Dakota Beacon

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After “Systemic Reform” of North Dakota’s education system to the Common Core model and structure, education policy will be almost entirely beyond the control of the state’s citizens, as the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium will ALWAYS be dominated by either 9 (7 being of the 10 most liberal states in America) or as many as 14 Democrat/Liberal states versus 6 or 7 Republican/Conservative states. The PRIVATE consortium whose rules will be constantly changing and which will always make decisions beyond the scrutiny of North Dakota citizens by design of it’s governance structure.

^·          The proponents of the Common Core State Standards are clear that these standards are the means for complete change of America’s education system. ⁽¹⁾

^·          North Dakota is legally bound to education reform by membership in Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium by governing rules that will be ever changing regardless of the conditions agreed upon when North Dakota joined the consortium. ⁽²⁾

^·          The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is a PRIVATE entity that North Dakota joined with little or no analysis of the legal or financial implications of joining. Review of the 168 page Smarter Balanced Consortium Assessment application to the U.S. Department of mid-June 2010, documents that the consortium is about far more than just “standards” or “assessments”. ⁽³⁾

^·          Once the education reforms of Common Core are completed the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium will dominate much more than simply testing and North Dakota citizens will have very little if any control over the education of their students. ⁽⁴⁾

·         Because the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium exists outside of North Dakota it is not subject to the state’s Open Records laws. Taxpayers of North Dakota will have no right to examine or have oversight as to how their tax dollars are being spent. ⁽⁵⁾

·         Using the results of the 2012 Presidential Election and Gallup’s state by state self designation poll shows that members of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is overwhelmingly dominated by Democrat/Liberals states and their likely education policy. ⁽⁶⁾

·         There are 9 solidly and additionally 5 likely Democrat/Liberal states in the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. 7 of those 9 consortium state will be among the 10 most Liberal in America. ⁽⁷⁾

·         There are 6 solidly Republican states in the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium with the 7th Republican leaning state of Missouri seemingly exiting the consortium soon. ⁽⁸⁾

Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium States

2012 Presidential Election and Self-Designated Gallup Poll Data:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/167144/wyoming-residents-conservative-liberal.aspx#2 

 See Part II - Documentation