McLaughlin.4.24.13.Education Summit Report and Video

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April 11, 2013

Official Minutes/Report

*** Official video recap of Assemblyman McLaughlin’s

Education Summit may be accessed by clicking here or

visiting: http://bit.ly/EducationSummitNY ***

1. Opening Remarks – Powerpoint Presentationa. One of the goals is to get money into the classroom b. Are the statistics out there indicative of the reality educators are facing?c. There needs to be an awareness of the correlation between education and

the job market

d. APPR doesn’t actually advance educationi. Are the standards effective?

ii. Are educators being forced to teach to the test?e. What impact do unfunded mandates have on teachers?f. Stress on students and teachers due to the common core

2. APPR – as done on message of necessitya. There was reference to “Nation at Risk” – it seems as if history is

repeating itself similar to No Child Left Behind and it’s not fixing the problem but making the problem worse

b. It seems that private companies are profiting from this education crisis,leaving children and teachers in a state of chaos

c. It is taking the enjoyment out of learning for children, leaving behind onlystress, which could cause potentially serious damage (I.e., stress onteachers, children, parents, PTSD)

d. The focus has shifted off of making kids love to learn and their naturalinquisitiveness is “getting beat out of them”

e. Teachers are lowering their standards now because of the “game” being played – they feel that they need to downplay their standards in the frontend to show greater grown in the back end

f. The energy expended to create this program should be focused towarddistricts that actually need the help because this blanket program for alldistricts is harming those districts that are performing well

g. There has been no real discussion on what actually constitutes “growth”and no real consistency – when this program was implemented, there wasno growth model given thus lowering morale, increasing anxiety andincreasing stress

h. The fact that a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom is being reduced tothree numbers is frustrating

i. This program is making principals less visible and less accessible sincetheir time is being so consumed with APPR documentation and

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http://bit.ly/13kS1Ol

http://bit.ly/EducationSummitNY

http://bit.ly/13kS1Ol

http://bit.ly/EducationSummitNY



evaluations – there is no issue with teachers being evaluated but it is theway that it is being done that is overwhelming

j. Educators and Administrators are being forced to put too much time awayfrom being effective in the classroom in order to “make them moreeffective”

k. There needs to be a better way to conduct evaluations in order to redirect precious lost time back to studentsl. When they are evaluated, teachers only have “one shot” to meet all of the

listed standards with no recourse allowed for external factors that mayoccur and are outside of the teachers’ control (I.e., just an “off” day for students)

m. The evaluations are trying to put intangible values in a tangible form, suchas a teacher’s passion for teaching – this demoralizes teachers andadministrators

i. They are trying to reach children but educators need to focus nowon how to evaluate themselves

n. Educators are teaching to a test based on the common core and aretherefore being forced to forget the fact that kids may be dealing withissues at home that can affect their focus in school

o. The evaluation process itself is confusing and there is no communication between administrators and teachers and districts

p. We cannot act as if poverty isn’t an issue – different districts face different problems but no one is taking that into consideration

i. Assemblyman McLaughlin: What about creating a safe harbor for those school districts who face such hurtles as poverty?

q. This program makes all different types of teachers become literacyteachers (due to excessive word problems, I.e., in math), yet literacyteachers are not held accountable, if they even exist in some districts. Theresults for each exam are still on the shoulders of the particular teacher’ssubject.

i. There is great inequity in the testing realm between state testingresults and in-class testing results

r. They are realizing that there can never be too many “highly effective”teachers because then that school will be red-flagged – the system doesn’twork

s. The state is asking educators to do more with less and it is becomingharder and harder to do

t. If the state was going to implement this, they should have had a plan ready before commencing the program

u. Keeping the tests a mystery is hurting the students because teachers cannotteach what they need to know – it makes them feel like the state does nottrust them

v. It is making teaching “generic”w. It is a system that is knowingly destined to fail therefore it was obviously

not thought out well

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i. The Commissioner says that he expects scores to go down andstudents to do poorly but APPR isn’t being adjusted to reflect it

x. Some teachers are not allowed to make the tests to measure their ownclassrooms even though they are the ones who know their students the bestso it is no longer learning, but rather, regurgitating

y. The amount of teaching necessary to cover all of the information beingtested is disheartening and leaving kids behind because there is no time togive that little extra help

i. This is forcing kids into higher level thinking and there’s no timeto “catch up”

z. It puts the value of 3 months worth of learning into a 2 hour testaa. The assessment piece of the program is working against its intended goals

so the positive agenda of APPR is being lost in assessment and thecumbersomeness of its implementation

i. We should show learning over a span of time, not just one test bb. The people making these decisions are not educators and furthermore,

educators were never even brought into the discussion or planning processeven though they are the ones most impacted by the programcc. Everyone is missing the big picture – no one is complaining about being

observed, it is everything else that comes with the observationdd. Deadlines make no sense – a new plan is required to be submitted before

knowing if the previous year’s plan was effectiveee. This encourages mediocrity

3. Common Core – federal pusha. At the heart of the common core is sound teaching practice so it is

theoretically liked particularly in its push for collaborative learning andsound teaching but it is not aligned in its implementation

i. Therefore, implementation of the common core is the problem b. The training needed has not trickled down to the people on the ground –

there needs to be a course of action that will allow teachers to helpteachers develop effective plans

i. There needs to be professional development for teachers byteachers but that’s not what is actually happening

ii. Teachers are willing to work together but the assessment causesisolation amongst educators because their scores are dependentupon their own students so the stress on teachers is increasing.There is no longer a willingness to open up to come together

iii. Professional development is now only aimed at focusing on APPR instead of discussing teaching tools to help students – the system is broken

c. Assessments are now being done but no guidance is being given as to thecurriculum – this is leading to some instances where eighth graders needto take 2 separate math classes

d. Again, there is no communication between what is being implemented andteachers or parents

