As the battle over potential changes to the controversial Common Core standards begins to take shape in New York, an official in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration is reacting cooly to a package of preliminary recommendations being made by Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia.Cuomo is throwing Elia and NYSED under the bus on Common Core (and he will throw her and SED under the bus every chance he gets in order to distance himself from the mess he in part created through his education reform agenda - just as he did with John King and SED)
The commissioner, who outlined the recommendations on Monday ahead of the department’s task force to revise and study the standards, suggested
-Extending the current freeze on the reporting of test results for grades three through eight on permanent records through the 2018-19 school year
-The creation of an advisory council for computer-based tests.
-Spending $10 million to create Native Language Arts examinations that would allow those learning English to take the tests in Spanish
-An additional $2.9 million for alternative assessments for students deemed to have severe disabilities.
-The creation of a “teacher portal” that would enable educators across the state to receive additional resources in the rollout of Common Core in history and science.
-A proposed five-year spending plan for teacher and principal professional development.
The Cuomo administration official, however, was not impressed.
“SED’s recommendations only offer more of the status quo and are just thinly veiled requests for financial resources by a state agency,” the official said.
No surprise here - Cuomo's M.O. has been to try and avoid responsibility for the mess he helped create with his APPR teacher evaluation system and his pro-testing, pro-CCSS agenda.
That said, the Cuomo official is right that the SED "package of recommendations" is nothing other than minor tweaks to a broken machine.
A "teacher portal" and five years of extra PD?
An "advisory council" for computer-based tests?
That's the best Gates Foundation genius Elia could do?
Not much to these recommendations, is there?
If this is the best Elia can do, she's going to be out on her Gates Foundation-favored ass sooner rather than later.
Cuomo's already turning on her and using her as a scapegoat for unpopular policies and Elia shows no willingness to actually call for changes to those policies or comprehend how deeply unpopular they are.
Not all ELLs speak Spanish. Will there be tests in Arabic and Mandarin?
ReplyDeleteAbigail Shure
It's very comforting to imagine our Reptilian Governor being forced to eat the shit sandwich he intended for us, and that Elia will be forced to choke it down first.
ReplyDeleteMulgrew will be declaring victory that we only get a small piece laid at our seat at the table.
DeleteOh men, your choice of metaphors, though apt. are hard to digest first thing in the morning , if you know what I mean.
DeleteMaybe Elia's job is to make Cuomo look good. She can be the bad guy and he can come in and save the day. We can only wish because then that means he'll stop doing what his financial backers are paying him for. If that is true. I can only wonder if Elia knows.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the twisted artist who created a bronze bull inside of which the emperor's enemies would be roasted over a fire. The emperor urged the artist to climb inside and demonstrate and when he did the lid was slammed shut and a fire started underneath. Did Mrs. Elia think coming to New York where Andrew Cuomo calls the shots was going to be good for her career? I think I just heard the bull's lid slamming shut. Silly Commissioner, thought Meryl Tisch could keep her safe.
ReplyDeleteCuomo is very unpopular. Cuomo has low favorability ratings. Voters do not respect Cuomo.
ReplyDeleteGreat article about the evaluation plan: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/11/17/new-yorks-costly-experiment-in-test-based-educator-evaluation-is-crashing/
ReplyDeleteI would just like to express something here. Those who claim that Common Core is not a curriculum are correct. It is an indoctrination to a political agenda. In my school, 7th and 8th graders spend 6 months out of the 20 months combined in those grades reading literature and writing essays that are sympathetic to the plight of refugees. I used to wonder why our government has such a fetish for this topic, but in light of very recent events, I now know.
ReplyDeleteOur children were given magazines to read about the culling of wolves...and asked if certain animals should be eradicated so that others could live.
DeleteWhat a wonderful topic for 8 year olds! What normal child would say yes.
When I contacted the teacher and expressed my objections she agreed, and then the next week they brought home readings on the poaching of gorillas!
What we are witnessing now is the culling by politicians and educrats, and Cuomo should win an Oscar for his performance...as he throws his partners in crime into the pits rather than take the blame, which the audience knows rests firmly in his lap, or up his behind.
It would be wonderful to see a remake...the political culling of individuals such as Cuomo, who have done so much damage and destruction to our children, our public schools, and our communities...calling it the Elimination of Political Monsters so that All Children may Live!
The leading actor: Andrew Cuomo
Supporting cast:
John King
Maryellen Elia
Meryl Tisch as the Pearly Observer
The Broken Hearts Club as the orchestra playing the death march.
Obama as the President of the Common Core Theatrical Association
David Coleman as the theater manager
And Bill Gates funding the show, to run on Broadway, scratching his face, wondering how this show will affect viewers for at least 10 years!
To be followed by the sequel...the Culling of the Common Core!
I am sure that more than 71.5% of the viewers would enjoy both shows. And we wouldn't even need a 20-30 minute survey to figure it out!