From the Desk Of - Common Core Assessment Information

New York State Deputy Commissioner of Education, Ken Slentz, alerted all schools this week to expect lower results with the new Common Core assessments in grades 3-8 Mathematics and English Language Arts. 

In particular, he wrote “ New York State, for the first time, will be reporting student-grade level expectations against a trajectory of college-and-career readiness by tests fully reflective of the Common Core and, as a result, the number of students who score at or above grade level expectations will likely decrease."

In fact, many school officials have heard that New York State has normed scores in such a manner where more than 50% of the students will fall below their new standards.

Admittedly, I do not understand why the New York State Education Department would fashion their new expectations in such a draconian way. I feel they could accomplish their goals without walloping the student scores like this. Later on in his memo, he makes clear that the decline in the results “should not necessarily be interpreted as a decline in student learning or as a decline in educator performance." 

In other words, the expected lower scores will be a result of a much more demanding student assessment.  Naturally, I am sharing this information with parents so they are well aware of the facts as we move closer to the April examinations, as well as the release of the testing results in July.

Undoubtedly, there will be some who will use these results to criticize public education rather than to examine the true nature of the assessment – to raise New York educational standards to a world class level.

We all hope the Common Core assessments facilitate an improvement in student performance and better prepare our children for college and career readiness.

If you have any questions about the Common Core assessments, please contact your child’s principal or visit the New York State Common Core resources webpage for parents http://engageny.org/parent-and-family-resources.