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Ilion, NY 13357
Phone: 315.894.9934
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Superintendent
Education commissioner King sets course for New York schools
New York State Commissioner of Education Dr. John King, Jr. sent a clear message to school superintendents at the New York State Council of School Superintendents meeting on September 26. New York education is changing.
Among the highlights:
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In the past, graduation was the goal. We raised graduation rates, but students were not sufficiently prepared for post-graduate education (over 40 percent of students need remediation at two-year colleges).
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A high school diploma once translated into a family-sustainable wage with full benefits, but those jobs are gone. Two-thirds of all new jobs require some form of post-secondary education and 70 percent of the fastest growing jobs require a post-secondary degree.
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As unemployment persists and college tuition rises, some people question the value of higher education. Don't be fooled; higher education pays off for individuals and for society.
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Improved performance is hindered by cuts in state aid, the expiration of federal stimulus funds, the tax cap, the cap on growth in state aid, and rising expenses.
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The state's schools will need $80 billion in 2016-17 to maintain existing programs, but will be only able to raise $62.3 billion to meet those expenses. Closing that gap will require huge cuts.
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Poor schools will be hurt far worse than wealthier schools due to poor schools' dependence on school aid and the inequitable distribution of that aid. As school aid is cut, the gap widens. (Wealthiest districts can raise nine times more money per student under the tax cap than can the poorest districts.)
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Mandate relief—eliminating anything that does not directly improve student performance—will help, but will not solve the entire funding problem.
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Schools can either make slow cuts and slowly erode away program and opportunities or take dramatic steps to rethink how we do business. The goal is to redesign schools to improve processes and outcomes.
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Common core standards are a first step. This includes new assessments that more accurately indicate student success, aligning Regents exams with college readiness standards, and even administering assessments online (requires overcoming bandwidth, hardware and technical support obstacles)
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Salaries and benefits account for 80 percent of school costs. Investing in performance-based teacher certification, performance assessments based on student learning (testing and observations) and continued opportunities to improve teacher effectiveness will be the best investment of school resources. Strong and capable teachers with lead to better student performance.
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Expanding the meaningful (key word is meaningful) use of technology will improve learning.
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Principals will focus their time less on clerical and discipline tasks and more on their roles as instructional leaders.
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The federal government has provided New York with more time to implement these changes.
Watch his full message
Commissioner King’s presentation at the NYSCOSS Fall Conference from EngageNY on Vimeo.
