Tag: Common Core

Parents and Educators Outraged by Regents Unwillingness to Assume Responsibility and Change Course

Via NYSAPE, of which the PJSTA is a member…

 

Parents and Educators Outraged by Regents Unwillingness to Assume Responsibility and Change Course

 

The leaders of the NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE), a coalition of more than 45 parent and educator groups from throughout the state, expressed extreme disappointment that the NYS Regent Common Core Taskforce refused to address the real issues undermining education in this state and made only minor tweaks to current policies.  The report is quite clear that the Regents continue to ignore the deep flaws in the Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS), excessive high stakes state testing and student data sharing.  The recommendations can be viewed here: http://www.regents.nysed.gov/meetings/2014/February2014/214p12hea3.pdf

Tim Farley, a parent of four public school children and the Principal of Ichabod Crane Elementary/Middle School said, “Today’s recommendations from Commissioner King and the Regents task force reveal just how out of touch they are and how obsessive their appetite is for excessive state tests.  The fact that they refuse to subject their own children to these excessive testing and data policies is very telling.  The parents and educators of New York have been paying attention, and they are justifiably outraged.”

“The need to replace the four incumbent Regents members is more important than ever,” said Eric Mihelbergel, Ken-Ton public school parent and founding member of NYSAPE.  The Regents Taskforce failed to address the real concerns of parents and again has displayed disconnect from their constituents.  Their recommendations today tell me the State is full steam ahead with this failed reform agenda.”

Carol Burris, South Side High Principal and 2013 Principal of the Year stated, “For a deliberative body that is so insistent that students, schools and educators be held accountable, their unwillingness to assume responsibility for their blunders and respond by correcting course is breathtaking.  For example, they shift the review of the New York State Common Core standards to the National Governors Association, rather than assume that responsibility themselves. At nearly every turn they “advocate”, or “encourage” others to take action, rather than earnestly respond to what they heard.  Developing a “teacher portal” and more low quality materials, is hardly the response our parents expected.  The tinkering with dates and semantics about college ready scores at the high school level provides no relief for our K-8 students from testing or from the implementation of flawed curriculum. ”

“Instead of simply calling for a delay in the uploading of private student data onto an insecure data cloud, and pass the responsibility to deal with this issue to the Legislature, the Regents should have insisted that the inBloom contract be cancelled, as every other state has done.  Why should New York continue to be the worst place in the country when it comes to student privacy?” asked Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters.

“The notion that more time to phase in standards or train teachers will somehow cure the ills of a deficient curriculum and inappropriate tests is misguided.    Just as troubling is the suggestion that teachers should continue to be evaluated on the basis of a system no one believes in, and that if they are threatened with losing their jobs, they  should “raise an alleged failure” of their districts to properly implement the Common Core – when the fault lies with the state.   There is no need for more money to ‘engage’ parents with implementation of CCLS. Parents have made their voices perfectly clear in demanding that these destructive policies be brought to an immediate halt,” said Jessica McNair, New Hartford public school parent.

“The Regents appear not  to understand that the actual time spent on testing per day, multiplied out over six days of the state assessments, is inappropriate for all students despite the misleading statistics quoted in recommendations,” stated Chris Cerrone, Western New York public school parent of two elementary-aged children.

“Our state education system remains in turmoil, yet the recommendations of this task force do nothing to address the profound problems associated with the standards and excessive high stakes testing.  They simply echo the false sentiments of Chancellor Tisch and Commissioner King, by providing nothing more than superficial suggestions in an attempt to pacify the public. Parents will not be so easily assuaged,” said Jeanette Deutermann, Bellmore public school parent and founder of Long Island Opt-Out.

Long Island Common Core Poll

Via Diane Ravitch…

Even as the Néw York Board of Regents made minor tweaks to the Common Core standards and testing, a poll by News 12, Long Island’s only TV news station, showed simmering anti – Common Core sentiment in this crucial suburban area.

8% say Delay It
86% say Eliminate It
6% say Leave It Alone

Long Island has been a hotbed of anti-Common Core activism.

I am trying to figure out who the 6% are who think we should leave it along?  I guess there is that hack from East Moriches who couldn’t do enough to tell King and Tisch how much he loved the Common Core.  Other than that I honestly can’t think of an educator I have come across who thinks we should just “leave it alone”.  That’s not an exaggeration.  I haven’t heard one.

