Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Will Duncan Send Troops to Crush the Opt-Out Revolt?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Will Duncan Send Troops to Crush the Opt-Out Revolt?:

Will Duncan Send Troops to Crush the Opt-Out Revolt?

EWA meeting in Chicago

Duncan said he expected states to make sure districts get enough students take the tests. “We think most states will do that,” Duncan said during a discussion at the Education Writers Association conference in Chicago. “If states don’t do that, then we have an obligation to step in.” -- Interview with EWA writers

What a week! Edu-conferees are flowing in and out of O'Hare at a record pace. First their was AERA. Then EWA. And next comes NPE. Chicago is definitely the epicenter of corporate-style education reform and the revolt against it. The only one of these meetings where Arne Duncan would dare show his face was at theEducation Writers Association (EWA) National Seminar. It was there that he threatened to take action against the growing opt-out movement.


Yes, Duncan is threatening federal intervention  if states fail to put an end to the massive testing boycotts. No one is sure what form that intervention may take. Some fear economic reprisals. But I worry about an Iraq-style invasion.

Arne's army is equipped with these military assault rifles. 

A lot of people may not know this, but the DOE Inspector General's Office has its own well-equipped military wing and Duncan has shown that he's not afraid to call out his troops against community residents. In 2011, his troops made an armed assault on at least one wrongfully-suspected student loan deadbeat.



Duncan has had to apologize for using his own particular racial theories to describe parents who are critical of over-testing as “white suburban moms” who were upset because their kids were doing poorly on new, more rigorous exams linked to Common Core.

“All of a sudden, their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought … and that’s pretty scary,” Duncan said.

Duncan claims that annual standardized exams beginning with 3rd-graders are Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Will Duncan Send Troops to Crush the Opt-Out Revolt?:

Get rid of 'test, blame, punish': Opposing view:

Get rid of 'test, blame, punish': Opposing view

Educators across the nation are encouraged by the big steps forward Congress is taking to create a new national education law that could reverse many of the damaging policies of No Child Left Behind.

So it is both disheartening and perplexing that the lynchpin of NCLB's "label and punish" regime — annual testing — still has support on Capitol Hill.

OUR VIEW: Mend it, don't end it

Of course teachers understand the value of tests, but proponents of annual testing like to position themselves as the defenders of all-things testing and accountability. What they are actually defending is a one-size-fits-all model — one with a long and abysmal record.

The consequences of high-stakes testing have been devastating for struggling schools in high-poverty areas, where teachers and students spent a scandalous amount of time preparing for and taking bubble tests, where teaching and learning were reduced to skills that can only be measured with these multiple-choice questions and which faced crushing consequences if they failed.

Our schools should not be a system of test, blame and punish. We need flexible, carefully constructed assessments that help teachers evaluate individual student needs and tailor lessons accordingly. But surely, say high-stakes devotees, we need annual testing because we need accountability.

But accountability shouldn't be a one-way street. If we hold students, educators and schools accountable for student test scores, students must also get necessary supports and resources to help them learn. Moving forward, states should be held accountable for "opportunity" data — access to advanced coursework, fully qualified teachers, a richer curriculum, specialized support personnel — and be obligated to develop plans to fill any gaps.

We have a real opportunity with this NCLB rewrite to break the testing fever and build an accountability system grounded in delivering support and intervention to students who need it most. Clinging to the status quo of annual testing won't help get us there. We can and should assess student learning — but only if we give kids a chance to learn first.

Lily Eskelsen García, the 1989 Utah Teacher of the Year, is president of the National Education Association, which represents 3 million educators.Get rid of 'test, blame, punish': Opposing view:

Rauner eyes end of 'fair share' dues for teachers' unions - News - The State Journal-Register - Springfield, IL

Rauner eyes end of 'fair share' dues for teachers' unions - News - The State Journal-Register - Springfield, IL:

Rauner eyes end of 'fair share' dues for teachers' unions

Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday said he wants to end fair share dues for teachers’ unions in the state.

