Testimony of Achieve President Michael Cohen

Tuesday, October 1, 2013Printer-friendly version

Testimony of Achieve President Michael Cohen to the New York State Senate Standing Committee on Education 

 

October 1, 2013 - Today Achieve President Mike Cohen gave testimony to New York's Senate Standing Committee on Education during its public hearing, "The Regents Reform Agenda: 'Assessing' Our Progress." The hearing is being held in Syracuse, NY. Below is an excerpt from his prepared remarks and a link to the full testimony.

  
Excerpt:
  
"The effective implementation of standards is both a state and local responsibility. Since the inception of the standards movement in the 1990's, most states focused their efforts on the development of state standards, aligned assessments and accountability systems, with limited if any attention to the provision of curriculum, instructional materials and professional development. Decisions about these matters were typically left to local school districts, particularly in states with strong local control norms. Some districts had the capacity to address these matters effectively, while others did not. As a result, implementation of state standards was often quite uneven within the state, and teachers and principals were often left to their own devices to find or develop instructional materials that were well aligned to the standards.
  
"Most states have learned from this experience. Particularly because the Common Core State Standards demand much more significant changes in classroom instruction than did previous state standards, states are generally taking a more active role in helping to provide tools and supports to classrooms teachers and principals.
  
"Achieve has surveyed state education agencies in the 50 states to identify the steps they are taking to support implementation of the Common Core State Standards. While nearly every state is pursuing more ambitious implementation strategies than they have for previous, state-specific standards, New York has among the most, if not the most, ambitious effort underway to support Common Core implementation.
  
"New York has taken a particularly robust approach to supporting implementation of the standards, zeroing in on the tools and supports that directly impact classroom teaching and learning statewide. More specifically, New York State has:
  
  • Developed high-quality curricular and supplemental materials for voluntary use by districts and schools to align the state's required high school courses to the Common Core college and career ready standards.
  • Supported district and school use of high-quality curricular or instructional materials through the provision of proven processes, protocols, or exemplars.
  • Collaborated with Massachusetts and Rhode Island to develop the "Tri State Rubric" for evaluating the quality of instructional materials and alignment their alignment to the Common Core. This tool enables educators to ensure that instructional materials they use are well aligned with the Common Core, and that they are not dependent on the claims of those who developed the material."
  
Please find the full testimony here.

 

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Media Contact: Chad Colby (202) 419-1570, ccolby@achieve.org