those administrators and teachers to learn that non-Common Core questions on TCAP were cut by the TDOE.  The old SPI questions won't count.  This means those districts who gambled on teaching the old SPIs will have even lower TCAP results.  Furthermore, if TCAP doesn't reflect what students have learned, how can it measure a teacher's effectiveness to teach?

It is sad that adults feel that they must "game the system" to protect their teachers, schools, and districts. Children are the pawns and are the real losers in this overemphasis on testing.

Legislators, please make this crazy testing merry-go-round stop!

From a parent in Tennessee:

I received an email from my daughters choir teacher. He has been teaching for 20 years and is an excellent CHOIR TEACHER in Tennessee. He was going to retire this year but had such a great group of 7th and 8th graders, he decided to stay. This is what he was told:

I learned I have been categorized as a “non-re-elect” teacher. The justification for this is my reading, language, math, history and science scores are low after two years of TCAP testing. They don’t show sustained growth, and based on this, I am accused of being a bad teacher. Actually, I don’t recall teaching these subjects.
 
Welcome to the Common Core Initiative which, indeed, does tell teachers how and what to teach.  Here’s the link for music educators to learn how to incorporate Common Core standards.

Common Core is NOT “just standards”.  It is part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative which includes the four assurances contained in the State Fiscal Stabalization Fund given to the states with these strings:

What does increasing teacher effectiveness really mean?  It can mean that teachers who teach English literature must incorporate math standards, math teachers must incorporate ELA standards,  and even music teachers must incorporate ELA standards….in music.  

(The above excerpt was printed with permission from The Missouri Watchdog)

Dear Gov. Haslam,

I am writing to let you know that my fourth-grader will not be taking the TCAP test. This is unfortunate for her school because she scores in the advanced range every time.
Auria is in fourth grade at Northfield elementary in Murfreesboro, TN. This is our fourth year at this school, and between her and her sister, I have fallen in love with numerous teachers there. Murfreesboro has the best school system in the state (according to Google), and I have been highly impressed with the people and their level of care for my children.

Third grade changed, though. My highly-intelligent, confident kid became a wreck - early in the year - over the pressure associated with the TCAP. I was confused, as I took the TCAP every year as a child and have nothing but fond memories of bubbling in the little circles. I started to notice the growing intensity leading up to the test, and I became a little disgusted. That was last year. This year it was worse. The teachers I have had the pleasure of working with are so wound up that I feel sorry for them. The teachers, the staff, the administration...everybody.

These are obviously brilliant and creative people, and this test has taken over like a life-sucking monster. Teaching isn't an exact science, just like parenting. Every child is different, and this terrible system is stifling all the joy and creativity that is required to really make an impact. 

Now, if I love this school and staff so much, and I know her test scores would attribute to an average boost ($$$), why would I pull her from this?  She wants to be a teacher when she grows up. These teachers are already being grossly underpaid for such an important role.
 "Pearson is America's largest corporate maker of standardized testing. It has a multiyear contract with our Department of Education: For creating and implementing the TCAP and the end-of-course tests for high schoolers, we pay more than $150 million.  (That's three times what it would have cost to give Tennessee teachers a 2 percent raise.)  The deepest cut of all? Teachers aren't able to preview the test. They are neither editor nor author of the single most influential test of the whole year. It's the educational equivalent of a slap in the face." 
- David Cook (Times Free Press)

Auria can already make better decisions than this.

My child's job is to learn. The teacher's job is to teach. But my role as her parent is more complicated. I also have to teach her when standing up for something is necessary. This system is stupid and unfair. She will be accepting a 0 as 15% of her grade for the year. But she will also be standing up for teachers and students all over the state. She will be taking steps toward bettering her future right now, and I think that's better than just a memory of all those bubbles.

