Chris Gibson: If NY Sticks With Common Core And Heavy-Handed Education Policy, It's All On Cuomo

Congressman Chris Gibson on the "Every Child Succeeds Act," the education bill that passed the House this week and is expected to pass the Senate and be signed into law by President Obama before Christmas:

New York educators and legislators are hopeful the passage of a bipartisan education bill in the House of Representatives this week will convince the state to abandon the more controversial aspects of its own education reform.

The bill, the Every Student Succeeds Act, dismantles George W. Bush's signature No Child Left Behind Act and shifts authority over the nation's public schools from the federal government back to states and local school districts. Not only does it let states to decide whether student test scores are an appropriate way to evaluate teachers or assess schools, but it also prohibits the federal government from mandating or even incentivizing states to adopt learning standards like the Common Core.

 ...

U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, called the bill a major step forward in reducing federal overreach in classrooms and in empowering states and localities. The bill gives New York the flexibility to decide how it wants to test its children and evaluate teachers, he said.

"The ball is now clearly in the governor's court," he said. "We have so many parents and teachers and students that have been upset with Common Core. Well, this bill allows states to withdraw from Common Core without penalty. In addition, the state has taken a heavy-handed approach to schools that are failing, and that has been in part driven by the federal government. That federal overreach is now gone, so anything the governor continues to do in education will be from his own volition. He can no longer lean on the federal government."

I remain skeptical that Cuomo, who's completely on the take from the education reform industrial complex/Heavy Fund Managers For Education Reform, will want to derail the heavy-handed education policy he's helped impose onto the state, including Common Core, the Endless Testing regime, punitive teacher evaluations and a state receivership program that allows the state to take over "failing" public schools and hand them to private entities.

But he certainly wants to make it look like changes are coming.

Thus the Common Core Task Force, thus the trial balloons in the Times about de-linking test scores from APPR, thus the soothing words from him about education policy changes coming.

With his approval numbers in the toilet and his approval numbers on education even worse than that, Cuomo's got to walk a tightrope here, making it look like he's bringing about real change to education policy while assuring his owners, er, campaign donors in the hedge fundie/education reform world that he's still pursuing their agenda.

As Gibson notes, with NCLB III in place, Cuomo's going to have one less scapegoat to blame for the toxic, punitive education reform agenda he wants imposed on the children, teachers and schools of this state.

Dick Parsons Claims Cuomo Hasn't Meddled In Common Core Task Force

This statement from Dick Parsons, Cuomo's Common Core Task Force chairman, is laughable:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s task force on academic standards and testing expects to hand in its much anticipated report this month, amid a continuing push by teachers unions to end the use of student test scores in teacher evaluations.

The 15-member Common Core Task Force wasn’t asked to explore the politically charged issue of evaluations, but several members said the subject came up so often in public hearings this fall that the group might weigh in on them. Several said they discussed whether to recommend a moratorium on using tests in evaluations, or possibly a reduction in their weight.

Richard Parsons, chairman of the New York task force and former chairman of Citigroup Inc., said Wednesday his group was “in the middle of sausage making” and hoped to hand its report to the governor in the next 10 days.

Mr. Parsons said Mr. Cuomo hadn’t pressed for any particular outcome. “He has not tried to put his thumb on the scale,” Mr. Parsons said. “I would hope that he would review it and take it seriously.”

 Cuomo hasn't "tried to put his thumb on the scale"?

Then what was the trial balloon that was sent forth into the NY Times about the governor considering delinking test scores from his vaunted APPR teacher evaluation system or putting a "moratorium" on the use of the scores on teacher ratings?

That sure sounded like the governor "putting his thumb on the scale" to me - especially when Politico NY reported that members of the task force were "confused" when Cuomo put the trial balloon about delinking scores and/or putting a moratorium on their use in teacher ratings into the NY Times:

After learning that Gov. Andrew Cuomo may be looking to minimize the impact of test scores on teacher evaluations, the Common Core task force will likely weigh in on the controversy, recommending either the decoupling of the two or a moratorium on the use of the scores, according to a source familiar with the panel. The task force had not been asked to consider the evaluation process, and until now, it has not focused on it. When Cuomo put together the panel in September, he charged its 15 members with reviewing the Common Core learning standards, calling for a "total reboot" of the state's education system. The recommendations are due to the governor this month prior to his State of the State address in January. 

Members of the task force told POLITICO they were confused by comments made in a New York Times story last week on Cuomo's possible retreat from the politically fraught linkage of test scores and teacher evaluations, because the administration's statement made it seem as though they were looking at the evaluation system when, in fact, they have not been. "We're not focusing on that now ... we're focusing on what the task force was brought together for," said task force member Sam Radford III, president of the District Parent Coordinating Council of Buffalo. http://politi.co/1O2pfrb

Parsons can say whatever he wants about Cuomo not trying to influence the Common Core task force.

We know from the past that Cuomo has influenced and/or rigged every commission, panel and task force he's put together (from the Moreland Commission on Public Utilities to the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption to the education commission Todd Hathaway sat on), so we knew he would try to influence and/or rig this one.

And sure enough, by sending the trial balloon about test scores to the Times, Cuomo's gotten heavy-handed publicly with this Common Core task force.

Lord only knows what he's got his henchmen and henchwomen doing to influence the task force behind the scenes.

Cuomo Administration Hack Defends His Boss Over Common Core, Education Policy

Remember Jim Malatras, the Cuomo administration hack/director of state operations who "wrote" to Merryl Tisch about education policy right before Governor Cuomo unveiled education reforms for the state budget that included a school receivership program and increasing the weight of test scores in teacher evaluations to 50%?

Well, he's back with another piece of writing, this in the Times Union, defending Boss Cuomo over those very education policies, which are very unpopular (as is his boss.)

In his commentary, Malatras claims Cuomo has "led the nation" in limiting testing time in schools (a bogus claim since Cuomo has increased the weight of test scores on teacher ratings which means the official "testing time" does not include the Endless Test Prep kids undergo all the year through so that their schools are not closed and their teachers aren't fired based upon their state test scores) and has provided the highest funding for schools in state history (another bogus claim which ignores all the new state mandates Cuomo and NYSED have thrown onto school districts that eats up gobs of that money as well as the property cap that limits the ability of districts to increase funding.)

In addition, Malatras takes a victory lap that the feds have followed suit with the 2% limit on testing, writing that "rather than following the lead of the U.S. Department of Education, New York has led the way for other states and was highlighted in a recent federal announcement as a model for other states looking to move this work forward."

This ignores that the 2% rule was instituted at the federal level by the same guy who pushed it here (former NYSED Commissioner, now acting-Secretary of Education John King) and that, in the end, it's meaningless because it still means kids will spend at least 22 hours a year on standardized testing.
If you add in all the Endless Test Prep that must be done during the Endless Testing regime to the 2% testing time so that teachers don't get fired or schools don't get closed, you can see how the rule changes little.

That Cuomo has taken to having his hack Malatras write rebuttals to op-ed pieces in the Times Union tells you how defensive Cuomo is over his education polices.

Given that he's engaging in another dog and pony show with his Common Core Review task force (which appears to want to hear as little as possible from anybody who doesn't already agree with the governor) and is trying to make it look like he's making changes to the Common Core/Endless Testing regime in New York State without actually making any changes, he should be on the defensive.