Speaking to the Citizens Club of Springfield, the governor said he thinks his steps to end union dues for state employees who are not members — more commonly known as “fair share” dues — should extend to teachers’ unions, but he would “deal with that later.” Union leaders objected to Rauner’s statement and called it an attack on the working class.

Rauner said he’s heard from union members who tell him to keep up the fight against fair share dues. Illinois Education Association President Cinda Klickna said in a statement the idea that a majority of union members would work against the organizations is ridiculous.

“It is interesting that the only teacher voices the governor seems to hear are those of the tiny number who don't wish to pay their fair share, while he ignores the overwhelming majority of teachers and education support professionals who choose to belong to a union,” she said.

Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery said the governor was wasting his time on an “illegal” plan.

“He’s not really addressing the issues we have in Illinois and he’s trying to blame working people and divert people’s attention from real problems to attacking unions,” Montgomery said. “It’s kind of tiresome at this point and frustrating.”

The Republican governor signed an executive order in February halting fair share dues while simultaneously filing a lawsuit challenging them in court.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat, issued a statement after the signing that said Comptroller Leslie Munger — a Republican appointed by Rauner — was not bound by the order. Munger said she’d “defer to the guidance” of Madigan and declined to hold the fees.

Rauner then instructed individual agencies to hold the fees in escrow. A St. Clair County judge issued an order requiring the agencies to collect the dues on April 10. The governor announced a deal with unions the next day to allow for the collection of dues while the litigation moves forward.

In his address to the Citizens Club, Rauner said unions controlled the schools, causing political conflicts of interest in negotiations.

“We have conflicts of interest in our government that involve (the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers, Service Employers International Union) and the teacher’s union,” he said. “If our schools are owned and controlled by the teacher’s union rather than the taxpayers and the families and the kids and the parents, that’s not right for our schools.”Rauner eyes end of 'fair share' dues for teachers' unions - News - The State Journal-Register - Springfield, IL:

Can't Make it to the NPE Conference In Chicago this Weekend? You Can "Virtually" Be There!!!

THE NETWORK FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION NATIONAL CONFERENCE

I know not everyone can make it to Chicago this weekend -- but you can still be part of the action via the Livestream that will broadcast on as many as three channels. All the keynotes and many of the workshops will be available live, starting Saturday at 8:30 am central time at www.schoolhouselive.org. Please tweet with the hashtag ‪#‎NPEChicago‬ and help us trend #1 again like we did twice last year.

LIVE FROM CHICAGO, APRIL 25-26 IN:

THE NETWORK FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION NATIONAL CONFERENCE

CHECK OUT ALL THREE CHANNELS! 

NPE 1

NPE 2

NPE 3

http://www.schoolhouselive.org/

Jeb Bush's shifting words on Common Core | Tampa Bay Times

Jeb Bush's shifting words on Common Core | Tampa Bay Times:

Jeb Bush's shifting words on Common Core

 Jeb Bush says he won’t pander his way to the GOP presidential nomination, but that doesn’t mean he won’t wiggle.

For months now Bush has maintained support for Common Core but added language to the effect that he is simply for higher standards, no matter what they are called. Bush has also stepped up talk that the federal government should not be involved, a line he used in New Hampshire last weekend.

American Bridge, the liberal oppo research group, sees a shift.

UPDATE: And here's the full context of Bush's remarks on Morning Joe: “I think Secretary Duncan and President Obama deserve credit for putting pressure on states to change, particularly the states that haven’t changed at all. They’re providing carrots and sticks, and I think that’s appropriate. But these thing have to happen at the state level for policy changes, so for New Jersey wants to get rid of last in first out you gotta go to the legislature and get it done. Florida did that last year. Indiana did it. Six or seven other states have done it. This is a battle at state capitals to create the openness and then, you let a thousand flowers bloom.

LAUSD board approves teacher deal but projects $559M deficit | 89.3 KPCC

LAUSD board approves teacher deal but projects $559M deficit | 89.3 KPCC:

LAUSD board approves teacher deal but projects $559M deficit 

L.A. Unified School Board President Richard Vladovic is joined by United Teachers Los Angeles leaders in a press conference about a new teachers contract. ADOLFO GUZMAN-LOPEZ/KPCC

 The Los Angeles Unified School District board approved a new three-year teachers' agreement on Tuesday, but officials estimated the deal will result in a $559 million deficit over the next two years.

Officials said they're confident additional state funds from an improving economy will pay for the 10 percent raise in the contract. Whether those funds will materialize should be known next month as Sacramento revises its projected budget for the next fiscal year.

But those dollars are not a guarantee, said Board Member Monica Ratliff.

"We're going to have to come up with an alternative plan in case the May Revise (the revised state budget) doesn't work out the way we'd like, and that will probably involve program cuts, layoffs, modifications, and things like that," she said.

The district has already threatened cuts to its preschool program and adult education.

Alex Caputo-Pearl, president of the 31,000-member United Teachers Los Angeles union, said he's working with Superintendent Ramon Cortines to look for additional funds to help pay for the teachers' pay package. He said officials are pushing Sacramento for money that was lost due to massive problems with LAUSD's troubled student data system, known as MiSiS.

"That's tens of millions of dollars," Caputo-Pearl said.

The tentative agreement, struck Friday night, will give teachers, counselors and coaches their raise of 10 percent in increments. They would receive a pay raise of 4 percent retroactive to July 1; 2 percent retroactive to Jan. 1; 2 percent on July 1 this year; and 2 percent on Jan. 1, 2016. In the third year, the agreement calls for a salary reopener that will allow the two sides to negotiate possibly more raises.

The UTLA contract will cost a total of $514 million, LAUSD Chief Financial Officer Megan Reilly said. That is in addition to a three-year, $3.3 billion health care benefits package approved by the board last week.

"Including this additional burden, we are currently projecting a deficit of $140 million in 2015-2016 and a $419 million deficit in 2016-2017," Ratliff said in a statement. "Combined, we are anticipating a deficit of over half a billion dollars. This is not even taking into account our unfunded OPEB (post-employment benefits such as pensions) liability of $11 billion."

She said she and district officials have said LAUSD "does not have excess funds of such amounts lying around the District." The economic feasibility of all of the recent labor agreements depends heavily on Gov. Jerry Brown's revised budget, Ratliff said. 

Other parts of the agreement would create a three-tiered teacher evaluation system, a cap on class sizes for English and math classes in grades 8 and 9, more counselors, and changes to the teacher grievance process that were sought by the union.

“The Board gave direction to the Superintendent and staff today to allow the negotiated Tentative Agreement to be forwarded to UTLA for ratification by the membership," the district said in a statement Tuesday.

The board voted unanimously in closed session to move the contract forward.

At a news conference after the board vote, union leaders and board members stood side by side and said the contract will go a long way toward improving education in LAUSD board approves teacher deal but projects $559M deficit | 89.3 KPCC:

Worry not innumerati-A whole buch of high income families already opted out before the school year started! | School Finance 101

Worry not innumerati-A whole buch of high income families already opted out before the school year started! | School Finance 101:

Worry not innumerati-A whole buch of high income families already opted out before the school year started!

 Pro-Annual Testing of Everyone pundits are all in a tizzy about Opt-Out. In their view, parents who opt out are severely compromising accountability for our public education system. They are eroding the public interest in the most selfish possible way. What seems to irk these pundits as much as anything is the possibility that the recent pattern of opting out appears (empirical question for a later day) to be disproportionately occurring in upper middle income to upper income communities – A group, over which pundits have have little control or possible leverage [little opportunity for punitive policy – which drives them crazy].

