Governor Andrew Cuomo and other critics of education view teaching and learning as a business – and as such, they believe teachers and schools should be held accountable for students’ successes and failures. But they measure success and failure only by outcomes on standardized tests and supposedly objective evaluations of teacher and school effectiveness. They […]
high-stakes testing
Posted inNews & Opinion
Profits or passing grades?
One of the most common complaints that many teachers and principals make against education reformers is what they commonly refer to as the privatization of public education. It’s a phrase that can take on many different meanings and is often dismissed as little more than a conspiracy theory. But federal and state governments spend billions […]
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New York’s City Council says enough testing
Former New York City education chancellor Joel Klein spent years extolling the benefits of high-stakes testing. But now, the NYC City Council is saying enough is enough. And they’re asking the state Education Department to forgo using student test results as a main assessment tool. The council, according to an Ed Week article, unanimously passed […]
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Commissioner King gets an earful on education
The Affordable Care Act’s disastrous rollout may not be the Democrats’ only problem in the 2014 elections. Dissatisfaction with the Obama administration’s education reforms is growing, and anger is building at the local level. State Education Commissioner John King, during a public forum held in Brighton last week, heard dozens of parents, teachers, and students […]
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Preliminary teacher evaluations released
State Education officials have released preliminary statewide ratings for teachers and principals under the new Annual Professional Performance Review. The composite results show that 91.5 percent of teachers earned ratings of “highly effective” or “effective,” while 4.4 percent are “developing,” and 1 percent are “ineffective.” The data also show that 89.9 percent of principals are […]
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Commissioner King cancels Common Core forums
Sometimes reality can overwhelm rhetoric, and that appears to be the case with a recent set of statewide public forums planned by State Education Commissioner John King. King intended to use the forums to provide more information about the rigorous new Common Core curriculum. But after a disastrous first meeting (see YouTube video below), King […]
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[UPDATED] Less testing for city students
Updated at 9:15 on September 17, 2013: The district plans to move forward immediately to reduce the number of tests taken by city students, Superintendent Bolgen Vargas said at a press briefing yesterday. The decision requires approval from State Education Commissioner John King, but Vargas said he’s confident that King will approve the change. Both […]
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Protesters reject Commissioner King’s reforms
About 60 people carrying signs with slogans like “Keep Politics Away From Our Kids” and “Life Is Not a Test” protested outside School of the Arts yesterday.
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Turned off to teaching
To say the US public education system is undergoing a major transformation would probably make some educators laugh. Teachers, particularly in urban and rural districts, are coping with an onslaught of criticism and intense scrutiny.
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What did Rhee know about cheating in DC schools?
This is a corrected version:Nearly 200 teachers in roughly 70 schools appear to have been involved in another widespread city school district cheating scandal. This time, however, the “wrong to right” erasures may have happened during the tenure of the grande dame of education reform: Michelle Rhee, founder of Students First. In a report called […]
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High school teacher cautions college profs
I have to admit I’m torn on the issue of high-stakes testing. In a recent article for the Washington Post, Valerie Strauss aptly describes it as a national obsession in education thanks to No Child Left Behind. Her piece includes a column by Kenneth Bernstein, an award-winning teacher and education blogger. Bernstein, who is now […]
