ALBANY, N.Y. Aug. 1, 2016 — New York State United Teachers released the following statement today after analyzing student test scores in English Language Arts and math for grades 3-8:
"We applaud the performance of our students and the work of our educators to help them learn every day. The State Education Department is beginning the process of implementing the recommendations from last year's Common Core Task Force and considerable work lies ahead. While student performance improved, our state still does not have an accurate picture of how our students are doing. The SED and the Regents still must reset the state's flawed benchmarks for college and career readiness. Research — including NYSUT's own — shows that the benchmarks set several years ago are not appropriate and do not accurately reflect the high levels of teaching and learning in our schools. And, New York State must do more to change the conversation: Students are more than test scores, and the focus should be on supporting all the good work going on in our classrooms, not just numbers on standardized tests."
New York State United Teachers is a statewide union with more than 600,000 members in education, human services and health care. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.