Just confirmed:
“Gary Stern (@GarySternNY)
3/20/20, 12:46 PM
It’s official from @NYSEDNews: 3-8 ELA, math, science tests suspended for the school year. Plus, ESL achievement test & alternative assessment for students with cognitive disabilities.”
No word yet about Regents exams, required for high school graduation.
Stay tuned.
This is not a year for testing when schools are closed indefinitely.
Health matters more than test scores.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Trump canceled all state testing at his press conference this morning.
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When Donald Trump is ahead of your state, you know you are in trouble.
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These stable geniuses haven’t yet cancelled the high-school tests? New York schools would get more thoughtful direction from a Magic 8 Ball.
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There is much your genius self-righteous self simply doesn’t know about what needs to take place behind the scenes to get to these decisions. Not jeopardizing funding is paramount and patience is a virtue. But you knew all that because you are a true genius.
It isn’t that simple merely to cancel Regents exams without first thinking through its effect on graduation requirements etc. But I’m sure you and others on this blog have ALL the answers! I suppose that’s why you hold such a prestigious position in the world of education. Get a life buddy! I can tell you what to do with that Magic 8 Ball but you’re so smart you probably figured that out all by yourself!
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DGMS,
Please explain how NY can give Regents exams when students have been out of school for months?
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Diane,
NYSED could curve the test. They can add a special curve for individuals on respirators or who are comatose. Even a bigger curve for those who have perished. With the phalanx of statisticians and psyshometricians (or psychotic-metricians) NYSED employs, they should be able to differentiate and algorithm-imize the differentiation for each category, coming out with an accurate, valid, and reliable picture of student performance. After all, not giving the test is an outright violation of students’ civil rights. It’s a test, and it’s critical!
All satire aside, tests are very important, but they have to be purposeful and productive. I recall a few years ago that horrific LEA personnel who showed up at a Florida hospital for a boy who was in grave, critical condition and his parents having to explain themselves and defend and their position as to why their child should not take the test. This was allegedly after the family informed the district of their child’s condition. If I had been the parent and it was my kid, the consequences for the employee would have been unpleasant . . .
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Yes, get a life Budiane!
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My hope: People realize those high stakes tests are ridiculous and they will just ALL GO AWAY.
How can we pay for them anyway?
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We can’t. Not unless we want to forget about having classroom supplies, books, libraries, science labs, theatres, school nurses, and guidance counselors to deal with kids traumatized by the tests.
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Man, you said it Bob.
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I just saw, Mark, that you posted on your great site, Mark’s Text Terminal, a worksheet on the term “The Big Lie.” How appropriate in the age of Trump!
Great stuff on Mark’s site for kids at home!
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Well, I have been trying to post timely material, and I am hard pressed to think of anything more au courant than that brief exposition of the big lie.
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I’m also thinking now would be a good time to repost the lesson plan on personality disorders I put up about a month ago.
Just sayin’….
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Bob, rampant testing is more important than humanism and intellectualism. This is America, not Finland.
Back in 2013, I spoke about the ills and dangers of test-mania. What’s old again is new again, as highlighted by this virus:
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Your cartoons are simply magnificent, Robert!!!! I hope everyone on this blog takes a moment to look at them!!!! Thanks so much for sharing these!!!!
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Great question, Yvonne! Safety to you and yours during this time!
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Yahoo!
I started calling SED 2 weeks ago…
Some small thing to take off our plates.
Stay safe.
I’d say breathe deep, but I don’t know if that’s advisable today.
🙂
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Every state now qualifies for a year-long waiver of state tests.
“WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced today (March 20) students impacted by school closures due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic can bypass standardized testing for the 2019-2020 school year. Upon a proper request, the Department will grant a waiver to any state that is unable to assess its students due to the ongoing national emergency, providing relief from federally mandated testing requirements for this school year.
Secretary DeVos commented: “Students need to be focused on staying healthy and continuing to learn. Teachers need to be able to focus on remote learning and other adaptations. Neither students nor teachers need to be focused on high-stakes tests during this difficult time. Students are simply too unlikely to be able to perform their best in this environment. Our actions today provide turnkey flexibilities for state and local leaders to focus on the immediate needs of their students and educators without worrying about federal repercussions. I’ve spoken with many local education leaders in the past days, and I’m inspired by their efforts to help their students continue to learn and grow. We’re going to continue to provide every flexibility possible to help make that as simple as possible.”
