ALBANY, N.Y. June 12, 2017 — Today’s Regents decision to reduce the number of days that students are state tested — from three to two in both English language arts and math — is a positive step that will help recapture valuable time for teaching and learning, New York State United Teachers said.
NYSUT President Andy Pallotta said, “New York should only test as much as absolutely necessary to meet the federal law’s requirements and not a question more. Today’s vote by the Regents takes us closer to that goal. As the Regents and State Education Department work to further refine the time spent on testing, they will also be resetting the state benchmarks. NYSUT will be strongly advocating that the new benchmarks be age appropriate, fair, and accurate in order to ensure that students and public schools are not unfairly labeled.”
New York State United Teachers is a statewide union with more than 600,000 members in education, human services and health care. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.