Middle East peace: A modest proposal

Editor's Note:  This is the speech President Obama needs to give to the Middle East.

"My fellow Americans, citizens around the world, especially those in the Middle East, including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Kurdistan, the Gaza Strip, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Gulf States of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Somalia, as well as those in Malaysia and any other countries where Muslims or Arabs live:

"It’s time for the Arab World and the Muslim World to grow up!

"For the last sixty or so years, ever since the United States recognized Israel, you’ve acted like petulant two-year-olds, expecting the Western World, the United States and its Allies, in particular, to grant your every wish just so you wouldn’t throw a temper tantrum and then reach for your guns, your bombs and your knives.

"You kill your own people, even those who share your religious faith.  You outright murder innocent Americans trying to tell your story and – even more horrifying – those attempting to help you, like that Briton you recently beheaded. 

"Seriously, what gives with you people?

"I’m not going to tell you that U.S. policies in the Middle East have been perfect because, I, like so many others, know they haven’t been.  But one thing is for sure – more often not, certainly in the last 50 years, the United States has stood for equal rights, human rights and civil rights and, more importantly, the rule of law. 

"Women have voted in every U.S. presidential election since 1920.  And today many women hold top positions not only in government but also in industry.  Women – and this is critical for all you Arabs and Muslims to understand especially if you think your God-given mission is to put them down – are equal partners with men.  They drive cars, fly airplanes, are in the military, are doctors, scientists, stockbrokers, politicians as well as mothers and wives.

"For those of you who think you need to keep women down, well, all that shows me is how weak you really are.  Strong men never fear strong women.  So if you think Allah wants to you to keep her barefoot and pregnant or remain some third-class citizen, think again.

"This sectarian warfare you wage against those who share the basic tenants of your faith or those who don’t, needs to stop immediately.  Even Northern Ireland, once the scene of many battles between Christians in the Catholic and Protestant wings, is peaceful.  And, in a far earlier time, in the 1640s, Catholics and Protestants stopped fighting one another in Europe – for religious reasons.

'The United States has had strong presidents but never once has it had – and never will it have – a dictator.  We vote and adjust our policies based on those in political power.  And as a result, we’re successful.  You buy our products.  You use our social media. 

"The only thing we get from you is oil.  And given what we’re doing in the United States – what with fracking and developing alternative energy sources – soon the United States and the West won’t need the only thing you have to offer.

"Which means if you don’t change your ways, there won’t be a single reason to invest in your part of the world.  Which means more of you will be unemployed and many more of you will be impoverished.  And if you think turning to your guns, your bombs and your knives – and hijacking your religious faith – is going to solve your problems, keep something in mind.

"The American people have limits.  If we feel pressured, whether it’s to end a war in the Middle East or elsewhere around the globe, any president, including this one, has an arsenal that includes some quite nasty weapons that will end any conflict – quickly!

"Of course, no speech is complete without a proposal.  Therefore, today, I’m suggesting that all the Arab and Muslim nations in the Middle East as well as Iran, Israel, Turkey and the Kurds, come to together to write and agree on their version of the Treaty of Westphalia. 

"For those of you who don’t know about this Treaty, way back in the 1640s, it ended thirty years of fighting between Catholics and Protestants in Europe.  It was the beginning of international law and forced each country to recognize each other’s religious preferences – even if they disagreed with it.  Even if they didn’t like it.  It also recognized the rights of religious minorities in those countries. 

"The United States is prepared to host this meeting or, if necessary, we can find another country, a neutral one, where this meeting can take place.  For the sake of your children, for the sake of your very own lives, for the sake of peace, I highly suggest you take me up on this proposal.

"If you don’t want to come together, then the Middle East will remain what it’s been recently – nothing more than a backwater ghetto.

"The choice is up to you.  And know this – it’s time for the Arab World and the Muslim World to grow up!

"Thank you for listening."

ItsFourthandLong is credited in The Journal Gazette

Many thanks to Craig Klugman, editor of The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Indiana, for using my last blog piece.  This is how it was displayed:

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20140906/EDIT07/140909606/1147/EDIT07

Victory's price

This is not a strategy for victory.  It’s a terror tactic.  And it never stopped the Allied march to Tokyo during the Second World War.

