In a sharp rebuke, delegates at the Representative Assembly unanimously called on the state Board of Regents to direct State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia to make the necessary changes to fix the state’s broken standardized testing system.
The special order of business, approved unanimously by more than 1,700 delegates, says NYSUT has no confidence the commissioner or the State Education Department will do the right thing on their own – so the union is counting on the Regents Board to stop the madness and finally return trust in the system.
The resolution notes Commissioner Elia and SED have failed to make the many changes recommended by NYSUT, including reducing testing, making the tests more developmentally appropriate and resetting the scoring benchmarks. The state continues to press forward on computer-based testing, despite widespread technological problems and evidence that students do better with pen-and-paper testing.
“We have lost confidence in the Commissioner and the State Education Department to make the necessary changes on their own,” said NYSUT Executive Vice President Jolene DiBrango. “New York State educators and New York State education isn’t failing; the Commissioner and SED are.”
