Event: March 9th, Resist and Rebuild: Reclaiming Education Now!

the link for the video of March 11, 2016

Here is the long awaited link for the video made of the panel w/Zephry Teachout and other great speakers on Education Matters (see flyer below).

The sound quality is great!! Yay!


http://newpaltz.mediasite.suny.edu/Mediasite/Play/ebe09c6d83ab4624b2b66c867e030d9f1d

Event: March 11, Education Matters Panel

 Check out this informative press release by NYSAPE,  New York State Allies for Public Education:



Strong, Collaborative Leadership A Must for the Board of Regents to Steer NY Education on the Right Path

NYS Allies for Public Education and organizations across the state stand firmly behind Dr. Betty Rosa for Chancellor of the NYS Board of Regents and Regent Beverly Ouderkirk for Vice Chancellor. (See list of organizations below)
             New York State must embrace more child-centered and educationally sound policies. We must move away from a system that is punitive and dysfunctional, often catering to political influence. The Board of Regents needs new leadership that is committed to collaborative, inclusive, and research-based policy making. Only in this way can we begin to put students first and restore the public's trust in the New York State education system.
             We believe that Betty Rosa and Beverly Ouderkirk can do just that as Chancellor and Vice Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents. We place our support unconditionally behind these two career educators, both of whom are exceptional leaders.
Although this vote takes place within the ranks of the Regents themselves, advocacy efforts from parents and community members to their local and state legislators and Regent representatives can have a significant impact on this vote.
             Regent Betty Rosa has extensive experience as a teacher, principal, superintendent, and college professor with a strong background in special education and ELL education. Please see here for Regent Rosa’s detailed background. Regent Beverly Ouderkirk also has an extensive background as a teacher, principal, superintendent, and has held several special education leadership positions. Please see here for Regent Ouderkirk’s detailed background. Both have traveled the state to talk to stakeholders to collaborate and gather important feedback on education policy.
            We are calling on the Board of Regents to postpone the elections for the offices of Chancellor and Vice Chancellor vote until April, when the two open seats are filled with new Regents. The current plan calls for a vote in March (as per the Board’s bylaws), but we believe that it makes very little sense for two outgoing Regents to vote for the next leaders of the Board they will no longer be serving on.
             Jeanette Deutermann, Long Island parent and leader of Long Island Opt Out states, "As the legislature, SED, and the Governor claim to be moving away from the harmful and failed reforms of the previous five years, we must have leadership on the Board of Regents that reflects these changes. While Regent members such as Merryl Tisch and Lester Young attempt to anchor the Board of Regents to the failed policies of the past, Regent Betty Rosa's vision for the future will launch us into a new era of child-centered, parent collaborative, and educator-driven educational excellence."
              "We need a Chancellor like Regent Betty Rosa, a leader who has a strong background in education and understands how the current reform movement has negatively impacted the children of New York State. Furthermore, Beverly Ouderkirk as Vice Chancellor with her vast experience as an educator and background in special education would be an important change," says Chris Cerrone, Buffalo area parent, educator, and school board member.
             "The Rochester-based Coalition for Justice in Education strongly endorses the candidacies of Regent Betty Rosa and Beverly Ouderkirk for the positions of Chancellor and Vice Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents. We believe that Regents Rosa and Ouderkirk have the necessary educational experience, knowledge of education research, and organizational skills needed for this change, and will lead New York State in a direction that will meet the needs of all of our students, particularly those who suffer the negative impact of concentrated poverty," said Dan Drmacich, Chairman.
             The New York branch of the Badass Teachers Association, an education activist group of over 70,000 nationwide, supports policy makers who have proven they stand for the best interest of students. “Betty Rosa has a proven track record of standing for children and not for Wall Street. Betty is also a former educator and understands all that goes into educating our children and providing them with what they need to succeed,” said Marla Kilfoyle, General Manager of the BATs.
“Regents Rosa and Ouderkirk have shown from the beginning their commitment to listen to parents and do the best for kids. Their experience and love for education is clear through their words and actions. They truly represent the interests of children,” said Margarita Garcia-Notario, PhD, North Country Alliance for Public Education founding member.
             Jamie McNair, a parent of two children who attend public schools, educator and co-founder of Opt Out CNY, notes that it is past time for new leadership on the Board of Regents. "Opt Out CNY celebrates the departure of Regent Bottar from the Board and Vice Chancellor role, as it provides an opportunity for meaningful change in children's best interest. However, that change will come about more quickly, meaningfully, and with public support if there is a responsive, experienced and level-headed Chancellor at the helm. Regent Betty Rosa can provide the leadership that will allow the new Regent of Judicial District 5 to best serve the Central New York public."
             Jamaal Bowman, father, and principal of CASA Middle School in the Bronx, stated, "The children, families, and educators of New York urgently need Dr. Betty Rosa as the next Chancellor of the Board of Regents. Not only is Dr. Rosa, representative of the communities most in need, her distinguished and impeccable resume speaks for itself. Most importantly, Dr. Rosa is passionate about a student centered, whole child, and community schools approach to education, which is desperately needed throughout the state. All children are brilliant and Dr. Rosa will help to create policy that cultivates the brilliance of every child, and is the perfect person to facilitate the recommendations of the common core task force. I strongly endorse Dr. Betty Rosa as the next Chancellor of the Board of Regents."
             “Throughout her career, Ms. Ouderkirk has acted on her most central beliefs about education: assuring that the welfare and learning of all students is primary above all other concerns, and strengthening educational practice in all facets of the school,” said James C. Shuman, Ed. D. Associate Professor of Education Emeritus, St. Lawrence University.
              The Hudson Valley Alliance for Public Education has also endorsed Regents Rosa and Ouderkirk for these leadership positions. Suzanne Coyle, Rockland County public school parent said, “Regents Rosa and Ouderkirk have consistently rejected the status quo, casting their vote against shoddy policies that hurt both students and educators. While many other members of the Board of Regents failed to take action to protect our children from damaging regulations this past June, Regents Rosa and Ouderkirk authored with four other Regents a dissenting position paper and advocated for students with disabilities and English language learners. Under their leadership, we will reclaim public education.”

