"My resolution: I will shed no more tears over evaluations. When my evaluator gives their opinion, I will remember it is only that. One person giving an opinion after only 50 minutes in my classroom. And I will continue doing the best darn job I can. There. I'm resolved."

~ The voice of an anonymous 2nd grade teacher in Shelby County, TN who teaches in a rusty old portable building. Last year, two students had reactions to the mold in the portables (one asthma, another broke out in an eczema induced rash).  For two weeks, the students met in the library while the mold was remediated.

• Why must evaluations be so oppressively discouraging for teachers?  Students feel this anxiety and pressure, too.

• When do we get to evaluate the classrooms where our children and teachers spend so much of their time?  Because of the lack of capital funding for school renovations, mold is a common problem in our public schools.

 

Even MORE personal questions asked of students without parents knowing...

We have emailed you already about the Tripod Survey that many students in TN were given this fall and will be given again in the spring (click HERE, HERE, and HERE to see those messages again).  Some of you responded that they were harmless because they were given anonymously (even though some districts had students bubble in their own unique student ID # on their survey).  This next survey we need to tell you about was definitely NOT anonymous:

Most high school sophomores in TN were given the PLAN computerized assessment to predict how they'll do on the ACT test.  Before they take the PLAN, they were askedabout an hour's worth of personal demographic questions.

Parents had no clue.

Their answers were NOT anonymous, their answers were directly tied directly to their names.

Tennessee parents are asking:  
Who wants to know personal information about our children?  
What will they do with it?  
Where will it be stored?  
Who will have access to it?

Everyone knows that once something is in cyberspace on the internet, it can never be totally erased.  (Just ask any politician or celebrity who's accidentally texted or posted something inappropriate.)  

Privacy is an American liberty that is quickly being stripped from citizens.  Our children are the most vulnerable victims, but people are turning a blind eye because of the profit and grant money given in exchange for this precious data.
 
Tennessee parents are deeply concerned.  Please, legislators, take action to protect TN students!  

Apparently, email filters caught the explicit words in our prior email and wouldn't deliver it to some of you.  How ironic... it isn't appropriate for our Senators, Representatives, and the Governor to read, but it is okay for our high school students because the Common Core authors put it on their approved list.

We have edited the excerpts even more.  You'll have to figure out the adult language on your own.  

Thank you to those who replied to our email about the inappropriate Common Core text exemplar, "Dreaming in Cuban." Your shock, disgust, and disbelief mirrors our own that it was included on the official Common Core list of approved literature for students.

You should know that it is not an isolated example.  The next book we are about to tell you about is much worse.  

Imagine how a pedophile feels as he molests an innocent child...

***WARNING*** (Pornographic information below)

Pages 162-163:  “A bolt of desire ran down his ge*****s…and softening the lips of his a***. . . . He wanted to f*** her—tenderly. But the tenderness would not hold. The tightness of her va**** was more than he could bear. His soul seemed to slip down his guts and fly out into her, and the gigantic thrust he made into her then provoked the only sound she made. Removing himself from her was so painful to him he cut it short and snatched his ge****** out of the dry harbor of her va****. She appeared to have fainted.”

Page 174:  “He further limited his interests to little girls. They were usually manageable . . . His se*uality was anything but lewd; his patronage of little girls smacked of innocence and was associated in his mind with cleanliness.” And later, this same ped****le notes, “I work only through the Lord. He sometimes uses me to help people.”

Page 181:  “The little girls are the only things I’ll miss. Do you know that when I touched their sturdy little t*** and bit them—just a little—I felt I was being friendly?—If I’d been hurting them, would they have come back? . . . they’d eat ice cream with their legs open while I played with them. It was like a party.”

Pages 84-85:  “He must enter her surreptitiously, lifting the hem of her nightgown only to her navel. He must rest his weight on his elbows when they make love, to avoid hurting her b*****s…When she senses some spasm about to grip him, she will make rapid movements with her hips, press her fingernails into his back, suck in her breath, and pretend she is having an org***. She might wonder again, for the six hundredth time, what it would be like to have that feeling while her husband’s p***s is inside her.”

The above exerpts are from "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison.  It is listed as an approved book on the same Official Common Core Text Exemplars list as "Dreaming in Cuban". (Click HERE to see for yourself that it really is on p.152 of the official Common Core list published by the architects of Common Core)
 We know you've been told this by Common Core supporters:
"Common Core isn't curriculum. Common Core is only standards."
Blame the curriculum.
Blame the curriculum.
Blame the curriculum.

