parents » RED HOT CONSERVATIVE

TEXAS PARENTS and TAXPAYERS…..CALL TO ACTION!!

Sep 10

Posted by Ginger in Featured Post

LESSON LEARNED — BY BARBARA CARGILL, CHAIR

by Barbara Cargill

BARBARA CARGILL

Chair of Texas State Board of Education

Now is the time to ride the wave of public concern and outrage about CSCOPE. Although many past lessons may have been corrected or changed, why was there poorly written, biased content in the first place? (I read the lessons myself, using my own assigned password.) This issue is only the tip of a huge iceberg. There are other instructional materials that contain questionable content, and they are not being reviewed for the quality of their content.

In 1995 the legislature voted to limit the State Board of Education’s authority over the review of textbook content. Since that time, there has been no public, transparent, citizen-led process for vetting the quality of content in our children’s textbooks. Now that almost all textbooks are online, this becomes an even greater issue of concern because content can be changed with a few strokes on a keyboard.

How were textbook reviews done in the past? Before 1995, the board could instruct review panels (consisting of volunteer parents, teachers, industry leaders, and other citizens) to check for factual errors and also to review the quality of the content.

Here are a few things panel members could review prior to 1995:

Does the textbook content present positive aspects of U.S. heritage?
Does it contain balanced, factual treatment of political and social movements?
Does the textbook promote respect for citizenship, patriotism, recognized authority, individual rights, the free enterprise, and respect for the work ethic?
Does it reflect an awareness of various ethnic groups?
Does the book reflect the positive contributions of individuals and groups on American life?

What changed? In the board’s current textbook review process, panelists are instructed to check for factual errors and for TEKS coverage, period. Checking for TEKS coverage is NOT checking for the quality with which the TEKS are covered. For example, George Washington is required to be covered in American history, since he is listed several times in the TEKS. How he is covered in the content, however, is not part of the review.

It is time for the citizens of Texas to demand change and to regain the right to vet the quality of content in our children’s textbooks! The same public passion that resulted in content changes in CSCOPE lessons must be harnessed and directed toward state policy-makers who can reinstate the vetting of content quality to the board’s adoption process.

What can you do?

I highly encourage you to ask your child’s teachers what curriculum and textbooks they use. Parents must stay informed about what is being taught in the classroom; it is your right. According to the Texas Education Code 26.006, parents are “entitled to review all teaching materials, instructional materials, and other teaching aids used in the classroom of the parent’s child; and review each test administered to the parent’s child after the test is administered.” As we approach the 2014 election season, ask elected officials and candidates their position on this issue. We must be advocates on behalf of our schoolchildren; let’s show them that we have learned our lesson about what can happen when quality of content goes unchecked.

OF TEXAS STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

Tags: Barbara CARGILL, CONTENT, parents, SBOE, Texas Education code 26.006, TEXAS STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

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Texas Teachers 2013/2014 CSCOPE.. GAG ORDER!

Sep 08

Posted by Ginger in Featured Post

CONTROL, CONTROL, CONTROL…. Below is what Texas Teachers have to agree to in order to enter the CSCOPE/TEKS Resource System. It is surprising that after all that has transpired over the last year and the controversy behind CSCOPE, the owners, the education service centers still want to control parents and teachers when it comes to viewing or speaking out against CSCOPE.

TEXAS CURRICULUM MANAGEMENT PROGRAM COOPERATIVE

TEKS Resource System Terms of Service

Welcome to the TEKS Resource System website. Please review the following Terms of Service carefully. These Terms of Service are a legally binding contract between you, as the user of this website, and the Texas Curriculum Management Program Cooperative (“Cooperative” or “our” or “we” or “us”). It applies to your use of the Site and all information, media, content, printed materials and electronic documentation accessible from teksresourcesystem.net or any of its sub-domains (collectively, the “Site”). An employee of a Texas independent school district, charter school, or private school that has licensed use of the TEKS Resource System (a “LEA”), parents of LEA students who access the Site from a LEA computer on a LEA campus in accordance with the policies and procedures of the LEA, and employees and representatives of regional education service centers or the Cooperative, and any individual who has received TCMPC’s express written consent is an “Authorized User.”

The “Services” available to Authorized Users through the Site are the curriculum system, including assessments and assessment items, answer keys, curriculum components and resources (collectively, the “Components”), and professional development courses on the Site. The Services are designed to facilitate the ability of Authorized Users to provide instruction to children enrolled in LEAs in the State of Texas. We will continue to further develop Services and operate the Site, in accordance with applicable state and federal laws and regulations, with a view to enhancing the ability of parents and of teachers and of other Authorized Users to provide high quality educational instruction.

1. Acceptance of Terms of Service.

Please review these Terms of Service carefully. By accessing or using the Site, you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by them. If you do not agree to these terms, do not use this Site.