His defensive actions are fruitless - parents and teachers are fed up with his reform agenda, are fed up with him and are not going to be fooled by any dog and pony show that makes minor tweaks to the state's education policies but essentially leaves the damaging Common Core/Endless Testing regime in place.

Fred LeBrun: Cuomo May Cave On Common Core/Testing Because His Poll Numbers Suck

Governor Cuomo's poll numbers are not only underwater, they're deep underwater.

In the last Siena poll, Cuomo stands with 40% job approval, 58% disapproval.

 On individual issues, the numbers are even worse.

On public education, 68% disapprove of the job he is doing, 27% approve.

On corruption, 69% disapprove of the job he is doing, 23% approve.

On the economy, 63% disapprove of the job he is doing, 35% approve.

On improving the state's infrastructure, 65% disapprove of the job he is doing, 29% approve.

These are not good poll numbers.

And the numbers have been this way for a while - last December, Cuomo was at 42% job approval in the Siena poll and the numbers have languished all year.

So what's a governor to do but try and juice those numbers, starting with education

Cue Fred LeBrun: 

Things are at long last looking up for beleaguered public education in this state, probably.

I'd like to say the likelihood of significant corrections coming to Common Core, excessive and inappropriate standardized testing, and a hard-wired connection between those tests and teachers' jobs, is because the politician most responsible for the total mess we're in, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has finally seen the light.

His infatuation with data driven education ''reform,'' fueled by millionaire political donors, has been a disaster, for him and for our children. It's his law that's codified the problem. It's his law that needs amending.

But I have a hunch closer to the truth would be the sobering recognition by the governor that what desperately needs fixing and quick are persistently in-the-toilet poll numbers over his intrusive handling of education issues.

Voters get it.

Especially with Judgment Day a mere five months away, when the next round of standardized tests are mandated in English and math for grades 4 to 8. That's also about the time we are apt to see a parental opt-out uprising across the state of a scary magnitude if big changes aren't already made or in the works.

So Cuomo needs to distance himself from his own mess pronto and be part of the solution rather than the problem for a change.

LeBrun sees cause for optimism that Cuomo's Common Core task force - completely controlled by the governor (as all things are in this state) - has allowed dissenting voices this time around while previous Cuomo-controlled education commissions did not (see here.)

LeBrun is also encouraged by the appointment of a critic of the state's education policies, Jere Hochman, to work as Cuomo's top education adviser and by the news that more than 3/4s of school districts in the state are going to get waivers from Cuomo's latest iteration of APPR.

And LeBrun sees Testing Doyenne Merryl Tisch's departure as cause for smiling, since so much of the damage done to the system was wrought by Tisch herself.

But like all savvy Cuomo-watchers, LeBrun remains skeptical:

Now, the devil remains in the details, and forgive the state's teachers, educators — and parents — for being skeptical. The last five years has been a horror show. At the very least sole reliance on the flawed ''growth score'' from standardized tests in evaluating teacher performance has to change. It's written in the law. Student performance, and an appropriate level of teacher accountability, can be measured in a number of different ways, and alternatives need to be part of the dialogue. Common Core standards need new flexibilities, and a total rethink down in the lower grades where serious issues of developmentally inappropriate testing, questions, and frequency are recurring criticisms.

It won't be all that hard to torque the law back to reasonable. Now let's see it happen before we break out the confetti.

To be frank, I'm not ready to buy the confetti, let alone get it out and begin celebrating just yet.

NYSED Commissioner Elia told us she wants to repaint the Common Core standards so that people will like them better.

I'm not so sure all of what we're seeing out of Cuomo and NYSED is anything other than a repainting job meant to fool parents and educators into thinking state pols and educrats are listening to their concerns while really not listening to their concerns.

Tisch herself said one of her biggest regrets as Regents Chancellor was not communicating with parents the wonders of Common Core and testing well enough so that there wouldn't have been the rebellion the state has seen over both.

Call me cynical, call me jaded, but I haven't yet seen any tangible policy change that says to me the Endless Testing regime and the damaging Common Core State (sic) Standards are going anywhere.

What I see so far is a change in messaging, not a change in policy or agenda.

Calls for limiting testing from either President Obama or Governor Cuomo are jive when teachers and schools are rated (and fired or closed) based upon test scores.

So long as the tests carry so much weight, the system will be rife with test prep and test anxiety.

As for the Common Core, until these standards are revisited and the insane focus on "rigor" all the time is changed, schools will continue to be misery factories for both children and teachers.

In many schools, students do the same thing in every class, day after day - close reading informational texts that are several grade levels above in difficulty, responding to text-based questions and writing evidence-based argumentative essays on these texts.

This is happening not just in English class but in social studies, science, health - even art, music and vocational classes.

Teachers who deviate from what is considered "rigorous" are punished -  administrators enforce total compliance through the APPR teacher evaluation system and the Danielson rubric.

Until some teacher autonomy is returned, some creativity and allowance to deviate from the "One Way To Teach Them All" approach that we have now, many children are going to continue to hate school and learning.

And if you doubt this, ask some who go to schools where it's "All Rigor All The Time" - ask them how they like close reading day after day, writing argumentative essays day after day, spending three weeks on one short story and close reading it over and over until they don't care anything about it.

Cuomo said change is coming to the system - but given this is the same guy who said he wants to "break" the public school monopoly, I'm not ready to declare whatever "change" he plans to bring good change.

So far, all I see is a change to the messaging.

NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia Hasn't Met With Governor Andrew Cuomo Yet

What to make of this?

ALBANY — State education commissioner MaryEllen Elia said that her agency and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to be on the same page as the department and a Cuomo-created commission both push to review the Common Core standards and complete their reports before the governor's State of the State message in January.

“I don’t think that the work that’s being done by the governor’s commission excludes the work that’s being done by [the state education department], but clearly we need to work together,” Elia told POLITICO New York.

In another use of executive action to advance his education reform agenda, Cuomo earlier this month announced that his education commission also will do a comprehensive review of the implementation of the Common Core.

If I read that correctly, Elia's begging to not be thrown to the side as the "Common Core Review Party" gets under way.

And you can see why she's got that concern given this information:

The governor and the education commissioner have not discussed the matter in person, because they have yet to meet face to face, more than two months after Elia took over the department.

The commissioner and governor have spoken on the phone, Elia said.

“I’ve had multiple conversations with the governor. He’s been very busy, as have I," she said.

Oh, yeah, you're very busy and so is he, so you can't meet with him to discuss your joint plans on education because, well, you don't really have any joint plans because he's really running stuff even though nominally he has little power over education.

No wonder she's taken to begging Cuomo in public to be invited to the Common Core Review Party:

It’s a control issue, said former Bronx assemblyman Michael Benjamin, about Cuomo not meeting with Elia.

“The governor wants to do things on his own time table and kind of have her stew a bit before he meets her,” he said.

Unlike states where the education commissioner is appointed by the governor, New York's commissioner is appointed by the state Board of Regents, whose members are chosen by the Legislature.

“She is not his choice,” Gerald Benjamin, a professor of political science at SUNY New Paltz, said of Elia.

So here we are, just two and a half months into her NYSED tenure, and we're already seeing MaryEllen Elia having to fight to save herself from irrelevancy.

