“Common Core” Education Standards Forum to Address Backlash Against Federal Takeover

http://ceo.ulitzer.com/node/2309642

WHAT: “Common Core State Standards” (CCSS) Forum

WHEN: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 Media interviews: 6:00-7:00 p.m. Panel Discussion: 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

WHERE: Larry Miller Auditorium, SLCC Campus 9750 South 300 West Sandy, Utah 84070

WHO: Utah Education Coalition Utah State Representative Keith Grover, Chairman Alisa Ellis, Event Chairman

Panelists to include:

• Dr. Bill Evers, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution; member, Mitt Romney’s Education Policy Advisory Group; former United States Assistant Secretary of Education under George W. Bush
• Kent D. Talbert, co-founder, Talbert & Eitel, PLLC; former General Counsel, United States Department of Education under George W. Bush
• Emmett McGroarty, Esq., Director of Education Policy, American Principles Project; author, ALEC anti-common core legislation; founder, www.truthinamericaneducation.org network
• James Gass, Director, Center for School Reform, Pioneer Institute

Event chairman Alisa Ellis described the purpose of this forum, which is gathering a bi-partisan group of state legislators, parents and teachers: “The objective of this forum is to more clearly explain how parents and children have lost their privacy, how our state has lost its autonomy to a federal bureaucracy and special interests in Washington, D.C. and why we must oppose the Common Core Standards and the waiver.”

Utah submitted two applications for federal stimulus money and one application for a waiver from the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law, all of which mandate that Utah gives up state control over education standards and assessments.

Utah has promised it will sign onto the Common Core Standards, a set of national standards recommended by the Obama Administration and controlled by two D.C.-area trade associations: National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers.

In addition, Utah has pledged to implement the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, a set of Common Core-aligned assessments sponsored funded by the Obama Administration. Utah has pledged to make private student data available to the U.S. Department of Education, relaxing privacy regulations under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) which prevented unauthorized disclosure of personal student data.