2. Limited License; Permitted Uses; Restrictions on Use.

You are granted a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to:

permit parents to review the Components and Website in accordance with the policies and procedures of the LEA that is your employer and with Texas Education Code § 26.006;
permit parents to view the Site and have access to all Components when present at a school within the child’s LEA in accordance with the policies and procedures of the LEA;
access and use the Site, the Services, and all Components strictly in accordance with this Agreement and any other agreement entered into between you, the Cooperative and/or any entity by which you are employed or with which you contract, and in accordance with the policies and procedures of the LEA;
use the Site solely for purposes of furthering the educational goals of the public schools that are licensees, either in their own right or through their LEA or the Cooperative, in accordance with the terms of this Agreement and the policies and procedures of the LEA;
print out and modify Components solely for the purposes set forth in the preceding bullet, in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, and the policies and procedures of the LEA;
modify the Components and create derivative works from the Components in accordance with Section 2 of the terms of this Agreement and the policies and procedures of the LEA. All modifications and derivative works of the Components belong to the Cooperative;
share the Components you have modified with other Authorized Users in accordance with this Agreement and the policies and procedures of the LEA.

You may not make any other use of the Site or Components. Other than this license, you do not have any license, title, or ownership of/to the TEKS Resource System or any other intellectual property of the Cooperative or any third party.

Your license for access and use of the Site and Components is subject to the following restrictions:

You must comply with all applicable laws and regulations, as well as any policies and procedures imposed by the LEA regarding your use of the Site and the Components provided on the Site.
Except for access to parents and others as permitted by this Agreement, you may not make any portion of the Components available to someone who is not an Authorized User (including by copying, printing, transmitting, through any current or future technology or otherwise).
You may not, other than for the purpose of administering a test to students assigned to you, release any unit test or assessment or answer keys to parents, students, or individuals who are not Authorized Users within the LEA that is your employer (including copying, printing, posting or transmitting, through any current or future technology or otherwise).
You may not use the Site to make statements or Components that are defamatory, libelous, threatening, harassing, invasive of privacy, stalking, abusive, tortuous conduct, hateful, discriminatory based on race, ethnicity, gender, sex or disability, pornographic or obscene.
You may not use any Components in any manner that may violate or infringe any rights of the Cooperative or any third party.
You may not knowingly distribute viruses, Trojan horses, worms, or other harmful or programming routines.
You may not impersonate any person or entity, including, without limitation, one of the Cooperative’s or other entities’ officers or employees, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity or commit any fraudulent act.
You may not remove, change or obscure any copyright notice or other proprietary notices contained in any portion of the Site.
You may not remove, decompile, disassemble or reverse engineer any Site software or use any network monitoring or discovery software to determine the Site architecture or use any automatic or manual process to harvest information from the Site.
You may not transfer your right to use any portion of the Site or give your password to any other person.
You may not intentionally use the Site to interfere with or disrupt any services or equipment.
You may not take any action that would involve the unauthorized entry to any machine accessible via the Site or interference with the Site or any servers or networks connected to the Site or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Site, or attempt to breach the security of or disrupt Internet communications on the Site (including without limitation accessing data to which you are not the intended recipient or logging into a server or account for which you are not expressly authorized).
You may not execute any form of network monitoring or run a network analyzer or packet sniffer or other technology to intercept, decode, mine or display any packets used to communicate between the Site’s servers or any data not intended for you and you cannot attempt to circumvent authentication or security of any Components, host, network or account (“cracking”) on or from the Site.
You may not collect or store personal data about other account users or attempt to gain access to other account users’ accounts or otherwise mine information about other account users or about the Site.
You may not forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any information transmitted through the Site.
You may not take any action contrary to the Cooperative’s public image, goodwill, reputation or mission or otherwise not in furtherance of the intended uses of the Site

2. Copyright and Trademark Rights.

The content, curriculum, organization, graphics, design, photographs, images, text, audio/visual clips, sound records, compilations, magnetic translations, digital conversion and other materials located on the Site (the “Components”) are protected under applicable copyright, trademark and other proprietary and intellectual property rights. In addition, “TEKS Resource System” is our common law service mark and trademark. We own this mark and any other trademarks, service marks, slogans and logos (the “Marks”) used and displayed on the Site. Registration of the Marks is pending with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Please note:

You do not have any ownership rights to any Components or other materials viewed on or generated by the use of the Site. Your posting of information or materials on the Site does not constitute a waiver by the Cooperative of any right in such information and materials.
Posting the Components on other websites is strictly prohibited.
If you create any materials based on any portion of the Components, you must give full attribution to the Cooperative and you must include all copyright and other proprietary notices contained in this Agreement or in the Components.

Failure to abide by the Terms of Service will give the Cooperative the right to immediately and automatically terminate this Agreement, and may result in the infringement of the copyrights and trademarks owned by the Cooperative or its licensors.

4. Account Set Up and Requirements.

In order for Authorized Users other than a Parent to access the Site, you or your employer must create an account in the following manner:

To register for an account, you must provide your first name, last name, and a valid school or organization email address. Account creation will be coordinated by your organization, your Educational Service Center (ESC), or 3rd Learning. Upon creation of your account, you will receive an email with the appropriate login credentials. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and protecting against unauthorized use of your password.
· At your initial login, you will be asked whether you have read this Agreement and whether you agree to abide by its terms. If you do not agree to abide by the terms, you will not be permitted to access the Site.
You may be asked specific questions if you are seeking to use certain features of the Site, and your answers to those questions will determine whether or not you are eligible to register for those features. If you answer “I agree” and you answer all of the questions posed for each feature and otherwise are eligible, your account may be activated.
If you answer “I Do Not Agree” or otherwise do not answer all of the questions or otherwise are not eligible, your account will not be activated and you will not be permitted to access the Site.
We reserve the right to decline to activate an account in our reasonable judgment.
If your account is activated, you will receive a notification email immediately after you register. You must confirm your email address by clicking on the confirmation link in the notification email. Once you have confirmed your email address, you will be permitted to log in, view, load, and use the specific features of the Site for which you have been registered and which are permitted by the terms of this Agreement.
By making such confirmation, you acknowledge that you have read, understand your rights and obligations under, and agree to be bound by this Agreement. You further acknowledge that certain features will be provided subject to additional terms of service (or a separate written agreement) and you agree to abide by such additional terms of service.
You are responsible for all activities by you or others that occur under your password and user name. You will immediately notify us if your password is lost, stolen, disclosed to an unauthorized third party or otherwise has been compromised or if there is any other breach of security.
You must ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session.
You must provide true, accurate, and complete information about yourself as prompted by our account activation form and promptly update your account information to keep it accurate and complete.