You know that over/under in Vegas on when Elia gets canned and/or decides to "spend time with her family"?

I think the odds are shifting a bit more toward "under."

Were Cuomo And Christie Colluding To Kill Port Authority Reform When They Met For Lunch This Week?

Governor Christie and Governor Cuomo met for lunch in New Jersey the other day, as reported by NJ.com.

Yesterday I wondered aloud just what they might have been colluding over as they broke bread.

Today the NY Times reports it may have been the Port Authority reform bill that was passed by all four houses of the legislatures in both states - 612-0 - that neither Cuomo nor Christie want to sign into law:

ALBANY — On its surface, the bill known here as A3944C — less of a mouthful than the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Transparency and Accountability Act of 2014 — would seem to be a slam-dunk.

It was intended to overhaul operations at the Port Authority, even as prosecutors continue to investigate last year’s politically motivated lane closings at the George Washington Bridge and other allegations of misconduct. Identical versions of the legislation were unanimously approved by all four houses of the New York and New Jersey State Legislatures. Newspaper editorial boards spanning the ideological spectrum and on both sides of the Hudson River have pressed for it to be signed into law.

Yet the later the hour grows for the bill’s approval by the two governors, the more skittish its sponsors are growing about its chances of becoming law.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo faces the first deadline: He has until Saturday night at midnight  to decide on the New York bill. If he approves it, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey will face heightened pressure to do the same; his deadline is in mid-January. But because the authority is a creation of the two states, approval of the legislation by only one state would have the same effect as its rejection by both.

Supporters of the bill say they now fear that the governors will reject the bill because it would erode the control they share evenly over everything the Port Authority does — whether running airports and bridges, hiring politically connected officials or awarding billion-dollar contracts to benefit political allies.

The Times reports that Cuomo is likely to be the governor to take first action to put the shiv into Port Authority reform - and he'll use another one of his jive panels to do it:

Backers of the legislation say they fear a pre-emptive strike on the New York side of the river.

In early May, Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Christie formed a special panel on the Port Authority’s future.

Were that panel to release findings before Saturday, the theory goes, it could give Mr. Cuomo a rationale for vetoing the legislation, which in turn would spare Mr. Christie the decision.

Cuomo's done this kind of thing before - he just used the release of APPR teacher evaluation system results as the rationale for why he's not signing the Common Core "shield bill" into law.

This was a bill that he called for back in the spring, but some teachers were skeptical it was anything other than a pre-election political maneuver.

Last year, NYSED released evaluation ratings in October, but for some reason this year there was a delay on the ratings release until the end of the calendar year, when the "shield bill" had to be either signed into law or vetoed.

The APPR evaluation results - with few teachers statewide found "ineffective" - gave Cuomo the excuse he needed to not sign the bill - something Jessica Bakeman reported he may have always wanted in the first place.

He also used his Common Core panel as an excuse for why the NY legislature did not need to address parent concerns over testing and Common Core - he claimed his CCSS panel was going to handle the issue.

This was the panel, btw, that panel member/teacher Todd Hathaway said was rigged from the outset for a particular finding that Cuomo wanted - just like his public corruption and LIPA panels were rigged.

So let's not be surprised if the Port Authority special panel that Cuomo and Christie set up issues a Christmas Week report that Cuomo and Christie want issued this week that gives Cuomo the excuse to help himself and his buddy, Chris Christie, out on PA reform.

Cuomo doesn't want to sign this reform bill into law, he knows Christie doesn't want it either, and they may be choosing Christmas week to kill it, a time when many people are not paying attention to the news.

I'll have more on this later, because from an education perspective, one of the best things that can happen here is for Cuomo to veto the bill.

While I want Port Authority reform and think it's much needed (I'm a daily PATH rider), if Cuomo puts the political shiv in PA reform after politicians in both NY and NJ voted for it 612-0, it's going to start the year off with the narrative frame that "Reformer Cuomo" talks a good game about reform but doesn't really want any except for the kind that enlarges his own power.

If he vetoes the PA reform bill, it will also put him on the defensive at the start of the legislative session just as he is set to argue that large-scale reform for the education system is needed.

It will also undo some of the goodwill he's engendered from liberals over his ban on fracking in New York.

One thing I know - we want him on the defensive as he starts the legislative season out, that's for sure.

He would be a fool to veto something that passed both state legislatures 612-0 without some political cover for himself, so if this thing plays out the way Times games it may, with Cuomo using the panel as excuse to kill the PA reform bill, we'll have to make sure that cover ends up in tatters.

At any rate, in just two days, we'll know what they're planning on doing.

We know Cuomo and Christie have colluded before over the Port Authority - the Bergen Record reported that they hatched a secret plan to raise Port Authority tolls and PATH fares while shielding themselves from the decision - so you can bet the lunch in Carlstadt this week between these two wasn't just a social call.

NY Times Should Look At Cuomo's Common Core Commission For Interference Too

The NY Times takes a look at Cuomo's first Moreland Commission - the post-Sandy panel that studied the failures of the electric companies during Hurricane Sandy and finds the following:

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has faced intense scrutiny in recent months, including an investigation by federal prosecutors, over his management of a commission that he created to root out corruption in New York politics, but prevented from examining his administration’s conduct and then prematurely shut down.

 

An analysis of Mr. Cuomo’s handling of an earlier investigative commission, which highlighted the failures of electric companies in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, reveals some of the same hallmarks: interference, efforts to shield his administration’s role and a sense that the governor had a clear idea at the outset of what the commission should conclude.

Gee - what a surprise that Cuomo tampered with his LIPA commission, had a pre-determined outcome for what he wanted from the commission and worked to shield just what a sham the commission was.


These were also the hallmarks of Cuomo's Common Core Commission:

Todd Hathaway, a teacher at East Aurora High School and a member of the Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Common Core panel, ripped the process today after the panel released its report last night.

The recommendations include what Cuomo wanted: holding students harmless for the tougher exams, but not a three-year moratorium on using the tests to evaluate teachers.

The 11-member panel—which included two state lawmakers—said the state should keep Common Core-based tests in grades 3-8 from appearing on a student’s transcript, while capping the amount of instructional time that can be spent on standardized tests.

...

Hathaway said, “The report – and the process that produced it—is incomplete. the report was released suddenly, even as final comments were still being solicited. I had indicated the likelihood I would dissent and not allow the report to be spun as ‘consensus.’” Nevertheless, the report was issued with my name attached. I am very concerned that the report tries to make it seem like all the discussion had been completed.”

Here’s the rest of his statement:

“In fact, the Executive Office repeatedly ignored my concerns and the legitimate concerns of others about inappropriate state testing, the misuse of invalid tests for evaluations and the lack of transparency in state testing. The result is that some of the report’s conclusions and suggestions do not hold up to scrutiny. I wouldn’t accept this kind of work from my students and I don’t accept it here.”

“The failure to address testing and evaluation issues in a comprehensive way suggests the dynamics of the classroom will not change. The report seems to blame everybody else for the problems of the Common Core learning standards without adequately addressing the appropriateness of some of the standards and the testing that goes with it. This report should have addressed serious deficiencies in state testing. It should have discussed the lack of transparency in tests; the lack of diagnostic and prescriptive worth to teachers; the unacceptable delays in returning scores to school districts and the insanity of pretending there is validity to teacher ratings that are derived from student scores widely acknowledged to be invalid.”