Actions like the above picture, of a Japanese soldier about to decapitate an Australian one, Leonard Siffleet, only compel the Western World to resolve the conflict. 

Eyewitness accounts say the Japanese officer cut off Siffleet's head with one fell swoop of his sword,[i] making the jidhadist carrying out a similar deed, whether it was against James Foley or Steven Sotloff, look like an amateur butcher.

Without question, the pictures and videos scare the bejesus out of people, which is the intent.  But similar pictures never stopped the U.S. military from crushing another, including a ragged band of terrorists.[ii] 

The Western World, the United States in particular, handles suicidal enemies the only way it knows – they kill them.  The West is often slow to respond to national security crises.  But in time, as an enemy shows its brutality, it develops a strategy that unleashes far more destruction than the enemy ever imagined it could suffer.

So terrorists, take note.  You may win a few opening rounds with your shock and awe of slicing off heads, but you’ll lose the most critical one – the last.  You’ll pay a price you never considered.

Update:  One diligent reader pointed out that the picture's copyright is held by the Australian War Memorial.  I checked the Memorial's website and learned the picture is in the public domain.  Click this url if you're curious -- http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/101099/

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[i] http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/04/13/beheading-the-flight-lieutenant/

[ii] http://americanpowsofjapan.blogspot.com/2013/07/beheaded-on-new-guinea-honored-in-rhode.html

What's the war plan, Mr. President?

“And it’s one, two, three,

What are we fighting for?”

                                                                        ~ Country Joe McDonald

So now the Obama Administration, which came into office promising

to “reset” relations with Russia and persuade Middle Eastern terrorists

to convert their weapons into plowshares, is taking the United States

into war.

Teed up is Syria, which is being overrun by numerous anti-state

fighters, and whose condition – that of a failed country – poses

a threat to U.S. and global security unseen since Afghanistan

was under Taliban rule.

Also inside American crosshairs is ISIS, the terrorist group

dominating headlines since it brutally killed American freelance

reporter James Foley and made, until U. S. Navy fighter planes

started bombing them, significant gains in Iraq. 

Not only is ISIS so extreme it makes Al Qaeda look rational,

it’s also highly ambitious, with one member of its ranks saying his

organization won’t rest until its flag flies above the White House.[i]

Seriously, what’s a peace-leaving, smarter-than-you Democrat,

like Barack Obama, to do?

Easy – borrow from the playbook of every president since 1980,

maybe even earlier.

Sure, the White House diatribe sounds good.  We’re going to bomb

ISIS wherever we find it.  Our drones will fly over Syrian cities and

long stretches of Iraqi desert.  If they lack sufficient capabilities to kill

terrorists and destroy weapons, no worry.  Navy and Air Force jets

will be on call.

Parts of our Navy’s surface fleet might even get in on the action

by launching cruise missiles.  Let’s also hope for numerous

opportunities to keep our elite, special forces on top of their

game with plenty of dangerous combat missions.

If only this war were the real thing and not a live-fire exercise.

It’s a few bombs here, a few bombs there, spiced with some

intoxicating, edge-of-the-seat, missions from Delta Force, the

 Seals, maybe even the Green Berets.

But that’s where it stops.

A plausible case can be made that U. S. military operations in

World War II’s Pacific Theater could have come to halt once

Japan’s progress was stopped with two critical battles, Coral

Sea and Midway.

In Europe – for a few years at least – the fighting could have

been left to the Army Air Corps as it bombed factories, towns

and military installations in Nazi-occupied Europe and Germany.

That is, until their advance stopped and we figured out a time and

a place to work out a peace treaty with Berlin and, eventually,

Tokyo.

And what would we be dealing with these many years later?  The

fifth generation of Nazi leadership and the 21^st century version

of Japan’s militarists!

And there’s the problem.  President Obama has no more of

strategy to beat the terrorists, whether they’re ISIS, Al Qaeda or

anyone else – in other words, to solve the problem – than

President Johnson did for winning the Vietnam War.

Or than Jimmy Carter did for releasing our hostages in

Tehran.  Or than President Reagan did for winning in Lebanon,

or than President George H. W. Bush did for eliminating

Saddam Hussein or than President Clinton did for outright

defeating Osama bin Laden.

And, frankly, blame can also be left with President George W.

Bush, whose two wars were left unfinished.