5. Message Boards & Other Public Forums.

The Cooperative may offer certain functionality on the Site, including message boards, blogs, chat rooms, instant messaging and other public forums. Your participation in these items is voluntary. However, any information or content you provide is not private or confidential and you authorize us and our affiliates and licensees to use the content you post, without compensation to you or others. The Cooperative may copy, reproduce, incorporate, distribute, publicly display or otherwise use any information you post as we deem appropriate throughout the world in any format or media. The Cooperative may edit, refuse to post or remove content you submit. To the extent permitted under applicable law, you waive and release and covenant not to assert any moral rights that you may have in any content posted by you. By posting content on the Site, you represent to the Cooperative that you own or have the right to use and permit the Cooperative to use the content as permitted by this Agreement. You agree not to post any content that belongs to any person other than yourself or that contains the name, voice or likeness of any person other than yourself unless you first obtain written permission to do so from that person. The Cooperative has no obligation to delete content that you personally may find objectionable or offensive. We do not control the information posted and we do not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such information. We do not endorse or make any warranties or representations with TCMPC Revised 08/21/2013 Page 6 of 10 regard to the accuracy, completeness or timeliness of any content posted on any public forum on the Site.

6. Personal Page.

While accessing or using the Site, you may be provided access to a personal web page that can be personalized with your own content (a “Personal Page”). Your Personal Page may have several features, such as a personal URL at a sub-domain or URL as may be designated by the Cooperative, reports and email address book. Your use of the Personal Page may require your agreement and compliance with supplemental terms at the time that you register for a Personal Page.

7. Availability of Site.

The Cooperative reserves the right to establish general practices and limits concerning the Site and user accounts at any time and may modify such practices and limits as it determines appropriate, including without limitation the maximum number of days that your or any third party’s information, pictures, content or email will be retained and the maximum amount of disk space that will be allotted on our or our vendors’ servers on your behalf. The Cooperative has no responsibility or liability for the deletion or failure to deliver or store your Personal Page or any other public forum, or any information, pictures, content or email provided by or stored by you on your Personal Page or any other public forum, regardless of whether the deletion or failure was due to the established practices or as a result of our error, intentional misconduct, or negligence. The Cooperative reserves the right to log off accounts that are inactive for a period of time designated by the Cooperative and reserves the right at any time it determines appropriate, and from time to time, to modify or discontinue, either temporarily or permanently, your access to the Site, or any part thereof, with or without notice. You agree that we shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any such modification, suspension or discontinuance of your access to the Site.

8. Errors, Corrections and Changes.

The Cooperative does not represent or warrant that the Site will be error free, free of viruses or other harmful components, or that defects will be corrected. We may make changes to the features, functionality or Components at any time. We reserve the right to edit or delete any documents, information or other Components as we determine appropriate.

9. Use of Submissions.

We reserve the right, and you authorize us, to use and assign all information regarding Site uses by you and all information provided by you in any manner consistent with our Privacy Policy. All remarks, suggestions, ideas, graphics, or other information about the Components or the Site (or any service, information, content or documentation therein) communicated by you to us (collectively, a “Submission”) and all intellectual property rights from the date of creation or inception will forever be our property. We will not be required to treat any Submission as confidential, and will not be liable to you or others for any ideas (including without limitation, Components or ideas) comprising Submissions, all of which may be freely used by us without compensation, accounting or restrictions, and we will not incur any liability as a result of any similarities that may appear in our future products, TCMPC Revised 08/21/2013 Page 7 of 10 services or operations. Without limitation, we will have exclusive ownership of all present and future existing rights to each Submission of every kind and nature everywhere. We will be entitled to use the Submission for any commercial or other purpose whatsoever, without compensation or accounting to you or any other person. You acknowledge that you are responsible for whatever material you submit, and you have sole responsibility for the content thereof, including its legality, reliability, appropriateness, originality, accuracy, and copyright.

10. Term & Termination.

This Agreement is effective from the date you first access the Site, and continues in effect until terminated in accordance with this Agreement.

The Cooperative may terminate your access to the Site without prior notice if: (i) you breach this Agreement; (ii) any government agency so directs; (iii) technical or security issues occur; or (iv) the LEA User License Agreement under which you are an Authorized User terminates.

On termination, the Cooperative may immediately deactivate or delete your account and all related information, files or content in your account and bar any access to such information or content by you or others. The Cooperative shall not be obligated to return or provide copies of any information, files or content in your account to you upon deactivation. The Cooperative shall not be liable to any third party for any deactivation of your access to the Site.