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e. If it’s only the common core that is being expected then we are doing right by our children but the assessment aspects ruins the beneficial qualities

i. The assessment seems to be driven by people who seek to profitfrom available education funds

ii. If we stay true to the common core, then kids will learn critical

thinking skills but the assessments “pervert” its deliveryf. There is no clear way to blend the common core with the currentcurriculum and it is frustrating

i. Nothing is coming together and it feels like mass chaosg. There have been many changes and it seems that they are trying to figure

it out as they go (trying to build a plane while in the air)i. Re: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-

dangers-of-building-a-plane-in-the-air/2011/09/30/gIQAojqWAL_blog.html

ii. Video Referenced: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3hge6Bx-4w

h. They are being assessed on something they don’t know they are going to be assessed on so teachers have lost confidence on state assessments,which hurts the best kids whose scores are then being scaled to a lower grade than what they deserved

i. Maybe the state is expecting a little too much from these children j. Blanket and generic teaching dismisses students who learn differently and

frustrates children because they are becoming tired of trying and failing – the bar is too high and you are going to see children give up earlier andearlier

k. Seems as if cheating is built into the plan because if you’re strategicenough then you won’t get a bad assessment result

l. If teachers give into focusing on the score, then they are going to be worseteachers and students won’t learn

m. It is not fair that scores will still count even if kids don’t go to school – theteacher is still held accountable for that child’s score

n. The Governor giving competitive grants is pitting district against district,which is disturbing when there are districts that are still struggling and inneed of professional development because there are no resources tocompete

i. The huge amount of money that was promised to go towardeducation is a lie

ii. A lot of districts don’t even qualify for some of the competitivegrants or don’t have the same resources as other districts tocompete fairly

iii. This kind of attitude shouldn’t belong and doesn’t work in theeducation realm

o. Special education students still have to take the same tests, which isridiculous, cruel, abusive and is sending the message that the state iswilling to leave kids behind

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-dangers-of-building-a-plane-in-the-air/2011/09/30/gIQAojqWAL_blog.html



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3hge6Bx-4w









i. Does it no long follow the IEP regulations then if the tests stillneed to be take pursuant to state mandate

p. Troy School 2 Example: best example of damage that could be done andshows the result of schools being forced to ignore the issues kids arefacing at home such as poverty

q. The documentation requirement takes time out of classroom teaching andteachers are only human so there’s only so much to giver. School districts should be deciding what their students should be learning,

not a generic nationwide plans. Suggestion: NYSUT should work with legislature and legislators should

spend a day with a teacher and shadow them to know what the reality of APPR and common core testing is really like

t. When legislators are removed from what’s actually going on, they are outof touch because they do not have to deal with the problems

u. We are no longer fostering vocational training for kids who don’t functionas effectively in a structured school environment or who do not desire to

go to collegei. Those that do try to utilize BOCES must wait too long and may noteven be able to utilize it because there is only enough money toallow a limited number of students in

v. Kids need to be critical thinkers for the jobs of the future and right now,kids aren’t being made into critical thinkers, only test takers and it is theassessments aspect that distracts them from critical thinking

i. We need teacher driven and teacher made assessments created outof “teacher think tanks” – take this power out of the hands of private companies and put it into the hands of the people who haveexperience in education

4. Unfunded Mandatesa. Computer-Based Testing – it’s a money maker for companies who provide

the hardware, software, bandwith, etc.i. How can school afford the number of computers necessary for the

testing requiredii. There is an issue with the necessary spending of 5% of the school

budget on technologyiii. What about schools who lack the infrastructure to support such

testing? (I.e., rural districts with no or limited internet access,schools who don’t have the room for the number of computersnecessary, etc.)

iv. How can assessments even be made on computers since multiplechoice questions do not allow for the proper testing capacity andisn’t really good testing

v. What happens to those students who do not have computers intheir homes and do not know how to type on a keyboard? It is atimed test and much of the time is going to be wasted on figuringout the computer. Furthermore, schools will not be able to afford

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typing classes and many if not most schools have already gottenrid of their typing classes

vi. Give the districts the option to take this on, don’t mandate itvii. It ignores what teachers want to use to teach their students

b. Calculators – there’s a requirement that a graphic calculator be on hand for

each student but one calculator is $100c. Use of ipads may be beneficial but there are too many moving parts toadequately implements it

d. Text Lists for High Schools – different now and includes books that havenever been taught in schools before so if teachers want to use them, theymust purchase the books themselves, which can be expensive

e. Special education – teachers are being encouraged not to classify or identify students anymore as there are too many hoops to jump throughand collecting and data takes a full year. The teachers who work with thekids know that there is a problem but they can’t do anything to help for one year

f. Lengthening the School Day – will never work since kids will lose focus but the state should be more supportive of summer programming (11th month programming)

i. It would help for transportation to be covered as well asfree/reduced lunches

ii. Maybe use of trimesters with credit-recovery between eachtrimester would be a good response to longer days/time

iii. People are just afraid of changeg. Don’t get rid of mandates, fund the mandates – get rid of the bad ideas

and fund the good onesh. Charter Schools – they are not held accountable or responsible and are not

forced to observe the same requirements, which is not fair i. Students and teachers are allowed to be creative the way public

schools can’tii. There shouldn’t be an application process and kids shouldn’t be

kicked out because of issues such as drugs or pregnancy as publicschools must still deal with these issues if they arise

5. What is going to happen to schools that become insolvent?

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McLaughlin.4.24.13.Education Summit Report and Video

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