The domino effect.

It’s snowballing. Teachers, will you be next?
#TheDiminoEffect

Another Teacher speaks out, hopefully in a long line of proctor refusers.

“Geneva Teacher requests to be re-assigned during state testing assessments:

January 25, 2015
Attn: Ms. Trina S. Newton, Superintendent of Schools
Administration Center, Geneva City School District
400 West North St.
Geneva, NY 14456
Open Letter to Ms. Trina Newton
Dear Ms. Newton:
In recent years I have been assigned to administer New York State Assessments to students during testing days. I am requesting to be assigned alternative duties during these assessments in the future. As an employee of the Geneva City School District, I feel it is my duty to speak up when practices and policies that cause harm to our students are in place. The assessments administered by Pearson for the State of New York are part of a scheme that is causing harm to our students and may ultimately cause the Geneva City School District to cease to exist as we know it. Participating in this process seems to be the wrong thing to do.
Through the course of my duties as a proctor last Spring, I reviewed the assessments that fourth grade students were administered. As a long time educator, I was very dismayed. These tests seemed to be designed to trick students into answering incorrectly rather than to think through logically and develop sound answers based on facts found in text or mathematical information. Sadly, it is impossible for me to discuss these tests frankly because there is a gag order on all teachers in New York State regarding the contents of the exams. This gag order was put into place after poorly designed and nonsensical test items were made public in 2012. If I were to reveal specific questions, even after the fact, I would put my career at risk.
Outgoing Education Commissioner King has stated that parents deserve to know how well their children are performing. If this is the case, it is essential that parents see the actual tests after they are administered and graded. When the State only releases excerpts from exams, it promotes a culture of distrust. How can parents determine the value of a test if they are never permitted to see the document? Parents also should clearly understand the cut score system. They need to know that these cut scores were designed to fail the majority of students in the State. The results were determined before the tests were taken.
The Governor and State Legislature have acknowledged that the roll-out of new assessments is flawed and, therefore, have delayed consequences for students for several years. At the same time, the Governor has now decided that 50% of an individual teacher’s evaluation should be based on these same flawed tests. Does anyone really think that this is going to result in less pressure for students? The Governor has also decided that 35% of each teacher’s evaluation will be determined by an outside observer. This leaves the Geneva City School District with 15% to work with. Having spent eleven years of my thirty year career working as a middle and high school principal, I am appalled. The Governor does not trust the Board of Education in Geneva with the education of the children in this community. It is only a matter of time before all local control is removed.
I am encouraged by the actions of the Geneva Board of Education on January 12, 2015. The Resolution on High Stakes Testing and the Resolution in Support of Correction of Inequitable and Discriminatory Funding of State Aid are important statements of principle from the elected leaders of our school district. I fully support the sentiments of these resolutions and stand with the Board of Education. Sadly, our Board of Education is hamstrung by New York State. If the district administrators and our Board of Education do not bow to the dictates of the State Education Department, it is threatened that State Aid will be withheld and the district could conceivably come under the direct control of the State.
It is time for all stakeholders in this educational community to make their voices heard in Albany. The students, Board of Education, and educators need your help. Please take a stand for local control of your school district. Geneva is a unique and wonderful place with amazing promise. I am thankful every day that I have the opportunity to serve the young people of Geneva. I wish to continue my service with the support that we truly deserve from our State leaders.
Thank you in advance for your consideration of my request for re-assignment.
Respectfully,
Kenneth P. Foster
Instrumental Music Teacher
North St. School
cc Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo”

And here, a principal speaks out.

