Here, for example, is an ad released today by StudentsFirstNY that says just that:
Before the budget, an anonymous Cuomo official told reporters that the new evaluation system eliminates local assessments and replaces them with an "optional" second test.
The aim of this move is to have the public blame teachers for "overtesting":
New teacher evaluation criteria that is being proposed in the state budget would potentially put the onus on local teachers unions as to whether a second test should be added for students which would count to a performance rating, according to a Cuomo administration official.
“It’s an option and it’s a risk,” the official said on Monday night. “It is a risk to have that second test. We’ve design it in the system because we’re trying to reduce testing.”
...
"It puts the burden on them and in many ways belies the myth the state was asking for more test,” the official said. “Now, if they want the second test, they’ve going to need to ask for a second test.”
Cuomo and his deformer backers think they can fool parents into thinking there is "reduced testing" under Cuomo's new APPR evaluation system because the state eliminated the local assessment component in the system even as they ratcheted up the percentage of a teacher's rating that is based upon state tests.
Clearly they think people are stupid.
If you eliminate the local test component that used to be worth 20% of a teacher's rating and take a state test that used to be worth 20% and make it worth 40% or 50% of the rating, you are not reducing testing even though you've gotten rid of one set of tests.
What you've done is increased the stress, pressure and anxiety on the state test scores, which teachers must show growth on or risk a low rating that could lead to a loss of their job.
The problem with overtesting is not just how many tests are given in the school system - it's the high stakes that are attached to them that cause stress, pressure and anxiety for both children and educators in schools
If anything, Cuomo's APPR re-do exacerbates that problem by putting so much weight on literally one test.
Cuomo and his ed deformer backers can try and spin the new system as "reducing testing" all they want with their ads and PR.
Parents will not be fooled by their jive.
Teachers didn't create this system, Cuomo did - and they will know where to place the blame for the testing problem that is going to get worse under Cuomo's new system.
Less than 5 years to retire at 55. WooHoooooooo!!!! Love it!!!!!! Can't wait. 120K + per session. 60% of about 135-140K. Love it. Laughing at Cuomo all the way. Feel sorry for those of you will 10+ yrs to go. So very sad.
ReplyDeleteThanks for telling us how all of this specifically applies to you. You're part of the problem.
DeleteHopefully, you're get terminated so as to you a non-Danielson lesson because I think what you said is insensitive, cruel, selfish, and so damn ignorant. I don't like to wish my colleagues unfortunate situations. But I make the exception with you. I can't stand a person like yourself that assumes nothing will happen to that person. Wouldn't it be sad if you get terminated and your colleagues have a Schadenfreude on your behalf? Watch out for karma!
DeleteCorrection: comment is for anon 6:26 and the first sentence should say "Hopefully, you'll get terminated..."
DeleteThe first comment is extremely common as to why we are screwed. It is the attitude of so many today. I got mine so the hell with everyone else. Trying to clean up on per session.
DeleteYou're right. Teachers like him are why we are in the position we are in. Too self-centered and small minded to look at the big picture. Guys like him rarely take stand for anything except their own bottom line. What a tool.
DeleteI also suspect this jerkoff isn't a teacher and never was a teacher but another troll who's created another teacher strawman for everyone to hate.
DeleteI met with a member of the Assembly today. He voted no. Was a school board member for nine years prior to his election. Taught high school for a few years and is now an assistant professor on the college level. Is a lawyer and teaches law courses. He gets it. Was very frank. We spoke about how this is all about political payback on the one hand and all about charter school campaign contributions on the hand. He echoed much of what RBE has written, namely the whole thing is doomed to fail. Too many weak parts to ever be able to succeed. He said "this year's education budget is going to be another disaster."
ReplyDeleteToo many weak parts indeed. So much of the evaluation system is still unknown that it's hard to imagine how it gets pulled off without major issues.
DeleteSounds like the legislator from Huntington
DeleteSounds like Tisch/Cuomo/Flanagan are not going to be pleased with the news out of Washington, DC. Diane Ravitch breaks it down on her blog.
ReplyDeleteNahh - state can do what it wants and will, no matter what happens at fed level. Cuomo loves deform, he will fight tooth and nail to keep anything from happening to it. For that matter, so does Obama, and last I checked, he still has veto power. The Senate bill would still need to be reconciled with a House bill, which itself is unlikely, then get passed, make it past an Obama veto, etc. Just don't see all of that happening.
DeleteMaybe, maybe not. State can no point to feds for everything. If enough parents rise up, state will feel heat. Unfortunately, this is not an election year. If it was the heat would result in something in our favor pretty quickly. Key is the populace. If it rises up, we win. Saw that less than 2,000 NYC kids opted out last year. I know the opt out crowd is hoping for 250,000 statewide. One of the reasons why NYC is being targeted. Here on LI, I believe the number will be higher than ever. Many districts are providing parents with opt-out letters. All they have to do is sign their name and list their child's name.
