Time For NYSUT To Take Real Steps To End The Endless Testing Regime

This is cross-posted from New York Rank & File and it's in response to the propaganda NYSUT has been spewing forth about there being a "moratorium" on the use of test scores in teacher evaluations (a claim that is patently false):

Rank and File Teachers Call on NYSUT Leadership to Do More

We are a coalition of educators motivated by a desire to provide our students with an authentic, developmentally appropriate, culturally relevant, and child-centered public education. As we near the 2016 testing season, hundreds of thousands of young learners will be asked to submit to 9 hours of flawed and harmful state assessments that reduce teaching and learning to a test score, narrow the curriculum, label the majority of children failures, and squander resources, ultimately providing no educational benefit.

 

While the opt out movement has captured the attention of policymakers,there has been no substantive change. The only change is that school districts must now use limited time and resources to negotiate another APPR plan that requires both more testing for NYS children and a continued focus on evaluating teachers through test scores.

Despite this glaring lack of relief for students, the state teachers union (NYSUT) has failed to sound the alarm, and instead has launched a million dollar member-funded “multi-media campaign to highlight progress.” While a campaign video vaguely states that “there is still a lot of work to do,” the campaign is absent of any call to action. A similar campaign by the UFT–the state’s largest local union, based in NYC–goes so far as to spread misinformation, making the false claim that teachers will not be evaluated by test scores for the next 4 years. Nothing could be further from the truth. 
As educators, we are committed to sharing factual information so that those impacted by these policies can make informed decisions. Here are the facts:

• The Education Transformation Act of 2015 requires that 50% of  a teacher’s evaluation be based on a student performance measure. This will not change unless the law is amended.  

• Although teachers will still receive a growth score based on state tests, a 4 year moratorium has been passed on the use of state-provided growth scores for NYS Grades 3-8 Common Core ELA and Math tests in teacher evaluations. 

• ALL teachers will still be subject to a 50% test-based evaluation as per the law. Schools must administer an additional, locally determined assessment  (approved by the state department of education), and scores from that test will supplant the state test derived growth score in a teacher’s evaluation. 

• Teachers will receive a “transitional score” during the moratorium. 50% of this score will be based on observation, and 50% will be based on the locally-determined assessment. This transitional score will be used for making tenure decisions, and as per the law can be used to fire a teacher.

• While growth scores derived from the state tests may not be used for purposes of evaluation during the moratorium, they will still be recorded, and upon request be made available to parents. Teachers evaluated by Regents exams and by the 4th and 8th grade science tests will still be evaluated using those scores.

• Once the moratorium is over, NYS will move to a three year average growth score. In other words, teachers will receive a growth score based on student performance from the previous 3 years. It is unclear whether or not state test growth scores captured during the moratorium will be used in the average growth score for the 2019-20 school year.

• Based on flawed growth scores, schools will continue to be placed into receivership and subject to autocratic control. This will happen disproportionately in schools located in economically disadvantaged Black and Brown communities, as laid out in the Economic Policy Institute’s report, “The Racial Achievement Gap, Segregated Schools, and Segregated Neighborhoods – A Constitutional Insult.”

NYSUT officials recently responded to educators on social media calling for NYSUT to pursue an amendment to the law by stating that they believe the Regents will enact the 21 recommendations of the Common Core Task Force. In a recent interview on The Capital Pressroom, NYSUT President Karen Magee opined that it is “premature” to call for changes to the law and reiterated NYSUT’s belief that the Regents will implement the Common Core Task Force recommendations.

It should be noted that the Task Force has not recommended ANY changes to the focus on test scores in teacher evaluations, making this response irrelevant. While the task force pays lip service to the need for shorter tests, it fails to recommend any substantial change. For example, the Task Force report calls upon New York to follow the examples set by North Carolina, Texas, and New Mexico. The testing practices in these States are hardly positive role models for a reduction in testing. In North Carolina, testing has been reduced to a one day, four hour exam. In Texas, testing has been capped, forcing the average student to sit for 120 minutes, with no administration lasting more than eight hours. And in New Mexico, testing has been reduced by a paltry 15%. In New York, that would reduce 9 hours of testing for 10 year olds to 7.5 hours; some students with disabilities would still be forced to endure 15 hours of testing. This is cold comfort.

We call on the leaders of NYSUT and the UFT to suspend their misleading media campaigns. We also call for NYSUT to work for an immediate amendment to the education law 3012d, that requires teacher evaluations be based on high-stakes tests. Those tests will continue to count for 50% of teacher evaluations.  

Additionally, we call upon NYSUT leaders to launch a new, fact-based media campaign that will inform their members and the public that very little has changed for the children we serve. The continued requirement of students to participate in flawed and inappropriate testing this spring, as well as additional, local assessments (solely for the purposes of teacher evaluations) must stop. Furthermore, we demand that NYSUT urge all teachers to join the effort to save our profession, and to protect our students by refusing NYS tests in grades 3-8 for their own children.

Parents across New York State have labored for the past three years to protect their children and support educators. It is time that NYSUT and UFT leaders do the same. Now is not the time to lose the support of the public and our allies.

