New York state uses the results of the annual assessments to gauge the performance of students and teachers. And if enough of their students opt out of the tests, teachers are evaluated based on their local system.
...
Education leaders say approaches like that will backfire in the immediate future, harming teachers.
“They’re breaking the law,” said Bob Bennett, a former member of the New York State Board of Regents. “And so I don’t know how much clearer to make it. This is absolutely absurd to see adults behaving to advance a political cause because they don’t like the teacher evaluation law.”
Bennett, who got whacked off the Board of Regents this year, is wrong that opting out of the state tests is "breaking the law."
You can find resources and information about parents' rights in opting their children out of the Common Core tests at the NYS Allies For Public Education website.
But here's an excellent summary:
I've been wondering how shrill the push back over opt out would get, what with Regents Chancellor Tisch, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, Governor Cuomo and newspaper editorial boards weighing in on why they are opposed to parents opting their children out of the state tests but so far, Bennett wins for shrillest.
Congratulations, Bob - enjoy your retirement.
Anyone give a rat's ( ! ) what Bennett thinks? Anyone?
ReplyDeleteNahh - it just gave me a great opportunity to put up the NYSAPE info and the opt-out video.
DeleteWe here in Buffalo sadly have to continue to care about Bob Bennett. He's mad as heck about being bumped off the Regents. He's on the radio, in the newspapers, influencing charter openings, etc..
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. In Buffalo, he's still around and seemingly not going anywhere.
DeleteHow quickly things change!
DeleteLooks like getting rid of Tisch is only way to bring real change to the board.
DeleteAnd don't forget, to those opposing opt out, their biggest play....and historically most useful....is sowing the seeds of doubt. If they are loud enough (easy considering the media is all to happy to carry reformers water) the doubt they spread can be effective. Granted, the momentum behind opt out is large right now....but still, something to be conscious of.
ReplyDeleteI think they're trying to sow seeds of doubt but are instead planting seeds that are growing the movement. The shriller they get, the more it pisses many people off.
DeleteBob Bennett is a buffoon. He never belonged on the Board of Regents and was tone deaf the whole time he was there. His record is disgraceful. He has a lot of nerve shooting off his mouth. He voted for so much that so many find so objectionable.
ReplyDeleteBennett was out of touch with students, teachers, parents and school boards from his first day on the Board of Regents. His agenda had no support other than from the cronies he served with a some of the wacko politicians that detest public education and teachers.
These guys just don't get it. No one likes there obsessive testing or their punitive evaluation regulations. It's going to take a massive campaign of civil disobedience to rid ourselves of their ilk.
Bennett is the guy that a teary eyed Merryl Tisch waxed poetic about late last month. Shows how out of her mind Tisch is.
As someone points out down below, looks like he's still around.
DeleteHe starts his new gig on Tuesday as adjunct on Regents Review Committee. Tisch didn't let him get too far from her. She needs him to do her dirty work
DeleteYup. Disgraceful.
DeleteBob had to be taken off the Board of Regents due to the onset of Alzheimers. If you saw him speak over the past three years you likely heard the same story three times. I am certain that Madame Tisch called up old Bob and expressed her fear that the LI Opt out was moving up into his little fiefdom and he had to do something about it. So Bob chose to fan the flames and demonstrate what desperation looks like. Maybe some law is being broken--but that is what civil disobedience involves--taking a moral stance against unjust/unfair laws. The recent budget was not just unjust and unfair--it was illogical (some might say goofy). Cuomo's fly by observations are just about the silliest thing ever heard about from a deform movement that has perpetrated a good number of comical proposals. Their shrillness is an indicator of their desperation.
ReplyDeleteNYSAPE says no law is being broken. NCLB requires districts to give the test. Parents are not required to have their kids sit for the test.
DeleteBut as you note, even if a law were being borken here, it would be an unjust law and one that should be broken through acts of civil disobedience.
Bennett is an old jackass. The guy has no conception about what a modern classroom is like. He's another proponent of charters and pie in the sky goals that are never met. "In five years New York's graduation rate will be 100%."
DeleteWhat has Bob Bennett to improve the education of even one child? As far as I know, nothing whatsoever. He has increasingly been making a fool of himself. The fact he had to be thrown off the Board of Regents says it all.
And yet, now he's back:
Deletehttp://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2015/04/merryl-tisch-looks-to-bring-bob-bennett.html
He also sucks as a professor as many of his ex students have attested.
DeleteIf his interviews are any gauge, I can imagine. He drones on and on and on, often repeating himself...
DeleteRBE!!!!! check this out! Seems Bob is. NOT gone from Regents!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.regents.nysed.gov/meetings/2015Meetings/April/415brca9.pdf
Yes, just saw this on twitter. It seems Merryl Tisch will not allow her pal Bob Bennett go.
DeleteHow is this legal? The Assembly Democrats should hold a press conference tomorrow and with their heavy hearts rip Tisch for this nonsense.
DeleteThey've done it before:
Deletehttp://www.regents.nysed.gov/meetings/2013Meetings/December2013/1213brca9.pdf
http://www.regents.nysed.gov/meetings/2015Meetings/January/115brca8.pdf
Poor ole Bob. He's not getting his Metamucil, his naps or any of that quality test prep time he was hoping for with the little grandBennetts. You know how they get at his age.
ReplyDelete