Come to think of it, had Presidents Truman and Eisenhower

fought for a victory in Korea, today we wouldn’t be contending

with the third generation of the family running North Korea.

So the question we need to ask – as posed by 1960s music star

Country Joe McDonald – is what are we fighting for?  A total

elimination of the terrorists in Syria and Iraq or is Obama

creating a quagmire the next five to 10 generations of Americans

will deal with?

This same kind of thinking came from Martin Dempsey, the

U.S. military’s top officer.

“They can be contained (but) not into perpetuity,” he said,

referring to ISIS, during last week’s news conference.[ii]

Airstrikes can do so much, Dempsey said.  They alone

cannot stop a determined force, like ISIS.  What we need, the

general inferred, is a plan, something that includes all out

American force, both a military and diplomatic.

The President and his advisors need to craft a strategy similar

to what U. S. Army General Winfield Scott proposed at the

outbreak of the Civil War.  Call it Operation Anaconda, just 

like the general called his plan.

It would surround Syria and Iraq and, through airstrikes, special

operations and conventional infantry forces, destroy ISIS and

every other terrorist movement in those two countries, maybe

even Bashar al-Assad’s government. 

In other words, we need to fight a real war with one objective

– total victory.

Then, of course, we’ll need something along the lines of a

Marshall Plan to win the peace.

If there’s anything President Obama should know, it’s

this:  Failure to eliminate ISIS and restructure Syria and

Iraq will create more costly problems in the future, possibly 

in American and allied lives.

Did you really think Obama was brighter than the rest?

 “Don’t ask me why,

Don’t give a damn,

My next stop is Islam!”

~ with apologies to Country Joe

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[i] http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/08/08/new-isis-video-‘we-will-raise-black-flag-over-white-house’

[ii] http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/08/22/dempsey-isis-has-an-end-of-days-strategic-vision/s 

Memo to Hillary Clinton

To:              The Honorable Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

From:           Doug Page, freelance writer, blogger, registered
independent

Date:            June 18, 2014

Re:              Iraq

Dear Madam Secretary:

You better be texting POTUS about this situation, telling him to

make damn sure he doesn’t lose Baghdad to those crazed ISIS

terrorists. If you're not, you’re hardly a serious contender for

becoming the next president of the United States – book

or no book!

Sure, the Iraq War under President George W. Bush wasn’t popular

but if Baghdad falls on President Obama’s watch, the former president

will look like the best commander in chief since Ronald Reagan.

The average American voter will see in the Democrats exactly what

you don’t want them to perceive – a political party so run by its

peaceniks that it’s prepared to surrender any ally, even questionable

ones, to anyone, including to a band of renegades who, according to

The Economist, make al-Qaida look reasonable.[i]

Anyone associated with the Democratic Party, regardless of what

office they’re running for this year or two years from now, will be

considered suspicious on national security.

Including you if you’re the Democratic presidential nominee!

Say what you want about national security – that it’s only near and

dear to the Tea Party and other assorted right-wing extremists – but

if ISIS wins in Iraq, enough Americans will feel threatened to

prevent you from winning a key state, like Ohio or Michigan, and, thus, 

sending the Republican presidential nominee into the White House.

In fact, the next time you speak with President Obama, you might tell

him that if he doesn’t save Baghdad, Jeb Bush may be the biggest

beneficiary. Not only will it elevate his candidacy for his party’s

presidential nomination it will also improve his chances of winning

the general election in November 2016.

And if Baghdad goes down, it could put you in a very uncomfortable

position, one likely not seen since Hubert Humphrey ran for president

in 1968.  You’ll be forced to distance yourself from the White House.

Like Humphrey, it's highly unlikely you'll be considered believable

since you worked for President Obama.  Most American voters won’t
be able to separate you from him.

Don’t forget Benghazi. Any fall of Baghdad piles onto that situation,

making you look even less credible on national defense.

Finally, you need to control the far left in your party, reminding

them the world is filled with danger.

As British historian Jeremy Black reminds us in his book, War and

The New Disorder in the 21^st Century, “One prediction seems safe:

talk of obsolescence, even end, of war will prove misplaced, and will

be mocked by the rictus on the face of the dead.”[ii]

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[i] “Terror’s New Headquarters,” The Economist, June 14, 2014:  http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21604160-iraqs-second-city-has-fallen-group-wants-create-state-which-wage-jihad

[ii] Jeremy Black, War and The Disorder in the 21^st Century, London: Continuum, 2004, page 173.

