Walcott, Bloomberg Want Pass On This Year's Common Core Test Scores

Buried in this Schoolbook article about budget cuts is this nugget:

Walcott, who was joined at the hearing by Shael Polakow-Suransky, chief academic officer, and Michael Tragale, chief financial officer, also discussed issues related to state tests, the Common Core learning standards, school-based health centers, college readiness rates and recouping Medicaid expenses.

Walcott warned of the difficulty of the new tests, now aligned with the Common Core, and of the anticipated drop in test scores. He said the tests will establish “an entirely new baseline” for measuring student performance that cannot be compared to past test results.

That's Walcott's way of saying "Don't blame us when these scores drop 30% from last year's scores.  They're different tests, they shouldn't be compared to last year's tests, they are more difficult than previous years and they are no indication of how well we are doing as a school system or how well I am doing as chancellor or how well the education mayor is doing in his self-appointed role."

And yet, the teachers will be held accountable for these scores regardless, as per the new APPR teacher evaluation system.

You can bet that Bloomberg and Walcott will come out firing when they get the NYSED "teacher effectiveness" scores based on these tests for 4th-8th grade math and ELA teachers, go on a p.r. offensiveness about how NYC is stuck with all these "bad teachers" and claim that's why they need the flexibility to fire at will.

You can bet they will try and use these scores to close more schools before they go (or at least put out a "hit list" on schools to try and shame the next mayor to follow their lead on closures.)

And you can bet some kids may be left back because of the scores as well.

And this will occur even though the tests aligned to the new Common Core standards have not been aligned to the actual curriculum yet.

Teachers are having to wing this stuff as they go because they have gotten no support from either the NYSED or the NYCDOE per curriculum materials.

Just another example of the oligarchs using one set of standards and measurements for themselves and another for the rest of us