Thank you for your time reviewing this matter,

Alicia Maynard
Murfreesboro, TN

The above letter has been shared on Facebook over 1,140 times in the past 48 hours.  Here are some of the many comments on it:

• Amen!
• As a teacher in metro, I love you!
• Wow! Seems I'm not alone about my TCAP feelings! Kuddos to this mom!!!
• The pressure for students, teachers, and parents is so unfair. It makes me so sad.
• This is so beautiful. It's a must read for all parents and students.
• Maybe more parents should jump on this bandwagon!!! I would love to shake her hand and meet her in person!
• Incredible parent and letter! Hope someone listens! Something to think about where we are heading for the future of education for the little ones. Lets put Common Sense back in Education and worry bout the little ones not which pocket is getting thicker!!!!
• How many letters like this will it take to change things?
• Simply the truth. I am forbidden by law from seeing, asking or being told what is on the test my kids take. Ever. We never see the old tests. We cannot challenge bad questions...and trust me, the practice tests have bad questions. Parents can also never see the tests. Just try and ask, even after it is given. I have yet to have a teacher's edition grammar book that did not have a wrong answer or horribly confusing practices. It happens, but now who is double checking? My kids will do well...they always do me proud in a pinch, but this is beyond ridiculous. Pearson controls education in Tennessee. Get over the outrage over the feds/Common Core (for now) and ask why in the Hell a private company gets to determine kids' grades and teachers' fates with ZERO oversight.
• May do this next year. Zac is flipped out about TCAP.
• This sums up my feelings on standardized testing word for word!!!!!!!
• I love how you just stand up for things that are unjust without ANY hesitation and I respect the heck out of that! TCAP tests and the like are the reasons why I did not complete my certification as a secondary educator. It's an unfair system that pigeon-holes children into measurable data. You, Alicia Maynard, are a beautiful soul and a wonderful mother. Thank you for standing up for teachers and for teaching your children to stand up for their generation of learners.
• I applaud this mother and think it would be awesome to boycott this stupid standardized testing

This issue is not going away.  This movement will to continue to grow in TN, as it has in other states as parents realize that their children are being needlessly and expensively over-tested.

Common Core and the inseparable requirements of the Race to the Top contract require even MORE testing, including benchmark tests and probably the PARCC (which is a much more difficult, time-consuming, and stressful test than TCAP is).


Legislators:  Parents need a law that gives us the legal option to protect our children by Opting-Out of standardized tests.  Other states have this law.  Tennessee needs it, too.  Parents should be able to decide what is best for our children.  Private school and home-school students don't have to take these tests, so why are our public school children forced to do them?

School Board members & Superintendents:  Some districts in TN (like Metro Nashville) allow parents to refuse standardized tests for their children without penalizing the child, teacher, or school.  Even though TN does not yet have an Opt-Out law, the state, at this time, allows districts to decide without penalty (See this document and see how the Metro Nashville School District handles parents who wish to refuse testing for their children).  Locally elected school boards have the authority to set policies regarding testing and the rights of parents to refuse these tests for their children.  Please, listen to the parents.  

Parents know what is best for their children.  We know better than the Pearson corporation, better than the government, and better than any standardized test ever created.  We trust our children's teachers to fairly assess our children's progress.  

There's a catch.  There's always a catch, isn't there?

We are told that Tennessee will be developing our own Science Standards, and NOT adopting the controversial Common Core Next Generation Science Standards.  The TN Department of Education posted on their website seeking:

"excellent educators and content experts to serve on science standards development teams.  Up to 30 science standards development team members will be selected, representing all grades and subject levels. Teams will work together to develop proposed grade and course level standards and assessment design specifications."  

Sounds reasonable and fair, right?  Here's the catch...

The application to be considered to belong to this elite group of decision-makers specifically asks the applicant's opinion about Common Core, and even asks why the person believes that Common Core will benefit students in TN.  If you don't agree, then you don't get to answer the rest of the question.  (In other words, they don't want to hear anything negative about Common Core.  You need not apply for this job if you don't love Common Core as much as they do.)

