NJ Standards Review

As many in my state know, NJDoE has embarked on a review of the Common Core State Standards. Of course, this is nothing more than political ploy by Governor Christie to cater to the base of his party as he runs for the Presidency. Even if you put aside his political agenda, this review of the Common Core is a farce by NJDoE. To see for yourself, visit their review website at: http://njstandardsreview.statestandards.org/ You can make a comment on any standard in any grade. I would argue however that anyone who does so is completely wasting their time and energy. The Christie administration is also committed to PARCC for several years so how could any meaningful change to the standards even take place. Moreover, one only needs to look at the most recent NJDoE taskforce: The Study Commission on Assessments. This committee took in-person testimony from more than 150 individuals and received hundreds of written comments. What have they done with those comments? The Study Commission has not even discussed them and instead dismissed them as repetitive and political (ironic, isnt it?). It is very clear that NJDoE strategy is to have meaningless public hearings and trick teachers and parents into thinking their comments will have any affect on policy which clearly they will NOT. It is due to these undisputable facts that I encourage teachers to NOT participate in this dog and pony show.