Representative Paul Ryan in Baltimore tomorrow

Congressman and former VP candidate Paul Ryan (R-WI) will be in Baltimore tomorrow as the Maryland Republican Party holds its annual Red, White & Blue dinner.  Congressman Ryan will likely address questions about various issues, including the issue of immigration which is dividing Republicans and is headed to the House of Representatives.

For those interested in hearing what Paul Ryan has to say, and support our state Republican Party, you can get more information by visiting:

http://www.mdgop.org/redwhiteblue/

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A Broadside Special Edition tonight... with Mark Newgent off on assignment, Andrew Langer co-hosts with former G. Gordon Liddy producer and current NRANews Producer John Popp, and we're live from the NRANews Studios!

First off, we're joined by former Rep. Jeff Landry, rated the 4th Most Conservative Member of the house during his tenure, to talk about the predatory trade practices by tin-pot dictators in South America and the Middle East!

Then we're joined by Keli Carender from Tea Party Patriots to talk about this Wednesday's Audit the IRS rally on Capitol Hill!

All this, plus your calls, tonight at 8pm EDT...

www.blogtalkradio.com/redmaryland

760-259-2711

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Red Maryland June Poll Results

  June 2013 Red Maryland Network Poll by briancgriffiths

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Red Maryland Radio: 6/13/2013

Another big episode of Red Maryland Radio  came at you tonight on the Red Maryland Network.

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on BlogTalkRadio

On tonight's show:

• Martin O'Malley touted the benefits of StateStat, but a recent review of the program shows that the Governor's pet project is left wanting. We talked about it with study author Charlie Hayward;
• We will announce the results of the Red Maryland June Poll;
• We'll discuss the recent Maryland Republican Party study showing Maryland is home to the world's oldest people;
• And some Network Notes

This is why you can't afford to miss Red Maryland Radio each and every Thursday night at 8, on the Red Maryland Network.......and don't forget that you can subscribe to the Red Maryland Network on iTunes.

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Red Maryland Radio Extra: StateStat Report Author Joins us at 8:05

Charlie Hayward, author of this review of the Maryland StateStat Program, will be joining Greg Kline and I on Red Maryland Radio tonight at 8:05 to discuss his findings.

Join us for that, as well as the results of the Red Maryland Poll, Live Tonight starting at 8 PM.

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Maryland's Adoption of Common Core and Race to the Top Puts Student Privacy at Risk

The Maryland State Department of Education is creating a massive database of student information, and due to the state’s acceptance of federal stimulus money and adoption of Common Core Standards, that data including a host of personal information may not be kept private as mandated by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

When Maryland accepted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds in 2009 it agreed to build a broad state longitudinal data system (SLDS), and as part of its successful Race to the Top application, the state agreed to strengthen, and enhance the capabilities of the database.

The Maryland Statewide Longitudinal Data System (MLDS) captures and analyzes student data from preschool through high school, college and the work force.  MLDS collects more than 400 data points on students including healthcare history, disciplinary records, family income range, family voting status, and religious affiliation.

According to Maryland’s Race to the Top application the state education Department already shares student level date with the state Department of Human Resources, Department of Juvenile Justice, Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, and is working on a memorandum of understanding to share data with the Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation. 

Race to the Top prioritizes how well states make student data accessible to “key stakeholders,” which are defined as “parents, students, teachers, local education authorities, community members, unions, researchers, and policy makers.”

Maryland is also basing the sharing of student data on State Stat, Governor O’Malley’s much ballyhooed, yet flawed performance-measuring system.  The State Education Department is implanting 10-step initiative to for MLDS enabling it to gather more student-level data, integrate it with existing data, and make it more accessible to other state agencies, and “stakeholders.”

Federal law forbids the creation of a national student database, and Maryland’s MLDS enabling legislation SB 275, signed into law in 2010, requires the newly created Maryland Longitudinal Data System Center to comply with FERPA.  However, the Federal Department of Education has—through regulation—found a way to circumvent FERPA. 

According to a white paper Controlling Education from the Top: Why Common Core is Bad for America written by Emmett McGroarty and Jane Robbins for the Pioneer Institute and the American Principles Project, the Department of Education issued new regulations last year that circumvent FERPA. 

The new regulations allow transmission of students’ personal identifiable information—without parental consent—to any governmental or private entity designated by the Department and others as an “authorized representative,” for the purpose of evaluating an education program.

Any personal student information the Department of Education acquires can now be shared with whomever they deem an “authorized representative” without parental approval or even notification.  How many parents would be happy to have sensitive information about their children and families made available to “unions” or “community members” as spelled out in the Race to the Top application?

While the federal government hasn’t directly created a national database, they’ve coaxed the states—with billions in stimulus cash—into creating it for them. 

McGroarty and Robbins note that the two assessment regimes aligned with Common Core are explicitly required to make student-level assessment data available.  ARRA provided $362 million to fund two state assessment consortiums Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers (PARCC) and SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC).  In exchange for stimulus funds, the authors note: 

..the cooperative agreements between the Department and those consortia explicitly require PARCC and SBAC to “develop a strategy to make student-level data that results from the assessment system available on an ongoing basis for research, including for prospective linking, validity, and program improvement studies; [sic] subject to applicable privacy laws.”

Maryland is a PARCC member state.

With the revelation that the National Security Agency is collecting troves of data on our Internet activity, Americans are rightly concerned about privacy and the fourth amendment.  Now, Maryland parents need to be concerned about what data about our children our schools are collecting, and who else may have access to it. 

MD Race to the Top Data Collection by marknewgent

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Red Maryland Radio Tonight

Join Greg Kline and I for another episode of Red Maryland Radio tonight at 8 .

On tonight's show:

• We will announce the results of the Red Maryland June Poll;
• We'll discuss the recent Maryland Republican Party study showing Maryland is home to the world's oldest people;
• Martin O'Malley touted the benefits of StateStat, but a recent review of the program shows that the Governor's pet project is left wanting;
• Another State-owned property is dipping into running short on cash;

All that and more tonight. Be sure to tune in tonight at 8, only on the Red Maryland Network.

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