As John King dutifully carries his “listening tour” to a dozen localities in New York state, touting the virtues of Common Core and high-stakes testing, he is running into a problem: No one likes what he is selling.
However, as the report below indicates, he doesn’t care. He listens without hearing. It doesn’t matter what parents and educators say. His mind is made up. He is going through the motions.
This reader writes:
56/57 people spoke at the Portchester Middle School, including numerous superintendents, teachers, parents and one student. Many articulate, passionate variations of same theme: Not research based; hurting children; lowering curriculum standards; hurting teachers and administrators. Seemed like standing room only. King’s only response: we are going forward with CCSS. We heard you. (This is paraprasing). A lot of face saving on their part. After hearing person after person speak about how children had been harmed, Chancellor Tisch looked bored, and all Comissioner King (with all his three years teaching experience in charter schools) could say was basically, “We will move forward with this and we’ll be committed to high standards.” Not an “I’m sorry children have been hurt. I’m sorry teachers have had to work overtime. I’m sorry the curriculum was delivered to teachers the day before school began.” Not, “I can see we’ve made some mistakes and I’ll make sure that I include your points in our next discussion.” Were we shocked? No. Just what we expected and feared. Our hope: He will hear the same message in the next 13 (?) meetings. My political science spouse said, “you need to tell people to focus on the legislators who attend these meetings: Let them know their job is on the line with your vote. King & Tisch feel quite secure in their jobs. Make sure the legislators don’t feel the same security. Then maybe you’ll make the changes that need to be made. My note: make sure you organize. Get the people out.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
YES!!!!!!!!!
Put pressure on your elected officials up at Albany because THEY are te ones who vote in the board of Regents, which in turn elects the Comissioner.
When a poltician starts feeling their constituency will not vote for him/her, then there is an incentive for him/her to put pressure on each other to make King and Tisch resign.
Furthermore, the state constitution should bne amended so that the Board of Regents, comissioner, and president are ALL voted for by the general public who reside and are allowed to vote in New York State.
No more middle men in the electoral process . . . . . . .
Hey, Port Chester, do that thang! Your state congressman is Nita Lowey (D). Your senators are Chuck Schumer (D) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D). Find their emails et al details here: http://www.located-in.com/Port%20Chester/NY/10573/find-your-congressman/
Come on, folks, this is RYE!! 99%proficient Eng, 100%proficient Math! You’re paying a pretty penny for those schools! Please don’t give King a pass. Push your representatives to keep their reform agendas out of your top-performing schools!!
Whose bright idea was it to test and fail children in order to raise standards?
Push our representatives to keep that reform agenda out of every school.
Yes, Audhilly!
It matters not whether you pay a lot or not as much or a little for your school taxes. . . . . bad policy is bad policy regardless of your tax base, school district budget, or percentage of English language learners or calibre of test scores . . . .
Forget about “This is RYE!”. . . . . . This is representative of every public school district in the state and nation because this has become the new normal, and it’s vile, immoral, and unacceptable because it’s based on unscientific means, on no prior research, and it simply does not work, all of this reform movement.
When we fight for our own district, we are and should be fighting for all districts. This is not particular to low income, English language learner districts.
Got that, Spanish and French Freelancer. . . . . Entiende Usted? Est-ce que vous comprendez maintenant? Il-n’ya pas une difference.
The business community is supportive of common core. Chip fab plant in Malta has 100’s of jobs unfilled due to no qualified candidates. CCLS or not our role is to graduate productive citizens.
The responsibility of our schools is to provide well educated citizens that have the ability to adapt to a changing world, not learn how to correctly fill in the bubbles. Students are not parts in an industrial process that are interchangeable and can be discarded if defective. If a business has a need for a certain skill set, why don’t they undertake the necessary steps to train potential employees with that skill set? Of course paying a wage commiserate with the skill required might also increase the pool of candidates. It is impossible for the school system to prepare their students with the precise knowledge set required by every business in America.
Well said, Storm! You get it.
Does Global Enterprises (Chip) find that Common Core Standards might support providing more qualified local job applicants? What’s the connection?
Businesses like Chip Fab use this excuse all of the time as a way to pass the buck. They don’t want to invest anything to train workers. Instead they expect the public to pay the bill. If they can’t find so called qualified workers they should create an apprentice program to train new workers. Specialized businesses can’t expect public schools to produce students ready to do a technical job without any specialized training on the job. Actually Common Core makes this problem worse because it does nothing for students that don’t want to or can’t attend college. A large group of students is ignored and short changed by Common Core. We need a society that contains more than college graduates.
