Say NO to Standardized Tests; Ignoring Science Spreads Ignorance!

My response to an amazing educators comments on Florida's newest standardized test. "All of the billions of dollars of research over the past 100 years has been thrown out by bureaucracy. It is amazing, while they fight tooth and nail to get everyone immunized before going in to school because science has proven that immunizations prevent the spread of disease, they continue to ignore scientific evidence that standardized testing causes failure, It diminishes and steals away from all of the scientific research over thousands of years stretching back to Socrates. The way we reach our kids to make them better educated, better humans, better people is not housed in a standardized tests. There is only one purpose for standardized tests and that is to make those who have studied economic science...it makes a lot of publishers from Marzano to McGraw Hill very wealthy individuals. Funny, one of the first test subjects, the very person who helped to establish Stanford tests became a leading destroyer of artistry in the classroom.: Madeline Hunter 1930. At the same time that Hitler was putting into play his mind control over the youth in Germany, Madeline Hunter was helping devise the very tests that would help to turn our nation into automatons. Thankfully the human spirit is stronger than a nation ruled by those would molest our children for their financial gain." https://crawlingoutoftheclassroom.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/an-open-letter-to-my-students-i-am-sorry-for-what-i-am-about-to-do-to-you/

Follow the Money! Right out of Taxpayer's Wallets!

Oklahoma's winter testing will cost taxpayers $3.4 million this year. Well, that doesn't sound like a whole lot, but considering many school districts are cutting services such as cleaning classrooms daily. They are cutting programs such as art, physical education, educational field trips and yes, classroom teachers. So, IT IS A BIG DEAL! What should this really be signalling to all of you? Well, to me it signals that testing is a big money making scheme all on the backs of our kids to perform and it is a financial burden on you and me. Also, that no matter how well our kids are doing or not doing, the testing will only increase until YOU do something to demand that it stop!

Now, let's do a little applied math lesson shall we? Multiply 3.4 million out by all 50 states! Then multiply that times all the tests that are mandated annually. Then multiply that times the amount of Administrator and teacher's salaries used in order to implement the multiple tests that our kids take annually. Then add in the cost of local, state and federal agencies in place to fund said tests. Then add in the number of supplemental programs (all non-profit of course) that are put into action to make up for the assumed inadequacies of the tests that were put in place to measure the effectiveness of instruction, or the lack thereof. (You see if we are spending up to 5 weeks or more a year in testing, THERE IS NO INSTRUCTION taking place! Testing is not instruction. It is not teaching!)

Maybe it is time for taxpayers to spend more time questioning where the money goes and why it is that suddenly the generation of children that entered our schools beginning in 2000 need to be tested to the nth degree. Maybe it is time for them to start defending their school district, children and their teachers and pointed the finger of blame where it belongs at the governmental agencies that are in collusion with the publishing companies!

Oh but wait! We have an entire nation filled with parents who bow down to the First Lady when she, not the President or Congress, when she says our school lunches are not adequate! Well sorry to tell you but, I did not elect the First Lady and you are not a paid representation of this nation! Am I the only one thinking outside the box around here?

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-board-of-education-approves-contract-with-current-vendor-for-winter-testing-window/article/5357679

Governor Mike Pence Is At IT Again! Or, playground bullying isn't isolated to grade school?

Abuse of Power is an Epidemic So It Seems;Too Many Selfie's Maybe? 

It seems that White House isn't the only place where there seems to be a misuse power in order to steamroll an agenda. Indiana Governor Mike Pence is at it too. Our state openly and honestly elected Superintendent Glenda Ritz, yet it seems that Mike Pence is doing everything in his power to remove her power as head of education in Indiana.

I personally believed in Ritz as she embodies everything that is right in education and stands against everything that has gone wrong. She represents the possibility that a person can be chosen for a position regardless of political connections, or correctness. Public education, like most government run agencies has become a cesspool of nepotism, political ties, and what is most pervasive cronyism! Glenda's appointment was refreshing because it sent a message to people everywhere. That message simply stated is; do a good job, be a good person, and you can move to the head of the class. Her appointment embodies what public education is!

Well, it seems that whether you are dealing with State level education or a local school yard, bullies do in fact troll the halls and playgrounds just waiting to find someone to bully and minimize. I truly believe that Glenda Ritz is being grossly disrespected by Governor Mike Pence. Is it because she never held a local superintendent position or is because she is a woman, she supports public education and republican Governor Mike Pence is misogynistic? My suspicion is that it is both. Please read a letter sent to me by the Indiana State Teacher's Association. It is time for union members across the nation to stand together and demand the badgering against public educators stop!