Upon termination, neither you nor the Cooperative will have any further obligation to the other under this Agreement except for liability arising prior to the effective date of termination. Also, your obligations under this Agreement, which by their nature are intended to survive termination (such as indemnification) shall survive the termination of your access to the Site.

11. Investigation of Complaints.

We reserve the right to investigate complaints or reported violations of this Agreement and to take appropriate action, in our reasonable judgment. If you wish to submit a complaint or report a violation of this Agreement, please notify the Cooperative at the address stated in Section 11 with a description of the alleged complaint or violation and the person or entity that is the subject of your complaint or of the violation.

12. Notice of Claims of Intellectual Property Violations.

The Components may include pictures, information, testimonials, letters, marks, slogans and other content uploaded or provided by third parties or otherwise received from third parties. The Cooperative does not permit the use of Components that infringes on the copyright or trademarks or rights of publicity of others, and will remove any such content that violates the copyright or trademarks or other rights of others if properly notified of such violation in accordance with the procedure set forth in this Agreement. If you believe that any of the Components infringes your copyright or trademark rights or your rights of publicity, please TCMPC Revised 08/21/2013 Page 8 of 10 provide the Cooperative (whose contact information is provided below) with the following information:

a physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
identification of the copyrighted work or mark or publicity right claimed to have been infringed, or, if you believe that multiple works, marks or publicity rights have been infringed, a representative list of such works, marks or publicity rights;
identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the Cooperative to locate the material;
information reasonably sufficient to permit the Cooperative to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which you may be contacted;
a statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the owner, its agent, or the law; and
a statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of a right that is allegedly infringed.

The Cooperative’s agent for the notice of any claim of infringement of any copyright or trademark or right of publicity is as follows:

By mail:
Texas Curriculum Management Program Cooperative
Attention: Wade Labay
5701 Springdale Road
Austin, Texas 78723

Please provide all of the information requested above. No specific form is required to provide the Cooperative with notifications of possible infringement. However, it will take the Cooperative longer to process your notice if any of this information is not provided, and in some cases, we may not be able to process your notice.

13. Disclaimer.

THE SERVICES, INFORMATION, CONTENT AND DOCUMENTS FROM OR THROUGH THE SITE ARE PROVIDED “AS IS,” “AS AVAILABLE,” WITH “ALL FAULTS,” AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE DISCLAIMED (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE DISCLAIMER OF ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE). THE INFORMATION, CONTENT AND DOCUMENTATION MAY TCMPC Revised 08/21/2013 Page 9 of 10 CONTAIN BUGS, ERRORS, PROBLEMS OR OTHER LIMITATIONS. THERE IS NO WARRANTY, REPRESENTATION OR GUARANTEE THAT THE SITE WILL CONTINUOUSLY OPERATE OR BE ERROR FREE OR THAT ANY PROBLEMS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT ANY INFORMATION, SOFTWARE OR OTHER MATERIAL ACCESSIBLE FROM THE SITE IS FREE OF VIRUSES, WORMS, TROJAN HORSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. FURTHER, WE DO NOT WARRANT, GUARANTEE, OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OF, OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE SITE EITHER IN TERMS OF ITS COMPATIBILITY WITH HARDWARE OR OTHER SOFTWARE, ITS RELIABILITY, CURRENTNESS, OR OTHERWISE; AND YOU RELY ON THE SITE SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. WE AND OUR AFFILIATED PARTIES HAVE NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER FOR YOUR USE OF ANY SERVICE, INFORMATION, CONTENT OR DOCUMENTATION, EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN SECTION 14. IN PARTICULAR, BUT NOT AS A LIMITATION, WE AND OUR AFFILITATED PARTIES ARE NOT LIABILITY FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS, LOSS OF PROFITS, LITIGATION, OR THE LIKE), WHETHER BASED ON BREACH OF CONTRACT, BREACH OF WARRANTY, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), PRODUCT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBLITY OF SUCH DAMAGES AND EVEN IF THE REMEDIES STATED IN THIS AGREEMENT FAIL OF THEIR ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. THE NEGATION AND LIMITATION OF DAMAGES SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION 13 ARE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF THE BASIS OF THE BARGAIN BETWEEN YOU AND US. THIS SITE AND THE CONTENT, DOCUMENTS AND INFORMATION PRESENTED WOULD NOT BE PROVIDED WITHOUT SUCH LIMITATIONS. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM US THROUGH THE SITE OR OTHERWISE SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY, REPRESENTATION OR GUARANTEE NOT EXPRESSLY STATED IN THIS AGREEMENT. ALL RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES CAUSED BY VIRUSES CONTAINED WITHIN THE ELECTRONIC FILE CONTAINING A FORM OR DOCUMENT IS DISCLAIMED.