Unemployment is still over 8% (higher than that if you count all the people who have maxed out their benefits and are no longer counted as unemployed, as well as those who are underemployed) – out of all of those millions of people, you can’t find 100 people who could learn to do those jobs? This isn’t quite the word I’d like to use, but in deference to Diane: horse puckey.
I was present and spoke. As a teacher, it was very difficult to get there in time – I had to fill out a slip to leave 15 mins. early (not that I fill out one when I arrive an hour early or stay hours late…but I digress). I had to find bus duty coverage. I had to leave a group of colleagues mid-conversation. And I had to put the pedal to the metal! At the forum, it was said that with more notice, there would have been many more people there. But the place was packed, and those who spoke were amazing. There were so many superintendents, principals, and parents there. It felt like a real coalition growing. I think the next one in LI could be really well attended – they have a little more time to rally and they are very organized. It was a great showing for Westchester today, though. It did seem as though King was only physically present and so I agree that legislators are our best bet.
King is not the guy making decisions. He’s just the guy paid to pretend to be that guy.
Agreed. That was pretty obvious today. Cuomo wants to win more elections. Let’s see how long he enjoys the heat…
King has Merryl Tisch and her corporate cronies (her husband has tons of them) with their hands operating him like a sock puppet.
A disgusting image, but with policy that is far more disgusting . . . . .
YUP
Deny the data. Parents, begin to organize, even 2 families at a time in every school. You may be the only one in your school, but you have the right to say NO to high stakes testing. There will be a tipping point, and it would be nice to see that reached sooner than later. Our children have one shot at childhood, and when our education commissioner and the Regents don’t care, we have to care even more. Talk to each other. Get them involved. Speak to your teachers, your principals, your community, your council members, all elected officials. Don’t stop the momentum. We will be heard. This is a teaching moment. Each one teach one and let’s reclaim our schools, they are PUBLIC after all!
Dr. King spent a lot of time writing notes to Chancellor Tisch. At one point I thought Dr. King was asleep. Ms. Tisch looked like she was in pain the entire time. Both appeared to be totally disengaged. Regent Harry Philip who was there appeared to be listening and engaged by the speakers. Several speakers mentioned the notification on this meeting last Friday afternoon was not acceptable.
A speaker from Mahopac apologized for her behavior at Spankenkill. She said she was sorry for pointing at the commissioner, it was not her but the emotions of the evening took over. It brought me to tears. She said she was not a special interest then, but she said she was NOW. She is united with other parents from around the state (she mentioned Long Island and Rochester) and they are not prepared to give up.
Dr. King said the tests are the same as they were ten years ago. That did not go well with the audience. He didn’t really address the data dashboard question or any other serious question posed by the audience members. Dr. King talked about school finance and resources for schools. He made no serious addressing of any issues. He reiterated his comments that the modules are not a curriculum but he did say they would be updated.
The elected officials appeared to be surprised by what they were hearing and one indicated she had been aware of the issues for some time but was overwhelmed by the comments. I felt they might be ready to do something about it.
The commissioner did say the the Regents had accepted the department’s recommendation to push back the PARCC testing scheduled for 2014-15. Several audience members called for a moratorium on high stake testing until it can be done right.
Video will be available on the Port Chester school district website: http://ensemble.lhric.org/app/sites/index.aspx?destinationID=Fa_LEoQzBkKx14GY75vYbQ It has not been posted as of Monday at 11pm.
One speaker asked that the regents and commissioner carry their message to Governor Cuomo, Arne Duncan, Barack Obama and Bill Gates.
It was clear who that speaker thought was in charge.
Here is a newspaper account, apparently fairly accurate based on the comments, of the meeting.
http://portchester.dailyvoice.com/schools/common-core-concerns-are-aired-out-amid-packed-house
The next place he appears, people also need to point out how much of the school’s (taxpayers’) money is going to the tests and test prep materials–going to Pear$on instead of being spent on students. Find the dollar number of the amount, and have EACH and EVERY speaker say it OVER AND OVER AGAIN, and direct this fact at your legislators who are present, making sure that THEY understand that this huge monetary drain from the schools IS the reason the students have less teachers and services.
