the blumenfeld education letter october_1995

8/7/2019 The Blumenfeld Education Letter October_1995

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The BlumenfeldEducation Letter

V ol. 10 , N o. 10 (Lette r # 109)"My People Are Destroyed For LackOf Knowledge" HOSEA4:6

October 1995EDITOR: SamuelLBlumenfeldlhe purpose of this newsletter is to provide knowledge for parents and educators who want to save the children of Americafrom the destructive forces that endanger them. Our children in the public schools are af grave risk in 4 ways: academically,

spiritually, morally, and physically - and only a wellinformed public will be able to reduce these risks."Without vision, the people perish."

T o t a l i t a r i a n D a ta -G a th e r i n g S y s t e mP r e p a r e d by U .S . D e p t . o f E d u c a t io n

H ever proof were needed to confirmthat the New World Order would be totali-tarian in its control of individual citizens, theUS. Department of Education's recent re-lease of its handbooks on data-gathering onstudents and faculty should be enough tosatisfy any freedom-loving citizen. The twopublications are the Student Data Hand-book for Early Childhood, Elementary, andSecondary Education (NCES 94-303) re-leased in June 1994 , comprised of 226 pagesplus about 100 pages of appendices, and theStaff Data Handbook: Elementary, Secon-dary and Early Childhood Education (NCES95-327) released in January 1995, comprisedof 219 pages and about 70 pages of appendi-ces. Both Handbooks were produced underthe auspices of the U'S, Department of Edu-cation, the Office of Educational Researchand hnprovement (OERI), and the NationalCenter for Education Statistics (NCES). Bothcan be obtained by telephone from the U.S.Dept. of Education. The Foreword for theStudent Data Handbook states:

NCES is pleased to release th e 1994 StudentData Handbook: Elementary, Secondary and EarlyChildhood. Education. It is a major effort to establish

current and ronsistent tenns, definitions and classifi-cation codes to maintain, correct, report and exchangeinfonnation about students.

When this effort began, the only existing na-tional standards for student data had been publishedby NCFS in 1974. Because student data have evolvedgreatly over time both in the type and format of datamaintained, it was essential that new standards bedeveloped that would reflect current practices.

This national effort was coordinated by theCouncil of Chief State Scho ol s O f fi ce rs under contractto th e National Center for Education Statistics. Thoseindividua1s and organizations involved in the proc-ess truly reflect all interested stakeholders in elemen-tary, secondary and early childhood education.NCES has a strong commitment to provide tech-nical assistance and support to th e education commu-nity to facilitate the collection, reporting. and use ofhigh quality education infonnation. This handbookis O n e outcome of that commitment It is but one in aseries of relaled handbooks and manuals that NCEShas published in th e past and plans to continue todevelop in the future.

The Foreword is signed by Paul D. Plan-chon, Associate Commissioner, Elementary /Secondary Education Statistics Division andLee M. Hoffman, Chief, General Surveysand Analysis Branch of the National Centerfor Education Statistics.

In th e Acknowledgments we read:The Blumenfeld Education Letter is published monthly. Original material is copyrighted by The Blumenfeld Education letter.

Permission to quote is granted provided proper credit is given. Readers are encou raged to order and distribute additional copies ofthose newsletters they believe should be sent to legislators, columnists, talk shows, pastors, etc. Subscription Rate: 1 year $36.00.Address: Post Office Box 45161, Boise, Idaho 83711. Phone (208) 3224440.


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Education Letter, Pg. 3, October 1995

sessment of Educational Progress. This handbookcan b e valuable for researchers concerned with accu-racy and consistency in designing data collection ac -tivities and reporting results of studies (ill groups ofstudents.

TIle handbook is intended to serve public andprivate education agencies, schools, and other centersand institutions serving students from preschoolthrough high school graduation, as well as research-ers and the general public. . . .

No governmental agency requires the use of theterms, definitions, and procedures of this handbook;however, care was taken to make sure that the defini-tions in this handbook were consistent with manygoverrurental reporting requirements existing at th etime of the handbook's completion. . . .A Tool for Decision Making

TIle handbook identifies concepts and data ele-ments which are used to describe and make decisionsabout students. Some decisions are very specific,pertaining to personal needs, vocational choices, andeducational programs of individual students. Otherdecisions are broader in scope, concerning the pIan-ning and managerrent of education for large groupsof students. . . .

Some types of student data are maintainedbecause of federal, state, or local reporting require-ments. If federal, state, and local reporting require-ments are made consistent, then a single collection ofinformation about students can serve multiple pur-poses . .. .

