August 2024 NOTE: This section is from the 2020 version of this site and has not been updated. It serves as a record of the work of the Trump Administration of 2016 to 2020.

“Common Core” national educational standards were initiated in 2010, during the Obama/Biden administration.  Five states have since withdrawn from using these standards, Oklahoma, Arizona, Indiana, South Carolina and, as of January, 2020, Florida. Twelve states have introduced legislation to repeal the standards. The review of Florida’s departure sheds light on some of the reasons for states’ decisions to withdraw.

The sections below provide facts regarding the listed topics and the records and positions of the two political parties and presidential candidates in relation to these topics:

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October 30, 2019

Over the past decade, there has been no progress in either mathematics or reading performance, and the lowest-performing students are doing worse,” Peggy Carr, associate commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), said, according to Education Week. “In fact, over the long term in reading, the lowest-performing students -“those readers who struggle the most -“have made no progress from the first NAEP administration almost 30 years ago.”

Since 2017, the last year testing took place, reading performance has declined substantially in both grades four and eight.
NCES especially notes the “growing disparities between the highest and lowest achievers” in the decade between 2009 and 2019.

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called the NAEP results “frankly devastating.”
“This country is in a student achievement crisis, and over the past decade it has continued to worsen, especially for our most vulnerable students,” she said, adding, “Two out of three of our nation’s children aren’t proficient readers. In fact, fourth grade reading declined in 17 states and eighth grade reading declined in 31. The gap between the highest and lowest performing students is widening, despite $1 trillion in Federal spending over 40 years designated specifically to help close it.:
The foregoing paragraphs are excerpts from the October 30, 2019 article by Dr. Susan Berry appearing on the website of Breitbart News. Here is a link to this article on this site, which includes links to the Nation’s Report Card document: Nation’s Education Report Card

April 27, 2020

A study released Monday by the Boston-based Pioneer Institute reveals a historic drop in national reading and math scores among U.S. students since the adoption of the Common Core Curriculum Standards during the Obama/Biden administration a decade ago.
Performance in reading and math since the adoption of Common Core has especially declined in the nation’s lowest-achieving students - ’ many of whom come from low-income families and failing public schools - ’ widening the achievement gap and creating further inequality.
The study, titled “The Common Core Debacle” and authored by education policy researcher Theodor Rebarber, asserts the “shocking trends” in American student performance in critical math and reading skills since the creation of the U.S. Education Department 40 years ago and recommends reevaluation of federal involvement in education.
Dissatisfied with the pace of improvement, most states were persuaded to set aside their own efforts for the promise of a single set of national curriculum standards, the Common Core. Substantive criticism of the national standards, especially by a group of scholars and experts associated with Pioneer Institute, found them not to be internationally competitive, weak on literary content, and based on misguided progressive instructional assumptions and dogmas.
“Several of us allied with Pioneer Institute have been pointing out, ever since it was introduced, the deeply flawed educational assumptions that permeate the Common Core and the many ways in which it is at odds with curriculum standards in top-achieving countries,” Rebarber said.
The foregoing paragraphs are excerpts from the April 27, 2020 article appearing on the website of Breitbart News. Here is a link to this article on this site: Common Core Debacle