ABSOLUTELY focus on the legislators.
your political science spouse is right. Legislators all have one bottom-line issue– getting re-elected. Make it obvious to them that this guy is harming schools and education, and children, on their watch and that they will be held responsible by their constituents.
In the sports world, there are countless stories of owners giving coaches a “vote of confidence” shortly before firing them.
Plenty of leaders are giving the Common Core a “vote of confidence.” Now we just got to keep pressuring them until they fire the CC.
And until Arne Duncan is fired and replaced with a real educator . . . .
Replacing Duncan with an educator. Now there’s an idea!
Mr. Shepherd,
Roadkill has more experience in education than Arne Duncan . . . .
Madame Defarge,
Hysterical, mean, and true!
This reform movement can never “be done right.” There should be a moratorium while the system is fumigated.
All the changes that began with Steiner, and continued with his handpicked minion King, should be tossed. What gives these unelected chancellors and commissioners the right to turn a functioning (in fact exemplary) education system upside down, and then cash-in and bail? Their mantra? Throw the hand grenade and run.
From Klein, to Steiner, to King — all personally benefiting from the madness. Bring back veteran, vetted educators as our leaders – not corporate/charter hacks.
Just like politics – we need to get the money out of education leadership (sic).
Hate to sound like a reactionary – but seriously – why do we continue down these roads when the people who put these changes in motion don’t even stick around? Even David Coleman, architect of Common Core, did’t see this train wreck through.
King and Tisch are like two children forced to go to church and listen to a sermon directed at their sinful activities. They are physically present, but not mentally engaged. Their responses are scripted – just the talking points, please.
At least some of the Board of Regents members are listening. If they see our numbers, perhaps they will start regarding our message. This is not about us – it is about the future of our children.
Politicians, take heed. You are playing with a hornets nest and angry parents have already started to swarm. Also, please note, there is no protective gear which will save you if you keep harming our kids.
I’ve written my legislators, and I will keep writing. I also plan to pay close attention to their actions or lack of actions. I vote. Friends vote. Teachers vote. Parents vote. School issues are a key factor in the mayoral election in NY city, and they will continue to impact future elections. Public education is a cornerstone of our democracy and hurting children will not be tolerated by those of us who care about America’s future. Wake up politicians!
This just in:
In a blistering statement, John B. King, Jr., Commissioner of Education for the State of New York, lashed out against special interest groups that have attempted to disrupt his meetings around the state.
“It’s become clear that some special interests are making a well-organized, concerted attempt to disrupt my meetings, ” said Commissioner King. “These groups include a) the 2.8 million public school students in New York, b) the 400,000 teachers in the state, and c) the entire population of parents of New York school-age children. I am not about to be influenced by these special interests,” Commissioner King barked, “because I take seriously–very, very seriously–my sworn duty to uphold the rights of my corporate masters. That’s why I have organized these ‘listening tours’–to make those students, teachers, and parents listen up and listen up now.”
Commissioner King went on to say that he is simply taking his cue from the teachers unions, which have likewise refused to be swayed from their cult-like fervor for the new Common [sic] Core [sic] State [sic] Standards [sic] by mere evidence and by the inconsequential views of their members.
Leaders of the CCSSO/Achieve Ministry of Propaganda, formerly known as the AFT and NEA, could not be reached for comment. They were too busy counting the loot they have received from the Gates Foundation.
NOTE: The above post is a work of political satire. If you don’t know what satire is, consult an English teacher. Many are readers of this blog.
Who are greasing King’s palms? He just another go-fer.
Its probably more a matter of towing the party line or standing on the unemployment line.
Just heard on local news that King has decided to eliminate the 8th grade math test. Another example of shoddy reporting. King is allowing accelerated 8th grade math students to take only one standardized math test this spring – instead of the TWO standardized math tests they have been taking since the start of NCLB testing. King is eliminating the 8th grade Pearson test for accelerated 8th grade students only. Problem here for districts, the top 20+% of math students will now be culled from 8th grade testing data. Only the mid-bottom level math student will be taking the 8th grade CCSS test. So many school district scores for 8th grade math will plummet!!!!!!!
I too was there and spoke. I’ve renamed these forums “The I’m NOT Listening Tour.” What a disgrace! Tisch was stoic and never uttered a word. We must keep the pressure on, I don’t think they realize who they are up against. The places and faces of these forums may change, but the message has been loud, clear and consistent.