“Strategery” 101

We have all heard the stories…..stressed out kids. Kids vomiting. Kids so anxiety ridden they are on placed on meds. Kids who DESPISE school. Kids who think they are worthless. Kids who think they are failures. Kids harming themselves. Kids taking their own lives. WHY? Why are they doing this? Because of the experimental tests, the developmentally inappropriate, pedagogical unsound tests based on the standards and curriculum. The experimental, data-mining, data-intrusive, extremely developmentally inappropriate standards they put in place and the tests that are derived from those standards. Those tests that fail 75%. 75%! They want us to believe that it is OUR kids who are failures. Our kids are really abject failures that will never amount to anything. Our schools have been taken over by corporate America, politicians, investors, foundations, colleges, universities and anyone and everyone who consider our public schools their cash cow thus giving them unlimited access to free flowing tax dollars and federal dollars for the taking, whose only goal is to continue to derive profits from their “investments” in education. There were promises made, contracts signed, midnight deals and backroom handshakes, policies and programs put in place and new legislation crafted, written and voted in – all in the name of a “high quality”, “rigorous”, “college & career ready” education for our kids. After all, who could say no to “closing the achievement gap”, “providing learning opportunities for low-income children and children with disabilities”, “providing a high-quality education for all children”, “increasing awareness for parental choice”, “providing high quality and effective teachers” and my all-time favorite “putting students first”. All of those phrases are reformer speak and selling points to their investors and “stakeholders” and none of them are worth the paper they are written on because the “stakeholders” are not parents, students, teachers or our public schools. Everyone can remember what they were doing and where they were on that fateful day in 2001 on September 11^th when the planes hit the towers. Everyone can remember that godawful feeling of shock and disbelief followed by anger and then outrage. Those are the feelings one struggles with when the realization of what transpired with Race To The Top (RTTT) in 2009 followed by the implementation of the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) and then the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the privatization of our public schools. It happened on Arne Duncan’s watch. It happened on our watch.

The testing consortia was setup in 2009 with Race To The Top (RTTT) funds from the US Department of Education (US DOE). SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium)/AIR (American Institutes for Research) and PARCC (Partnership Assessment for Readiness for College and Career – Pearson) were the recipients of the $378 million to set up the “testing consortia” to create, administer and score the tests. They then “sold” the tests to the states. They setup the “testing consortia” and charge the states a “membership fee” through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and of course the fee for their state test (multi-millions). The membership fee includes psychometric services, management fees, per student fees for testing and administrative fees. This was a well thought out, well-planned, meticulously articulated, devious plan that took years of planning and execution, putting the right people in the right places and some major “strategery” (in the infamous words of ex-president George W.) 101. The “strategery” part was the gutting of FERPA, changing the Federal Code of Regulation, putting the “chiefs” in charge (state DOEs), changing state laws and changing state statutes to allow the takeover of our public schools. The testing consortia/testing companies are also charging states “rental” fees. For example, Florida rented the test questions from Utah and now Ohio is “renting” the test questions from Florida and so forth so states are paying for the membership fee (millions), the state test (triple-digit millions) and the “rental” fee (millions). They are making a bloody fortune by diverting public tax dollars to pay for the tests, membership fees, rentals and all it entails to the detriment of our kids and schools.

Florida paid AIR /SBAC $320 MILLION for our test. A lot of the states paid triple-digit millions for their test as well. 48 states times MILLIONS of dollars for state testing contracts translates into BILLIONS of dollars in profits to those who put this in place. SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) “partnered” with AIR (http://www.air.org/resource/air-partners-smarter-balanced-assessment-consortium-create-online-test-delivery-system) and AIR not only wrote the test for SBAC, they also developed the testing platform and the test delivery as well as the special adaptive algorithms. They take great care to mention that over and over in the contracts I have and have reviewed for NV, WA, WV, OR, CA, NH, DE, ND and FL. AIR wrote the test that our kids are taking across the country in every state. AIR then “partnered” with Questar, Data Recognition Corporation (DRC), ETS (Educational Testing Services), WestEd, MI (Measurement Inc.) or MP (Measure Progress) – all the current test vendors and or management companies, including PARCC – they are all one in the same test. Each and every one of those companies are also connected to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in some way, shape or form. http://www.air.org/news/press-release/american-institutes-research-collaborates-microsoft-and-assistx-education-support)

