Doug Noble is a member of Rochester’s Coalition for Justice in Education. He wrote this letter to the editor of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
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Editor:

The D&C Feb 11 editorial “Committed to Common Core” reveals a
remarkable willingness to swallow the Common Core Kool Aid
and to accuse of “posturing” its many critics, including parents’
groups, teachers and their unions, who have moved Regents and state leaders to action.

This long overdue resistance, though, is hardly “posturing.” These
critics, with counterparts across the country, have conducted “close
readings” of the curriculum and policy materials while documenting the
damage done to children and to schools. They have analyzed the
glaringly inappropriate pedagogy, researched the dubious corporate
history, and understood fully the premature, flawed implementation.

They could serve as a perfect role model of the very “critical thinking” the Common Core allegedly champions.

The D&C editorial explains that “systemic change is never easy,”
unmindful that the Common Core, rather than any kind of change, is
really more of the same.

Common Core has been in the works for decades. It is nothing but the
culmination of more than 25 years of a well financed, power-brokered
campaign orchestrated by opportunist politicians seeking a
standardized silver bullet for education and by corporate profiteers
seeking a national education market ripe for their ventures and wares.

These antidemocratic intrusions of standards, curricula, tests, and
management schemes have been distracting schools and educators from
authentic improvement for decades, with such labels as “America
2000,” “Goals 2000,” No Child Left Behind, “Race to the Top,” and now “Common Core,” all with the identical agenda.

The D&C editorial reminds us that “lost amid all this posturing are
New York’s students, including those in Rochester’s schools.” As if
all these concerned teachers and parents have somehow forgotten them.
As if enthusiastic, autonomous and unafraid teachers are somehow not
essential to helping them. And as if Common Core curriculum standards
will somehow address the grueling concentration of child poverty that
is the real source of poor student performance. No, the critics have
not lost sight of the students, as Common Core evangelists repeatedly
insinuate. On the other hand, to paraphrase Samuel Johnson, trumpeting students’ welfare while throwing them under the bus in the name of reform is the last refuge of education’s scoundrels.

Doug Noble
268 Brunswick St, Rochester, NY 14607

New York parents, especially in the politically powerful suburbs of Long Island and Westchester-Putnam, are outraged by the failure of the New York Board of Regents to take more decisive steps to fix the Common Core.

They want a thorough review of the standards by New York practitioners, and not those picked by CC-loving Commissioner John King. They want a true moratorium on the CC testing until the standards are made developmentally appropriate. Some want to eliminate them and use New York’s existing standards.

The consensus seems to be that the Regents tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the public, but parents were not fooled by half-measures.

The Regents pledged to tweak the botched Common Core rollout, which caused Governor Cuomo to accuse them of backing away from tough teacher evaluation (they didn’t).

Now parents and educators condemn the Regents for failing to address their concerns:

From: “NYS Allies for Public Education”
Date: February 10, 2014 at 4:40:37 PM EST

To: “‘NYS Allies for Public Education'”

Subject: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- Parents and Educators Outraged by Regents Unwillingness to Assume Responsibility and Change Course
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 10, 2014

More information contact:
Eric Mihelbergel (716) 553-1123; nys.allies@gmail.com
Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com
NYS Allies for Public Education http://www.nysape.org

Parents and Educators Outraged by Regents Unwillingness to Assume Responsibility and Change Course

The leaders of the NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE), a coalition of more than 45 parent and educator groups from throughout the state, expressed extreme disappointment that the NYS Regent Common Core Taskforce refused to address the real issues undermining education in this state and made only minor tweaks to current policies. The report is quite clear that the Regents continue to ignore the deep flaws in the Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS), excessive high stakes state testing and student data sharing. The recommendations can be viewed here: http://www.regents.nysed.gov/meetings/2014/February2014/214p12hea3.pdf

Tim Farley, a parent of four public school children and the Principal of Ichabod Crane Elementary/Middle School said, “Today’s recommendations from Commissioner King and the Regents task force reveal just how out of touch they are and how obsessive their appetite is for excessive state tests. The fact that they refuse to subject their own children to these excessive testing and data policies is very telling. The parents and educators of New York have been paying attention, and they are justifiably outraged.”

“The need to replace the four incumbent Regents members is more important than ever,” said Eric Mihelbergel, Ken-Ton public school parent and founding member of NYSAPE. The Regents Taskforce failed to address the real concerns of parents and again has displayed disconnect from their constituents. Their recommendations today tell me the State is full steam ahead with this failed reform agenda.”

Carol Burris, South Side High Principal and 2013 Principal of the Year stated, “For a deliberative body that is so insistent that students, schools and educators be held accountable, their unwillingness to assume responsibility for their blunders and respond by correcting course is breathtaking. For example, they shift the review of the New York State Common Core standards to the National Governors Association, rather than assume that responsibility themselves. At nearly every turn they “advocate”, or “encourage” others to take action, rather than earnestly respond to what they heard. Developing a “teacher portal” and more low quality materials, is hardly the response our parents expected. The tinkering with dates and semantics about college ready scores at the high school level provides no relief for our K-8 students from testing or from the implementation of flawed curriculum. ”

“Instead of simply calling for a delay in the uploading of private student data onto an insecure data cloud, and pass the responsibility to deal with this issue to the Legislature, the Regents should have insisted that the inBloom contract be cancelled, as every other state has done. Why should New York continue to be the worst place in the country when it comes to student privacy?” asked Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters.

“The notion that more time to phase in standards or train teachers will somehow cure the ills of a deficient curriculum and inappropriate tests is misguided. Just as troubling is the suggestion that teachers should continue to be evaluated on the basis of a system no one believes in, and that if they are threatened with losing their jobs, they should “raise an alleged failure” of their districts to properly implement the Common Core – when the fault lies with the state. There is no need for more money to ‘engage’ parents with implementation of CCLS. Parents have made their voices perfectly clear in demanding that these destructive policies be brought to an immediate halt,” said Jessica McNair, New Hartford public school parent.

“The Regents appear not to understand that the actual time spent on testing per day, multiplied out over six days of the state assessments, is inappropriate for all students despite the misleading statistics quoted in recommendations,” stated Chris Cerrone, Western New York public school parent of two elementary-aged children.

“Our state education system remains in turmoil, yet the recommendations of this task force do nothing to address the profound problems associated with the standards and excessive high stakes testing. They simply echo the false sentiments of Chancellor Tisch and Commissioner King, by providing nothing more than superficial suggestions in an attempt to pacify the public. Parents will not be so easily assuaged,” said Jeanette Deutermann, Bellmore public school parent and founder of Long Island Opt-Out.

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Even as the Néw York Board of Regents made minor tweaks to the Common Core standards and testing, a poll by News 12, Long Island’s only TV news station, showed simmering anti – Common Core sentiment in this crucial suburban area.

8% say Delay It
86% say Eliminate It
6% say Leave It Alone

Long Island has been a hotbed of anti-Common Core activism.

A special committee of the Regents reviewed the botched implementation.

The committee proposed asking the original writers of the standards to review them, instead of assembling Néw York’s best teachers to do a review.

Very odd recommendation. The National Governors Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and Student Achievement Partners wrote the standards. Why would the Refents expect these inside-the-beltway, Gates-funded groups to know how to fix them?

Why not trust the state’s practitioners who know the students and know how to improve the standards?