Anti-‘Common Core’ activists leak state’s English exam online
A copy of the state’s English Language Arts test that students took last week was leaked online Wednesday in an apparent act of sabotage by anti-testing activists.
More than three dozen photographs of the exam appeared Wednesday morning on theFacebook page “Education is a journey, not a race — USA,” which has posted screeds against Common Core-linked tests since March 2013.
It’s not known who released the test online, as the Facebook page is anonymous — but the post had been shared 163 times by Wednesday night.
Education experts believe the saboteur posted the passages in solidarity with a statewide movement in which thousands of kids opted out of the test. The leak will mean portions of the test will have to be rewritten next year.
“This is a political act and it will be interesting to see whether [test-creation company] Pearson or the state Department of Education understands it as that or goes after them for civil or criminal liability,” said Brooklyn College education Professor David Bloomfield, who called the post an act of “civil disobedience.”
State education officials would not confirm whether they were investigating the leak but said the makeup period for the exam had concluded before the test became public, meaning no one was able to cheat using the leaked exam.
“The real consequence is additional taxpayer dollars and more class time on field tests to replace the exposed questions,” said state Education Department spokesman Dennis Tompkins.
Parent activists criticized the state for refusing to release the test on its own.
“It just increases the lack of confidence parents have in the competence of the state Education Department,” said parent activist Leonie Haimson. “We do need full transparency. Whoever posted this on Facebook did a public service.”
The leak included parts of the English exam with questions about Amelia Earhart, mountain biking and amusement parks, as well as excerpts from “The Night the Bat Got In” by Virginia Kroll.
Parents and teachers have mobilized to encourage skipping the test in defiance of Gov. Cuomo’s plan to link a larger portion of a teacher’s evaluation to student exam results.
Meanwhile, state officials tussled over a Nov. 15 deadline to fix the teacher-evaluation system after lawmakers agreed to tie in the system with billions of dollars of education funding in the budget.
Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch said school districts risk losing money if Regents members cannot reach an agreement in time, and asked Cuomo for an extension until September 2016.Anti-‘Common Core’ activists leak state’s English exam online | New York Post:
