Cuomo Calls For "Comprehensive Review" Of The Implementation Of The Common Core And The Endless Testing Regime

This sounds like an Onion story, but it's not.

Hold on to your hats, Governor Cuomo has suddenly decided Common Core and the Endless Testing regime isn't the swellest thing since toast.

Guess what that means?

It's commission time!

In a statement, Gov. Cuomo just said he will create a commission to examine NY's Common Core implementation.

— Jon Campbell (@JonCampbellGAN) September 3, 2015

More:

Cuomo: 'the time has come for a comprehensive review of the implementation of the Common Core Standards, curriculum, guidance and tests'

— Michael Gormley (@GormleyAlbany) September 3, 2015

Cuomo tasks his ed panel, experts to recommend changes to Common Core; Cuomo has in past supported CC, but said NY's rollout was flawed

— Michael Gormley (@GormleyAlbany) September 3, 2015

Cuomo:'“We must have standards for New York’s students, but those standards will only work if people – esp. parents – have faith in them'

— Michael Gormley (@GormleyAlbany) September 3, 2015

Now I'm sure this is all jive and the "comprehensive review of the implementation of the Common Core Standards, curriculum, guidance and tests" will be as flawed as Cuomo's Moreland Commission, LIPA Commission, and the previous education commission that Todd Hathaway sat on (and had his named signed to although he opposed the final report.)

In short, Cuomo will control this process from afar and the "review" will come out with the exact findings he wants.

But his calling for a "comprehensive review" of Common Core and the Endless Testing regime shows that Cuomo sees that the politics of education reform are dangerous these days and the old "Teachers Suck! Public schools suck! I'll hold them accountable!" agenda of the past that he's imposed doesn't work so well anymore.

Cuomo's more cunning than smart but even he can read the polling around this, see the opt out numbers and realize the rebellion against Common Core, testing and education reform in New York does NOT bode well for him.

Notice, however, what will NOT be part of the review - APPR.

More later as we get it.

Vaunted New Cuomo APPR Evaluation Plan Not In Place For NYC Yet

Gotham Schools:

The first day of school is Sept. 9, but it will be at least a month before New York City teachers know exactly how they will be graded this year.

The de Blasio administration plans to wait until at least October to decide if it will comply with a new state law and make changes to its teacher evaluation system this year or seek to delay the process. Districts will lose state funding if the changes aren’t in place by Nov. 15, according to the law, but officials have said they will give districts more time if needed.

Excellent - nothing like uncertainty around evaluations.

Reformers seem to love changes, don't they?

Change the tests, change the standards, change the curriculum, change the PD, changes the evaluation system - over and over and over.

The cynic in me wonders if the constant change isn't meant to undermine students, teachers and schools, give reformers their "failure" metrics and data and help them push their privatization agenda.

The pragmatist in me thinks that's exactly the case.

There may be a saving grace this year on the evaluation changes, however.

The judge in the Lederman case is expected to issue a decision later this month or sometime next month.

If the test score component - the NYSED "Black Box" of "We rate you the way we want to and you'll take it and like it!" - is tossed, that could result in the whole evaluation system being thrown out and force Cuomo and the Legislature to start over again.

Won't that be fun?

The likelihood is that the state will appeal a Lederman decision like that, but that would just throw more uncertainty into the system.

And in the end, that seems to be the point of education reform and the Cuomo agenda.

Burn and churn, burn and churn, burn and churn...

Gag Order On Educators Discussing Contents Of Common Core Tests Remains

 From State of Politics:

Contrary to lawmakers’ claims, the Big Ugly did not end the State Education Department’s so-called “gag order” policy that prevents administrators and teachers from discussing the contents of state exams.

The Capital NY piece is behind a paywall, but here's the gist:

"Big ugly" doesn't actually eliminate "gag order" preventing teachers from discussing state exams http://t.co/D4ApMfyqH1

— Jessica Bakeman (@jessicabakeman) June 26, 2015

Under "big ugly," teachers may talk about exam questions ONLY AFTER the questions are released publicly—big catch http://t.co/D4ApMfyqH1

— Jessica Bakeman (@jessicabakeman) June 26, 2015

Flanagan's earlier versions of bills ending "gag order" did not include the after-questions-are-released clause http://t.co/D4ApMfyqH1

— Jessica Bakeman (@jessicabakeman) June 26, 2015

It had been rumored that the end of session legislation bill would allow teachers and administrators  to talk about the tests after they were over.