So the pundits say, the disproportionate opting out of upper income white children from testing will severely compromise the ability of policy makers to accurately measure achievement gaps between those children and poor and minority children more compliantly sit down, shut up and fill in the bubbles (ok… point and click).

If the affluent families opt out, we really won’t know how far behind those who are less affluent really are?

Do we?

But do we anyway?

This whole line of reasoning is yet another example of the lack of demographic/contextual understanding and related number sense of those making these arguments. The edu-pundit-innumerati strike again!

These same innumerate pundits previously claimed that annual testing of everyone is absolutely necessary for accurately measuring within school and within district achievement gaps among student subgroups, totally failing to understand that few schools and districts – even when everyone is tested – actually have sufficient populations of subgroups for measuring gaps – and further that the approach most often used for measuring gaps is total BS – statistically that is. Actually, measuring within school and within district gaps and using those measures to penalize schools and districts ends up selectively penalizing only those schools for whom the gaps can be measured – integrated schools.

So then, why is this new argument equally statistically and demographically bankrupt? Certainly it would be the case that if those not taking the test were disproportionately of a certain race or of higher income, that average scores would be biased, and likely biased downward for any data aggregation that would/should include these families. So then, of course it’s a problem, right?

Well, yes… and no.

What the edu-pundit-innumerati fail to realize is that there already exist larger shares of disproportionately higher income kids in nearly every state who are already opting out of these assessments by opting into schools that generally don’t give them. Are these kids somehow not an issue of public policy concern, merely because they attend private schools (or homeschooling)?

If parents in Scarsdale, NY or Millburn, NJ opting out of state assessments matters toward our understanding of gaps in educational opportunity across children of the state by income and race, then so too do the unmeasured outcomes of children opting out of the public education system as a whole.

Here are the numbers for children between the ages of 8 and 17 (those who might fall in tested grades) for New Jersey and New York.

In New Jersey, over 110,000 children between the ages of 8 and 17 attend private schools (just under 150,000 when summing enrollments for k-12 private schools).

In New York, over 300,000 children attend private schools (just under 350,000 when summing enrollments for k-12 private schools).

In each state, over 10% of children in this age range do not attend Worry not innumerati-A whole buch of high income families already opted out before the school year started! | School Finance 101:

As opt-out numbers grow, Arne Duncan says feds may have to step in | Chalkbeat

As opt-out numbers grow, Arne Duncan says feds may have to step in | Chalkbeat:

As opt-out numbers grow, Arne Duncan says feds may have to step in

 U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Tuesday that the federal government is obligated to intervene if states fail to address the rising number of students who are boycotting mandated annual exams.

Duncan’s comments come as an “opt out” advocacy group in New York reports that more than 184,000 students statewide out of about 1.1 million eligible test takers refused to take last week’s English exams. In New York City, nearly 3,100 students out of about 420,000 test takers opted out, according to the group. (Math testing begins Wednesday.)

Last year, 49,000 students statewide did not take the English exams, while just over 1,900 New York City students sat out the tests, state officials have said. State and city officials have not yet released their own opt-out counts this year or verified those of the advocacy group, United to Counter the Core, whose unofficial tally is based on information from district superintendents, school employees, and media reports.

Those estimates suggesting that more than 15 percent of students refused to take the tests have raised questions about the consequences for districts. Federal law requires all students in grades three to eight to take annual tests, and officials have said districts could face sanctions if fewer than 95 percent of students participate. On Tuesday, when asked whether states with many test boycotters would face consequences, Duncan said he expected states to make sure districts get enough students take the tests.

“We think most states will do that,” Duncan said during a discussion at the Education Writers Association conference in Chicago. “If states don’t do that, then we have an obligation to step in.”

Duncan also said that students in some states are tested too much, and acknowledged that the exams are challenging for many students. But he argued that annual standardized exams are essential for tracking student progress and monitoring the score gap between different student groups.

