To: President Donald Trump, The New York State House, The New York State Senate, and Governor Andrew Cuomo
US and New York State Department of Education: Change the New York State Alternate Assessment for...
Listen to the continued complaints of teachers and families! Urge the US Department of Education and the New York State Department of Education to change the New York State Alternate Assessment for Students with Severe Disabilities (NYSAA), which is an inappropriate and discriminatory assessment of our students' progress, and a distraction from meaningful, functional education for these students.
Why is this important?
New York State Alternate Assessment for Students with Severe Disabilities (NYSAA) has, since its inception, failed to support students with severe disabilities in approaching their individualized educational goals, and has always been an inaccurate reflection of how our schools provide meaningful, functional education for students with severe disabilities. This year, in connection with the increased pressure for schools to align with the Common Core Curriculum, NYSAA has made a number of changes to the assessment and administration process. These changes have resulted in an assessment that is even less functional, and often downright inappropriate, offensive, and even discriminatory against students who have severe disabilities. The assessment is incredibly labor-intensive, and takes as much as 80% of classtime and preparation time between the months of October and February. As a teacher of students with severe disabilities, I have witnessed first-hand the continued, and increased marginalization of this community due to this inappropriate assessment. I urge you to listen to our teachers and families, and focus the attention of our state and national leaders on this issue.
The goal of this petition is to raise awareness about this issue on a local, state, and national level, and to bring a discussion to the state and national levels about how we can begin to plan systemic change. This petition does not offer a singular solution or alternative to this assessment program, but rather suggests that it is time for us to recognize the inappropriateness and ineffectiveness of this program, and to demand discussion about how it will be changed.
New York State is not alone is dealing with these issues, which vary from state to state, and are the product of a trend resulting from increased focus on a nationally aligned Core Curriculum and increased pressure on states to assess teacher effectiveness.
It is the view of the creator of this petition that assessment of students with severe disabilities should be aligned with Individualized Education Plan (IEP) goals, and changes should be made in the way we evaluate the IEP process, and provide quality controls to ensure quality IEPs which are currently not in place. Furthermore, teacher effectiveness should be assessed based on how well teachers create functional goals and adaptations that provide meaningful opportunities to access general curricular areas, as well as compensatory skills areas that are essential for these students.
In order to make systemic change, we must first recognize a systemic problem, and then bring our consensus to the state and national levels for a real discussion.
The goal of this petition is to raise awareness about this issue on a local, state, and national level, and to bring a discussion to the state and national levels about how we can begin to plan systemic change. This petition does not offer a singular solution or alternative to this assessment program, but rather suggests that it is time for us to recognize the inappropriateness and ineffectiveness of this program, and to demand discussion about how it will be changed.
New York State is not alone is dealing with these issues, which vary from state to state, and are the product of a trend resulting from increased focus on a nationally aligned Core Curriculum and increased pressure on states to assess teacher effectiveness.
It is the view of the creator of this petition that assessment of students with severe disabilities should be aligned with Individualized Education Plan (IEP) goals, and changes should be made in the way we evaluate the IEP process, and provide quality controls to ensure quality IEPs which are currently not in place. Furthermore, teacher effectiveness should be assessed based on how well teachers create functional goals and adaptations that provide meaningful opportunities to access general curricular areas, as well as compensatory skills areas that are essential for these students.
In order to make systemic change, we must first recognize a systemic problem, and then bring our consensus to the state and national levels for a real discussion.