Ravitch is right.  long Island has been a hotbed in the fight against the Common Core.  It also must stay that way.  Understand that any minor alterations are not ok.  A two-year or three-year moratorium is not ok.  As we have been saying from the start, nothing short of a full withdrawal from Race to the Top is acceptable.  Anything short of that should result in a lot of state legislators losing their jobs in November.

PJSTA’s McMullan Responds to Newsday’s Propaganda

Those unfortunate souls who still read Newsday may have seen an editorial in today’s edition titled, “Stop the testing tug-of-war”.  Other editions seemed to have it titled “Don’t Slow Down the Common Core in New York”.  It was a real propoganda piece in which Newsday shilled for the Common Core.  The PJSTA’s Melissa McMullan penned a response.  Diane Ravitch published it on her blog today.  Here is McMullan’s reply…

In response to “Stop the testing tug-of-war”

Upset is not the word. As a teacher, as a mother and as a taxpayer, I am filled with disgust. Let’s speak of facts from people who are in the system, rather than the hypotheses of those (the media and corporations) on the outside.

1.    The “standardized tests” do not track year-to-year progress of a student. No teacher knows what students mastered, and what they did not. Last year’s assessment tested students on materials that were not available until after the assessment. It contained proprietary material that the test’s maker, Pearson, includes in curricular materials that it sells to school districts – giving purchasers an unfair advantage on the test. Next, the test’s outcome was predicted by the Commissioner weeks before the tests ever made their way to schools for administration. Finally, in the six years I have administered the assessment to my students, I have personally observed ten point swings between passing and failing – depending upon how the state wanted schools and teachers to be perceived by the public.

2.    The state teacher evaluation system (APPR) will find few teachers ineffective because the majority of the score (60-80%) is derived from local measures – observation, lesson plans, parent communication,etc…. The state gave me a 1 out of 20 for my growth score for last year. If the state’s portion were used as my only evaluative tool, I would have been considered ineffective. I could accept a 1 out of 20, if the state could tell me what I did well, what I did not and which portion of that score was for my math instruction of 60 students, and which portion was for my English Language Arts (ELA) instruction of 30 students. No one has this information.

3.    Standards-based evaluations have yet to be seen. During my years in business, I had objectives I was required to meet. Each year, I sat down with my supervisor and we discussed those I had met, those I had not, and how to improve. In this system, we give students assessments that have no standardized bar to pass. After they take the assessment, their teachers and parents never know what standards they have met, and which they have not.

4.    The curricular materials were not available last year. This is true. This fall, the state released materials. The math modules availablefor my sixth grade class required me to spend two hours per day modifying them in order to eliminate spelling and grammatical errors, replace a 10-point font with a 14-point font that young children can read and see, as well as define ways to bridge gaps between what my students were able to do, and the skills they needed to have to get through the lessons. Furthermore, the first unit was comprised entirely of lengthy word problems that my students, who are reading several years behind, were unable to read.

As a mother and a teacher I ask for:

o  Assessments that measure state standards, with consistent benchmarks for passing to track progress over time.

o  Item analysis for parents and teachers so both parties know what students have mastered and what they have not.

o  A state growth score that tells a teacher what his /her students mastered, and what they did not.

Until those three requirements are met, my own four children will not participate in the state’s fraudulent assessment system that drains valuable resources from cash-strapped school districts, promotes growth for corporations like Pearson and in its lack of transparency, erodes the teacher-student relationship.

Sincerely,

Melissa McMullan

6th Grade Teacher

Cuomo’s Rigged Common Core Panel

Yesterday, Andy Cuomo, the self-proclaimed “Lobbyist for Students” announced his Common Core Implementation Panel.  In a move that surprised absolutely nobody, the panel is stacked with people who have already professed their love for the common core publicly.  It would seem as though the reason it took our esteemed governor such a long time to put this panel together was because he needed to go to the far reaches of the universe to find a superintendent and teacher who liked the Common Core to put on the panel.  But he did that.  

Our friend Reality-Based Educator did a great job giving us the lowdown on the background of the people on the panel.  Via Perdido Street School…

As Leonie Haimson pointed out, Litow is a proponent of CCSS (he wrote an opinion piece stating New York must not abandon the Common Core.)