The states did not “adopt” the Common Core Standards – they were forced upon them. They were mandated by the US DOE to implement them (highly illegal) – Duncan overstepped his authority more than once during his reign of terror tenure. Where is the congressional hearing? Why have they not demanded a congressional hearing for the US DOE and the misuse of and over extension of their authority? The state tests were created from the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). They have monopolized the testing across the entire U.S. and all of those companies and people are making untold profits from the testing contracts, newly aligned CCSS curriculum, textbooks, software, et al.  If you google your state test vendor and look at the “About” tab, you can see who all the major players are. I guarantee you will see “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation” in their partnerships, sponsors, donors, and contributors as well as a plethora of other well-known education “reformers” including the FEE (Foundation for Excellence in Education – Jeb Bush’s foundation – as he still drives the education policy here in FL. When you are the ex-governor of a state and have a brother that was president …..that makes for some pretty powerful friends in high places with some pretty powerful ideas and suggestions that can surely make things happen. Take a look at this chart showing the ties Bush has to the US DOE from our friends at Muckety.

The CCSSO (Council of Chief State School Officers – Jeb Bush) and the NGA (National Governors Association – also Jeb Bush) hold and own the copyright for the CCSS. Those two organizations which have absolutely zero authoritative roles have single handedly help mastermind and manipulate the placement and implementation of the CCSS in 48 states. The states (ALL of them) are spending millions of dollars to purchase the tests derived from the CCSS. The “testing consortia” started in Washington State, how convenient as that’s where Bill Gates lives, and was moved to CA at UCLA/CRESST.  SBAC was originally located in Washington state and was moved to the University of California – National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST) collectively known as “UCLA/CRESST” when the federal funding ran out. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have funded CCSS to the tune of well over $3 BILLION dollars. Bill Gates also owns Microsoft. Guess who the technology supplier and software supplier is for all the state contracts? Gates is firmly implanted here in FL thanks to the generosity of the FL BOE. Here is an excerpt from the BOE meeting 11/19/2013: “Chair Chartrand stated that he also attended the Florida Council of 100 last week and that 80 percent of the content was centered on education reform and pushing for higher standards. Chair Chartrand also stated that he met with representatives from the Gates Foundation and Adam Miller, Executive Director, Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice, about attracting the best and brightest, high-impact charter schools into the lowest income areas throughout Florida. Chair Chartrand stated that the Gates Foundation is 100 percent behind the initiative.”   THAT is NOT the only thing they are behind 100%. Thanks to Chartrand, Scott, Stewart, the FL legislators, senators and FDOE – our kids personally identifiable information (data) has been taken from them and is being used, sold and profited from. That’s right – it was taken from them….from us. In my book – that is stealing and that will be a future blog. I don’t know what’s worse? Being appointed to a board that you have absolutely zero qualifications for or stealing from children?

The state test has never been validated and has no reliability documentation whatsoever. In the state contracts, like the Florida contract, it specifically states “must provide empirical evidence of psychometric validity and reliability”. That was to be provided to the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) PRIOR to testing. It was not…..because it didn’t exist and it still does not exist. In testimony to the Florida Senate on March 4, 2015 – Commissioner Stewart stated the test “was absolutely reviewed and is psychometrically valid and reliable”.  This is not a true statement at all. Why did the FL senate spend $594K of Florida taxpayer dollars on a validity study? Why did they go through the motions when it was clear AIR was “developing and validating’ the test via the operational assessment? In fact, Utah’s Department of Education sent a letter to Senator Simmons dated March 23, 2015 stating they did not have psychometric and reliability data for their own Utah SAGE test. AIR/SBAC used the Utah SAGE questions on the Florida Standards Assessment (FSA) test and charged FL an additional $16 million to “rent” their test questions as indicated in the FSA Technical Report. Why would the FL DOE allow questions from a test that was not psychometrically valid or reliable be used on our test? Why would they not demand that AIR fulfill their contractual obligations? Perhaps because they knew that our kids would be assisting in the “development and validation” of the test.