He also said the tests are “just not a traumatic event” for his children, who attend public school in Virginia.

“It’s just part of most kids’ education growing up,” he said. “Sometimes the adults make a big deal and that creates some trauma for the kids.”

A federal education department spokeswoman said last week that the agency could withhold funding from states if some of their districts have too few students take the exams, but that it has not yet done so because states have addressed the issue on their own.

State education department spokesman Jonathan Burman said in an email Tuesday that the “the feds are discussing the possibility of imposing penalties for failing to hit participation rate targets.” He added that the state is also expected to “consider imposing sanctions” on districts that fail to meet the 95 percent threshold, which could include withholding money “in the most egregious cases.” (Opt-out advocates have questioned the state’s interpretation of the testing law, and say that sanctions are only allowed after a district falls below the 95 percent level for three years.)

Meanwhile, Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch has said she thinks it would be wrong to “punish” districts because of their opt-out numbers.

“I would say to everyone who wants to punish the school districts: hold them to standards, set high expectations, hold them accountable, but punishing them?” she told the Buffalo News last week. “Really, are you kidding me?”As opt-out numbers grow, Arne Duncan says feds may have to step in | Chalkbeat:

Eight things teachers want you to know about them - The Washington Post

Eight things teachers want you to know about them - The Washington Post:

Eight things teachers want you to know about them

 Lee-Ann Meredith taught second grade in a Chicago public elementary school for 15 years. She is the author of “Angels in My Classroom,” a story of  life in her classroom and how her 7- and 8-year-old students sustained her after her husband’s unexpected death. The following post by Meredith, which I am publishing with permission, is about teachers and what they do every day. It appeared on the  The Educator’s Room website.

By Lee-Ann Meredith

Everyone knows about teachers. We’ve all been on the receiving end of education. We think we know what it is all about. In fact, most people are not aware of half of what make a teacher. Teachers wish you knew more. Here are some of the things you might be surprised to realize.

1. We are well-educated and specialists in our field. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 52 percent of public school teachers have a master’s degree or higher.  Many teachers I know have more than one master’s degree with specializations such as reading or special education. We don’t stop learning when we become teachers either. We must reapply for our certificates with proof that we have continued our education and professional growth in our field. Grade-school teachers usually teach all subjects and we must have a strong grasp on the underlying themes. We are wildly knowledgeable in many areas.

2. We are communicators, quick decision makers, and creative problem solvers. Teaching is more than lecturing. It is often like being an orchestra director of beginning musicians. We have to be able to have a group working on task while sitting quietly with another small group of four of five pupils. We have to be able to create a working environment where a couple dozen people share an open space. It has to be done in a caring way that supports every child. This is not easy. Teachers might have to choose over Suzy’s bloody nose, Rupert’s hurt feelings, Trevor’s emotional, tear-filled crisis about a math problem, all while keeping the rest of the class at work. If you think this type of scenario never happens, think again. In primary grades some variation of this happens daily. (Two notes about this. First: Blood trumps everything, even vomit. Second: The crazier the situation is, the more likely a fire drill is about to occur.)

[You think you know what teachers do. Right? Wrong?]

3. We are realistic visionaries. We know what our students can do and we push, push, push some more to make them achieve. We celebrate successes and then push some more. We know where our kids are most likely to end up but we attempt to ratchet up the trajectory. We want our kids to beat the odds against them and we try to instill the tools that make it possible. Frequently, we have to hope that something we said one rainy Tuesday, or a hot day in May, made enough of an impact that it changed their most likely path. The joy of seeing a boy who ran on the fringes of a gang, now as a young man in the grocery store telling you that he is in college is breathtaking. Getting a Facebook message from a girl that had a drug-using mama telling you that you got her through those years, that makes it all worth while. I once heard that the most common request for a private investigator wasn’t spying on a cheating spouse but rather tracking down a favorite teacher. I don’t know if it is true but I love the idea of it.