Desperately to the demagogues

History shows that when people think times are desperate – like they did in Germany in the early 1930s, or in Russia during World War I, and Americans right now, which is why U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va) lost his party’s nomination to a Tea Party candidate last night – any demagogue will do. 

So it’s no wonder that people in Massachusetts, upset as Margery Eagan says they are (Boston Herald, June 10), think the fanciful, emotional-laden proposals of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) will save them.[i]

The Massachusetts Miracle is long gone and, according to two different studies, one from a UCLA professor and another from United Van Lines, which studies where people are going since they’re in the business of moving them, the Bay State ranks 8^th among states that people are leaving.[ii][iii]

This means the remaining Bay Staters, especially the middle class ones, might face an increase in their state taxes because there are fewer citizens to pay the state’s bills.  As always, the rich can afford the advisors who tell them where to hide their money. 

Massachusetts’s biggest industries – the ones that drive the economy – says one state government website, include advertising, architecture, financial services, information technology, life sciences, fishing and renewable energy.[iv]

None of them are about to put the middle class, like Joe and Josephine Six Pack, back to work because, with the exception of fishing, they all require considerable amounts of education.

To put Joe and Josephine back to work – or give them opportunities to earn more money – the state needs more employers.

But the only thing in the hopper to improve the state’s economic woes is a proposed casino for either Everett or Revere and that’s not looking so good.

What Gov. Deval Patrick and his cohorts need to do – and where Senator Warren could stand out – is to start attracting more businesses, like manufacturers, which have traditionally employed the middle class.

More regulations might make some of Senator Warren’s constituents feel good – we showed them, damnit! – but let’s call it what it is:  A full employment program for college-educated regulators in government and college-trained lawyers in private industry to make sure their clients are following the rules.

It doesn’t do a thing for the Six Pack family.

I spent nine months in Texas in the mid-80s.  Every time I turned around, the governor or a mayor was on an economic development mission to sell the state or their city as a place to do business.

In other words, they wanted a company’s jobs in Texas because they knew something that appears to escape Bay State politicians:  More jobs will beget more jobs.

That mission continues to this day, with The Washington Post reporting recently that Texas has done an outstanding job of producing jobs that are equitable across the pay scale.[v]  In addition, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that Texas’ unemployment rate of 5.2 percent[vi] is lower than that of Massachusetts’s 6 percent.[vii]

Tragically, for the Bay State, there’s something in the DNA of its public servants. They don’t give off any signals they’re interested in new businesses moving here, unless it’s a quick hit, like the possibility of hosting the Winter Olympics in 10 years in Boston, or has the potential to addict, like casino gambling. 

So it’s no wonder, as Margery Eagan says, people in Massachusetts are upset.  Their junior senator is so angry and distracted with Wall Street and big banks that she hasn’t the time to do the one thing that will help the Six Pack family – making the Bay State business friendly so jobs that may very well employ Joe and his wife are created here.

---

[i] http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/margery_eagan/2014/06/eagan_elizabeth_warren_hammers_her_message_home

[ii] http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/02/10/the-states-people-are-fleeing-in-2014/

[iii] http://www.unitedvanlines.com/mover/united-newsroom/press-releases/2014/2013-united-van-lines-migration-study.htm

[iv] http://www.mass.gov/hed/economic/industries/

[v] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/03/07/texas-isnt-just-leading-the-nation-in-job-growth-its-doing-it-more-equitably-too/

[vi] http://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.tx.htm

[vii] http://lmi2.detma.org/lmi/news_release_state.asp

Our Time in a Fire

I’m remiss in writing a few words about Edward Walsh and Michael Kennedy, two Boston firefighters who died battling a blaze in the Back Bay last week. 

From every account, both were upstanding men.  Walsh, 42, followed his dad’s footsteps and leaves behind a widow and three children, ages 8 – 3.  Kennedy, 33, single, was an ex-Marine and an Iraq War combat veteran; many family members survive him.  He ran marathons in Boston and Chicago.

You never think about the Fire Department until the day you need them.  It was more than two decades ago, but it seems like yesterday Liz and I woke up in our Chicago apartment to a fire in the early hours, just before 6 am on a Saturday in April.