October 12, 2016

The workforce-preparation focus of the K-12 English and Math standards, known as Common Core, puts them at odds with Catholic education, and the standards should not be adopted by parochial schools, according to a study published this month by Pioneer Institute and the American Principles Project. The findings confirm the concerns raised in a 2013 letter sent to American bishops by a group of 132 Catholic scholars, asserting that adopting Common Core would be detrimental to Catholic education.
In this new study, “After the Fall: Catholic Education Beyond the Common Core”, authors Anthony Esolen, Dan Guernsey, Jane Robbins, and Kevin Ryan argue that the national standards’ unrelenting focus on skills that transfer directly to the modern work world conflicts with Catholic schools’ academic, spiritual, and moral mission.
Catholic schools have traditionally provided a classical liberal-arts education, using lessons from great literature to reinforce moral lessons and educate and inspire students toward a virtuous life and a fuller understanding of the human experience. But Common Core cuts literature, drama, and poetry by more than half compared to the previous Massachusetts standards. When great literature is included, it’s often only in excerpt form, robbing students of critical context. The result, according to co-author Anthony Esolen, is “a strictly utilitarian view of mankind; man with his soul amputated.”
Common Core’s math standards largely end with a weak Algebra II course and don’t prepare students for college-level coursework in science, engineering, and math. Even supporters have conceded that the math standards only prepare students for community-college-level work.
The authors argue that Common Core’s shortsighted focus on workforce preparation is incompatible with the larger goals of human excellence, spiritual transformation, and nurturing faith and character that are at the heart of Catholic education.
The study includes a preface from Harvard Law School Professor Mary Ann Glendon and former Boston Mayor Raymond L. Flynn, both of whom served as U.S. Ambassadors to the Holy See. They focus on Catholic education’s dual purpose of imparting academic knowledge and spiritual education, and argue that Common Core’s recipe for standardized workforce preparation diminishes students’ spiritual horizons.
The foregoing paragraphs are excerpts from the article appearing on the website of the Pioneer Institute. Here is a link to this article on this website, where the entire study can be downloaded: Common Core Study
United States Parents Involved in Education (USPIE), a national parent’s organization, has produced a documentary, Truth and Lies in American Education, addressing similar concerns to those expressed above. USPIE states about its project: “Serious conversations are happening throughout the country about the legitimate and effective role of the federal government in education. Many on both sides of the political aisle agree the federal government has become unreasonably intrusive and ineffective in education policy and practice…. It is the goal of USPIE to return America’s education to its proper local roots and restore parental authority over their children’s education.” Concerns raised in the documentary include the teaching of revisionist American history; comprehensive sex education; indoctrination by LGBTQ rights groups in schools; and the concept of “workforce development”. Here is a link to the film: Truths and Lies in American Education 
The information in the preceding paragraph was extracted from the February 20, 2020 article appearing on the website of Breitbart News. Here is a link to this article on this site: Truth and Lies in America

January 24, 2018
In her first major policy address of 2018, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos criticized the education policies of the Obama and Bush administrations, and laid out plans for the future of education reform.
DeVos has made school choice and reducing the role of the federal government in education two of her priorities as the Trump administration’s education chief. She also is working toward fulfilling President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign promise to end Common Core-“the education initiative that outlines what students should know in math and language arts at the end of each year of K-12 schooling.

“I agree-“and have always agreed-“with President Trump on this: Common Core is a disaster,” DeVos said in recent remarks at the American Enterprise Institute.
“And at the U.S. Department of Education, Common Core is dead,” DeVos added.

“It’s about educational freedom,” she said, expressing support for school choice. Opponents of school choice could repeal every state and local school choice measure, but it “wouldn’t go away,” she said. “There would still be school choices … for the affluent and the powerful.”

DeVos noted how the federal government created the Department of Education under President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s. She said federal mandates “distort” what the education system should be, which is “a trusting relationship between teacher, parent, and student.”

Each time the federal government has passed education reform legislation, such as with No Child Left Behind, which “did little to spark higher scores,” it has not changed “the system,” DeVos said. “Each attempt has really just been a new coat of paint on the same old wall.”
DeVos said she thinks equal access to a quality education “should be a right for every American, and every parent should have the right to choose how their child is educated.”
She added, “I trust parents and teachers, and I believe in students.”

The foregoing paragraphs are excerpts from the article appearing on the website of The Daily Signal. Here is a link to this article on this site: Common Core is Dead

January 27, 2020

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced Friday he is officially putting an end to the Common Core Standards in his state and replacing them with standards that “embrace common sense.” DeSantis said at a press conference that his new “Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking” (B.E.S.T.) standards, which will be released in the coming days, will mark a “return to the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic,”

Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said DeSantis “has proven once again that he is the Education Governor.”
Some of the major changes to the K-12 standards include:
- Place reading at the core of the standards development process;
- Place elevated focus on memorizing math facts;
- Content-rich standards that focus on classic literature;
- Define rigor as the product of maintaining high expectations for students

One of the areas DeSantis said he wanted to emphasize in K-12 standards was civics. The new B.E.S.T. standards will fulfill the governor’s mandate to “identify opportunities to equip high school graduates with sufficient knowledge of America’s civics, particularly the principles reflected in the United States Constitution, so as to be capable of discharging the responsibilities associated with American citizenship.”

Corcoran said the new standards “represent the highest quality knowledge-based standards in the nation. They not only incorporate civics throughout every grade, a first of their kind in the nation, ensuring that our students are well versed in the United States Constitution and the responsibilities of citizenship, they also provide educators with clear and concise standards,” he added.

