Photos: Ohio is Jazzed About #StopCommonCore

Ohio had some informational meetings about the Common Core at three different locations throughout the state.  Ohioans Against Common Core has an update here.  Between 850-1000 attended.  The photos below are from Jamie Gass of the Pioneer Institute who was one of the speakers.

The speakers for these events were:

Cincinnati – held April 12th held at the Anderson Twp. Center.  Hosted by Anderson.

• Emmett McGroarty – American Principles Project – Executive Director, Preserve Innocence Project
• Joy Pullmann – Heartland Institute – Research Fellow, Education; Managing Editor, School Reform News
• Jamie Gass – Pioneer Institute for Public Policy – Director, Center for School Reform
• Heather Crossin – Hoosiers Against Common Core – Co-founder, education policy activist

Columbus – Debate style format. Panelists include supporters and opponents. Held on Saturday, April 13th at Berlin Presbyterian Church in Lewis Center, OH.  Hosted by OSBLC.

Speakers:

• Emmett McGroarty – American Principles Project – Executive Director, Preserve Innocence Project
• Joy Pullmann – Heartland Institute – Research Fellow, Education; Managing Editor, School Reform News
• Jamie Gass – Pioneer Institute for Public Policy – Director, Center for School Reform
• Heather Crossin – Hoosiers Against Common Core – Co-founder, education policy activist
• Emmy L. Partin – Thomas B. Fordham Institute – Director of Ohio Policy & Research
• C. Todd Jones – Current member State Board of Education, President of Associations of Independent Colleges

(I’ve been told there is a video of this debate.  We’ll post it when it becomes available).

Cleveland (West) Saturday – April 13th this was hosted by Concerned Parents & Teachers of Northern Ohio.  Held at Christ the King Church in North Olmsted, OH.

Speakers were the same as Cincinnati.

If you attended one of these meetings we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Also FYI – here’s an immediate action item for those Ohioans who attended.

Update: Testimony from Jamie Gass:

It becomes clearer and clearer why the CCSSI advocates don’t debate in public – their arguments would get demolished. As with Tony Bennett at ALEC, they just don’t have very good answers beyond some basic talking points. Frankly, I doubt Bennett will ever forget how Bill took him down in AZ.

Oftentimes, the CCSSIers seem to outline the symptoms of America’s troubles in K-12 education, but can’t explain how or why the feds/DC are positioned or able to remedy the problem via national standards/tests. As I responded to the Fordham person  during the debate in Columbus: “You folks have been out in OH for 20 years and haven’t improved either the state standards or the NAEP scores. Given your weak record in OH –why should we believe you can lead a nationalizing effort?” Reply – nothing.

The OH crowds were large – 200 to 300+ in each city — and these people seemed as angry and motivated vs. Common Core as any state we’ve been in. In fact, these were scheduled to be two hour events—nearly 3/4 of the people stayed for three hours in each city.