We’d been out the night before, to a Lincoln Park Italian restaurant, celebrating my new job with Tribune Media Services.  As dinner came to an end, we considered going to Pops for Champagne, another Lincoln Park hot spot, but decided to call it night, instead.

Our apartment, located just north of the intersection of Division and LaSalle, was near a Chicago Fire House.  I was awakened by the sirens, hearing them close in on our building. 

It prompted me to get out of bed and walk to our front door.  Before opening it, I touched it.  The door was cold.  As I opened it, in flew a huge puff of black, ashy smoke, instantly darkening the walls around the door. 

I quickly closed it and ran back to our bedroom, yelling there was a fire and we needed to get out.  Liz was up in an instant, watering down bath towels to place under the door. 

She told me to call the Fire Department, and I asked a question that’s been inscribed in Page Family lore:

“What’s the number?”

“Nine-One-ONE!” she bellowed from the front door.

Then, just before putting down the wet towels, she opened the door, yelling into the dark cloud if anyone called the Fire Department.

“We’re here, ma’am,” said an unseen firefighter in the hallway, his presence blocked out by the dark smoke.

The firefighter then told us to evacuate. 

Our apartment, located on the second floor, was above an open garage.  The windows were so drafty that we covered them in plastic wrap, from December to either April or May, as a means of keeping Chicago’s subzero temperatures out of our little abode. 

Now the plastic was a trap, making it nearly impossible to open the window to the waiting ladder, provided courtesy of the Chicago Fire Department, for our escape.  I grabbed our butcher knife, slicing through the plastic so the window could be opened.

There was a firefighter on the ladder as Liz went out the window.  She’d been calm but as she got onto the ladder and turned to climb down, the firefighter instantly sensed she was nervous and scared.  He coaxed her down in no time flat.

Then I was out, on the ladder in front of the same firefighter, seeing a plume of smoke coming from the window.  Like Liz, I felt nervous and started to shake.  With a few reassuring words from the firefighter, I, too, was down on the ground quickly.

We shook hands with the firefighters, thanking them for their help and walked out to LaSalle Drive.  I looked at my watch.  It was 6:30. 

What struck me that morning was the high level of professionalism each firefighter exhibited.  They took their jobs very seriously even though, in the grand scheme of things, this was a minor incident in which no one died or was injured.

I also recall a brief chat with the Fire Department’s lieutenant or captain who was making sure everyone was okay.  The level of professionalism was nothing short of outstanding.

Within about 15 or 20 minutes, the all clear was given and we walked into the building, looking for Jerry, our landlord, one of the nicest guys we ever met, who also lived in the building.  He was in his office, absolutely beside himself in shock, fear and probably some anger.  He gave Liz the biggest hug he may have ever given in his life.

We assured him we were fine and asked what happened.  The fire started when our neighbor fell asleep before putting out a candle, which tipped over and lit up the place around 5 am. 

Our neighbor was also in the office.  Her father was trying to comfort her.  She was in tears, telling her roommate, over the phone, what happened.

Jerry, then, gave us a tour of the burned out apartment.  For something that was a minor incident, the damage was shocking.  The walls were either black with soot or marked by flames.  The area rugs were burned to a crisp.  It didn’t look like much survived. 

By that time, it was 7 and what to do now?  Seriously, in terms of weekend excitement, how can you top ditching your apartment because of a fire?  You couldn’t.  We were filled with excitement and needed to do something.

We walked over to our apartment, making sure everything was okay.  It was.  Then we did a lot of people do on a Saturday morning in Chicago, we went to Tempo for breakfast.

The firefighters I’ve met are great people.  They take incredible risks – and do so willingly – sometimes putting themselves in great peril. 

Boston firefighters Edward J. Walsh and Michael R. Kennedy were two of them.  May they rest in peace and never be forgotten.

Common Core's Standardized Tests

The article below was written by Valerie Strauss of The Washington Post.  I'm embedding the article and also providing the link to where it can be found on The Post's website.

Any parent reading this should know that they're well within their rights to pull their children out of any field test.  This comes from Sandra Stotsky, a former member of the Massachusetts Board of Education.