“Finally, this panel should have recognized the need to pause in the use of assessments for high-stakes decisions for students and teachers. This would have allowed the State Education Department, as well as school districts, to refine the tests and testing materials; teachers to engage in the standards and develop a variety of lessons to meet them instead of just relying on modules; parents to understand the role and utility of data in education; and for teachers to receive the necessary professional development. Implementing massive curriculum changes do not just happen overnight. They take time. I fully support a delay in the use of tests in high-stakes decisions for students and teachers, but that issue was never fully explored. You can’t put students first if you put their teachers last.”

Cuomo knew what he wanted from the Common Core panel before it ever met.

It was a sham panel, just the way his first Moreland Commission was a sham commission, with the "findings" of the panel already pre-determined by Cuomo's needs and wants, just the way his second Moreland Commission was a sham commission.

I've covered this before, but it bears repeating:

The games Cuomo played with the Moreland Commission are the same games he played with the LIPA Commission and the Common Core panel.

Cuomo uses these commissions as political cover to get something he wants through, then rigs the panels and commissions so that it all ends up the way he wants.

The difference between the LIPA Commission and the CCSS panel and the Moreland Commission is, Cuomo was screwing around with potential criminality when he dealt away the Moreland Commission in order to get some minor league ethics reforms in the budget agreement.

With the other two panels, he was simply rigging a process and engaging in political gamesmanship, not dealing away criminal investigations in some quid pro quo budget deal.

That's why Preet Bharara wasn't going to look into the LIPA Commission or the CCSS panel process, but he is looking into just what Cuomo engineered in the Moreland mess.

Perhaps Cuomo, emboldened by four years of successfully manipulating these commissions and panels to get the outcomes he wanted, thought nobody would blink at his Moreland machinations either.

If so, Cuomo was wrong about that.

Too bad the Times Editorial Board doesn't read its own new section before it issues endorsements.

Maybe Cuomo wouldn't have gotten theirs.

Cuomo Proud To Be A Micromanager

Cuomo on CBS this morning for his book tour:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo in an interview with Charlie Rose copped to being a micromanaging chief executive, but didn’t apologize for his management style.

“Well, you micromanage, you should delegate more,” Cuomo said in the interview when summing up the criticism he’s received.

Added Rose: “And you’re not transparent, you should be more transparent.”

“You push too hard,” Cuomo said. “You microamange.”

Rose asked Cuomo if he pleads “guilty or not guilty” to those claims.

“You can’t have one without the other,” Cuomo said. “I plead guilty.”

...

“I’m not sitting on a beach in the south of France saying, ‘Go ahead, guys, you run it. Good luck. I’m a delegator,’” Cuomo said in the interview.

But Cuomo insists it’s a strength, and it’s a style that comes in contrast to his immediate predecessors, including George Pataki and David Paterson, who were criticized for being disengaged.

“That’s who I am,” Cuomo said. “That’s what I told the people of this state.”

Cuomo's micromanaged the Moreland Commission, his fracking commission, his Common Core commission, his Smart Schools panel.

But the one thing he never micromanages is his campaign:

Gov. Cuomo passed Thursday morning on saying whether he'll debate Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout before the Sept. 9 Democratic primary.

The hands-on Cuomo said he's leaving the decision to the campaign.

"I'd leave that to the campaigns to work out, whatever they decide," said Cuomo during a soggy appearance at the state Fair opening in Syracuse.

When pressed what that means, he repeated: "I'll leave it to the campaigns to work out if there should be debates, who should participate. That's a campaign tactic that I will leave to the campaigns."

Cuomo's not just a micromanager.

As his rhetoric around the debates with both Zephyr Teachout and Rob Astorino show, he's also a liar and a hypocrite.

Cuomo Meddled With His Other Commissions And Panels Too

Michael Grunwald reports in TIME Magazine that the Moreland Commission tackling public corruption is not the first time Andrew Cuomo has meddled in one of his panels:

Before New York Governor Andrew Cuomo set up a supposedly independent commission to investigate political corruption in Albany—a commission he later shut down after it began poking around his own operations, a commission that is now causing him serious political headaches that could become legal headaches—he set up a supposedly independent commission to investigate the state’s electric utilities.

Mark Green, Cuomo’s fellow Democrat and onetime political opponent, says he was surprised when Cuomo tapped him to serve on the utility commission in November 2012. He says he was less surprised when Cuomo’s aides quickly began pushing the commission to propose privatizing the dysfunctional Long Island Power Authority, which was still struggling to get the lights back on after Superstorm Sandy. Several sources confirm the governor’s office pressured the commission to issue a report recommending privatization less than two months after its creation, and that Green threatened to resign when a Cuomo press release incorrectly suggested the recommendation had been unanimous.

“Independent?” Green said. “They tried to ram privatization down our throats. I told them I wasn’t going to be a fig leaf for Andrew.”

A spokesperson for Cuomo declined to comment.

Similarly one of the members of Cuomo's Common Core panel, teacher Todd Hathaway, revealed how the governor's staff had a pre-set outcome for the findings of the panel and wanted all members of the body to agree to them:

Teacher Todd Hathaway already exposed the shamery around the panel when he reported that panel heads were not interested in any dissenting views from what they had already decided would be in the preliminary report:

Todd Hathaway, a teacher at East Aora High School and a member of the Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Common Core panel, ripped the process today after the panel released its report last night.

The recommendations include what Cuomo wanted: holding students harmless for the tougher exams, but not a three-year moratorium on using the tests to evaluate teachers.

 ...

Hathaway said, “The report – and the process that produced it—is incomplete. the report was released suddenly, even as final comments were still being solicited. I had indicated the likelihood I would dissent and not allow the report to be spun as ‘consensus.’” Nevertheless, the report was issued with my name attached. I am very concerned that the report tries to make it seem like all the discussion had been completed.”

Here’s the rest of his statement:

“In fact, the Executive Office repeatedly ignored my concerns and the legitimate concerns of others about inappropriate state testing, the misuse of invalid tests for evaluations and the lack of transparency in state testing. The result is that some of the report’s conclusions and suggestions do not hold up to scrutiny. I wouldn’t accept this kind of work from my students and I don’t accept it here.”

“The failure to address testing and evaluation issues in a comprehensive way suggests the dynamics of the classroom will not change. The report seems to blame everybody else for the problems of the Common Core learning standards without adequately addressing the appropriateness of some of the standards and the testing that goes with it. This report should have addressed serious deficiencies in state testing. It should have discussed the lack of transparency in tests; the lack of diagnostic and prescriptive worth to teachers; the unacceptable delays in returning scores to school districts and the insanity of pretending there is validity to teacher ratings that are derived from student scores widely acknowledged to be invalid.”

“Finally, this panel should have recognized the need to pause in the use of assessments for high-stakes decisions for students and teachers. This would have allowed the State Education Department, as well as school districts, to refine the tests and testing materials; teachers to engage in the standards and develop a variety of lessons to meet them instead of just relying on modules; parents to understand the role and utility of data in education; and for teachers to receive the necessary professional development. Implementing massive curriculum changes do not just happen overnight. They take time. I fully support a delay in the use of tests in high-stakes decisions for students and teachers, but that issue was never fully explored. You can’t put students first if you put their teachers last.”