14. Limitation of Liability.

Neither the Cooperative nor any Affiliated Party shall be liable for any loss, injury, claim, liability, or damage of any kind resulting in any way from: (i) any errors in or omissions on the Site or in the Components; (ii) the unavailability or interruption of the Site or any features thereof; (iii) your use of the Site; (iv) the Components; or (v) any delay or failure in performance beyond the control of the Cooperative or any Affiliated Party.
THE AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF THE COOPERATIVE AND THE AFFILIATED PARTIES TO YOU AND OTHERS USING THE SITE UNDER THE SAME DISTRICT USER LICENSE AGREEMENT, IN THE AGGREGATE, IN CONNECTION WITH ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE CONTENT, THE SITE, THE CONTENT AND THE SERVICES PROVIDED UNDER THIS AGREEMENT SHALL NOT EXCEED TCMPC Revised 08/21/2013 Page 10 of 10 AN AMOUNT EQUAL TO THE AMOUNT PAID UNDER YOUR DISTRICT USER LICENSE AGREEMENT IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE BREACH AND THAT AMOUNT SHALL BE IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER REMEDIES WHICH YOU MAY HAVE AGAINST US AND ANY AFFILIATED PARTY.

15. Governing Law.

This Agreement, and all related matters, shall be governed by Texas law and United States law. Any action arising out of any dispute with respect to this Agreement shall only be brought in the state or federal courts located in Travis County, Texas. You agree that the statute of limitations for any claim against the Cooperative shall be brought within one year from when the claim arose, and any claims not brought within such period of time shall be deemed waived.

16. Equitable Remedies.

You agree that, if the terms of this Agreement are not specifically enforced, we will be irreparably damaged, and therefore you agree that we shall be entitled, without bond, other security or proof of damages, to appropriate equitable remedies with respect any breaches, in addition to any other available remedies.

17. Miscellaneous.

This Agreement shall be interpreted as to its fair meaning and not strictly for or against any party. Any rule of construction to the effect that ambiguities are to be resolved against the drafting party shall not apply in interpreting this Agreement. This Agreement and all incorporated agreements and your information may be automatically assigned by us in our sole discretion to a third party in the event of an acquisition, sale or merger. If any provision of this Agreement is held illegal, invalid or unenforceable, it shall be replaced, to the extent possible, with a legal, valid, and enforceable provision that is similar in tenor to the illegal, invalid, or unenforceable provision as is legally possible. To the extent that anything in or associated with the Site is in conflict or inconsistent with this Agreement, this Agreement shall take precedence. Our failure to enforce any provision of this Agreement shall not be deemed a waiver of such provision nor of the right to enforce such provision. Our rights under this Agreement shall survive any termination of this Agreement. The captions used in this Agreement are provided for convenience only and shall have no effect on the construction of the terms of this Agreement. This Agreement (and each supplemental agreement referenced in or referencing this Agreement found on the Site) constitutes the entire agreement between you and the Cooperative with respect to the Site, the Components and any related matter.

18. Changes to Terms of Use.

We reserve the right to change the Terms of Service any time by reasonable notice, including without limitation by posting revised Terms of Service on the Site (which shall constitute reasonable notice). All amended Terms of Service shall be binding upon you immediately upon their posting on the Site. Thus, you should consult the most recent version of these Terms of Service each time you view the Site.

Do you agree?

Tags: Cscope, Education, GAG ORDER, parents, TEKS Resource System, TESCCC, Texas

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Texas Educators Thumb Noses @ Gov Perry, Taxpayers and Parents!

Jul 23

Posted by Ginger in Featured Post

Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) and Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) are funded with tax money through local school districts and are behind implementing a progressive TRANSFORMATION of the Texas School System.

You will read in the following News Release from TASB stating their agenda to pursue their liberal agenda despite Gov Perry’s Veto of HB 2824 which was sponsored “Bennet Ratliff”, whose brother Thomas Ratliff serves on the State Board of Education illegally.

Why are tax payers funding TASA and TASB who are lobbying groups for progressive ideology? Wake up Texas Tax Payers!

Despite the outrage state wide over the progressive curriculum CSCOPE, the majority of school systems will continue to purchase and use it despite parents concern. Though CSCOPE was filled with controversial lessons the system is controversial as well. CSCOPE was the stepping stone for implementing Project Based Learning (PBL). Please inform your friends and family and taxpayers in your district as to what your local school district is doing. Ask your school board members why they are spending your tax dollars to fund TASA and TASB.

For additional info on CSCOPE go to WWW.TXCSCOPEREVIEW.COM

Tags: Cscope, Education, Gov Perry, HB 2824, parents, TASA, TASB, Texas, TRANSFORMATION

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TEXAS PARENTS: Did your Child Fail Because of the STAAR Test?

Jun 04

Posted by Ginger in Featured Post

Students can be awarded certificates for being on the school honor roll all year and then told they failed because of grades on the state test called STAAR.

Some honor roll students are being required to attend summer school to take make-up classes in a subject they made an A or B on in class, but failed on the STAAR. Since teachers do not know what a student missed on the STAAR test, they will be re-mediating students using the same materials used during the school year. Thus, honor roll students are being asked to learn material they already know.

Students that might pass a subject with a C in a subject also attend summer school if the fail that subject on the STAAR test. As with honor roll students, teachers do not know what the student missed on the STAAR. It doesn’t matter, summer school is not designed to individual students. Instead, a set of prepared materials are taught in a short period of time.

If a student fails a subject in class as well as on the STAAR, the student goes to summer school and then passes to the next grade. Think about this. If a student doesn’t understand math and fails, how could this same student within the few days of summer school be taught all the math concepts presented during the school year and understand them?

After attending summer school, are students given the STAAR again?

I’ll be researching unanswered questions in this blog.

