Wednesday, January 2, 2013

UPDATE: Schools Matter: New York Principals Lead Fight Against More Guaranteed Testing Victims

Schools Matter: New York Principals Lead Fight Against More Guaranteed Testing Victims:


New York Principals Lead Fight Against More Guaranteed Testing Victims

Please sign the petition.  From Carol Burris:

Dear friends and colleagues,
Happy holidays to all.  The spring testing season is just around the corner.  The Commissioner and Chancellor have already warned us that the 3-8  tests will be more difficult, and fewer students will reach proficiency.  We know what that means-more frustrated and upset students, more confused parents who will fear that their child is not on the road to "college readiness" and more anger directed at  schools and teachers in the press.  If a decade ago there was a good reason for NCLB testing, that reason is long gone.

Please sign the link to a petition that I began to end high stakes testing in New York State.  You can see and sign the petition by clicking  here 

Pass along this email, or send this link http://wp.me/p1W339-5h to colleagues and friends who are parents.

Superintendents of national stature are joining together to demand the same moratorium on high stakes testing.  Read the article here

And of course the "reformers" are attacking them for their courageous stand, you can read about the attack on Maryland's Josh Starr and my defense of his stand  here

Finally, you may know a new principal or teacher or a friend who did not sign the principals letter against APPR.  Please send them to www.newyorkprincipals.org so that they can sign on.  This is the direct link to sign the letter. 


Happy New Year and never give up fighting for the public schools and students that we love.


Ms. Bailey’s sad and wonderful gift to New York libraries

Ms. Bailey’s sad and wonderful gift to New York libraries
Sent to the New York Post, January 2, 2013

Mary McConnell Bailey’s gift of $10 million to New York libraries is both sad and wonderful (“Life of golden silence,” January 1).
Wonderful because Ms. Bailey understood the importance of libraries.
Sad because these kinds of donations are necessary. Libraries, school and public, are poorly supported, even though research consistently tells us that when children and adolescents have access to good libraries with plenty of good books and with adequate staffing, they read more. The result is that they do better on reading tests.
For those living in poverty, libraries are often the only source of reading material. The US now has the second


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