H student data are maintained in a cumulative(longitudinal) record using consistent tenns anddefinitions, the pennanent record contains al l rele-vant information and is easier to interpret . . .Automated Database

The advantages of maintaining student recordsin an automated database, however, are numerous.Automated databases promote th e maintenance ofconsistently defined information, since th e computersoftware specifies how data are coded and otherwiseentered ....Student data must be kept confidential. . . .Whether or not student data are maintained in acomputer, all sch oo l or school district staf f needingdata about an individual student or groups of stu-dents must have access to pertinent information . . .Teachers can analyze student performance using avariety of types of information and decide whatconcepts need to be retaught or reinforced.

lion can be computerized and stored in acentral database. As the Handbook states:

Technical advances in computer data entry,storage, and retrieval are developing quickly, makingthese aspects of student records management lessexpensive, more efficient, less demanding of physicalspace, and m ore accessible to multiple users.

Incidentally, if you are curious aboutthe legislation that authorized funding forall of this, the Handbook refers to the Stan-dards for Education Data Collection andReporting (SEOCAR) developed pursuantto the Hawkins-Stafford Amendments of1988 which authorized "an effort to improvethe comparability, quality and usefulness ofeducation data."S P EE D ElE xP R ES S S y ste m

The Handbook also reveals that its stan-dards are compatible with those of theSPEEDE/ExPRFSS fo rm at. (SPEEDE standsfor Standardization of Postsecondary Edu-cation Electronic Data Exchanges, and Ex-P RESS stands for Exchange of PermanentRecords Electronically for Students andSchools.) SPEEDE/ExPRESS "provides astandard fonnat for a student record or tran-script to be sent from one school or schooldistrict to another or from a school or schooldistrict to a postsecondary institution."Conf ident ia l i ty

Although lip service is paid to confiden-tiality as requi red in the Family EducationalRights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), thelaw allows information in student records tob e disc losed "without student or parentalpermission" to:

1) School employees who have a need-to-know. 2) Other schools to which a studentis transferring. 3) Certain government offi-

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Obviously, the purpose of the project isto produce standardization among data-gatherers so that all of the student informa-

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Education Letter, Pg. 4 , Odober 1995

dals in order to cany out lawful functions. 4)Appropriate parties in connection with fi-nancial aid to a student. 5) Organizationsdoing certain studies for the schooL 6) Ac-crediting organizations. 7) Individuals whohave obtained rom orders or subpoenas. 8)Persons who need to know in cases of healthand safety emergencies. 9) State and localauthorities to whom disclosure is requiredby state laws adopted before November 19,1974.

FERP A also "guarantees the studentand/ or his or her parents the right to inspectand review all of the student's educationrecords maintained by the school or schooldistrict, and the right to request that a schoolcorrect records believed to be inaccurate ormisleading."T h e t t lmber C o d e

What kind o f data will the system 0 0 1 -lect? The most detailed personal informa-tion about the individual in all aspects of hislife. The system uses a number axle for eachspecific piece of information. For example,codes 001 to 012 deal with the student'sname. Codes 013 to ffi6 dea l with the stu-dent's background, which includes Identifi-cation Number (013), Identification System(014)with fourteen subcategories: 01 Driver'slicense number, 02 Health record number, 03Medicaid number, 04 Migrant student rec-ords transfer system (MSRTS) number, 05Professional certificate or l icense number, 06School-assigned number, C J 7 Selective serv-ice .number, 08 Social security administra-tion number, 09 College Board/ ACI' axleset of PK-grade 12 institutions, 10 Lo ca leducation agency (LEA) number, 11 Stateeducation agency (SEA) number, 12 U.S.Department o f Education, National Centerfor Education Statistics (NCES) number, 13Other organization number (e.g., RomanCatholic Diocese or assodation number), 99

Other. In other words, Americans will b eidentified and numbered as never before.D a t a o n Student's R e l i g i o n

Under Religious Background (030) wefind the following subcategories: 01 Amish,02 Assembly of God, 03 Baptist, 04 Buddhist,05 C alv inist, 06 Catholic, fJl Eastern Ortho-dox, 00Episcopal, 09 Friends, 10Greek Ortho-dox, 11 Hindu, 12 Islamic, 13 Jehovah'sWitnesses, 14 Jewish, 15 latter Day Saints, 16Lutheran, 17 Mennonite, 18 Methodist, 19Pentecostal, 20 Presbyterian, 21 Other Chris-tian denomination, 22 Seventh Day Advent-ist, 23 Tao, 98 None, 99 Other.In other words, the traditional designa-tions o f Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish are nolonger sufficient for the data-gatherers whowant to know much more about an individ-ual's religious values. Note the absence ofUnitarian-Universalist I think they're morenumerous in America than practitioners ofTao.Hom eschools and P r i v a t e S c h o o l s

