ALBANY, N.Y. April 5, 2019 — New York State United Teachers will hold a press conference on Monday, April 8, to outline actions the state Education Department must take to address the myriad issues with state tests for children in grades 3-8.
NYSUT President Andy Pallotta and NYSUT Executive Vice President Jolene DiBrango will be joined by Capital Region educators and members of the state Legislature at 11 a.m. outside the state Education Building on Washington Avenue in Albany to discuss the flaws with these exams and the ways in which the state must address them.
NYSUT has launched the Correct the Tests campaign to raise awareness of the serious issues with the grades 3-8 ELA and math tests and demand state action to fix these flawed, invalid tests that are harmful to New York students.
The union is drawing attention to the fact that:
- the state tests are flawed and invalid;
- invalid scoring benchmarks mislabel children;
- ELA and math tests are too long;
- untimed testing can be cruel and traumatic;
- the tests are developmentally inappropriate; and
- computer-based testing is problematic and has been rolled out too quickly.
Parents and educators are encouraged to visit CorrectTheTests.com for more information about the flaws with these tests and parents’ rights to opt their children out of taking the tests. The website also provides an outlet for parents and teachers to submit stories about testing issues in their schools.
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.
