Partnership for Educational Justice

Cuomo Backtracks on Common Core, Wants 4-Year Moratorium

By Yoav Gonen and Carl Campanile | New York Post

“A Cuomo-appointed task force on Thursday called for a four-year moratorium on using Common Core exams to evaluate teachers and students, halting what had been a steady push toward tougher accountability.

If approved by Gov. Cuomo and the state Board of Regents, the change would mean the annual exams in English and math for students in Grades 3 to 8 won’t factor into teacher evaluations or student-promotion decisions until the 2019-2020 school year.”

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Hammond: Inside the Perfect Political Storm That’s Forcing Cuomo To Backpedal on New York Education Reform

By Bill Hammond | The 74

“These are whiplash-inducing times for public schools in New York, as state education leaders keep hitting the brakes on the very reforms they had aggressively pushed only a few years ago.

The Common Core standards that were supposed to assure that students were better prepared for college, careers and citizenship? Both the Board of Regents and a Gov. Cuomo-appointed task force are subjecting them to what Cuomo has called a ‘total reboot.’

The tougher standardized tests that students would have to pass to receive a diploma? The Regents have delayed that by five years, to 2022.”

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Better Schools, Better Economies

By Gillian B. White | The Atlantic

“The benefits of a better education are most often discussed in terms of personal gain: higher wages, greater economic mobility, and generally, a better life. But not all the benefits are private: Local economies flourish when there are more skilled and productive workers.

That’s the conclusion of the economists Eric A. Hanushek of Stanford, and Ludger Woessmann and Jens Ruhose of the University of Munich, whose new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research takes a look at the financial return for states who invest in improving the quality of K-12 education. They find that the payoff can be significant.”

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After Criticism, City Publishes Renewal Goals, Arguing They Top State Targets

By Patrick Wall | Chalkbeat NY

“The city published its improvement goals for 94 struggling schools in its ‘Renewal’ program Monday after facing a wave of criticism over a lack of transparency around the nearly $400 million program.

The city education department also released a detailed summary of those goals in response to charges that it had set a low bar for some of the troubled schools. Last week, a top state official accused the city of permitting ‘failure’ after Chalkbeat reported that the schools had been given three years to meet one-year targets — which a few schools already hit this spring.”

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New York Education Dept. Clarifies Goals for Poor-Performing Schools

By Elizabeth A. Harris | The New York Times

“Amid growing criticism that New York City is demanding too little improvement from its lowest-performing schools, the Department of Education on Monday released a list of the education targets that schools in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s $400 million School Renewal Program are expected to meet.

By adding a section devoted to Renewal benchmarks to each school’s official web page, the department made its goals easily accessible for the first time. It acted after days of headlines criticizing the Renewal program, as well as questions from the state’s highest-ranking education official about its rigor.”

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Once More, With Feeling: In His Umpteenth Attempt to get Teacher Evaluations Right, Gov. Cuomo Must Hit the Mark

New York Daily News

“In the most forceful vow of his reelection campaign, Gov. Cuomo promised that as the children’s lobbyist, he would enact the nation’s most vigorous system to raise education standards and hold teachers accountable.

He got what he wished for — and then some.

Fired up by teachers unions, many parents rebelled against new Common Core learning standards that revealed many students were not as proficient as past tests had indicated. With 20% of parents boycotting tests, with the unions gaining sway over the Board of Regents and with public opinion polls running against him, Cuomo has embarked on one more adjustment to how teachers will one day be evaluated, if that day ever comes.”

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Editorial: Faster, For the Kids in Fixing Bad Schools

New York Daily News

“Mayor de Blasio unveiled his Renewal Schools plans little more than a year ago with patented ambition, pledging his $400 million program to infuse 94 chronically struggling campuses with more support services and teacher development would transform teaching and learning.

‘We will demand fast and intense improvement,’ he said , ‘and we will see that it happens.’ The mayor added that his ‘impatience for change comes from a very personal place.’

Rhetoric of revolutionary urgency, meet reality of bureaucratic baby steps.”

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After Tisch Attacks Renewal Goals, City Says School Closures Possible Next Year

By Patrick Wall | Chalkbeat NY

“Outgoing state Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch took a swipe at New York City’s school-improvement program Thursday, saying the city is permitting ‘failure’ at certain troubled schools and setting ‘ridiculous’ goals at others.

Her comments came after Chalkbeat reported that the city has quietly given the 94 struggling schools in its $400 million ‘Renewal’ improvement program three years to hit one-year targets. One of the schools, M.S. 53 in Queens, has until 2017 to boost its students’ average reading score from 2.14 to 2.15.”

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Renewal Schools Get Three Years to Meet One-Year Goals, Clashing with Mayor’s Rhetoric

By Patrick Wall | Chalkbeat NY

“The city has given the 94 troubled schools in its expensive new improvement program a special pass: They have three years to hit academic targets that other schools must meet in one year.

Under Mayor Bill de Blasio, every school in the city is assigned annual goals that take into account how needy its students are. But unlike other schools, the 94 struggling schools in the ‘Renewal’ program won’t get new, harder goals every year.

Instead, they have until 2017 to achieve goals they received in 2014. In the interim, they must reach benchmarks that are a fraction of the size of a typical school’s.”

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Often Cited by Officials, ‘Renewal’ School Goals are Hard to Find

By Patrick Wall | Chalkbeat NY

“Chancellor Carmen Fariña told lawmakers last week that 94 of New York City’s most troubled schools must meet ‘clear benchmarks’ or face serious consequences — including closure.

But if parents or members of the public want to find out what those goals are, it isn’t easy.

The city has refused to release the one-page lists of goals that each school received in May, which include targets for attendance, test scores, and graduation rates. The education department is instead referring parents to school improvement plans posted online.”

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© 2014 Partnership for Educational Justice

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