Will homeschoolers be included in thisdata-gathering system? Under Address/Contact Information we find that rode 056"Non-Resident Attendance Rationale-- Thereason that the student attends a schooloutside of his or her usual attendance area:'contains 10 subcategories, including 07' 'Home schooling-The student is receivingeducational instruction offered in a homeenvironment, as regulated by state law, forreasons other than health." So , homeschool-ers are not only included, but have their ownaxle number: 056-07.Private schools are also included under"School Infonnation." Code 076 "SchoolAdministration" includes subcategory 05"Private, non-religiously-affiliated school,"

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~~ ,_ Education Letter, Pg. 5, October 1995

and 06 'Private, religiously-affiliated school."U nder "Sehoo l Type" (077) we fin d s ub ca te -gories 02 IIAlternative," and 04 'Montes-sori."

Under "Discontinuing Schooling Rea-son" (112) we find subcategory 19 ' 'Relig-ion-The student left school because o f re-ligious convictions."

Under 'Non-Entrance Infonnation" wefind category 116 "Reason for Non-Entrancein Lo ca l or Seamdary School:' under whichwe find subcategory 03 "Home schooling-The individual is receiving educational serv-ires offered in a home enviromnent for rea-so ns o th er' than health" Also under 116 wefind subcategory 05 "Religious reason--Theindividual or his or her parent/guardian hasreligious ronvictions that prohibit part ic ipa-tion in the educational program of the schoolor education agency, and the individual isnot receiving approved instruction else-where" Thus, the government controllerscover a n bases.As se ssm e nt In fo rm a tio n

Data on students will also i nc lude ex-tensive assessment information. UnderIIAssessment Type" (189) we find the follow-ing subcategories: .01 Achievement Test, 02Advanced P1acement Test, 03 Aptitude Test,04 Attitudinal Test-"An assessment tomeasure the mental and emotional set orpatterns of l ikes and dislikes or opinionsheld by a student or a group of students.This is often used in relation to considera-tions such as controversial issues or personaladjustments." 05 Cognitive and perceptualskills test-" An assessment to measurecomponents of a student's mental abilitysuch as visual memory, figure-ground dif-ferentiation, auditory memory, reasoningability, and s equentia l p ro ces sin g." 06 De-velopmental Observation, (JJ Interest Inven-tory_" An assessment used to measure th e

extent to which a student's patterns of likesand dislikes corresponds to those of indi-viduals who are known to b e successfullyengaged in a given vocation, subject area,program of studies, or other activity." 08Language Proficiency Test, 0;) Manual Dex-terity Test, 10 Mental Ability (Intelligence)Test, 11 Performance Assessment=-r Anassessment to measure a student's knowl-edge or skill by requiring him or he r toproduce an answer or product that is notnecessarily in a standardized fonnat Ex-amples of performance assessment includewriting short answers, solving complexmathematical problems, writing an extendedessay, conducting an experiment, present-ing an oral argument, or assembling a J X > I t -folio of representative work." 12 PersonalityTest-"An assessment to measure a student'saffective or nonintellectual aspec ts of behav-ior such as emotional adjustment, interper-sonal relations, motivation, interests, andattitudes." 13 Portfolio Assessment, 14 Psy-chological Test-" An assessment to meas-ure a sample of behavior in an objective andstandardized. way." 15 Psychomotor Test,16 Reading Readiness Test Note that theassessm ent tests are in romplete hannonywith Outcome-Based Education.A l l A b o u t Y o u r T e e th

It's hard to imagine a 1ess-intrusive data-gathering system than this one, and it isdifficult to exaggerate the thoroughness ofthe system For example, under HealthConditions we find the category of OralHealth with the following rode designations:230 Number of Teeth, 231 Number o f Penna-nent Teeth Lost, 232 Number of Teeth De-cayed, 233 Number of Teeth Restored, 234Occlusion Condition, with subcategories 01Normal occlusion, 02 Mild malocdusion, 03Moderate malocclusion, 04 Severe maloc-clusion. 235 Gingival (Gum) Condition, with

