2.15.25

"To Rid Schools of WOKE Must Look at National Tests" 

By Donna Garner

Almost every teacher knows "Whatever gets tested gets taught."  


In other words, for teachers to help their students to do well on the "tests," teachers must teach students the day-to-day curriculum that will prepare them to be successful on the tests (i.e., assessments, exams). 

 

BEFORE 2013 -- TRADITIONAL TYPE #1 CONTENT KNOWLEDGE


Before 2013, most schools across America taught Type #1 curriculum which prepared well-educated graduates to send an astronaut to the moon, create the lightbulb, pioneer chemotherapy, trailblaze the personal computer, invent the sewing machine, and launch the first GPS satellite -- to name just a few. 


Type #1 curriculum (and tests with right-or-wrong answers) are fact-based, well-documented, verifiable, traditional; the emphasis is on phonics, grammar, classics, math facts to automaticity, Founding documents, American exceptionalism, and scientific facts.   

 

ENTER OBAMA WITH COMMON CORE STANDARDS


When Obama became President in 2010, he offered states piles of money in Race to the Top funds; but in the "fine print" states had to promise to teach public school students the Common Core Standards which were not even published until 2013.   


In other words, state and education leaders promised to teach content that had not even been made public yet.


Obama made David Coleman the "architect of the Common Core Standards." In 2013 they were finally published and completely changed education in the United States to Type #2.


As soon as David Coleman finished publishing the Type #2 Common Core Standards, he "went across the street" and became the chair of the College Board where he quickly announced that all College Board products would become Type #2 Common Core. 


Obama's Common Core Standards follow the Type #2 curriculum model:  subjective, emphasize students' emotions, feelings, and personal opinions. 


Type #2 is full of the social justice agenda, LGBTQ, CRT, and DEI.  


Taken together Type #2 means "WOKE." 


Through the years of Type #2 indoctrination, students moved in their thinking from TOLERANCE to ACCEPTANCE to ADVOCACY to MILITANCY until students now can plan out every detail of a mass protest/riot better than they can write a fact-based essay.


To view a simple chart that illustrates Type #1 vs. Type #2, please go to this article:  


"Only Two Types of Education – Type #1 v. Type #2 – Cannot Mix – Just Like Oil and Water” -- by Donna Garner -- https://donnagarner.org/only-two-types-of-education-type-1-v-type-2-cannot-mix-just-like-oil-and-water-com/

 

ENTER PRESIDENT TRUMP


Pres. Trump and his administration are committed to rid America of Obama's Type #2 Common Core Standards/social justice agenda/LGBTQ/DEI/CRT that have completely inundated our schools for 12 years.   

 

QUESTION #1:  


Have any of Pres. Trump's staff or state education leaders gone through The College Board products (including the College Placement Exams) to make sure that they do not contain WOKE questions?  


Link to all College Board Advanced Placement courses and exams:  https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/courses


If the exams do contain Type #2 questions, then it is a sure thing that teachers will be teaching Type #2 WOKE curriculum daily to prepare their students.  


"What gets tested gets taught."


LIST OF EXAMS PUBLISHED BY THE COLLEGE BOARD -- ALL TYPE #2 COMMON CORE 

SAT

PSAT/NMSQT

PSAT10

PSAT 8/9

Accuplacer

CLEP

PreAP 

 

SCHOOL CHOICE LEGISLATION


Many states that are actively involved in passing some sort of school choice legislation are requiring that homeschool and private school students take nationally norm-referenced tests.  

 

DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO TYPES OF ASSESSMENTS 


(1) NATIONALLY NORM-REFERENCED ASSESSMENTS are designed to compare a student's performance against a larger group, usually at a national level. 


They are helpful in identifying where a student stands in relation to his/her peers across the country.  


If nearly all schools in America are teaching Obama’s Type #2 Common Core (social justice agenda, LGBTQ, CRT, DEI), then publishers, who are more interested in making money than in educating students, will fall right in line and produce nationally norm-referenced assessments that are Type #2.  


This means that even if homeschools, private schools, private Christian schools, and other types of non-public schools are teaching Type #1 curriculum to their students, those students may not do well on nationally norm-referenced assessments that have Type #2 questions on them.


Non-public school students also may not do well on the College Board Advanced Placement Tests if their teachers teach Type #1 curriculum. 


So that their students will do better on the nationally norm-referenced assessments and College Board Advanced Placement tests, many non-public school teachers are feeling pressured to stop teaching Type #1 curriculum and move into giving their students a steady diet of Type #2 curriculum just so that their students will do better on Type #2 assessments. 


(2)  CRITERION-REFERENCED ASSESSMENTS (such as the STAAR in Texas) focus on measuring a student's skills or knowledge based on a set of curriculum standards (TEKS in Texas) that have definite learning objectives at each grade level. 


Criterion-referenced assessments help the student, the parent, and the teacher to know whether the student has mastered specific content required by the state at each grade/course level. 


