Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell, D-Theresa, joined her colleagues in the Assembly to pass legislation (A.7303-A) that directly addresses the education reforms enacted in the 2015-16 state budget. Russell is a co-sponsor of the bill, which will ensure children have the ability to learn in the proper environment.
"Classrooms are a place to
cultivate young minds, not for children and teachers to endure unreasonable pressure
and anxiety," Russell said.
The
legislation includes measures that would:
- Delink the increase in state aid to implementation of a new annual teacher and principal evaluation system;
- Extend the deadline for the Regents to adopt regulations from June 30 to November 17, 2015;
- Extend by one year the deadline for districts to fully implement the new evaluation requirements (November 15, 2016), or by September 1 of each subsequent year;
- Require state-provided growth models (for grades 4-8 English language arts (ELA) and math teachers) to take into consideration certain student characteristics such as students with disabilities, English language learners, poverty status, etc.;
- Amend 3012-d (new teacher evaluation law) to:
- modify the definition of “state-designed supplemental assessment” to include “other locally selected measures of student achievement” which must be approved by SED; and
- modify the teacher observation category to allow, instead of require, districts to use the independent trained evaluator sub-component as part of a voluntary demonstration project that may be established by the department.
- Require creation of content review committee to ensure that grades 3-8 ELA and math tests are grade-level appropriate;
- Provide $8.4 million to print more test forms for grades 3-8 ELA and math assessments, eliminate stand-alone multiple choice field tests and release a significant amount of tests questions and answers by June 1 of each year; and
- Require the commissioner to review Common Core education standards and make recommendations for potential modifications.