News From SWW

August 30, 2003: CCSE and Upcoming Hearings

The CCSE group is working for the elimination of NYS High-stakes Regents Exams for all students and minimally for the flexibility for NYS School Districts to estabish schools like SWW or others that would graduate students based upon alternative criteria from Regents standards. Information about CCSE plans and registration forms for the Hearings follows.

Dan

To: ccse_core@yahoogroups.com
From: Dan Drmacich
Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 07:58:51 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [ccse_core] Urgent Message !!!!!

At our most recent CCSE meeting, we made several decisions regarding the hearings that you need to be aware of for scheduling purposes:

1. Even though the Albany Joint Committee Hearing is the day before the Rochester Hearings ( Albany, (Weds.) 10/22 and Rochester, (Thurs) 10/23, we want to have representation at each hearing. The Albany Hearing may be more high profile since Mills will be testifying there and more legislators will be present. Therefore, we will be travelling by a caravan of cars, or rented vans or a bus to Albany. We'll most likely leave about 7:00 am on Weds. (details to follow). We encourage you to sign up using the the information on the memo below from Marcia. You can register by e-mail, by telephone, fax or mail. I encourage you to do it by telephone, making contact with Courtney Hayden.

New York City and Westchester- area folks are also going to be coming to Albany. If we get there by 10:30 am, at this time we'll plan on staying the full day to testify, demonstrate with signs, pass out literature, lobby at offices with available legislators, and participate in a planned press conference. So, we'll most likely be there untill about 4:00 pm and return to Rochester about 7:30 pm. This however could change, based on how many folks are testifying in Albany. We know this sounds like alot to do, but this, indeed, may be one of our last major opportunities to present our case with this kind of potential for change. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU OR OTHER FRIENDS, STUDENTS, PARENTS, EDUCATORS, COMMUNITY FOLKS WILL BE TRAVELLING WITH US. WE'LL NEED THIS INFORMATION TO DECIDE HOW WE'LL TRAVEL.

2. To add to the time and energy you will need to expend on this event, the next day the Hearings will take place in Rochester. Obviously, many of you will not be able to take the entire day on Thursday to sit and testify and lend support to others at the Rochester Hearings. We've decided to handle this with a three dimensional strategy:

• First, there will be those who can attend the Rochester Hearings only at a specific time to testify or lend support. If this is the case with you, we encourage you to do so and request the specific time when you register.

• Second, we will be seeing if students from various schools are interested in working toward the NYS Participation in Government Learning Standards, by testifying in the morning or afternoon. A number of School Without Walls Students will be marching to the City Hall from SWW @ 10:00 am, holding a press conference, and then testifying. They would like to have other students from other schools join them for this valuable learning activity. Hopefully their teachers and administrators would endorse it as a field trip and learning experience. If you have ideas on this, please contact me. Other student groups could do the same, of course, between 3-5 pm (assuming the hearings will go that long.) I suggest that those of you who have students or plan,yourself, to testify between 3-5 pm,to make sure you state this when you register.

• Third, Parents, teachers, students, and other concerned community folks are invited to participate in a 3:30 demonstration in front of City Hall, at which folks will hold signs, distribute literature, and be part of a press conference. During the demonstration and press conference, of course, people will be testifying in the City Hall Chambers. After the press conference all can go into the Hearings to listen, applaud, hold signs, and testify. It is important that this be a media event and that folks from a variety of backgroundes and occupations testify and participate. CRITICAL, ARE PARENTS and STUDENTS. Please do whatever you can to recruit as many parents and students as you can to participate. Critical, are those folks who have PERSONAL STORIES TO TELL ABOUT HOW THEIR STUDENTS OR SCHOOLS OR TEACHERS and LEARNING HAVE BEEN NEGATIVELY AFFECTED BY REGENTS EXAMS.

This is the current plan. It is subject to change, based on your input. HOWEVER, PLEASE REALIZE THAT THIS MAY BE ONE OF OUR LAST CHANCES TO MAKE AN IMPACT ON THE ALBANY DECISION MAKEARS. PLEASE MARK YOUR CALANDERS and PLAN TO BLOCK OUT WEDNESDAY, OCT. 22nd FOR ALBANY, and at least Thurs afternoon for the Rochester Hearings.