If your child failed because of the STAAR, I suggest that you challenge the administration. After all, it is your child that is being labeled as a failure. Questions that you might want to ask are:

Of what value are the class grades if only STAAR grades are used for promotion?
If a student fails in his classes, but passes the STAAR tests, is that student promoted?
Do you think that with 100% accuracy, the STAAR tests access the abilities of every student?
Is it possible that some students understand the material, as shown by class work, but do not test well?
Since my child has passed his class work, do you think his teacher(s) have inflated his grades?
If not, then his class grades reflect his understanding of the material presented. Why is he being failed if he his teacher has assessed his understanding during the entire school year and has given him a passing grade?

If CSCOPE was used, point out that the vendor selling CSCOPE lessons has chosen to delete these lessons and never sell them again. In exchange the CSCOPE lessons will not be reviewed by the State Board of Education and the results publicized. Since there is evidence that some of the CSCOPE lessons were plagarized, some have incorrect information, some have biased political content, etc…… Ask:

What evidence is there that using CSCOPE lessons has prepared my child for the STAAR?
Is it possible that my child has learned the incorrect content of the CSCOPE lessons, thus failed the STAAR?

While you are asking questions, find out what material is being used in summer school. Also, ask if the school plans to return to using textbooks. Ask if CSCOPE has been removed.

Parents, please don’t let school administrators try to bully you. Any administrator worth his salt will sit on the same side of the desk with you instead of behind the desk where he/she is in charge. This is a meeting to discuss your child and what is best for him/her. It is not a court case or shouldn’t be.

Some administrators make an effort to confuse parents with education terms not familiar to most parents, nor do they have to be. Terms such as, vertical alignment, instructional information documents, year at a glance schedules, alignment with the TEKS, etc…………………… If you do not understand what is being said, stop the speaker as ask for explanation. Know that just because you do not understand what I call “Educaneze,” which is educational buzz words, don’t think you would be considered stupid if you admit this. It is unprofessional for school administrators to do this, but too many want to be in control. Keep reminding yourself that it is your child that will be punished if you do not stand up to this person. Also, you could very well be the one who gives other parents the courage to do the same.

Do not go alone. Make sure you have someone with you. Before you leave, restate what you understand and ask for confirmation that it is correct. Either record the meeting, which is best, or take notes and ask the administrator to sign them. Do not think about this making the administrator angry. It shouldn’t if they are providing accurate information. Just keep reminding your self that you are standing in the gap for your child.

The hardest part or at least it is for me, is to not get angry. Take deep breaths to keep your self calm. Don’t let the administrator rush you. After all, your child is being failed and you want evidence to support this decision.

Please share your experience so other can benefit from it. One parent questioned his child being failed and the decision was reversed. The honor roll student does not have to repeat an entire year of social studies.

by Janice VanCleave

www.txcscopereview.com

Tags: Cscope, Education, FAILING, parents, STAAR, STUDENTS, Superintendent, Texas

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TEXAS: Parents Have Rights to See Curriculum & Tests

Apr 18

Posted by Ginger in Featured Post

Texas Education Code 26.006 gives parents the legal right to see all curriculum used to teach their children, even test once they have been administered.

CSCOPE reps have said that all CSCOPE lessons are available for parental review. Really? Why have they only posted just a”few” for parents to review? Are they cleaning them up first, so parents will not see their progressive agenda? Despite the fact that CSCOPE reps state that the test/assessments are not available for parents to see, the Texas Education Code states differently. Assessments are to be made available to parents after the assessment has been administered.

Sec. 26.006. ACCESS TO TEACHING MATERIALS. (a) A parent is entitled to:

(1) review all teaching materials, instructional materials, and other teaching aids used in the classroom of the parent’s child; and

(2) review each test administered to the parent’s child after the test is administered.

(b) A school district shall make teaching materials and tests readily available for review by parents. The district may specify reasonable hours for review.

(c) A student’s parent is entitled to request that the school district or open-enrollment charter school the student attends allow the student to take home any instructional materials used by the student. Subject to the availability of the instructional materials, the district or school shall honor the request. A student who takes home instructional materials must return the instructional materials to school at the beginning of the next school day if requested to do so by the student’s teacher. In this subsection, “instructional material” has the meaning assigned by

Tags: Cscope, overruled, parental rights, parents, rights, Texas, Texas Education Code

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I Would Of Killed For CSCOPE!

Apr 12

Posted by Ginger in Featured Post

(Video) CSCOPE Director: “I Would Have Killed For CSCOPE” – Danny Lovett Lumberton ISD
By David Bellow

Region 5 Executive Director, and one of the heads of CSCOPE, Danny Lovett says, “I would have killed for CSCOPE.” Did he go too far with

this statement? I know he likes CSCOPE, and it probably helps him keep a good paying job if he keeps his CSCOPE program from collapsing, but seriously, he loves it so much that he would KILL for it?

This video is from when Dr. Danny Lovett came to Lumberton ISD a couple of weeks ago. Many parents at Lumberton ISD are upset that the CSCOPE Curriculum is being used in Lumberton schools. Lovett’s purpose for coming to Lumberton ISD was to try to promote CSCOPE as something awesome so that all the parents would just be happy about it I guess. This angered many parents who were expecting a public forum where parents could express concerns. Instead of a public forum, these parents showed up to find out that there would be no official school public forum, and instead there was an information presentation from Lovett intended to promote CSCOPE. Before the presentation could even start, some parents stood up and made it known that they were not happy and wanted to ask question and not just be presented a puff piece by one of the leaders in CSCOPE.