Dr. Stotsky worked with the people developing Common Core's English Language Arts standards but refused to approve the new standards because, as she saw it, they were providing children with far less of an education in literacy than previously.  James Milgram, a retired Stanford University math professor, worked with the people developing Common Core's math standards and, like Dr. Stotsky, he also refused to approve the new standards, saying they would put American high school students further behind their peers outside of the United States in math.

In fact, when Common Core's advocates presented this new curriculum to the Massachusetts Board of Education about four years ago, the leading math expert for Common Core, Professor Jason Zimba told the Board that Common Core's math standards were designed to put high school student math skills on a level that's acceptable to a non-selective college, i.e., something on a par with a community college.

Seven school districts in the Massachusetts -- Worcester, Norfolk, Peabody, Wachusetts, Mendon-Upton, Tantasqua and Cambridge -- have recognized the rights of parents to have their children opt-out of the new Common Core tests, often referred to as PARCC.

The upcoming PARCC tests are just that, a test.  The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is saying they want to see how this new test compares to the MCAS, the standardized test Bay State children have taken since 1998.

The plan, according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, is to replace the MCAS with the PARCC test, which is also being used in many states around the country.  It's important to know that the MCAS was designed to reflect Bay State's standards only.

More on this in the coming days.

Print

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Seven facts you should know about new Common Core tests

By Valerie Strauss, Updated: September 4, 2013 at 2:21 pm

The Common Core State Standards now being implemented in most states and the District of Columbia will soon be accompanied by new standardized tests being developed by two multi-state consortia — the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) — with $360 million in federal funds. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said repeatedly that he expects these exams, due to be rolled out in 2014-15, to go beyond the familiar multiple-choice standardized tests students have been forced to take for more than a decade and to be an “absolute game-changer in public education.”

Is he right? Not so much. Here are seven myths and realities about the new tests, from FairTest, or The National Center for Fair & Open Testing,  a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the misuse of standardized tests. You can find more here on FairTest’s website.

Myth: Common Core tests will be much better than current exams, with many items measuring higher-order skills.
Reality: The new tests will largely consist of the same old multiple-choice questions.
Proponents initially said the new assessments would measure — and help teachers promote — critical thinking. In fact, the exams will remain predominantly multiple choice. Heavy reliance on such items continues to promote rote teaching and learning. Assessments will generally include just one session of short performance tasks per subject. Some short-answer and “essay” questions will appear, just as on many current state tests. Common Core math items are often simple computation tasks buried in complex and sometimes confusing “word problems.” The prominent Gordon Commission of measurement and education experts concluded that Common Core tests are currently “far from what is ultimately needed for either accountability or classroom instructional improvement purposes.”

Myth: Adoption of Common Core exams will end No Child Left Behind testing overkill.
Reality: Under Common Core, there will be many more tests and the same misuses.
The No Child Left Behind law triggered a testing tsunami over the past dozen years, and the Common Core will flood classrooms with even more tests. Both consortia keep mandatory annual English/language arts (ELA) and math testing in grades 3-8, as with NCLB. However, the tests will be longer than current state exams. PARCC will test reading and math in three high school grades instead of one; SBAC moves reading and math tests from 10th grade to 11th. In PARCC states, high schoolers will also take a speaking and listening test. PARCC also offers “formative” tests for kindergarten through second grade. Both consortia produce and encourage additional interim testing two to three times a year. As with NCLB, Common Core tests will be used improperly to make high-stakes decisions, including decisions involving high school graduation, teacher evaluation and school accountability.

Myth: New multi-state assessments will save taxpayers money.
Reality: Test costs will increase for most states. Schools will spend even more for computer infrastructure upgrades.
Costs have been a big concern, especially for the five states that dropped out of a testing consortium as of August 2013. PARCC acknowledges that half its member states will spend more than they do for current tests. Georgia pulled out when PARCC announced costs of new, computer-delivered summative math and ELA tests alone totaling $2.5 million more than its existing state assessment budget.States lack resources to upgrade equipment and bandwidth and provide technical support, at a cost likely to exceed that of the tests themselves. One analysis indicates that Race to the Top would provide districts with less than 10 cents on the dollar to defray those expenses plus mandated teacher evaluations.