This was taken from a document published by SBAC/AIR in regards to the “validity” of the test. SBAC confirmed in a memo to inquiries in Washington State that the purpose of the test is to establish validity and reliability. Here is the link to the original memo – however, like most of the links I obtained and saved over a year ago have been taken down. http://www.smarterbalanced.org/news/smarter-balanced-and-parcc-to-launch-new-technology-readiness-tool-to-support-transition-to-online-assessments/:

“Test reliability will initially be modeled through simulations using the item pool after item review, which is due to be completed December 31, 2014. Operational test reliability will be reported in the technical manual following the first operational administration in spring 2015.

Evaluation Phase:

Once the Smarter Balanced assessments are administered operationally in spring 2015,it will be possible to determine “external validity,” which is the degree to which test results correspond to external indicators (consistent with expectations).

Validity Framework and the associated sources of evidence, past, present, and future. Because this type of evidence continues to be gathered through the operational administration of the assessments, this table mostly reflects future plans for external validity.”

This is from the “goals” section of the SBAC MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) the states must sign with SBAC: “the Consortium is committed to creating a policy environment that fosters innovation while supporting the development of accountability systems that incentivize the right behaviors for students, teachers, and administrators and avoid inadvertently incentivizing behaviors that run counter to SBAC goals.” This: “SBAC’s proposed learning and assessment system is grounded in a sound Theory of Action.”and “Over time, with a purposeful governing structure in participating States, this Consortium’s assessment system holds promise to effect the types of reform sought by the Race to the Top Assessment Program.”and “the role of the Consortium is to influence and support the development and implementation of learning and assessment systems to radically reshape the education systems in participating States so as to improve student outcomes.” The state assessments are “theories” to “radically reshape education” that “holds promise”? THIS is what they are using to retain, remediate and deny diplomas to our kids.

During a TAC (Technical Advisory Committee) meeting held December 12-13, 2013 in Delaware. Delaware belongs to the Smarter Balanced testing consortium and is also a key member state with AIR as their “test vendor”. This is a statement from the meeting minutes: “Dr. Marion restated what he had raised at previous TAC meetings—that validity evidence on the vertical scale is great but wondered what evidence there is that actually supports it?”

Dr. Harold Doran from AIR was credited with being a major contributor to the Florida FSA (Florida Standards Assessment) TAC report. He also authored the “Impact of Test Administration on FSA Test Scores” which was incorporated into the FL FSA TAC report. He was paid to author these reports and yet they still have not produced validity and or reliability documents. Dr. Harold Doran was also promoted from AIR to the US DOE. The American Institutes for Research (AIR) – in their own words: “Established in 1946, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is an independent, nonpartisan not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research on important social issues and delivers technical assistance both domestically and internationally in the areas of health, education, and workforce productivity.”

Parents, we have been had. We have been bamboozled, lied to and deceived.

The ramifications of using our kids as their lab rats and guinea pigs to validate their test are astronomical. Retention, remediation, and graduation decisions are now being determined by our kid’s performance on these invalid and unreliable AIR/SBAC/PARCC tests. There has been growing and legitimate concerns regarding the lack of validity and reliability of the test as well as the violations of basic rights of experimental testing on our children. Here is an excerpt from the FL BOE meeting on 2/18/2014: “Chair Chartrand called for a motion to approve new Rule 6E-6.001, Failure of Nonpublic College, University or School Administrator or Law Enforcement Agency to Report Child Abuse, Abandonment or Neglect. Vice Chair Padget made the motion with a second by Dr. Armas. The motion passed unanimously.”  Why do you suppose they created and passed that new rule? Perhaps in preparation of suspected impending lawsuits? If that new rule is anything like the state contracts, MOU’s and data collection and data sharing contracts – that is preparation to indemnify them of any and all responsibility of harm. The NGA and CCSSO own the copyright for the Common Core State Standards. Don’t even think about suing them though because of the psychological trauma they are or will inflict on your children…..they have absolved themselves of all responsibility. I’m sure we could find a savvy attorney though…..some people are not so easily bought and paid for and don’t accept bribes and blood money…..but unfortunately many do. Especially our “leaders”.

