Continued from page 1...

Core writers say "In our classrooms, it is the students' voices, not the teachers' that are heard" and that "the curriculum should not be the coverage of content, but rather the discovery of content," While reading at a particular grade level may be a part of Common Core's standard "rubric," what is read and taught is where doctrine comes alive.

Further proof of totalitarian control is seen in Common Core's nationwide student tracking system. Michelle Malkin writes the 2009 stimulus included a "State Fiscal Stabilization Fund" that mandated constructing "longitudinal data systems (LDS) to collect data on public-school students" that resulted in The National Education Data Model. Then in 2012, the U.S. Department of Education rewrote federal privacy laws to let it share a child's academic record with virtually anyone. States have begun combining student records of test scores, discipline history, medical records, nicknames, religion, political affiliation, addresses, extracurricular activities, bus stop times and psychological evaluations into a private database called inBloom.

This madness all makes sense if we ask why the teacher unions have suddenly embraced "tougher" standards (new unionism). Common Core's vague and subjective "liberal arts" standards play perfectly with the unions who are looking for a way around their pay being tied to teacher performance evaluations. The answer, make the standards as subjective and vague as possible. In this way teachers can be evaluated under what are being falsely called tougher Common Core "board certified" type standards. And since pay is now being tied to performance, Common Core's nonjudgmental subjective view of learning will create the illusion of being successful and accountable. The result, unions strike it rich.

David Coleman's self-proclaimed "mentor," David Sherman, holds the post of Consultant in the office of the AFT President Local 94 in Oak Lawn, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. He was once hired by union boss Albert Shanker to develop an "educational arm" for the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in New York City where he was the union's liaison to the school system and collaborated with district and community organizations. Mr. Sherman became vice president of UFT in 1991. He was appointed to the U.S. Department of Education's Negotiated Rulemaking Committee on Title I and NCLB. Sherman sits on Teachscape's board of directors and also sits on the board of the Teachers Union Reform Network, the primary internal union organization in support of "new unionism."

Interestingly, The National Education Association is negotiating a deal with Teachscape, a private firm that will provide web-based teacher professional development services. Teachscape already has the American Federation of Teachers as a partner. Teachscape's professional development system includes: tools and opportunities for soft evaluation: "self-reflection and self-assessment" These are remarkably similar to the requirements for achieving national certification. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is also a partner of Teachscape. Many NEA and AFT officials sit on the NBPTS board. Teachers use textbooks from McGraw-Hill, which is a partner and investor of Teachscape.

If one listens and follows the words, the business connections, the union connections, the university connections, the money, and the ideology; a clear picture emerges as to what is driving the insanity. In a nutshell, the Common Core folks knew they had to rewrite the standards and create new standards that are not actually standards but windows of opportunity to spew, by law, ideas that would be laughable if they were not so politically correct and dangerous to the very foundations of the nation.

The Progressives have incrementally gone after the healthcare, family and economic systems. They have been slowly changing education for decades. Common sense about Common Core tells you they are now going after the whole enchilada. What is amazing is that it's happening right under the noses of academics on both side of the ideological spectrum who are supposed to know better.

Connect the dots and you can see Common Core is nationalized state-run education via an unprecedented partnership between public, private, union, and academic circles. It does not matter if Common Core is one part self interest, one part ignorance, and one part blind elite reality. Any way you slice it there is a razor inside Common Core representing a danger to American culture, education, and children.

Sources: M. Catharine Evans, Diane Ravitch, Washington Post, Education Intelligence Agency, Susan Ohanian, Michelle Maslkin, George Will, Jonathan DuHamel, Valerie Strauss, Neal McCluskey, Lindsey Burke, David Feith, CATO Institute, Heritage Foundation, transcripts.

.