Signed,

BATs (Badass Teachers)

MORE (Movement of Rank & File Educators)

Stronger Together Caucus

Teachers of Conscience

**********************************************************************

The following organizations support The Call to Stand Up for Students:

Long Island Opt Out

Bronx Educators United for Justice

Opt Out CNY

Change the Stakes

New York State Allies For Public Education

Lace to the Top

NYC Opt Out

Pencils Down Rockland County

NYS Receivership and NYC Renewal Schools Action Group

ReThinking Testing MidHudson

The Paperclip Revolution

Long Island Superintendents Object To Test-Centric Evaluation System

John Hildebrand in Newsday:

Four Long Island school superintendents took their objections to Common Core testing and related “reforms” on the road Monday night to a public forum at Sayville Middle School attended by about 150 parents, teachers and others.

The school chiefs, all from central or eastern Suffolk County, contend the state’s tough new tests in English and math, tied to classroom evaluations, have forced teachers to spend too much time prepping students for those assessments.

 The result, these administrators say, is that students often have far less time than in the past for in-depth research on other subjects — for example, history and civics.

Cuomo's Common Core task force has called for a temporary de-coupling of state Common Core tests from teacher evals, but there's a catch - the de-coupling won't count for high school teachers whose students take Regents exams and "local" assessments will replace the state exams to make up the 50% test component for APPR.

So:

Local assessments will now b driving force in classrooms - get UR opt out letters in! Encourage others 2 do same https://t.co/a2kQo4H9Ov

— NYS Allies 4 Pub Ed (@NYSAPE) January 5, 2016

The powers that be want you to think a lot has changed in education post-Common Core task force.

The truth is, little has changed - "local" assessments replace state tests for many teachers, Regents exams continue to be a part of APPR for high school teachers and whatever Common Core tweaks the state plans will not disrupt the "instructional focus" of the Core. 

In short, same old same old.

MaryEllen Elia Says You'll Be Able To "Touch" All The Wonderful Changes Coming In Education

MaryEllen Elia, on the propaganda trail:

ALBANY — Substantive changes will be made to testing, teacher evaluations and the Common Core learning standards in New York State, state education commissioner MaryEllen Elia said in a television interview set to air Monday night.

“We’ve already started it,” Elia told WCNY’s Susan Arbetter on "Connect:NY," which airs on PBS.

...

 She said she understands the concerns of test refusal groups, which have said they will keep urging parents to opt their children out of the state and local exams linked to the teacher evaluations until they see change.

“I understand people saying, ‘Let me see it. I want to see it. I want to touch it. I want to make sure it’s there.’ Well, they’re going to be able to see it and touch it. That’s what we’re doing,” she said.

Uh, huh.

Sure you are.

So far, here's a rundown of the wonderful changes we've gotten in education policy.

Changing the Common Core but keeping the "instructional focus" the same.

De-linking state tests from teacher evaluations for four years, but elevating "local" tests to take their place.

Dunno how delusional Elia is, but if she thinks rhetoric and tweaks are going to fool anybody, she's kidding herself.

Cuomo/Regents Bait And Switch On Testing/Teacher Evaluations Will Not End Opt Out

From the NY Post:

Opponents of Common Core standards are urging parents to boycott next year’s state math and English exams, despite the state imposing a four-year freeze on using the results to grade students or teachers.

NYS Allies for Public Education said Wednesday that state and local school districts are administering too many tests and want the Common Core standards scrapped completely.

“We will continue to refuse to allow our children to participate in this system until all harmful reforms are removed,” said a spokesman for the group LI Opt Out.

About 200,000 students boycotted the last exams.

Teachers are still going to be evaluated using test scores and, depending upon the district, may still be evaluated using the state tests.

The Common Core isn't going anywhere, the Cuomo Common Core Task Force called for no "instructional shift" from the Common Core, just tweaks around the edges so they can say "Changes are being made!"

This bait and switch will not fool us.

The union leadership can fall all over itself declaring this a "win" for students, parents and teachers against the corporate reform movement, but those of us in schools know differently.

Nothing's changed, the Endless Testing regime lives on, APPR continues to use test scores to rate teachers, and with the Cuomo task force calling for a switch to "local" tests for APPR, there will be a whole lot more testing in the system next year.

The fight goes on.

Cuomo Says Test Scores Are Indeed Still Part Of The APPR Teacher Evaluation System

Governor Cuomo says, despite news coverage to the contrary, test scores are still going to be part of his vaunted APPR teacher evaluation system:

“There are teacher evaluations that are in the report and they are connected to tests, either state tests or locally approved tests,” Cuomo said on Sunday in Syracuse.

That's right, kids - your APPR teacher rating is going to be devised, in part, using test scores, either "local" tests approved of by NYSED or, wait for it, state tests.

If you've been reading this blog or a few of the other blogs on the blog list over to the right, you'd already know that test scores are still part of your APPR teacher evaluation rating despite the Cuomo Common Core Task Force report or the vote of the Board of Regents yesterday to implement a four year "moratorium" on the use of the Common Core tests in teacher ratings.

But it can't be any plainer than Cuomo put it on Sunday - test scores are still in APPR and depending upon what "local" tests your district decides to use for that part of APPR, you still might be rated by state tests, since some districts use that measurement for the local part of the APPR test score component.

How's that for a vaunted UFT/NYSUT "win", eh?

How's that for a "decoupling" of tests from teacher evaluations?

How's that for a bait and switch with the test scores/APPR ratings?

The cynic in me admires the bottom barrel cynicism of this move from Cuomo and his deformy pals at the Board of Regents and on his Common Core Task Force.

Seriously, to get all those headlines claiming test scores were no more for teacher evaluations until 2019 when they're actually not going anywhere.

The cynicism takes your breath away, it's that good.

NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia Declares War On Opt Out Movement

NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia sent out a letter to superintendents around the state touting an NYSED "toolkit" for districts to use to "educate" parents about the wonders of the Endless Testing regime.

The toolkit amounts to a lame PR campaign that tries to sell the same old pro-testing talking points we've heard from ed deformers and educrats before.

To say the toolkit was not well-received by superintendents and parents is an understatement.

This is from this morning's Politico NY education email:

“One anti-testing group believes this will only ‘fuel’ the movement. ‘It’s a declaration of war,’ said Jeanette Deutermann, co-founder of anti-testing group New York State Allies for Public Education and administrator of Long Island Opt Out. ‘This is a marketing strategy they’re using …This is insane...’...  

When Patchogue-Medford schools superintendent Michael Hynes received the email and kit he said he felt ‘embarrassed’ and then ‘angry.’ ‘I was embarrassed for the state education department because to me it’s a waste of time and it’s a waste of money from their vantage point, a waste of energy to actually give superintendents a module, a script on how to engage parents.’ He promptly responded to the department, saying he “did not need a tool kit,” and deleted the email, Hynes said. Seventy percent of the Long Island district's 3,291 eligible students refused to take the April exams. More than 1,500 students already have handed in refusal letters for next spring's round of testing, he said…

Elia came into her NYSED gig saying she wanted to "repaint" the Common Core standards so that parents would see how swell they are.

This toolkit is part of the "repaint" job she's doing on CCSS and the Endless Testing regime, but it's difficult to see how using stale talking points about testing is going to help change perceptions of the Endless Testing regime:

“Shoreham-Wading River schools Superintendent Steven Cohen said he was hoping the tool kit was more up-to-date…’Unless the state education department and commissioner can really explain to people or address these questions in a way that people will accept, I think people are going to continue to wonder why these reforms are being pushed the way they are.’” http://politi.co/1WzEa6h

It's pretty clear from the way Cuomo's handling his CCSS review task force (i.e., trying to limit attendance) and  now from the Elia opt out toolkit that neither the governor nor the state educrats plan any substantive changes to the Common Core or the Endless Testing regime as currently constituted in this state.

If either of them think that stale talking points about testing and a dog and pony show about Common Core are going to fool parents and teachers who are fed up with the reform agenda, they are sorely mistaken.

If anything, they're going to fan the flames of the opt out movement when they say with a straight face "Hey, we listened and heard you!" when it's quite obvious they did not such thing and just continued on with their reform agenda despite words to the contrary.

Arizona Attorney General Says Parents Have No Legal Right To Opt Children Out Of State Standardized Tests

From the Arizona Capital Times:

Parents of students in public schools have no legal right to withdraw their children or opt out of statewide standardized tests, Attorney General Mark Brnovich concluded today.

In a formal opinion, Brnovich acknowledged that state law does permit parents to exempt their children from certain learning materials and activities they find objectionable. That even includes keeping them out of a class or lesson where the material is being used or discussed.

But Brnovich, in response to a question raised by state schools chief Diane Douglas, said standardized tests are “separate and distinct” from such materials or activities. And he said nothing in the exemption law specifically includes a right to withdraw from standardized tests.

The attorney general also rejected Douglas’ suggestion that parents gained new rights in 2010 when the Legislature passed a “Parents Bill of Rights.”

That law, he said details the obligation of local school boards to ensure they inform parents about their rights to opt out of certain assignments. It also includes the ability to refuse to have children immunized and the right not to have children taught about AIDS.

But nowhere in that law, Brnovich said, did lawmakers include testing.

“The Legislature’s failure to include such a right is especially telling because the statute specifically mentions the ‘right to review test results’ and the `right to receive a school report card,’” he wrote.

Yet Brnovich pointed out that, even in amending the law in 2010, the Legislature did not see fit to include opting out of testing in that list. And he said that when lawmakers make an extensive list like this, it is presumed they know what is not on it.

So in Arizona a parent has a right to opt their children out of immunization and AIDS education but not the state tests.

Think about that - think about the values inherent in such a "law".

Is John King A Double Agent?

What John King will bring to the nation as Arne Duncan's replacement:

ALBANY — Almost exactly two years ago, John King stood on stage in an auditorium in Poughkeepsie, NY, trying to quiet angry parents while they booed, screamed and hurled personal insults at him.

Today, on a national stage, President Barack Obama tapped King to lead the U.S. Department of Education.

The fall of 2013 was arguably the most difficult period of King’s three-and-a-half year tenure as education commissioner in New York, where, as the state’s first black and first Latino schools chief, he led the implementation of the Common Core standards, controversial state exams aligned to the more difficult material, and teacher performance evaluations based partially on the tests.

After the Oct. 10, 2013, assembly devolved into chaos, King canceled (and subsequently rescheduled under pressure) the rest of his planned statewide tour, accusing “special interests” of co-opting the raucous crowd.

Teachers’ unions, parent groups and some state lawmakers called for King’s resignation. The state’s powerful teachers’ union later held a no-confidence vote to make official their feelings about him. A parent-led and union-boosted testing boycott movement began under his leadership, and subsequently exploded.

You would almost think, from his track record, that he's double agent against ed reform.

Seriously, few have done so much to damage reform as purported education reformer John King.

Would the opt out movement be as big as it is in New York if King hadn't fanned the flames?

Would the polling on Common Core, testing and the like be as negative as it is for reformers in New York without John King's aid (see here and here)?

Heckuva job this King does.