Q: Who published this list of inappropriate books?
A: The same people who wrote the Common Core standards.

Q: Who wrote the Common Core standards?
A: Businessmen from textbook and testing companies wrote the standards (they're writing the curriculum, too).

THE BIG QUESTION:

If those people didn't have the common sense not to include these 2 inappropriate books on a list of 19 books recommended as appropriate for high school juniors to read as fictional literature (when there are hundreds of thousands of other wonderful books in the world to select from) how can anyone trust their judgement with writing the standards for every child in our state???

This is what the Common Core architects have to say about their list of appropriate Common Core aligned books (p.2 of their list): 
"The following text samples primarily serve to exemplify the level of complexity andquality that the Standards require all students in a given grade band to engage with.  Additionally, they are suggestive of the breadth of texts that students should encounter in the text types required by the Standards.  The choices should serve as useful guideposts in helping educators select texts of similar complexity, quality, and range for their own classrooms."  [emphasis added]

The textbook & testing industry is monopolized by one company: Pearson. Click HERE to read a very informative Momma Bear blog on "Pear$on in the U$A." You'll see how Pearson has used its money to influence politicians and laws. They are making a fortune off of Common Core with our tax dollars.

Sick, yet???  Tennessee parents are.

"I have done nothing but test kids for the last 3 weeks. I administered a DEA (Pearson test), a Common Core test on Informational texts, and now I am giving exams. I wasn't able to teach any stories that open up students' imaginations and tap into their creativity. I apologize to students when I have to give these tests. There are so many of them now. Students just groan. I feel sorry for students these days."
 
"I teach by the block, which means that I only see students every other day. In 15 school days, I will see my students 7-8 days. Three tests take up the whole time! My exam includes Common Core Standards. I try my best to keep classes interesting, but test prep is not interesting."

(This was posted anonymously, with permission, from this teacher in Metro Nashville schools)


Testing doesn't teach students, TEACHING does.  
Let teachers teach.
 
Thank you, legislators, for reading our emails.  We assure you, we are not affiliated with any political organizations or unions.  We are not paid for writing these, nor will we accept money for doing so.  We are a strong group of parents from across TN who are genuinely concerned about our children and our public schools.  We do not have a leader, we are working collaboratively to bring you the truth of what is really happening.  To protect the anonymity of the voices we share, we will not reveal our names.  You can see the many voices we represent and what we believe in at our website: 
  www.tnparents.org 

"My 3rd grade team gave our students a sample writing test from the TN CORE website. It was a paper test, not on the computer as they will have in February. I could only give them 45 minutes for each, not the two total hours they will have in February. My poor kids were so distraught, and I felt like the Grinch making them suffer through this long writing task two days before Winter Break."
"One of my little boys was so upset, he told me he was sick and then proceeded to FORCE himself to throw-up, hoping I would call his mom!!!! Why are we doing this to our students? This is not developmentally appropriate and as a matter of fact, when I googled "compare and contrast two texts" to get some ideas of how best to prepare them, do you know what came up in my search? "Tenth grade, tenth grade, tenth grade.....""

(This was posted anonymously, with permission, from this teacher in Memphis)

TN CORE's website has sample test questions to prepare students for the new PARCC test that will be forced on students in spring of 2015.  The PARCC test was given to students in New York state last year and 70% of students failed it. Parents in New York are outraged!


...but they are not outraged at their children for failing the PARCC,


...and they are not outraged at the teachers for not preparing their children.


Parents are angry at the STATE of New York for giving the inappropriate test.


And they are angry at PEARSON Publishing, too, who was paid millions of their tax dollars for the PARCC test. Even more outrageous, Pearson included brand name products embedded in the PARCC test questions!


Parents in NY are so upset that tens of thousands of them have already opted their children out of state testing, even if it hurts their child's grades.
 
Tennessee parents are watching New York closely. We hope our legislators are watching, too.
  

We experienced a traumatic "meltdown" today with my 5th grade son who has Dyslexia. He is supposed to be in a remedial math group, but they apparently have to be taught the same math at the same level now. The overwhelming amount of work to be done for one problem was too much for him. It was a word problem. They had to draw a picture to demonstrate it, write a number sentence/equation, and make a written explanation of the problem. I felt so sorry for him. I had to go pick him up he was so distraught that he could not keep up with it.

