DELEGATION OF EDUCATORS DELIVER THOUSANDS OF POSTCARDS TO PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARMTENT SECRETARY-DESIGNATE HANNA SKANDERA
Yesterday, a delegation of educators delivered stacks of postcards to Secretary-Designate Skandera asking her to take advantage of a federal opportunity to give states more time to focus on the Common Core State Standards. Since the start of the school year, thousands of educators and community members have signed post cards asking that Secretary-Designate Skandera hold off on high-stakes testing to allow them time to properly implement the common core state standards. The delegation presented the post cards today so that Secretary-Designate Skandera can meet the Sept 30th deadline to request a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education.
Sixteen school districts and school boards representing over 162,000 students have also passed resolutions asking the same of Skandera.
This past summer, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that after listening to educators concerns, he would allow states to request additional time to impose high-stakes tied to standardized tests in order to allow educators to focus on implementing Common Core StandardsIn order to apply, states have to request a waiver for the federal department of education.
The Common Core State Standards provide an exciting opportunity for New Mexico students. However, to date, only 7,000 out of approx. 25,000 educators have been trained on the new standards. Meanwhile, school districts are focused on managing and confusion and distress caused by the PED’s teacher and principal evaluation rule and struggling with the unreliable and inconsistent A-F school grading system.
“Educators are embracing the common core state standards,” says AFT NM President Stephanie Ly. “The Standards allow us to focus on quality instruction and meeting our students’ needs, but like all new initiatives, they take time to implement correctly. Our focus right now needs to be on our students and their learning.”