Tepid recommendations from the Regents taskforce on the Common Core
The most accurate story about the recommendations of the Regents taskforce on the Common Core was reported by WNYC/Schoolbook, which called them "tepid" and "tweaks.”
Nevertheless they enraged Gov. Cuomo who called them “too little too late,” even though his own Commission on the Common Core has not yet met.
It seems Cuomo objects to the proposal that teachers can bring up their district’s inadequate implementation of the standards if they are threatened with being fired as a result of an “ineffective” rating they may receive from the junk science, value-added teacher evaluation system that he pushed into law.
Yet these proposals will NOT satisfy the concerns of parents whose children’s education is being wrecked by developmentally inappropriate and rigid standards, overly prescriptive curricula and excessive testing; see the NYSAPE press release . Neither do they appear to assuage the concerns of teachers; see the NYSUT release here. Excerpt:
Instead of listening to parents and educators who are grappling with the fallout from the State Education Department's disastrous implementation, the task force dismissed their concerns with a report that, in the end, adds up to a 'we know best' collection of minor adjustments," said NYSUT President Richard C. Iannuzzi, who noted - contrary to a comment by the governor - that the Regents did not pause or delay anything that is not already in law…. On teacher evaluations, what the Regents put on the table - allowing teachers to point out failures in their district's implementation of the Common Core - is nothing new. It is a provision that already exists in state law and which we planned on pursuing with or without 'permission' from the State Education Department," Iannuzzi said.
As further evidence this is what Ken Wagner of NYSED wrote today to his “data” working group:
From: Ken Wagner <KWAGNER@mail.nysed.gov>
Date: Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 7:43 AM
Yes, as you will see if you read through the Regents materials, the Common Core standards remain in place for both grades 3-8 and high school.
The only things that would change for State assessments based on these proposals is the availability of an assessment overlap in Geometry
Date: Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 7:43 AM
Yes, as you will see if you read through the Regents materials, the Common Core standards remain in place for both grades 3-8 and high school.
The only things that would change for State assessments based on these proposals is the availability of an assessment overlap in Geometry