(This was posted anonymously, with the permission of this parent, to protect the privacy of this child in Knox County)

Did you know that students in New York are being diagnosed with "Common Core Syndrome"???  Click here to watch this video of a New York teacher telling how children are being harmed:

Our music teacher is has a new evaluation process which includes a lengthy portfolio process. Since she only sees our students once every rotation, there is not time for her to have them practice holiday songs. Also, it is frowned upon for us to miss "teaching time" for anything at all. Award programs were cut this year, too.

This isn't right... even jails have fairly elaborate Christmas programs for the inmates! We are becoming more of an institution than actual institutions. We are taking all of the fun out of learning, out of life. Everything we do has to be tied to a "tested objective." I am really becoming ashamed to be a part of teaching. We used to have freedom to make learning fun, now we don't. We are strictly limited to what we can and cannot do.

Since there are so many components that have to be completed by a certain deadline, our music teacher can't stop to practice holiday songs. Basically, it sounds like what has happened with classroom teachers. If we can't tie the activity to an actual tested objective, we can't do it.
 
For example, this week my students are participating in short plays for reading. There is a wealth of research showing that practicing the scripts over and over through repetition helps build reading fluency and comprehension. However, to fully put on one of these short plays, technically called "readers' theaters," I have to give the students a small amount of time to decorate their scenes, work on simple props etc. Since drawing the background for the play is not assessing a tested objective, we aren't supposed to do it at school. It doesn't fit into our evaluation model. However, I cheated today and gave my students about 30 minutes to create their props for their performances tomorrow. Everything we do, and now our music and art teachers do, must be tied to an assessed skill. Since there isn't a music portion on TCAP, yet, our teacher has to turn in portfolios showing the different skills she is teaching the students. Apparently it is extremely rigorous, and she can't miss a single day of teaching what the state deems important to stop and actually sing in class.  
 
We have CC standards that guide our instruction. Supposedly the PARCC test will test these standards. We have always had some sort of standards to guide our instruction. The actual standards are not the main problem. It's all the strings that come with them. I wouldn't focus only on them. It's some of the ways the skills are taught and questionable materials used to teach them. Right now we have tight schedules that squelch teachable moments and creativity.

At this point, they have developed portfolio evaluations along with the regular ones for art and Music teachers. PE teachers are next. I just wish they would leave us all alone to teach.
 
(This was posted anonymously, with permission, to protect the employment of these teachers in TN.  This teacher does not have the freedom to reveal her school district without the possibility of retribution.)

Westwood Elementary is a strong neighborhood school.  It has a proud history, has strong support from local church congregations, and is a hub in its community.  In 2012, Memphis residents voted to give up their Memphis City School charter to merge with the successful Shelby County School district.  Westwood parents were eager to be a part of this new merged system. But only 4 months into the newly merged district, Westwood Elementary parents and staff are being told they have no choice:  Their public neighborhood elementary school will be given to an out-of-state charter chain next year against their wishes and despite their protests.

Parents and leaders in the Westwood community know their school's test scores were improving.  Their students were making great gains.  They saw how hard their teachers and students were working.  

They've been researching the other ASD schools that have already been taken over by the state.  They notice that the ASD test scores are dismally low, especially in reading.  They see the crazy new grading scale that the ASD implemented to inflate children's grades.  They question the data and find glaring discrepancies.  

They see these huge red flags:

• An observant Westwood Dad notices that the ASD is fudging the numbers for some strange reason. The rollup TVAAS Composite averages for the ASD are crazy inflated!  Looking at the 6 ASD schools individual scores  6 schools currently in the ASD on the TN Report Card for 2013 (Cornerstone Prep - Lester Campus, Frayser Achievement Elementary, Corning Achievement Elementary, Brick Church College Prep (Nashville), Humes Preparatory Academy, And Westside Achievement Academy), it is plain to see that those individual school's numbers don't add up to the ASD District's glowing Composite score.  Why???

Their neighborhood may be low-income, but they know they are being forced to do something that isn't right for their children and community.  Their public neighborhood school is being handed, on a silver platter, to an out-of-state charter chain.  This is not their choice.  Their choice would be smaller class sizes for their children.  Their choice would be support in their school building from counselors, a full-time school nurse, and assistants.  Their choice would be fixing the leaking windows from the 1950s.  

Their citizens voted to be represented through an ELECTED school board, not a charter chain looking to make money from their children.  The Westwood community isn't fooled.
 
(This was posted anonymously, with permission, to protect the privacy of these parents in Memphis, TN)

Is the ASD targeting the "top of the bottom" schools to try and "cream" the best for their score portfolio???

