The new chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents visited a dual-language elementary school on Long Island, accompanied by the Superintendent, Michael Hynes (a member of the honor roll of this blog) and by Jeanette Deutermann, parent leader of the Long Island Opt-Out movement. Dr. Rosa spoke to the children in both English and Spanish.


The newly elected chancellor of the state Board of Regents visited a Medford Elementary School dual-language classroom Tuesday afternoon as part of her first statewide listening tour since she assumed the post in March.
“I am going around the state and seeing these wonderful opportunities,” said Betty Rosa, a former Bronx special education teacher, principal and superintendent. “My goal is to make sure our children have the resources and opportunities and access to a quality education.”
Rosa, joined by Patchogue-Medford Superintendent Michael J. Hynes, spoke in Spanish and English to students in the classroom at Medford Elementary in Patchogue. The district is in its eighth year offering a dual-language program, with 375 students now enrolled.
Hynes, a vocal critic of high-stakes testing, praised Rosa’s vision — seeing what’s working in public schools and trying to replicate it statewide.
“Everything she focuses on is what’s best for kids,” he said.
Rosa’s selection as chancellor marked a dramatic shift in tone for the Regents board, where a majority of board members in the past had supported higher academic standards and other reforms, first enthusiastically and then with growing reluctance.
She was named chancellor shortly before state assessments were administered last month. A Newsday survey found that more than half of Long Island students boycotted the English Language Arts and math exams in April.
It was the second sweeping boycott in New York, driven by parents’ and educators’ rebellion against the exams, the tests’ links to teacher and principal performance evaluations and other state education reforms.
Rosa was joined on Tuesday’s tour by Jeanette Deutermann, a North Bellmore parent and founder of Long Island Opt Out.
“It is so hopeful for parents who have been fighting and fighting to have somebody at the top who understands what we are fighting for and believes in the same philosophy,” Deutermann said.
Rosa called Tuesday for less emphasis on state tests and said she believes teacher evaluations should not be tied to scores on those exams.
“We have to get back to what really matters — which is teaching and learning, and . . . our kids’ excitement to become learners,” Rosa said.
And she means it.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Cautiously optimistic…
😎
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Change is never easy. Look for editorial boards to attack Betty Rosa. They should have attacked her predecessor who would have abandoned public schools if possible. Folks now understand the agenda of Tisch/King/Cuomo was to abandon public schools and turn them over to their hedge fund friends.
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VAM.
Where is Rosa on VAM?
Until I hear a strong, unequivocal statement from her opposing VAM at its philosophical roots, I will refrain from engaging in hope.
Have we learned nothing? Listening to what these folks DO NOT say is perhaps more important and telling than what they do say. Where there is silence, there is the devil.
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Agreed! Dr. Rosa needs to denounce the use of VAM and SLOs/SGOs with zero uncertainty. Its is the most heinous aspect of Cuomo’s Regents Reform Agenda, hand down.
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I applaud Rosa for getting out and visiting schools. It means a lot when the chancellor walks into schools and gets to see what is going on. I also commend Rosa for appointing Judy Johnson to lead a sub-committee on teacher evaluation. Having served with Judy on several committees during my career, I trust her judgment and commitment to New York’s teachers and students. She is a knowledgeable leader that knows how to build consensus, and she will seek evidence based solutions.
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What is significant about this is that it can show an awareness that education is more than just cognitive achievement (which is what standardized testing focuses so much on), but that it is about non-cognitive development, which means an awareness of community needs and diversity. The ability to speak fluent Spanish opens up that awareness. Speaking Spanish becomes more valuable in speaking to the parents, because it is often the situation that parents may not speak English very fluently or at all. When that happens, they tend to get excluded from the school community.
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It is always a big plus to be able to speak to parents, especially ELL parents. It encourages their participation. Good dual language programs can be a benefit for all students.
