In this older but still very relevant piece, Time magazine provides a compelling look at the powerful impact of socioeconomic status on student and school performance, debunking the current trend of blaming poor teachers or curriculum. From the article, a quote attributed to Diane Ravitch, "American schools in which fewer than 10% of the students were poor outperformed the schools of Finland, Japan and Korea. Even when as many as 25% of the students were poor, American schools performed as well as the top-scoring nations. As the proportion of poor students rises, the scores of U.S. schools drop.
From the article, "The state Board of Regents passed a revamped set of rules Wednesday for New York's new system of evaluating teachers, but promised to pen a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers outlining their many concerns."
One of the arguments we've heard for keeping the Common Core Standards includes performance concerns on SATs for students in non-aligned states for schools. Read about an increasing trend of competitive colleges and universities to do away with mandatory SATs as part of the admissions process. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-03/wesleyan-temple-among-colleges-scrapping-admission-tests.html
Diane Ravitch presents polls which indicate a significant decrease in teacher approval of Common Core Standards.
http://dianeravitch.net/2014/10/03/gates-funded-poll-shows-sinking-support-for-common-core-among-teachers/
This is NYSED's list of approved Student/Teacher Assessments for the school year 2014-15. In plain English, this is a list of acceptable (to NYSED) exams for calculating APPR, SLO, and by extension, AYP. These are the tests your kids are being asked to take that have nothing to do with their grades. Included are the ever-popular TerraNova, iReady, MAPs, AIMSweb, and STAR assessments. These are the exams to avoid - check with your school to see which ones they are using, or, use U2C's Refusal Form to generate a letter that automatically refuses them all.
http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/teachers-leaders/assessments/approved-list.html
The steps to refusing excessive, high-stakes testing are simple in New York - craft, sign, and send a letter to your school district. Refusing the tests is not a decision most parents take lightly. If you've done your homework and you're ready to refuse, we’ve made it easier with a fill-in-the-blanks refusal letter that you can print and send to your school district. It’s as easy as one-two-three:
- Tell us your child(ren)s name and which tests you’d like to refuse. Each test is described in detail, so you know exactly what you’re refusing.
- Fill in your return address and the school’s address to insert into the letter.
- DOWNLOAD the finished form directly from the page. Just click the red DOWNLOAD link that shows on the next page.
Mail or hand-deliver the completed letter to your school's superintendent and you're done! To craft your own Refusal Letter, fill out the form below. If you have any questions, please visit our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/United2Counter or contact us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/United2Counter
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Latest Articles
- Surviving The NYS Tests
- Refuse 2016
- Alternate Assessment Refusal Letter
- New York's Baffling Response to Parents Who Didn't Let Their Kids Take Common Core Tests
- Cost Woes Plague Common-Core Rollout
- Why Are the Rich So Interested in Public School Reform?
- After Debate, Regents Pass Teacher-Evaluation Rules
- In Mass., A Push to Let Voters Weigh In On the Common Core State Standards
- SAT Scores Hit New Low
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