So we have a CCSS proponent chairing the panel. 

John Flanagan, head of the Senate Education Committee, was endorsing Common Core as late as last August, though he has recently stepped back a bit from that as the political pressure has mounted and has called for a delay in their use for high stakes. 

Cathy Nolan is also a supporter of the Common Core standards, though like Flanagan, she has called for a delay in their use for high stakes.

Linda Darling-Hammond has given some support to CCSS, though she has criticized the process by which the standards were developed as well as expressed concerns around the CCSS testing and the way CCSS has been implemented.

Todd Hathaway is a teacher from Erie County who has publicly testified against the testing as imposed by SED and the Regents.

Alice Jackson-Jolley is the daughter of a Pataki “pal” who said this about CCSS:

Jackson-Jolley said she has an open mind about the Common Core, in particular how it has been introduced in New York. But she said that she wants her two daughters, 10 and 7, who attend North Salem schools, to receive a more challenging public-school education than what she received.“I hope they get an education that is rigorous, challenges them, and inspires them, so they never feel they are skating through,” she said. “When they get to college and beyond, I want them to feel prepared and competitive.”

Don’t want to say she sounds definitively like a CCSS supporter, but she’s throwing around the kind of CCSS buzzwords (“rigorous” and “competitive”) you hear from pro-CCSS supporters.

Nick Lawrence is a member of Educators4Excellence who testified he supports the Common Core. 

Delia Pompa is senior VP for programs at La Raza, an organization that has supported CCSS even as it has expressed concern over how CCSS implementation will affect Latino students.

Anne Kress, President of Monroe Community College says there are no problems with the Common Core standards as standards – she thinks they’re just swell.

Charles Russo is a district superintendent who testified he loves Common Core and the EngageNY modules. 

Dan Weisberg is an education reformer who runs an education reform outfit that is pro-CCSS and just recently wrote this:

Back in the fall, we noted that teachers unions in New York appeared to be resorting to Tea Party tactics in an attempt to bully Governor Andrew Cuomo and Education Commissioner John King into backtracking on two of their signature achievements: Implementing a state law that requires better teacher evaluation systems, and adopting the Common Core State Standards, a set of more ambitious and coherent learning standards for students.

What has happened in the months since? Despite all the maneuvering, Cuomo and King haven’t backed down. In fact, Cuomo reiterated his focus on these achievements in his State of the State address last week, pointing to the evaluation law as a success story and proposing to use the results from evaluations to award bonuses of up to $20,000 to the state’s highest-rated teachers.

…

What’s happening in New York is an important lesson for leaders across the country: If you’re serious about education reform, be prepared to fend off a steady stream of political attacks from both sides of the aisle, even after your policies have been adopted.

Fortunately, Governor Cuomo and Commissioner King don’t scare easily, and they finish what they start. They’re setting a commendable example by sticking to their principles in the face of all these attacks. Here’s hoping they keep it up, for the sake of the millions of students in New York who will benefit from higher standards.

Cuomo’s rigging of the panel was very much expected.  What was very disappointing, however, was UFT President Michael Mulgrew.  Mulgrew, whose Unity Caucus torpedoed an attempt to rule out a Cuomo endorsement last month, continued his love affair with Andy Cuomo in this UFT press release…

Mulgrew praises formation of Governor’s Common Core panel

FEBRUARY 7, 2014

UFT President Michael Mulgrew on Feb. 7 applauded Governor Cuomo’s appointment of an 11-member group — including education expert Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University, State Senator John Flanagan, and Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan — to recommend changes to the flawed rollout of the Common Core Learning Standards.

In response, UFT President Michael Mulgrew said:

“I want to thank the Governor for listening to parents, children, principals and teachers across the state who have made it clear that the rush to implement the Common Core standards in New York State has not worked.  We look forward to the panel’s recommendations.”

So there’s that.  It’s no wonder UFT rank and file members want MORE from their union!  Mulgrew, who couldn’t endorse the Revive NYSUT slate quick enough, either doesn’t care about the fate of his members or he is the most out of touch labor leader around.  As one commenter on James Eterno’s ICEUFT blog put it…

 Pogue said…

Happy with Gates.
Happy with Cuomo.
Happy with Common Core.
Happy with King.
Happy with Tisch.
Happy with Bloomberg. (2009 election)
Happy with Danielson.
Happy with 40% MOSL’s.

