EdVANTAGE Blog

State Education Commissioner David Steiner took his “listening tour” to Western New York yesterday, visiting Buffalo charter and district schools and suburban Clarence Central High School.

The Buffalo News headlined its coverage of the Commissioner’s visit, “Excessive testing in schools gets ‘F.’”

The News’ article begins,

The state’s new education commissioner says he wants to de-emphasize assessment testing, saying too much “teaching to the test” is going on in schools.

“In too many cases, the assessment becomes the curriculum,” David M. Steiner said here Wednesday. “If the test is the curriculum, then you’re tempted to teach to the test.”

Commissioner Steiner has cited the lack of more detailed curriculum guidance as a missing link in state policy.  Speaking at our Fall Leadership Summit, after sharing thoughts on standards and assessments, the Commissioner referred to curriculum as “the heart of it all — what we actually teach our students.”

He said he would pursue conversations over whether to continue the state’s historical avoidance of more detailed curricula, asking whether it “short-changes our teachers and our students.”

The Washington-based Brookings Institution recently published research supporting the priority Dr. Steiner puts on curriculum (“Don’t Forget About Curriculum“).

Former second Bush Administration education official Grover Whitehurst reports that the impact on student achievement of strengthened curricula exceeds most other initiaitives, including charter schools, including those with a waiting list.

At the same time, the Commissioner also pledged efforts to strengthen state standards and assessments.  The News reported he said, “Meeting standards does not necessarily make a student college-ready. We must make sure we tell the truth to ourselves.”

Commissioner Steiner also took on other topics.  For example, he noted the noted the lack of Regents courses in the arts, computer technology and economics and added,

“We talk all the time about technology but don’t imbed that in what matters most,” he said. “There’s a disconnect. Our No. 1 problem in high schools is disengagement of students. We need to provide a high school education that is both engaging and demanding.”