“Misguided Direction
An Opinion Piece
By Joey J. Cohen, Ed.D., Principal – Patchogue-Medford School District
The future of education is not just in jeopardy with the current political climate set forth by Governor Cuomo, Chancellor Tisch and former Commissioner King, it is decidedly bleak. I have spent nearly twenty years in education, currently as an elementary principal, holding several post-secondary degrees including a Doctorate in Educational Leadership with a dissertation that focused on strategies to support students with disabilities. As a current practitioner, living with the mandates that exist in today’s classrooms, my experience and research in the field affords me greater perspective than the aforementioned policymakers responsible for the laws they so haphazardly implement. The flaws in education are not the result of the hardworking educators; it is the ignorant policymakers who are pushing the educational train directly toward derailment.
Governor Cuomo has succeeded in making public education, specifically teachers and principals, public enemy number one. As an educator and strong advocate for students, I am deeply troubled when I hear the Governor suggest that he cares about students, while teachers are only interested in protecting their jobs. The Governor’s constant rhetoric is nothing more than a political smoking gun designed to incite the public by placing blame on someone other than himself or his political allies who are only interested in advancing their own agendas. The State’s push for increased standardized assessments through partnerships with multimillion-dollar conglomerates such as Pearson provides no meaningful information to teachers, it only serves as a poorly constructed barometer to rank teachers, principals, schools and districts.
The reality is that the pressure of these high stakes exams continues to elevate student anxiety and withdrawal. A system predicated on punitive outcomes fosters fear and anxiety amongst administrators and teachers, which ultimately filters down to children. It is much like an anxious golfer who grips the club too tightly in an attempt to produce a better shot, yet the results fall far short of the intended goal. Teachers, administrators and students cannot operate in a culture of fear and expect optimal results. At the local level, we are left to address the emotional distress, and the unintended consequences of these high stakes exams, which actually takes additional time away from instruction in order to address the increased anxiety. I have witnessed students shut down and cry at the level of disproportional cognitive ability needed to succeed at these assessments considering their age. Students with disabilities and English Language Learners are at a particular disadvantage, and it is only due to caring teachers and administrators that these students still come to school motivated to learn. However, if the tide does not change soon, more students will turn their backs on education.
Since our schools across the state and nation are under such intense scrutiny to show better test results, some schools and districts have allowed standardized tests to hijack sound curriculum by placing too much emphasis on test preparation. The business of test making and creating instructional support materials aligned to the Common Core Exams has become a 1.7 billion dollar business with the two largest vendors being Pearson Education based in New York and McGraw-Hill Education, also in New York, (A., Ujifusa, Education Week, November 2012). With that kind of revenue, there is a great deal at stake, and one must question the rationale for subjecting students to these new reforms, as well as the continued emphasis on high stakes testing for all students in grades 3-8.
Governor Cuomo’s 2015 Opportunity Agenda clearly delineates that he did not get what he wanted from the stranglehold he put on districts by threatening to withhold the Race to the Top funds some years ago, so he is upping the ante. The Governor’s new proposal offers school funding at a 4.8% increase (1.1 billion dollars) if his reform agenda is accepted, in contrast to a sharply reduced 1.7% increase (377 million dollars) if it is not. His new proposal mandates 50% of a teacher’s APPR composite score be based on Common Core Standardized Assessments and 50% based on teacher evaluations, thereby eliminating the previously agreed upon local assessment. The Governor and those at the State Education Department continue to live in denial by discounting district and school disproportionality related to language barriers, cognitive disabilities, parental support, poverty or any other factor when evaluating teachers and principals. Those charged with enacting the laws continue to purport that the tortoise can beat the hare merely because you want him to be faster. There continues to be little to no regard for cognitive, developmental, linguistic or physical ability when enacting ridiculous laws that expect all students to take the same assessments and meet with the same success.
While many of our students come to school with all the love and support from home necessary to promote learning, many of our students come with great need. Some come without any knowledge of the language, some come with cognitive disabilities, some come with physical disabilities, some come from poverty, and some come from single family homes or abusive relationships. When a student walks into one of our public schools they are provided with security, emotional support and each and every child is nurtured and guided by a teacher who cares for their social and academic growth beyond any and all extrinsic factors. That can never be measured in any standardized test!
Our policymakers suggest that educators were never held accountable, evaluated with integrity and/or provided with constructive feedback, which necessitated APPR. In my nearly twenty year career, I have always been evaluated or evaluated my staff using a combination of formal and informal observations leading to dialogue that fostered increased student outcomes and elevated professional growth. Unfortunately, under the current APPR system and the ever-changing proverbial finish line to determine student mastery results are difficult, if not impossible, to compare. This, combined with the detrimental practice of labeling teachers and principals, has led to a system of distrust that fosters both student and teacher anxiety instead of collaboration and growth.
Since APPR was founded, it eludes me that the only members of a school system that are held to the state mandated evaluations are teachers and principals. This premise assumes that principals and teachers are given carte blanche to make every decision related to school operations, budgeting and instruction. The fact of the matter is that many decisions are relegated to other stakeholders, which significantly influences student outcomes. The decisions that impact our schools are collective ones that begin with the State Education Department. But, let us only hold the principals and teachers responsible.
We need only look at the rollout of the Common Core as well as the NYS ELA and Math Modules to see where the problem began. Imagine the rating the former Commissioner, Chancellor Tisch or Governor Cuomo would have received based on the pathetic and dysfunctional rollout of these materials, all while ignoring the tremendous voice of concern from teachers, administrators, parents and students. Or perhaps we should evaluate them on the roughly 30% proficiency rate across the state. Instead of giving our former Commissioner a “developing” or “ineffective” rating, we promoted him to one of highest positions in the Department of Education. Talk about hypocrisy!
The reality is that the current and proposed APPR reform agenda is a flawed, completely misguided system that does not work. Top down reforms will continue to breed fear, distrust, anxiety and compliance, not ingenuity, which will do little or nothing to advance our schools. John Maxwell, author of 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, asserts that leaders transform change by forming meaningful relationships, building trust, having skill in the field, consider timing and morale, and the most critical component…having followers. Those responsible for contriving these misguided reforms have failed to listen to the people vested in improving our schools, namely teachers, administrators, parents and students, and subsequently, there are few, if any, followers.
Let us be silent no longer. Let us work together to change the laws and design a system that is founded on mutual collaboration from all the stakeholders leading to trust and professional growth, stemming from our collective wisdom, as practiced in the most successful professions and organizations.”
http://www.schoolleadership20.com/profiles/blogs/misguided-direction.

