To the editor: Governor Parnell’s Aug. 8 mass email letter references misinformation about Alaska Education Standards. His talking points are echoed on the Mat-Su Borough School District website stating Alaska did not adopt Common Core regulations. Parnell’s argument is based on documents from 2009 when he rejected Race to the Top. He references former state commissioner of education Larry LeDoux, who he replaced with Mike Hanley in 2010.Where is the misinformation? Which documents are “misinformation?” 1. A June 7, 2012 letter from University of Alaska President Gamble to Arne Duncan (U.S. Department of Education Secretary) says Achieve Inc. was hired by the state of Alaska to gain support and implementation of Common Core in Alaska. That document states: “Alaska Department of Education and Early Development staff coordinated with Achieve Inc. in the initial planning stages of the standards revision process in 2010. Staff from Achieve reviewed Alaska’s revision plan and provided feedback via phone conversations and teleconferences. Achieve provided critical guidance for consideration of appropriate stakeholders, identifying key decision makers and process-specific tasks, which Alaska incorporated into the review.” 2. Scott Norton, strategic initiative director for the Council of Chief State School Officers, wrote (in a memorandum to Mike Hanley) dated Jan. 22 that “analysis showed that the final Alaska ELA and math standards track nearly exactly with the Common Core, employing the same structure and language used in the CCSS, with nearly all the CCSS being used verbatim in the Alaska standards.” 3. The Memorandum of Understanding signed by Governor Parnell required the adoption of nearly identical standards to enter the consortium. He renamed the standards, but they are Common Core. Hanley had to submit a document proving the standards were identical to Common Core to enter the SBAC consortium. 4. Shane Vander Hart of Truth in Education concludes the Alaskas and Common Core standards are virtually identical. The governor, as an attorney, is well aware of contracts and the state Constitution. Is the governor saying someone forged his signature or he did not know what he signed? The documents are online at stopalaskacommoncore. Barbara Haney North Pole frontiersman/opinions/letters_to_editor/governor-spreads-misinformation-about-standards/article_47c16638-03c0-11e3-b8da-0019bb2963f4.html
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 15:33:17 +0000
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