Growing List of Supporting organizations (alpha order):

Change the Stakes

Class Size Matters

Espanol Opt Out National (NY based)

Hudson Valley Alliance for Education

Long Island Opt Out and its numerous LI affiliate organizations

MORE

New York BATs

North Country Alliance for Public Education

NYC-Opt Out

NYS Allies for Public Education

Opt Out Central New York

Parent Coalition for Student Privacy

Pencils DOWN Rockland County

Port Jefferson Station Teachers’ Association

ReThinking Testing Mid-Hudson

Save Our Schools

Spackenkill Community Alliance for Public Education

ST Caucus

The Rochester-based Coalition for Justice in Education

Westchester Opt Out

Western New Yorkers for Public Education

NYSAPE is a grassroots coalition with over 50 parent and educator groups across the state.

Challenging the Attack on Public Education Rescheduled Due to Inclement Weather

Due to the weather advisory for this evening, Challenging the Attack on Public Education has been rescheduled for Wednesday, March 4th at 7pm in the Coykendall Science Building auditorium at SUNY New Paltz. Please join us for this incredible panel.

Bennett PTA Plans to Boycott State Education Tests

In a letter to the editors of The Daily Freeman, the Bennett PTA (Onteora School District) wrote the following:

Dear Editor:

There is growing frustration with the amount of testing our young children are subjected to. I have noticed a significant loss of instruction time, an increased level of stress in the classroom and a poor message to our children about the importance of tests.

The average fourth-grade student is 9 years old and is required by the state Department of Education to prepare for three state exams in the spring: English Language Arts, math and science. These tests total eight days of administration, as well as three to six weeks of test preparation. In total, our children are losing four to six weeks of in-class instruction time per test.

Our children also take ELA and math tests three times a year to monitor their progress. They also take pre- and post-assessment tests in art, music, library, physical education and social studies, totaling 21 standardized tests annually. The numbers are the same for grades three to six, with the exception of the state science test.

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.

Heather Roberts, Vice President 

Bennett School PTA

Shandaken, N.Y.

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

Principal: What I’ve learned about annual standardized testing

No Child Left Behind requires that students take an annual standardized test for purposes of holding schools “accountable” from Grades 3-8 and once in high school. Whether such annual testing is now being hotly debated as congress begins deliberations over the reauthorization of the bill. Here’s an article from the Washington Post looking at this issue, by Principal Carol Burris of South Side High School in New York.

"Because of NCLB and now Common Core testing, I have witnessed schools move from progressive practices such as inclusion, to the grouping of special education students with ELLs and other struggling learners into “double period” classes where they are drilled to pass the test. We are seeing a resurgence in elementary school of “ability grouping,” which predictably results in classes that are segregated by race and wealth. Worse of all, a plethora of bad policies have emerged that use yearly testing results as their basis."

Read more at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/02/01/principal-what-ive-learned-about-annual-standardized-testing/

The Network for Public Education Issues Statement on the Reauthorization of No Child Left Behind.

Among their recommendations:

• We support option 1 to eliminate mandated annual testing, and we urge the Senate to remove high stakes attached to standardized tests, encourage flexibility in designing assessments, and provide the right of parents to opt their children out of standardized testing.

• Restore reducing class size as option that states and districts can use with their Title II funds, which is a research-based reform that also works to lower teacher attrition.

• Eliminate the use of federal funds for merit pay, which has consistently failed to improve student outcomes.

• Add to the reporting requirements of districts, states and the federal government so they must report trends in average class size data, as well as the disparity in class size between high and low poverty schools.

• Strengthen the language around student data privacy and limit federally mandated data collection of individual students.

• Oppose the diversion of resources to private and charter schools through portability of Title I funds and expansion of federal funding to charters.

Read the entire statement at http://www.networkforpubliceducation.org/2015/01/npe-statement-on-esea-reauthorization-and-annual-standardized-testing/

Public Education Forum to Take Place on February 11th in Boiceville, NY

Fairport Superintendent's letter: Governor Cuomo's proposals are an 'assault on public education'

William Cala, superintendent of schools in Fairport, New York, wrote a scathing critique of Governor Cuomo’s plan to increase charter schools, fund “tax credits” for private and religious schools (vouchers), and increase the importance of test scores in teacher evaluations.

Here is his letter:

This week’s State of the State address by Governor Cuomo was what most of us expected. It was an all-out assault on public education, teachers, children, families and local control. It appears that breaking teachers is his solution to poverty, income inequality and inadequate school funding.

 As we have experienced on a first-hand basis over the past few years, the APPR system is indeed a fatally flawed proxy for genuine evaluation done at the local level. The governor’s solution is to up the ante by increasing the tenure period to 5 years and making state test scores 50% of a teacher’s evaluation. Given the already bogus cut score setting process for the state exams, we are assured of a whole new wave of unreliable ratings designed to crush teachers, close schools and open the door to his other “reforms,” such as lifting the cap on charter schools and creating a tax credit for private schools and charters and increasing the amount the state gives charters per pupil. 

This last item of increasing charter aid is especially interesting as there are no strings attached. The regular public schools will only get an increase in aid if the legislature approves all of his draconian measures mentioned above. Two major studies have demonstrated with great clarity that charters perform worse than public schools and only 17% of charters perform equal or better to publics (CREDO 2013). Apparently, that’s fine….they get increases in spite of their failing performance.

Let’s be clear that the governor’s agenda has nothing to do with what is good for kids. Far from it. It is what is good for his financial supporters: the corporations who are making billions of dollars on the tests, the texts, the technology, the corporate professional development and the data collection, retrieval and distribution. As this country gets poorer and poorer and the few get richer and richer the pride of our nation, its public schools, are being disassembled while Bill Gates, The Walton’s, The Koch Brothers, Eli Broad and other scavengers are feasting at the table of greed. 

While the situation may seem hopeless, I believe parents are able to bring this tyranny to a screeching halt. Assessments should be used only for the benefit of students…..nothing else. Last year over 60,000 parents in New York refused the 3-8 tests. This year it is expect that number will triple. The refusal movement will indeed collapse the evaluation system and the governor’s plan to dismantle public education. 

Parents will play a critical role. What role will we play? How will we speak out? This is our profession. These are our children. This is our responsibility. Action and activism takes courage. Last week I spoke of my hero Rosa Parks. Let her courage and actions inspire us. I will close with the wisdom and inspiration of Frederick Douglass.

Where justice is denied; where poverty is enforced; where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress,; rob and degrade them; neither persons nor property will be safe.
Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.