But the gag order, in essence, remains.

You can talk about the tests after they have been released.

Gee, thanks.

That's...no change at all, really...

Farleigh Dickinson Poll Finds Only 17% Of Americans Support Common Core

The support trajectory for Common Core drops dramatically:

As millions of students across the country prepare to take the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) exam or the Smarter Balanced Assessment, the most recent national survey from Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind finds that the educational reform behind these standardized tests remains a mystery to many Americans and faces widespread disapproval.

 Currently, 40 percent of Americans say they disapprove of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), often referred to as just the “Common Core,” with 42 percent who are unsure and 17 percent who favor the standards. The goal of the Core is to establish national standards for learning so that all students, regardless of where they live, leave high school with the skills necessary to enter college or the labor force.

Reformers will use this as pushback:

The survey finds that most Americans say that they don’t know very much about the Common Core standards, and they seem to be right: misconceptions about the content of the standards are widespread – almost half of Americans (44%) think that sex education are part of them – and are strongly connected with opposition to them.

...


A lack of information is evident from misconceptions about what topics are included in the standards. In the survey, Americans were also asked if four specific topics – sexual education, global warming, evolution, and the American Revolution – are included in the Common Core. In reality, none of these are part of the Common Core standards, which only include topics in math and reading. Still, two-thirds of Americans say that at least one of these is in the standards, with 37 percent saying that three or four of them are.

But who's at fault for the "lack of information" around Common Core?

Deformers thought they could shove through dramatic eduction reform without the public being clued in - new standards, new tests, teacher evaluations tied to those tests, all in some way connected to the stimulus package, Race to the Top, No Child Left Behind waivers - so if there are widespread misconceptions around the Common Core, well, then next time don't shove all this stuff through at once without public discussion and buy-in beforehand.

Elites think they know best but one thing they don't seem to know anything about is how the rest of us respond when shit gets shoved down our throats.

Quite frankly, I don't care if the Core is killed for the right reasons or the wrong reasons anymore.

I just want to see the Core killed.

And with so many people against Common Core, so few in favor and Common Core proponents seemingly unable to persuade the "Don't Know Enough" categories despite all the money they throw into their propaganda, I'd have to say the Common Core is going to die an early death.

Alas, like so many of the zombie lies that pervade education reform (schools are in crisis, teachers are lazy, merit pay works), the Core may re-emerge later on with a new name and new branding.

Free Refreshments Courtesy Of The Gates Foundation-Funded Educators4Excellence

A notice was passed along about an Educators4Excellence "Testing Networking Event!" tomorrow between 3PM and 5PM in Manhattan.

In case you're unfamiliar with the Educators4Excellence group, they're an astroturf organization run by some ex-educators who started a reform group that aligned well with what wealthy education reformers want for public education, then quit teaching to live high off the Gates Foundation-funded hog.

They push for all kinds of fantastic "teacher-led" reforms like teacher evaluations tied to test scores, 6+ observations a year, more and "better" testing, and of course Common Core.

You know, the kinds of top-down reforms that were shoved through by the Wall Street-funded Obama and Cuomo administrations, both of whom lap up the donations from the same wealthy education reformers who fund the Educators4Excellence (see here and here.)

In any case, the Educators4Excellence have got some excess Gates cash to burn tomorrow and they're holding a "Testing Network Event!" that you are cordially invited to:

Come celebrate the start of a new school year and network with some other teachers!  Enjoy complimentary refreshments on Educators 4 Excellence and hear about teacher-led change!

When: Friday October 17th
            3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Where: CK-14 The Crooked Knife
             232 W. 14th Street

Why: Network with like-minded educators that teach in your area, learn about E4E, and discuss teacher recommendations around testing and assessment.

No notice if you have sign a loyalty oath before you partake in the complimentary, Bill Gates-funded refreshment or discussion about "teacher-led change!", but in the past E4E has been known to make attendees at their get-togethers sign oaths before they were allowed in.

If there's no oath to sign and you're in the neighborhood around 14th Street, why not stop by, enjoy some Bill Gates-funded complimentary refreshment and let the Educators4Excellence astroturf folks picking up the tab know what you think of them and their "teacher-led change!"

