2017 NYSUT Communications Award - Best Website
Earlier this month, the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) released an important report entitled, More Teaching, Less Testing. The report is the product of work undertaken by a task force consisting of public school teacher union members from across the state. Our very own Dieu Cai-Hisu, from Salk Middle School, represented the LUT on this task force.
The NYSUT task force on testing met regularly over the past few months with the purpose of reimaging our current state system of student assessments and graduation requirements to meet 21st century education values and priorities. The primary recommendations from the report are listed below.
Many of the changes to state education testing practices suggested by the NYSUT Task Force would be included in, or made possible by, national education reform law introduced recently in the United States House of Representatives. The national law, called the More Teaching Less Testing Act, would grant states more freedom in formulating their own assessment systems and allow for revisions to the federal student performance reporting mandates that are currently in place. The More Teaching Less Testing Act has been endorsed by the National Education Association and the national parent organization of NYSUT and the LUT, the American Federation of Teachers.
On a statewide level, the New York State Department of Education (NYSED) and the New York State Board of Regents have been in discussions over the past few years regarding changes to our state testing practices that are not mandated by federal legislation. It is expected that NYSED will be making recommendations to the Board of Regents in the coming weeks. To be sure, it is the hope of NYSUT that our State Education Department will consider suggestions made in the NYSUT Task Force report when presenting their ideas for changes to our state testing practices.
To read the full NYSUT Task Force report, click on the link below.
https://publicschoolsuniteus.