New Members of Board of Regents

The state legislature has two vacant positions to fill on the Board of Regents.  And, miracle of miracles, they think that classroom experience or its lack is actually relevant. 

Money quote: “the special emphasis [on classroom experience] reflects legislators’ concerns about the recent backlash in much of the state against state testing, teacher evaluations, and the rollout of the common core standards.”

The lack of confidence in the state’s educational policy should give pause to the state legislature.  The recent law they passed about teacher education testifies to their ignorance about education.  The new law requires everyone going to graduate school to take a national test such as the GRE, despite the fact that there are no studies correlating success on the GRE with success in the classroom.  This law and a move to make teacher certification tests more difficult, is not accompanied by anything that will improve a teachers lot—no greater autonomy, no treating like a professional, no more money.  This will translate into fewer teachers.  Couple that with plans to expand Universal Pre-K and NYC’s plans to hire more teachers, and voila, here come the teacher shortages. 

 Currently only 6 of the 17 members of the Board of Regents are career educators.  Maybe having some more might not be such a bad idea.

Here’s the link.  http://ny.chalkbeat.org/2016/02/10/in-their-search-for-tischs-replacement-lawmakers-ask-did-you-teach/

Jarred Gellert is the Executive Director of CITE. 

CITE is the Center for Integrated Training and Education . For over 25 years, CITE has and continues to train TEACHERS (Early Childhood, Professional Certification, Special Ed, Grad Courses, DASA); COUNSELORS (School, Mental Health Masters, Advanced Certificate); and ADMINISTRATORS (SBL, SDL, Public Admin, Doctorate) in all five boroughs of NYC, Yonkers, and Long Island.

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