Recommended school reforms mark shift in attitudes about learning standards
You can add education reform to the list of life’s certainties, like death and taxes.
But what the latest reform might mean for New York classrooms is still being settled.
There are many questions, a day after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s task force on the Common Core recommended sweeping reforms, including changes to the tests and how they are used to evaluate teachers.
The 55-page task force report was released the same day President Obama signed legislation rolling back many of the mandates in the No Child Left Behind Act. The news of the state and national policy shifts on education has parents and educators feeling hopeful the changes they have been demanding will be made.
The federal legislation, the Every Student Succeeds Act, returns to states many of the decisions on educating children that the No Child Left Behind Act had given the federal government, like teacher evaluations and student assessments.
The recommendations from Cuomo’s Common Core Task Force will not happen immediately. If they are approved, they may be years in the making and must be acted upon by the state Education Department first. But the recommendations reflect a sea change in attitudes about learning standards.
And the recommendations give added momentum to the state Education Department’s comprehensive review of the Common Core learning standards, which began in October.
If and when all recommendations are accepted, a review panel will meet and decide what standards are kept, and a time line will have to be put together for when changes go in place, said Anne Botticelli, chief academic officer for Buffalo Public Schools.
“It’s hard to answer some of those questions. The state will come back and give us a directive,” Recommended school reforms mark shift in attitudes about learning standards - City & Region - The Buffalo News:
