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Monday, February 6, 2012

Why I Resigned from the SUNY Board of Trustees – SchoolBook

Why I Resigned from the SUNY Board of Trustees – SchoolBook:

Why I Resigned from the SUNY Board of Trustees

Pedro Noguera, a trustee of the State University of New York, resigned late last month, citing concerns that SUNY and its Charter Schools Institute, which authorizes charters in New York, has a political agenda to increase the number of charters, rather than a mission to develop experimental schools. SchoolBook invited Mr. Noguera to explain his decision. Here is his open letter.

For four years, I was appointed to serve as a member of the State University of New York (SUNY) Board of Trustees by Gov. David A. Paterson.

Not long after being appointed I was asked by the chairman, Carl Hayden, to serve as the chairman of the committee that oversaw the authorization of charter schools.

I knew that this would be a controversial position but I agreed to serve because I supported the original idea behind the creation of charter schools: that they could serve as educational sites where innovative practices


Reeding and Riting That XPlane Why Stoodents Are Not College Ready

In the news on Monday, Michael Winerip’s On Education column in The New York Times will have you, as he writes, “Be a turnover in his Grave.”

The reference is to how an answer may have earned 1 of 2 possible points on the Jan. 24 New York State English Regents exam. Mr. Winerip said the exam and the scoring was easier than ever, raising questions about how effective school officials have been at raising standards in the schools.

The column says that this year, “for the first time, high schools students must score at least 65 on the English exam, as well as on four other state tests — math, science, global history and United States history — to earn a diploma.”

But how the state advises teachers to grade the students’ responses to the essays and short-answer questions