Will Connecticut Follow Massachusetts On Common Core? by Joseph Ricciotti - Wait What?

Will Connecticut Follow Massachusetts On Common Core? by Joseph Ricciotti  - Wait What?:

Will Connecticut Follow Massachusetts On Common Core? by Joseph Ricciotti 

Retired Connecticut educator and fellow public education advocate Joseph Ricciotti recently had a strong piece in CT Newsjunke about Massachusetts’ decision to shift away from the Common Core testing frenzy and whether Connecticut would follow their lead.

In, “Will Connecticut Follow Massachusetts On Common Core,” Joe Ricciotti writes;

The state of Massachusetts, one of the leading states on education reform in the nation, in a monumental decision has abandoned Common Core

Massachusetts Education Commissioner Michael Chester, in a stunning reversal, has walked away from the very test he helped to create.

Now it remains to be seen if other states in the nation, including Connecticut, will follow Massachusetts, a state that is considered to be “the gold standard in successful education reform.”

Morgan Polikoff, an assistant professor at the University of Southern California and a leader in the assessment of national tests, believes other states will follow what has happened in Massachusetts.

Playing a key role in abandoning Common Core in Massachusetts is Barbara Madeloni, the newly elected president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, who campaigned against all high-stakes testing. Madeloni is a firm believer that Common Core and high-stakes tests are destructive to Massachusetts students and teachers, as well as to joyful and meaningful public education. One of the major reasons Massachusetts, as well as other states abandoned Common Core was the fact that the tests “were too hard and too long” for students. Likewise, many of the states including Connecticut had poor results with many students failing to reach “proficiency” especially in urban school districts.

In Connecticut, no one has been more critical of Common Core testing than Connecticut Education Association President Sheila Cohen. Following the release of the disastrous results on SBAC testing for Connecticut public school students this past August, Cohen commented in a press release on how these tests “are not only unfair and invalid, but are also a failed experiment” while also claiming that SBAC “is a bridge to nowhere.” Cohen, in essence, is also advocating that Connecticut follow in the footsteps of Massachusetts.

“In our nation, the federal government and states have spent hundreds of 

Will Connecticut Follow Massachusetts On Common Core? by Joseph Ricciotti  - Wait What?: