Carol Burris of South Side High School in Rockville Center, New York, sent out the following notice:
Thank you again for signing the petition against high stakes testing. It will be delivered on June 8 at the Rally for Public Education in Albany.
The purpose of the rally (12:00-3:00) is to express opposition to high stakes testing and support educational funding. Although it is sponsored by NYSUT, other groups are marching as well, including parents and principals.
Fellow principals and I will march behind a banner that says
http://www.newyorkprincipals.org
Our kids and teachers are more than a number .
We are assembling at the bottom of the egg, so if you are coming alone, feel free to join us or come by and say “hello”.
Parking is available under the egg. You can park for free in the two lots
on Madison Ave. I hope to see you there.
http://www.theegg.org/about/directions
*Field Testing*
This is a link to a site that gives parents information about field testing
http://www.scribd.com/doc/141872303/say-yes-to-learning-and-no-to-field-testing-what-nyc-parents-need-to-know
Although it was designed for New York City parents, it is relevant to all New York State parents.
inBloom and your children’s data
Please urge your legislators to support the bill A.6059/S.4284, to block the state’s plan to share private student and teacher information with inBloom Inc. and for-profit vendors, which has 59 co-sponsors in the Assembly and 20 in the Senate. It’s especially important to call Sen. Flanagan at 631-361-2154 and Sen. Skelos at (516) 766-8383 and ask them to support the bill and hold hearings on it now.
More about VAM and APPR
Whether you are a parent, principal or teacher, I think you will find this article on VAM of importance.
Here is the bottom line: No measure of teacher or principal performance should put the best interests of students in conflict with the best interests of the adults who serve them.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I hear there is a petition started for NC.
Anyone heard?
Someone asked a group I am in to talk to the Testing Hierarchy and asked why the expect students whose IQ’s are 60 and below to take all of the stupid tests they offer.
We are inspecting the tests..What a joke!!
It is laughable and useless for these kids to take these tests..
Correction to comment….
We are inspecting the Released tests online in NC..not the real tests..
I am sure one is as big of a joke as the other?
New York ……..you too test and test and test..and for what?
To make buku bucks for the test makers! (and the politicians after the test makers pay them off)
Hi Diane-
I found this little nugget recently.
Please share.
Amy
This is directly from NYS’s Race to the Top application, page 246. I assume this is inBloom’s Education Data Portal (EDP) which starts up in all districts in NYS this fall (2013).
Click to access new-york.pdf
• Creation of a full P-20 system. New York State is in the process of creating comprehensive data warehouses for its two public university systems, SUNY and CUNY as well as a subset of the large private colleges. These warehouses will be linked to the existing P-12 LDS to form a full P-16 LDS. In a parallel effort, the State Education Department is working with the State Department of Labor, Office of Children and Family Services, Department of Health, Department of Mental Health, and Office of Criminal Justice Services.
The combined CIOs of these agencies are deciding how to link student information, first through matching and then through a common identification number that will follow individuals throughout their lives. Once this is completed, the State agencies will begin linking the data systems.
Anyone from Connecticut want to team up and go?????
I sent you my last blog posting, Stephen Henderson replied and I to him. Check it out just for fun. http://www.ellenbennett.blogspot.com
I found the links to the VAMS and the field testing very interesting.
Eloquent argument against VAMS and so very true..
I did not realize that NY administers the Field Testing separately.
Some states include the field test samples in the test !!!! The same test that determines a student’s score and a teacher’s VAMS!!!
VAM is a scam!
SGPs are piss (said in a fine French accent)
Hi Diane,
I went to the Rally. It was fabulous!! Interesting though, 10,000 people concerned with education rally in the state capital, and no mention in the NY Times!? That says a great deal..