The issue:
I have been writing about the problems of standardized tests,
specifically the tests that are aligned with the Common Core State Standards
and administered by the New York State Education Department. Components of the State’s accountability
system, the results of these tests are used as a major factor in the decisions
that label children, schools and school districts as failing and identify them
for receivership. High Stake tests opponents
have fought to bring attention to the institutionalized disparities created by
these tests, especially for minority children, poor children, children with
disabilities and children who are not native English speakers. They have questioned the validity of these
tests and whether they actually assess student achievement in English Language
Arts and Math, the two areas targeted by the State and the Federal
government. And in singling out the
validity of these tests, their use as reliable measures of school and school
district accountability is also questionable.
Then in
December 2015, Governor Cuomo’s Common Core Task Force issued a report that
called for sweeping changes in the application of Common Core standards,
aligned curriculum and standardized tests.
The Task Force agreed that the standardized tests’ outcomes were not
reliable and as a result should not be used to evaluate students or
teachers. The New York State Board of
Regents endorsed and adopted all the Task Force’s recommendations.
However, numerous
questions remain about the implementation of the Task Force recommendations
particularly as they impact Receivership schools and students who are disproportionately
minority, poor, have disabilities or have limited English proficiency. Thus far, my requests to the Commissioner and
NYS Board of Regents for clarification have been met with silence. I call it the strategy of “ignorance”. Ignore her and she’ll go away. It’s not a new strategy; just another way to
marginalize and discount voices that the powers that be don’t want to
acknowledge.
A Resolution,
submitted by the Buffalo Board of Education minority, calls on the Board of
Regents and the Commissioner to convene a group to study the implications and
impact of the Governor’s Common Core Task Force on all students, but
particularly those in Receivership Schools.
This is not just a Buffalo issue as there are another 119 Receivership
schools throughout the State.
My second
letter to the Commissioner is a follow up to one I sent at the beginning of the
month. It accompanies the Resolution and
the signatures of over 115 educational stakeholders who support the
request. Thank you to those individuals
who have joined us in this quest. We are
determined not to be ignored! Join us by
signing an online Petition to support this cause.
January 21, 2016
Dear Chancellor
Tisch and Commissioner Elia:
My letter of
January 3, 2016 expressed serious concerns and questions about, what I
perceive, as a conundrum resulting from the recently issued Common Core Task
Force Report. I cited a number of the
Task Force recommendations related to Common Core aligned standardized tests,
in particular Recommendation #21. That
all-encompassing recommendation (p. 36 of the Report) proposing that “Until the new system is fully phased
in, the results from assessments aligned to the current Common Core Standards,
as well as the updated standards, shall only be advisory and not be used to
evaluate the performance of individual teachers or students.” appears
easily explanatory on its face. Yet I’ve spoken to
many educators who are not sure how this will apply to all students. I believe
that I’ve raised a number of reasonable and important questions about the
implementation of this recommendation and its impact on students and schools in
Receivership. You have my previous
letter so I won’t be repetitive.
However, I
also want to share with you a situation that may be unique to Buffalo as
another example of why the Task Force Recommendations require a robust,
transparent and inclusive review. As you
know the District has an OCR complaint regarding equitable admissions to our
criterion schools. The District has
worked diligently to create a process that is more inclusive; however it
includes the use of the ELA/Math test scores in the admissions criteria. In light of Recommendation #21, we have to
ask ourselves how this decision impacts the District’s
criterion-schools’ admission’s plan. I’m
not sure that the District can answer this question on its own. It has been posed to the Superintendent.
Commissioner, I do thank you for the telephone call from Deputy
Commissioner Ebert. We had a cordial
conversation but my questions were not fully addressed. I appreciate her time and understand that she
will be making a trip to Buffalo. I look
forward to meeting her during her visit.
On January 13th, my Board colleagues; Ms. Belton-Cottman, Dr.
Harris-Tigg and Mrs. Kapsiak co-sponsored a Resolution (attached) to request “the Board of Regents authorize the
State Education Department to conduct a detailed, open and transparent review
and analysis of the use of the ELA/Math standardized tests results as determinants
to assess school qualification for receivership; to invite parent, educator,
student and other stakeholder input and feedback in the process; to clarify the
recommendations of the Common Core Task Force as they apply to the state
assessments and use of assessment data, and to develop future recommendations
for appropriate determinants for school receivership.”
The
Resolution did not pass, so we want to make it clear that this is not a
resolution that the Buffalo Board of Education has officially endorsed. However, there is community support for our
request as evidenced by the attached list of supporters gathered in a little
less than a week. And a city-wide parent
organization has passed a similar resolution, which will be forthcoming.
I want to be
clear that our goal is to initiate a dialog regarding the practical effect of
the Common Core Task Force’s Recommendations on our students and our
schools. We respectfully request a
written response to this request.
Sincerely,
Barbara A. Seals Nevergold
Barbara A.
Seals Nevergold, PhD
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