Of course, since the braintrust at E4E, such as it is, have quit their jobs to work in "advocacy," they really ought to term their jive "ex-teacher led change!", but whatever.

Oh, and make up your own joke about why they chose "The Crooked Knife" for their pro-deform "Testing Network Event!"

My take is, that's the knife they use to stick teachers in the back with - bought and paid for by Gates and other corporate deformers, of course.

SUNY Chancellor To Promote Business Role In Education

From State of Politics:

Also at 10 a.m., SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher and IBM Foundation president Stanley Litow discuss the role that business should play in education during the Business Council’s conference, The Sagamore, 110 Sagamore Rd., Bolton Landing.

Because Bill Gates, Eli Broad, Michael Bloomberg and a host of edu-entrepreneurs, hedge fundies, and tech and textbook companies don't have enough of a role in education already.

Zimpher told a bunch of billionaires yesterday about her plans for the indoctrination of children:

At the opening dinner of the Business Council of New York State's annual retreat at the Sagamore, a gilded island resort about halfway up the west side of Lake George...SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher spoke with attendees about her cradle to career initiative.

Cradle to career initiative.

That has an ominous sound to my ears, especially when you know the "educators" creating this initiative are, like Nancy Zimpher, nothing more than shills for the business criminals.

77% Of The Race To The Top Award Money In NYC Went To Pay For Consultants, Central Office Work, And Support Staff

Remember when they told us we had to win Race to the Top because that money was so desperately needed for the kids?

Yeah, turns out that was NOT what they planned on spending the RttT cash on:

Less than a quarter of the $107 million that the school system received in federal Race to The Top funds last year was sent directly to school principals.

The decision on how to spend most of the money — $83 million — was made by the central Department of Education, which channeled the federal funds to support staff, consultants and fringe benefits, according to a study by the Independent Budget Office.

This isn't a surprise to those who were paying attention to what was happening around the RttT reforms - they were NEVER supposed to help children or teachers.

Rather, RttT was always about the consultants, the accountability measures and data tracking programs - in short, a lot of the stuff the NYCDOE spent the RttT cash on.

Obama administration hacks and RttT supporters say that stuff DOES help children and teachers, but those of us working in schools and parents with children in the schools know better.

RttT brought CCSS, the Endless Testing regime, APPR teacher evaluations that mandate so many extra tests so that the scores can be used to fire teachers, and the data tracking programs that were meant to account for all this stuff.

If the politicians in charge really wanted to help children and teachers in schools, they would have used the money to lower class sizes, build new facilities, get the kids out of the mold-infested trailers, etc.

But education reform isn't about helping children or teachers.

It's about making it look like they're trying to help children and teachers while really spending billions on the pet projects run by their friends and cronies.

The Pro-Common Core Push Back Remains The Same

Carol Burris left this comment on a Valerie Strauss post at the Answer Sheet on how the CCSS testing is coming apart:

Put a fork in the Common Core...it's done. And when the history is written, its demise will be attributed to Race to the Top and the way the Gates Foundation people influenced the Department of Education. And it's irresponsible implementation in NY will receive credit as well.

A pro-CCSS commenter left this response:

As you know, CBurris, the polling in NY does not suggest that residents want the state to drop the Common Core. Half of NY voters support slowing its implementation. Nearly 40 % like it just fine.

http://wnyt.com/article/stories/s3339011.shtml

Half of New York voters believe the state should delay implementation of Common Core.

That's according to a new Siena Research Institute poll.

Fifty percent of people polled support a two-year moratorium on the more-stringent education standards.

That's compared to 38 percent who said they should "continue to be implemented as quickly as possible."

The same pro-CCSS commenter left this earlier in response to the Strauss piece about the CCSS testing falling apart:

Valerie Strauss's hair is on fire once again. Tea Party states may continue to drop the CC because they're drinking the Kool Aid that the CC is a curriculum. But heck. Bobby Jindal can't even lie and distort his way out of the CC in Louisiana. 

Other states will retain the CC and slow the adoption of the assessments until they have aligned their instruction--not their curriculum-- to the standards. That makes good sense. 

You can see the strategy of the pro-CCSS people remains pretty much the same here - claim the CCSS doesn't amount to curriculum (technically true, but in practice, given the emphasis on the testing, not true at all) and marginalize CCSS critics as nut cases or people with their "hair on fire."

