To: Dr. John B. King, Jr., Commissioner of Education NYS Education Department, Merryl Tisch, Chancellor Board of Regents, Al Krupski, Suffolk County Legislator, Fred Thiele, Jr., NYS Assemblyman District 1, and Governor Andrew Cuomo
We call for a moratorium in our loudest, voter’s voices!
We, the undersigned, support higher standards that are reasonably designed, implemented with care, and accompanied by the resources schools need to achieve them. The New York state testing program has undermined the implementation of higher standards by creating a test-driven environment that does not serve our children well. High-stakes testing continues to waste precious taxpayer dollars and student learning time.
Why is this important?
As parents, educators and administrators, we object to the impact of high-stakes testing on our children, teachers, and schools. We oppose the alleged use of our children’s personal data in the private sector. We oppose the dismissal of parental consent and legal rights to refuse the use of this personal information.
Measuring our students’ progress by extensive tests imposes developmentally inappropriate expectations on our young learners and limits our teachers’ ability to respond appropriately to our students’ academic needs.
To succeed with such extensive tests, teachers must prioritize the test’s narrow content over the exploratory spirit of their students. We believe the curiosity for knowledge, inherent in all young children, must be nurtured and not subjected to unproven methods and mandates.
Data collected through these high-stakes tests does not reflect the truth about student progress; rather, it spreads distortion throughout the curriculum, damaging a teacher’s ability to do his or her best work. To judge a teacher by this measure is an extreme disservice to his or her life’s work.
The curriculum aligned with these tests was not received at the start of the school year. Our students were expected to demonstrate achievement in these new standards without a learning curve. The scale of this testing makes it impossible to obtain the results until after the school year has ended, rendering its value to our teachers useless.
Assessment tools, in the form of tests, will always be a part of public education. However, the curriculum and tests have been changing every year, creating confusion and frustration rather than clarity and accountability.
Teachers will be evaluated on student progress as measured by these unproven tests. There is no credible evidence that test scores are an accurate measurement of teacher effectiveness. Yet, they will be held accountable, and 40% of their evaluations will reflect these scores.
The classroom is a dynamic place, the test a very narrow window into a child’s understanding. Good teachers are able to draw out abilities and support areas of weakness, while moving the entire class forward. We value our teachers’ ability to uncover the unique path to each student’s heart and mind.
To rank children based on their test scores goes against the progressive beliefs of parents and educators that the “whole child” must learn to be a productive citizen of the world. It does not measure the very elements of this generation of children such as their civic mindedness, emotional intelligence, social intelligence, or critical thinking skills.
To this end, I call for a moratorium in my loudest voter’s voice!
Measuring our students’ progress by extensive tests imposes developmentally inappropriate expectations on our young learners and limits our teachers’ ability to respond appropriately to our students’ academic needs.
To succeed with such extensive tests, teachers must prioritize the test’s narrow content over the exploratory spirit of their students. We believe the curiosity for knowledge, inherent in all young children, must be nurtured and not subjected to unproven methods and mandates.
Data collected through these high-stakes tests does not reflect the truth about student progress; rather, it spreads distortion throughout the curriculum, damaging a teacher’s ability to do his or her best work. To judge a teacher by this measure is an extreme disservice to his or her life’s work.
The curriculum aligned with these tests was not received at the start of the school year. Our students were expected to demonstrate achievement in these new standards without a learning curve. The scale of this testing makes it impossible to obtain the results until after the school year has ended, rendering its value to our teachers useless.
Assessment tools, in the form of tests, will always be a part of public education. However, the curriculum and tests have been changing every year, creating confusion and frustration rather than clarity and accountability.
Teachers will be evaluated on student progress as measured by these unproven tests. There is no credible evidence that test scores are an accurate measurement of teacher effectiveness. Yet, they will be held accountable, and 40% of their evaluations will reflect these scores.
The classroom is a dynamic place, the test a very narrow window into a child’s understanding. Good teachers are able to draw out abilities and support areas of weakness, while moving the entire class forward. We value our teachers’ ability to uncover the unique path to each student’s heart and mind.
To rank children based on their test scores goes against the progressive beliefs of parents and educators that the “whole child” must learn to be a productive citizen of the world. It does not measure the very elements of this generation of children such as their civic mindedness, emotional intelligence, social intelligence, or critical thinking skills.
To this end, I call for a moratorium in my loudest voter’s voice!