The games Cuomo played with the Moreland Commission are the same games he played with the LIPA Commission and the Common Core panel.

Cuomo uses these commissions as political cover to get something he wants through, then rigs the panels and commissions so that it all ends up the way he wants.

The difference between the LIPA Commission and the CCSS panel and the Moreland Commission is, Cuomo was screwing around with potential criminality when he dealt away the Moreland Commission in order to get some minor league ethics reforms in the budget agreement.

With the other two panels, he was simply rigging a process and engaging in political gamesmanship, not dealing away criminal investigations in some quid pro quo budget deal.

That's why Preet Bharara wasn't going to look into the LIPA Commission or the CCSS panel process, but he is looking into just what Cuomo engineered in the Moreland mess.

Perhaps Cuomo, emboldened by four years of successfully manipulating these commissions and panels to get the outcomes he wanted, thought nobody would blink at his Moreland machinations either.

If so, Cuomo was wrong about that.

Former Moreland Commissions Erupt In Fury Over Cuomo's Interference In Panel Work

I don't know how deeply US Attorney for the Southern District Preet Bharara intends to probe Cuomo and his aides over their interference into the Moreland Commission work, but from accounts of former Moreland Commissioners given to Ken Lovett in the Daily News, it seems there's a lot there:

ALBANY - Some members of Gov. Cuomo's short-lived anti-corruption commission are angry and bitter.

The Daily News spoke to close to 10 sources tied to the soon-to-be-defunct panel, and a number of them denounced what they said was interference from Cuomo's office.

Others expressed frustration that Cuomo pulled the plug before the panel could finish its work.
All asked for anonymity for fear of blowback from the governor.

One commission member was so angry that he wouldn't take a call from The News, signaling through a secretary that he was afraid of what he might say.

Another source called it the worst time in her professional career.

"It was an exercise in frustration," said a third source.

...

The commission formed to root out corruption in state government was often divided, with the investigators on one side and Cuomo's $175,000-a-year executive director Regina Calcaterra on the other.

"There was no trust there," said the first commission source. "It was pretty widely understood that anything Regina Calcaterra knew, it would immediately be on the desks of" top Cuomo aides Larry Schwartz and Mylan Denerstein.

Denerstein was described as "measured" but Schwartz as aggressive. "I heard the word 'bully' mentioned more than once," said the source.

The panel's zeal to investigate was repeatedly curbed by the governor's office, the source said.

The commission wanted to subpoena prior ethics complaints from its ineffectual predecessor, the Legislative Ethics Commission, but was ordered not to, sources said.

And as they probed how lawmakers spend their campaign money, commissioners wanted to send subpoenas to vendors like hotels or florists to see what was purchased.

The subpoenas never went out, the sources said.

The frustration mounted when subpoenas were held back from entities with ties to Cuomo, including the powerful Real Estate Board of New York.

Another subpoena earmarked for the state Democratic Party was initially killed. And one that had actually been served on the ad firm the party used to promote Cuomo's agenda was rescinded after Cuomo aides erupted in fury, the sources said.

The Lovett News article goes on to say that Cuomo's people really tried to derail the commission after it released an "explosive preliminary report" in December - for example, the Cuomo administration deliberately let a contract with a company that provided advanced data analytics to expire just as commissioners were getting a handle on how to use it for investigations.

Then the chief investigator for the commission, Danya Perry, resigned in protest over the Cuomo administration's interference in the commission's work.

By the end of the year, Cuomo was looking for any old excuse to shut the commission down because it had become a "liability" for him - both with the work it was doing on legislators and the headaches it was giving him over his own donor connections.

It seems pretty clear that Cuomo was hiding something from the commission by refusing subpoenas go out to his own donors like the REBNY and that he didn't really want the commission finding anything too "explosive" on the legislature either.

In short, the Moreland Commission was supposed to be a "rubber stamp" committee for him, the way his "Common Core panel" was, but Moreland Commissioners were taking the work seriously, something Cuomo didn't want or like.

That's why he shut it down after declaring victory on ethics reform with the lame ethics reform package he got passed into the state budget last month.

As I said earlier, I don't know how intent Bharara is on investigating Cuomo and his interference in the commission's work, but if he's willing to go there, I would bet a couple of Danielson artifacts that there's dirt to be found on Cuomo.

There's a reason why Sheriff Andy wanted to shield his own donors from subpoenas, there's a reason why they steered the commission to subpoena some individuals and entities and ignore others, there's a reason Cuomo wanted the commission shut down in December after the "explosive preliminary report."

Cuomo likes to play as if he's the Sheriff of Albany, out to clean up the rot and corruption in the capital, but the truth is, he's as dirty or dirtier than anybody else there.

It would be nice if we finally got some independent investigator to take on the investigative work and scrutinize the governor the way he deserves to be scrutinized.

Is Preet Bharara going to be that independent investigator?

Cuomo Says Public Education Needs "Disrupting," Common Core Is Just The Thing To Do It

Governor Cuomo today:

Under fire from Republican Rob Astorino, the Westchester County executive running for governor and who has called it the “Cuomo Common Core,” the governor was quick to point out that he has nothing to do with the education department. 

“The education system across the board needs serious reform and has for a long time,” he said. 

He added: “To the extent this is a moment to bring change to the system—and remember how hard change is, especially for a large system like the education system—I welcome it.”

He defended the Common Core standards, likening them to charter schools as a way of improving on the failing status quo. 

While people might say the changes are disruptive to the status quo, Cuomo argued that, “by the way, the status quo needs disrupting.”

It's the same tired crap we hear from the education reformers all the time - public education is failing, it's in need of major disruption, that's why drastic reforms like CCSS and school privatization are needed.

As Diane Ravitch and others have pointed out over and over, these talking points are tired and false to boot.

But that doesn't stop Cuomo from parroting them.

One other thing I'd like to point out - he keeps saying he has nothing to do with education policy, but he keeps sticking his nose into education policy, via the APPR law or his Common Core panel.

At what point does a reporter stop being nice and polite about questioning him over this and just point out how full of crap he is when he says he has no say in ed policy in this state?

Teacher On Cuomo Common Core Panel: No Discussion Or Dissent Was Allowed

A tweet last night from the teacher on the Cuomo Common Core panel:

I will issue a further statement tomorrow on the sham of @NYGovCuomo CCLS implementation panel. No dissent allowed, no discussion allowed!
— Todd Hathaway (@toddjhathaway) March 11, 2014

That's Cuomo-style democracy in action.

No dissent, no discussion.

Findings decided beforehand.

Sign it or else.

As I noted when the Cuomo Common Core panel was first announced, the panel was loaded with CCSS supporters/education reformers and the fix was undoubtedly in.

It will be interesting to see what Todd Hathaway has to say in detail about his experience on the panel.

Cuomo Common Core Panel Suggests Increased Professional Development & Training For Members Of The Board Of Regents And NYSED

Cuomo's Common Core panel said increased professional development and training is needed for both the Regents and the functionaries at NYSED since they've managed to screw up so much of their reform agenda, both the development of that agenda and the implementation of it.

So the panel suggested the Regents and SED functionaries be forced to attend ten hours of Common Core training and PD per week for the next three years as part of the...

Nahh - just kidding.

