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Articles by Karen Effrem
U.S. Student Test Scores Plummet Again in Year 4 of Common Core
If there was any doubt that the Common Core standards have been harmful to American academic achievement, that doubt should be erased by the 2019 results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Nation’s Report Card. NAEP results have been stagnant or declining since the full implementation of the standards was mandated in 2015.
Congress to Reconsider Massive College Student Data Grab
As Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the powerful chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, approaches retirement in 2020, he and Congress are making one last push to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA). This legislation has been in a stalemate for the last five years.
The National Pulse
Several weeks ago, we wrote about the very grave bipartisan concerns over “red flag laws” that have sadly been already passed in 17 states. These laws have been described as setting up a process that allows family members or law enforcement to ask a judge for an order that allows temporary confiscation of firearms if a person is deemed to be a threat to themselves or others.
Common Core Math Publisher Sues Parent for Opposing Curriculum
According to a local report, the publisher of a controversial Common Core math curriculum used in the Wake County, N.C., public school district (WCPSS) is suing an individual parent for “libel and slander” as well as “tortuous interference” for vocally criticizing the district’s use of the curriculum he says has harmed the education of his son and many other students in the district.
New Education Fad, Same As The Old Fads
Fads are ubiquitous in American public education, and they’ve only intensified with the increased federalization and bureaucratization of schools. Parents and educators are bombarded with claims that this or that new teaching method will “transform” student learning. Too often, the highly touted technique is little more than a repackaged version of another highly touted technique that has already failed.
Is the Virginia Superintendent afraid of having some political discourse?
Since Superintendent Schmidt specifically called out Education Liberty Watch (ELW) and me as its president in his conspiratorial and accusatory column meant to support the May 14th referendum vote, I am compelled to respond. First of all, our organization has said absolutely nothing about this particular referendum. A search of our website will find zero mentions of it.
Multiple States Seek to Expand Invasive Mental Health Screening in Schools
In the wake of multiple horrific school shootings — particularly the Parkland, Fla., massacre where 17 people were murdered by a student long-known to have mental issues — states all over the nation have been moving to expand mental health screening, treatment, and data collection. The two most prominent states are Florida and Texas, but Georgia and other states are also joining this dangerous craze.
Does America Really Want a Federalized School Choice Program?
During last week’s State of the Union speech, President Trump spoke briefly on education by stating, “To help support working parents, the time has come to pass school choice for America’s children.” This may include Senator Ted Cruz’s Student Empowerment Act, which would expand tax-free 529 college savings plans to include K-12 education expenses for public, private, religious, and home education.
Lame-Duck Congress Plays Grinch to Citizens by Passing Anti-Privacy Database Bill
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent the views of Townhall.com. Lame-duck congressional sessions almost always endanger freedom, and sadly, this one was no exception. In a “lamer” than usual lame-duck move at the end of last week, the Senate passed H.R. 4174, the Foundations for Evidence-based Policymaking Act (FEPA). This move came without a hearing and with only a voice vote after no debate.
Parents Have Been Right All Along About Common Core -- Officials Should Listen
The enormous problems with Common Core Standards (CCSS) and accompanying tests have been obvious to parents and citizens groups since they first were imposed by states succumbing to federal bribery/coercion in 2010. Voluminous evidence continues to confirm those perceptive beliefs. Parents, along with many experts, saw the academic inferiority of CCSS immediately. Parents have been in the forefront of protesting the destruction of math education during the Common Core era.
Parental Rights at Stake in Case of Minn. Mother and Teen “Emancipated” by State
In June 2017, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit of a Minnesota mother, Annmarie Calgaro, whose then 17-year-old son was emancipated from her by a county and several medical clinics without any due process on the mother’s part. That case was appealed in July 2017 by attorney Erick Kaardal and the Thomas More Society and heard in the Atlanta-based federal appeals court last month.
Six Reasons Conservatives Should Believe the Defeat of Amendment 8 Was Correct
As the Florida Supreme Court considered and ultimately removed Amendment 8, the education constitutional amendment, from the November ballot, there was a debate occurring among Florida conservatives over both the wording and the merits of the proposal. Part of the amendment allowed entities other than duly elected school boards, to authorize education alternatives, charter schools being chief among them.
