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To Magnolia ISD School Board

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I had the opportunity to address the Magnolia ISD school board in relation to their implementation of the Marxist International Baccalaureate Program and my concerns. Below is my speech. I was not able to finish it due to a 5 min time limitation.

In 2012 my mother and I discovered the Cscope curriculum that the Education Service Centers had created and then leased to Texas School Districts. I may not be a public educator but as an American I knew something was wrong when I realized the material portrayed the Boston Tea Party as a terrorist act, asked students to draw a new communist flag, taught that Allah was the Almighty and portrayed communism as something to be achieved. My concerns were increased when teachers admitted to having to sign a non-disclosure statement stating they would not release the contents or say anything negative the about the Cscope material. Students had no textbooks and parents were forbidden from viewing the material. I contacted school administrators in numerous Cscope school districts regarding the content. Unexpectedly, administrators took to marginalizing my concerns, calling me names, from conspiracy theorist to a liar and then some. Their reactions strengthened my resolve and caused me to dig deeper into what was happening behind the scenes. Thankfully my concerns started getting statewide attention with the help of TV personality Glenn Beck, local radio hosts and the national media. At the beginning of the 83rd Texas State Legislature I met with Lt. Gov Dewhurst and as a result of our meeting, he called for a Texas Senate Hearing on Cscope which eventually led to a House hearing and bills being passed reigning in this rouge program and the ESC’s. A state audit of the program was then requested and performed, and as of today there is still 6.1 Million unaccounted for from the Cscope debacle. In light of this it is surprising that Texas Schools continue to fund the ESC’s. Texas has over 1000 school districts and it took me some time to realize the reason that 900 plus school districts would be so deceptive in their implementation of such a program. It was the ideology behind it. A Marxist one based on Social Constructivism. I then realized our education industry had becomes masters at deception when it comes to implementing programs that will attract public criticism. Terms have been redefined: “Rigor,” once associated with knowledge, has come to mean the ability to grapple with something that doesn’t have a defined answer. “Critical thinking” now means the ability to be critical (usually of traditional ideas and values), instead of the ability to analyze. Students are taught to question everything, even what they have learned from their parents which may include personal values, and Absolute Values are no longer taught. This brings me to my concern about the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program that Magnolia ISD is planning on implementing. Just like Cscope when criticism begins on a prescribed program, studies are then showcased in hopes of proving what a wonderful program the IB is. You have placed on the Magnolia West website a study by IB- Graduate, that sings IB’s praises which is based in London.
Will Archer is the CEO of that company and he travels the world promoting International education and the data mining of students. Magnolia ISD has also placed a Myth and Facts document about IB that really twists the facts around only to mislead the reader. IB was initially funded by the UNESCO and as per this UNESCO document IB is a NGO arm of UNESCO.
The IB Organization explains that IB and Common Core Standards share the values and beliefs of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights with emphasis on Article 26. These are values America does not support, such as surrendering the United States Constitution, national sovereignty, complete disarmament and individual rights where students then become members of the “world community. The district states anyone can enroll in the IB program which only proves it has nothing to do with high academic achievement. One required course for the IB program in the Theory of Knowledge class. This course has no academic value. Students are to learn what “Knowledge” is and are required to do an oral presentation and essay based on a “knowledge issue”. In this IB document some knowledge issue example questions are given for students to choose from. EXAMPLES…Is it reasonable to believe in God? What kind of knowledge is Math? Is religion necessary to have a good moral center? Should gay marriage be allowed? Is homosexuality a choice? Are there real differences in the sexes?
Magnolia ISD has not sought community input or board approval in purchasing and implementing the IB program. A feasibility study is required and as far as I know there has not been one. The district has not performed a cost analysis as to what the program will cost the district? You have spent 4,000.00 per high school to apply for the program and 9500.00 per school for annual candidacy fee. This fee for Sept 2015 will increase to 11,090 per school. Does the district know what it will be in 2016? This does not even touch what it cost to train the teachers and the other fees associated with the program. Why would our school board approve funding a program when you have no idea what this is going to cost the district? I am asking Magnolia ISD school board to do due diligence in investigating this program and its agenda. My question to you is what are you going to say to your children when they realize you could of stopped a program that is detrimental to not only our students but our country as a whole. The program is not needed and should be stopped. Thank you.

