I disagree with Ed Sullivan's perspective on implementing the core curriculum exams right away. While Mr Sullivan would like New York schools to have time to "teach to the test" before having students take it, there is a lot to be learned from giving the test before that happens.
The Common Core curriculum has been adopted by 45 states because it is considered to contain basic information that all children who attend public schools should be learning. By giving the test this year we can:
Discover how much of the curriculum content is already being taught in our schools, which will help us to more efficiently tweak our existing curriculum to meet the core curriculum standard, and
Produce a baseline of data, which will help us know where our kids stand before the core curriculum content is introduced and which will be helpful in monitoring teaching and learning gains in a before-and-after study.
This isn't a trap, it's just a test, a test that has no impact on a student's grades. It can inform the direction our teachers need to take in implementing the core curriculum with success. No one in New York should need to send their kids to private schools or hire tutors to teach them to the basic core curriculum content. That's why we fund public schools.
Jan-Marie Spanard
Newcomb