Quinnipiac Poll: Voters Back Teachers Unions Over Cuomo, 54%-31%

Capitol Confidential reports on a Quinnipiac Poll out this morning that finds 65% of New Yorkers do not believe standardized tests are the best way to measure student learning.

The poll finds a split for opt out (48%-47%), with huge regional disparities - opt out has more support upstate and in the suburbs than in New York City.

And the poll finds voters back teachers over Cuomo generally on specific issues like tenure and merit pay as well:

Though what voters think of opt-outs is a mixed bag, they’re put more faith in the teachers unions, which pushed the opt-out movement, to improve education than they put in the governor (54-31). Voters also strongly rebuke the idea of teacher pay and tenure being based on how well students perform on standardized tests.

If you're an education deformer pushing an education deform agenda, the poll numbers are moving against you on a host of issues, from tenure to teacher pay to standardized testing to Common Core.

Even the opt out findings are a victory for the Opt Out movement.

Can you imagine 48% saying it was okay to opt children out of standardized tests just a couple of years ago?

NYSUT Says MaryEllen Elia Is Listening To Parents And Teachers

Twilight Zone time from NYSUT as they make a statement on the Regents voting for the Cuomo teacher evaluation system today and claim the following about NYSED Commissioner Elia:

"The changes adopted today are a necessary step toward fixing a broken system that over-weights standardized testing, diminishes teaching and learning, and uses 'junk science' to sort and rank teachers.

"More changes are still needed - as many Regents and state legislators recognize. It is also clear that new State Education Commissioner Elia is listening to parents and educators and proposing commonsense - albeit stopgap - fixes.

"NYSUT will be forging forward - with parents, educators, the Regents and lawmakers - to develop an evaluation system that is fair and meaningful, and which stresses teaching and learning and not testing."

Elia's listening?

In what world?

She says opting out is unreasonable.

She says teachers who support or encourage opting out are unethical.

She's a huge fan of the Endless Testing regime and says parents will join her in her fandom just as soon as districts use her tool kit to explain to them how swell testing is and how bad opting out is.

She's also a huge fan of Common Core and wants to "repaint" it for parents so they can see how swell that is too.

If this is MaryEllen Elia listening to parents and teachers, I'd hate to see what not listening looks like.

Carmen Farina, Echoing MaryEllen Elia, Says Opt Out Is Unreasonable

Even as Cuomo walks back his support of Common Core by calling for a commission review and MaryEllen Elia spent a week or so trying to clean up the mess she made by calling parents who opt their children out of state tests "not reasonable," Farina echoed those Elia remarks on WNYC yesterday:

Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña doubled down on Common Core standards that are under assault elsewhere in the state, on the eve of the first day of classes.

Fariña said New York City had the lowest opt-out rate on this year’s state Common Core math and English tests in grades 3-8 — just 1.4 percent, compared with 20 percent of students statewide who boycotted the exams.

“I don’t believe in opting out,” Fariña said Tuesday on WNYC radio, adding that boycotting standardized exams sends the wrong message to students.

“The message is, ‘You’re not ready.’ The message is, ‘You’re not accountable.’ . . . We don’t think this is reasonable,” she said.

Her comments come just days after Gov. Cuomo called for another review of the program.

The message sent by opting children out of state tests is not that students or teachers are unaccountable for performance.

The message is that NYSED, the Board of Regents, the Legislature and Governor Cuomo are accountable to the people of this state and if they're going to pursue a harmful education reform agenda, the parents of this state are not going to stand for it.

Tests rigged for 70% failure rates, a teacher evaluation system so irrational that a district just given an award for excellence for six of its schools also had some of the "worst" teachers in the state - this is a harmful agenda and since Cuomo, Tisch, Elia and the Legislature don't seem like they want to fix it, the parents of this state will have to do it for them.

It's a straw man argument to say opt out sends the message to kids that they're unaccountable.

Rather it sends the message to politicians and educrats that they are accountable.

Cuomo Pointedly Does Not Call For A Review Of APPR Along With The Common Core/Testing Review

No surprise here - Cuomo can read polls and the opt out rates as well as the next fellow

Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a statement Thursday in which he said he agrees with those who found the implementation of Common Common Core problematic.

Cuomo said he sympathizes with parents who chose to have their children opt out of standardized tests.

“We must have standards for New York’s students, but those standards will only work if people – especially parents – have faith in them and in their ability to educate our children," Cuomo said. "The current Common Core program does not do that. It must."


Cuomo said Common Core must be fixed and he said the state will do a comprehensive review of the implementation of the Common Core standards.

Cuomo said he will ask a representative group from the State Education Commission, including education experts, teachers, parents, the Commissioner of Education and legislative representatives to review the issues raised above and provide recommendations in time for his State of the State Address in January.

And so we get another jive commission so that Cuomo can say he sympathizes with parents who opted their kids out of the tests, he sympathizes with those who do not have faith in the Common Core, he is one with the students and parents of this state.

But as I pointed out earlier, notice what's not in the statement - anything about APPR.

A Perdido Street School reader noticed that too and explained just what that means:

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)

1) 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.

Exactly right - Cuomo, perhaps with input from Tisch and Elia, perhaps on his own as damage control, is looking to save his reform agenda from the angry parents.

This is all about trying to pacify the parents and get the opt out rates down for next year so that they can use the tests to rate teachers, schools and districts with impunity again.

I wonder, how does Cuomo defend his APPR rating system that uses tests based upon the Common Core State Standards now that he admits those standards were implemented badly and the tests are problematic?

