This morning, the State Education Department released test results for grades 3-8, and the scores for the Rochester school district are shockingly low. Only 5.4 percent of city students are proficient in English and only 5 percent are proficient in math.
Rochester scores are again the lowest of the state’s Big Five school district’s, with New York City scoring the highest. In New York City, 26.4 percent of students are proficient in English and 29.6 percent are proficient in math.
State Education Commissioner John King emphasized in a written statement that the results do not reflect a decrease in performance for schools or students. The results should be seen as a better, more precise tool for evaluating students, as educators and parents prepare the state’s children for a more competitive college and work environment in the 21st century, he said.
“I understand these scores are sobering for parents, teachers, and principals,” King said. “But we can’t allow ourselves to be paralyzed by frustration.”
He said that the scores are not a critique of the past, but a starting point.
He also said that the results will not negatively impact districts, schools, principal,s or teacher accountability. Superintendents should recognize that this is the first year of new assessments, he said, and the standards to meet the new proficiency levels are much higher.
The tests will likely become fodder in Rochester’s mayoral race where education and the city school district have again become subjects for sometimes heated discussions. Both Mayor Tom Richards and City Council President Lovely Warren, who square off in a primary election next month, have presented competing education plans as central parts of their campaigns.
Warren has made a point of saying that the system is broken and that it has resisted reform. She is a strong supporter of charter schools.
Richards says that thousands of Rochester’s children will continue to attend city schools into the foreseeable future, and that his goal is to work with Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas and the community to improve student outcomes.
The SED’s statement was accompanied by a long list of quotes from educators and supporters of the new Common Core curriculum. The curriculum, which has been in development since 2009, is being implemented this year in most New York schools and in districts across the country. But the curriculum and the testing has been controversial and met by resistance by some educators and parents.
This article appears in Aug 7-13, 2013.
“Warren has made a point of saying that the system is broken and that it has resisted reform. She is a strong supporter of charter schools. “
I hope she read the article about how charters have higher suspension rates. If she allows RCSD schools to behave similarly, then maybe we can have a discussion of equivalency. Until then, maybe she should support those of us who are trying to work within the system to help those less fortunate and less supported become better scholars and citizens.
The system is only as broken as those who use it (by which I of course mean students and parents). It’s not like the teachers in RCSD are any less educated or dedicated; quite the opposite. The difference is the students, parents and community we work in. If she – or any politician or citizen – wish to advocate reform, how about advocating reforms where they will do the most good.
We now know why Willa Powell made such a big deal out of having her kids skip the test. She had an inkling that the results would be a disaster Maybe it’s time that Willa Powell “opted out” of the Board of Education. Clearly, she doesn’t have any answers for the community.
WARNING TO ALL PARENTS: Common Core is an untested curriculum being driven by the Obama Education department into all states – the reason students did not do well and why teachers are rebelling is simple, this new standard has been poorly developed, it does focus way too much time on testing and data gathering. One of the basics to this training strategies is to overly frustrate students with material they cannot figure out on their own. Kindergarteners are being ask to develop on their own educational concepts they are not ready (mature enough) to handle. The state/federal government is mandating both the curriculum and classroom techniques under threat of firing teachers if they object or attempt to inform parents what is being required. The Core Curriculum is just another way this administration is trying to overwhelm all of us and take control of (in this case) what our children are learning …….. PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO UNDERSTAND WHAT “COMMON CORE” IS AND HOW IT IS AFFECTING YOUR CHILDREN. YOU CAN SIGN A PETITION TO STOP THIS INSANITY AT http://www.fixnyschools.com