Is there a teacher/student-abusing person or policy the UFT Leadership is unhappy with?

 

NEA Survey On Common Core

I received this in my email yesterday.  All PJSTA members should be sure to take the survey.  I made sure to tell the NEA to STOP SUPPORTING THE COMMON CORE!

Dear BRIAN STPIERRE,

Your state education association and the National Education Association want to hear from you on some of the most important education issues teachers are facing – issues like Common Core implementation and standardized testing.

The NEA and your state education association have hired Bernett Research, an independent opinion research firm, to conduct a confidential survey of K-12 teacher members across the state. We urge you to take a few minutes to fill out this very important survey. They need to hear from you in order to be an effective voice for you on the critical issues that affect you, your teacher colleagues, your profession, and your students.

The process is easy and the survey will only take a few minutes to complete. All you have to do is click on the link below or type the full web address listed below into your web browser:

http://survey.confirmit.com/wix/p2990678135.aspx?__userid=BVGABFR6P

Please be assured that your responses to the survey are strictly confidential. Neither the NEA nor your state education association will have access to any identifying information for any opinions or responses you provide.

The link above will only be active through Tuesday, February 18, so we urge you to complete the survey as soon as possible. 

The NEA cannot stress enough the importance of ensuring that educator voices are a major part of the public debate about the future of public education. But they need your help to make that happen.

Should you have any questions or difficulties completing this survey, please feel free to contact the project manager, Brooke Tippery, by email at surveys@cybercept.com.

On behalf of your state education association and the NEA, thank you for your participation.

King and Tisch Finally Roll Into NYC

After nearly two months of stops across New York State, the King & Tisch “We’re Not Listening Tour” finally rolled into New York City last night.  This time the dynamic duo split up, with Tisch visiting the Bronx and her puppet John King stopping by Brooklyn.

Mark Naison of the Badass Teachers Association has the story of Queen Merryl’s trip to the Bronx.

John King’s Brooklyn visit was quite a bit different from most of his other stops.  It was a meeting that was well attended by John Flanagan’s pals from Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirstNY.  Additionally it had numerous charter school operators in attendance.  These people, of course, benefit from the harmful reforms being pushed through by SED and the regents.  So naturally it became a glowing report on how swimmingly things are going.  Interestingly enough these people truly are representatives of special interests groups.  Yet John King wasn’t complaining about the meeting being co-opted by special interests tonight, as he did when parents lambasted him at the PTA Town Hall Meeting in October.  MORE‘s Katie Lapham writes of her experience there last night.  Capital New York with the story here.

Hold Your Applause

Flanagan and King
Flanagan and King

We are entering an important period of time in the push back against the education reforms in New York State.  Fearing for their jobs next November, we are beginning to see some movement from state legislators on the school reform agenda.  This is to be expected, as they have been hearing more about this agenda than anything else.  Recently Senator Flanagan indicated that when the legislature convenes in January we should see quick action on the student privacy issue.  Make no doubt, this is excellent news and it shows that finally legislators are starting to listen.

This, however, is not nearly enough.  It became fairly predictable a couple of weeks back that there would be some movement in this direction.  Legislators are fearing for their jobs and Commissioner King has had enough vitriol directed towards him that the state is now willing to throw us a bone.  But as we have stated time and again, nothing but a full withdrawal from Race to the Top in New York State is acceptable.  That is the message our legislators should continue to hear until they have delivered it.

There is a danger that with the passage of legislation restricting the data sent to inBloom people will be appeased.  That is what John King and Merryl Tisch are hoping.  That is what Andrew Cuomo is hoping for.  That is what John Flanagan, Ken LaValle, and the rest of the legislature is hoping.  That they can offer up the privacy issue in the hopes that the public will thank them, jump into their holiday season, and forget all about the rest of the abusive reform agenda.

