NJ Spotlight interviewed the two teachers named to the Governors PARCC Study Commission. Their comments are below. From NJ Spotlight When Gov. Chris Christie finally appointed his long-promised commission to study New Jersey’s school-testing system, the appointees included two teachers who are hardly big fans of where the state is heading. While they’re not hard-core dissidents, Freehold Township teacher Tracie Yostpille and Camden County Vocational District’s Matt Stagliano certainly come from the camp that believes New Jersey may be moving too far, too fast. Stagliano, an English teacher, questions how the testing fits students who don’t fit the typical mold. Yostpille, a social studies teacher, worries that testing-related narrowing of the curriculum will squeeze out subjects like hers. “We’re not language arts or math,” Yostpille said in an interview yesterday. “We are not a tested subject, and are we a subject that matters anymore?” The two teachers on the panel were both put forward by the New Jersey Education Association, hardly a close ally of the governor in his five years in office. And neither comes anywhere close to the Christie administration’s company line on testing. “I talk to a lot of teachers, and they are very frustrated with what is going on,” said Yostpille, who is president of the Freehold Township teachers union and vice president of the NJEA’s Monmouth County affiliate. “There is a level of frustration that I haven’t seen in my 27 years of teaching.” “It feels very rushed on my end,” said Stagliano, referring to the testing and, specifically, the new PARCC exams. “While I think it’s a good assessment and aligned with the Common Core, I think because it has been rushed and there is so little definitive information out there, a lot of students and teachers are nervous about it and resistant to it.” Both spoke of seeking a balance between the value of assessments and the pressures they bring and the time they consume. “There is a need and value for it, but it’s not the be-all and end-all of evaluating students and teachers,” said Yostpille, herself a parent of a 10th grader. Stagliano said he has heard the calls for ending, or at least significantly scaling back, the testing. “Some people are wildly opposed to testing – I’m not like that – but it’s about the reasonable and practice application of all this,” he said. Both teachers acknowledge there is skepticism in some quarters about how much the new panel will heed the critiques and, in turn, be able to act on them. But they expressed optimism about the commission’s work. “I do expect something out of this,” said Yostpille. “I hope this is not lip service. I am hoping we will be heard.” Here is what Commissioner David Hespe said. “If anyone wants to be heard, they will be heard,” he said. “It will be a public dialogue on the testing, the time we spend on testing, the uses of multiple tests, and tools we can provide to help.” He rejected the notion that it’s a foregone conclusion that the commission will back the state’s stance on testing, with the new online PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) tests scheduled to start in the spring. “We know this is a controversial time, as we move into the first year,” he said. “But the moment is never done. We are always looking to do better as we move forward.’ The commission doesn’t have much time. It is supposed to come up with an interim report by the end of this year and a final report in 2015. Hespe said he hoped to get the group meeting within weeks, and to at least have a set of priorities and procedures – including a schedule of public hearings -- in place by the end of December. njspotlight/stories/14/11/11/teachers-add-critical-voice-to-newly-named-testing-commission/
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 15:39:20 +0000
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