Will the press ask him about this curious contradiction - APPR swell, CCSS and CCSS tests not so swell?

Is NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia Really Softening Her Stance On Opt Out?

NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia made a couple of media appearances to try and calm the furor over her recent comments that parents who opt their children out of state tests are "not reasonable," teachers who support or encourage opting out are "unethical" and the state was looking into legal means to cut down on opt out rates next year.

The first was on NPR with Karen DeWitt:

“Superintendents have asked me, ‘Is it the law?’ ‘Exactly what does this mean for us?’ ‘What are the ramifications of (a high opt-out rate) in terms of the federal law?’,” Elia said. “So it would seem to me the logical thing for me to do as the commissioner in the state is to find out the answers to those questions, and tell my colleagues that. That’s what I said.

“This is not a threat — I’m just trying to get information out there so people understand it,” she said.

Elia discussed the “toolbox” SED is assembling to address a range of issues concerning the tests.

“Really, the idea of the toolbox for leaders in the state came from a request from a number of superintendents,” Elia said. “I think it’s really looking at what we can do to communicate better. I think the work that’s been done in New York, much of it is very good, but there are areas where we haven’t been on top of things like I think we could have been — and this is common across the country.

“Parents have a right to have their child test or not,” she continued. ” … But I think we haven’t done enough communication so that parents — if they understand it and they still want their child to opt out, that certainly is their right — but I think a lot of parents feel like the tests had problems with them, from their perspective.”

Elia then proceeded to list a number of the reasons why a parent might want their child to opt out — and seemed to agree with at least one of them.

“I’ve had teachers tell me the tests are too long. I’ve had them say they don’t think they’re matched to the standards. We’ve done a lot of work in matching and looking to see that that’s done,” she said. “But I would tell you, I think that they are long.”

Next was Capital Tonight:

During a CapTon interview last night, Elia said there’s definitely an ethical “line” teachers should not cross when it comes to the third-through-eighth-grade English and math exams.

The commissioner said educators should not use the “pulpit” provided by their positions to reach out to parents and encourage them to opt out, but should feel free to answer questions about their personal position on the issue when asked – especially if those questions are posed outside the classroom.

“What I’m concerned about is taking a position and influencing children and families simply because they know their telephone number or someone might come in,” Elia said.

Elia acknowledged that it is perfectly legal for parents to decide not to have their children sit for state tests, but also said she believes parents need to be educated about the importance of those tests as a diagnostic and “assessment” tool.

She said she isn’t threatening anyone with sanctions, but is reaching out to superintendents to provide them with information to give to parents on this issue. At the moment, Elia confirmed, no districts will be losing federal funding as a result of unusually high opt-out rates.

These interviews came on the same day that she backed up the right for parents to opt their children out of vaccinations for religious reasons.

She's still hammering home the idea that parents who are opting their kids out just don't know any better but by golly, she's going to educate them by communicating with them (“Parents have a right to have their child test or not…But I think we haven’t done enough communication so that parents..."; she believes parents need to be educated about the importance of those tests as a diagnostic and “assessment” tool.)

The State of Politics blog described Elia's media tour yesterday as Elia's "softening" her stance on the Opt Out movement, but I didn't hear much different from her yesterday on opt out at all.

She did acknowledge the tests are too long, so there's one minor concession from her, though she has always said the state was going to review the tests for quality, so presumably that length critique comes under that purview.

But other than the critique about the length of the tests, I didn't hear much that was new.

She has acknowledged parents have the right to opt their children out of the state tests (including parents who are also teachers), so that isn't new.

She's claimed before that her NYSED "toolbox" project isn't going to be a way for the state to coerce parents to have their children sit for the tests, so that isn't new either.

Quite frankly, I heard more that was new in her statement supporting the parent's right to opt her child out of the MMR vaccines for religious reasons than I did in her media tour yesterday.

It seems that Elia's trying to walk back the mess she made by calling parents who opt their children out of state tests "unreasonable" and teachers who support or encourage opt out "unethical," but that kind of language isn't easily erased from the minds of those who were targeted with it and while news reporters might have heard her "softening" her stance against opt out in yesterday's media tour, I heard much of the same old, same old message offered with less strident language.

She's still claiming parents who opt their children out need to be educated about the swellness of the tests.

She's still saying the "toolbox" will be a way for districts to educate these parents.

The threat is still implicit in the "It's the law..." remarks that districts that don't get parents to comply are going to have some legal trouble from the state (e.g., "at the moment" no districts will lose funding as a result of high opt out rates...)

Meet the new MaryEllen Elia message, same as the old MaryEllen Elia message, just with slightly less judgmental language.

Commissioner MaryEllen Elia Supports Opt Out - For Vaccinations

Given that NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia has said parents who opt their children out of the state tests are "not reasonable" and teachers who support or encourage the Opt Out movement are "unethical," I'm a little surprised at this:

A New York Russian Orthodox mom has won the right to exempt her autistic son from getting the school-mandated measles/mumps/rubella vaccination after citing her moral opposition to abortion, The Post has learned.

The woman said she objected on religious grounds because of the MMR vaccine’s link to the cells of aborted fetuses.

The city Department of Education rejected her bid for exemption after questioning the sincerity of her religious beliefs during the summer and fall of 2013.

But the mother, a Russian immigrant whose name was withheld under privacy laws, filed an appeal with the state Education Department.

Education Commissioner Mary Ellen Elia sided with the parent and granted the student exemption in an Aug. 3 ruling.