There have been signs that some people are ready to head down this road.  Here is No Kids Data NY:

And NYSUT’s Kyle Belokopitsky…

Again, let me be clear, limiting student data that is passed on is a win for our movement.  It is something to be thankful for and a feather in our cap.  But I am not ready to throw too many plaudits in Senator Flanagan’s direction yet.  Keep in mind, Senator Flanagan is a major reason we are in this mess to begin with.  Along with Andy Cuomo, puppet John King, and puppet master Merryl Tisch, he has been at the forefront of pushing the abusive reform agenda in New York State.  Senator Flanagan has a long way to go before I am sending him a thank you card.  A lot needs to be accomplished before I can be assured that the money that his chief campaign contributor, Michelle Rhee, gave him is not being spent to continue to harm students and teachers in New York for the benefit of private corporations.

The Smithtown News recently published a great editorial, titled “Change course on King/Flanagan agenda”, about Flanagan’s role in harming public education in New York State.  It’s behind a pay wall so I’ll only give you the highlights.  All bolded emphasis is mine.

On the organized opposition against the reform agenda…

Call it the King/Flanagan agenda, and it stinks.

The opposition has become so angry that wherever Senator Flanagan, SED Commissioner Dr. John King and Regent Chancellor Dr. Merryl Tisch go from one end of the state to the other, people start screaming at them.

On what may be part of Flanagan’s motivation (though the Rhee bucks help too)…

Ever since NYSUT refused to endorse him for re-election in 2010, Mr. Flanagan has been out to get public school teachers and he is hell-bent on taking the public school system down with them.  He has jumped to the center of the charter school bandwagon, which drains money from public schools, he has fostered implementation of an inherently unfair and flawed APPR system, he has ushered in the misguided and premature implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards and he has allowed the implementation of the abusive testing of students.

After commenting on the $1 billion in state aid that Long Island districts have lost while Flanagan has either been the ranking Republican or Chairman of the Senate Education Committee…

Never has Long Island faired so poorly in terms of state aid as it has under the educational leadership of John Flanagan, and now his failed policies are threatening to destroy the quality educational system that we have enjoyed here on Long Island for generations.

On Flanagan’s hearings around the state that are dedicated to the reform agenda…

The hearings should have been held before implementing these new policies, not after.  The intent now is only to act as political cover for Mr. Flanagan, who will try to emerge as if he resolved this difficult problem.

Remember though, he is the root cause of the terrible situation facing public school education right now.  He needs to be replaced whether the problem is ultimately solved or not.

It really was a great article that reminds us that John Flanagan is one of the primary reasons we are in this mess.  So I will hold my thank you until the entire agenda is repealed.

Dimino’s Response to Bruni

“I critique food, therefore I know all about your jobs too.”

The New York Times, like much of the mainstream media, has continuously shilled for the corporate driven Common Core State Standards.  This weekend they posted this op-ed from food critic Frank Bruni.  Mr. Bruni quotes Beth Dimino in it and then suggests that the anxiety Mrs. Dimino spoke about may becoming more from their parents than the endless amounts of standardized testing that is done in school these days.

Here is Mrs. Dimino’s response to Mr. Bruni…

Mr. Bruni, it comes as no surprise to me that as a food critic you believe that you are uniquely qualified to comment on the ramifications of the high stakes testing portion of the Common Core on New York’s children.  You’re not a parent or an educator and you weren’t at the forum where I spoke, but you believed that you could write an informed article for the New York Times and insert my speech without bothering to ask me why I made the comments or to familiarize yourself with the topic.  It seems like so many intelligent people, even New York Times writers, just don’t get it.  Or is it that you don’t want to get it?  Teachers give students tests to evaluate what the child has learned and to better inform themselves about their pedagogy.  These tests are not administered for those reasons.  Are you aware that the students who are tested in the spring do not receive their grades until the fall?  Did you know that Commissioner King created a test that he accurately predicted 70% of the State’s children would fail?  Does it matter to you that children as young as 4 years old are required to take these tests?  I have some suggestions for you Mr. Bruni.  Buy and read Diane Ravitch’s book, Reign of Error, if you want a different perspective about American Public Education.  Investigate why more than half of the States are now reevaluating whether or not to withdraw from Race To The Top. Contact me if you would like to know what’s really going on in a New York State public school classroom. Count your lucky stars that your English teachers prepared you for your New York Times gig!

Reality Based Educator also has a great take on the Bruni propaganda.