And here, an upstate NY PTA:

http://www.dailyfreeman.com//opinion/20150128/letter-pta-plans-to-boycott-state-education-tests

“It is no wonder we are seeing a loss of hands-on, inquiry-based learning in our classrooms. With the emphasis on math and ELA testing, we are witnessing the erosion of science and social studies from the curriculum.

Excessive testing teaches our children that there is only one right answer in academics and in life. It takes the joy out of learning and minimizes the value and importance of taking a test when it really counts. And it is ruining public education.

As an immediate solution, members of the Bennett School PTA are encouraging our parent body in grades three to six to refuse the state tests in ELA, math and science this spring. These tests are inappropriate for our children, are unfair to our teachers, take away valuable classroom time and are not part of our child’s overall grade or individual assessment.

We intend to send a message to the state.”

Red Hook assistant principal speaks out!

http://dianeravitch.net/2014/01/03/new-york-parent-to-mrs-obama-save-our-children/

New York is fighting.

From teacher Beth Dimino’s district where she refused to administer the tests with support of her superintendent :

http://truthinamericaneducation.com/common-core-state-standards/ny-school-superintendent-on-common-core-stop-it-scrap-it-or-fix-it/

And much more.

https://stopcommoncorenys.wordpress.com/2015/01/23/new-yorkers-are-taking-it-back-piece-by-piece/

https://stopcommoncorenys.wordpress.com/2015/01/21/2015-teachers-taking-it-back/

http://southoldlocal.com/2015/01/22/southold-superintendent-says-cuomos-focus-standardized-tests-almost-reprehensible/

http://www.whec.com/article/stories/s3690508.shtml

http://www.longislandpress.com/2014/04/07/thousands-of-long-islanders-opt-out-of-common-core-testing/

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PV6HoDLsnH8&feature=youtu.be

This is a money making scheme. Make no mistake.

https://culturevigilante.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/what-do-legislators-hedge-funds-and-education-reform-have-in-common/

http://m.washingtonexaminer.com/op-ed-obamas-common-core-is-not-state-led/article/2529380

What do other states have to say about the new abusive fed and corp led Ed takeover and inappropriate testing? Plenty.

More states are dropping like flies. Here are just some examples below.

“As of March 25th, 2014 only 14 states plus the District of Columbia remain in the PARCC consortium. States that have withdrawn include: Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Utah.”
PARCC – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://stopcommoncorewa.wordpress.com/common-core-state-standards/states-fighting-back-map/

http://truthinamericaneducation.com/common-core-state-standards/states-fighting-back-map/.

http://www.livingindialogue.com/washington-state-democratic-party-committee-vote-rejects-common-core/

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/01/parcc_opt-out_bill_introduced_in_nj_assembly.html#incart_river

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Va-Senate-Votes-to-Ban-Adoption-of-Common-Core-Standards-290341291.html

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/01/27/louisiana-sen-david-vitter-introduces-bill-prohibiting-federal-mandate-of-common-core-standards/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/louisiana-gov-bobby-jindal-sues-obama-over-common-core-state-standards/2014/08/27/34d98102-2dfb-11e4-bb9b-997ae96fad33_story.html

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/02/21/montana-house-endorses-bill-to-revoke-common-core-standards/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/06/05/two-more-states-pull-out-of-common-core/

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5751864

http://missourieducationwatchdog.com/refuse-the-invalid-test/

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/02/01/abbott-slams-common-core-it-violates-pillars-of-education/