Stern: Cuomo pushing test scores as (false) answers

It’s ironic that as Gov. Andrew Cuomo was introducing an education agenda Wednesday largely focused on standardized testing, U.S. senators were talking in Washington about reducing the role of testing.

Congress is attempting to rewrite No Child Left Behind, the federal law signed by President George W. Bush in 2002 that set in motion the era of high-stakes testing. The law was intended to help disadvantaged students by holding “failing” schools accountable, a worthwhile goal that received extensive support at first.

But NCLB’s dizzying array of testing requirements gradually alienated red and blue states — and inspired the growing skepticism over fetishizing test scores.

Who knows whether Congress can figure out how to hold schools accountable in a way that makes sense. But it’s notable that there is increasing support for toning down our runaway testing demands. A bill introduced Wednesday by U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, a Republican from Kinderhook, New York, would replace annual testing with three, spread-out testing years. Sounds like a reasonable place to start.

Out of step

Back to New York. Cuomo’s plans to break what he calls the state’s public education “monopoly,” as outlined Wednesday in his State of the State address, would only raise the profile of standardized tests. Educators and parent advocates I’ve heard from since then can’t believe he is so out of touch.

Cuomo wants to make a tougher teacher evaluation system the engine of his monopoly-breaking machine. Teachers whose students take the state’s math and English language arts tests would see half their evaluation score tied to student progress on tests.

Here’s a strange aside: Cuomo spent last year distancing himself from New York’s implementation of the Common Core standards. He supported legislation that now bans school districts from including scores from Common Core-based tests in students’ permanent records. Districts are also banned from emphasizing test scores when making student placement decisions.

So test scores are not reliable enough to evaluate students — but the very same scores should be used to determine the fates of teachers?

Cuomo is calling for teacher evaluations to be used to determine who gets tenure, who may be fired, who is eligible for bonus pay and more. For teachers whose students take standardized tests, there would be a lot riding on the accuracy of the state’s formula for measuring student progress on those tests.

Cuomo thinks he is battling union intransigence. But he should consider the potential impact of his plans on the already dropping morale of hardworking classroom teachers who support proven, fair accountability.

More mandates

The other half of Cuomo’s evaluation system, by the way, would be based on classroom observations. But most observations would have to be done by “independent evaluators,” meaning administrators from outside a teacher’s school.

While there is something to be said for involving outside experts, this requirement would result in monstrous scheduling duties for school districts. It would be yet another Albany mandate that would drain time and money from local educational priorities.

But Cuomo doesn’t seem very concerned about the needs of districts, which may or may not be part of the monopoly he wants to smash. Districts still don’t know state education aid details, since the governor is making the overall pot of aid he supports contingent on the Legislature approving his so-called reforms.

School district officials in the Lower Hudson Valley are livid. They had hoped that Cuomo would finally zap the state’s “gap elimination adjustment” formula, devised in 2010 to skim some of each district’s aid to help close the state’s budget deficit. Instead of a plan to make school funding more equitable, they got a speech about how teachers are the problem.

Of course, by reducing state aid and piling on local costs, Cuomo would be forcing districts to raise property taxes (as much as they can under the property-tax levy cap). This inconvenient fact will not likely be part of his “Opportunity Agenda.”

We’ll soon learn whether legislative leaders will stand up to the governor’s attempt to exert control over our public schools. Corruption charges against Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver may give Cuomo significantly more leverage, as Silver would be the most likely public-school ally among Albany’s “three men in a room.”

Parents, teachers and school board members who don’t like Cuomo’s prioritizing of test scores over local control better speak out. Soon. And loud.

Twitter: @garysternNY