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standardized testing
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In the waning days of his administration, and flush with cash, Mayor de Blasio can’t help but meddle — announcing a $202 million initiative to standardize English and math instruction.
Ah, “standardize.” In other parts of the country, that’s meant “watering down,” telling schools they can’t teach high-level math courses or in any way challenge high achievers.
And “diversifying reading materials” can quickly become “let’s have students read ‘White Fragility.’ ” Notably the Department of Education isn’t going to make suggestions to teachers and let them decide by requisitions; no, the DOE is going to buy all the books.
De Blasio and teachers union chief Mike Mulgrew crowed this will let teachers spend more time on instruction rather than having to come up with lesson plans. Which is another way of saying that a small group of left-wing activists in the DOE and UFT want to decide what every kid in the city learns. Officials claim exceptions will be made — but how much do we trust them?
Luckily, this won’t be rolled out until the fall of 2023, giving the new mayor — likely Eric Adams — time to review it, change it, or scrap it.