Time to start plowing.

Peace,
Bill

Yohuru Williams: What Would Dr.King Say About the Corporate Assault on Public Education?

Dr.Yohuru Williams, professor of history at Fairfield University, has written a brilliant and powerful piece about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the current effort to privatize large sectors of public education, especially in urban districts.

"King saw the goal of education as more than performance on high-stakes tests or the acquisition of job skills or career competencies. He saw it as the cornerstone of free thought and the use of knowledge in the public interest. For King, the lofty goal of education was not just to make a living but also to make the world a better place by using that production of knowledge for good. “To save man from the morass of propaganda,”  King opined, “is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.” The notion that privatization can foster equality is fiction." 

"What we are seeing in the name of “reform” today is the same plan with slight modifications: brand schools as low-performing factories of failure, encourage privatization, and leave the vast majority of students in underfunded, highly stigmatized public schools.This effort will create an America that looks more like the 1967 Kerner Commission’s forecast, two societies separate and unequal, than Martin Luther King’s Beloved Community."

"Real triumph over educational inequalities can only come from a deeper investment in our schools and communities and a true commitment to tackling poverty, segregation, and issues affecting students with special needs and bilingual education. The Beloved Community is to be found not in the segregated citadels of private schools but in a well-funded system of public education, free and open to all—affirming our commitment to democracy and justice and our commitment to the dignity and worth of our greatest resource, our youth."

Read the entire article at http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/01/18/public-schools-under-attack-what-would-martin-say

Courageous Educator Announces that She Will Refuse to Administer Common Core State Tests

Beth Dimino, an eighth-grade science teacher in the Comsewogue School District and president of the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association, will be the first Long Island teacher to “opt-out” of administering mandated state standardized tests this April. 

“These tests are meaningless,” Dimino blasts. “They do not show us anything that a test is supposed to show us. Tests are supposed to show us how children are doing, how proficient children are in the work we’re teaching them. So now we can either modify our pedagogy and review it and do it again because the children didn’t get it, or understand that the children got it and move on to the next piece of the puzzle, which is teaching that particular piece of curriculum. These tests do not inform on that level at all.”

Read more at http://www.longislandpress.com/2015/01/20/l-i-teacher-refuses-to-administer-common-core-tests-urges-others-to-join-her/

Article from Times Herald Record: Movement to Opt Out of State Tests Growing

Article from Times Herald Record:  Movement to Opt Out of State Tests Growing

http://www.recordonline.com/article/20141019/NEWS/141019385

By Pauline Liu
Times Herald-Record
Posted Oct. 19, 2014 @ 7:39 pm
Updated Oct 20, 2014 at 12:00 AM

A revolt over excessive testing is heating up in New York.

Parents groups who've been "opting out" their kids from state tests have set a new goal to have 250,000 students boycott the next round of the exams - compared to 55,000 students who didn't take the standardized tests this year. 

More than 1 million students in grades 3-8 are scheduled to take the math and English tests when they’re offered next spring.

The boycott is gaining ground here in the mid-Hudson. Advocacy groups say that the tests are too long and shouldn't be tied to teacher evaluations.

“We feel it’s important for parents to refuse the tests because it’s a very powerful way for parents to send a message,” said Nancy Schniedewind of the New Paltz-based group Re-thinking Testing Mid-Hudson Region. “Education has been taken out of the hands of communities, school boards and parents. It’s now in the hands of corporations, politicians and high-level educational administrators and they should not be making these decisions.”

Schniedewind, who is also a professor of Educational Studies at SUNY New Paltz, described the state tests as “developmentally inappropriate and unfair to all students, especially those in elementary school.”

The boycott has also won the backing of some school administrators. Most vocal is Middletown Superintendent Ken Eastwood, who has called Common Core testing “a failure.”

“All the parents are doing is protecting their children from test results that are premature, false indicators of what has been learned and, in any other world, an act that disregards student dignity and potential,” Eastwood said.

New York State United Teachers, one of the state’s largest unions representing more than 600,000 teachers, is supporting the boycott.

Legislation passed over the summer has placed a two-year moratorium on the use of state test scores to evaluate teachers.

“It’s important to use those two years to try to fix what’s wrong with testing and evaluations,” said Carl Korn, NYSUT spokesman.

Leading the charge to boycott state testing is the statewide advocacy group New York Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE).

Why 250,000?

“That’s the number of students that we think we need in order to put an end to high-stakes testing,” said Jeanette Deutermann of NYSAPE, a mother of two from Long Island.

NYSAPE is calling on the state to stop using student test scores for teacher evaluation, because the group claims that too much of classroom time is spent teaching to the tests in an effort to improve results.

NYSAPE is also demanding shorter tests. A lot shorter. 

The exams were given over six days. The actual time scheduled for students in grades 5-8 to take the tests was nearly 9 hours, while those in grades 3-4 were given nearly 7 hours to complete the exams.

The State Education Department reduced the overall lengths of the 2014 tests by 20 minutes, but the group wants the tests cut down to three hours, claiming that the longer tests only serve to drive up profits for tech and data storage companies.

“Parents have tried in so many ways to ask for change, but they haven’t been heard,” Deutermann said.

What's become known as the opt out movement began last year with the introduction of the new Common Core-based state exams.

According to the state, about 6,000 parents in 2013 refused the tests on behalf of their kids in grades 3-8. In order for their children to be excused, the refusals had to be submitted to school officials in writing. If that wasn't done, the student would be asked to make up the test. 

Nearly 70 percent of students who did take the tests flunked them. State Education Commissioner John King, Jr. responded by saying that the results would be used to set a “new baseline for testing.”

This year, about 55,000 students opted out of the tests. King said those who took the exams in 2014 made “incremental” gains over the results from the previous year.

Math scores inched up slightly so that nearly 36 percent passed, while reading scores remained flat with only about 31 percent passing the exams.

NYSED pointed out that the tests are required under federal law and the federal Race to the Top program.

“State assessments offer an opportunity for educators and parents to gauge the progress a child is making toward the standards,” said Jonathan Burman, spokesman for NYSED. “Why wouldn’t a parent want to know how well his or her child is doing?"

NYSED also has its share of supporters, including a new statewide business and community coalition called High Achievement New York.

