MICHELLE MALKIN: Derek Anderson, principal of Ridgeview Classical Schools in Fort Collins, Colo., wrote to me last fall about the existential threat his charter school faces. Ridgeview Classical Schools is a K-12 charter school that offers a classical liberal arts education to approximately 800 students. We were established in 2001, and we have generally been one of the top three schools in Colorado since opening, he said. Our most significant issue with Common Core and the PARCC exams is that we feel we will lose the autonomy and other protections granted to us when Colorado adopted its Charter Schools Act in 1994. As Ive noted, PARCC is the behemoth, federally funded testing consortium (the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) that raked in $186 million through President Obamas Race to the Top program to develop nationalized tests aligned to the top-down Common Core program. Anderson and informed administrators, educators and parents like him understand: PARCC is truly the enforcement mechanism that will coerce schools into adopting the Common Core curriculum. We cannot do this. It is entirely against the mission and philosophy of our school. It is, in short, sabotage. Anderson calls it an almost existential dilemma. Our mission and philosophy are irreconcilable with Common Cores. Homeschool mom of six and blogger Karen Braun of Michigan sees the threat to her choice, too. Her trenchant message: True school choice allows a parent to choose any school that meets their childs needs, not just those that adopt Common Core State standards and assessments. No fully funded school voucher system in the world can improve the educational experience if Fed Ed controls the classroom and homeschool room. Coerced conformity kills choice.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 04:22:21 +0000
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