Willa Powell, a member of the school board in Rochester, New York, will keep her child home on testing day.
Buried in this story is a very strange comment by State Commissioner John King.
“As we looked at flat test scores in New York and across the country, it was impossible to ignore a few sobering facts,” said state Education Commissioner John King in a video message to parents. “We’re not faring as well as we should be in the new global marketplace. Too many of our graduates aren’t prepared to succeed in college or their careers. The Common Core state standards are the answer to this problem.”
Help me understand.
He says the scores are flat, so we will adopt tests that we believe will cause the scores to go down.
He says too many of our graduates are not ready for college or careers. We think the new standards–though no one has any evidence– will solve this problem.
What am I missing here? Logic?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The NYS Regents have fallen under the spell of the corporatocracy… MAYBE they will wake up if enough parents opt out in the next couple of years or enough voices like yours are lifted up… Or maybe Cuomo is casting the spell in hopes of proving he can “stand up to unions and education bureaucrats” and assume Obama’s mantle of reformer…
LikeLike
Ugh, now King is talking about vocabulary instruction, inaccurately I must say. Tisch is talking about we’ve got to just “jump in” ….huh?
Also, if testing is so fabulous for us moochers of public monies; why aren’t private schools , who benefit from my tax dollars too (transportation, materials) required to take them?
If they accept any public monies, they should be required to abide by the same regs.
LikeLike
Last night my daughter was inducted into the prestigious honor society Phi Beta Kappa. During the ceremony Provost Dr. Garnett S. Stokes at FSU gave the initial address. She mentioned how important the study in Liberal Arts is so vital today when STEM fields are being pushed. She reminded us that higher education is more than training for a career it is about learning for the sake of learning. To think for yourself, to critically analyze and to problem solve. She mentioned that graduates in Liberal Arts do well in their careers and are well prepared for the market place. Yet I keep hearing that colleges are not preparing students for careers. The Chamber of Commerse and other business groups echo these sentiments. Dig deeper and it all leads back to folks like Jeb Bush, Bill Gates, the Waltons and other non-educators trying to take away our public schools. Don’t let them. The Jrs and Srs I met are sooo amazing. They survived the FCAT. They are so bright! Hear, hear to a Liberal Arts Education!
LikeLike
So the purpose of education is to prepare for the global marketplace? To buy and sell stuff?
*barf*
LikeLike
Barf is right! Here in the USA, our students are commodities traded on Wall Street. Wait! Didn’t Wall Street cause the financial meltdown?
LikeLike
In that scene from Apollo 13 when the team hears “THIS needs to fit into THIS – and all we have is this (these parts)” – and then they hear Failure Is Not An Option – well, the pieces actually fit together, they had the right team, and in spite of it being on a time clock, they did have enough time.
Just claiming failure is not an option doesn’t get results
Using pieces that do not (yet) fit together gets poor results.
Implementing the process before the pieces are set gets ever worse results.
But I guess if you tell people it’s not going to work then I guess it’s ok regardless of what it does to kids and the ill-conceived (oops, not yet decided) connection to teacher and principal labels.
LikeLike
We opted out last year when I was “just” an activist parent and will almost certainly opt out this year, when I will be a sitting Board Member (I was elected to the Madison WI Board of education earlier this month): http://madisonamps.org/2012/11/02/opt-out-just-say-no-to-the-wkce/
LikeLike
Hooray! Good for you.
LikeLike
I was just imagining all the things that would happen if “standardized tests” went away! All kinds of things could happen:
1) Children could have a little longer recess.
2) Schools would recoup countless hours of instructional time.
3) Children could forget they ever learned the word, “assessment.”
4) Teachers could give students a test to see if they learned what the teacher actually taught.
5) Students could use the time in class to do more hands-on, authentic, creative classwork.
6) Children could regain a little more childhood.
7) Test publishers would go out of business.
And more….
Just imagine if the Federal Department of Education went away!
LikeLike
Didn’t John Lennon write a song about that? I think it is called “Imagine.”
“You may think I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”
LikeLike
Next level 🙂
…and think of the billions that could then be devoted to smaller class sizes, and enriched programs!…”IF only” the unnecessary tests were cancelled .
LikeLike
We can only dream….for now! Keeping the faith that the truth will (continue to) be revealed:)
LikeLike
I attended a conference today–“Reframing Reform: Achieving Equity and Excellence in Public Education,” and had the privilege of hearing some excellent speakers, including Dr. Pasi Sahlberg. Insofar as what Dr. Sahlberg said as opposed to John King’s (you-bet-it’s-“strange,”-Diane) commentary, John King understands NOTHING of the workings of “the new global marketplace.” Not.a.thing. Common core standards are just the type of misguided educational mistakes that Finland had cast aside (as a failing methodology).
Suffice it to say, King knows nothing of anything much.
LikeLike
I no longer use his undeserved titile of “Doctor” when referring to him because he has never uttered a single erudite sentence publically. A real”Doctor” at least tries to “Do NO Harm”, but this fellow exudes a form of Child and Teacher Abuse in his arrogant and egotistiical pronouncements ( ex-cathedra in Albany) on a daily basis.
Ignorance in a position of leadership is exponentially disastrous.
This “King” obviously “…has no clothes”.
You are “Right on Spot” again, ” retiredbutmiss the kids 🙂
LikeLike