“Preventing children from measuring their problem solving and critical thinking skills is the wrong path,” said John Collins, the coalition’s spokesman.

pliu@th-record.com

- See more at: http://www.recordonline.com/article/20141019/NEWS/141019385#sthash.ldLQgcVU.dpuf

y Pauline Liu
Times Herald-Record
Posted Oct. 19, 2014 @ 7:39 pm
Updated Oct 20, 2014 at 12:00 AM

A revolt over excessive testing is heating up in New York.

Parents groups who've been "opting out" their kids from state tests have set a new goal to have 250,000 students boycott the next round of the exams - compared to 55,000 students who didn't take the standardized tests this year. 

More than 1 million students in grades 3-8 are scheduled to take the math and English tests when they’re offered next spring.

The boycott is gaining ground here in the mid-Hudson. Advocacy groups say that the tests are too long and shouldn't be tied to teacher evaluations.

“We feel it’s important for parents to refuse the tests because it’s a very powerful way for parents to send a message,” said Nancy Schniedewind of the New Paltz-based group Re-thinking Testing Mid-Hudson Region. “Education has been taken out of the hands of communities, school boards and parents. It’s now in the hands of corporations, politicians and high-level educational administrators and they should not be making these decisions.”

Schniedewind, who is also a professor of Educational Studies at SUNY New Paltz, described the state tests as “developmentally inappropriate and unfair to all students, especially those in elementary school.”

The boycott has also won the backing of some school administrators. Most vocal is Middletown Superintendent Ken Eastwood, who has called Common Core testing “a failure.”

“All the parents are doing is protecting their children from test results that are premature, false indicators of what has been learned and, in any other world, an act that disregards student dignity and potential,” Eastwood said.

New York State United Teachers, one of the state’s largest unions representing more than 600,000 teachers, is supporting the boycott.

Legislation passed over the summer has placed a two-year moratorium on the use of state test scores to evaluate teachers.

“It’s important to use those two years to try to fix what’s wrong with testing and evaluations,” said Carl Korn, NYSUT spokesman.

Leading the charge to boycott state testing is the statewide advocacy group New York Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE).

Why 250,000?

“That’s the number of students that we think we need in order to put an end to high-stakes testing,” said Jeanette Deutermann of NYSAPE, a mother of two from Long Island.

NYSAPE is calling on the state to stop using student test scores for teacher evaluation, because the group claims that too much of classroom time is spent teaching to the tests in an effort to improve results.

NYSAPE is also demanding shorter tests. A lot shorter. 

The exams were given over six days. The actual time scheduled for students in grades 5-8 to take the tests was nearly 9 hours, while those in grades 3-4 were given nearly 7 hours to complete the exams.

The State Education Department reduced the overall lengths of the 2014 tests by 20 minutes, but the group wants the tests cut down to three hours, claiming that the longer tests only serve to drive up profits for tech and data storage companies.

“Parents have tried in so many ways to ask for change, but they haven’t been heard,” Deutermann said.

What's become known as the opt out movement began last year with the introduction of the new Common Core-based state exams.

According to the state, about 6,000 parents in 2013 refused the tests on behalf of their kids in grades 3-8. In order for their children to be excused, the refusals had to be submitted to school officials in writing. If that wasn't done, the student would be asked to make up the test. 

Nearly 70 percent of students who did take the tests flunked them. State Education Commissioner John King, Jr. responded by saying that the results would be used to set a “new baseline for testing.”

This year, about 55,000 students opted out of the tests. King said those who took the exams in 2014 made “incremental” gains over the results from the previous year.

Math scores inched up slightly so that nearly 36 percent passed, while reading scores remained flat with only about 31 percent passing the exams.

NYSED pointed out that the tests are required under federal law and the federal Race to the Top program.

“State assessments offer an opportunity for educators and parents to gauge the progress a child is making toward the standards,” said Jonathan Burman, spokesman for NYSED. “Why wouldn’t a parent want to know how well his or her child is doing?"

NYSED also has its share of supporters, including a new statewide business and community coalition called High Achievement New York.

“Preventing children from measuring their problem solving and critical thinking skills is the wrong path,” said John Collins, the coalition’s spokesman.

pliu@th-record.com

- See more at: http://www.recordonline.com/article/20141019/NEWS/141019385#sthash.ldLQgcVU.dpuf

y Pauline Liu
Times Herald-Record
Posted Oct. 19, 2014 @ 7:39 pm
Updated Oct 20, 2014 at 12:00 AM

A revolt over excessive testing is heating up in New York.

Parents groups who've been "opting out" their kids from state tests have set a new goal to have 250,000 students boycott the next round of the exams - compared to 55,000 students who didn't take the standardized tests this year. 

More than 1 million students in grades 3-8 are scheduled to take the math and English tests when they’re offered next spring.

The boycott is gaining ground here in the mid-Hudson. Advocacy groups say that the tests are too long and shouldn't be tied to teacher evaluations.

“We feel it’s important for parents to refuse the tests because it’s a very powerful way for parents to send a message,” said Nancy Schniedewind of the New Paltz-based group Re-thinking Testing Mid-Hudson Region. “Education has been taken out of the hands of communities, school boards and parents. It’s now in the hands of corporations, politicians and high-level educational administrators and they should not be making these decisions.”

Schniedewind, who is also a professor of Educational Studies at SUNY New Paltz, described the state tests as “developmentally inappropriate and unfair to all students, especially those in elementary school.”

The boycott has also won the backing of some school administrators. Most vocal is Middletown Superintendent Ken Eastwood, who has called Common Core testing “a failure.”

“All the parents are doing is protecting their children from test results that are premature, false indicators of what has been learned and, in any other world, an act that disregards student dignity and potential,” Eastwood said.

New York State United Teachers, one of the state’s largest unions representing more than 600,000 teachers, is supporting the boycott.

Legislation passed over the summer has placed a two-year moratorium on the use of state test scores to evaluate teachers.

“It’s important to use those two years to try to fix what’s wrong with testing and evaluations,” said Carl Korn, NYSUT spokesman.

Leading the charge to boycott state testing is the statewide advocacy group New York Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE).

Why 250,000?

“That’s the number of students that we think we need in order to put an end to high-stakes testing,” said Jeanette Deutermann of NYSAPE, a mother of two from Long Island.

NYSAPE is calling on the state to stop using student test scores for teacher evaluation, because the group claims that too much of classroom time is spent teaching to the tests in an effort to improve results.

NYSAPE is also demanding shorter tests. A lot shorter. 

The exams were given over six days. The actual time scheduled for students in grades 5-8 to take the tests was nearly 9 hours, while those in grades 3-4 were given nearly 7 hours to complete the exams.

The State Education Department reduced the overall lengths of the 2014 tests by 20 minutes, but the group wants the tests cut down to three hours, claiming that the longer tests only serve to drive up profits for tech and data storage companies.

“Parents have tried in so many ways to ask for change, but they haven’t been heard,” Deutermann said.

What's become known as the opt out movement began last year with the introduction of the new Common Core-based state exams.

According to the state, about 6,000 parents in 2013 refused the tests on behalf of their kids in grades 3-8. In order for their children to be excused, the refusals had to be submitted to school officials in writing. If that wasn't done, the student would be asked to make up the test. 

Nearly 70 percent of students who did take the tests flunked them. State Education Commissioner John King, Jr. responded by saying that the results would be used to set a “new baseline for testing.”

This year, about 55,000 students opted out of the tests. King said those who took the exams in 2014 made “incremental” gains over the results from the previous year.

Math scores inched up slightly so that nearly 36 percent passed, while reading scores remained flat with only about 31 percent passing the exams.

NYSED pointed out that the tests are required under federal law and the federal Race to the Top program.

“State assessments offer an opportunity for educators and parents to gauge the progress a child is making toward the standards,” said Jonathan Burman, spokesman for NYSED. “Why wouldn’t a parent want to know how well his or her child is doing?"

NYSED also has its share of supporters, including a new statewide business and community coalition called High Achievement New York.

“Preventing children from measuring their problem solving and critical thinking skills is the wrong path,” said John Collins, the coalition’s spokesman.

pliu@th-record.com

- See more at: http://www.recordonline.com/article/20141019/NEWS/141019385#sthash.ldLQgcVU.dpuf

y Pauline Liu
Times Herald-Record
Posted Oct. 19, 2014 @ 7:39 pm
Updated Oct 20, 2014 at 12:00 AM

A revolt over excessive testing is heating up in New York.

Parents groups who've been "opting out" their kids from state tests have set a new goal to have 250,000 students boycott the next round of the exams - compared to 55,000 students who didn't take the standardized tests this year. 

More than 1 million students in grades 3-8 are scheduled to take the math and English tests when they’re offered next spring.

The boycott is gaining ground here in the mid-Hudson. Advocacy groups say that the tests are too long and shouldn't be tied to teacher evaluations.

“We feel it’s important for parents to refuse the tests because it’s a very powerful way for parents to send a message,” said Nancy Schniedewind of the New Paltz-based group Re-thinking Testing Mid-Hudson Region. “Education has been taken out of the hands of communities, school boards and parents. It’s now in the hands of corporations, politicians and high-level educational administrators and they should not be making these decisions.”

Schniedewind, who is also a professor of Educational Studies at SUNY New Paltz, described the state tests as “developmentally inappropriate and unfair to all students, especially those in elementary school.”

The boycott has also won the backing of some school administrators. Most vocal is Middletown Superintendent Ken Eastwood, who has called Common Core testing “a failure.”

“All the parents are doing is protecting their children from test results that are premature, false indicators of what has been learned and, in any other world, an act that disregards student dignity and potential,” Eastwood said.

New York State United Teachers, one of the state’s largest unions representing more than 600,000 teachers, is supporting the boycott.

Legislation passed over the summer has placed a two-year moratorium on the use of state test scores to evaluate teachers.

“It’s important to use those two years to try to fix what’s wrong with testing and evaluations,” said Carl Korn, NYSUT spokesman.

Leading the charge to boycott state testing is the statewide advocacy group New York Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE).

Why 250,000?

“That’s the number of students that we think we need in order to put an end to high-stakes testing,” said Jeanette Deutermann of NYSAPE, a mother of two from Long Island.

NYSAPE is calling on the state to stop using student test scores for teacher evaluation, because the group claims that too much of classroom time is spent teaching to the tests in an effort to improve results.

NYSAPE is also demanding shorter tests. A lot shorter. 

The exams were given over six days. The actual time scheduled for students in grades 5-8 to take the tests was nearly 9 hours, while those in grades 3-4 were given nearly 7 hours to complete the exams.

The State Education Department reduced the overall lengths of the 2014 tests by 20 minutes, but the group wants the tests cut down to three hours, claiming that the longer tests only serve to drive up profits for tech and data storage companies.

“Parents have tried in so many ways to ask for change, but they haven’t been heard,” Deutermann said.

What's become known as the opt out movement began last year with the introduction of the new Common Core-based state exams.

According to the state, about 6,000 parents in 2013 refused the tests on behalf of their kids in grades 3-8. In order for their children to be excused, the refusals had to be submitted to school officials in writing. If that wasn't done, the student would be asked to make up the test. 

Nearly 70 percent of students who did take the tests flunked them. State Education Commissioner John King, Jr. responded by saying that the results would be used to set a “new baseline for testing.”

This year, about 55,000 students opted out of the tests. King said those who took the exams in 2014 made “incremental” gains over the results from the previous year.

Math scores inched up slightly so that nearly 36 percent passed, while reading scores remained flat with only about 31 percent passing the exams.

NYSED pointed out that the tests are required under federal law and the federal Race to the Top program.

“State assessments offer an opportunity for educators and parents to gauge the progress a child is making toward the standards,” said Jonathan Burman, spokesman for NYSED. “Why wouldn’t a parent want to know how well his or her child is doing?"

NYSED also has its share of supporters, including a new statewide business and community coalition called High Achievement New York.

“Preventing children from measuring their problem solving and critical thinking skills is the wrong path,” said John Collins, the coalition’s spokesman.

pliu@th-record.com

- See more at: http://www.recordonline.com/article/20141019/NEWS/141019385#sthash.ldLQgcVU.dpuf

y Pauline Liu
Times Herald-Record
Posted Oct. 19, 2014 @ 7:39 pm
Updated Oct 20, 2014 at 12:00 AM

A revolt over excessive testing is heating up in New York.

Parents groups who've been "opting out" their kids from state tests have set a new goal to have 250,000 students boycott the next round of the exams - compared to 55,000 students who didn't take the standardized tests this year. 

More than 1 million students in grades 3-8 are scheduled to take the math and English tests when they’re offered next spring.