ISTA has learned that the State Board of Education intends to further diminish Superintendent Ritz’s role as Chair of the board and transfer some responsibilities to the board’s staff at the Center for Education and Career Innovation (CECI). The actions will take place at the board
meeting on Wednesday .

The board will propose dramatic new board procedures through approving a resolution that will form a one-time, ad hoc committee that will approve the new measures intended to cut into the Superintendent’s traditional role as Chair.

It’s no secret that the Governor and the CECI have wanted to remove Superintendent Ritz as Chair of the State Board of Education. In December, it was disclosed in a leaked CECI memo that Ritz being the Chair was perceived as a “problem” that should be addressed by the legislature. The goal then was to have the Chair appointed by the Governor.

This latest move coincides with efforts to seemingly make the Department of Education a minor administrative bureaucracy folded within one agency under the Governor’s office. 

Efforts first began when the Governor, with the stroke of a pen and without legislative approval, created and diverted funding for his duplicate education agency, the CECI.

We learned just weeks ago that the Governor’s Indiana Career Council has adopted a new strategic plan that includes consolidating more than 30 state agencies and programs, including the Department of Education, totaling more than $650 million, under one lead agency directed by the Governor.

This new resolution brought forth by the governor-appointed state board of education members is the latest in this fixation over gaining singular power at the expense of the authority of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Please contact the members of the State Board of Education and urge them to work WITH Superintendent Ritz instead of continuing on this path of disrespect for her, the office she holds and the 1.3 million voters who elected her.

Tony Walker - tony@walkerlawgroup.biz

Dr. Brad Oliver - brad4education@gmail.com

Dr. David Freitas - drdavidfreitas@comcast.net

Daniel Elsener - delsener@marian.edu

Cari Whicker - cwhicker@hccsc.k12.in.us

B.J. Watts - bj.watts@evsc.k12.in.us

Sarah O’Brien - sobrien4cd@yahoo.com

Troy Albert - talbert@wclark.k12.in.us

Andrea Neal - aneal@inpolicy.org

Gordon Hendry - education@gordonhendry.com

Mary E. Rapier, Founder of PBL3 Initiaitives

We are facing a dilemma currently in our global society. It is a one that we have never truly had to deal with entirely before and it is one that will be with us from this era forward. We as a nation have taken a half-hearted approach towards, it. “It” is illiteracy, and literary incompetence. We have witnessed an increase in the investment into our schools in the area of literacy, but this is actually because of the identifiable shortcoming of our students graduating out of our public school system. This is not to say that there is an ever increasing upwards movement towards higher education. It is to say that even with all of those efforts we are still falling short with regards to communicating effectively through the written word. The NCEE, National Center on Education and the Economy has spent a time and money to create a program that fills in the gap and prepares for the future students who are capable of producing thoughtful, succinct executive summaries. In an ever increasing movement via the internet the dominance of the written word is further ahead than any mainstream individual could have ever imagined fifty years ago. Our founding fathers desire to establish an educated society was an insightful desire, however we have created a dual dynamic in that there are so many that are graduating from halls of universities, colleges, technical training schools without the ability to communicate effectively through the medium of written text, that however they understand concepts, they cannot effectively translate that into documentation. One must ask then is writing a learned skill or is it an art? Is need outpacing ability? Regardless of what the individual belief is, the necessity for a strong written document is central to the promotion of idea, product, emotion, a securing of both the tangible as well as the intangible. Word weaving as I like to refer to it is fulfilling that Very need. My life experience when melded with education, art, the weaving of the importance of the written word, provides you the client with the documentation necessary to get your message across. A real world, pragmatic approach to allocation of concepts is what you will find in my work. While there has not been formal education in the area of mar-com, I do have experience in writing for a purpose, Executive summary, research, curriculum development, web-text development, essay, as well as non-professional documents. All in all, my ability to transfer ideas in written form is a strength that I have been developing over the course of many years. The role of educator, coach, developer, volunteer, director, consumer, has given me the ability to identify the needs of those that I am serving. As the individual shares a need, a preferred outcome can be isolated. My goal oriented nature seeks ways in which to fulfill the desired results. Articulate, direct, passionate, encouraging, are all words that can be used to describe my approach. When approach is coupled with the an idea or product there will be results coming forth as a result of the written word. The market and the needs of the individual will change as we evolve into a global community. Having someone with a diverse background identifies their ability to grow and change with the needs of those around them. The diversity of skill sets provides a canvas of adaptability and modifiable form to deliver a product to you the client, that meets your need as well as your client’s needs. For further information feel free to contact Mary E. Rapier with maryerapier@gmail.com