At this point, we've also tentatively agreed to focus on two major proposals to the legislators:

1. That a moratorium be declared on all Regents Exams until an impartial study can be conducted on the impact of High-Stakes Standardized Testing on learning, teaching, schools, teachers, and schools.

2. That special legislation be passed to give all NYS School Districts the right to use alternative high-standards, curricula and assessments, and be given the right to award local diplomas, subject to approval by the District Superintendent and School Board. At this time we believe these are logical and reasonable requests, given the negative results and implication of Regents Exams.

This CCSE position is, of course, subject to modification, based on your input.

We'll also be hitting the newspapers and target citizens and groups with information on these events. IT WILL ONLY WORK AND BE EFFECTIVE IF YOU BECOME ACTIVELY AND PASSIONATELY INVOLVED. LET'S HEAR FROM YOU, IF YOU HAVE COMMENTS OR IDEAS!!!!

Dan Drmacich

From the State Assembly Web Site: http://assembly.state.ny.us/comm/Ed/20030821/

ASSEMBLY STANDING COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

SUBJECT: Regents Learning Standards and High School Graduation Requirements.

PURPOSE: To investigate and evaluate the Regents Learning Standards and the assessment instruments used to measure those standards.

New York City
Wednesday
October 15, 2003
9:00 A.M.
250 Broadway, New York, NY
Assembly Hearing Room 1923, 19th Floor

Albany
Wednesday
October 22, 2003
9:00 A.M.
Legislative Office Building, Albany, NY
Roosevelt Hearing Room C, 2nd Floor
* Joint Hearing with the Senate Education Committee

Rochester
Thursday
October 23, 2003
10:30 A.M.
Rochester City Hall
30 Church Street, Rochester, NY
City Council Chambers Room 302-A

These hearings are being conducted in a cooperative manner between the Assembly and Senate. The two respective Education Committees will coordinate their separate hearing dates to maximize public input.

The Board of Regents has implemented a standardized testing process for all high school students to graduate with a diploma. This policy currently requires high school students to receive a passing grade on five different Regents exams. Students who entered the 9th grade in 2000 are required to get a passing score of 55 on two of the Regents exams and a 65 on the 3 other Regents exams. Students entering 9th grade on or after September 2001 will be required to obtain a 65 passing grade on each of the five exams.

This high stakes assessment structure replaced a dual-track system whereby students could either obtain a Regents Diploma by passing a series of Regents exams or obtain a local district diploma via standards set by the local school district, which included locally developed testing instruments.

Problems associated with recent Regents exams have caused concerns about the policy of high stakes exams to resurface and have led to a broader discussion about the sufficiency of this policy. Furthermore, concerns about the accuracy of the tests and their alignment to curriculum have been expressed. Others have questioned whether the escalating dropout rate may correlate with the implementation of this testing policy. This hearing will examine these issues and give the public the opportunity to comment or raise additional concerns.

Persons wishing to present pertinent testimony to the Committee at the above hearing should complete and return the enclosed reply form as soon as possible. It is important that the reply form be fully completed and returned so that persons may be notified in the event of emergency postponement or cancellation.

Oral testimony will be limited to 10 minutes' duration. In preparing the order of witnesses, the Committee will attempt to accommodate individual requests to speak at particular times in view of special circumstances. These requests should be made on the attached reply form or communicated to Committee staff as early as possible.

Ten copies of any prepared testimony should be submitted at the hearing registration desk. The Committee would appreciate advance receipt of prepared statements.

In order to further publicize these hearings, please inform interested parties and organizations of the Committee's interest in hearing testimony from all sources.

In order to meet the needs of those who may have a disability, the Assembly, in accordance with its policy of non-discrimination on the basis of disability, as well as the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), has made its facilities and services available to all individuals with disabilities. For individuals with disabilities, accommodations will be provided, upon reasonable request, to afford such individuals access and admission to Assembly facilities and activities.

Steven Sanders

Member of Assembly

Chairman

Committee on Education

PRINTABLE PUBLIC HEARING REPLY FORM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Return to CCSE Updates

Return to SWW News

Back to Top
Alumni Home • Alumni News • SWW News • Contact Us • Links• Update Info