The boycott is gaining ground here in the mid-Hudson. Advocacy groups say that the tests are too long and shouldn't be tied to teacher evaluations.

“We feel it’s important for parents to refuse the tests because it’s a very powerful way for parents to send a message,” said Nancy Schniedewind of the New Paltz-based group Re-thinking Testing Mid-Hudson Region. “Education has been taken out of the hands of communities, school boards and parents. It’s now in the hands of corporations, politicians and high-level educational administrators and they should not be making these decisions.”

Schniedewind, who is also a professor of Educational Studies at SUNY New Paltz, described the state tests as “developmentally inappropriate and unfair to all students, especially those in elementary school.”

The boycott has also won the backing of some school administrators. Most vocal is Middletown Superintendent Ken Eastwood, who has called Common Core testing “a failure.”

“All the parents are doing is protecting their children from test results that are premature, false indicators of what has been learned and, in any other world, an act that disregards student dignity and potential,” Eastwood said.

New York State United Teachers, one of the state’s largest unions representing more than 600,000 teachers, is supporting the boycott.

Legislation passed over the summer has placed a two-year moratorium on the use of state test scores to evaluate teachers.

“It’s important to use those two years to try to fix what’s wrong with testing and evaluations,” said Carl Korn, NYSUT spokesman.

Leading the charge to boycott state testing is the statewide advocacy group New York Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE).

Why 250,000?

“That’s the number of students that we think we need in order to put an end to high-stakes testing,” said Jeanette Deutermann of NYSAPE, a mother of two from Long Island.

NYSAPE is calling on the state to stop using student test scores for teacher evaluation, because the group claims that too much of classroom time is spent teaching to the tests in an effort to improve results.

NYSAPE is also demanding shorter tests. A lot shorter. 

The exams were given over six days. The actual time scheduled for students in grades 5-8 to take the tests was nearly 9 hours, while those in grades 3-4 were given nearly 7 hours to complete the exams.

The State Education Department reduced the overall lengths of the 2014 tests by 20 minutes, but the group wants the tests cut down to three hours, claiming that the longer tests only serve to drive up profits for tech and data storage companies.

“Parents have tried in so many ways to ask for change, but they haven’t been heard,” Deutermann said.

What's become known as the opt out movement began last year with the introduction of the new Common Core-based state exams.

According to the state, about 6,000 parents in 2013 refused the tests on behalf of their kids in grades 3-8. In order for their children to be excused, the refusals had to be submitted to school officials in writing. If that wasn't done, the student would be asked to make up the test. 

Nearly 70 percent of students who did take the tests flunked them. State Education Commissioner John King, Jr. responded by saying that the results would be used to set a “new baseline for testing.”

This year, about 55,000 students opted out of the tests. King said those who took the exams in 2014 made “incremental” gains over the results from the previous year.

Math scores inched up slightly so that nearly 36 percent passed, while reading scores remained flat with only about 31 percent passing the exams.

NYSED pointed out that the tests are required under federal law and the federal Race to the Top program.

“State assessments offer an opportunity for educators and parents to gauge the progress a child is making toward the standards,” said Jonathan Burman, spokesman for NYSED. “Why wouldn’t a parent want to know how well his or her child is doing?"

NYSED also has its share of supporters, including a new statewide business and community coalition called High Achievement New York.

“Preventing children from measuring their problem solving and critical thinking skills is the wrong path,” said John Collins, the coalition’s spokesman.

pliu@th-record.com

- See more at: http://www.recordonline.com/article/20141019/NEWS/141019385#sthash.ldLQgcVU.dpuf

By Pauline Liu
Times Herald-Record
Posted Oct. 19, 2014 @ 7:39 pm
Updated Oct 20, 2014 at 12:00 AM

A revolt over excessive testing is heating up in New York.

Parents groups who've been "opting out" their kids from state tests have set a new goal to have 250,000 students boycott the next round of the exams - compared to 55,000 students who didn't take the standardized tests this year. 

More than 1 million students in grades 3-8 are scheduled to take the math and English tests when they’re offered next spring.

The boycott is gaining ground here in the mid-Hudson. Advocacy groups say that the tests are too long and shouldn't be tied to teacher evaluations.

“We feel it’s important for parents to refuse the tests because it’s a very powerful way for parents to send a message,” said Nancy Schniedewind of the New Paltz-based group Re-thinking Testing Mid-Hudson Region. “Education has been taken out of the hands of communities, school boards and parents. It’s now in the hands of corporations, politicians and high-level educational administrators and they should not be making these decisions.”

Schniedewind, who is also a professor of Educational Studies at SUNY New Paltz, described the state tests as “developmentally inappropriate and unfair to all students, especially those in elementary school.”

The boycott has also won the backing of some school administrators. Most vocal is Middletown Superintendent Ken Eastwood, who has called Common Core testing “a failure.”

“All the parents are doing is protecting their children from test results that are premature, false indicators of what has been learned and, in any other world, an act that disregards student dignity and potential,” Eastwood said.

New York State United Teachers, one of the state’s largest unions representing more than 600,000 teachers, is supporting the boycott.

Legislation passed over the summer has placed a two-year moratorium on the use of state test scores to evaluate teachers.

“It’s important to use those two years to try to fix what’s wrong with testing and evaluations,” said Carl Korn, NYSUT spokesman.

Leading the charge to boycott state testing is the statewide advocacy group New York Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE).

Why 250,000?

“That’s the number of students that we think we need in order to put an end to high-stakes testing,” said Jeanette Deutermann of NYSAPE, a mother of two from Long Island.

NYSAPE is calling on the state to stop using student test scores for teacher evaluation, because the group claims that too much of classroom time is spent teaching to the tests in an effort to improve results.

NYSAPE is also demanding shorter tests. A lot shorter. 

The exams were given over six days. The actual time scheduled for students in grades 5-8 to take the tests was nearly 9 hours, while those in grades 3-4 were given nearly 7 hours to complete the exams.

The State Education Department reduced the overall lengths of the 2014 tests by 20 minutes, but the group wants the tests cut down to three hours, claiming that the longer tests only serve to drive up profits for tech and data storage companies.

“Parents have tried in so many ways to ask for change, but they haven’t been heard,” Deutermann said.

What's become known as the opt out movement began last year with the introduction of the new Common Core-based state exams.