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Education Letter, Pg. 6 , October 1995

subcategories 01 Normal, 02 Mild deviation,03 Moderate deviation, 04 Severe deviation.23 6 Oral Soft Tissue Condition, with sub-categories 01 Normal, 02 Mild deviation, 03Moderate deviation, 04 Severe deviation. 237Dental Prosthetics, and Orthodontic Appli-ances.Why all of this interest in teeth? Will theschools be offering dental services at stateexpense? Or is the information for the pur-poses of identification in case your face issmashed to a pulp by a guard in one of theirconcentration camps for the politically in-correct? But by then every individual willprobably be microchipped, bar coded, tat-t ooed or tagged. Are we being paranoid?Were Jews in Gennany in 1933 paranoid?Were anticommunist Russians in 1917 para-noid?M edical Data

Medical information will also includeMaternal and Pre-Natal Condition, Condi-tions at Birth, Health History, described as:IIA record of an individual's afflictions,conditions, injuries, accidents, treatments,and procedures"; Medical Evaluations, Dis-abling Conditions, Medical Laboratory Tests,hnmunizations, limitations on School Ac-tivities, Health Care Provider, and OtherHealth fufonnation--''Infonnation about anindividual's medical or health requirementsthat are not otherwise addressed above,"

Under category 322 Student SupportService Type, we read, "Type of related orancillary services provided to an individualor a group of individuals within the formaleducational system or offered by an outsideagency which provides non-instructionalservices to support th e general welfare ofstudents. This includes physical and emo-tional health, the ability to select an appro-priate course of study, admission to appro-priate educational programs, and th e ability

to adjust to and remain in school through thecompletion of programs. In serving a stu-dent with an identified disability, relatedservices include developmental, corrective,or supportive services required to ensurethat the individual benefits from specialeducation." There are 39 subcategories undercategory 322 .Individual H eaH h P lan

Code number 331 refers to Service Pr0-vider Type-'The qualified individual orlicensed organization (if licensing is neces-sary) responsible for serving the student,"Subcategory 02 refers to Health nurse-"Certified, licensed, registered nurse or nursepractitioner who provides any of the follow-ing services: 1) case finding activities toinclude health appraisal, screening for d~velopmen tal matura tional / miles tones1 vi-sion and hearing acuity, speech, dental de-viations, spinal deviations, growth, andnutritional disorders; 2) nursing care proce-dures that include immunization, medica-tion-monitoring and administration, nurs-ing assessment, and procedures related tothe health impaired student's IndividualHealth Plan (IHP); 3) care roordination andoutreach to children who do not otherwisereceive preventive health care, follow-ups toassure referral completion, home visits forfollow-up planning or home environmentassessment, and interim prenata l or familyplanning and monitoring; 4) patient/ stu-dent counseling or instruction to includenursing assessment, oounseling, and antici-patory guidance to maintain wellness orprovide assistance for identified health prob-lems or concerns," etc.Soc ialized M edic ine V ia E ducation

Obviously, the health provision aspectsof public education are to be expanded expo-

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Education Letter, Pg. 7~October 1995

nentially. IT the liberals can't get socializedmedicine through the health care system,they'll get it through the education system.Subcategory 03 Social worker reads:"Certified, licensed, or otherwise qualifiedprofessional who provides the followingservices: 1) preparing a social or develop-mental history on a student 'Withdisabilities;2) group and individual counseling with astudent and his or her family; 3) workingwith those problems in a student's livingsituation (home, school, and community)that affect adjustment in school; 4) mobiliz-ing school and community resources in orderto enable the student to receive maximumbenefit from his or her educational program;and 5) other related services as necessary.

students as indicated by psychological tests,interviews, and behavioral evaluations; 5)planning and managing a program of psy-chological services, including psychologicalcounseling for students and parents."Subcategory 05 Counselor reads: IIAstaff member responsible for guiding indi-viduals, families, groups and communitiesby assisting them in problem-solving. deci-sion-making, discovering meaning. and ar-tirulating goals related to personal, educa-tional, and career development." How manyguidance cotrnse1orsthat you know can helpanyone let alone a student, "discover mean-ing"? What a joke all of this is.

D o W e N e e d T h is ?We are told that the goverrunent needs

all of this incredibly detailed information sothat effective decisions can be made for thestudent by bureaucrats, teachers, adminis-trators, and others on the government'spayroll. But what it all adds up to is a tool ofbehavioral control and management of theAmerican population by the controlling elite.The government of a f ree people does not goabout creating the most detailed and thor-ough personal dossier on each citizen fromdate of birth to be stored in governmentcomputers on the pretext that it is needed toprovide that citizen with an education.When I attended public school as a childin New York Oty in the early 19305, all theyneeded was my name, address, date of birth,and parents names. That was it. And it wasall written by hand on a card. Your entireschool record was on a single card with yourfinal grades for each subject for each year.That's the way it ought to be today.