We're not kidding.  See:

(Click HERE to see the other 8 questions on the application )
 
The Question we should all be asking:

Q: Who gets to pick the people to be on this new TN Science Standards Team?  

The Answer we are all slapping our heads over because it is so clear:

A: The Department of Education led by the appointed Commissioner of Education, Kevin Huffman (who all just love love love Common Core).

In fact, the person to submit applications to is none other than Dr. Bethany King Wilkes, who is pictured below grinning like a Cheshire cat and holding the Next Generation Science Common Core standards learning map with a bunch of other important people.

She gave a speech the day that picture was taken.  In her speech, she used all the reform Common Core buzz-words that people are growing sick and tired of hearing:  

“The Mission is to provide Tennessee students access to rigorous pathways aligned to STEM labor market needs in order to develop and promote a workforce that is educated and skilled in STEM fields”

(Click HERE to read more of her speech and to find out who those other important smiling people are in the photo)
 
So when the TN DOE unveils the new Tennessee State-Led Science Standards, don't be surprised when they are the same pig with different lipstick.  

Indiana did the same thing last month.  Their legislature and Governor revoked Common Core standards to the cheering crowds of parents and teachers. Then, after a process that resembled a "state-led" effort, they slapped a new name on the Common Core standards to rebrand them as the new Indiana standards.  Voters aren't fooled.  Not one bit.

The reality is that these standards must align with the other states for the testing and database fields to be compatible.  This matters to the Federal Government.  This matters to Bill Gates.  This matters to those who stand to profit from tracking our children's personal data.  They don't care what we color lipstick the pig is wearing, as long as they still bring home the bacon.
 

Click HERE to read the secret report from the Governor's puppets
 
You'll clearly see:  The State Board of Education will get the incredible power to decide the Standards for our children.  Yes, the same State Board of Education that voted, through a telephone conference call with dogs barking in the background, to revoke the licenses of teachers over test scores.  The same State Board of Education that is APPOINTED and serves at the whim of the current administration.  Tennessee citizens did not elect this board.  This board does not answer to us.  In fact, they won't return our messages.  Two of them even unsubscribed from our emails.  They don't want to hear from parents.  They know who they serve and obey:  Governor Haslam.

As it seems right now, we are ALL being played right into the Governor's hands... parents, local school boards, Superintendents, legislators, and worst of all... our children.  
 
Legislators: when you go home tonight, exhausted after this Legislative session... will you be able to sleep soundly at night knowing you have sold out our children to corporate interests? 

A couple of weeks ago, Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey met with a dozen pastors from Tennessee.  These pastors represented many different denominations and despite their theological differences, they all felt called to speak against Common Core.  They could not remain silent any longer when our children's futures are at stake.  They decided to do something about it.  

They met with Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey.  

These spiritual leaders read aloud to him some of the Common Core suggested exemplar text for high school students.  

(Legislators, remember when TN Parents tried to send you the some snippets from The Bluest Eyeby Toni Morrison, but the government email filters wouldn't even allow it to get to you because it was so profane?  We had to add all sorts of **** to get it through to your inboxes.   But it is a perfect example for high school juniors to read???  The same people that wrote the Common Core standards think so).

Anyway, Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey turned red in embarrassment and finally said, "Stop! I don't want to hear that cr*p!"  

Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey then pledged his word, as a man of INTEGRITY, that he would not only get Common Core and PARCC out of our public schools in TN, but as "a man of INTEGRITY," he told those 12 Ordained Ministers that he would go even further than the House bill that had just overwhelmingly been amended to delay it 2 years.  He would do even better than that.  He said multiple times that "I am a man of my word.  I am a man of integrity."

Those men of God believed and trusted Ron Ramsey.  So did Rep. Womick who was told that the Conference Committee was including the delay of Common Core & PARCC and including strict wording to protect our children.

