Politics & Government

Senator Flanagan Calls For Immediate Action on Common Core

A new report based on the five Common Core hearings offer some proposed changes.

Senator John Flanagan, Chairman of the New York State Senate Standing Committee on Education, issued a report called, 'The Regents Reform Agenda: "Assessing" Our Progress.'

The report is in response to the five hearings that the senator held on Long island, Syracuse, Buffalo, New York City, and Albany. Each hearing allowed a certain amount of speakers to come to a podium and speak their mind on the latest changes coming down from the state regarding the Common Core Learning Standards.

The standards were adopted in New York by the Board of Regents in 2010.  In the 2012-13 academic year, the State Education Department began aligning curriculum and assessments to the implementation of these new learning standards in all grades, Pre-K through 12. 

Controversy has followed ever since the announcement. Everyone from teachers, parents, administrators, and school superintendents all over New York have argued whether or not the implementation regulations of the standards should remain. Some say it's helpful, while others strongly disagree saying the new high-stakes testing is doing more harm than good. 

After five hearings, Flanagan complied thirty hours of testimony, listened to 115 witnesses and pieced together about 1000 pages of written testimony. 

“There was no shortage of opinions from the witnesses testifying at
these hearings...It was a robust and thoughtful discussion on the many important issues and problems related to the implementation of the State’s new learning standards.  Some of the most passionate testimony came from parents who, at the end of the day, all want the same thing for their children regardless of where they live – a good education," said Flanagan in a statement.  "Our state’s most basic obligation is to provide the funding and resources to ensure that every student has the best chance at success.”

In the report, Flanagan listed some possible administrative actions including:

  •  Expediting waivers from the Federal government (US Department of Education) to relax onerous and rigid testing restrictions placed on certain students, such as Students With Disabilities and English Language Learners (ELL)
  • Producing all missing or incomplete curriculum modules immediately; Aligning assessments proportionally to curriculum actually implemented
  • Delaying operation of the Education Data Portal (EDP) for one year and Increasing funding for the professional development of teachers.
You can download the full report above. What do you think of Flanagan's findings?


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