As for the Staf f Handbook, it calls for thesame kind of thorough biographical data asoutlined in the Student Handbook such asrace, religion, ethnidty, plus extensive dataon educational background, professional

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S e r v ic e d t o D e a t hWhat kind of individual will emergefrom an "education" system as all-encom-passing and suffocating as this one? Ameri-can children will be serviced to death bytheir government which will surround themwith teachers and specialists tormentingthem in subtle, abusive ways with endless

tests, emotional probing and strip searching,and requi red politically correct performancesto indicate, in Bill Spady's words, "visioruuyhigher-order exit outcomes." This is a sys-tem designed to turn every healthy young-ster that enters it into an academicallycrippled, emotionally damaged adult.Subcategory 04 Psychologist reads:"Certified, licensed, or otherwise quaIifiedprofessional who provides the followingservices: 1) administering psychological andeducational tests, and other assessmentprocedures; 2) interpreting assessment re-sults; 3) obtaining, integrating.. and inter-preting information about student behaviorand ronditions relating to learning; 4) ron-sulting with other staff members in planningschool programs to meet the special needs of


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Education Letter, Pg. 8 , October 1995

development .. credentialing, employment,jo b and course assigrunents, and evaluations.If you add to this the data in the teacher's filewhen he or she was a student, you have anincredibly detailed profile of that individ-ual. InChapter 1 of the Staff Handbook, weread:

Education agencies and institutions maintaininformation about staf f to facilitate the efficient andeffective functioning of the education enterprise. . . .If all data about a staff membe r are maintained in anautomated data system, many uses and types ofanalyses are possible. For instance, an administratormay need to know about th e availability of humanresources to initiate a new program. Informationabout th e background, educational and professionalq ua li fi ca ti on s o f c urre nt s ta ff member s could be usedto identify possible candidates to work on th e pm-gram.

Note the reference to the staff memberas a "human resource." That's the thinkingof the systems bureaucrat to whom a humanbeing is now a "resource" to be rontrolledand used like any other natural resource.What Can B e D o n e ?

It is absolutely essential, if we are toremain a free people, that this entire data-rollection system be stopped and dismantled.Ithas no place ina free society. The legisla-tion that authorized it must be repealed orrescinded. or defunded. This entire system isbased on the need of behavioral scientists fora detailed, longitudinal accumulation of datato verify the efficacity of their programs tochange human behavior. Benjamin Bloom,the godfather of Outrome-Based Education,wrote in his 1964book, Stability and Cha ng e inH uma n C ha ra cter is tic s:

We can learn very little about human growth,development, or even about sperif ic human charac-teristics unless we make full use of the time dimen-sion. Efforts to rontrol or change human behavior bytherapy, by education,. or by other means will be in-

adequate and poorly understood until we can followbehavior over a longer period. (p, 5)

That the behaviorist's purpose of edu-cation is to change human behavior wasspel led out in Bloom's Taxonomy o f Educa -tional Goa l s dealing with the affective do-main. He was greatly concerned with theneed to get rontrol of children as early aspossible. He wrote:

The evidence points out convincingly to th e factthat age is a factor operating against attempts to effecta complete or thorough-going reorganization of atti-tudes and values. (p, 85)

The evidence rollected thus far suggests that asingle hour of classroom activity under certain condi-tions may bring about a major reorganization incognitive as well as affective behaviors. We are of theopinion that this will prove to be a most fruitful areaof research in connection with th e affective domain.(p.SS)

And in S ta bility a nd Change tn H um anCharacteristics, Bloom wrote:

We believe that the early environment is ofcrucial importance for three reasons. TIle first isbased on the very rapid growth of selected character-istics in the early years and conceives of the variationsin the early environment as so important becausethey shape these characteristics in their IIDSt rapidperiods of fonnation.

Secondly, each characteristic is built on a base ofthat same characteristic at an earlier time or on thebase of other characteristics which precede it in devel-opment. ...

A third reason ... stems from learning theory. Itis much easier to learn something new than it is tostamp out one set of learned behaviors and replacethem by a new set. (p, 215)

The data collection system outlined inthe Student Handbook will give the behav-iorists the vital tool they need to hone theirability to thoroughly reorganize the values,attitudes and behaviors of the Americanstudent God help us if this system is imple-mented.

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the blumenfeld education letter october_1995

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