Cuomo's Common Core panel wants more training for teachers, of course:

The report supports local professional development opportunities for teachers as well as a plan that would “showcase” examples of successful implementation in a local area. Schools successfully implementing Common Core would be highlighted for other local teachers and principals.

Oh goodie - more Common Core PD!

Just what I was looking for.

Meanwhile the arrogant people who put all of these reforms together at the Board of Regents and the Gates Foundation, er, New York State Education Department get off scott free.

No accountability for either the Regents or the SED functionaries.

Here's hoping the legislature sends a message tomorrow by throwing some of them out.

More PD.

Just what we need.

Hope it's done by the same geniuses who created the SED modules.

Cuomo's Common Core Panel Issues Report

Panel calls for continued implementation of Common Core and APPR but recommends the state cut inBloom ties:

Gov. Cuomo's Common Core panel wants to restrict how much time can be used teaching to the tests, limit standardized testing to those above second grade, and end a controversial contract with a data sharing company, the Daily News has learned.

The report is broken into four sections of recommendations, legislative and other sources briefed on the findings say.

One recommendation would limit to 1% the instructional time that can be spent on the assessment tests and another 1% giving the tests. In addition, there should be a limit of no more than 2% of instructional time for "test prep" under testing conditions.

The report will also recommend barring standardized testing for students in prekindergarten through second grade and ensuring that the English and math assessment exams will not be used against students when it comes to grade promotion or appear on their permanent records.

For the time being, students would take both the new Common Core Regents exams and the old ones, with the highest score counting, the report recommends, according to sources.

And it would give districts flexibility to waive certain testing for the severely disabled and those for whom English is a second language.

The sources say the report also recommends creating online resources and toolkits for parents to help them work with their kids at home and calls for local community events and the dissemination of materials through schools, non-profit groups, libraries and other partners.

In addition, the report calls for increased professional development opportunities for teachers as well as opportunities for more collaboration among instructors on lesson plans and classroom practices.

The report, the sources say, also urges that teachers get access to the Common Core curriculum as quickly as possible.

And it calls on the state to halt its relationship with inBloom, a private company that would have access to private student data that can be shared. The sources say there is also a recommendation for strict data protection and security requirements.

Many of the recommendations mirror what has already been proposed by the Board of Regents. The report does not recommend delaying the teacher evaluation process as some legislators want, though it does back the Regents decision to delay by five-years requiring passage of Common Core Regents exams in order to graduate. The new standards will take affect for the class of 2022.

The report comes out a day before the Legislature is set to consider whether to reappoint four members of the Board of Regents. The normally staid process is expected to be contentious because of anger over the Regents' missteps in implementing the Common Core.

The tests will still count for school ratings and teacher evaluations, but they're going to limit test prep to 2% of instructional time?

Oh, yeah - I'm sure that'll happen.

So long as the tests remain high stakes for schools and teachers, there is going to be an inordinate amount of test prep taking away from instructional time.

That's the reality, no matter what jive Cuomo's CCSS panel tries to enshrine into practice.

If they want to get rid of the test prep, they need to get rid of the high stakes attached to the tests.

Since Cuomo is adamant that won't happen, the test prep part of this report is garbage.

I'll have more later - especially about the part about giving both the old AND the new Common Core tests to students.

They want to limit the time spent on testing but they're going to give both the old AND the new tests - that should go swimmingly.

EngageNY Modules Make No Sense - An Emblem For Common Core As A Whole

Kindergarten math homework. Makes no sense whatsoever. #CommonCore should be ashamed. pic.twitter.com/emnxjUwRrU
— Chris Zoller (@ChrisZFitness) February 27, 2014

This is the "rigor" of the Common Core in crystallized form.

It's needlessly complex and makes no sense.

It does, however, make children cry and parents scratch their heads and wonder what the hell is going on in schools these days.

It is also a great symbol for why so many parents and teachers are rising up against the Common Core State (sic) Standards - not just the tests aligned to the standards or the teacher evaluation systems that rate teachers based on the CCSS-aligned tests but the the Common Core State (sic) Standards themselves.

In my school, the 9th grade teachers are spending endless days teaching "The Tell-Tale Heart" - the SED EngageNY module says teachers should spend eight days teaching these lessons, but the lessons themselves take much longer than that.

Students are asked the same kinds of questions over and over and over ad nauseaum about each paragraph - here's an example:

What information does the narrator reveal about himself in paragraph 1?

Who is the narrator speaking to? 

What does Poe’s use of punctuation in the first sentence reveal about the narrator?

During what part of the action does Poe begin his story? 

What is the effect of Poe’s choice to begin the story after the action has taken place? 

What is the narrator's purpose in asking the two questions in paragraph 1?

Personal responses of any kind are not valued in these lessons - it's all about the text and the text alone.

Students are then given "Accountable Independent Reading" assignments for homework in which they are required to 

Instruct students to reread and annotate paragraph 1 to gather evidence about whether the narrator is mad. Instruct students to preview paragraph 2 and annotate using the annotation codes from Module 9.1. 

That's Day One of the lesson, but it actually takes longer than one class day to complete.

By the end of the lessons on Poe, students want to bury the Tell-Tale Heart in the floor and run from school screaming.

But it gets worse for them, because there is an Emily Dickinson poem waiting on the other side that they will find incomprehensible and will spend 10 days on (though the SED EngageNY module has five lessons based on Dickinson's "I felt a funeral in my brain," the actual lessons take closer to two weeks to complete.)

As I pointed out earlier in the school year with this post, these EngageNY modules are steadily killing the creativity and energy children and teachers have for school and learning.

You still see this jive in the media that the Common Core are a more rigorous set of standards that will help students be college and career ready when they graduate high school.

The truth is, the "rigor" of the Common Core is causing "rigor mortis" of the soul for students, parents and teachers and the only thing these standards are doing for children is preparing them to drop out of school because they hate every second they're in a classroom.

These are the standards that Governor Cuomo and State Senator John Flanagan support, these are the standards that they think can be better implemented if only John King and Merryl Tisch can get their acts together.

But these standards cannot be better implemented because they were written by people as delusional about what children need to learn in school as the narrator of Poe's "Tell-Tale Heart" is delusional about himself.

In the end, the Common Core State (sic) Standards will end up in the graveyard of education reforms past, but there is going to be a lot of damage done to children, parents, teachers, schools and public education as a whole first.

The Lie That "Many Educators Support The Common Core Standards"

Newsday has an article reporting parents protested the CCSS outside of State Senator John "I Love The Common Core Because Michelle Rhee Loves The Common Core!" Flanagan's office yesterday.

Flanagan makes pains in the article to say that he supports the CCSS, just thinks the implementation of the standards has been weak (a point which I posted about last week), then says this:

Flanagan (R-East Northport) said later Friday that he supports the tougher standards, which are backed by many educators.

"The basic thing is that every major educational organization -- teachers, superintendents, school administrators, school business administrators, the PTA . . . They all support Common Core standards," Flanagan said. "The frustration has been over the implementation, which has been suspect and flawed in many different ways."

Newsday reports the same lie later in the article (emphasis mine):

The controversy over the Common Core standards comes amid outrage from many parents and educators statewide. The tougher standards, adopted by the Board of Regents in 2010, were created with the aim of helping students better compete with their counterparts in other countries. They have been adopted by 44 other states and the District of Columbia.