The thing is, this push back strategy isn't working in the least.

The reality is, the more people come into contact with CCSS and the ancillary testing, the less they like both.

The trajectory in the CCSS polling is pretty clear - negatives on CCSS are growing.

And while pro-CCSS folks clearly think delaying the stakes attached to the CCSS testing for students and teachers will save their initiatives, there are so many other problems with the CCSS outside of the testing and the stakes that I'm dubious delay is going to do what it is CCSS proponents think it will do.

One of the biggest is this: the Common Core is now a national punch line - from Stephen Colbert to Louis CK to David Letterman - just as the "new math" became a national punch line for Tom Lehrer and Charles Schultz back in the 60's.

It's difficult to save any kind of reform - educational, or otherwise - when that reform becomes synonymous with "mockery."

Some New Yorkers Plan To Keep Children Home For National Common Core Protest Day (Monday November 18, 2013)

Staten Island Live has an interesting article on National Common Core Protest Day:

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As Staten Island parents vent their frustrations about the state's new Common Core Curriculum standards, parents throughout the state are preparing to keep their children home from school on Monday, in what's being labeled as "National Common Core Protest Day."

The grassroots movement is being fueled by a Facebook page created by an upstate mom, Janet Wilson. So far more than 3,600 people have clicked on the page saying they were going to take part in the protest. Parents have shared the event on Facebook pages across the country.

Ms. Wilson is the mother of a toddler who said she became aware of the Common Core controversy only a few weeks ago. The more research she did about the subject "the more petrified I became" Ms. Wilson told Syracuse.com, adding that she plans to home-school her daughter.

The Common Core is a set of national standards being implemented by the states to improve education. The standards set benchmarks for what students need to know to be prepared for college and careers in the 21st century.

The goal of protesters is to organize a New York State Common Core Protest Day by staging a "silent" demonstration against the State Education Department in Albany.

Facebook organizers are calling for Monday to be a "no show"day in public schools throughout the city and state; it is not a "walk-out" protest, organizers emphasize. The Monday date was selected to coincide with the first day of American Education Week.

Gina Bailey of Annadale, who describes herself as "just your average mom raising two kids on my own" since her husband died six months ago, said she plans on keeping her children home Monday. Her daughter, Alyssa, is a third-grader at PS 42, Eltingville, and her son, Derek, a sixth-grader at Paulo Intermediate School, Huguenot.

Although her children are "excellent in school," she said, "my thoughts on the protest is to do it." "I intend to keep my kids home this day, November 18th." she said.

She said she learned of the protest through Facebook. "I am not an advocate; I'm not a parent who would stand outside school carrying a protest sign. I just want to participate in an event that hopefully will open the eyes of the government and realize that they are pushing our kids too much in school, with no solid evidence that this will even benefit them in the future."

Mrs. Bailey said she can't see how the state can incorporate the Core Curriculum standards into standardized reading and math exams, and hold teachers and students accountable for the test scores.

"It's all about the exams," Mrs. Bailey said. "These kids are being used as lab rats and there is no evidence that these new guidelines will benefit them in the long run. There was no 'pilot' program for this, they just threw it into our schools and expect our kids to just understand it."

She said she'd like to see the protest take off, if only to send a message. "If we as a whole community, and throughout the state for that matter, don't come together to get our voices heard about this new curriculum, nothing will change."

Eltingville mom Stephanie Locricchio also said she plans to keep her first-grade son, Louis, home from school. Her sister, Jennifer Roman, who lives next door, also plans to keep her son, Paul, a second-grader, home from school. The boys attend PS 42.

"It's a one-size-fits-all curriculum when there are so many children of different learning abilities, who are now being set up to fail," she said.

And while she's "all for encouraging college and career readiness," Mrs. Locricchio said she feels the new curriculum is being applied too early. "It's too much, too soon, for children in kindergarten and the primary grades. Children that age need time to develop social skills. They need time to play and develop their imaginations, not spend hours doing homework and assignments," she said.

Both sisters said they've encountered some resistance from parents who believe that keeping children at home for the day might make them fall further behind. They said they plan upon picking up their children's assignments and having them complete the work at home.

"I've heard parents say it's a useless exercise, that it's not going to change anything," Mrs. Locricchio said, "but unless we emphatically express our displeasure at this system, how will it change?" 

