Wednesday, March 4, 2015



Time to Teach Gov. Cuomo the Truth about Teaching

By Joe Pergola



In the State of New York, 20 percent of teacher rating is based on their students state test scores. Andrew Cuomo,  Governor of New York wants 50 percent of teacher ratings to be based on student test scores. He believes that test scores are the best indicator of teacher effectiveness. What he fails to understand is the link between poverty and poor test scores and the link between English fluency and good test scores.

New York public school teachers currently serve 2.6 million children. In spite of the fact that about twenty-one (21%) percent of all students in New York live in or near poverty and almost a quarter of a million students in New York State are classified as English learners, New York State's public schools rank ninth (9th) in the nation according to the Education Research Center and New York is rated B-while the national average is C.

No one wants to improve test scores more than the teachers who work in New York's public schools. We can achieve that goal by eliminating poverty and violence, improving English literacy, fully funding our schools, supporting teachers efforts and providing quality professional development. We will never improve education in New York by blaming teachers for test score results directly related to circumstances out of their control. That's scapegoating,  unfortunately an all too often common gimmick of politicians.

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