Parents in New York are thrilled by the ascent of Dr. Betty Rosa as Chancellor of the New York Board of Regents.

 

They know that she is knowledgeable, experienced, and sensitive to the needs of children with disabilities and English language learners.

 

They know she has openly supported the parents who opt their children out of state testing that is too long, developmentally inappropriate, and invalid. Whereas the previous chancellor, Merryl Tisch, vocally supported the Common Core and the high-stakes testing, Rosa has made her skepticism clear. Tisch insisted that the state tests provide important information to help children, but parents and teachers know that a score of 1, 2, 3, or 4 is not useful information, nor is it helpful to know what percentile rank your child or student has.

 

Rosa has also actively supported vigorous state action to protect the mostly-minority children of East Ramapo, whose school board is dominated by orthodox Jews whose own children are not in public schools and who have starved the public schools of resources to keep taxes low.

 

“Bravo, Betty,” lohud commenter Teddy Gross said on an article reporting the chancellor-elect’s support for the testing opt-out movement.

 

The chancellor-elect expressed support for opt-out parents, just weeks before the grade 3-8 assessment tests are to begin. Citing her own two, now grown children, Rosa told the Capitol Pressroom radio show that one of her kids found testing stressful. “As a family, we would make a decision about my two children,” she said Tuesday, expressing concern about whether she could be certain that the tests had “an entry point where my child would feel successful with it.”

 

 

While Rosa has criticized both tying teacher evaluations to test scores and Common Core, Tisch championed a rapid-fire implementation of Common Core standards and bought into high-stakes testing. Their backgrounds also couldn’t be more different: Tisch has devoted much time, and family wealth, to civic and philanthropic endeavors; Rosa, the first Latina chancellor, was born in New York City but raised partly in Puerto Rico, and later worked as a teacher and administrator. One overlap: Both have Ivy League Ph.Ds.

 

The state has already made changes to this year’s standardized testing regimen, with shorter tests and unlimited time allowed. The Regents also voted to stop using state test scores for teacher evaluations for the next few years — only data-centric Tisch voted against the move.

 

Who is Betty Rosa? Read her official biography here on the Regents’ website.