DeleteObama is not vetoing the Senate bill. He knows there would be an override. Murray is a senior Democrat. She negotiated it. It's over.
DeleteThe bill has to be reconciled with the House bill, which has been held up by "partisan disagreements."
Deletehttp://www.educationdive.com/news/updated-senate-ed-leaders-reach-bipartisan-agreement-on-esea-rewrite/383773/
John Kline is the House ceded to Alexander on this bill. The Alexander bill is going to become law with a few tweaks here and there It's a done deal. Boehner signed off on it months ago with McConnell.
ReplyDeleteRight - because House Republicans follow Boehner and the GOP leadership.
DeleteIf you were fortunate enough right now to be standing over George Orwell’s grave in the sweet garden of the churchyard at Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire, you would hear, piercing the roar of his revolving corpse, a plaintive, despairing voice crying out: “Bury me deeper. Now. Please.”
ReplyDeleteIf the Alexander bill becomes law, Cuomo gets the excuse he needs to walk back his agenda. The Common Core standards and Pearson/PARCC tests will be no longer required and Cuomo will shoulder every milligram of blame if he insists on staying the course, as state after state drops out of the Duncan Disaster.
ReplyDeleteYearly tests are still on, however:
Delete"States would still have to test every student annually in math and reading in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school and report scores by race, income, disabilities and English learners."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sens-alexander-murray-propose-bipartisan-measure-to-replace-nclb/2015/04/07/c6c37b3c-dd36-11e4-acfe-cd057abefa9a_story.html
PARCC and SBAC? I don't think so. States are free to develop their own standards and tests as well. At least that's my read.
DeleteNo, not PARCC and SBAC, but the yearly testing remains in the Senate bill for 3-8 and once in high school, so some testing is still around.
DeleteMy thought on this is this:
We have a very rich and powerful contingent of ed deformers in NY State - even if pressure from the feds on testing wanes, the pressure from the rich and powerful ed deform contingent in NY State will not.
Take a look at that ad I embedded in the post. The ed deformers have enough cash to go up 24/7 on every channel with those ads. Ask Bill de Blasio what happened when the ed deformers did this to him last year in the fight with Eva.
Will checks and balances finally come back into government?
ReplyDeleteFrom Breitbart News
ReplyDeleteConservatives are opposed to the ESEA rewrite, arguing that the federal government has no power at all to either allow or require states to perform any actions, since the Constitution leaves education to the states and localities. Increasingly, conservative grassroots groups are calling upon their state legislatures and governors to push back against federal intrusion by refusing federal dollars for education programs that come with strings attached. After a half-century of the ESEA, however, state lawmakers have become accomplices to the federal invasion by growing more dependent on federal funds and reliant upon state departments of education and state boards of education to decipher and issue the mandates of the U.S. Department of Education.
Indeed.
DeleteJohn King went from NYSED to the USDOE pretty seamlessly.
Emblem of the entire system.
From National Journal:
ReplyDeleteMurray won a few key concessions from Alexander's original draft. The Murray/Alexander bill eliminates a provision in Alexander's draft that would have allowed local school districts to supersede federal tests with their own, local assessments. It retains language that some Republicans may dislike that requires states to use two federal tests per year in math and reading in grades 3 through 8. But it also allows states to determine on their own how much weight those test results are given in their own accountability systems.
I'm getting mixed messages on the testing. Peter Greene reports that states are free to develop their own standards. That eliminates Common Core for most states - and hence the end of PARCC and SBAC.
DeleteIn the end, the House still has to come up with a bill that can pass and then the two bills have to be reconciled so that Obama signs the final bill.
DeleteDC dysfunction is about the only thing that functions in Washington these days.
I'm not ready to get excited by either the language in the Senate bill nor the possibility of something decent replacing what we have now in NCLB and the NCLB waivers.
I think the bill contradicts itself in the first paragraph . It's useless double-speak which rolls back nothing. Just meant to confuse and divert the opt-out movement for this testing season so they comply, giving the agendas more momentum.
ReplyDeleteThis is a concern I have as well. Patty Murray is an Obama shill and she plays the "Testing Is A Civil Right" with the best of them.
DeleteHopefully, the House bill will contain elements more to our liking. Unfortunately, he very well contain some of the charter school stuff that most of us detest. It appears we are not going to be completely happy. We need a leader to bring us out of this testing/charter school wilderness. Where is s/he?
DeleteIt is amazing how petulant, irresponsible and naive Obama is .
ReplyDeleteObama is the the most mindless President in American history. His legacy has been a transformative race to the bottom of the pond. Obama has established an imaginative realm of illegitimacy as his guiding doctrine.
Delete