Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Friday Monroe Community College President Anne Kress will be 1 of 11 panel members to review the state’s rollout of Common Core.
The panel of educators, legislators, and community leaders is tasked with setting recommendations before the end of the 2014 legislative session to improve how Common Core is implemented in the state.
In a statement, Governor Cuomo urged the panel to move quickly and acknowledged the implementation of the new standards has been ineffective and frustrating.
Kress says problems with the implementation of Common Core do not amount to flaws in the standards.
“I, unfortunately, see what happens when students graduate from high school and they are neither college nor career ready. And that's a big challenge. It's a challenge across our entire state. In that respect, the notion of setting high expectations and real world driven expectations for all of our students (I think) is something that we can all support.”
Common Core intends to raise standards so students will graduate with the skills they need for college or the work force. The Board of Regents adopted the standards for New York schools in 2011. Since that time, the educational changes have been a significant source of controversy. Many worry educators need more time to teach under the new curricula or students will do poorly on the new tests.
This week New York legislative leaders called for a 2-year moratorium on using Common Core-based test scores to evaluate teachers. In response, a spokesperson for the governor said that move would be "premature."