In New York, which is among a handful of states in the forefront of Common Core implementation, the reforms have brought ire from school administrators and teachers, in addition to parents.

Many educators support the higher standards, but say changes in curricula and testing have been far too hasty and made more difficult because the state Education Department did not provide all curriculum guides needed to teach the more challenging concepts and course material.

A commenter calls out both Flanagan and Newsday on the "Many Educators Support The Standards" jive:

The article says "many educators support the higher standards". That statement is flawed as stated. It is stated as fact and there a two flaws with it. First, there is no evidence that "many" educators support it. There are a handful that might but they are overwhelmingly central office administrators and not classroom teachers. Second, they are not "higher" standards. They are more onerous, not more rigorous. To hold all students to the same standards based solely on their chronological age is not educationally sound. This whole movement is a scam backed by those looking to make a buck under the guise of helping children. I for one, do not believe the Common Core Standards descended from the throne above to bring educational salvation to our children. The laws of math, science and literacy have not changed. Our Long Island schools are the best in the nation and there is plenty of evidence to back that up, though it is hardly ever reported. Just another example of Reagan's famous quote of the nine most feared words in the english language, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help"

Now I know that both the Gates Foundation and the unions have financed "polls" which purport to show overwhelming support for the CCSS from teachers.

I can tell you that in my school building, there are very few still on board with the CCSS reforms.

In the ELA department, there is not one teacher who supports the CCSS.

Not one - and I work in a very large school with a lot of teachers.

I can tell you that when the standards were first announced years ago, there was support and excitement from quite a few ELA teachers over the standards (not from me, but that's because I'm a cynical old man who looks skeptically on all reforms that emanate from the Gates Foundation, Pearson, the Obama administration, et al.)

But all of those teachers who once spoke excitedly about Common Core have either turned against CCSS with a vengeance or quit teaching totally.

I know this is anecdotal evidence and I in no way will extrapolate the lack of support for CCSS in my school to educators across the state of New York or the nation as a whole.

But I will say this - we need a poll done by some outfit that is not being paid by the pro-CCSS groups to ask teachers around the state of New York about CCSS.

That means a poll not conducted by the Gates Foundation or the NEA or AFT leaderships (which are on the Gates Foundation payroll and thus are being paid to shill for the CCSS.)

I would bet you two artifacts from my Danielson framework that poll does not find "many educators support the higher standards."

Not in NY State anymore - not after the CCSS tests, not after the SED modules, not after APPR, not after Danielson and all the other reforms that have been shoved through all at once and overwhelmed students, parents and teachers.

The politicians and the press continue to preach the Gospel of the Common Core even as the public begins to largely turn against the Core.

Poll after poll shows the public as a whole mixed on the Core, but those polls are asking everybody about the Core and many people do not have personal experience with it yet.

But those who do have personal knowledge and experience with the CCSS - students, parents, and teachers - are turning in large numbers against the Common Core and the rest of the testing/data/accountability reforms that have gone with the new standards.

You can see it in schools like mine and in the CCSS forum townhalls NYSED Commissioner King tried to cancel and in the protests parents are holding outside the offices of politicians.

Frankly this is all crystallized in the movement of some states to change the name of Common Core to something else in order to fool an increasingly anti-Common Core public that Common Core State (sic) Standards are no longer the standards of their particular state.

Support for CCSS was never more than a few miles wide and an inch or two deep (other than from the people making money off it.)

As more and more people become familiar with the Core, more and more people are coming to oppose the standards - and I believe this includes teachers too.

Now we just need an honest and fair poll to ask teachers around the state about CCSS and see if I'm right.

If CCSS Tests Aren't Good Enough To Be Used For Student Evaluations, Why Are They Good Enough For Teacher Evaluations And Merit Pay?

A commenter on the Newsday article reporting Andrew Cuomo is going to run his own pro-CCSS ads that will also criticize the CCSS roll-out from the state and say the CCSS tests are not ready to be used on students:

So he says outright that using the test scores is unfair for evaluating students....But it IS fair for evaluating teachers? And he thinks some should get a taxpayer funded $20,000 bonus based on an unfair evaluation? I'm a TEACHER and I think that is an OUTRAGE!

Indeed, where does Cuomo get off criticizing the CCSS tests for use on children but defending the CCSS tests for use on teachers as part of APPR and merit pay as part of his education reform proposals for 2014?

Another commenter writes:

Mr. Cuomo's one-size-fits-all teacher evaluation plan caused excessive testing, wastes instructional time, and leads to teaching to the test, It is a major piece of the problem and should be addressed.

This commenter has a very good point as well - one of the complaints about the CCSS reform agenda from the NYSED and Regents is that there is excessive testing taking place that is putting a ton of anxiety on students, parents and teachers and sapping resources from schools and districts.

Cuomo's APPR teacher evaluation system is THE major reason why this is happening.

He can criticize the CCSS rollout all he wants and try and displace blame onto SED and the Regents.

The fact is, one of THE major reasons why there is so much overtesting in NY State is because Governor Cuomo's APPR teacher evaluation system mandates 40% of a teacher's rating come from so-called student performance (i.e., tests and "performance assessments.")

The New Teacher Project Attacks The Unions For Pulling Back On Common Core

New Teacher Project leader Tim Daly wrote the following on his official TNTP blog today in response to NEA President Van Roekel calling for a "course correction" on Common Core:

1. Change is hard – but this has almost nothing to do with “botched” implementation. Or standards. “Implementation” is a catch-all complaint that union leaders have often—and successfully—used to extract themselves from commitments they no longer wish to keep.  Aiding in the rollout of Common Core is just such a commitment. The unions routinely complain that states are moving too fast in transitioning to the new standards, but the truth is that educators have already had years to prepare. In New York, for instance, the standards were adopted in 2010—four years ago. Implementation was always going to be difficult and, with a change of this magnitude, no one could ever be 100 percent ready. No matter how long the lead-up time, it’s easy to balk when you are staring at the year when it all counts. If four years is not sufficient, how long is? Eight years? Ten? Stretching out the timeline amounts to nothing more than a slow pull of the band aid.
    
2. This has everything to do with politics and job protection. On the right, debate about Common Core has been clouded by the Tea Party’s dislike of anything associated with the federal government. The debate on the left is clouded, too. There, the discussion about Common Core is really a discussion about accountability in the form of stronger teacher evaluation systems that factor in student learning results alongside other measures. The standards themselves are incidental. Unions hoped that the occasion of Common Core (and their support for it) might present an opportunity to roll back or dilute teachers’ accountability for results. (Never mind that, even when students begin to be measured against tougher, Common Core-aligned tests, there’s little evidence to suggest a drop in scores will put teachers at any real risk.) As it has become clearer that no such accountability holiday is forthcoming—and that educators, in addition to schools, will be on the hook for advancing students toward the standards—the union withdrawal has been a foregone conclusion. Many policy leaders were awaiting this moment for a year or more.
    
