Merryl Tisch Says No Issues With ELA Tests - Except For The Timing Issues, The Product Placement...

According to Gotham Schools, Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch made the following claims:

Tisch said this year’s English exams, the first to be aligned to the new standards, “had none of the issues that we had last year.” But she said Pearson didn’t deserve all of the credit. Following last year’s issues, the state cracked down on Pearson, ordering the publishing giant to agree to make changes to the way it administers the tests moving forward.

“I’d remind everyone that Pearson didn’t do those alone,” Tisch said. “We had our team working with them and overseeing it"

Actually there have been plenty of issues with the exams already, including the timing issues (many students had nowhere near the time needed to complete the tests) and the issue of product placements in the tests, including trademarks, in footnotes that amounted to nothing more than advertising for companies like Mugs Root Beer ("Mugs Root Beer is the leading brand of rootbeer!" the kids learned via Pearson/NYSED.)

In addition, many teachers said there were questions on the tests with two more more possible answers.

But because NYSED and Pearson have put an embargo on the tests - any teacher who divulges test contents will have her/his license revoked by the state for violation of contract - many of these issues will never see the light of day the way the Hare and the Pineapple debacle did last year.

The fix is in here, with teachers and administrators having to keep quiet even when they see problems with the tests because the Regents and the NYSED have bullied them into submission.

As I wrote last week, Tisch can strap on her flight suit and parade around the flight deck up in Albany with the gigantic "Mission Accomplished!" banner behind her all she wants - she's still full of crap when she says the tests have been issue-free.

The fact is, they have kept the contents secret to make sure that problems like the Hare and Pineapple do not become public as they did last year.

You can be sure the incompetents at Pearson, who brought us not only the Hare and the Pineapple mess last year but also the gifted and talented" test debacle this year, didn't pull these tests off error-free, even with the state watching over them.

Until somebody sues to get these tests opened to the public, we'll never know just how many problems there are with them.

But you can be sure there are problems - we already know of two in the timing issue and the product placements.

These Tisch claims are just another example of how the education corporatists rig the game, then claim victory via their propaganda.