The state's proposed NCLB waiver responds to none of our concerns
A summary of the public comment and the response by NYSED for their waiver application from NCLB is now posted online; presumably the application will be voted on by the Regents Monday or Tuesday.
NYSED says it received “over 50 submissions from “persons associated with Class Size Matters” and over twenty submissions from individuals associated with the principals’ letter, signed by over one third of New York’s principals, objecting to the new teacher evaluation being developed by the state. Yet the NYSED summary responded substantively to none of our concerns, as expressed in our earlier letter.
1. We (and many others) objected to the proposal of mandating new tests being mandated in 9th and 10th grades. In response, the NYSED document first says (on p. 13): “The Department does not intend to impose new tests as a result of the waiver but will use the existing state assessment program.”
But then on p. 19 it says “New assessments in ELA in grades 9 and 10 and new middle level assessments in