please consider attending AFP lobby day. Here are some important bills. DECEMBER 10 AFP LEGISLATIVE DAY HIGHLIGHTS ON EDUCATION BILLS DURING LAME DUCK FROM YOUR STOP COPMMON CORE in MICHIGAN TEAM As you might guess, lobbyists for “education reform” and unions are working hard to convince our legislators to make laws that generally take away more and more local control and impose unreasonable demands on our children and great teachers. When you meet with or call your state legislators, consider giving them the real grassroots perspective. SB 423, 120, 121 - Colbeck – Support for teaching the Constitution and Founding- support Although we do not like to see the legislature pass laws that are so prescriptive, given the weak commitment to Constitutional education in general we believe these are needed to prepare students to be good citizens. Further evidence of need is the fact that a Hillsdale Classical K-12 Charter Academy application was turned down by an authorizer because there was too much Constitution in the curriculum! HB 5111- Price - Promotion beyond third grade dependent on a students ability to read - oppose We agree schools should work very hard to make sure students can read by the end of third grade. However we believe this legislation will punish children when the fault lies in the educational curriculum used in public K-12. Schools should be employing the method proven to successfully teach reading, Phonics, as the primary method of reading instruction and Common Core does not encourage this, so most schools do not. It is wrong to punish children when the fault lies in the system. HB 5223 & HB 5224 - OBrien - Teacher evaluation tied to student performance - oppose Teachers should be accountable to student achievement, but it is only fair to require this using proven methods. The state assessment being use this year is significantly modified based on Common Core Standards and has not been validated. It is entirely inappropriate to tie teacher performance, and thus earnings and employment to an unvalidated tool. In addition, research shows that a three year rolling average is a more credible method of assessing teacher ability to impact student learning than one year growth models. The teaching profession deserves to be respected, which means great care should be taken in establishing an accountability model. HB 5904 & 5905 - Price - STEM High School Diploma - oppose This bill gives exclusive authority to the Michigan Department of Education to specify which math and science courses are required for a stem diploma. The whim of MDE will impact homeschool and private school students who may not choose the course material specified by MDE, making it appear that these students are not as prepared as their public school counterparts, as demonstrated by the diminished content of high school math and science courses based on Common Core. For example, Common Core Algebra II is not nearly and rigorous as traditional Algebra II. This approach also creates a class system in Michigan which is not supportive of all students. And finally, there is no additional information provided with this diploma that is not already available to anyone who students choose to share their high school transcript. Colleges and universities currently use high school transcripts to determine the coursework and student achievement in their determination for entering freshman. Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) - oppose Or Support HB 4972 The State Board of Education is considering approving these new science standards for Michigan. They have indicated they will be working to persuade the legislators that this is a good idea. IT IS NOT!! These standards are not even supported by Fordham, who has advocated for Common Core. These standards move away from teaching scientific facts developed from the scientific process of hypothesis-experiment-evaluate to scientific consensus based on opinions of “experts”. This is much more important than a STEM diploma!!
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 04:03:20 +0000
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