 

daniel webster 1

 

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ESCs Exposed-Part 2: No Accountability

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ostrich

by Janice VanCleave

Texas Education Service Centers (ESCs) were established to provide service to school districts in different regions of Texas. Schools in rural areas have different needs than do schools in cities.Thus, 20 ESCs were established to provide specific services to met the needs of school districts within each region.

The ESCs were originally supported by the state. In 2003 the state legislature allowed the ESCs to sell products and services to bring in more funding. This ended these agencies being a service to schools and opened the door for poor quality products and programs to be produced and sold to public schools.

The ESCs are allowed to be self-governed, thus there has and still is no one who evaluates the quality of the ESC products.

State legislatures, TEA and the State Commissioner of Education, like the ostrich in the illustration seem to keep their head buried in the sand. They certainly were not paying attention when the ESCs created a one-size-fits-all K-12 instruction material for core curriculum (math, science, ELAR, social studies).  To add a touch of credibility to this unvetted material called CSCOPE, the ESCs advertised the CSCOPE lessons as being “state lessons.” This is printed on the original CSCOPE materials. Since the ESCs are not held accountable for what they do, the original CSCOPE lessons had plagiarized content. This was not discovered because Texas school superintendents forced their teachers to sign a non-disclosure contract with the ESCs. Teachers signed or they had no job. They agreed to reveal the content of the CSCOPE lessons.  The penalty could be legal court action. This divided the staff in Texas schools. As a teacher, I would not respect a superintendent who cared so little for his/her staff that such a contract was mandatory for employment.

Q1 Who is suppose to oversees the ESCs to confirm that state grant money is spent as directed?

A1 TEA is responsible for confirming that grants from the state are used as described. I cannot testify to all grants given to the ESCs from the state of Texas, but the outside evaluation of the Rider 42 PD grant of $150 Million dollars was spent and the product and services were far below par, yet
yet TEA paid the ESCs the grant money.

Q2 Are the boards of trustees for each of the ESCs doing their job?

A2 Some of the ESC employees say having a board of trustees for the ESCs is a joke. The ESC directors handpick these trustees for their ESC.

Q3 Isn’t the Commissioner of Education suppose to oversee the ESCs to make sure they use money correctly?

A3  State Commission of Education, Michael Williams, allowed the ESCs to develop the rules governing the ESCs.

Basically all the Texas Education Service Centers are given “blank checks” with no real checks-and- balances for verifying what money is used for. Only a very small handful of top directors within each Education Service Center are privy to what happens to the yearly inflow of multi-millions of dollars received by each ESC.  The ESCs receive Federal Grants as well as grant money from the state. How much and what the money is to be used for is only known by the elite few within the ESCs.

The long and short of it is that the  ESCs have evolved from service centers to being part of a  very corrupt network. It is difficult to follow the money trail because of the secrecy and misappropriation of funds.  It is all hush hush when it comes to where grant money goes.

Q4 Why did Robert Scott resign from being the state commissioner of education?

A4  Scott resigned soon after the midwinter TASA conference when he basically did an 180 degree turn from where we all thought he was on many things. Most people considered Robert Scott to stand behind conservative education values.

When the superintendents at the TASA conference gave Scott a standing ovation for supporting TASA’s goals,  we realized that he had been a wolf in sheep clothing or had for some reason been persuaded to support TASA’s goals of implementing Common Core and its assessments.

Q5  I personally think the TEKS and the STAAR do not meet the expectations described. The science TEKS are very vague, and some science TEKS are not correct. When I ask for clarification or to report an error, the answer is always that I just do not understand the objective of the TEKS. Is this attitude the same for everyone who asks questions?

A4 Their patronizing attitude is how TEA and the ESCs get away with so much. It intimidates so many including good educators who might work at TEA or the ESCs. We are patted on the head like we just don’t understand the big picture. We get the picture, shut up and do what we say and don’t ask questions.

