- We mentioned yesterday that the Senate seems to be leaning away from maintaining the testing requirement, and that two house members introduced a bill to end federally mandated testing. However, John Kline, the head of the House Education Committee, continues to support federal testing requirements, albeit with less US government involvement in consequences.
- We also mentioned yesterday that Cuomo’s agenda will be in the hands of the legislature. Today, Sheldon Silver, Speaker of the New York State Assembly, was arrested on corruption charges. It is too early to tell exactly what this will mean – but Silver has been a supporter of unions and is opposed to much of Cuomo’s agenda. If he resigns or is forced out if convicted, his replacement is likely to be someone in Cuomo’s pocket.
- As noted, under the Governor’s plan only 50% of a teacher’s evaluation would be based on observations, with one of two observations being conducted by an outside “expert.” But things are actually WORSE THAN THAT. The school administrator’s observation would count for 15% of the score while the outsider’s rating would count for 35%.
- Don’t forget to send your comments about testing to:
- The link to Peter Greene’s post that features some other teacher’s letters posted in the comment section had a bad link. It has been corrected on the original post, and you can get there by clicking here.
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