This is an excerpt from Appendix I of the Florida executed AIR contract (14-652) confirming our kids are in fact validating their test. Those who put this in place knew the test would not measure “college & career” readiness let alone academic progress or inform instruction. This is also in the WV, CA, OR, WA, NV and ND contracts as well:

“APPENDIX I – DATA PRIVACY & SECURITY POLICY

1. INTRODUCTION

Personally Identifiable Information (“PII”) on students, including information on their performance on the assessments and limited demographic information, will be collected by the Contractor. Disclosure of PII to the Department and its contractors is authorized by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) for the purposes of—

(1) Conducting studies, for or on behalf of the Department and Florida’s school districts, to develop, validate,vand administer predictive tests or to improve instruction (34 CFR 99.31(a)(6)(i)(A) & (C)); (2) Assisting in the evaluation of federal- and state-supported education programs and ensuring compliance with federal legal requirements related to such programs – in particular related to state-level assessments and accountability systems (34 CFR 99.31(a)(3) & 99.35).”

In the state of Florida, they are NOT transparent at all. They claim they are in the statutes and laws but when you actually try to execute your god given right as a parent to see the instructional materials, curriculum and tests your child is subjected to – the answer is a resounding NO. I tried that last year. AIR and the school districts are doing everything in their power to prevent parents from seeing the test. They have a whole section in the executed state contracts dedicated to “Test Security” alone and in the case of PARCC – they actually made the signer initial that section. I know they have practice tests online (that’s their transparency and also their foolishness as our practice tests are from Utah)……but those do not even come close to what our kids are being subjected to. Thanks to a lot of astute students, teachers, and school officials who were able to get a look at the test and take pictures of the test questions – here are some of the types of questions your children are being subjected to. Questions that are intrusive, confusing, poorly worded and have typographical errors. Remember the test is one in the same for all states. These questions are appearing on all the state tests and are not confined to specific states:

Abortion.

Sperm donation.

Wrong answer.

Grammar.

Huh? Confusing.

Confusing. 4,800 shells?

Typo – it should say “Social Studies”

There are pages and pages full of intrusive, confusing, poorly worded, grammatically incorrect, developmentally inappropriate and just plain wrong questions both on PARCC and AIR/SBAC tests. I have many screen shots from many tests (state test, quarterly assessments, benchmark assessments, weekly tests), homework, and projects. They are all like this.

The PARCC and SBAC/AIR tests have been criticized for being administered in high-stakes circumstances and that criticism falls on deaf ears. PARCC and SBAC/AIR claim they had “content” validity, meaning that the test was built according to their committee (selected and paid by them) reviewed specifications. But what is missing is “predictive” validity. That is, does the test validly measure the much touted criteria of “college & career readiness?” After all, that is the entire rationale for the testing upheaval in all our schools. THAT is the premise behind the CCSS. To get our kids “college & career ready”.

Unfortunately, both the PARCC and SBAC tests were administered to our children without a single empirical study demonstrating the tests actually had the predictive capability they claimed. The tests were administered without “empirical evidence of psychometric validity and reliability” that was demanded in the contract and signed off on by Commissioner Stewart here in FL, or valid “predictive validity” or “reliability”. The test makers failed to meet those crucial, essential, non-negotiable standards or adhere to the basic human rights in experimental testing. The politicians and state DOE’s touted and sold the false claims that the test would “improve education”, “inform instruction” and prepare our kids for “college & a career” without any proof or solid evidence the tests were sound, developmentally appropriate, and properly vetted when in fact the tests are academically unfit and in no way measure academic progression let alone “college and career readiness”. The politicians, US DOE and state DOE’s lied to parents, teachers, taxpayers and our children. The test was crafted by non-educators in secrecy with no transparency and fail to meet any of the criteria they sold to the states under the guise of a “high-quality”, “rigorous” test. Many well-known, world-renowned educators (Dr. Sandra Stotsky and Professor James Milgram and many more) provided their feedback for the standards and tests which was not only ignored, they tried to bury their professional judgments. The SBAC/AIR and PARCC tests are not a valid measure of anything let alone “college & career readiness.” These invalid, unreliable and developmentally inappropriate tests are labeling our children as failures with huge consequences attached and our leaders are letting it happen. Using these tests to fail our children is not only morally wrong it’s inexcusable and shameful. It’s ruining lives. The tests not only come at a massive financial cost – it has human costs as well.

