Hold on to your hats, Governor Cuomo has suddenly decided Common Core and the Endless Testing regime isn't the swellest thing since toast.
Guess what that means?
It's commission time!
In a statement, Gov. Cuomo just said he will create a commission to examine NY's Common Core implementation.
— Jon Campbell (@JonCampbellGAN) September 3, 2015
More:
Cuomo: 'the time has come for a comprehensive review of the implementation of the Common Core Standards, curriculum, guidance and tests'
— Michael Gormley (@GormleyAlbany) September 3, 2015
Cuomo tasks his ed panel, experts to recommend changes to Common Core; Cuomo has in past supported CC, but said NY's rollout was flawed
— Michael Gormley (@GormleyAlbany) September 3, 2015
Cuomo:'“We must have standards for New York’s students, but those standards will only work if people – esp. parents – have faith in them'
— Michael Gormley (@GormleyAlbany) September 3, 2015
Now I'm sure this is all jive and the "comprehensive review of the implementation of the Common Core Standards, curriculum, guidance and tests" will be as flawed as Cuomo's Moreland Commission, LIPA Commission, and the previous education commission that Todd Hathaway sat on (and had his named signed to although he opposed the final report.)
In short, Cuomo will control this process from afar and the "review" will come out with the exact findings he wants.
But his calling for a "comprehensive review" of Common Core and the Endless Testing regime shows that Cuomo sees that the politics of education reform are dangerous these days and the old "Teachers Suck! Public schools suck! I'll hold them accountable!" agenda of the past that he's imposed doesn't work so well anymore.
Cuomo's more cunning than smart but even he can read the polling around this, see the opt out numbers and realize the rebellion against Common Core, testing and education reform in New York does NOT bode well for him.
Notice, however, what will NOT be part of the review - APPR.
More later as we get it.
Before not-so-sophisticated folks have a premature climax here, some things must be made clear. (The none-to-sophisticated folks I am referring to are NYSUT leadership most especially and lots of others)
ReplyDelete1) As RBE pointed out, NO MENTION OF APPR OR TEACHER EVALS. That is the biggest thing. Its not what is mentioned that is important...thats just noise. It is what is NOT mentioned that we have to be focused on.
2) This is a continuation and ramping-up of a campaign that was started a few weeks ago to try mightily to pacify parents and take the edge off testing in the face of opt out. It is and will be all about coming down hard on teachers over opt out.
3) We must be hyper-clear now. The reform movement is about privatizing how education is administered within the state (and nationally for sure). The people that administer education are teachers (not administrators in districts, in spite of their claims otherwise). The reform movement seeks, after all the bullshit is stripped away, to privatize the money states pay to teachers....to redirect those funds and more, into corporate coffers. Sure, it wants money to do the tests and run the schools, but the big $$ is in taking the funds states pay to teachers. Lets be real. So, the reform movement's entire goal is to remove current, organized teachers...to "scientifically" prove they are incompetent, deprofessionalize them, and then take over the task of delivering education and the said money. Make no mistake about this. The reform movement's deep-center is about removing teachers.
4) In light of #3 above, Governor Cuomo is a strident political spokesperson for the reform movement. They have paid him. He is invested in them and they in him. There are few bonds he has that are tighter. The reform movement and Cuomo are not particularly interested in testing, common core, etc. These are just tools they have used to pursue their real objective (stated above in #3). They know as well as we do, no doubt, that the tests and common core are bullshit. Sounds strange, but the tests, even common core itself...its all arbitrary. What they are really after is us. Turns out that that is still where the laser-beam focus is. Cuomo and his kind, reformers, etc...all will fart around with the arbitrary stuff....they'll add, take away, throw out, change, manipulate, modify all day long and twice on sunday all of the testing stuff to keep parents calm. Its not what they care about. A commission (wow!!!) will be formed and testing will be modified within the state. (Cuomo and reformers inside their heads are saying "so what?") However, the absolute, laser-like focus on damaging and eventually removing teachers will continue and most likely pick up pace.
This commission means nothing and its results will mean nothing. That is for sure.
Did NYSUT declare victory yet?
If the children of higher SES families, who traditionally test well, provide the bulk of the opt outers, then one may hypothesize that test scores in those communities will go down. This phenomenon could serve Cuomo's APPR agenda by facilitating the firing of more teachers.
ReplyDeleteAbigail Shure
NYSED uses GROWTH scores. NOT achievement scores. VAM is mathematical voodoo that uses a formula (that no one can explain) to produce comparative score change data. The most difficult group to show "growth" in are the high achievers. They produce consistently high scores; consequently rarely show significant growth.
DeleteMany of those top students fail to show growth because they've already scored so high in previous years. Many of those students actually hurt the teachers when it comes to APPR and VAM.
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