To: The New York State House, The New York State Senate, and Governor Andrew Cuomo
New York State: Our students do not need a Race to the Top in Public Education
We, New Yorkers, both Upstate and Downstate, urgently request that our elected officials disconnect our Public Education ties to the Federal mandates of the Race to the Top legislation -- for the sake of the professionalism of our teachers and the authentic search for knowledge by our students. For, it is without the burdens and restraints of the financial obsession of continuous testing and the prescriptive Common Core Standards that our State can genuinely invest in a free and public education for all. Under this system of "racing to the top," instruction is sacrificed for testing. Imagine the human capital cost of allowing such a system to expand.
Why is this important?
The truth invading Public Schools and classrooms now involves teachers not only teaching to the test — for it is the test which will measure the teacher NOT direct instruction as per student needs — but also forfeiting time and energy with best practices for the sake of gathering EVIDENCE to prove themselves as educators. Confused?
How many hours of direct math and reading / writing instruction engulf each school day? Are hours with these specific subject areas replacing other content not yet tested? Art/ music? Science? Library time? Recess? After one becomes aware of such meaningless and, dare I say, harmful reform, I believe it then becomes our responsibility to seek the truth with the right questions.
How many hours of direct math and reading / writing instruction engulf each school day? Are hours with these specific subject areas replacing other content not yet tested? Art/ music? Science? Library time? Recess? After one becomes aware of such meaningless and, dare I say, harmful reform, I believe it then becomes our responsibility to seek the truth with the right questions.