I am glad that Lumberton ISD Administration did do a good job of allowing parents to ask questions at this informational meeting. It was just frustrating because the parents were having to continually interrupt the meeting to correct something or inquire about the something that the CSCOPE Director was presenting.

To his credit though, he did allow the parents to interject their comments during his CSCOPE promotional. He didn’t answer my question though about how much money he made. You see, he had tried to downplay the fact that CSCOPE double dips with tax dollars when they use tax money to create it and then sell it to schools who pay for it with tax dollars. His excuse for it not being an issue is that CSCOPE is created under a non profit organization, and therefore they cannot make a profit with it so we should not worry about what CSCOPE is charging because, hey, they cannot make money from it. I stood up and pointed out that although their organization cannot technically make a profit, they can still certainly gain financially from CSCOPE. I pointed out the different directors of “non profit” organizations who make millions a year in base salary. I then asked him how much he made. He would not give me a number, although he was adamant earlier in the evening about his organization being completely open about finances. My question was not intended to bash him or say that he should not be compensated for his job. My point was that, even as a non profit, they certainly stand to gain financially if CSCOPE does well via salaries and new hires and more power as the “non profit” grows and does well.

It was also interesting that, on top of promoting CSCOPE, Danny Lovett also tried to associate anyone who was against CSCOPE with terroristic threat emails. I don’t know the validity of whether or not CSCOPE administrators have received any valid threatening emails or if they were just upset individuals venting about the seemingly un-American lessons in CSCOPE. I do not condone that and neither do ANY of the people who are pushing for the removal of CSCOPE from Texas Schools. We who are against CSCOPE have valid reasons to show why CSCOPE is flawed and needs to be removed. We don’t threaten. Yet, here was Danny Lovett standing in front of us telling us how hateful and threatening the people against CSCOPE are. It seemed to me as though he was trying to discredit anyone who might speak out against CSCOPE at the information meeting by grouping people who speak out with valid concerns into the same pot with some random hateful people who may or may not have sent threatening emails to them.

It was interesting though that he would talk about violent comments people might have made to him but yet he has not problem spouting out violent comments without thinking, like how he would have killed for CSCOPE.

That is it for this article. I will be posting another video soon from this meeting showing that Danny Lovett straight up lied to the Lumberton ISD parents concerning a particularly troubling CSCOPE lesson. I got it all on video of course!

Watch the following Video

Tags: Cscope, danny lovett, Education, esc 5, I would kill for CSCOPE, Lumberton ISD, parents, Texas

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CSCOPE TEACHES KIDS TO LIE TO PARENTS

Apr 04

Posted by Ginger in Featured Post

Worst CSCOPE Lesson

By Janice of TXCSCOPE REVIEW.

The following is a section of a CSCOPE lessons that teaches kids how to use propaganda. The content of the roll playing script for the teachers is puts the teacher on the students side. The bad guys are parents as well as the principal and even the state board of education. Students have just finished a very unstructured activity in which students move around the room and even outdoors. Now they are back in class and news of how the class is to be restructured because of parent complaints. Be sure to get the picture that kids have been learning how our politicians mislead, lie, and stretch the truth with what is called political propaganda.

Now that the scene has been set, it is time to drop the bomb that they will have to use textbooks from now own because of parent complaints. This is what is called the Delphi Method, which is a method of presenting a situation in such a way that you control the response of the group.

What is most disturbing is that CSCOPE is using manipulating the thoughts of minors to support their own anti-book program. To make it more real to the kids, they throw in examples, such as manipulating parents when they want to go somewhere. Manipulating parents when they have a bad report card grade.

BOOTS ON THE GROUND ACTION STEP

Parents, no matter what I do. No matter how many senate education committee meetings and TV and radio announcements about CSCOPE, none of this is going to save your child. If you want something done immediately so your child has a chance of being educated instead of being indoctrinated, you have to stand up and take action.

1. Read each of the Boots on the Ground Action Steps.

2. Make an appointment to speak with your superintendent. Go in a small group so that
you have witnesses of what is said. Record the meeting if possible. Many phones have this capability and it works well.

3. Ask the superintendent to show you the CSCOPE Propaganda lessons being taught in high school. This is a US Government lesson, Unit Lesson ?.

4. This US Government lesson pits students against Parent and Authority.
When you send your children to public school, they enter a training camp. They are learning about propaganda techniques. Techniques to use against authority.

– See more at: http://www.standupfightback.us/cscope-teaches-kids-to-lie-to-parents/#sthash.NXQ0bg33.ireAu6rh.dpuf

Tags: Cscope, Education, JANICE VAN CLEAVE, LYING, parents, STUDENTS, TESCCC, TXCSCOPEREVIEW

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PARENTS OPEN UP ABOUT CSCOPE and COMMON CORE

Apr 02

Posted by Ginger in Featured Post

WANT TO SEE WHAT CSCOPE AND COMMON CORE (EVEN HOMESCHOOLING)

LESSONS LOOK LIKE? THESE PARENTS OPENED UP TO THEBLAZE

Apr. 2, 2013 10:10am Tiffany Gabbay

As a greater level of scrutiny is being placed on the controversial curriculum systems CSCOPE (in Texas) and Common Core Standards (nationwide), concerned parents spoke to TheBlaze about their troubling experiences, revealing that not even home-schooling is beyond the reach of these encroaching systems.