The foregoing paragraphs are excerpts from the January 27, 2020 article appearing on the website of Breitbart News. Here is a link to this article on this site: Florida ends Common Core

May 29, 2019:

From Abby Johnson’s Facebook post:

The page you see above is from the proposed sex ed curriculum (sponsored by Planned Parenthood) that will be used in the Austin, Texas public school system for 7th graders. It instructs children to role-play in scenarios of two girls “having oral sex”, a boy and a girl “having vaginal intercourse”, etc.

Abby says:

"Trust me, this program is wide spread. This is a very common program used in public schools."

"It’s time to wake up and rise up, parents! As someone who used to teach this type of curriculum, you need to hear this. The purpose of these programs is not to help your children negotiate difficult sexual situations and to teach them refusal skills. The purpose is to teach them that these sorts of sexual situations are “normal” for their age, to teach them that their parents are not a safe place to turn when they have questions, and to get them into Planned Parenthood clinics so that they can further separate children from their parents. We mocked their peers who chose abstinence...in front of them. I’m not opposed to teaching children about sex. But I can tell you that my 7th grade daughter was absolutely appalled by this curriculum when I showed it to her. NOT all kids are in these situations at that age. NOT all kids are exposed to these types of scenarios. And NOT all kids are sexually active at this age. But I can tell you first hand that the people educating your kids through this program expect that they are and they have zero problems telling your kids that it’s completely normal if they are."

"Many of you will say, “Time to homeschool.” And that may be a great solution for some of you, but it is very unrealistic for many families. And then what? We protect our kids but leave the others behind? No. That’s not a solution."

"This is a problem that we ALL need to be addressing. My kids are in a private school, but I’m still actively working to get this out of schools. We must protect ALL of our children. It’s time to speak out in a big way, parents...all of us! It’s time to go to school board meetings. It’s time to set up group meeting with the school administrations. It’s time to be that squeaky wheel. Our kids are worth it. We have got to get this filth out of our schools."

May 9, 2020

On May 6, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos unveiled new Title IX regulations concerning sexual harassment and sexual assault on campus. This 2,033-page code reasserts the moral, ethical and legal norms that formed the basis of Western society.

The prior definition of wrongdoing was so tantalizingly vague as to be infinitely elastic.

The updated regulations bring needed clarity. They state that a reasonable person must judge the unwelcome sexual conduct “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the school’s education program or activity.” They hold administrators responsible for sexual harassment that takes place in fraternities and sororities. And they shield victims from having to directly interact with the accused, or to delve into their sexual history.

The innovative regulations also remove the star chamber quality that has pervaded some campus hearings. Sexual harassment charges frequently have been handled by one person, who investigated and rendered a binding decision without oversight. Defendants often complained of not knowing what they were accused of, and of having exculpatory evidence arbitrarily excluded.

New protections assure that the accused enjoys the presumption of innocence and has the right to know the charges against him or her in full, examine all evidence, have an adviser cross-examine testimony at a live hearing, and appeal the outcome. The new rules also allow universities to progress beyond the “preponderance of the evidence” standard, which is “the lowest standard of proof,” to the more robust “clearer and convincing evidence” standard.
The new Title IX standards move campus proceedings from a punitive kangaroo court to a rules-based pursuit of truth. They uphold moral and legal norms.

Credibility is pivotal, given the stakes riding on such weighty charges. An erroneous allegation can destroy the future of those falsely accused, as it did for the Duke University lacrosse team or the University of Virginia chapter of Phi Kappa Psi. Modern society allows the nature of the charge, rather than the weight of the evidence, to stain the accused so thoroughly that he becomes ineligible for any desirable position.

DeVos’ guidelines restore to academia the one concept most ubiquitous in its vocabulary but all-too absent from its tribunals: justice. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae, following Aristotle, defines justice as “a habit whereby a man renders to each one his due.”

“Justice toward men,” says the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good.” The catechism then quotes one of numerous Bible verses warning rulers not to show partiality to anyone - “neither the rich nor the poor alike.

Justice proceeds from recognizing everyone’s inherent human dignity and judging people based on their actions, not the accidents of their birth.

Justice’s blindfold must remain firmly in place, her scales swayed only by the weight of the evidence upon them. Secretary DeVos’ Title IX regulations cultivate an atmosphere of justice that leads to social harmony, the punishment of the guilty, and the flourishing of all innocent parties. Her actions deserve our strongest commendation.

The foregoing paragraphs are excerpts from the article appearing on the website of Action Institute, Action.org, by Rev. Ben Johnson, executive Editor on 5/9/20.

Here is a link to this article on this site: DeVos’ Title IX Regulations