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Schools have always been more about non-cognitive development than about pure academic achievement. We use the discipline of our subjects, program policies, and subject area pedagogies to teach much more than facts, skills, and ideas.
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It always bothers me when we refer to noncognitive vs. academic skills. I’m sure I have done it as well, but noncognitive skills is really kind of oxymoronic. Social skills, athletic skills, artistic or musical skills,… all require cognitive involvement.
Sorry for the mini rant. I had to let it out.
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Good news indeed. But there’s still a lot of work to do, including making sure this is Cuomo’s last term as governor.
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Cuomo will be reelected.
The only real possible threat for him was Chris Gibson, who announced the other day that he will not be running for gov.
And no, Cuomo won’t be indicted.
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Sorry to hear Gibson is bowing out from public office -at least for now. He represented our corner of New York State. While I certainly haven’t agreed with some of what he voted for, he’s a decent guy. He also spoke out loud and clear right from the start against over testing and the Common Core. I wish I could say the same about more of the Democrats (the party I’m registered in).
Given the current political atmosphere in the country, I think Cuomo (and Clinton) face some very real challenges. It’s still one person, one vote, on election day.
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New York State is one of the last vestiges of old-school machine politics. The broad political currents of Trump/Bernie/Clinton aren’t really a factor. I suggest looking at the geographic/social details of how Hillary won NYS a few weeks ago. Its a formula in New York…and that formula is dominated by a political machine, and that machine is dominated and controlled by the state Dem party. The formula/machine character of NYS politics makes it fairly impervious to insurgent candidates, broad waves of public sentiment/emotion, and even democratic impulses. Cuomo is an integrated, ingrained, granular and dominant part of said machine. He has been a part of the networks that make up the machine for literally most of his life. The closest that machine came to losing was Teachout’s bid. She lost by around 80,000 votes. (It needs repeating: had NYSUT wholehearted;y endorsed her, producing those 80,000+ votes would have been a possibility in a real way)
Gibson bowing out makes some things very clear. 1) Cuomo will have no significant challenger in the Teachout mode. 2) Silver’s 12 year sentence was an articulation that that was the climax of the Federal investigations of NY pols that so many hopes Cuomo would be wrapped up in. NOTE that Gibson announced his dropping out the same day Silver’s sentence came down…..the sentence was a statement that the political machine of NYS clearly understood: Cuomo will not be indicted. For Gibson, that was clarity enough…so he dropped his bid.
Cuomo is also an artist at political manipulation and triangulation. He does precisely enough to keep his left flank happy….Fracking, LGBTQ issues, Guns, etc etc. And he does things like that loudly and at very strategic times. He tosses his left the bones of rights and identity based politics while governing economically from the right. That explains his education policy….its not a social policy, or education policy. Its economic policy. Cuomo strategically courts very specific groups and population within the state with a laser-beam focus…because in NYS the formula is what matters. He beats the snot out of DeBlasio at every chance, making himself look like the only adult in the room.
Cuomo knows one thing: surviving politically is the most important thing. Period. So he survives. He is also an almost genetic product of New York machine politics, and he knows NY politics, all of its players, and has dirt on all of its players, in the same way as you and I know where our underwear drawer is.
Cuomo knows and plays NY politics better than the people of New York.
Cuomo will be re-elected.
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But given all that, you gotta admit we are living in very weird political times, NYSTeacher. Would you have predicted a year ago that Donald Trump would be where he is today?
And, I’m always interested in the so-called “wild cards” in history….those events that suddenly come out of left field and shake everything up. We’re overdue for one here in the U.S., I think. I hope it’s good news and not bad….
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SomeDAM,
We need some poems and pics for teacher appreciation week.
Along the lines of VAM, SGP, stacking and ranking, eugenics, ethnic cleansing, etc. linked with ‘This is your mind in the toilet.’
We can send it special mail to our favorite eminent researchers and promoters of BS (not Bach. of Sci., maybe butcher of science).
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