Critics Of SED/Regents Reform Agenda: Commissioner King Has Not Gone For Enough To Address Concerns

Once again, from Jessica Bakeman at Capital NY:

ALBANY—Statewide school groups are skeptical of a plan the state announced last week aimed at eliminating some testing, questioning the effectiveness and scope of the proposed changes.

State Education Commissioner John King wrote in a letter to schools last week that he and the Board of Regents have discussed taking several steps to minimize and improve upon testing, a plan that he called “a comprehensive initiative to keep the focus on teaching.”

“The commissioner's letter is a very small step,” said Carl Korn, spokesman for New York State United Teachers. “It doesn't erase the need for serious course corrections.

“We await more detail,” he added.

Getting rid of one eighth grade test does not address the overtesting problem.

The overtesting problem is built into the teacher evaluation system as mandated by the Race to the Top/NCLB waiver, as passed into law by the NY State legislature, as agreed to by Commissioner King, Regents Chancellor Tisch, NYSUT President Iannuzzi, UFT President Mulgrew and Governor Cuomo back in February 2012 when the NYSUT agreed to drop their lawsuit against the Regents.

Iannuzzi is part of the problem here, as is Mulgrew.

So long as they continue to support the Common Core and the evaluation system, the Endless Testing is going nowhere.