4.We have personal lives that are completely ignored during the day. We simply don’t have a moment to spare when a class of twenty-some kids is in the room. In grade schools, we have bladders of steel because you cannot leave your class to go tinkle every hour or two. (I cringed every time I was told by a health professional to drink more water.) We come to work even when we don’t feel well because it is easier than taking a day off. Unless you are absolutely incapacitated you know the result of having a substitute in your classroom. We make up a year’s worth of doctors appointments in the summer break. We make all our business phone calls then also. We are with kids during business hours and don’t get to make phone calls with them in the room. If you believe we can do it the minute the kids leave for the day you need to read the next item.

5. We do more than “just teach.” Our paperwork load is tremendous. It is way beyond grading papers. We have to document most incidents that might be a reason for concern for all students. We have to document conversations with parents and guardians. We have to record any changes to routines for children who are struggling. This can include such simple things as how often I check in with a child or if I moved their desk. We have to keep track of test scores, comparing them to each other and to past Eight things teachers want you to know about them - The Washington Post:

Thousands of Washington state teachers plan one-day walkout - Yahoo News

Thousands of Washington state teachers plan one-day walkout - Yahoo News:

Thousands of Washington state teachers plan one-day walkout

 SEATTLE (Reuters) - Several thousand teachers across Washington state are planning a one-day strike on Wednesday to demand higher pay, better benefits and a reduction in class sizes, the state's largest teachers' union said.

Nearly 3,000 teachers in nine school districts were planning to participate in the walkout, said Washington Education Association spokesman Rich Wood. The 5,000 members of the Seattle chapter of the union are voting this week on whether to stage their own walkout in May.

At issue are cost-of-living raises and funding for benefits being considered by the state Legislature. Teachers are unhappy about a proposal to raise pay by 3 percent over two years, while the state has not increased teacher healthcare funding in five years, according to Wood.

Teachers also want the state Senate to abandon a plan that would increase class sizes in grades four to 12, the union said.

"The current budgets fall far short of funding the quality public schools our kids deserve," Wood said.

Lawmakers in the state capital, Olympia, are debating a public education budget of between $1.3 billion and $1.4 billion to try to satisfy demands of a state Supreme Court order to increase funding for public schools.

Teachers say that money is not enough to fulfill the court order to fully fund schools by 2019. The educators have also taken issue with a bill passed by the state Senate that would mandate the use of state test scores in teacher evaluation.

"Instead of making the investment in public education that our children need and the Constitution mandates, the state Senate majority is lowballing the schools budget and passing bills that scapegoat teachers,” Shirley Potter, president of the Bellingham Education Association, said in a statement.

More than 20,000 parents signed a petition last month in support of the bill linking teacher evaluations to test scores, according to the education advocacy group Stand for Children.

The measure, which has moved to the state House of Representatives for debate, could also put Washington back in control of $40 million in federal funding it lost last year for failing to meet the U.S. Department of Education's requirement to include statewide student test results in teacher evaluations under the No Child Left Behind law, the group said.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Peter Cooney)Thousands of Washington state teachers plan one-day walkout - Yahoo News:

Education reformer Sir Ken Robinson on personalizing education, standardization as an impediment - CBS News

Education reformer Sir Ken Robinson on personalizing education, standardization as an impediment - CBS News:

Transforming education through imagination and creativity

 Is the culture of standardizing education alienating teachers and students?

Without a doubt, according to education reformer Sir Ken Robinson.

"There's a problem with the standards culture, which is, it sees teachers [as] kind of a delivery system and a branch of FedEx, dropping off the standards. Teachers are there to engage and motivate and inspire people. And great teachers do that," Robinson said Tuesday on "CBS This Morning."

In his new book, "Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That's Transforming Education," he advocates for personalized processes of education for children.

