{"id":7729,"date":"2013-04-22T13:43:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-22T17:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=7729"},"modified":"2013-04-22T13:43:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-22T17:43:00","slug":"nys-biggest-teachers-union-throws-in-against-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2013\/04\/22\/nys-biggest-teachers-union-throws-in-against-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"NY’s biggest teachers union throws in against testing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Saranac Lake Middle School students take the state standardized English language arts test in April 2012 in the school\u2019s gymnasium. Photo: Chris Knight via Adirondack Daily Enterprise<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Last week we reported<\/a> that parents in some of the North Country\u2019s local schools are pushing back against the increasing reliance on standardized testing in New York State. In fact, they\u2019re boycotting the third and eighth grade testing still underway this week. Last week, the kids took the English portion of the tests; this week it\u2019s math.<\/p>\n

Chris Knight followed up<\/a> that story in The Adirondack Daily Enterprise with the news that the Saranac Lake boycott of the English test drew 54 students \u2013 double what organizers had expected.<\/p>\n

Reportedly, thousands joined the boycott statewide. Now it seems the state\u2019s largest teachers union is piggy-backing on the parent concerns, and throwing its weight in with an ad campaign and a petition. New York State United Teachers (NYSUT)<\/a> has its own oar in the water on this, \u00a0as test scores are now to be used in teacher evaluations. (Here’s a press release from NYSUT stating the organization’s position on state testing<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The Albany Times Union reports<\/a> this sympathy with the parent boycott comes despite the union\u2019s public agreement on using the test scores in teacher evaluations, which dates back to Feb., 2012, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo brokered agreement between teachers unions and the state Education Department:<\/p>\n

New York State United Teachers President Richard Iannuzzi<\/a> stood on stage with state Education Commissioner John King<\/a> to announce the hard-won plan. Leaders of the state’s two powerful unions had finally agreed that the tests were a valid method of assessing teacher success when paired with other measures\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Iannuzzi hasn\u2019t recanted, the TU reports, and NYSUT has a lot of issues on its to-do list besides testing. But at the same time, the union\u2019s website includes an account of its president\u2019s visit to Rome, in Oneida County, under the headline: Iannuzzi: Over-testing a communitywide concern<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Iannuzzi said that the state\u2019s obsession with standardized testing\u00a0 \u2014 which Rome Teachers Association President Rob Wood called \u201ca set-up for failure \u2014 has brought together teachers and parents like never before. NYSUT has led a very public campaign against the over-emphasis on tests, even though the new curriculum has not yet been taught in many cases.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s a handy \u201cToo Much Testing?\u201d petition for parents and educators to sign at the union website. And an account of a meeting of union members <\/a>in a six-county area in Central new York focuses on the impact on students:<\/p>\n

The auditorium was silent listening to the account of a gifted student – an incredible thinker – who burst into tears at the words, “Pencils down,” because she hadn’t had time to finish the last essay. Minutes later, she was still “walking down the hallway with tears streaming down her face. And she’s 8.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Central New York meeting comes during the run-up to a major NYSUT \u201crally for education\u201d, on June 8, in Albany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week we reported that parents in some of the North Country\u2019s local schools are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[22,6,5701,20],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7729"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}