Tweaks To New York's Tests Not Satisfying Standardized Testing Opponents And Critics

From the NY Times:

New York State’s standardized tests for third through eighth graders will be shortened this year, the education commissioner said on Wednesday, the latest retooling of a group of exams that have grown so unpopular that 20 percent of eligible children sat them out this past spring.

The commissioner, MaryEllen Elia, said at a meeting of the Board of Regents in Albany that some multiple choice questions would be shaved off the math assessments and a number of passages would be cut from the reading exams taken next year. A spokeswoman for the Education Department said that the tests would be shortened for students in each grade, and that they would be trimmed further in 2017.

This move is the second time tests have been shortened since they were introduced in 2013, when the state became among the first in the nation to align its tests with the Common Core standards, a set of rigorous learning goals designed to prepare students for college.

The reaction to the tweaks?

The announcement on Wednesday on test length, however, seemed unlikely to quiet critics.

“Half a disaster is still a disaster,” said Loy Gross, a co-founder of the parent activist group United to Counter the Core, who added shortening the tests was just tinkering around the edges of a very large problem.

“And no,” she added, “it’s not going to appease parents who will continue to opt their kids out of tests.”

The educrats do not seem to understand, minor tweaks to the regime and meaningless PR about "listening" to parents and teachers isn't going to cut it.