This kind of test is much more helpful because it tells the parents, the students, and the educators just how well the state's students have done on what it is the state expects them to know. 


Students who do poorly on criterion-referenced assessments can then be placed in classes to help them remediate their weaknesses right then rather than sending them on to the next grade level where they are sure to experience failure.  

 

QUESTION #2:


Have any of Pres. Trump's staff or state education leaders gone through the nationally norm-referenced test questions and/or the College Board's AP exams to make sure that the questions are NOT tied to the WOKE mentality? 


If the nationally norm-referenced test questions and College Board AP exams are full of Obama's Type #2 indoctrination, then teachers will feel they must keep teaching students the "WOKE" curriculum; and our nation's young people will continue down the same destructive path that Obama and his Common Core have set in place to destroy American exceptionalism.  


LIST OF NATIONALLY NORM-REFERENCED ASSESSMENTS


The following is a list of nationally norm-referenced assessments (tests, exams). 


*I do not know whether or not all of these assessments are currently available. 

 

LIST OF NATIONALLY NORM-REFERENCED ASSESSMENTS 

 

LEGISLATION IN TEXAS LEGISLATURE -- UNDER CONSIDERATION RIGHT NOW (2.14.25)


REQUIRES HOMESCHOOL AND PRIVATE SCHOOL STUDENTS TO TAKE NATIONALLY NORM-REFERENCED ASSESSMENTS TO QUALIFY FOR EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNTS


TEXAS SENATE COMMITTEE REPORT -- https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=SB2

By:  Creighton, et al.                                                                                 S.B. No. 2

(In the Senate - Filed January 24, 2025; January 24, 2025, read first time and referred to Committee on Education K-16; January 29, 2025, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 9, Nays 2; January 29, 2025, sent to printer.)

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the establishment of an education savings account program.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

[PAGE 9]

Sec. 29.358.  PREAPPROVED PROVIDERS AND VENDORS.  (a)  The comptroller shall by rule establish a process for the preapproval of education service providers and vendors of educational products for participation in the program.  The comptroller shall allow for the submission of applications on a rolling basis.

(b)  The comptroller shall approve an education service provider or vendor of educational products for participation in the program if the provider or vendor:

(1)  for a private school, demonstrates annual administration of a nationally norm-referenced assessment instrument or the appropriate assessment instrument required under Subchapter B, Chapter 39;

 

1.31.25 – DONNA GARNER'S POSITION ON SCHOOL CHOICE, VOUCHERS, EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNTS


11.25.23 – “My Worries Not the Usual Ones About School Choice & Education Savings Accounts” -- By Donna Garner -- https://donnagarner.org/11-25-23-my-worries-not-the-usual-ones-about-school-choice-education-savings-accounts-by-donna-garner/


9.27.23 -- “School Choice and/or Public Vouchers – What Is Lurking in the Background?” -- By Donna Garner -- https://donnagarner.org/9-27-23-school-choice-and-or-public-vouchers-what-is-lurking-in-the-background-by-donna-garner/


5.14.23 -- “Harmful Substitute Language Being Pushed into TX SB 8” -- By Donna Garner -- https://donnagarner.org/5-14-23-harmful-substitute-language-being-pushed-into-tx-sb-8-by-donna-garner-3/


3.20.23 -- “Possible Major Problem with School Choice, Voucher Bills in Tex. Lege” -- By Donna Garner -- https://donnagarner.org/3-20-23-possible-major-problem-with-school-choice-voucher-bills-in-tex-lege/


2.18.23  -- “School Choice and Nationally Normed Tests” -- By Donna Garner -- https://donnagarner.org/2-18-23-school-choice-and-nationally-normed-tests-by-donna-garner/


3.9.22 -- “My Thoughts on Charter Schools in Texas” - By Donna Garner -- https://donnagarner.org/my-thoughts-on-charter-schools-in-texas/

 

EXECUTIVE ORDERS SIGNED BY PRESIDENT TRUMP THAT CARRY THE WEIGHT OF FEDERAL LAW


1.29.25 - President Trump's Executive Order -- "Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling" --  https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling/


1.28.25 -- President Trump's Executive Order -- "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation" -- https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-children-from-chemical-and-surgical-mutilation/


1.21.25 -- President Trump's Executive Order -- "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity"  -- https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity/


1.20.25 -- President Trump's Executive Order - "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government" -- https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/

 

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT NATIONALLY NORM-REFERENCED TESTS

https://www.edweek.org/education/names-types-of-tests-administered-by-states/2003/12

 

https://www.fldoe.org/schools/school-choice/k-12-scholarship-programs/ftc/annual-assessment-requirement.stml

 

https://www.fairtest.org/sites/default/files/norm refrenced tests.pdf

 

https://thsc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2021-Nationally-Normed-Assesments-Comprehensive-List-Sheet1-1.pdf

 

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED518671.pdf

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norm-referenced_test

 

https://www.theclassroom.com/difference-between-standardized-norm-reference-tests-12309434.html