For those who wish to go to the video of Biden's campaign pledge, you can find it here.
Question to Biden in December 2019: Will you commit to ending the use of standardized testing in public schools?
Biden Answer: Yes....
It didn't long before Biden broke his word on standardized testing. At least he is reviving the opt-out movement.
Have at it MAGA's. Betsy DeVos was better on testing in the pandemic than the Biden administration.
Update: NY State Education Department Statement:
NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 23, 2021
Media Contact:
JP O’Hare or Jeanne Beattie
STATEMENT ON USDE ASSESSMENT & ACCOUNTABILITY WAIVER LETTER FROM NYS DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SPOKESPERSON, EMILY DESANTIS
“USDE informed states last night that it will not grant a blanket waiver for state assessments. While we are disappointed by this decision, we are examining all possible options. Further, USDE made the right call in affirming that no child should be made to come to school to take a state assessment. In addition, USDE agreed to uncouple state assessments from accountability measures so no school will be affected by the results of state assessments and the results will solely be used as a measure of student learning. Given these circumstances, the Department will propose a series of regulatory amendments at the March Board of Regents meeting so Regents Exams would not be required to meet graduation requirements and to cancel any Regents Exam that is not required by USDE to be held. We continue to have discussions with USDE regarding this matter to find a path forward that is best for the health and safety of all New York’s children.”
65 comments:
Not surprising. Trump sucked, Biden sucks. 99.99 percent of politicians at any level are lying dirtbags. The AFT , UFT and teachers in general have to stop hoping and begging for a fairly tale politician to come along and do right by them, it will never happen. What we need to do is get angry, militant and forceful. It shouldn’t matter who is in office we should demand and fight for what we need, want, and deserve. We must stop waiting around and being passive pussies. - Hawk
The political spectrum is pretty well-represented here.
Like so many teachers I have worked with throughout my long DOE career, there are people on this blog who really hate this country; these are the race-baiting, divisive, sjw, woke activists who have no chance of surviving "when the revolution comes."
Of course they can't see the irony in this, think they will somehow be exempt from the consequences of the poison they have been teaching children when the mob comes for them...but that lack of self-awareness may be requisite to spewing their hateful hegemonic narrative.
If any are surprised by the path of destruction Jao Xidung has unleashed on this country, they should have read the DNC platform. I really doubt Jao knows what he is doing, but his advisors do.
I knew Biden was full of shit the second he started campaigning. Bottom line is teachers do not have any friends anywhere anymore. All we got is eachother.
5:02 Not the country. No one hates the soil. The government though... that is where the hate is directed, that is where the fury is focused, and this 180 turn by Biden (which is of no surprise at all) is another example of why hatred for the US government exists and is justified.
I would love to see where the companies publishing these Standardized Tests have invested money, such as campaign donations for a start.
Let not your hearts be troubled.
We will build equity!
https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2021/2/23/22297688/ny-regents-graduation-requirements-mandated-tests
Will the tests be given on record players?
Diane Ravitch is shocked? Suckers! Remind me again what Trump or Devos did that affected NYC teachers’ quality of life on the job?
I agree standardized testing needs improvement, but there is no way to tell whether a school is inflating its grades. This is what the SAT is for. How many kids in NYC public high schools have 90 + averages but only score average or below average on the SATs? There has to be some kind of standard.
Just another lie and falsehood in a
So what. His entire campaign was built on false and delusional ideologies.
The Democratic Party has created an echo chamber to convince themselves that they are the party of science, rationality and data, except when the are not. For example, the Democrat Cuomo misused nursing home data and the families of the residents. They are a party of authoritarianism.
Here is the Glenn Greenwald quote again:
GLENN GREENWALD, JOURNALIST: Well, the through line for everything that just talked about, Tucker, is that the Democratic Party, which now controls the House, the Senate and the White House genuinely believes they have a monopoly on objective truth. They believe they're the party of science and rationality, and that the only way to disagree with them is if you're either a deranged conspiracy theorist or a seditionist, somebody who is engaged in criminal conduct or terrorism.
