The Washington Post
“NEW YORK Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) wasted no time dismantling the education policies of three-term mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I), and his administration claims schools have improved as a result. Well, jettisoning data-driven accountability, transparency and standards certainly makes it easier to claim success. But children measured by low standards and with inflated grades may not be learning, which undermines any chance they will have for success.”
By Dan Weisberg | TNTP Blog
“Last week brought the latest chapter of the Common Core saga in New York, which we’ve been chronicling for more than two years on this blog. It was a disappointing one for those of us who support high standards that will help prepare students for college—a goal that, according to polls, an overwhelming majority of parents have for their children.
Here’s a quick refresher: Governor Andrew Cuomo—the self-appointed ‘lobbyist for the students’—has spent much of the last four years fending off efforts by special interest groups to gin up hysteria about Common Core and the associated annual tests. The criticism reached such heights this year that Cuomo appointed a task force to make recommendations about how the state could implement the standards more effectively.”
By Monica Disare | Chalkbeat NY
“In a dramatic reversal, New York’s Board of Regents voted Monday to suspend the use of state standardized test scores in teacher evaluations for four years.
According to the proposal state officials presented Monday, teachers will receive two annual evaluation ratings beginning next year and lasting through 2019. One rating will include state test results but be used only for advisory purposes. The other, which state officials called a transition rating, will not use state test results and will be the one used for personnel decisions. The same arrangement would also apply to principals during that period.”
By Monica Disare and Sarah Darville | Chalkbeat NY
“As state officials voted to change the way New York teachers are evaluated Monday, they released new data showing that more than 92 percent of city teachers earned an ‘effective’ rating or higher last year.
In New York City, 10.8 percent of teachers earned a top rating of ‘highly effective’ for the 2014-15 school year, up from about 9 percent last year. Most teachers, more than 81 percent, earned an ‘effective’ rating, while 6.5 percent were rated ‘developing’ and 1 percent earned the lowest rating, ‘ineffective.'”
New York Daily News
“Gov. Cuomo’s task force on the Common Core education standards has delivered plans for a four-year reboot of the learning benchmarks that sparked a parent — and teachers union — revolt.
Cuomo vows standards, to be crafted with teachers and parents, will prepare students for college and careers. Seeing will be believing.
He also asserts that, using existing law, districts will credibly evaluate teacher performance, in part using results of tests chosen by local districts. Harder to see, harder to believe.”
By Kate Taylor | The New York Times
“A task force Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo created is calling for changes in what New York State students learn and how they are assessed, in a set of recommendations released on Thursday.
ask force, which Mr. Cuomo convened in response to the concerns of parents and teachers, is also calling for the state not to use its test scores to evaluate teachers through the 2018-19 school year, to allow time to develop the new standards and tests.
The report is the latest step in the state’s retreat from the Common Core school standards, national benchmarks that New York adopted in 2010, and especially from using student test scores in teacher evaluations. It comes in the wake of a rebellion by parents against testing; one-fifth of students did not sit for the state exams this year, a fourfold increase from the previous year.”
By Jon Campbell | Democrat & Chronicle
“ALBANY – Common Core-based tests wouldn’t count for teachers and students in New York until the 2019-20 school year under a plan from an education panel advising Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The state Common Core Task Force issued its final report Thursday afternoon, laying out 21 recommendations for how the state can tailor the oft-debated education standards and improve the state’s standardized testing process.”
By Robert Pondiscio | New York Daily News
“Ten years ago students would come to my South Bronx fifth-grade classroom still adding and subtracting on their fingers, yet somehow these same students were deemed proficient on their state tests. It was a lie, and we knew it.
Gov. Cuomo seems determined to bring back those bad old days of low standards, dumbed-down tests and sending hundreds of thousands of New York children out into the world utterly unprepared for college, career or even running a cash register.”
By Monica Disare, Patrick Wall and Sarah Darville | Chalkbeat NY
“The governor’s Common Core task force has proposed overhauling the Common Core standards and pausing test-based teacher evaluations, paving the way for significant changes to policies that have dominated state education for years.
The recommendations were part of a report, released Thursday afternoon, that reflects parent and educator concerns about state tests, evaluations, and the rollout of the standards that have been brewing for years. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has pushed for tough academic standards and teacher ratings tied to test scores, has said he will pay close attention to the group’s recommendations — indicating that he is ready to back a broad shift in the state’s education policies.”
NEW YORK – Partnership for Educational Justice Executive Director Ralia Polechronis released the following statement in response to recommendations from Governor Cuomo’s Common Core Task Force:
“It is disheartening that the Governor’s Task Force recommends eliminating student performance from teacher evaluations. Despite research showing that effective teachers are the most critical factor in a student’s educational success, Albany’s leaders are backing down from high standards for teachers. This is a return to the ‘baloney’ system that the Governor himself admonished earlier this year for rating 95 percent of teachers effective when only a third of students are reading and doing math at grade level. As usual, the political process is bending to special interests, once again failing to protect the constitutional rights of children. This is precisely why the plaintiff families of Wright v. New York have asked the courts to protect their constitutional rights and ensure that students across the State can receive the quality education they deserve.”
-Ralia Polechronis, Executive Director
Contact:
Melody Meyer
melody@edjustice.org | 646-770-7061