A few weeks ago, New York State Commissioner announced a survey of Common Core and its tests and invited responses from all. In three weeks, she received 5500 responses. She said that New Yorkers support Common Core.
The New York State Allies for Public Education, leaders of the opt out movement and critics of Common Core, created a similar survey and received 12,000 responses in one week and said New Yorkers do not support Common Core, the testing, and the evaluations tied to it.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 4, 2015
More information contact:
Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com
NYS Allies for Public Education http://www.nysape.org
NYSAPE Survey Shows New Yorkers Overwhelmingly Reject
Common Core Standards, Tests & Evaluation Policies
In response to NYS Education Department’s AimHighNY survey on the Common Core that many parents and teachers found excessively complex and not open to general comments, New York State Allies for Public Education created a user-friendly survey and posted it online between November 23 and November 30. Close to 12,000 New Yorkers filled out our survey in just a week’s time. According to Commissioner Elia, only 5500 completed NYSED survey in three weeks’ time. Governor’s Common Core task force has received 1,798 submissions since December 2, according to Politico.
The respondents to the NYSAPE survey overwhelmingly reject the Common Core standards, believe the state exams and test-based teacher evaluation system are flawed, and that these reforms have worsened instruction in both English Language Arts and Math at the classroom level.
Parents, teachers, administrators, school board members and concerned NY residents all took part in the NYSAPE survey. Of special note, 11 percent of our survey respondents also completed NYSED’s survey and 32.9 percent attempted to complete NYSED’s survey but gave up.
Of those who responded to the NYSAPE survey, 70 percent oppose the Common Core standards, 4 percent support them, 23 percent have concerns with them, and 3 percent are undecided. An even higher percentage –83 percent — believe the Common Core standards in both ELA and Math have worsened instruction. 83 percent also disagree with the shift to close reading strategies.
Over 80 percent of respondents indicated that they believe ELA and Math standards in grades K-3 are developmentally inappropriate for many students. Fewer than 4 percent of respondents say that the ELA and Math standards for grades 4-8 are well designed.
For grades 9-12, only 2 percent of respondents approve of the ELA and Math Standards. Only 6.2 percent agree with the Common Core’s quota for informational text versus literary text.
An overwhelming number – 91 percent –say that the Common Core exams in grades 3-8 are flawed, while fewer than 1 percent believe they are valid or well-designed. Among those who find the tests to be flawed, many believe the tests are developmentally inappropriate, too long, not useful for assessing students with disabilities and/or English language learners and that reading passages and questions are too difficult and confusing.
Of our respondents, 54 percent indicated that high schools should use the previous NYS Regents exams rather than new exams aligned to the Common Core standards, while roughly 40 percent believe that students should not have to pass any high stakes exams to graduate.
Those who took the NYSAPE survey are nearly unanimous, at 96 percent, that test scores should not be linked to principal or teacher evaluations. 86.5 percent say that the state should abandon the Common Core standards and return to the New York’s former standards until educators can create better ones.
The full results of the survey are posted here: http://www.nysape.org/nysape-cc-survey-results.html
“NYSAPE’s findings are in line with the poll results and most of the testimony to the Governor’s Common Core Task Force. There is no way around this; the Governor and the legislature must eliminate these Standards, revamp the tests, and reverse the harmful education laws,” said Lisa Rudley, Westchester County public school parent and NYSAPE founding member.
One of the survey respondents said, “As a teacher who trained at Bank Street College of Education, I find the standards developmentally inappropriate. As a reading specialist, I find the kindergarten standards far too high in reading and writing. As a parent, I am very concerned because I have a child who hates reading because it was pushed so hard at his school.”
“The results of the survey confirm that the vast majority of parents and teachers do not approve of the Common Core, and oppose the rigid quotas for informational text and ‘close reading’ strategies that have straitjacketed instruction throughout the state. They want to abandon these standards, and return to our previous ones until educators can craft better ones. We hope that state policymakers, including the Commissioner, the Governor, the Board of Regents and our legislators, will listen,” said Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters.
“The tremendous response to NYSAPE’s survey underscores that parents and educators are eager to be heard. The fact that the Commissioner Elia could not create an accessible survey only fuels concerns about her competence and willingness to truly engage parents and practitioners,” said Bianca Tanis, Ulster County public school parent, Rethinking Testing member and educator.
“Vice Chancellor Bottar attempted to portray the appointment of Commissioner Elia as a positive change, assuring the public that she would be able to communicate more effectively with parents and educators to find common ground. Vice Chancellor Bottar’s continued poor judgement and complicity with the failed reform agenda can no longer be tolerated; it is time for him to step down,” said Jessica McNair Oneida County public school parent, educator and Opt Out Central NY founder.
NYSAPE, a grassroots organization with over 50 parent and educator groups across the state, is calling on parents to continue to opt out by refusing high-stakes testing for the 2015-16 school year. Go to http://www.nysape.org for more details on how to affect changes in education policies.
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
Most Americans support some form of gun control, and most Americans do not want to defund Planned Parenthood. Yet, we are at impasse on so many issues because the oligarchs are the puppet masters of Congress. Unless we can overturn Citizens United, we will continue to see America reshaped into what the 158 wealthiest American families want it to be.