…….
“To protect students’ health and safety, a state that deems it necessary should proceed with cancelling its statewide assessments for the 2019-2020 school year. Since student performance, as measured by assessments, is required to be used in statewide accountability systems, any state that receives a one-year waiver may also receive a waiver from the requirement that this testing data be used in the statewide accountability system due to the national emergency.” https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/helping-students-adversely-affected-school-closures-secretary-devos-announces-broad-flexibilities-states-cancel-testing-during-national-emergency
In addition,
See also the USDE’s announcement on forgiveness of interest on student loans for at least the next 60 days. https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/delivering-president-trumps-promise-secretary-devos-suspends-federal-student-loan-payments-waives-interest-during-national-emergency?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=
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Good. Yes. Health matters more than test scores.
Counting the blades of grass on the lawn outside my apartment building matters more than test scores.
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Love that, LCT!
You and Walt Whitman, counting blades of grass!
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Lol, Leftcoast! Precisely!
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When you are done counting those blades of grass, post them on a Data Wall. Then hold a Data Chat with your family about them.
Data every bit as important as that from the state tests!
It must be very important because it’s DATA!!!!!
Who knows, maybe Michael Petrilli at the Fordham Institute for Securing Big Paychecks for Officers of the Fordham Institute will be willing to write a piece explaining why the blades of grass count has remained flat and telling you to “stay the course”!
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What counts (and what doesn’t)
Counting blades of grass
Is simply what I do
Better than the past
When testing was milieu
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Yesterday and today, Trump praised himself for invoking the Defense Production Act, but then today he got mad when reporters asked him how he has used it. Why? Because he hasn’t and doesn’t want to.
This at a time when governors can’t lay their hands on the supplies they need.
It’s all still, for him, about managing the perception of Trump. Nothing else matters.
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great movie title for a future filmmaker’s endeavor: The Perception Of Trump
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Love the ambiguity in that title, Ciedie.
How Trump was perceived (worshiped or hated)
How Trump saw (utterly distorted, as in a carnival funhouse mirror that reflected only himself, blown all out of proportion)
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start writing 🙂
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How to Manage a National Crisis
Blame it on Obama.
Blame it on China.
Blame it on Democrats.
Blame it on the Media.
Blame it on immigrants.
Ignore the science.
Ignore the math.
Pass the buck to governors.
Treat it as a photo opportunity.
Treat it as a PR problem.
Treat it as an opportunity to enrich your cronies.
Require absolute slavishness and continual praise from subordinates.
Threaten to fire anyone who utters a word of truth.
Tell everyone that it will just go away.
Tell everyone how on top of it you were from the beginning.
Apply more orange tan in a can for the next briefing.
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Oops. I needed to get the order right:
Politics 101: How to Manage a National Crisis
Deny it until you can’t anymore.
Tell everyone that it will just go away.
Then. . .
Tell everyone how on top of it you were from the beginning.
Blame it on Obama.
Blame it on China.
Blame it on Democrats.
Blame it on the Fake News Media.
Blame it on immigrants.
Ignore the science.
Ignore the math.
Pass the buck to governors.
Treat it as a photo opportunity.
Treat it as a PR problem.
Treat it as an opportunity to enrich your cronies.
Require absolute slavishness and continual praise from subordinates.
Threaten to fire anyone who utters a word of truth.
Apply more orange tan in a can and blonde hairspray for the next briefing.
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It really struck me when our “wartime” president suggested that each state should be responsible for procuring their own medical supplies because the federal government is not a shipping clerk. Somehow having fifty completing supply chains does not seem like an efficient way of running things.
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cx: competing
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This is Trump the “businessman.” LOL.
First Trump just denied that there was an issue with COVID-19. His typical magical thinking. Then, he capitulated to his Jabba handlers and did what they wanted. He read a speech, prepared by Kushner and Miller, from the Oval Office. If you watched that speech, you saw that he clearly didn’t want to do this or to say what he was saying. The next day, the markets tanked. So, Trump tried it again. But this time he did a stand-up from the press briefing room and didn’t stick to a script but, rather, largely spoke off the cuff, in something closer to his Trump rally style. The market improved. After seeing that, he said something to the effect of, “Hmm. That worked. People need to see a lot more of ME.” (I don’t remember the exact words, but he clearly said something like that.) Since then, he’s been doing a daily thing.
