A group of retired administrators, teachers, professors, and parents is rejecting the New York State Education Department's proposed Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
The Rochester Coalition for Public Education says it's demanding research-based humanistic education reform, not the top-down mandate it says is being pushed by state education leaders.
Coalition member Dan Drmacich, an independent education consultant and former principal at Rochester’s School Without Walls, says the ESSA plan doubles down on the kind of testing that was implemented under the Common Core standards.
"And therefore student interests are set aside; citizenship education is set aside; character development is set aside because they're not measured by the test."
Drmacich said the Education Department already approved a better model for measuring accountability for students and teachers 17 years ago – the model used by New York’s preferred standards consortium schools, including School Without Walls. The system, he said is based on more flexible curriculum and standards and allows individual students to prove their competency in a more holistic way.
"It's not a question of whether or not you can pass an algebra test; it's whether you can demonstrate that you can think deeply like a mathematician. As opposed to knowing history a mile wide and an inch deep and knowing the dates and places of battles and wars, can you think like a historian."
Last month, New York Education Commissioner Mary Ellen Elia attended a public hearing on the proposed ESSA plan at Rush Henrietta High School. Drmacich said the event had the appearance of soliciting feedback, but no meaningful exchange took place as speakers were allowed only three minutes to talk.
Drmacich leveled similar criticisms at the Education Department’s review of the Common Core standards. He said the committee process was controlled and preordained by NYSED and never allowed for any real evaluation or criticism of the standards.