 

 

ESC’S EXPOSED-PART 1

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Texas Gestapo Thought Police

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Texas Education Service Centers (ESCs): Over Funded Education Agencies.

gestapo

By Janice VanCleave

txcscopereview.com

 

Millions of unregulated dollars pour into the coffers of the ESCs yearly. More unregulated money comes from the sell of instructional products to Texas schools. In fact, the ESCs  have an unfair market advantage over the sell of education instruction materials–isn’t this called a monopoly?

In January, 2013, Senator Patrick instructed the ESCs to void the User contract with Texas Teachers which forbid teachers to disclose the content of CSCOPE lessons used in classrooms. The ESCs didn’t want the incorrect, biased CSCOPE lessons viewed by parents.

Seems the ESC directors didn’t take Senator Patrick serious. On August 12, 2014 Jerry Maze described some of the newly implemented perks offered by the ESC. Maze is the Chair of the “Texas Curriculum Management Program Cooperative.”

Maze said,

“Teachers are no longer required to sign a user agreement. We trust teachers and want to make sure they are able to maximize the utility of the site.”

The ESCs are a bit slow in responding to Senator Patrick’s request. Or is it that the ESCs want the idea to be theirs instead of having to void the user agreement. Or maybe the ESCs just forgot like they have forgotten where the paper for millions of dollars of expenses are.

I am convinced that the ESCs are doing everything possible to rid Texas schools of veteran teachers. The ESCs want educators that are willing to  do what they are told and not care if students are being educated or not. The Texas Education Service Centers are now making money training  “PLC education coaches.” Pull away the smoke screen and you will find that these coaches are actually gestapo-like thought police, which stop teachers who have ideas other than what the coaches approve of.

The cartoon PLC coach in the diagram is sadly too close to the truth. Teachers are being halted from thinking outside the “box,” which is the approved scripted lesson plan. Any teacher not following the scripted lessons approved by the PLC coach is reported to  “Thought Control Head Quarters” as not being a team-player.

The PLC program adds a more gestapo-type atmosphere to the classroom. At this time, this is not so much for the students, but teachers are every vigilant in what they say or do for fear the “Thought Police” are listening.

What are the Thought Police listening for?

One teacher was caught selecting a student to answer a question. Sounds like what all teachers do. But the Thought Police Coaches mandate that teachers use some kind of system so that students are selected at random. A system such as pulling names out of a hat, but the teacher is not allowed to make the choice.

Another teacher was warned because he had gotten ahead of the cloned script. So, if your children complain about having to do things over and over it is because the teacher is not allowed to progress even if students understand the material.

The reason all  lessons must be the same is so that all students receive exactly the same information in the same way and on the same day.

The PLC “gestapo-coaches” closely monitors teachers so that teachers do not add any enrichment to their lessons.

Another thing the gestapo-coaches are looking for is  a teachers that provides facts to students. Students are to do activities in groups and discover the facts on their own. This is erroneously called discovery learning. This constructivist type of education has many flaws. One being that students do not always make the correct conclusions, thus discovery learning is a way that students “teach themselves” incorrect information.

Even so, Discovery Learning is touted as being the “Best Learning Practice” for students. When something that is obviously wrong is being promoted, one should ask–“Who is making money by promoting Discovery Learning?” 

The PLC program is promoting the idea that there should be no outstanding teachers because this indicates that some students receive better instruction.  Any teacher caught enriching their lessons is reported to the administration as NOT BEING A TEAM PLAYER, which mean an uncooperative teacher.  Principals with uncooperative teachers are reported to the “Thought Police” at Thought Police Head Quarters somewhere.

The answer to an instant improvement in Texas education is to link the salaries of all school superintendents with the scores of students in their school district. Low scores–low superintendent salaries. They would be begging veteran teachers to return.

 

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CSCOPE-The OBAMACARE of Public Education

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ObamaCare, CSCOPE both beyond fixing

bill-amesBy Bill Ames

Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN, Texas – Americans increasingly realize that Obamacare is not about providing quality healthcare for all Americans.  Its creators could care less.  Rather, it is about a  progressive power grab,TX-Textbooksstructured to gain control over a large chunk of the U. S. economy. Likewise for CSCOPE, a thinly disguised Common Core methodology being used across  Texas, despite the fact the Texas Legislature has banned Common Core in Texas.