He thinks that he has discovered that his own initial reaction was right–that this is a PR problem that Trump charm–bs and more bs–can solve.
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Cash From Chaos, or, why Trump likes chaos: so much disorganized cash starts floating around
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Cancelling state tests is great news! Poor SBAC and PARCC.
Now to focus on how to get through the next month or months.
Thanks to all of you who stay on top of all of this!
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Flor-uh-duh will be an interesting, instructive case and might well tell us how bad this is going to be.
Donald “J for Jabba” the Trump, aka “Doctor Orange the Epidemiologist Who ‘Really Gets It’ and “Really Likes This Stuff’,” recently made the claim that when the weather warmed up, this “Corona flu” or, as he prefers to call it now, in his inimitably racist way, this “Chinese virus,” WOULD JUST GO AWAY. “Like magic,” he said. He did this despite some evidence that the virus has been spreading even in warmer countries.
Well, in Flor-uh-duh, we have the factors you need for a perfect storm of viral spread: Lots and lots of elderly with compromised immune systems. Hundreds of thousands of Spring Breakers from all around the country ignoring the warnings and partying like it’s 1999. Millions of bubbas who listened to Trump’s boyz Hannity and Limbaugh, who told them this was just a cold and not a problem, and went about their business as usual. Lots and lots of international travelers coming through our airports all at once because of how Trump handled his orders on foreign travel. A Repugnican leadership slow to mandate any changes in behavior.
Yesterday in Tampa, it was 86 degrees in the afternoon. Today, it will be 84. Summertime already. So, the experience here will tell us if, indeed, warm temps slow the viral spread.
We really don’t know why colds and flu tend to be worse in winter than in summer—to be seasonal. One theory is that the viruses that cause them like the drier climate in the winter. However, in tropical areas, there are also outbreaks when temperatures are particularly hot and humid. So, the evidence is contradictory.
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Vulture 1: “We thank you, Lord, for these gifts we are about to receive.”
Vulture 2: “Jeez. Not Coronavirus leftovers again.”
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“Who else is self quarantining alone? I’m this close to naming a volleyball.” –Randi Mayem Singer, on Twitter
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NBC REPORTER PETER ALEXANDER: “What do you say to Americans who are scared?”
JABBA THE TRUMP: “I say that you’re a terrible reporter. That’s what I’d say. I think it’s a very nasty question, and I think that it’s a very bad signal that you are putting out to the American people.”
It’s all about the PR, isn’t it, King Chump the Orange?
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Trump is treating this as a PR problem. No need actually to USE the Defense Production Act to order businesses to produce needed supplies. Simply tell people that you invoked it and do nothing else.
An utter idiot in charge.
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The Plague
Somewhere Isaac Newton
Is contemplating planets
Somewhere William Shakespeare
Is writing plays and sonnets
Somewhere silver lining
Is underneath the cloud
Sun will yet be shining
Shakespeares won’t be cowed
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Parents and students would have to take initiative and make some effort, but they could look at this as a unique opportunity to pursue creative outlets.
Read some books.
Do some drawing and painting.
Write a play.
Write some poetry.
Learn to play an instrument (or practice one that they already play)
Take some photographs.
Learn and even choreograph some dances
Etc
The web is a perfect resource for pursuing all of the above and then some.
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Who knows what might come out of it?
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Of possible interest from Politico, Artists from around the world respond to the pandemic.
https://www.politico.eu/interactive/drawing-our-new-normal/
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I used to do a lot of painting (and also wrote poetry under pseudonym Horatio Algeranon) but haven’t picked up a brush in years.
http://halgeranonpaintings.blogspot.com/
I just started a new painting yesterday.
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Many artists are used to working in isolation.
It’s in the jeans.
The Wrangler type
The artist’s means
To dis the hype
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As I said above
The Shakespeares won’t be cowed
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A plague upon your houses!
A plague upon your houses!
Your children and your spouses!
I speak not of disease
But testing a la Rhees
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Pandemic irony
The irony is stark
And really not a lark
But Covid means a lull
In standard testing bull
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