“Her opposition to the MMR vaccine stems from sincerely held religious beliefs. … Furthermore, petitioner produced information relative to specific ingredients … which appears to provide the linkage between vaccines and aborted fetal tissue,” Elia said.

The mom said in her pitch for exemption that “abortion is clearly considered a mortal sin and is [an] abhorrent act to any Christian.”

“The vaccine manufacturers’ use of aborted fetal cells in its products and research means that I cannot associate with them or support them financially (by buying their products), for such support would make me complicit to their sin and answerable to God for this violation,” she said.

The law currently provides for a religious exemption, but it must be documented in writing and heartfelt.

Interesting response from Elia.

So, opting out of MMR vaccinations for religious reasons is fine and dandy, opting out of state tests because parents believe the Endless Testing regime is harmful to their children is not.

Thoughts?

MaryEllen Elia Staring At A "No-Confidence" Vote

Fred LeBrun in the Times-Union on MaryEllen Elia and the heavy hand she's showing in dealing with the Opt Out movement:

There was nothing politic about her emerging strategy for taking on the Opt Outers. It seems confrontational, rather crude and patronizing. Good luck to that. Even Gov. Andrew Cuomo knows enough to be conciliatory when armies of parents become irate.

Remember the state Education Department's own statistical analysis of Opt Outers, the one-third of eligible upstate and Long Island third through eight graders who chose not to take the standardized tests last spring. Their families are white, solidly middle class, well educated, generally from low needs — that is to say, not impoverished — school districts. Regardless of what the new standardized tests might suggest about them — more would fail than pass — these students routinely grow up to hit the appropriate SAT benchmarks, graduate and go on to two- and four-year colleges.

These are not the kind of parents who are likely to be intimidated by vague assertions that, as Elia now suggests, a reason to take the standardized tests is because, ''listen, it's the law.'' It may be the law that public schools must offer the tests. But nothing I've read even suggests it's the law a student must take them. Parents do have rights. If anything, Elia's tack is likely to throw fuel on the fire rather than quell it in terms of opting out. Likewise, any back handed attempt to paint the Opt Out movement as being fanned by teachers is as insulting to the legions of parental volunteers who are Opt Out's core, and know it, as it is to teachers. Nor is Elia's condescending suggestion that fuller knowledge of what Common Core is and these standardized tests are about will turn Opt Outers around.

In my experiences, those in the Opt Out movement are very well informed already, which is why they're involved. With a better and wider perspective, incidentally, than state education officials trying to peddle as fresh fish stale educational policy on its way out on the national level. If there were indeed persuasive justifications for the these high stakes tests, we would have heard them by now. Nationally, the latest Gallup poll shows the public is overwhelmingly figuring that out.

...

The short of it is Elia doesn't seem to recognize the seriousness of the Opt Out movement, or the high stakes game she's in. Come next spring, it's her credibility now on the line as well as the public's confidence in her agency's ability to guide public education in this state. And right now, they're staring at a no confidence vote.

Elia's support in Albany is soft and thin - many politicians, the unions and other stakeholders said nice things about her when she was hired (even Fred LeBrun acknowledges she's more adept at PR than John King was), but that support will disappear quickly the more she throws down with parents, educators, schools and school districts over opt out rates.

Some Republicans in the Assembly have already displayed no-confidence in Elia, with James Tedisco warning that Elia's putting together a "goon squad" to intimidate parents and teachers over the Endless Testing regime and Al Graf putting together a petition calling for the Legislature to have her canned.

As she puts together her "goon squad" to punish educators, schools and districts that have high rates of students opt out of the state tests next year, she's going to discover that the politicians who said nice things about her this year will throw her under the bus next year quicker than you can say "LLC loophole," that the Board of Regents and Chancellor Tisch will do the same (Tischie threw King under the bus a few times - most notably during the Dr Ted fiasco), and Cuomo will out and out scapegoat her and NYSED whenever he feels the need to distance himself from his own education policy.

It will be interesting to see what Elia's standing is like next August compared to this one after a year of her opt out and Renewal School heavy-handededness, condescension toward parents over opt out and the general shrillness and incompetence we can expect from her given her track record in her old gig in Florida where she left a financial mess, safety issues that resulted in the deaths of three students, and a lot of enemies.

I suspect Le Brun is right, that Elia will have worn out her welcome in New York and will be staring at a no-confidence vote from the public and political establishments for herself and her education department.

NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia Threatens Legal Action Against Educators Who Support Opt Out

Just as some commenters on Perdido Street School blog pointed out would happen, NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia is going to target educators who support the Opt Out movement with legal action:

ALBANY — Education commissioner MaryEllen Elia already has begun a battle to stop the rapidly growing opt-out movement before next year’s state tests, reaching out to department attorneys and meeting with superintendents, she told POLITICO New York.

“We’re trying to pull together a tool kit, if you will, to support superintendents in how we can communicate in a much more effective way to people across the state,” Elia said.

That kit will include legal information, which is why she has reached out to lawyers, Elia said.

“I want the superintendents to understand the reflections and law that they can use as an information piece when they talk to people in their community … It’s important for them to be able to say, ‘Listen, it’s the law.’”

Ooh, it's the law!

I am so impressed by that statement.

Segregation and slavery were the law too, but that didn't make those laws right or just.

Many states continue to have sodomy laws on the books too, but that doesn't make those laws right or just either.

Same goes with the "law" regarding standardized testing in New York State.

Giving standardized tests that have been rigged to fail 70% of the children in the state may be the law, but that doesn't make that law right or just.