The Left’s Latest Creepy, Orwellian Education Tactic
It sounds like a sci-fi movie: altering behavior and personality by surreptitiously embedding psychologically manipulative messages into a computer platform. But according to Education Week, that’s what mega-publisher Pearson did in 2017 to over 9,000 unwitting college students. And this episode foreshadows what’s coming soon to a K-12 classroom near you.
APP’s Jane Robbins Reveals Dangers of Gov’t Data Mining to Congress (VIDEO)
On January 30th, American Principles Project senior fellow Jane Robbins gave outstanding testimony at a U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee hearing titled “Protecting Privacy, Promoting Policy: Evidence-Based Policymaking and the Future of Education.” She spoke eloquently about the critical need for data privacy over data security, the dangers of social emotional learning, and the enormous problems of steering students into certain careers based on predictive algorithms.
Guess What? Congress Wants to Collect Even More Sensitive Student Data » The National Pulse+
Amidst of the ongoing battle against the surveillance state that we have chronicled with the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (FEPA), the College Transparency Act (CTA), and the regulatory gutting of the family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), there is yet another data bill that is now rearing its head. Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Mark Warner (D-Va.) have reintroduced The Student Right to Know Before You Go Act.
SPLC Has a New Target: Parents Who Oppose Common Core
The radical Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) just can’t leave conservatives alone.
How “Social Emotional Learning” Is Turning Children Into Leftist Activists
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) proponents’ are loudly and robotically chanting the mantra that SEL is the next great education silver bullet “because of strong and consistent scientific evidence that it helps children and provides an underpinning for productive citizenship.” Yet, the true motives of this push, combined with the research evidence inconsistencies (as admitted by SEL experts themselves), are starting to become obvious.
‘Social and Emotional Learning’ and other nonsense responsible for dismal test scores
U.S. education test scores have become embarrassingly bad. The latest results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) are in, and the United States scored below average, as usual. American 15-year-olds performed worse in science this year than they did in 2012 (the last time the test was given), had stagnant scores in reading, and came in 31st place in math out of the 35 industrialized nations that took the test.
Using Schools To Train Kids' Emotions With SEL-What Could Go Wrong?
The government wants to dictate and monitor the feelings of schoolchildren, regardless of the violations of conscience and privacy involved. In response to our recent article in The Federalist exposing the dangers of so-called social emotional learning (SEL), Allison Crean Davis argues that parents have nothing to fear from governmental monitoring and manipulation of their children’s psychological states.
Think Common Core is bad? New standards crank the creep-factor up to eleven
The battle over who will direct the hearts and minds of children is intensifying. Within the dangerous labyrinth of Common Core standards, testing, and data-mining is the even more concerning ramp-up of Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Parents and teachers who believe in genuine education rather than pseudo-psychological evaluation are facing off against bipartisan big government and its affiliated corporations and foundations.
What the latest, absurd, religious freedom case could mean for Thanksgiving
Later this week, we will celebrate Thanksgiving, a day rooted in a national call to prayer and fasting and goes back as far as the Continental Congress and our first few presidents. Yet, if federal judges understood the true meaning of Thanksgiving, they’d probably rule it unconstitutional on the grounds that it violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. For example, consider the case of Felix v.
A Closer Look at Marco Rubio's Record on Common Core
Alex Leary of the Tampa Bay Times discussed Common Core’s role in the campaign of the two Florida presidential candidates, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush. The article, titled “Rubio may oppose Common Core but has supported the ideas behind it,” lists several ways that Marco Rubio has supported the components of the Common Core system: …while Rubio never advocated for Common Core, he was a proponent of the building blocks.
Tampa Bay Times Examines Rubio's Involvement in Common Core
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) (photo credit: Gage Skidmore) Alex Leary of the Tampa Bay Times discussed Common Core’s role in the campaign of the two Florida presidential candidates, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush. The article, titled “Rubio may oppose Common Core but has supported the ideas behind it,” lists several ways that Marco Rubio has supported the components of the Common Core system: …while Rubio never advocated for Common Core, he was a proponent of the building blocks.
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