Myth: New assessment consortia will actually design the tests rather than well-known test manufacturers who have made mistakes in the past. 
Reality: The same profit-driven companies,  including Pearson, Educational Testing Service and CTB/McGraw-Hill, are producing the tests. These firms have long histories of mistakes. The multinational Pearson, for example, has been responsible for poor-quality items, scoring errors, computer system crashes and missed deadlines. Still, Pearson shared $23 million in contracts to design the first 18,000 PARCC test items.

Myth: Common Core assessments are designed to meet the needs of all students.
Reality: Not yet. The new tests could put students with disabilities and English-language learners at risk.
Advocates for English-language learners have raised concerns about a lack of appropriate accommodations. A U.S. Education Department’s technical review assessed the consortia’s efforts in July 2013 and issued a stern warning, saying that attempts to accommodate students with disabilities and ELLs need more attention (Gewertz, 2013).

Myth: Common Core “proficiency” is an objective measure of college- and career-readiness.
Reality: Proficiency levels on Common Core tests are subjective, like all performance levels.
Recent disclosures demonstrate that New York state, which last spring gave students a Common Core-aligned test designed by Pearson even before the consortia-developed tests have come out, set passing scores arbitrarily. There is no evidence that these standards or tests are linked to the skills and knowledge students need for their wide range of college and career choices.

Myth: States have to implement the Common Core assessments.
Reality: No, they don’t.  
High-quality assessment improves teaching and learning and provides useful information about schools. Examples of better assessments include well-designed formative assessments, performance assessments that are part of the curriculum (New York Performance Standards Consortium), and portfolios or Learning Records of actual student work. Schools can be evaluated using multiple sources of evidence that includes limited, low-stakes testing, school quality reviews, and samples of ongoing student work.

© The Washington Post Company

The URL for this article can be found here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/09/04/seven-facts-you-should-know-about-new-common-core-tests//?print=1

The URL from the Citizens for Public Schools (in Massachusetts) provides information about which Bay State school districts have pulled out the PARCC test and can be found here:

http://www.citizensforpublicschools.org/what-we-know-opting-out-of-parcc-pilot-tests/school-committee-positions-on-opting-out-of-parcc-pilot-testing/


Below is letter is from the Norfolk, Mass., school district about recognizing parents rights to pull their from the upcoming Common Core tests.

                                                                                                                                                        

70 Boardman Street, Norfolk, Massachusetts 02056     Tel: 508-528-1225    Fax: 508-528-3739

           

February 11, 2014

Mr. Robert Lee

MCAS Chief Analyst and Acting PARCC Coordinator

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

75 Pleasant Street

Malden MA 02148-4906

Dear Mr. Lee:

On January 14, 2014 the Norfolk School Committee voted to allow parents to Opt-Out of the PARCC “Field Test” that is being administered this spring on a trial basis.  We believe that since this is in addition to the MCAS that the children are required to take and only certain students of the 4th Grade will be forced to take this test, the parents of these selected students should have the right to decide whether their children are to participate in this trial.

Our Superintendent shared with us your response to our vote and it is your opinion that we are not allowed to provide an Opt-Out for parents based on your siting of Massachusetts Law and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s ruling on MCAS.  You, through your legal counsel, sited MGL Chapter 69, §1l asserting that this test is “to assess individual students, ‘comprehensive diagnostic assessment of individual students shall be conducted in the fourth, eighth and tenth grades. (Emphasis added by your legal counsel)

We respectively disagree with your assertion since this test is not providing “comprehensive diagnostic assessment of individual students” and that no information regarding the results are being shared with the parents, teachers, or individual districts.

We further assert that this is an issue of parental rights as to whether the Massachusetts Department of Education has the right to mandate testing that will result in no quantitative data reporting. We also assert that it is the right of the Norfolk School Committee to provide our citizens with the right to Opt-Out of this program.

We would like to point out that certain Districts are being allowed to Opt-Out entirely.  This is not our request, we are only asking that parents have the right to choose what is best for their children.

The Norfolk School Committee wishes this letter to go on record as our Strong Objection to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s decision that a locally elected School Committee does not have the legal right to allow the parents of the affected children the ability to Opt-Out of the PARCC pilot program. 

Sincerely,

Shawn Dooley                                    Thomas Doyle                        Kelly Peterson                        Mark Flaherty

Chairman                                    Vice-Chairman                        Budget Chairman            Policy Chairman

State Representative

 9^th Norfolk