Integrity?

or a deliberate move by the Governor's puppets to force them to keep quiet?

until the last day of Legislative session.  Today.

TN Parents won't keep quiet.  We'll broadcast loud & clear which liars need to be voted out of office.  They have lost our trust.  We'll broadcast which politicians voted against our children.
 
Legislators: when you go home, exhausted after this Legislative session... will you be able to sleep at night knowing you have sold out our children to corporate interests?  
 

TODAY is the last day of the Legislative Session but there are many BIG questions still unanswered...

The word on the street is that there is a SECRET Conference Committee report prepared by Commissioner Huffman (okay, actually, by his lawyer) that not only allows Common Core and PARCC, but locks Tennessee into it because of the deceptive wording and testing criteria.  

Not only that, this agreement would give Commissioner Huffman (who is ON the Executive Committee of PARCC) and the TNDOE the power to expand Common Core to include the Next Generation Common Core Science Standards, Social Studies Standards, and those Common Core Sexual Education standards that parents have been freaking out about. 

Also very disturbing, things that were promised to be included, like protection for student data, have been so watered down, they are worthless.  FERPA is not the safe law everyone thinks it is.  FERPA doesn't protect our children against data sharing without parental consent, it just makes it legal for companies and organizations to do so, and there's nothing that parents can do to stop it.  This is sickening and scary for parents.

Politicians that vote for this will be just playing right in to their hands, and they know it.  This is a deliberate, underhanded move by the administration.

Remember just a few weeks ago?
82 Representatives bravely voted to delay Common Core
88 Representatives wisely voted to delay PARCC

Heads up:  They are also trying to SNEAK the VOUCHER bill through on another bill (again).

It is a shame that the leaders of the House & Senate are doing the bidding of Governor Haslam and corporate-interests instead of representing the people that elected them to serve.

Once we get this SECRET CONFERENCE REPORT, we'll send it out for everyone to read.

Something in me snapped today and I realized that I am finished using the phrase "education reform." 

That's how folks refer to the constellation of ideas firmly entrenched in the White House right now, upheld by almost every governor of every state, red and blue, and most mayors, notably our own. It includes the tenets that privatizing our schools will improve them, that the Common Core State Standards are the fix for all that ails our failing schools, and that testing our students more and more will raise test scores.  

But this, truly, is not "reform." Some of these are ideas that have been implemented for 25 years all over the country to little effect. 

This is the status quo. 

So I'm not going to call it reform anymore. 

I'm going to call it what it is. Corporate control of education. 

And here's why. In every instance, every plank in the platform, every element of this effort can be traced back to cash--flowing into the coffers of very rich corporate entities and individuals. 

Like Pearson, one of the testing companies that is creating the tests and the test prep materials, all new and improved and Common Core aligned, and who lobbies Congress to mandate more tests. 

Like Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO, a huge proponent of charters and innovative uses of technology in schools. What kind of technology does he advocate as the best fix for students today? In Learning Lab modules at his Rocketship Charters kids sit at a computer monitor, streaming video content for 100 minutes per day.  

Or Rupert Murdoch. He is a cheerleader for what he calls a $500 billion industry of education technology including content and assessment.   

Or Bill Gates. His push for the Common Core, the inBloom initiative to harness students' big data, and his vision for the classrooms of the future, which will be heavily dependent on his own technologies. 

The proponents of this snake oil have managed to control the rhetoric for so long that we don't even blink when they say that their education plan is "the civil rights issue of our time." They say this a lot. 

So if we wish to stand up against the corporate control model we are not only anti-reform but anti-civil rights. 

They say they want "excellent teachers," and by this they mean they want to get rid of union teachers and replace them with uncertified, pensionless staff handling up to 50 kids at once who receive their education from handheld devices or monitors. 

They say they want "school choice," which usually means less choice: families can't choose their neighborhood schools that the city has underfunded to the point of death throes, pouring its available money instead into privately supported charters. 