It is very clear that legislators, the NGA, the CCSSO, the state DOE’s, governors, corporations, investors, foundations and individuals are intentionally ignoring the extremely grave concerns and protests from parents, teachers and students. There have been hundreds of scientists in CA who have signed a moratorium to stop the SBAC/AIR test. There have been thousands of people, organizations, schools and teachers who have spoken out against the harmful tests that have gone completely ignored. It is time for the state DOE’s, politicians, policymakers, senators and legislators to listen to the voices of the many people who shared their valid concerns. It is time for the politicians, policymakers, legislators and DOE’s to stop wasting taxpayer dollars and thousands of hours on the useless, invalid, unreliable test. It is absolutely mind boggling how many people are continuing to profit from this at the expense of our children and their education. Education is a trillion dollar industry and everyone wants a piece of the education pie taking the much needed funds away from our kids and our public schools. Here is another example of how the FL BOE continues to push the agenda of the reformers completely disregarding what’s in the best interest of our kids– it pays to have friends high on the food chain even though they deserve to be at the bottom of the pond. From the FL BOE meeting 2/18/2014: “Chair Chartrand recognized Hadi Partovi, Co-Founder and CEO, Code.org, for a presentation on Code.org. Mr. Partovi stated that Code.org is supported by many of the top companies in technology and their vision is that every school and every student should have access to Computer Science. Vice Chair Padget requested the presentation electronically. Mr. Partovi stated that they are developing a curriculum which involves 20 hours of exposure in the first few years of elementary school, 20 hours in the next few years, 20 to 40 hours in middle school and then optional courses in high school. Mr. Partovi explained that the curriculum will be piloted in more than 100 schools across the country this summer, including Broward County Public Schools. Mr. Partovi explained that Code.org uses existing certified teachers and all the stipends for professional development is paid by Code.org with plans to move to a model where states will cover half the cost. Mr. Partovi stated that one thing Florida could do from a policy level is to make Computer Science count towards high school graduation credits in Math or Science. Commissioner Stewart stated that it is possible…” Vice Chair Padget expressed his opinion to move forward with Computer Science as a requirement for high school graduation.” The FDOE are in the process of adding Computer Science standards and started the framework at this meeting in October 2015. http://fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/15219/urlt/comppres.pdf

That is just one of many, many examples of how the FDOE, FBOE, FL legislators, FL senators, and our governor have crafted, written, manipulated and voted laws and statutes into place. One only has to look at the senate sessions and meeting minutes for the FDOE, FBOE and their local school boards to see the laws, statutes, policies and programs that have been put in place. Put in place with total disregard for our kids well-being and welfare. One that was put in place years ago that has extremely “rigorous” ramifications is the accountability system that punishes our kids, teachers and schools.

It’s time to demand answers to our questions! It’s time to hold those in charge accountable for their actions. It’s time hold the school districts, the legislators, the senators, the state board of education and the governor ACCOUNTABLE for perpetrating this fraud on our kids. We the people have the power to make change with our votes. We cannot allow this to continue because if we do, we are doing a massive disservice to our kids and all the kids who are subject to the abuse going on in our schools which is exactly why we will to continue to opt out of their bogus, fraudulent tests. Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth. They cannot continue to hide from the truth – cowards and bullies do that.

Sorry Bill, your experiment on our kids is a dismal failure like everything else education related you do. We are not going to wait 10 years to see if this “stuff really works”. You already screwed over our neighbors – Hillsborough County – by promising them $100 million and then reneging on that promise because it wasn’t going your way. That hurt. They are still paying the price for that and recently announced they have to lay-off 1,700 employees. http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/consultant-advises-hillsborough-school-district-to-shed-more-than-1700-jobs/2279863 Next time – experiment on your own kids and let us know how that goes instead up uprooting our entire education system based on an “idea” and a very bad one at that. What’s worse is – people went along with it – amazing what money and greed can do to normally clear headed, level-thinking people. Perhaps it’s time you find a new hobby Bill, so we can have our kids back. You sure as hell aren’t getting mine. Go pick on someone your own size and leave our kids the hell alone.