Setting schools' course
State's new education commissioner seeks to move beyond test standards
Gov. David A. Paterson made a striking reference a few months ago to New York's education system, calling it "world class." What was most striking about it was that here, "world class" would translate to a city high school graduation rate of 52 percent compared to 70.9 percent statewide. World class, indeed.
The statewide attempt to justify that kind of praise now rests with a new state Education Commissioner David M. Steiner, whose recent visit to area charter, city and suburban high schools provided insight into his approach to education and to the task of finding workable solutions to school problems. Overall, that visit was encouraging.
Perhaps the take-away lesson that resonated loudest is Steiner's interest in lessening dependency on assessment testing and backing a more in-depth analysis of what students actually are learning.
Assessment testing should not be eliminated. After all, the state education system is responsible for reporting results, necessary both to federal requirements and a public that deserves some measure of accountability for increasing student achievement. But there always has been concern for pressure on students, parents and teachers and the phenomenon known as "teaching to the test" to meet target scores.
Steiner is equally concerned about a system that may have inadvertently moved off the original intent, not just statewide but nationwide. Former President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind initiative placed heavy emphasis on test results, and teachers were spending more time on the task of reaching high test scores, as opposed to the task of imparting learning.
Imposing tough standards properly focused energy and attention on the need for educational improvement, admirably serving that purpose. But emphasizing test preparation instead of "teaching to the standards" was never the intention of education leaders and the state Regents, and Steiner's recent criticism that the test has become the curriculum is absolutely on point. He wants to evolve the system to education credits accumulated, rather than testing goals met.
Steiner's plan to revise the tests, possibly as early as next spring, is a good start. Next is making tests cover a full range of subject matter, and rigorous enough truly to measure academic achievement.
School boards, superintendents and principals have to understand teachers are the critical component of the education pipeline, and increasing pressure to achieve high test scores without regard to the learning process is cheating students.
Steiner believes the state can achieve a share of the federal government's $4.35 billion program for educational reform, appropriately named "Race to the Top" funding, despite critics' claim that such efforts would be hurt by a state cap on charter schools and a state law barring school districts from using student test scores to evaluate tenure-track teachers.
It seems likely that the money can be won, although the cap is troublesome. More important, though, is the focus on learning across an array of subjects. The education system now has to abandon the notion that if a subject is not tested, it's not important. That's not the path to a world-class education.
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