Obamacare is about a group of elitists who believe they know what is best for us, because we citizens are too dumb to know what is best for ourselves. For this reason, there is no hope to fix Obamacare.  Its  creators are so determined to reach their goal that the compromises to allow a reasonable health care program are impossible.

cscope7d  

Likewise for CSCOPE.  It is a thinly disguised implementation of common core methodology, in spite of the fact that the Texas legislature has banned common core in Texas.

And like Obamacare, the CSCOPE juggernaut is comprised of elitists who think they know what is best for our kids, and who much prefer to trashing their opposition than considering compromise.

Recently, chief common core (and its little brother CSCOPE) cheerleader Arne Duncan (below, left,) head of the U. S. Department of Education, trashed his critics, branding them as “angry white suburban moms.”   This top-down arrogant attitude permeates through Texas’ education establishment:

  • The Education Service Center personnel that created and defended their bizarre lesson plans
  • The liberal-leaning Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) and the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB)
  • A  couple of RINO members of the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE,) and
  • Rogue School Boards, Superintendents and School District Curriculum writers who ignore parents while embracing Mr. Duncan’s arrogance with the attitude, “we’ll teach students whatever we choose, and the tax-paying community be damned”.

obama arne duncan education   Due to this deep-seated bias, both Obamacare and CSCOPE are both beyond fixing.

CSCOPE IS NOT IN COMPLIANCE WITH SBOE ADOPTED STANDARDS

CSCOPE critics have done admirable work in exposing lesson plans that reveal CSCOPE as anti-American, anti-Christian, and a rogue implementation of the legislatively-banned common core philosophy in Texas.

But CSCOPE proponents publicly claim its lesson plans are aligned with the SBOE-adopted TEKS.

The pro-CSCOPE folks are wrong.

Yes, the CSCOPE lesson plans that categorized Boston Tea Party patriots as terrorists, and Islamic 911 terrorists as freedom fighters, have been quietly removed from the CSCOPE arsenal. But those lessons have been replaced by more subtle and clever ways to indoctrinate Texas’ students.

As a CSCOPE volunteer lesson plan reviewer, I recently reviewed eleven CSCOPE U. S. history lessons.  My past experience gives me a wealth of knowledge regarding TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) content and curriculum evaluations.

For more CSCOPE AnalysisSBOE’s Tincy Miller Talks CSCOPE, Politics & Children’s Textbook Fund

The original TEKS standards document proposed by a leftist-biased review panel in the fall of 2009 was so far removed from mainstream Texans to be unacceptable. The balancing amendments adopted by the SBOE in 2010 reversed the bias and defeated the left’s war on history.

Beginning with the first lesson I reviewed, it became evident that the CSCOPE lesson plan authors focused on including the politically correct, biased portions of the TEKS, while omitting those that did not contribute to their leftist ideology.

Quin Hillyer Christmas WWII

A summary of examples follows.  In the interest of brevity, only a summary of the most egregious TEKS compliance violations are included.

  • WORLD WAR II

– Only one 50 minute period, out of a seven period module, was spent covering the key events of WWII:   Midway, the Pacific theatre, Normandy, the Bataan Death March, liberation of concentration camps, the development of atomic weapons.

– Nearly as much class time was devoted to the (multicultural) contribution of the Navajo code talkers.

– Japanese internment was well covered (implied American racism), while German and Italian internments (national security) were ignored.

– A referenced biography of President Roosevelt includes the phrase, “Today the Obama Administration continues to protect and ensure Social Security will be there for future generations.”

– The WWII lesson plans are taken to a laughable extreme in classroom time-wasting, by assigning students to write acrostic (look up that one) poems using the last names of WWII leaders and significant groups.

  • POST-WWII ECONOMIC PROSPERITY

– In a typical example of ignoring America’s positives, this lesson ignores a TEKS requirement to study the growth of agriculture and business, and how both contributed to the emergence of the United States as a world economic power.

– Also missing was the TEKS requirement to address America’s scientific discoveries, technological innovations, and the benefits of the free enterprise system.

