Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

Appendix XVI

“Totalitarian Data-Gathering System Prepared by U.S. Department of Education”

“Totalitarian Data-Gathering System Prepared by U.S. Department of Education” by Samuel Blumenfeld from The Blumenfeld Education Newsletter, October 1995 (Vol. 10, No. 10, Letter #109).

If ever proof were needed to confirm that the New World Order would be totalitarian in its control of individual citizens, the U.S. Department of Education’s recent release of its hand books on data-gathering on students and faculty should be enough to satisfy any freedom-loving citizen. The two publications are the Student Data Handbook for Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education (NCES 94–303) released in June 1994, comprised of 226 pages plus about 100 pages of appendices, and the Staff Data Handbook: Elementary, Secondary and Early Childhood Education (NCES 95–327) released in January 1995, comprised of 219 pages and about 70 pages of appendices. Both Handbooks were produced under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Education, the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Both can be obtained by telephone from the U.S. Dept. of Education. The Foreword for the Student Data Handbook states: NCES is pleased to release the 1994 Student Data Handbook: Elementary, Secondary and Early Childhood Education . It is a major effort to establish current and consistent terms, definitions and classification codes to maintain, correct, report and exchange information about students. When this effort began, the only existing national standards for student data had been published by NCES in 1974. Because student data have evolved greatly over time both in the type and format of data maintained, it was essential that new standards be developed that would reflect current practices. This national effort was coordinated by the Council of Chief State School Officers under contract to the National Center for Educational Statistics. Those individuals and organizations involved in the process truly reflect all interested stakeholders in elementary, secondary and

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