According to the state, about 6,000 parents in 2013 refused the tests on behalf of their kids in grades 3-8. In order for their children to be excused, the refusals had to be submitted to school officials in writing. If that wasn't done, the student would be asked to make up the test. 

Nearly 70 percent of students who did take the tests flunked them. State Education Commissioner John King, Jr. responded by saying that the results would be used to set a “new baseline for testing.”

This year, about 55,000 students opted out of the tests. King said those who took the exams in 2014 made “incremental” gains over the results from the previous year.

Math scores inched up slightly so that nearly 36 percent passed, while reading scores remained flat with only about 31 percent passing the exams.

NYSED pointed out that the tests are required under federal law and the federal Race to the Top program.

“State assessments offer an opportunity for educators and parents to gauge the progress a child is making toward the standards,” said Jonathan Burman, spokesman for NYSED. “Why wouldn’t a parent want to know how well his or her child is doing?"

NYSED also has its share of supporters, including a new statewide business and community coalition called High Achievement New York.

“Preventing children from measuring their problem solving and critical thinking skills is the wrong path,” said John Collins, the coalition’s spokesman.

pliu@th-record.com

- See more at: http://www.recordonline.com/article/20141019/News/141019385#sthash.LcsR178M.dpuf

By Pauline Liu
Times Herald-Record
Posted Oct. 19, 2014 @ 7:39 pm
Updated Oct 20, 2014 at 12:00 AM

A revolt over excessive testing is heating up in New York.

Parents groups who've been "opting out" their kids from state tests have set a new goal to have 250,000 students boycott the next round of the exams - compared to 55,000 students who didn't take the standardized tests this year. 

More than 1 million students in grades 3-8 are scheduled to take the math and English tests when they’re offered next spring.

The boycott is gaining ground here in the mid-Hudson. Advocacy groups say that the tests are too long and shouldn't be tied to teacher evaluations.

“We feel it’s important for parents to refuse the tests because it’s a very powerful way for parents to send a message,” said Nancy Schniedewind of the New Paltz-based group Re-thinking Testing Mid-Hudson Region. “Education has been taken out of the hands of communities, school boards and parents. It’s now in the hands of corporations, politicians and high-level educational administrators and they should not be making these decisions.”

Schniedewind, who is also a professor of Educational Studies at SUNY New Paltz, described the state tests as “developmentally inappropriate and unfair to all students, especially those in elementary school.”

The boycott has also won the backing of some school administrators. Most vocal is Middletown Superintendent Ken Eastwood, who has called Common Core testing “a failure.”

“All the parents are doing is protecting their children from test results that are premature, false indicators of what has been learned and, in any other world, an act that disregards student dignity and potential,” Eastwood said.

New York State United Teachers, one of the state’s largest unions representing more than 600,000 teachers, is supporting the boycott.

Legislation passed over the summer has placed a two-year moratorium on the use of state test scores to evaluate teachers.

“It’s important to use those two years to try to fix what’s wrong with testing and evaluations,” said Carl Korn, NYSUT spokesman.

Leading the charge to boycott state testing is the statewide advocacy group New York Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE).

Why 250,000?

“That’s the number of students that we think we need in order to put an end to high-stakes testing,” said Jeanette Deutermann of NYSAPE, a mother of two from Long Island.

NYSAPE is calling on the state to stop using student test scores for teacher evaluation, because the group claims that too much of classroom time is spent teaching to the tests in an effort to improve results.

NYSAPE is also demanding shorter tests. A lot shorter. 

The exams were given over six days. The actual time scheduled for students in grades 5-8 to take the tests was nearly 9 hours, while those in grades 3-4 were given nearly 7 hours to complete the exams.

The State Education Department reduced the overall lengths of the 2014 tests by 20 minutes, but the group wants the tests cut down to three hours, claiming that the longer tests only serve to drive up profits for tech and data storage companies.

“Parents have tried in so many ways to ask for change, but they haven’t been heard,” Deutermann said.

What's become known as the opt out movement began last year with the introduction of the new Common Core-based state exams.

According to the state, about 6,000 parents in 2013 refused the tests on behalf of their kids in grades 3-8. In order for their children to be excused, the refusals had to be submitted to school officials in writing. If that wasn't done, the student would be asked to make up the test. 

Nearly 70 percent of students who did take the tests flunked them. State Education Commissioner John King, Jr. responded by saying that the results would be used to set a “new baseline for testing.”

This year, about 55,000 students opted out of the tests. King said those who took the exams in 2014 made “incremental” gains over the results from the previous year.

Math scores inched up slightly so that nearly 36 percent passed, while reading scores remained flat with only about 31 percent passing the exams.

NYSED pointed out that the tests are required under federal law and the federal Race to the Top program.

“State assessments offer an opportunity for educators and parents to gauge the progress a child is making toward the standards,” said Jonathan Burman, spokesman for NYSED. “Why wouldn’t a parent want to know how well his or her child is doing?"

NYSED also has its share of supporters, including a new statewide business and community coalition called High Achievement New York.

“Preventing children from measuring their problem solving and critical thinking skills is the wrong path,” said John Collins, the coalition’s spokesman.

pliu@th-record.com

- See more at: http://www.recordonline.com/article/20141019/News/141019385#sthash.LcsR178M.dpuf

Washington Post Post: How to Start Cleaning Up the Common Core

This article is at the following link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/10/06/how-to-start-cleaning-up-the-common-core/

Even the strongest supporters of the Common Core State Standards would likely admit if asked that the initiative has not so far turned out as well as hoped. Implementation of the standards has been severely troubled, the testing regime that is supposed to be aligned with the Core is falling apart and increasingly people from different parts of the political spectrum have distanced themselves from the enterprise.
So now what? Where does the Core go from here? In the following post, award-winning New York Principal Carol Burris offers three first steps toward cleaning up the Core mess. Burris has been writing about problems with the controversial school reform efforts and the Core for some time on this blog. (You can read some of her work here, here, here,  here, and here.) Last month she participated in a debate about the Common Core, which you can read about here. She was named New York’s 2013 High School Principal of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and in 2010,  tapped as the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State.