Implicit in her statement that giving the tests is "the law" is that legal action can be used against people who flout that law.

She has already said any educator who supports or encourages opt outs is "unethical," so you know when she dangles legal threats around over opt out, that's who she's aiming at.

If Elia wants to threaten legal action against teachers who support the Opt Out movement - go for it.

With opt out rates going from 5% in 2014 to 20% in 2015, I can understand why Elia feels threatened over the Opt Out movement.

But threatening legal action against teachers who support opt out, I don't think that's going to be a winning proposition for her.

When push comes to shove, will she get back-up from the Legislature or the governor in a battle over the tests?

Governor Cuomo is a huge fan of bashing and scapegoating teachers, but even he has tread lightly around the testing and opt out issue, knowing that there is a growing opt out movement in the state that can hurt him politically.

It remains to be seen what Elia can do to teachers other than threaten them for supporting opt out - unless she wants NYSED to engage in thousands of 3020a disciplinary cases over opt out, that is.

Is that the plan?

If so, it will be interesting to see how that goes.

Another thing that's not a winning proposition for Elia - equating support for opt out with ignorance on the part of parents.

Elia keeps saying (echoing Regents Chancellor Tisch) that NYSED has to get the message out to parents why testing is swell and kids should shut up and take their tests.

Elia even said last week that support for opt out is "not reasonable" - a statement that equates parent support for opt out with insanity.

This isn't sitting well with some parents:

When asked if she thinks opt out will continue to grow, Elia replied: “It’s incumbent upon us to get information and support out to those educators and leaders across New York … I think we have a lot of work to do in terms of communication and we have to do it a multiple levels.”

Some parents, like Jessica McNair, say they already are informed about Common Core and the opt-out movement should not be dismissed as a lack of information.

“I think she has a lot to learn about the parents in New York State,” McNair said. “We’re not going to back down until we see tests that are developmentally appropriate, and tests that are decoupled from the teacher evaluations.”

Opt Out CNY, which has 4,120 members, already has a 2015-16 refusal letter available to parents on its website — and some already have it signed and in their child’s book bags for the first day of school, McNair said.

Elia was supposedly hired because she is a "listener" and "consensus-builder."

From what I see so far, we've got John King Part Deaux, another a tone deaf corporate education reform water carrier for an NYSED Commissioner who reflexively attacks parents and teachers when they don't agree with her.

Let's see how that show plays over the next school year.

How Are Teachers Handling The Opt Out Issue?

NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said any educator who supports or encourages the Opt Out movement is "unethical".

A commenter on a previous Perdido Street School post said she/he never encourages parents to opt children out of tests:

I am a teacher and I totally support the opt out movement. However, I do not believe it is ethical for teachers to ENCOURAGE parents to opt out. On the flip side I have no problem whatsoever for teachers to give information to parents who ASK for opt out information. It is the same with cops. They might not support a certain law like drinking in public but they can't encourage people to just brown bag it in dark corners.

In a reply to that comment, another commenter wrote:

At my school the principal asked us NOT to discuss opt out with parents, even if they ask. If a parent brings it up we have to tell them to speak to the principal. Talking to parents about opt out is a good way to get rated ineffective.

There is some conjecture that going forward, NYSED will go after educators with high opt rates, from superintendents leading districts to principals leading schools to teachers in individual classrooms.

Both Regents Chancellor Tisch and NYSED Commissioner Elia have made some not-so-subtle comments to back up that conjecture that they will look to punish educators over opt out rates.

So, there's an important question to ask here:

How do teachers out there handle the opt out issue?

LoHud: Teachers Union Not Behind Opt Out Movement

I keep seeing this allegation that the Opt Out movement was started, nurtured and spread by the teachers union.

The latest incarnation of that was from some woman arguing with Assemblyman Ed Ra on twitter about the wonders of Common Core and Common Core testing (Assemblyman Ra wasn't convinced of the the wonders of either) who claimed the Opt Out movement was "astroturf" created by the unions, including the UFT.

In an editorial today, The Journal-News dispenses with this myth that the union started opt out:

Many advocates and commentators continue to insist that the opt-out movement was surreptitiously created and nurtured by teachers unions, sort of like Frankenstein. This is simply not the case. At least in New York, the movement was built over several years — slowly, in stops and starts — by parent groups using social media. Local teachers unions started to publicly back the opt-out idea only in the final months before April's tests. And NYSUT, the statewide union, did not jump in until the final weeks, after it was clear that Gov. Andrew Cuomo would not allow lawmakers to topple his much-despised teacher-evaluation system.

I would add that the UFT has continued to support the state's testing regime despite NYSUT leadership showing support for the opt out movement right before the state tests were given in April.

This came after UFT President Michael Mulgrew said he'd punch anybody who took his Common Core away last year.

When it comes to Common Core and Common Core testing, the UFT is squarely on board with the program.

So, to reiterate:

The Opt Out movement was parent-created, parent-nurtured and parent-supported - a true grassroots movement.

Assemblyman Ra himself said it:

@CharmianAgain @JamesTedisco 1 of the biggest falsehoods is that this is a teacher union thing, parents started this movement and spread it

— Assemblyman Ed Ra (@EdwardRa19) August 21, 2015

Next time you see or hear some CCSS and/or Endless Testing regime supporter claiming the Opt Out movement is an astroturf thing started by the teachers unions, dispense with that jive using the LoHud editorial and Assemblyman Ra's statement that parents started opt out and spread it.

