The Buffalo News Opinion
“That was fast.
Hardly six weeks after passing a new state budget that included important changes in the teacher evaluation system and aggressive deadlines for imposing them, the Assembly retreated en masse, voting 135-1 to slow it down.”
Newsday Editorial Board
“The bill on education and teacher evaluations passed 135-1 last week by the State Assembly is almost certainly a dead end, but it may have set some sort of speed record. After all, the Assembly, Senate and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had agreed to a new evaluation plan less than two months ago.”
By Elizabeth A. Harris and Ford Fessenden
The New York Times
“BOICEVILLE, N.Y. — It started with a speech in the fall, to parents who had gathered in the auditorium to learn what to expect during the nascent school year.
“I spoke at the open house and said, ‘We hope you’ll opt out of the tests,’ ” said Heather Roberts, vice president of the Bennett Intermediate School parent teacher association. Last year, 92 percent of eligible students in the Catskill Mountains district that includes Boiceville took their standardized English tests. “Jaws dropped.””
By Jason Russell
Washington Examiner
“NEW ORLEANS — Abusive teachers prey on students in classrooms across the country — and too often there’s nothing parents can do about it. Laws actually protect many teachers from being fired even when it’s clear they are guilty of wrongdoing.”
By Rebecca Klein
Huffington Post Education
“Decades after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling declared segregated schooling of black students unconstitutional, many American schools with high minority populations continue to receive fewer resources and provide an education that’s inferior to schools with large white populations.”
By Jenny Sedlis
City & State
“The greatest single factor impacting a student’s ability to learn is the quality of the teacher in the classroom. But right now, parents across the state cannot count on a system that rates 95 percent of teachers across New York state as effective, despite the fact that just a third of public school students are considered proficient in English and math. Something doesn’t add up and something has to change so students across the state get the education they deserve no matter what school they attend. Central to that improvement is developing a better system to assess the educators.”
By Gerson Borrero
City & State
“As the unresolved battle surrounding the New York State assessment of students’ academic achievement rages, City & State Editor-at-Large Gerson Borrero discusses the issue with Derrell Bradford, Executive Director of the New York Campaign for Achievement Now and a member of High Achievement New York.”
By Erika Sanzi
Education Post
““For most of the 150-year-history of public education in the U.S., public schools have done a pretty good job. There is no crisis in public education.”
—Salvatore Babones in Salon, May 9, 2015 (emphasis added)
If I were to base my opinion of the American public school system solely on my experience in an overwhelmingly white community of highly educated and affluent families, I could accept Babones’ assertion that “There is no crisis in public education.” But I can’t do that.”
By Jake Miller
CBS News
“The “nation’s report card” arrived this week, and someone’s getting grounded.
Only 18 percent of 8th-graders were rated “proficient” or “advanced” in their understanding of U.S. history, according to the results of the 2014 National Assessment of Educational Progress. Only 27 percent demonstrated a strong grasp of geography. And only 24 percent scored highly on the civics exam.”
By Derrell Bradford
Hechinger Report
“Fire is a gift from the gods, but it’s still hard to watch your neighborhood burn.
There was no CVS on the corner of Pennsylvania and North Avenues in West Baltimore — or Penn North as folks from the area call it — but I know the corner like the back of my hand.”