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More evidence on negative affects to physiological and psycho-emotional development caused by standardized high stakes testing. In their own words, elementary students Claire and Liam address the Orange County School Board: "We all have to do the same thing at the same time. The kids all learn like that because of tests." "I wanted you to see that I'm a 3rd grader and me and other kids who are going to take the scary tests for the first time in the Spring, and I won't be Claire to them, I'll just be the girl who got a three, or the girl who got a one, or the girl who threw up because she was so nervous. You guys always teach us about standing up to others. Now it's time for you to stand up to the bullies who are using these tests in the wrong way. Can't you do something?" Liam addresses his school board on the standard error of measurement : "When I took the 3rd grade FCAT, I was a wreck. The pressure on our teacher and our school's succ...

H4QE is funded by a lot of deep pockets outside of Indiana. If this group is advocating for quality education for all Hoosier school children, why have they supported candidates and policies responsible for pressuring teachers and administrators to teach to the test  and cut funding to public schools where approximately 90% of children in Indiana are educated and why did they feature the voucherization of public schools under another PAC  name ? Doug Martin has some insight on this group  here.  I smell big money funding this PAC from out of state corporate donors in Kansas, Arkansas and Michigan.

The Koch's, Bill Gates and Eli Broad are the most powerful funders of  education deform in the World. In the U.S. Arne Duncan is their tool. There is a fourth wheel of government accountable to no one. It is the big, big monied elites. They control   significant numbers of politicians. They influence legislative initiatives. They control the mass media and public information . The Billionaires Club have succeeded in weaving their influence  (Duncan is a former Broad Foundation board member) into your children's public school experience . Corporate education deformers say they want your child to be college and career ready with a rigorous education loaded with grit. What they really intend to do is standardize children's  curriculum and learning experience so countless numbers of lucrative high stakes standardized tests can be administered resulting in the successful preparation of the next generation of compliant worker bees. I have four of the top olig...

Control and perpetuation of punitive high stakes standardized testing policies and chair of the ISBOE at stake.  Dear Indiana State Board of Education, The roots of cognitive science, the science of mind, brain and learning, have been in existence since Socrates, Plato and Aristotle spoke and wrote on such matters over 2500 years ago.  Research in cognitive science and cognitive neuro-science conducted over the past 60 years, reveal Socrates, Plato and Aristotle had it wrong when they described the mind as a blank slate and disconnected from the body.  We know today, mind, body and spirit are all connected.  It is ironic, 2500 years later, the ISBOE continues to adopt positions and mandate policies that perpetuate a conception of the mind that is as antiquated as those of the ancient Greek philosophers. The human mind, particularly children's minds are complex organic entities, uniquely constructed with innate capacities and competencies.  Policies th...

Molding Minds For Tomorrow! If we could paint a picture of the travesty taking place in American Public Education today, it might look like the above picture. It is Spring Time in America and high stakes standardized tests are on the school menu for millions of American children. There are many reasons to revolt against these tests. The most heinous fact is these tests dictate learning experience.  In the long term, children learn nothing more than to be compliant, worker bees. Think of it. Children are biologically hard wired to be active, playful, imaginative, inquisitive learners. However due to high stakes testing in thousands of schools across the U.S., children are forced to sit at their seats for 6 hours a day and mimic the work of desk clerks. Children have no voice in the learning experiences they engage in and are forced to participate in data-driven radical behaviorist learning activities, which they are told, will prepare them for careers and college. This factory model...

"What the wisest parents want for their children, that must we want for all children." J. Dewey Touting the CCSS version of standardized education with lots of rigor and fidelity as a cure-all for what ails American public education is a  charade!   More and better standardized educational experience (rigor) that will be controlled and measured with high stakes standardized test scores (fidelity)? Really? Standardized educational experience and in particular, CCSS will do nothing to improve children's learning experiences in American classrooms. The elements for improving educational experience for all American children are still not in place: Personal time and attention from teachers through smaller class sizes, stable home lives, reduction of food insecurity, regular experiences in fine arts education and opportunities for student's self determination of educational experience. These factors are critical for improving American education, but alas...what childr...

How much state funding will Indiana public schools and other public entities lose if Mike Pence's corporate property tax cut initiative is ok'd by the Republican dominated Indiana General Assembly? Plenty!  Who does Mike Pence represent? It certainly isn't the Indiana middle class whose 1.1 million children attend Indiana public schools. Only an agent of the opulent minority would consider a funding cut of this magnitude to cash strapped Indiana pubic schools, libraries and municipal government services. The promise of jobs in exchange for tax cuts has done irreparable harm to the middle class and to municipal institutions like public schools and libraries. Time for the Indiana General Assembly to reconsider this governor's plans to further decimate the middle class? Call or write your state legislator here: Indiana General Assembly