– Rather, students were assigned to “create a song, poem, or mural, reflecting the late 1940s and 1950s”.  Really!

  • ronald reagan brandenburg gate speech
  • END OF THE COLD WAR

– There is ample study of divided countries (Germany and Korea), but no comparison of the economic outcomes of West/East Germany and South/North Korea.  I suggested adding the famous night satellite photo of North/South Korea be added to the lesson.

– The Venona papers, that revealed communist infiltration of the FDR/Truman administrations, were ignored.

  • SIGNIFICANT LEADERS, EVENTS, ISSUES AND POLICIES

– This module ignored the unintended consequences of the Great Society programs:  Paying welfare mothers to have additional out-of-wedlock babies, and preventing the father from living in the welfare-subsidized home, thus creating the inevitable inner city poverty and crime associated with single parent families.

– Also ignored was the reality that the Democrat Party (Southern Congressmen and state governors) made up the primary resistance to civil rights legislation.

  • FOREIGN POLICY AND IMPORTANT EVENTS

– The anarchy, violence, and anti-American extremism of Vietnam-era radical protestors is not addressed.

  • DOMESTIC POLICY AND IMPORTANT EVENTS

– A student handout of icons depicting the Bill of Rights characterizes the 2nd Amendment as protection for hunters’ rights.

  • SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE, ISSUES, AND EVENTS

– Ignores the “conservative resurgence” of the 1980s and 1990s.

– Ignores discussion of achieving the American Dream.

  • SBOE-American-ExceptionalismINTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

– Lesson ignores the TEKS requirement to “Evaluate efforts by Global Organizations to undermine U. S. sovereignty through us of treaties”.

  • POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL ISSUES

– No mention of the effects of 12-20 million illegal immigrants.

CONCLUSION – LESSON PLANS ANALYSIS

A significant question asked to each lesson plan reviewer reads,

“Does this lesson cover the TEKS indicated therein as being applicable to this lesson?”

My answer to each of the eleven lessons was “no”.

It is instructive to note that each of the other three reviewers who submitted responses for these lessons answered “yes” to this question for each of the eleven lessons.  Upon questioning the facilitator for my group, she acknowledged that each reviewer had a lesser knowledge than I of the TEKS involved, and also performed a less rigorous analysis of TEKS coverage of the lessons.

I fear that this defect may be true across all 400 lessons, and if so, casts serious suspicions regarding the validity of this whole CSCOPE review exercise.

IN ADDITION TO CONTENT, THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT FLAWS IN THE CSCOPE INSTRUCTION MODEL

When most of the folks who read this were in 11th Grade, the instruction model included the teacher as the classroom authority, teaching lessons from a textbook that had been thoroughly vetted and reviewed by hundreds of citizens during a textbook review and adoption process.  NOcscope This is no longer the case.

The Project Based Learning model, a key element of CSCOPE and common core methodology, has replaced the traditional instruction model.

THE TEACHER IS NO LONGER THE CLASSROOM AUTHORITY

The TASA-produced CSCOPE/Common Core visioning document states, “Students are not just consumers of knowledge, they are creators of knowledge as well.” And from my own district’s visioning document (Richardson ISD), “Students are given choices regarding what they learn”.

For more on CSCOPE’s Project-Based Learning, read Bill AmesA Series on CSCOPE, Part 3: Common Core, Project Based Learning Damages Texas Students

The Project based Learning model de-emphasizes the presentation of academic facts to the students.  The concept of  “whole class instruction”  no longer exists in the CSCOPE world.

Instead, students reach their own conclusions through the use of Project-Based Learning assignments.  The lesson plan includes little or no provision for the teacher to act as classroom authority, to correct any false student conclusions that may be based upon feelings and emotions rather than academic facts.

STUDENT RESEARCH MATERIALS ARE UN-VETTED AND UN-REVIEWED

Un-vetted, un-reviewed information sources are provided for student research.  Sources for student research are not defined in the CSCOPE lessons.

SBOE Social Studies Press Conf. 1-13-10For good and valid reasons, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOEhas traditionally conducted extensive textbook reviews.  Books that go through that process are thoroughly reviewed and vetted: By citizens, parents, teachers, and taxpayers, for errors and biased material.  The vetted textbooks then become source materials for student learning.