And therefore, they genuinely believe, it's not a show. It's not a pretext. They all have convinced one another through this echo chamber that they've created, essentially, the entire media except this network, which is why they want to shut it down, that if you disagree with their orthodoxies and their consensus, you are a threat and a danger.
And it's so ironic they spent four years claiming they are fighting fascism and authoritarianism, and what are they trying to do now? They're trying to harness corporate and monopoly power to silence everyone who disagrees with them, the very hallmark, the epitome of the fascism they claim to be fighting, but which in reality they embody.
6:36 Luckily congress rejected Trump's and Devos' proposed budget cuts to the Dept of Ed. He tried. He failed. Thankfully, he was all talk, no action, for the most part. That's typical of our politicians though, as is the reversal by Biden. Garbage in, garbage out, as the saying goes.
6:39. There is no reason to believe standardized tests are capable of this. The assessments of students should be left to the educators that work with them. Bringing the private testing sector in, when teachers can design and administer tests of their own, is a waste of money and disrespectful.
Now, they plan offer them again, but only those required by federal law, state Education Department spokeswoman Emily DeSantis said. The change will need to be voted on by the Board of Regents, which governs the state education department.
“Given these circumstances, the Department will propose a series of regulatory amendments at the March Board of Regents meeting so Regents Exams would not be required to meet graduation requirements and to cancel any Regents Exam that is not required by USDE to be held,” she said.
Vidal nailed it when he said we have one corporate party with two right wings.
This is just the testing industrial complex trying to stay relevant with their current benefactors.
I didn't vote for Biden* but I think you're being a little hard on him.
He should not have answered "yes" but listen to the rest of the response, it was mostly reasonable with the usual Bidenisms. Very much like the infamous banning fracking answer, which was used against him, but he meant leases on federal land (I'm against banning the leases and cancelling Keystone Xl but fair is fair)
The NYSED letter also isn't bad, no using tests to penalize schools by AYP, and remote students get to stay remote. Essentially the Regents are optional. The only thing I don't get is why not only offer the advanced exams for the advanced Regents diploma for the higher achievers, and grant the waiver again for the graduation requirements. In essence this would revive the old way with local diploma and Regents diploma.
Honestly as a teacher for over a decade I don't see anything wrong with testing. Infact I think it's necessary. Not everything can be a cute project. No testing just goes along with the elimination of any standards of learning.
There shouldn't even be a US DOE. The words education and schools are not in the Constitution. Regulating education isn't an enumerated power in Article I Section 8.
Nothing done by the US DOE can't be done by NYSED (in fact the feds often duplicate work) or by the private sector, most notably student loans which ought to be administered by banks.
Joe B has to pay his Testing peeps.
Lol. I'll take a tough SOB, foul-mouthed individual who puts his country first any day of the week next to a soft SOB liar who - well - according to the blog post scammed us all in respect to what he said he would do and what he actually is doing.
Doesn’t matter if there are Regents Exams or no Regents Exams—the passing grade for the Algebra Math was an abysmal equivalent of about 32% or so. The bottom line is that educational standard in the USA continues to fall behind many other nations.
Budget cuts at the federal doe do not impact the quality of nyc teachers work life. I think the whole dept should be eliminated. Leave education to the states.
I don't mind the State tests. I agree that there should be some kind of standard but when business and politics get involved, standards go out the window.
(1)The results of the tests should not be used for the teacher evaluation. They are meant for student evaluation. (
2) There should not be a conversion chart. The conversion chart dismisses the reliability of the tests.
3) They should bring back choice to the mathematics Regents exams. Years ago, students could choose which written response questions to answer.