The pushback against the Core continues to gain momentum.

Arne Duncan Insults White Suburban Moms, Says Kids Aren't "As Brilliant As They Thought"

I wrote this morning how US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan shows us daily with every word he says how he is an exemplar of the "Best and Brightest" this country has to offer.

Duncan underscored that with this doozy from a speech he gave to state superintendents yesterday:

.@arneduncan says foes of Common Core = white suburban moms who find their "child isn’t as brilliant as they thought" & "that's pretty scary
— Stephanie Simon (@StephanieSimon_) November 15, 2013

And this:

.@arneduncan: backlash over Common Core b/c scores plummet, white suburban moms realize local schools not 'as good as they thought'....
— Stephanie Simon (@StephanieSimon_) November 15, 2013

Do not fear, however - Uncle Arne has a solution for all of this:

to get suburban moms on board w/ Common Core, @arneduncan says remind them their kids are competing globally, need higher standards
— Stephanie Simon (@StephanieSimon_) November 15, 2013

Duncan is playing directly from the Common Core corporate education deformer playbook that Rick Hess exposed to us last year:

When I ask how exactly the Common Core is going to change teaching and learning, I'm mostly told that it's going to finally shine a harsh light on the quality of suburban schools, shocking those families and voters into action. This will apparently entail three steps:

First, politicians will actually embrace the Common Core assessments and then will use them to set cut scores that suggest huge numbers of suburban schools are failing. Then, parents and community members who previously liked their schools are going to believe the assessment results rather than their own lying eyes. (In the case of NCLB, these same folks believed their eyes rather than the state tests, and questioned the validity of the latter--but the presumption is that things will be different this time.) Finally, newly convinced that their schools stink, parents and voters will embrace "reform." However, most of today's proffered remedies--including test-based teacher evaluation, efforts to move "effective" teachers to low-income schools, charter schooling, and school turnarounds--don't have a lot of fans in the suburbs or speak to the things that suburban parents are most concerned about.

And this brings us to the crux of the matter. After failing miserably to convince suburban and middle-class voters that reforms designed for dysfunctional urban systems and at-risk kids are good for their children and their schools, Common Core advocates now evince an eerie confidence that they can scare these voters into embracing the "reform" agenda. And this conviction has become the happy Kool-Aid that allows would-be reformers to ignore the fact that they're not actually offering to tackle the things (like access to exam-style schools, world language mastery, music and arts instruction, and so on) that suburban parents are passionate about.

Here's the problem Duncan and his merry men and women in corporate reform are facing with this task of convincing suburban moms their kids' schools suck and their kids aren't as smart as mommy and daddy think they are - most people in the suburbs and elsewhere aren't buying it.

That's what NYSED Commissioner King and Regents Chancellor Tisch are discovering as they go on their Common Core listening tour from Syracuse to East Setauket and meet crowds that are overwhelmingly anti-Common Core and not convinced in the least that the plummeting Common Core test scores in NY State are emblematic of anything other than that the test scores were rigged to plummet.

Duncan can spew his ed deform playbook propaganda to state superintendents and his fellow ed deformers all he wants.

I'm sure he gets plenty of assurances from these folks that he's right and parents in the suburbs will come around soon enough to his way of thinking.

But the evidence is in already as the anti-Common Core movement grows and grows by the month - parents aren't buying the ed deform snake oil Uncle Arne and his fellow corporate ed deformers are selling and I just don't think insulting "white suburban moms" to get on board with the Core is going to save the sinking ed deform ship.

Quite frankly, the Duncan quote that white suburban moms are shocked to find out that their kids aren't "as brilliant as they thought" can be applied to Arne Duncan and his fellow men and women in corporate ed deform.

They are the "Best and Brightest" this country has to offer and they continue to show that with each delusional statement they make and each delusional program or proposal they put into place.

NYSED Commissioner John King Hears It From The Crowd Once Again

It's old hat now - parents and teachers tell NYSED Commissioner John King his education reform agenda sucks and King says "Oh, we're listening..." and then goes back to implementing that agenda anyway.

It happened again last night:

Syracuse, NY -- New York Education Commissioner faced 20 questioners during a 90-minute forum at WCNY-TV headquarters during a live broadcast and webcast tonight.

One spoke up in support of the Common Core academic standards.

