Common Core: Back to Basics Forum in Worcester on May 28

BNCordeiro — Sat, 18 May 2013 17:26:59 GMT

I received this email to State Committee members on Wednesday afternoon and this event was discussed during our MassGOP State Committee meeting on Thursday.

Normally, I'm hesitant to publish email addresses & phone numbers but they were all included both in the original email and the printed version that was distributed on Thursday.

Dear State Committee Members - This forum is an important event in Massachusetts. Most of us don't know or understand enough about the Common Core - but this is the ROOT of our children's education. We need to understand what this is. The two experts speaking at this forum will help us understand what is happening in Massachusetts (and throughout the nation). Please consider attending this, it would be great if you could travel with local school committee members or selectmen and DEFINITELY State Reps. This crosses all party lines so use this to our advantage. Thank you. Bonnie Johnson 508-335-5273
PS - Donna Colorio is a member of the Worcester School Committee (and running for re-election in November).
BACK TO BASICS FORUM
WILL COMMON CORE STANDARDS MAKE MASSACHUSETTS STUDENTS MORE COMPETITIVE?
DATE - TUESDAY, May 28th, 2013
TIME - 6:30 pm
LOCATION - Worcester Public Library, 3 Salem Street, Worcester
TOPICS TO INCLUDE:
- How the Common Core will impact students in Massachusetts.
- Common Core (Federal) standards for English Language Arts (ELA) and how they will impact Massachusetts standards. Many defects of the Common Core ELA standards have been identified. One of the most obvious is the requirement that 50% of reading material for ELA come from non-fiction writing. This means Tom Sawyer will be shelved in favor of an EPA report on Global Warming.
- Costs of aligning the Massachusetts standards with the Common Core - mid-range estimate of aligning standards to the Common Core is $15.8 billion over 7 years.
SPEAKERS:
Dr. Sandra Stotsky is credited with developing one of the country's strongest sets of academic standards for K-12 students. Her credentials include: National Validation Committee for the Common Core State Systemic Initiative (2009-2010); National Mathematics Advisory Panel (2006-2008), Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (2006-2010), and Steering Committee in 2003-2004 for the framework for the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Theodor Rebarber is the CEO of Accountability Works (2001-present), a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting states, schools, parents, and reform-minded organizations in implementing high-performance accountability and assessment systems. He is the lead author on "National Costs of Aligning States and Localities to the Common Core Standards".
RSVP appreciated but not mandatory.
Contact: Bill Gillmeister, 508-344-6325, wgillmeister@charter.net
Donna Colorio, 508-450-0104, dcolorio@gmail.com

What CEO's Are Really Saying About Massachusetts

yankeepundit — Sat, 18 May 2013 10:28:21 GMT

Geoff Diehl's recent post http://www.redmassgroup.com/sh... mentions the annual CEO Magazine survey of then views of corporate CEO's on the business climates of each of the 50 states. No surprise that Massachusetts ranks near the bottom (47th). But this year, CEO Magazine has posted comments from the CEOs.

What is really telling is that these comments are anonymous. CEOs are reluctant to openly criticize the governments of the states or countries in which they do business less the pols use the regulatory and taxation apparatus to attack them or their firms. Of course, there are exceptions like the CEO of Honeywell, a technology and manufacturing giant. http://bostonherald.com/busine...

Here are just the first four comments from CEO's on doing business in Massachusetts (excerpted from CEO Magazine): http://chiefexecutive.net/mass...

"If I were designing Hell for a company, I couldn't do as good a job as Massachusetts has. We will be leaving the state within the next year."
"We are moving out of CA, MI, MA and NY in 2013 and terminating our employees there. The regulatory and tax environment has become untenable."
"Massachusetts is returning to the state of Taxachusetts, thanks to Governor Deval Patrick and the overwhelming Democratic party majority in both houses of the Legislature."
"Taxation and regulation are always the key barometers. Massachusetts and Oregon are the worst."

There is a real cost to the tax and regulatory climate-and the hostility to the market and capitalism evidenced by the Governor, legislature and the bureaucracy. Companies are not investing in Massachusetts. According to E&Y's recent survey, Massachusetts lags badly in private sector capital investment (at page 9). http://www.ey.com/Publication/...

CEOs are the ones who make the decisions that determine where investments in productive, good paying jobs will be made. And as far as America's CEOs are concerned, that's not going to be Massachusetts.

Paging Secretary Bialecki ....

Red Mass Group - Recommended Diaries

Common Core: Back to Basics Forum in Worcester on May 28

What CEO's Are Really Saying About Massachusetts