Home-schooling not beyond the reach of Common Core?

Keven Card, a former Marine from Houston who has home-schooled his children for the last six years, thought his family was safe from the reach of Common Core, but soon learned otherwise. As noted on his blog, two years ago Pearson Education, which is linked to Common Core, acquired Texas Connections Academy, the online charter school Card uses to homeschool his ninth-grader.

One lesson plan featured a video dubbed, ”China Rises,” that appears to tout the virtues of Communism over capitalism.

“It blew my mind,” Card told TheBlaze in an interview.

“They make kids watch a video that makes capitalism look bad and Communist China look good. It’s absolutely unbelievable.”

Below are several screenshots of the program, “China Rises,” along with a video that Card was able to record and save for his own records.

The captions below read:

The next time you go shopping for clothes, electronics, shoes, toys, or even food, check the label. There’s a good chance it says “Made in China.”

As you might guess, China has one of the most productive economies in the world, and it has been growing at a rapid pace in recent decades. This growth has brought great wealth to Chinese entrepreneurs and businesses and improved standards of living for millions of people.

The China Rises website provides preview clips and information on the content featured in the program. Notably, the “Party Games” and “Getting Rich” sections, Card explained, are of particular interest as they “address the changing politics and economy of China.”

It is also worth pointing out that the documentary was produced in partnership with The New York Times and Discovery Times.

Card notes that the video preview made available under the “Getting Rich” sub-section of the site talks about capitalism’s “cruelties” as it shows a man whose lost his hand in a machine. The section appears at the 1.12 mark.

When asked how long questionable lessons like China Rises have been on his son’s roster of studies, Card said he first noticed curriculum changing roughly a year or two ago when a religious studies lesson favored the Muslim faith over Christianity.

“I wrote a letter to the principal of the Texas Connections Academy, but never received a reply,” the concerned father said. Pearson acquired our school in 2011.

What is StudentGPS and what does it track, exactly?

A Texas mother whose child is enrolled in the fifth grade at a Texas public school told TheBlaze that while some of the lesson plans at her child’s school are worrisome, she is most concerned about data mining, especially in light of the fact that, come next year, her school will implement something called “StudentGPS dashboards.”

“I’m not sure if it will be just at our school or all of them,” the Blaze reader, who asked to remain nameless out of concern for her child and school faculty explained. “I have a feeling our school will be one the earlier ones to implement the StudentGPS.”

According to the StudentGPS website, the program is part of a partnership with the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF), are particularly beneficial in identifying “at-risk students” by providing educators a “collection of reports and metrics that provide educators with access to historical, timely, and predictive information on all students to help improve education outcomes for all Texas students.”

The dashboards are said to “flag emerging issues such as problems in attendance, class work, and test performance as early as possible” as well as “provide instant access to analyzed data, instead of requiring requests to a data analyst for ad hoc reports.”

While the site states that “loading dashboard data to TSDS is strictly optional,” schools are encouraged to do so as they provide a “rich, sophisticated, empirical approach to teaching that help schools, classes, and individual students get more from their educational opportunities.”

The Blaze reader said she found out about the GPS “dashboards” while on a call with the school principal about the district’s plan to allocate iPads to all students next year. She said that she was concerned about the kinds of data that would be tracked on the iPad, but that once she heard about StudentGPS, she was concerned “even more.”

Below are tutorial videos provided by the StudentGPS Dashboards official website, which is part of the “Texas Student Data System.”

Student GPS dashboard overview

“StudentGPS – Attendance”

“StudentGPS – Intervention”

Kids know about global warming and wars

Another item the concerned mother noted was that her 5th grader brought home a questionable homework assignment earlier this week. The parent told TheBlaze that the lesson (screenshots of which are featured below) is being used as practice for the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exam, which is to be administered by schools next week.

The lesson in this case was not produced by CSCOPE, but rather a independent company. Nonetheless, some of the language and themes will still raise eyebrows.

“The content seems designed to undermine parental authority,” the Texas resident said. “Adults are just too stupid to get anything right. I assume the intent is to drive a wedge between parent and child.”

The excerpts below ask why children are not permitted to vote, especially when (see section 3) they understand “global warming and war” and know that adults have only made the world’s problems worse.

The Texas mom said that while CSCOPE is implemented at her school, teachers are not forced to use its lesson plans. She added that while that may be a good thing, she has still “come to expect verbiage on global warming and fossil fuels” and believes CSCOPE’s influence will only increase. The Blaze reader also expressed concern over the fact that experienced teachers are growing tired of trying to overcome “the hurdles” and will likely leave the schools out of sheer frustration.

“We are part of a good, close community, which makes this [CSCOPE implementation] that much harder,” she explained.

Below is an excerpt of the homework assignment:

Those cases cited above are but a fraction of the questionable lesson plans that seem to be par for the course with Common Core and CSCOPE. As a result of TheBlaze’s coverage, other concerned parents may also come forward to express their concerns and experiences with these controversial curriculum systems.

Tags: Common Core, Cscope, Glenn Beck, parents, The Blaze

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RED HOT CONSERVATIVE

TEXAS PARENTS and TAXPAYERS…..CALL TO ACTION!!