Almost all of the others expressed deep concerns about the way the standards, in conjunction with other policies, have been rolled out across the state. Those concerns ranged from high costs to excessive testing to the security of student data being managed by private companies.

One of the most poignant questions of the night came from Santina Scrimale, a senior at Westhill High School, who talked about the anxiety that children are feeling over the high-stakes tests, especially given the low passing rates on last year's new Common Core-aligned tests.

She said she sees her "very intelligent" third-grade sister already stressing out about this year's tests, fearing that she will fail them because she won't have time to finish them.

King responded that testing is part of the education process and helps inform instruction. But he also said he agrees that there has been an increase in local testing in some districts and in "rote test prep." He said the state is looking to help districts to cut the number of tests they give.

There were few audible reactions to the questions or answers from the orderly audience of about 200. A rare round of applause came when Greg McCrea, president of the Westhill District Teachers Association, which has called for King's resignation, asked why schools like Montessori are good and what the state has done to bring some of their ideas to public schools.

The applause was polite, but knowing. King sends his own children to a Montessori school, which is a sore point with his critics. He acknowledged that, and said he likes the way Montessori schools use the Common Core standards, including a heavy focus on writing supported by textual evidence.

More applause came when Keith Newvine, vice president of the West Genesee Teachers Association, told King that the quick implementation of the Common Core and the teacher evaluation process is like "building an airplane in the air."

Newvine got more applause as he continued: "Would you get on that plane? And if so, why would you get on an airplane being built in the air?"

King said the Board of Regents and the Education Department have taken great care in rolling out the standards thoughtfully, using a seven-year timeline ending in 2017. He said some people think the standards are being rolled out too slowly because students need higher standards now if they are going to be prepared for college and the workplace.

King acknowledged after the forum that he had heard most of the concerns before, but said he would bring them back to the department and the Regents and try to address them.

But to McCrea -- who said he still wants the commissioner's resignation -- the answers coming from King and Regent Anthony Bottar, with whom he shared the stage, were a little too pat.

"They were coming up with canned answers," he said. "They were things that we've heard before."
Before the forum started, about a dozen protesters stood outside the studio, holding signs that read "We don't need a King, we need a democracy," and "More than a Score."

20 speakers - 19 were critical of the SED agenda and implementation.

King says he's heard these complaints before.

Translation: He plans to do nothing about them.

The SED agenda will continue on as if Poughkeepsie and these other town hall meetings never happened.

That King thinks he can get away with blaming local districts for overtesting shows you how clueless and arrogant he is.

The people are not fooled by your lies, Commissioner King.

Local districts have had to put all this extra testing in place as part of the state teacher evaluation system, the one you and Regents Chancellor Tisch and Governor Cuomo pushed that links so-called student performance to teacher ratings.

The only way things change is pressure must be put on Governor Cuomo in his re-election year that he must change the teacher evaluation system that forces all of this testing.

Same goes for putting pressure on the legislature.

King and Tisch have no plans to change anything.

The impetus for change will have to come from the politicians above them and that impetus will only come if the public puts that pressure on these politicians.

Start with Cuomo.

He's nervous about his re-election and wants to run up the score next year to set up a 2016 White House run.

Let him know, the education agenda stays the same, no running up the score in 2014.

Sometimes It's Cool To Do Nothing

NAEP scores out - small gains on math and reading.

WE MUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!!!

WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS!!!

SOMEBODY MUST BE FIRED, WE MUST CHANGE EVERYTHING AND MAKE SURE THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN AGAIN!!!

WE CANNOT WAIT ANY LONGER!!!!

CHANGE COMES NOW!!!!

When Did The Word "Test" Disappear?

These ed deform criminals love euphemisms, don't they?

What’s the right amount of assessment? See my letter on the Regents' plan to address appropriate amount of testing http://t.co/izc5dv7fVX
— John King (@JohnKingNYSED) October 25, 2013

For those of you who don't understand reformy geekspeak, King means "tests."

For some reason, the ed deformers decided they can't say "test" anymore, so everything's an "assessment".

Soft language, with the soft "s" sounds, to fool people into thinking "assessments" aren't "tests".

More ed deform b.s. to hide what they're doing.

Take the pledge:

I HEREBY REFUSE TO USE THE ED DEFORM EUPHEMISM "ASSESSMENT" AND WILL CALL "TESTS" WHAT THEY ARE - "TESTS".