Conversely, the selection process for CSCOPE research materials appears to be at the discretion of the local school district’s administrators, and subject to the ideology of those individuals.  At any rate, the materials are not reviewed nor vetted by the local community.  This should be a concern for all.

TEACHER AS FACILITATOR, COMBINED WITH BIASED RESEARCH MATERIALS, LEADS TO STUDENT INDOCTRINATION

The combination of not presenting academic facts, along with providing un-vetted, un-researched, ideology-biased student research materials, is the perfect recipe for an education establishment committed to indoctrinating Texas’ students with its socialist ideology.

Read AlsoA Series on CSCOPE, Part 4: Common Core is Culmination of 100+ Years of Old Ideas

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION CSCOPE REVIEW COMMITTEE – NO POSITION ON CSCOPE

Unfortunately, the SBOE Ad Hoc CSCOPE Review Committee has elected to take no position regarding the CSCOPE lesson plans.  This position reflects a change from the past … from a mainstream, conservative SBOE institution, to one that provides a platform for leftist encroachment on our students’ curriculum.  It is wrong.

Given the absence of classroom academic authority, un-vetted research materials, added to the selective implementation of the TEKS as previously described, the only rational conclusion is that CSCOPE, like Obamacare, should be banned in Texas.

bill-amesBill Ames is an education activist who lives in Dallas. His book, “TEXAS TROUNCES THE LEFT’S WAR ON HISTORY” (WNAenterprises.com) tells the story of his experience in developing Texas’ U. S. history standard in 2009-2010. He recently reviewed CSCOPE lessons as part of the State Board of Education’s Ad Hoc Committee Project, and is available to deliver presentations to interested groups. He welcomes reader comments at billames@prodigy.net.

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WARNING: Texas Students Data Collected!

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Texas Schools now welcome students online activity during school hours, while at one time it was monitored and restricted. Why, you might ask? Besides from the fact they are steering away from a traditional to a more constructivist teaching philosophy of education, personal data is being collected on your child.

 

21st Century Workforce

One thing I have learned when the powers at be implement something that is sold to save you time or money or will be a benefit to you, it ultimately will remove more of your privacy or freedom.  This is being sold as a cost saver to your local school district and will help you when it comes to helping your child be college ready.  Seriously?  The Texas Education Agency along with Texas Education Service Centers and other agencies have been working on implementing a system called Texas Student Data System where your child will be traced from the time they enter the public school system (great reason to home school) until they finish college.  Give me a break! This is nothing more than the Government’s attempt at removing freedom and collecting data on families and limiting parental involvement. The state thinks they know better what is best for your child. 

Data Mining

Your local district has a PEIMS (Personal Education Information Management System) employee that works on collecting data and sending it to the appropriate WAREHOUSE. With federal funds the Texas Education Agency received through the American Recovery Reinvestment Act opened up for students data to be shared outside of the State and available to various researchers.

researchers

 

There are no boundaries as to what these organizations will do when it comes to our children. There is nothing sacred or private any longer when it comes to your family if you have entered the government public school system.

Each Texas Education Service Centers assist with the collecting data on students. They each have “Texas Student Data System employees” aka CHAMPIONS” that have your child’s best interest at heart. NOT!  You have seen this is not true with the Education Service Center’s deceptive plan of implementing CSCOPE in the Texas School System. CSCOPE assessment/test are mandatory within a district that has purchased it and students test results are recorded in a data system. These test never come home for parents to review.

 

Your child will receive a Unique ID number once they enter the “system”  that will stay with them along with he personal online StudentGPS dashboard with photo (see below).  Personal Information will be collected and coded. What will be collected? Name, Sex, Test Scores, Finances, activities, discipline, parents info, personality characteristics, psychological analysis, academic competency, etc. 

dashboards

 

 

 

 

 

ben Franklin

 

 

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TEXAS EDUCATION MONEY TRAIL

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by Janice VanCleave
www.txcscopereview.com

TEXAS EDUCATION MONEY TRAIL

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