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Thanks to the imminent passage of the ESSA next week, and these poll results, Chris Gibson (US House Rep, Kinderhook, NY) gets to fire this warning shot across Cuomo’s political bow. This is exactly why we should be embracing the ESSA as it will place education on the front burner of gubernatorial races all across the country. All politics is local. especially when it comes to public schools, education, and our children’s future.
It will be fun watching Cuomo try to walk back all of his political tough guy talk as Chris Gibson starts breathing down his neck. Andy’s poll numbers are in the toilet and the parents of NYS have simply had enough. Cuomo is feeling the heat big time and this challenge from Gibson draws a very definite line in the sand on Cuomo’s entire Regents Reform Agenda, including Common Core, Over-testing, and the use of test scores to evaluate teachers in our APPR. Read Gibson’s words and you will hear just hoe he is using the ESSA to back Cuomo into a corner. I’m lovin’ it!
This excerpt is from the Perdido Street School Blog:
Chris Gibson: If NY Sticks With Common Core And Heavy-Handed Education Policy, It’s All On Cuomo
Congressman Chris Gibson on the “Every Child Succeeds Act,” the education bill that passed the House this week and is expected to pass the Senate and be signed into law by President Obama before Christmas:
New York educators and legislators are hopeful the passage of a bipartisan education bill in the House of Representatives this week will convince the state to abandon the more controversial aspects of its own education reform.
The bill, the Every Student Succeeds Act, dismantles George W. Bush’s signature No Child Left Behind Act and shifts authority over the nation’s public schools from the federal government back to states and local school districts. Not only does it let states to decide whether student test scores are an appropriate way to evaluate teachers or assess schools, but it also prohibits the federal government from mandating or even incentivizing states to adopt learning standards like the Common Core.
U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, called the bill a major step forward in reducing federal overreach in classrooms and in empowering states and localities. The bill gives New York the flexibility to decide how it wants to test its children and evaluate teachers, he said.
“The ball is now clearly in the governor’s court,” he said. “We have so many parents and teachers and students that have been upset with Common Core. Well, this bill allows states to withdraw from Common Core without penalty. In addition, the state has taken a heavy-handed approach to schools that are failing, and that has been in part driven by the federal government. That federal overreach is now gone, so anything the governor continues to do in education will be from his own volition. He can no longer lean on the federal government.”
http://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2015/12/chris-gibson-if-ny-sticks-with-common.html
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I like those NY parents. I wish the parents here in MA were more like them.
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I did the Commisioner’s survey….spent at least 10 hours on it….and I was very negative on it. I wonder if anyone even reads the comments I spent so much time writing.
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I posted once before. I have had a very positive teaching experience using common core. As long as teachers are able to create the curriculum themselves and do not have to use materials labeled “common core,” I don’t see it as a bad thing. I am very reflective on this stuff and certainly not closed minded. Unfortunately teachers are usually not trusted, and they have to use corporate materials instead. Teaching feels like an assembly line then. But that’s not the fault of the standards. The tests are stupid. The evaluations are stupid. The standards are pretty good. Many disagree, so please pick a standard at a grade level in ELA and let us all have a respectful conversation about it. I would really appreciate that. Bring in the studies, as long as it is specific to a standard so we can all understand why they are a bad thing in detail. Again, not the tests but the specific standards. I’m not looking for a debate but a discussion from all our knowledge and experience. Thanks!
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Key Ideas and Details:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.1
Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.3
Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
Craft and Structure:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.5
Compare and contrast the structure of two or more texts and analyze how the differing structure of each text contributes to its meaning and style.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.6
Analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader (e.g., created through the use of dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.7
Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.8
(RL.8.8 not applicable to literature)
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.9
Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.10
By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
TAKE YOUR PICK from these GRADE 8 ELA STANDARDS.
The central problem is not the particulars of any one standard, but in the overarching philosophy that David Coleman wove into the fabric of the standards. That is that reading must be independent of context and de-coupled from prior knowledge or interests. This has resulted in reading instruction focused on empty skill sets related to supporting evidence and analysis of vague and objective concepts such as author’s tone or intent. The standards, and what have been, mandatory companion tests do not reflect in any way, the real reasons and ways that real people read for pleasure or information. This over-arching philosophy not only warps the meaning of reading but sucks the fun out of it, bores kids to death, turns inspiration upside-down (and then flushes it down the toilet), and they carry content rich and engaging program down with them. Plain and simply, the common Core ELA standards de-humanize reading and writing.
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8.10 sounds like reading for pleasure. If I have students select books in the library independently or form literature circles to discuss their readings or encourage book clubs, how am I not following that standard?
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Obvious…the Commissioner’s survey was DESIGNED to FAIL the folks who participated in the ‘They Shoot Horses Don’t They?’ Survey. Survey default, if complete or incomplete, most likely was interpreted as full support for CCSS.
Just wondering, are there still folks trying to finish this impossible survey?
Still breathing?
Pull the plug and let them live. 🖥⏰👺
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Here’s one parent’s experience with, and opinion of, the AimHigh survey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eZ9re7iRnI
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