A teacher speaks out against Tripod: I hope that my letter informs every public education school parent in the state of Tennessee about the abuse educators are facing from day to day.  

I received my TRIPOD scores from the 2012-13 school year on Sunday evening, November 3rd, 2013--- one day before my 2013-14 students were to take the TRIPOD.  As I began to look at my scores, I chuckled. I called my husband in the room and he immediately said, "What's this?" "My 2012-13 TRIPOD scores," I told him. "What a joke," he said.  

And he was right. My scores were incredibly low. You see, I am an ESL teacher in Metro Nashville Public Schools. My students are early childhood age, and have little to no developed vocabulary. As I sat at my home computer, looking at the scores I was incredibly horrified, but more so, insulted. One of my lowest areas was a 22/60--- how I CHALLENGE my students. The state average was 50. This didn't make sense. I was a "4" teacher in 2012-13. These scores did not correlate.  

As I went on a tangent, trying to figure out why my scores were so low not just in this one area, but all the way across; I remembered a question my students answering a question on TRIPOD. The question was, "Does your teacher push you to do your best?" I chuckled, remembering my ESL students asking after the survey if it meant that I physically pushed them. Perhaps my students all answered no to this; I would NEVER put my hands on a child.  

This year, the TRIPOD survey is 5% of my TEAM evaluation, and quite frankly--- I don't think it is fair. I did not go to school for over 20 years to be evaluated by 6 and 7 year old children. I did not pay nearly $50,000 of my hard earned money (much of it which I am still paying on) to have a CHILD much less a CHILD WHO DOES NOT SPEAK ENGLISH evaluate my effectiveness as a teacher.

It is my hope and prayer that the state of Tennessee will WAKE UP and realize they are running off the best and the brightest teachers by treating them like dirt. I will be totally honest here--- I have been in this profession less than 5 years and I am not sure how much longer I care to be in it. I am already exploring other career options. Oh, yeah... and remember I am a "4" teacher--- above and beyond what Tennessee likes to call "rock solid."  

Commissioner Huffman and other Tennessee lawmakers must know that to keep the best and the brightest teachers in Tennessee, it is not about paying them more--- it's about treating them with dignity and respect. They have degrees. They went to school. They know what they are doing. Wake up, and remember that. Let's keep our GOOD teachers, not run them out. 

(This was posted anonymously, with permission, to protect the privacy of this teacher in Metro Nashville School District)

In June of this year,  it was announced that 10% of TN public school students will be involved in field testing of the Common Core test (PARCC) during the 2013-2014 school year. This field testing helps the for-profit creator of the test–Pearson–fine tune the test for the planned administration to all TN public school students during the 2014-2015 school year. Sadly, it also essentially turns our students and teachers into unpaid research and development subjects for a company that is worth approximately 1.5 BILLION dollars.
 
Upset parents in New York state recently created an “invoice” to highlight the costs of the Pearson Common Core field tests to the districts and students. (You can see it at this link.)  Many parents refused the field testing for their children and some openly expressed their anger at Pearson and the NY Department of Education: “If Pearson wants to use my daughter to ‘field test’ during the school day,” opined Brooklyn parent Johanna Henry, “they will have to pay us...  I will use the money to provide my child an enjoyable and relevant learning experience.’”
 
Our students will not only be denied payment for taking the PARCC field test, they will be denied valuable instruction time–time that is arguably more necessary than “helping” a testing company that could easily afford to pay children to take (and teachers to administer) this test outside of school hours.  Instructional time is extremely precious, especially considering that teachers across the state estimate that 30-45 days of instruction are lost each school year due to test preparation and administration. This works out to 2-3 years of lost instruction between kindergarten and 12th grade. The PARCC field test will also create additional stress for our children, especially since the PARCC is supposed to be very different from tests our children have taken in the past.  And finally, this pilot testing will increase the already ridiculous workload for our teachers and could result in pushing even more highly qualified educators out of the profession.  

In addition to the educational and emotional costs of this test, TN will lose out on an untold amount of tax revenue because Pearson does not pay teachers and students to administer/take these pilot tests.
 
The Tennessee Department of Education has not published a list of the schools that will undergo field testing in Tennessee.  Attempts to find out this information have been unsuccessful.  
 
(This was reposted with permission from www.stoptntesting.com, a website, blog, and facebook group with a strong and rapidly growing social media presence in TN)