They say they want all children to be "college and career ready," and to ensure this they prescribe as many as 25 standardized bubble tests every year starting in Kindergarten, using a standardized scripted curriculum. 

The testing piece is a critical component of corporate control of education. And it's very important to them that we don't question this. As we saw in Chicago, retribution for opting out of tests is real and administrators don't care if they have to isolate children to get them to rat on their teachers. Anything to stop parents, teachers, and principals from reconsidering what all these tests mean, how they contribute to children's education, and who they benefit. 

But the corporate education controllers will not accept that ordinary well-informed people are questioning their plan. They and the Department of Ed portray dissenters as Tea Party crazies or entitled white suburban moms who cannot face their disappointment that Boopsie is not actually a genius. 

Another grab for narrative control. The only possible opposition comes from insane people or delusional ones. 

But it's getting harder and harder to keep the little man hidden behind the curtain. It's getting harder and harder to uphold the illusion of the actually naked emperor's fancy new suit. 

Little bits of reality pop out now and again. 

Intertangled ugly trails of cash and power come to light--as in the (Chicago) Sun-Times' Dan Mihalopoulos' work on how many Illinois legislators are connected to Turkish power broker Fethullah Gulen and his charter schools. Just as a for instance. 

Or, perhaps, occasions of obvious cruelty to children becoming public. 

Like the CPS schools that have taken away play from 5 year olds by removing kitchens, blocks, paints, dolls, everything from Kindergarten. {TN Parent note: These were removed from TN kindergarten classes several years ago}  Because "Kindergarten is the new first grade" and we have to get these little dudes college and career ready. (I am assuming this also means that 5 is now the new 6.) 

Enough little bits of reality have popped out that folks are starting to notice. The stranglehold grip on the narrative held by the corporate education controllers is beginning to weaken. Because we can all see with our own eyes that it isn't actually civil rights for kids to have their school closed or subjected to a turnaround. It isn't actually higher order critical thinking to bubble in bubbles. And it isn't education and it isn't reform to work toward the dismantling of public schools in our city and our country. 

It's stale old rhetoric that is losing its power. And it can no longer conceal the naked emperor, nor the naked greed of the corporate power grabbers.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Julie Vassilatos blogs as South Side CPS Mom in Chicago. She provides a valuable and important perspective on education everywhere. She graciously gave us permission to share her article with our elected officials and on our TN Parents website

A Tennessee parent recently met with a TN legislator and tried to share with him what is happening in other states regarding Common Core and standardized testing.  This legislator, who we won’t name, replied, “I don’t care what other states are doing. I am only interested in what Tennessee is doing.”
 
That is scary. 
 
That close-mindedness can be dangerous.  That is like sweeping your own kitchen floors while the neighborhood around you is in flames.  Look up!  Pay attention!  Danger!!!  You could prevent your own house from going up in flames.  That legislator could prevent getting voted out of office, if only he would listen and respond to his constituents. 
 
 
Does it matter that other states are pulling out of Common Core and out of the PARCC agreement?  Absolutely!  Oklahoma, Georgia, Indiana, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Florida, & Kentucky have all withdrawn from the PARCC test.  Others, like TN, are in the process.
 
Does it matter that other states "rebranded" Common Core Standards by simply changing the toxic name?  Same pig, new lipstick.  Voters aren't fooled.  New legislators to be elected very soon in these states:

• Arizona (aka: "Arizona's College & Career Ready Standards")
• Iowa (aka: "The Iowa Core")
• Florida (aka: "Next Generation Sunshine State Standards")
• Indiana  

Does it matter that Indiana withdrew from Common Core, only to implement nearly identical standards to Common Core?
Whatever you call it, they are still developmentally inappropriate, not state-led, and are the same nation-wide standards written by and for testing companies.  These attempts to change the name of Common Core just make voters even more upset.  Voters sure don't like to be tricked or manipulated, and they remember that in the ballot box. 
 