3. There will be more political fallout ahead. The long-term implications of the loss of the unions from the Common Core coalition are meaningful. It’s easy to exaggerate the short-term effect of the NEA announcement or the AFT announcement that preceded it. Unions were already fighting accountability measures associated with Common Core at the state and district level. But officially, it was possible for the unions to claim some form of alliance with the Obama administration, however strained it might have been. That’s no longer possible. The unions are now taking aim at the administration’s central education policies. There isn’t much ground left for alliance in this fractured marriage. Going forward, the question is whether the unions hold the Democratic Party to its own views or seek new political patrons. If you need an illustration of what the future may hold, look no further than my home state of Illinois, where the state NEA affiliate is spending heavily on behalf of a Republican primary candidate for governor who is a member of ALEC, while withholding support for the incumbent governor, a Democrat, who crossed them on pension reform. If Barack Obama could run for a third term as president, it’s a very good question whether he could garner an NEA or AFT endorsement. . . and whether he’d accept one.

Does this sound like a guy looking to fix the "chaos," "confusion," and "anxiety" over Common Core in NY State, as Governor Cuomo himself described the environment in a statement he made to the press yesterday, or a guy ready to push through the CCSS reforms no matter what and blame any problems on teachers and unions?

Remember, Cuomo put the Executive Vice President and General Counsel of The New Teacher Project, Dan Weisberg, on the Common Core panel, so what the president of The New Teacher Project is writing on his official TNTP blog matters.

Want to make a bet EVP Dan Weisberg, member of Cuomo's Common Core panel, feels the same way that Daly does over CCSS?

Want to make a bet Governor Cuomo knew that before putting Weisberg on the panel?

Want to bet that's the reason Weisberg is on the panel?

Andrew Cuomo's Common Core Panel Shills For The Common Core

Governor Andrew Cuomo may have tried to distance himself from the state education reform agenda yesterday when faced with parents protesting the Common Core outside a budget hearing, but the panel he named to look into Common Core implementation in NY State sure sounds like it's still fully on board with the state reform agenda:

ALBANY—At the top of the agenda for Andrew Cuomo's expert panel on Common Core standards was the question of how to improve public opinion.

Led at its opening meeting on Wednesday by chair Stanley Litow, an IBM executive and former deputy chancellor of New York City schools, the panel interviewed several representatives from advocacy and education stakeholder groups regarding their proposals for how to improve Common Core implementation.

The expert presenters stressed during the two-and-a-half hour meeting that the success of the standards relies heavily on support from parents and the general public.

...

Timothy Kremer, executive director of the New York State School Boards Association, said it was “refreshing” to participate in a positive discussion about the Common Core standards. Most presenters at the panel's meeting spoke in support of the standards and went easy on the state regarding implementation problems. When a panelist asked the presenters to rate the state's rollout of the standards, some offered a six or seven out of 10, which represented a near-perfect implementation.

“I believe personally that many of the people who live in these communities have been misled,” Kremer said, responding to a question about school board members' outlook on implementation of the standards. “There are so many political moving parts out there that are trying to blame each other. Some of the detractors of Common Core and education reform have won the battle in the court of public opinion."

Kevin Kelly from Stop Common Core responded in the comments section of the Capital NY article on the Common Core panel meeting:

Is this an investigatory panel or aa ad agency? How about instead of cheerleading the CCLS, study how they stack up against the standards we had before? How about having early learning professionals look into how inappropriate the standards are? How about investigating the privacy issues raised by the longitudinal data bases collecting P-20 on our children?

Another commenter writes:

What a joke. This commission that Cuomo has set up is more akin to a kangaroo court than an impartial panel. A week and a half ago, the Board of Regents finally budged under the weight of public opinion, reason, and common sense. I don't think they did it out of some idealistic notion of what is best for our schools-- in my humble opinion, they were simply tired of taking heat for what Cuomo helped to usher in. Heads are going to roll anyway (John King's, for starters), so what's the sense of continuing on a state tour taking one black eye after another? Approaching an election year, Cuomo has tried to hide behind the State Ed. Dept. and to distance himself from this mess (remember when he rushed the implementation of APPR, CCSS, etc., only to later say that "State Ed. doesn't answer to the governor" when pressed for comment?). 

...

At least this "commission" has one thing right: in terms of public relations and 'selling' the CCSS, there has been no involvement by New York's executive branch. That might mean that our Governor might actually have to sit down and examine the Common Core. He might have to listen to teachers, administrators, parents and students. He might be expected to generate an informed opinion rather than playing the Fed's hand maiden and passing the buck of responsibility, implementation, and accountability to others. Let it be known that this is Cuomo's M.O.: ride the polls and capitalize on those hot button issues that are relatively safe bets in a liberal leaning state (same sex marriage, gun control, etc.). But when the noise gets loud (Common Core, hydrofracking,etc.), Cuomo hides behind curtains.

I think that's exactly right - this Common Core panel convened by Governor Cuomo, stacked with Common Core supporters and proponents (as demonstrated here) is meant to keep the Common Core status quo moving forward but give Governor Cuomo some political cover and distance from that status quo.

The first meeting of the panel shows just how rigged the process is - the takeaway from the meeting was "Common Core is great, messaging around Common Core not so great!"

And so, they decided that the p.r. around the Common Core has to get better, that they have to "sell it" more effectively to the public, specifically parents.

This isn't the first time that we've heard this complaint around messaging - NYSED Commissioner John King complained last spring that the news media wasn't adequately explaining the "complexities" of Common Core to the public.

But the truth is, this has nothing to do with the "messaging" or the media - this has to do with the Core itself.

As more and more parents become familiar with the Common Core, see their kids struggle with the homework and fail the age-inappropriate tests, see the quality of the Common Core lesson plans or modules, they're turning against Common Core.

The same is happening for teachers all across the country, a message echoed by NEA President Dennis Van Roekel to Politico yesterday.

The Cuomo Common Core panel has already decided that the Common Core is swell, it's just the propaganda selling it that needs to be improved.

In short, they're shilling for the Common Core (which is pretty much what I expected we would get from this panel), but they're going to be surprised (as will the governor) when they discover that no amount of improved messaging or heavy doses of propaganda can sell the Common Core to the public.

You see, you can't sell garbage as gold when people see their kids living with the garbage every day in school and at home while they're doing their homework.

And therein lies the problem for the Common Core proponents and ed reformers - Common Core and the testing/data collection/teacher evaluation reforms that go along with it are half-baked at best and everybody who comes in contact with them can see that for themselves.

Maybe if the reformers had fully developed curricula around CCSS, maybe if they had delayed the CCSS tests or the high stakes for students, teachers and schools, they could have sold the CCSS to the public.

But they chose to go "all-in" and push all the reforms at once and as even Andrew Cuomo noted in his statement about Common Core yesterday, it has caused major problems:

“I think the way they have implemented Common Core has failed utterly,” he said. “There is massive confusion, massive anxiety and massive chaos all across the state. It may have been a good idea, but it has to be a good idea that is done properly. And this was not done properly.” 

You won't see me write this too often, but Governor Cuomo is absolutely right in part - there has been massive chaos, confusion and anxiety all across the state as a result of the CCSS and the state's education reform agenda.

The SED and the Regents have no idea how to fix any of this, so they pretty much tinker at the edges and pay lip service to critics and opponents.

Given that the deformers who pushed this agenda through have no idea how to fix the mess, how to clean up the confusion and alleviate the anxiety, I don't think all the improved messaging in the world is going to work to sell the CCSS to the public.

But as usually happens in 21st century America, our political elites figure they can sell garbage as gold if they just go heavier with the propaganda.