Thoughts on ESSA and Centralized Education

11 Dec, 2015 by in common core, education, ESEA, ESSA Leave a comment

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I’ve had several people ask me what I think now that ESSA has been signed.

Here are my sentiments …

“It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.” ― James Madison

I am troubled by what passed and what is about to hit classrooms, homes and neighborhoods all across the nation.

” Schools are not factories; education can’t be systematized; learning can’t be centrally planned.

Good teachers are successful not because they’re following some magic formula concocted by “experts” in Washington, but because they do what good teachers everywhere have always done: they work harder than just about anyone, and they know their class material inside and out; they communicate early and often with each students’ parents, so that they, and their students, can be held accountable; they observe and listen to their students, in order to understand their unique learning needs and goals, and tailor each day’s lesson plans accordingly; and they evaluate students honestly and comprehensively, assessing whether they’ve mastered the material, not just figured out how to take a test.” –Senator Mike Lee ( R-Utah)

 

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) issued this statement on the conference report of the Every Student Succeeds Act-S. 1177:

“The Every Student Succeeds Act unfortunately continues to propagate the large and ever-growing role of the federal government in our education system—the same federal government that sold us failed top-down standards like Common Core. We should be empowering parents and local school districts instead of perpetuating the same tired approach that continues to fail our nation’s children. In many ways, the conference report was worse than the original Senate bill—removing the few good provisions from the House bill that would have allowed some Title I portability for low-income students as well as a parental opt-out from onerous federal accountability standards. The American people expect the Republican majority to do better. And our children deserve better, which is why I cannot support this bill.”

 

American Principles Project is disappointed that Congress has passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to reauthorize the failed No Child Left Behind statute. The claims of Republican leadership that the bill will transfer power back to the states are largely illusory. 

“It is particularly noteworthy and even shocking that so many Republicans voted in favor of this bill. Apparently they did not consider it a red flag that every Democrat in Congress supported it, that Barack Obama supported it, that Arne Duncan supported it, that Nancy Pelosi supported it, and that the owners of the Common Core national standards – National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers – supported it.”

From The Washington Post:

“There are major problems with this legislation; anybody who thinks federal dictates have disappeared are in for a surprise, and anybody who would like to see the federal government exercise its power to fix systemic school funding problems and seriously broaden the scope of reform are in for a letdown, too.”-  The successor to No Child Left Behind has, it turns out, big problems of its own

“President Obama just signed the reform of the ‘No Child Left Behind’ Act, now called the ‘Every Child Succeeds’ Act. It appears to me the federal government still hasn’t learned, especially in the area of education, their role is to ensure equality of opportunity…not equality of outcomes… Just more duplicitous hypocrisy emanating from Obama. We should be reducing the impact of the federal government in the area of education; that is a state and local governance responsibility.”- Allen West

Also Helpful:

Nicholas Tampio: Is ESSA a Hoax?

U.S. Senate Approves No Child Left Behind Replacement

ESSA benefits Goldman Sachs? But hurts SPED kids?

The Complete Restructure of American Education and Why It’s Happening

ESEA-Rewrite Bill Includes Controversial Teacher-Prep Provisions

The disturbing provisions about teacher preparation in No Child Left Behind rewrite

 

A very sincere thank you to those Senators who voted against ESSA:

Senator Rand Paul (KY)
Senator Mike Lee (UT)
Senator Ted Cruz (TX)
Senator Ben Sasse (NE)
Senator Mike Crapo (ID)
Senator David Vitter (LA)
Senator Jerry Moran (KS)
Senator Richard Shelby (AL)
Senator James Risch (ID)
Senator Roy Blunt (MO)
Senator Tim Scott (SC)
Senator Steve Daines (MT)

And to our entire Utah Delegation in the House who also voted NO:

Chris Stewart
Jason Chaffetz
Mia Love
Rob Bishop

 

 

US House Members

Who Voted Nay On Agreeing to the Conference Report
BILL TITLE: To reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to ensure that every child achieves

Amash
Babin
Bishop (UT)
Blackburn
Brat
Bridenstine
Brooks (AL)
Buck
Chabot
Chaffetz
Clawson (FL)
Culberson
DeSantis
DesJarlais
Duncan (SC)
Farenthold
Fleming
Franks (AZ)
Gohmert
Gosar
Gowdy
Graves (LA)
Guinta
Harper
Harris
Hice, Jody B.
Holding
Huelskamp
Johnson, Sam
Jones
Jordan
Kelly (MS)
King (IA)
Labrador
Lamborn
Loudermilk
Love
Lummis
Marchant
Massie
Meadows
Miller (FL)
Mooney (WV)
Mulvaney
Palazzo
Palmer
Perry
Poe (TX)
Ratcliffe
Rogers (AL)
Rohrabacher
Rothfus
Salmon
Sanford
Schweikert
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Stewart
Stutzman
Walker
Weber (TX)
Wenstrup
Yoder
Yoho

For my book reading friends, some of these titles may be worth a read:

 

Divergent (Divergent Series)
Insurgent (Divergent Series)
Allegiant (Divergent Series)
Matched
Uglies
The Giver (Giver Quartet)
Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution
1984

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