Thursday, March 27, 2014

Call Sheldon Silver And Ask Why Tests Only Count For Teachers

I am glad that they are taking the high stakes from the CCSS tests away for two years for children.

But they are keeping those stakes for teachers, so if you are a teacher in the New York State public school system, you may have 40% of your evaluation based upon a battery of performance assessments and state Common Core tests that your students have no stake in.

Let me repeat that, because it is so absurd:

If you are a teacher in the New York State public school system, you may have 40% of your evaluation based upon a battery of performance assessments and state Common Core tests that your students have no stake in.

And remember too that if a teacher is found to be "ineffective" on just the 40% test-based components, they MUST be declared "ineffective" overall per Governor Cuomo's dictum.

Call Shelly Silver and ask him why he thinks it's perfectly fine for teachers to be fired based on test scores that do not count for students.

Here's his contact:

518-455-3791
212-312-1420

See if you can get a rational answer fro Speaker Silver's people over this Common Core conundrum.

I have called twice now and could not.

While you're at it, call Cathy Nolan's office too and see if she'll defend this absurdity:

518-455-4851
718-784-3194

1 comment:

  1. I will share this action-alert with those on my listserv. But, I'll be honest with you. Silver is powerful in his district and he has never been challenged. As long as his district continue to support him and re-elect him, he will continue to make decisions and to side with one holding the mighty dollar.

    I truly hope that those teachers who thought that they would never be affected by these absurd ratings and never got involved in these action calls will finally see the importance of fighting for their profession.

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