© 2024
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
An update has been released for the Android version of the WAMC App that addresses performance issues. Please check the Google Play Store to download and update to the latest version.

Karen Magee: The Education Transformation We’ve All Been Waiting For

To pop the champagne or not pop the champagne, that is the question.

The champagne that I’m talking about is not the bottle my family cracks open on New Year’s.

Rather, it’s the bubbly that represents a much-needed transformation in state education policy.

Recent recommendations by the Task Force on the Common Core were a momentous development.

The Task Force signaled a commitment to restore the joy of teaching and learning in our classrooms.  It recommended dramatic changes to the Common Core and creation of New York standards by New York teachers for New York students.

It recommended less time on testing and more time for learning.

And, the task force said student test scores should be de-linked from teacher evaluations for at least four years.

The recommendations followed a sea change in federal education policy.

Earlier this month, Congress passed and President Obama signed a new federal education law — the Every Student Succeeds Act — which gets the federal government out of the business of teacher evaluations.  The new federal education law also guts many of the onerous testing and accountability provisions contained in No Child Left Behind. Instead, Congress is now leaving important decisions about testing and accountability up to states and local communities.

These changes are essential to ending the high-stakes pressure from high-stakes tests — pressure that sucked the joy out of teaching and learning and turned too many classrooms into testing factories.

At the state and federal level, the pendulum is clearly swinging back it the direction of sanity in education policy.  It shows that parents and teachers — united in fighting for the best interests of children — are a force to be reckoned with.

The union I lead — New York State United Teachers — sponsored more than 70 education forums, staged countless rallies and protests, and used petitions, letter-writing and advertising to get its message out.  We’re proud of the work we did with parents to make students the big winners.

Indeed, the shared passion among parents and educators for teaching and learning led to these achievements. They build on previously announced reductions in testing; the firing of Pearson; and more transparency about the testing process.

So, when am I going to pop the cork?

The reality is that our work is not yet done.  While I have every reason to believe that our voices have been heard and significant progress is being made, there’s also the reality that these recommendations must still be made a reality.

There are a lot of moving parts and lot of heavy lifting for New York State to begin developing new standards and assessments; to align curriculum and put in place the necessary professional development.  I am optimistic that by bringing New York teachers into the process from the very beginning, the public’s trust and confidence in the state education system will be restored.

And, I believe that New York State has learned hard lessons from its botched implementation of the Common Core and its over-reliance on high-stakes tests.

Those mistakes should never be repeated.

We will be redoubling our efforts to ensure these necessary and transformative changes are realized in every classroom.  We will be doing it, as we always do, in a partnership with parents.

But, until all our work is done, I’m not going to open that bottle.  I will, however, get out the ice bucket and the glasses.  I’m very optimistic that — thanks to the advocacy of teachers and parents, fighting together — real change is coming.

Karen Magee, a former elementary and special education teacher in Harrison, is president of the 600,000-member New York State United Teachers.

The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.

Related Content