(4)The majority of middle school students should not be taking any Regents exam. There should be some kind of standard for students to be eligible to take Regents in the middle school grades. For example, they must score a 4 or higher in the grade 6 or 7 NYS Math and ELA tests in order to take a Regents course in 7th or 8th grade. Many middle schools across NYC, offer multiple Regent courses and exams in 7th and 8th grades, because the conversion charts are so generous.
President Biden will say whatever he wants to say, whenever and to whomever. Most likely, he doesn't remember what he said in the posted video. I do not know how politicians sleep at night.
These are the five key takeaways to understand UFT collaboration with the DOE:
1) Unity is a one way street.
2) Teacher harassment using weaponized observations is a symptom of a repressive organization.
3) Systemic teacher inadequacy is a delusional conspiracy theory.
4) New racists pose as anti-racists.
5) Double standards are justified for the greater good of promoting corporate privatization.
Classic politics.
Some testing company or another holier than thou person like danielsen is trying to exploit pandemic to try to line their pockets.
This happens every few years.
The public wants to know,”why are kids not learning?” Colleges ask,”why can’t kids keep up with the work?”
Instead of having real dialogue and speaking the truth, it is easier to placate the public and say,”hey, look at what we are doing! We tested and have a teacher evaluation system. Change is on the way!”
Then, the general public moves on and we have newer, dumber programs and as teachers, we nod, smile, pass everyone who shows up all the while doing what we feel is right when admins aren’t in the room.
I’m not condoning this, but most people that last in the system play the game. If you want to survive and stay in good physical and mental health, you do this.
Also, I feel that each year, if a few kids get something out of what you are doing, that is a victory.
That kid who shows up at 10 am with an egg sandwich and an Arizona iced tea won’t care if you can walk on water.
Happily there may be an unwoke awakening happening on both left and right. In our Orwellian dystopia, it remains unclear whether enough people will see what has been occurring before their eyes to make a difference.
Some people are waking up.
https://www.westernjournal.com/now-bad-even-clinton-adviser-warning-biden-covid-totalitarian-police-state/
https://gbdeclaration.org/
Using test scores of kids who put in zero effort to judge teachers is the problem. Testing kids is not the problem. And good ole Beijing Biden and fellow democrat Corrupt Cuomo are going to make sure the Obama legacy continues to use test scores against teachers. 10:24 is right....except not all of us were scammed. Some of us knew Biden would fuck teachers the first chance he got....just like Obama did. Standardized testing, no $15 minimum wage, kids still in Obama’s cages, corporate nominations. Biden does what I do. Pay lip service to the progressive fools at work in order to get what we want but don’t actually do anything. Now if I could just get the Chinese Communist Party to offer me bribes my Bidenesque life will be complete.
key #5
5) Double standards are justified for the greater good of promoting corporate privatization.
The Key to understanding high stakes testing and education reform is #5.
Excellent comments by 6:18.
One note on the old Sequential exams though - those kids (including me once upon a time) didn't really need to know 65% of the work either, because of the 5 Part I omits (although more fill-ins rather than MC) and picking 4 out of 7 on Parts II (and III on the Sequential II). Still, the 46% they had to know is better than the chart now. On the flip side, I got 100 without having to answer all the questions; I think it's actually harder to get 100 now.
To the teachers who are returning to schools this week during an unsafe pandemic, I hope you remember who put you there...You are the best babysitters money can buy...Even if you are talking into a computer from the those unsafe school buildings.
Sincerely,
Michael Mulgrew-Thanks for the dues
UFT President
High schools opening after spring break. Announcement within 2 weeks.
Ah, yes —nothing like high stakes testing the kids and all those endless test prep materials-
and NCLB, Race To The Top, Danielson, School Progress Reports etc.
Why don’t we simply call the next student test evaluations—‘Rest The Test’.
Exactly.
10:24 the last president put his market value first. don't get scammed now. they all put their worth first. there is no concern for the people of the country, just the market, just the gdp, all things the common people get no piece of, though it is our labor which makes it all possible.
And isn’t that with a HUGE curve? Kids can literally guess their way through Algebra 1 and still pass!
Nice! Happy for those children. I can’t imagine what a horror show it is being at home at that age.
12:56 my stock portfolio disagrees with you. I was raised paycheck to paycheck in nyc. Put myself through college. Got a teaching job. Invested in the stock market and now live a modest middle class lifestyle in the suburbs. If you have a brain and drive, you can succeed in America. Are there things we can do to make the playing field more level? Sure. But I stopped listening because the left went insane.
TJL. as you pointed out, the constitution needs an update. to reuse your language, there shouldn't even be privatization. there shouldn't even be student loans.
5:36 50 govts doing 50 different things.. and then DC too.. yeah, sounds like it'd go real well. not to mention states have so many differences in terms of affordability, population, and the like. strengthen the republic, and let's finally get it under the control of the people. that is the real key, as our State is a tool of the class in power. and that class ain't us baby.
@6:52 Do you seriously think nyc teachers give more of a shit about the possible elimination of the US Dept of Ed than they do about being tied to test scores? It was the very same US Ed Dept that TIED THEM TO THE TEST SCORES in the first place. Still waiting.... what did Trump or Devos do that had any effect on the work life of nyc teachers? Bush, Obama, Biden all did things that negatively affect nyc teachers. Education wasn’t on Trump’s radar. Perhaps it would have been in a 2nd term. I’ll give you that. But Obama did more to screw us than anyone and Biden’s on his way to doing the same. Keep voting for them and expecting them to change. I stopped THAT insanity in 2012.
4:06 PM, it is the blame game to make excuses and explain why certain groups never make the modest middle class level. Some groups don;t have that common sense, don't get any education and don't stay away from criminality, then wonder why...
The CDC says it’s safe. You don’t trust them? And what are we going to do? Start remote until herd immunity?
I'm in my early 40s, have 400k in the tda and have 2 million in stocks, nothing inherited. I had an 80 average in high school. It's not that hard.
4:06 Class inequality is a pre requisite to a class system. If everyone were to "make it" there'd be no class system. Our system requires there to be a bottom, the poor. We don't need playing fields, we don't need to compete with each other at our own expense. Our collective labor could afford us all the modest lifestyle you describe, but that labor is exploited and the full value of our output is kept out of our hands. The goal is to lift everyone, every voice, together. Just as it should be in a union. We must be together, not divided by class, by access, or by opportunity.
4:23 The State apparatus, such as the Dept of Ed, is a tool of the class in power. These tools are worthless when we constantly fill them with garbage.
Your desire to find change under the last administration, what did they do to make work life harder for teachers in nyc, is the same as asking how it got better. Nothing changed. They got nothing passed that had much of an affect on NYC teachers, as we financially can make up for budget cuts, but other parts of the country aren't as lucky. The few successful changes they enabled were really a blow to students nationwide, their financial stability, and just an all out war on Trans identity. The NEA had assembled a little timeline we can still pull up, and since you are curious, dig into it.
here..
https://educationvotes.nea.org/2019/03/22/devos/
And just for fun, Trump University anyone hahaha. Oh the scams, so blatant, it's almost, funny. Almost
What's in the $1.9T Democrat COVID "relief" bill:
$1,000,000,000 to advance "racial justice" in farming
$129,000,000,000 to schools—whether they open or not
$35,000,000,000 to Obamacare subsidies
$500,000,000 for "arts, humanities, and libraries"
4:37 Labor is not valued equally here. Your chance of employment, being in a union, the TDA, and luck with gambling/stocks is not universal. If we had full employment, if we had our labor valued at equal rates, then it wouldn't be so hard. Class is a real thing and our greatest enemy.
Teach NY. Really hahaha come on now. I'm sure it was a blast to be home from high school.
4:37: Did your parents have money? That makes a big difference.
4:16 you just made the argument against the federal doe without even realizing it. Every state has their own challenges, weaknesses, needs, etc. it’s called federalism and it’s how are system is supposed to work.
7:50 it's called a failed social experiment. you dont need separate governments to do the same thing, which, in this case, is fund schools and school staff properly. too many people in the room, so to speak, only makes more noise.
the only thing these state govts should do is assess the need, then report the need. in that respect, they would be more of a union or party, that could appeal to the central government to meet the need.
and of course, we the people must for once gain control of our central government. democratize our system. get on a single page, and move forward and far away from this decay that we are drowning in. or it is this same garbage over and over, year after year, baby steps forward, baby steps backward, without any fundamental change.
7:16 we may not need this stuff if it wasn't for our system being wildly unequal and our culture being blissfully anti intellectual. but alas, here we are, where Bill Gates is the top owner of farmland. what a joke.
Biden is a liar. That's been well-established over his 47 years leeching off the taxpayers in his "service" to the country. And as the old saying goes, you can't believe a liar even when they're telling the truth.
FAKE,PHONY,FRAUD
sounds like buyers remorse wait till they come after tenure again
sounds like buyers remorse wait till they come after tenure again especially with layoff coming
I'm a teacher. Students think that's a lowlife, minimum wage job. Any 4 year college can get you to a teaching job. The stock market, over 100 years, averages 10% gain a year. Just buy the S&P 500. No trading. How about telling stupid people not to spend all their money on sneakers, chains, food and cell phones? And spend a bit more time finishing their education so they would qualify for this oh so wonderful union job.
My parents, one was a teacher, one was a housewife
Anyone whose parents paid for their education should not be speaking about kids going to college. Yes they can get scholarships but full scholarships aren't readily available. Both my parents didn't even graduate high school. I went on loans and had 38,000 + in loans when I finished my masters. Because of that, I couldn't buy a house until my mid 40s. I'm sure a lot of people who bought homes when they were young had help from their parents too. I just don't like people who come from wealthy families criticizing people for not being as successful as them.
Buyers remorse? More than two dozen House Democrats ask Biden to relinquish sole authority to launch nuclear weapons
"We respectfully request that you, as president, review ways in which you can end the sole authority you have to launch a nuclear attack, and to install additional checks and balances into the system," the letter states.
9:10 PM. It’s not called a failed social experiment, it’s called the Constitution. Education is not an enumerated federal function. Therefore, under the 10th amendment it is a power reserved to the states
Lawyers for the kids in cages say things not really better under Biden. Kids still in the same cages that candidates Biden Harris claimed were a crime against humanity. Candidates pretended to cared. Prez Biden and vice prez Harris on the other hand are pretty cool with letting kids rot in same cages as Orange Man Bad. Sad.
TJL seriously I pray you are being sarcastic when you say being too hard on this skeleton ghost who does not even do .00005 of the press briefings and speaking to the lions den media like Trump did every day in office. How about the media get tough on Psaki and Biden!!! (obviously, never happen media is complicit and a joke)
When has Biden's word ever meant anything????? He is the ultimate plagiarist beyond exposed in the 80s. Reporters from back then are turning in their graves if they knew Biden made it to office. He just said in a town hall Black and Brown kids in rural areas do not know how to get on the internet, where the outrage!!!!!!!😡🤬😡🤬
Where is Jill Biden our hero???? WE need veteran and highly critical thinking educators to make decisions for education. Clearly the government, governors and mayors are useless to help improve our profession.
12:35 yes, it is clear. our failed State needs a new constitution. time for an update. something post industrial revolution, ya know.
3:56 because they are all the same trash.
How disappointing. Anyone who has proctored a student during standardized test that they are not ready for, knows how soul-crushing it is for the student. There's got to be a better way.
Our Constitution does not need an overall. The WHO recommends not locking down because it has an inequitable effect on the poor and is now causing malnutrition in children across the globe. Just like Biden Harris told me to do I follow the science. I agree with the WHO and demand equity for the poor and malnourished children. You heard the scientists at WHO. These lockdowns are hurting the poor. End them.
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