Here are some very loud warning bells from New York:
New York is one step ahead of Tennessee with Common Core implementation.  Their students took the Common Core PARCC ELA exam produced by Pearson last week.  A wise leader should heed these warning sirens:

• 31,000 of NY students (which is 10% of their students) opted-out of the test.  Even more are expected to opt-out of the math tests in a few weeks.
  
  
• "I administered Grade 4 ELA. Completely inappropriate passages and even worse questions. Students are totally set up to fail to make teachers appear incompetent. A number of my students had sick stomachs due to stress. THIS IS CHILD ABUSE!!!!
  - A 4th grade teacher in New York
  
  
• ADVERTISING embedded in the test:  "Today's 5th grade test book had a passage instructing kids on "how to be a smart risk taker." One of the instructions was to, "Think about Nike (TM) and their slogan 'Just do it.'"   Another example of product placement was in 6th grade - "Barbie."  Product placement in 6th grade, day 1 (this one actually made me laugh out loud): iPod -registered trademark of Apple Corporation." 
  - A teacher in NY
  
  
• "Proctored the 4th grade exam and was horrified by the lack of literary flow in just about every passage, but only in moments when I wasn't pausing to reflect on questionable grammar. Reading it was painful and the accompanying questions were ridiculous." 
  - New York proctor
  
  
• "I have been a principal for 10 years, with the last 7 in a district in Nassau County. In all my time as an educator, I have never seen a more disgraceful state exam. The third grade ELA was particularly complex and even inappropriate. The State Education Department should be ashamed at how they treat teachers and children! I work with the most brilliant and capable teachers, but they were completely demoralized and even saddened by what they witnessed today. When will politicians and Albany put teachers and children FIRST!!??" 
  -Eric Nezowitz, Principal
  
  
• "No, it's not a mistake.  Yes, the test makers knew what they were doing. What were they doing? Creating a set-up for failure to use as more ammunition to prove that public education is failing." - An upset NY parent
  
  

• This was written by a Principal to parents:  "Our 3rd, 4th, and 5th  graders have just completed three days of the New York State English  Language Arts Exam.   Your children were wonderful and worked incredibly hard.  On the whole, we think that we were able to protect them from the worst stresses of the test, and most seemed fine during most of the exam.  However, the teachers and administration are truly devastated by what a terrible test it was and how little it will tell us about our students.  Because we are bound by test security, we cannot reveal details but we can tell you that we have never seen an ELA exam that does a worse job of testing reading comprehension.  There was inappropriate content, many highly ambiguous questions, and a focus on structure rather than meaning of passages.   Our teachers and administrators feel that this test is an insult to the profession of teaching and that students’ scores on it will not correlate with their reading ability.  Because of this, the staff has decided to hold a protest outside of school TOMORROW, FRIDAY, APRIL 4, FROM 8:15-8:35 to express their extreme dissatisfaction with the ELA exam.  Parents are invited to join the staff before going into classrooms for Family Friday." - Principal at PS321 in NY

 

Legislators: Tennessee Parents know the tricks played in other states of renaming and/or delaying Common Core but still implementing it.  We know our rights as parents, and we know who these tests are designed to profit.  We know our votes count in the ballot boxes across the state.  Parents know what is best for our children.  Our voices are loud.  We hope you heed these warnings. 

April used to be poetry month,
Where we’d learn about rhythm and rhyme,
But now that standardized tests have set in,
They tell us we just don’t have time.
 
There was ‘Poem in Your Pocket’ day,
Where you share your unique voice,
But now creativity’s gone away,
Now it’s nothing but multiple choice.
 
They say tests show how smart you are,
And teach you all you know,
But how does filling in circles,
Help anyone learn and grow?
 
In class, when we could be thinking,
Learning how we can go far,
We’re categorized by the grades we get,
Like those numbers are all we are.

 - Eliya Ahmad, age 12 (written on back of ELA testing booklet, April 2, 2014)