"People sometimes ask me what my theory is. Well, I say it's not a theory. It's actually what works," Robinson said. "It depends how you think of teaching. If you think of teaching as having people just sitting in rows all the time and talk to them, it's very hard to control them on that basis, but if you engage children's imaginations, their curiosity, you've got them working in teams, you've got them doing practical project work, it's a very different dynamic in schools."

His TED Talk, "How Schools Kill Creativity," is the most watched presentation with more than 32 million views. Robinson, who said governments are now looking at education strategies like defense strategies, began meeting with governments and school systems to discuss reform decades ago.

"I've never blamed teachers or schools. I've worked with teachers my whole life. It's a fantastic profession. Most teachers I know don't like this either. There is this deadly culture of standardizing that's being pushed on them politically," he said.

One of the schools Robinson writes about in his book is the Boston Arts Academy, an inner city school that focuses on the arts. According to the school, about 94 percent of their graduates are accepted to college each year.

"They have a broad curriculum, because children have very different talents, and it's important that they should do math and languages and so on. But music and theater and dance are just as important for talents in engaging kids," Robinson said. "It's not just about that. It's about a greater approach to science. It's a broad curriculum and they have flexibility in the way they teach individuals."

Robinson also recommends that parents partner with schools, since they know their kids better than anyone else.Education reformer Sir Ken Robinson on personalizing education, standardization as an impediment - CBS News:

N.Y. teachers union blasting Cuomo in new multimillion-dollar ad campaign - The Washington Post

N.Y. teachers union blasting Cuomo in new multimillion-dollar ad campaign - The Washington Post:

N.Y. teachers union blasting Cuomo in new multimillion-dollar ad campaign

 The United Federation of Teachers in New York is launching a multimillion-dollar ad campaign  blasting Gov. Andrew Cuomo for education policies that have sparked a protest movement among parents and educators.

The union said the campaign began Tuesday with a 30-second ad in the New York City area  and moving to the rest of the state on Wednesday. It will run on popular television shows, such as “The Blacklist” and “Mad Men,” as well as during Yankees and Mets baseball games and news networks and programs.

Cuomo recently pushed through the legislature a package of education reforms that angered teachers, in part by elevating the importance of standardized test scores in teacher evaluations. Thousands of parents in New York have opted their children out of the state-mandated high-stakes tests that started last month and are continuing this week. A group of seven New York State Teachers of the Year wrote Cuomo an open letter in February, saying in part:

We are teachers. We have given our hearts and souls to this noble profession. We have pursued intellectual rigor. We have fed students who were hungry. We have celebrated at student weddings and wept at student funerals. Education is our life. For this, you have made us the enemy. This is personal.

Under your leadership, schools have endured the Gap Elimination Adjustment and the tax cap, which have caused layoffs and draconian budget cuts across the state. Classes are larger and support services are fewer, particularly for our neediest students.

We have also endured a difficult rollout of the Common Core Standards. A reasonable implementation would have started the new standards in kindergarten and advanced those standards one grade at a time. Instead, the new standards were rushed into all grades at once, without any time to see if they were developmentally appropriate or useful.

Then our students were given new tests—of questionable validity—before they had a chance to develop the skills necessary to be successful. These flawed tests reinforced the false narrative that all public schools—and therefore all teachers—are in drastic need of reform. In our many years of teaching, we’ve never found that denigrating others is a useful strategy for improvement.

Now you are doubling down on test scores as a proxy for teacher effectiveness. The state has focused on test scores for years and this approach has proven to be fraught with peril. Testing scandals erupted. Teachers who questioned the validity of tests were given gag orders. Parents in wealthier districts hired test-prep tutors, which exacerbated the achievement gap between rich and poor.

Beyond those concerns, if the state places this much emphasis on test scores who will want to teach our neediest students? Will you assume that the teachers in wealthier districts are highly effective and the teachers in poorer districts are ineffective, simply based on test scores?…

You can read the entire letter here. And here’s the UFT ad:N.Y. teachers union blasting Cuomo in new multimillion-dollar ad campaign - The Washington Post: