EdVANTAGE Blog

In this post:

• Blog posts over the past week (NCLB waivers, An interview with the Commissioner, 2-year School Aid funding)
• Newsday on teacher evaluations
• More on test security
• Governor Cuomo vetoes school district bills
• GOP candidates on education
• “Other” property tax issues Read the rest of this entry »

In this post:

• Cheating
• State revenues short of projections
• Obama Jobs Bill — Implications for New York schools
• Governor to sign bill requiring new school procedures on head injuries
• Blue Ribbon Schools in New York State
• Teacher evaluation in New York City

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It has been a hard week for many people –  heartbreaking and tragic for some who were affected by floods and wind damage caused by Tropical Storm Irene.

Some schools have been directly affected and forced to postpone the beginning of classes.  From past weather disasters, we know schools also serve their communities in different ways in such times, providing space for emergency shelter.

In smaller but significant ways it has been a difficult stretch for the New York State Education Department as well.

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In this post:

• NYC tenure approval rate down to 58 percent
• Impact of federal debt ceiling debacle on New York State
• State revenue outlook
• Cheating

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As part of the successful effort to win Race to the Top funding, the Board of Regents voted to adopt the national “Common Core” Standards for mathematics and English language arts and literacy.

States are permitted to add to the Common Core Standards.

Over the past summer, the State Education Department assembled work groups to recommend additions for new York.

Now SED is seeking reactions to the recommended additions through online surveys.

You may review the recommendations and complete the surveys here:

• English Language Arts and Literacy
• Mathematics

The SED website explains,

The State Education Department will be gathering input from October 20th, 2010 to November 29th, 2010. After the survey data and comments are compiled, there will be a revision period in December prior to the submission of the final materials for Board action in January 2011.

Over the summer, the Los Angeles Times stirred up a lot of controversy by compiling value-added performance ratings for teachers based on state test results, then making findings available in a searchable database, including the names of teachers and their individual ratings.

The New York City Department of Education computes value-added scores for its teachers and a group of news organizations made a freedom of information law request for release the ratings for individual teachers.  The Wall Street Journal was one of the news outlets making the request.

The City DOE was prepared release the information on Wednesday but the City teacher union threatened a lawsuit to block release.

Now the DOE is saying it will release the data tomorrow (Friday), unless the courts intercede.

The union filed suit this morning.

UPDATE:  The City DOE agreed to hold off on releasing individual teacher data until at least late November.  A State Supreme Court Judge will hear arguments on November 24 on the teacher union’s lawsuit seeking to prevent the release.

Andrew Rotherham had a wise piece on the place of value-added analysis in Time magazine last month.

Mr. Rotherham once worked for our national affiliate, the American Association of School Administrators.

Sunday’s New York Times included a lengthy article on the problems in New York State’s testing program which led to this summer’s “cut score” adjustment.

The article begins noting that although the adjustments were justified based on new analysis, “…evidence had been mounting for some time that the state’s tests, which have formed the basis of almost every school reform effort of the past decade, had serious flaws.”

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Today’s New York Daily News carries a column by State Education Commissioner David Steiner titled, “Back to school, back to reform: N.Y. education commissioner charts a course to higher standards.”

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Property tax caps, deteriorating rigor in Regents Exams, releasing student data for individual teachers, political endorsements… Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, the State Education Department announced that it had received sufficient funding in the almost finally finalized state budget to reverse some but not all of the planned reductions in the state’s assessment program.

Perhaps most notably, the Department will continue to administer January Regents Exams.

Here is the Department’s memo outlining planned changes to the state’s assessment program for the coming school year.

Below are the reductions the Department will still implement: Read the rest of this entry »