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Test Scores Do Not Lead To Better Teachers
Perhaps the most important change on the horizon for schools is the design of a new system for evaluating teachers. I hope that those who are involved will focus on how to improve teaching and learning...
View ArticleStudents Sing Out Steps to Long Division
A teacher at I.S. 285 Meyer Levin in Brooklyn shared this video with SchoolBook. It demonstrates at least one way to make the start-of-school remedial work a little more fun."Many of them started off...
View ArticlePrincipals: Test Scores Should Play Small Part in Teacher Evaluations
Alison Hazut, principal of The Earth School, Rashid Davis, founding principal of P-TECH, and Dr.Sean Feeney, principal of The Wheatley School in Old Westbury, New York, joined The Brian Lehrer Show on...
View ArticleNPR: Joel Klein's New Education Venture Sparks Suspicion
Former Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and his new education venture called Amplify were featured in aNPR report on Friday. Amplify, the educational division of the media conglomerate News Corp.,...
View ArticleMore Planning Needed for Special Ed Students Under Common Core
Integrating Common Core learning standards at the same time that special education reform is taking hold in schools citywide made sense, Corinne Rello-Anselmi said Thursday, despite the obvious...
View ArticleParent Activists Predict Hundreds Will Opt Out of State Tests
State standardized tests for third through eighth graders start Tuesday, but not every student will be sitting down to take them. In a show of protest against high-stakes testing, parents across New...
View ArticleGive Them an Apple, or a Hug: Help Teachers and Students Survive Testing
This week, as the English Language Arts state test are administered across the state, elementary and middle schools will be on testing lockdown. Teachers are not allowed to be near a pencil or pen when...
View ArticleStories Flood In from the Testing Front Line
One week of state testing down, one more to go, with math tests starting on Wednesday. Meanwhile, parents and teachers continue to share impressions and opinions about the tests, the first to be...
View ArticleBill Gates Should Not Micro-Manage Our Schools
The multinational software giant, Microsoft, once bundled its Explorer search engine with Windows, and refused, for a time, to have Windows run WordPerfect, a competitor to Microsoft Word. As head of...
View ArticleOpen Phones: Should We Still Teach Cursive Handwriting to Kids?
Cursive handwriting is less common nowadays, and the requirement to teach it has even been removed from the Common Core Standards for public education. Should we still teach cursive handwriting to...
View ArticleCommon Core Training Kicks Off for Teachers
At the same time that city teachers are absorbing the results of new state tests, they are also receiving training on brand new curriculum materials that, some teachers say, would have been quite...
View ArticleCommon Core and Test Scores
Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, talks about the shockingly low standardized test scores for the new Common Core focus and how those scores should be interpreted.This...
View ArticleChancellor Walcott on New Test Scores, Small Schools Study
Parents will get the results of their child's new common core standardized tests this week. NYC schools chancellor Dennis Walcott and chief academic officer Shael Polakow-Suransky talk about how to...
View ArticleTeachers Return for New School Year
New York City's approximately 75,000 teachers officially go back to work on Tuesday. And while there are big, new initiatives every year, the 2013-2014 school year comes with at least a couple of...
View ArticleWill the Common Core Widen the Digital Divide?
Ever since the advent of Web 2.0, users of technology are no longer just spectators and consumers of web pages but content providers and active participants. The implications for teaching and learning...
View ArticleRavitch Criticizes Testing, Charters
On WNYC's Brian Lehrer show, education historian Diane Ravitch came out swinging against the new Common Core learning standards, charter schools and what she called Mayor Michael Bloomberg's "academic...
View ArticleState Looking to Reduce Number of Tests
New York State education officials are taking steps to reduce the number of standardized tests in favor of less test prep and more "quality instruction" time. In a letter to superintendents, Education...
View ArticleA Teacher’s View: We Need the Reforms
As a teacher, I know attendance is important – but I wasn’t at my school, East Bronx Academy for the Future, one day a few weeks ago.I wasn't sick and I didn’t spend the afternoon at the movies: I...
View ArticleKing's Forums Come to NYC
Education Commissioner John King, along with members of New York State's Board of Regents, have been on the hustings this fall, defending the new Common Core learning standards at community events all...
View ArticleCommon Core Supporters Speak Out
State education commissioner John King faced a highly supportive audience Tuesday night at his first forum on the Common Core learning standards in New York City.Dozens of parents, organized by the...
View ArticleAG: Pearson Foundation Misused Funds
The Pearson Foundation, a non-profit group closely intertwined with publishing giant Pearson, Inc., has reached a settlement with New York's attorney general, following charges that it broke state law...
View ArticleCuomo's Education Vision, In Dollars
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday made large gestures beefing up pre-kindergarten with a $1.5 billion spending increase over five years; a plan to spend $720 million on after-school programs over five...
View ArticleEducation Leaders Nix Controversial Proposal, For Now
This article has been updated to reflect the vote of the New York Board of Regents.The full Board of Regents on Tuesday voted to approve all but one proposal meant to improve implementation of the...
View ArticleAfter Last Year's Big Drop in State Testing Scores, Hopeful for Modest Gains
After a seeing a plunge in proficiency rates last year, state education officials said Monday that student performance on the standardized math and English tests should improve incrementally as...
View ArticleNew Head of StateTeachers Union Seeks Greater Political Clout
Karen Magee was elected president of the state’s largest teachers union, replacing Richard Ianuzzi who served in the role for almost 10 years. An outspoken critic of the state's implementation of the...
View ArticleGates Foundation: Wait to Tie Student Performance to High-Stakes Decisions
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday called for a two-year delay in using student scores from new assessments to evaluate students and teachers.That puts them firmly in the ranks of those...
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Modeling Instruction: Where Students Invent Science Lessons
While New York State contemplates adopting the Next Generation Science Standards, about 50 teachers in the region have taken matters into their own hands.One group of educators participated in a...
View ArticleFive Things You Need to Know About NYC Scores on State Tests
1) New York City posted bigger gains in English than the state average: Statewide, just 31.4 percent of students were proficient in their English Language Arts tests, a measly one tenth of a percentage...
View ArticleParents Issue Cry for Help with Common Core Math Homework
The introduction of Common Core learning standards transformed math instruction in many New York City schools. The new standards, aimed at getting students to move beyond shortcuts and grasp underlying...
View ArticleDrama Helps English Learners Tackle Common Core Readings
Inside Kelly Budde’s language arts class in Port Chester, New York, 11-year-old Carlos Vazquez was starring in the lead role of the Hairy Frog in the original production, “Hair Today, Gone...
View ArticleMerryl Tisch to Step Down From Board of Regents
Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the state Board of Regents, announced Monday that she would step down from the board when her term ends in March, ending a 20-year tenure marked by major changes to the...
View ArticleCuomo's Task Force Calls for Common Core Overhaul
A task force created by Gov. Andrew Cuomo is urging major changes to the Common Core learning standards, standardized testing and the teacher evaluation system.In essence, the report validates cries...
View ArticleRegents Approve De-Linking Test Scores From Teacher Evaluations
In yet another chapter on how teachers are evaluated, the New York Board of Regents on Tuesday passed an emergency measure to halt the use of student test scores in teacher performance reviews for four...
View ArticleNew High School Equivalency Exam Demands More of Teachers
New York’s high school equivalency exam has undergone some major changes. It’s now called the TASC, rather than the G.E.D. And it’s aligned with the Common Core learning standards, meaning it’s harder...
View ArticleNew York's Opt Out Movement Revs Back Up
With state tests for New York's third through eighth grade students set to begin April 5, parent organizers of the state's "opt out" movement are wondering if they can repeat last year's boycott, when...
View ArticleTo Increase Transparency, State Releases More Test Questions
The New York State Education Department is making public the large majority of questions from the annual state math and English tests, following years of criticism over a lack of open debate on the...
View ArticleNew York City Shows Slight Uptick on Tests
Students in New York State made modest gains on the standardized tests in math and English this year while the number of students who refused to take the tests remained steady compared to last year,...
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