Tisch, Elia Warn They Will Go After Educators Who Support Or Encourage The Opt Out Movement

Yesterday Regents Chancellor Tisch announced that there will be no sanctions against districts with high opt out rates this year but put the onus on district superintendents for communicating the importance of the state tests for next year:

Ms. Tisch said that Ms. Elia had told the Board of Regents she would present a plan to them in September about how she would work with superintendents and principals whose districts and schools had high opt-out rates, in order to get them to reverse the tide of test refusals.

Ms. Tisch did not rule out withholding money in the future if the state discovered that district officials were encouraging opt-outs.

School officials need to know, Ms. Tisch said, that “they have to be responsible to work with parents to explain why the testing system is so important to the district and to the school.”

That warning came after NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia called teachers who support or encourage opt out "unethical."

Elia also warned:

I don't agree with opt out. I will, uh, and am moving forward to do everything I can so that we can make sure that we don't have our opt out in any way grow and in fact when people I think become more aware of the importance of having the assessments

...

There are ramifications that can occur. I'm not saying what will occur, I'm just saying there are. The federal government has the ability to withdraw funds from districts and we have the ability as the state to say to any educator that's not an ethical thing you're doing. We have the ability to say to a superintendent, um, I just want you to know that you are an officer of the state and encouraging people to not follow the law is not acceptable.

A commenter at Perdido Street School took the gauntlets thrown down by Tisch and Elia for opt out next year to the the logical conclusion: they are going to go after any educators - teachers, administrators or superintendents - who are not fully on board the Endless Testing regime express:

Cuomo's, Tisch's, and now Elia's recent statements are suggesting how they will be approaching Opt Out.....3020A'ing any "educator," Admin or teacher, who in any way support or do not OPPOSE opt out. Cuomo and Tisch were putting the happy face on it to parents.....no penalties! And Elia was very clear in saying that any educators who support opt out are "unethical." That suggests the "moral character" language of a 3020A.

Their path forward cannot be penalizing parents, kids, or funding of schools...thats a political shit storm and they know it. The only thing left on the table are those that they are trying to destroy anyway.....educators....so thats where the hammer will fall for opt out.

Doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that writing on the wall. We've been warned. Hey NYSUT leadership...y'all listening? Nope, probably not. 

The commenter nailed it with her/his comment - the politics around Endless Testing and opt out are such that the politicians and the educrats cannot punish the parents or the students.

But the teachers - well, that's another matter, isn't it?

The language being used here, especially by Elia - people who support opt out are "not reasonable," teachers who "support or encourage opt out...are unethical" - suggests they will look to frame opt out as the evil educators manipulating parents into opting their kids out of the state tests.

NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia Attacks Parents And Teachers Over Opt Out

Gates Foundation-funded MaryEllen Elia gave the keynote address to Gates Foundation-funded astroturf group Educators4Excellence and attacked parents and teachers who support the Opt Out movement (video below).

She was very "specific" (her word) that she opposes the Opt Out movement, thinks parents who opt their children out of state tests are "not reasonable," says educators who encourage or even just support the Opt Out movement are "unethical" and is doing everything she can to make sure opt out does not grow next year

Here is a partial transcript of her remarks on the Opt Out movement:

"I believe that people involved in the opt out movement are not aware of the use and support that assessments can give to what happens in a school and in a classroom and/or what happens in a district.

Let me give you an example. I was with a superintendent the other day and she said to me I had a very high opt out rate.  Right now I'm not getting information back that can help me on what I need to provide for my teachers, what particular schools are doing really well with something, what I need to do in terms of academic interventions for students, because if you didn't take that you don't have as much information about that. And she said, it's - we're at a disadvantage.

So let me say this very clearly. I think opt out is something that is not reasonable. I understand that it can about as a result of people wanting to become involved in what they thought was the political way to approach it. I am absolutely shocked if - and I don't know this happened but if any educator supported and encouraged opt outs, I think it's unethical.

I believe that we have a responsibility as teachers to support our students. The realities of taking assessments that number one are state law and federal law and give information for teachers on things that they may have done well or not and give information to principals about what they need to do to support their schools and their teachers and tell us how well we are doing in places across this state where we have large populations of students that we won't have information on.

I don't agree with opt out. I will, uh, and am moving forward to do everything I can so that we can make sure that we don't have our opt out in any way grow and in fact when people I think become more aware of the importance of having the assessments...

There are ramifications that can occur. I'm not saying what will occur, I'm just saying there are. The federal government has the ability to withdraw funds from districts and we have the ability as the state to say to any educator that's not an ethical thing you're doing. We have the ability to say to a superintendent, um, I just want you to know that you are an officer of the state and encouraging people to not follow the law is not acceptable.

So I'm pretty specific about opt outs, I hope you all heard that."

 

On the very day Elia took a bat to parents and teachers who support opting children out of state tests, Governor Andrew Cuomo said he thought parents were in charge of their own children and he didn't think there should be any sanctions against districts with high opt out rates and Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch announced that there would be no sanctions from either the federal or state government on districts/schools with high opt rates.

Tisch did reserve the right to hit districts/schools with sanctions next year if she thought educators at those schools or districts were encouraging the Opt Out movement.

So Elia's still talking tough, but her words are mockable given the "ramification" tool she threatened earlier this summer over opt out has been taken from her by Cuomo and Tisch.

In short, here's where Elia is today:

New NYS ED Commish is : pic.twitter.com/65ds2IutRj

— lacetothetop (@lacetothetop) August 21, 2015