By Carol Burris
Joey Garrison of The Tennessean recently reported that after three years of implementation, support for the Common Core among Tennessee teachers has dramatically dropped.   If Common Core familiarity breeds contempt, the proof can be found in the Volunteer State.
Garrison reported on a Vanderbilt University Peabody College of Education and Human Development survey which found that only 35 percent of the teachers “believe that teaching to the standards will improve student learning — compared with 60 percent who said the same last year.”
What was even more surprising was that this was not a case of “we need more assistance with implementation”—56 percent of the 27,000 who responded wanted the state to walk away from the Common Core. An additional 13 percent wanted implementation slowed.
The Tennessee survey mirrors a national trend. An Education Next poll found a drop of 30 points among teachers in one year. Even a Scholastic/Gates Foundation sponsored poll, the only one that finds a majority of teachers still support the Common Core, shows that support has declined.
Those who dismiss this trend as political pushback are wrong. Many teachers are not only the deliverers of the Core, they are the indirect recipients of Common Core instruction as well. They see its effects on their own children, and their frustration with the Common Core is real.
Here is an email I received from one of my teachers whose young children attend a neighboring school district that heavily relies on the Engage NY modules. Commenting on my Answer Sheet post, she wrote:

“Carol,
This is excellent.  Thank you for hitting the nail on the head. I went to my daughter’s back-to-school last night.  On the board was the day’s schedule.  Other than going to music and lunch, the entire day was some form of either reading or math instruction.  When science and social studies were discussed as other curricular items in third grade, the parents were told that they would be covered essentially through reading passages as part of the ELA prep. Ugh.”

This email captures one of the many consequences of the Common Core—teachers narrow curriculum as they push students to reach unreasonable “proficiency “ cut scores, which, in New York, were benchmarked to SAT scores that total 1630.
And yet we are told we must forge ahead. The most recent argument given by Common Core supporters, such as the Fordham Institute’s Mike Petrilli, is that “the chaos in the classrooms will be great.” And therefore we must “follow through on what we started.”
I remember hearing the same rationale when parents and teachers challenged Whole Language. Luckily, Whole Language was a reading program that districts could modify or abandon. Even so, damage was done. Two of my assistant principals whose children experienced purist Whole Language, still lament the difficulties their now adult children had learning to read. And yes, even as with the Common Core, there were staunch Whole Language defenders. We were told that all teachers needed was the right professional development.
No matter what investments in time or materials have been made, here is the bottom line. The Common Core is a lemon and no amount of professional development will make it run right. As Mike Schmoker recently wrote in an Education Week commentary,

“Nothing could be more futile than doubling down on training, testing, and lesson planning based on the still-bloated, misconceived lists of standards.”

The question that states face, then, is what should they put in place of the Common Core.  The logical option of going back to former standards and gradually revising them will earn the wrath and punishment of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, as Oklahoma found out after it pulled out of Common Core this past summer and the Education Department decided that the state would lose its waiver from No Child Left Behind. Ohio lawmakers have put forth a bill to adopt the former Massachusetts standards; whether Duncan will approve what were considered the most challenging standards in the United States is anyone’s guess. Logic has not distinguished the Duncan Department of Education.
That does not negate the moral and ethical obligation of state lawmakers and Chief School Officers from doing what is right by students and taxpayers. If I were charged with the task of cleaning up the Common Core (and thankfully I am not), this is how I would begin. While there would be more work to be done, especially in mathematics, these are three relatively simple first steps.
Step 1: Insist that the State Education Department translate each standard into clear language that the public can understand. If the standard can’t be written so that the average parent can understand it, throw it out.
To see what clarity looks like, read the mathematics standards of Finland. You can find them here beginning on page 158. They are clear, concise and jargon free. They explain what students should know, while refraining from directing instruction. These standards are a fine model that has produced outstanding results.
English Language Arts standards also need review. Consider this Grade 8 standard CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.6, which Schmoker points out in his commentary:

Analyze how the points of view of the characters and audience or reader (e.g. created through the use of dramatic irony) create effects like suspense or humor.

What does it mean and why does it matter?

Step 2: Ask experts on childhood development to review the Pre-K to 3^rd grade standards. Standards should be rewritten based on their consensus.
The Common Core has pushed down topics traditionally taught in later grades because of its backwards design approach. States should recruit early childhood learning researchers, psychologists who specialize in early cognitive development, and pediatricians to review the standards and recommend any needed revisions. Children deserve standards that respect their cognitive growth.

Step 3: Reduce the emphasis on informational text, close reading and Lexile levels.
There is no evidence that reading informational text in the early grades will improve reading. Informational text in primary school should be read as a one means of delivering content or included based on student interest. Ratios of 50/50 (informational text/literature) in elementary schools and 70/30 in high school are based on nothing more than breakdowns of text type on National Assessment of Educational Progress tests, not on reading research. The force-feeding of informational texts in the primary years is resulting in the decline of hands on learning in science and projects in social studies, as my teacher’s email attests.   At the high school level, literature is being pushed out of English Language Arts to make room for informational text. For example, take a look at the readings of Common Core Engage NY curriculum modules for 9^th grade. Literature is minimal, replaced by texts such as “Wizard of Lies,” a biography of Bernie Madoff, and articles that include “Sugar Changed the World,” “Animals in Translation” and “Bangladesh Factory Collapse.”
And then there is the overemphasis on close reading in the standards. As Professor Daniel Katz in his carefully developed critique of the Common Core English Language Arts standards notes, “in Common Core, all literary roads lead to close textual analysis.”
According to Professor Katz,

“What Common Core does is take reading literature and purpose it entirely to close textual reading, which is a tool of literary criticism, especially for the New Criticism school of analysis.  In New Criticism, the text is treated as self-contained, and it is the job of the reader to investigate it as an object to be understood via the structure of the text and without reference to external resources such as history, culture, psychology or the experiences of the reader.”

There should be a variety of strategies in the readers’ toolbox and students should have varied experiences with text—including (horrors!) reading for pleasure.
Finally, let’s put Lexile levels in perspective. Lexiles are measures of sentence length and word frequency, as determined by a computer program. They do not measure the literary quality and depth of a text. The Common Core obsession with grade level reading is unwarranted. According to lexile level, The Grapes of Wrath and The Sun Also Rises should be read in third or fourth grade. But please wait until 5^th grade to read Bubble Homes and Fish Farts.
Enough said.

Correction: Earlier version had incorrect first name of Professor Katz. It is Daniel.
Valerie Strauss covers education and runs The Answer Sheet blog.