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Is “Responsive Ed” in Texas aligned to the Common Core Philosophy of Education?

Remember this question…

CAN I SEE who is financially benefitting from the curriculum on which my child’s teacher is evaluated? 

Let’s start to answer the question presented in the title of this post by taking a look at the reality on the ground for students and their parents.

Is there a Responsive Ed School Near you? 

Responsive Ed Schools

Last week I received the following question via email from a Facebook friend.

“Hi Alice, I’m going to cheat and just ask you if you have researched Responsive Ed? My daughter attends one of their schools and I can’t follow her homework. She is only in the 3rd grade, so I thought I could at least do math with her. I appreciate your input and all that you do! “

My response after a quick look into Responsive Ed was….

“I can tell you that Responsive ED is a part of this whole transformation of education. It is not about academics. It is about competency for the workforce. Personally I would steer clear. The best math program for students is the old Saxon Math. I know that is most likely not what you wanted to hear. But, that is my honest opinion. Responsive Ed is a Public School that is accredited by the TEA and must align with the Texas TEKS and STAAR in math. That is why they are teaching math using a collectivist Common Core philosophy of education.” 

Responsive Ed is a part of the Hillsdale College’s Barney Charter Schoool Project.

Now let’s take a little more in-depth look at Responsive Ed in Texas. 

Starting with…….

Alan Wimberley, Ed.D. Chief Education Architect Responsive Education Solutions

According to TAB’s (Texas Association of Business) newsletter… 

“Dr. Wimberley is not only passionate about education but proudly sits on the TAB’s Board of Directors. He has been extensively involved in school accreditation, serving on the Texas State Council of AdvancED (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools). He also has led several school districts through the accreditation process including Responsive Education Solutions becoming “one of the first 200 school systems” in the nation to achieve a systems accreditation distinctive (Dr. Mark Elgart, President—SACS).”   

Now that is interesting because Dr. Mark Elgart according to the Advanced Ed website….. 

Currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Knowledge Alliance and Measured Progress as well as a National Advisor for Learning Forward. Elgart also represents AdvancED as a lead business partner with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).

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This is fascinating because the Council of Chief State School Officers owns the copyright to the Common Core National Standards.  

Oh, but in Texas we said NO to the Common Core right?????

Not so fast!!! 

You see Common Core was merely a tactic to access our children. As is, Advanced Ed and Responsive Ed. They are all a part of this Global transformation in education. Whether these people involved know it or not.

Some will say the fundamental “SHIFT” occurring in education today is 21st Century Learning. The truth is, there is nothing 21st Century about it. It is the same battle that was fought in the late 60′s and early 70′s and again in the late 80′s and early 90′s. It is what was coined back then- Outcome Based/School to Work education. What pushed it back in the past?

PARENTS!!

Why, because parents understood just how harmful this is to their child. We do not see our children as “Human Capital” for the state and federal government to control the economy. 

The fundamental shift in education we are talking about is changing from a transmission of knowledge, that parents still expect from our schools to an emphasis on altering the students world-views, their values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.

 Here is another reality on the ground snapshot!!! 

There is NO place to get away from this transformation. I spoke several months ago at a private Christian school in our local area. I went in, gave my presentation to the headmaster and the school principals. In this presentation, I warned them that because they were accredited with ‘Advanced Ed’ and because ‘Advanced Ed’ was collecting private data on students and teachers to use for accreditation purposes, there should be a great concern, because Advanced Ed is closely connected to the Council of Chief State School Officers.

I was scheduled to speak the following week to the APPOINTED SCHOOL BOARD of this private Christian school. Interestingly that presentation was canceled. I wonder why?

When education is focused on how students perceive the world, that is known as critical theory or Cultural Marxism. Whether it is a charter public school funded by public tax dollars that teaches civics and a Christian worldview or a private christian school who is going through a state or federally mandated accreditation to be college and career ready; it is still critical theory or cultural marxism.  
Just like the  College Board’s SAT and AP (Advanced Placement) assessments and conceptual frameworks can be described as “Transdisiplinary” in their purpose. Transdisiplinary is when the function of the subject matter, concept themes in the syllabus, and course frameworks are all used to guide how a student views the world. The technical term most commonly used is lenses. Effectively these lenses become the values, attitudes, and beliefs the students are to be taking away from the curriculum.

It is about equalizing and controlling the economy of America in the world. You are no longer that boy from Argyle, Texas who played baseball and was a Boy Scout. You are now a global citizen. Not an Individual and Not an AMERICAN.

Nationalism is destroyed.

As my friend Michael Bohr correctly states…

“Parents, who are the first and forever educators of their children, are the only people who hold the right to determine “the best interests of their child”.

Everyone one else has an agenda that puts their best interests over those of the child and they have done so by taking control of our government.

Their hope is that we continue to fight the false battles they lay down before us and forget that we, the parents, are the sole authority in determining the education and upbringing of our children.

By the way… What is Responsive Ed’s record on educating students to read, write and do math?  From all indications, they are using the same learning theories and teaching strategies behind the Common Core philosophy of education in Math? Why is that?
Responsive Ed receives more than $82 million in taxpayer money annually.
As Dr. Jim Milgram told us on the Women on the Wall Communication Team Conference Call the Math flooding into the Texas Schools has a history of failure and is actually very harmful to students.

@2:18 Dr. Milgram states the following: “About 18 years ago we were in the middle of ….we were about 6 years in or 5 years in on the old CA standards that had been written in 1992. They are referred to as the old CA standards of 1992 – The lead author of those standards was a guy by the name of Phil Daro – and those standards – the most important thing about those standards – they weren’t mathematics – they were all about motivations and what it is mathematicians do, but Phil Daro has no background with delivering math and hasn’t a clue about what mathematicians do and the effects of these things was that when we started in 1992 with those standards CA was in the middle of the pack amongst all the states which is reasonable because since by far it’s the largest state by population. 4 years in by 1996 CA had dropped to 49th in the country. The comment in CA was thank God for Mississippi. So here we were with these bad standards – I mean there’s some talk in the standards about things that were mathematics but mostly these standards were motivational and made no sense and the books attached to them were actually destructive. 

What you need to do – I really don’t know – you need to scream – that’s what you need to do– hopefully that will have an affect – I can’t guarantee that but believe me your instincts are right – If things look crazy in math they surely are crazy – and as I said the Common Core – the thing you want to compare the Common Core to is the 1992 CA standards – within 4 years of their adoption CA math instruction had completely collapsed.”


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