Apr. 23, 2014:  Included in the recently passed New York State budget are several alterations to the flawed implementation of the Common Core standards. One of the elements that was included came from legislation sponsored by Senator George Latimer and would require the state education commissioner to promulgate regulations regarding:

• The amount of time devoted to state-administered required assessments

• The amount of time devoted to standardized assessments not required by law and

• The amount of time devoted to test preparation.

"My bill calls for a review and analysis of the costs associated with statewide assessments of students in school districts throughout the state. Since testing costs money and time and therefore requires resources, I am glad that we addressed some of these issues in the state budget," Latimer explained. "The information collected through the provisions in the budget will provide a snapshot about public resources for educational testing and start a conversation about the appropriate distribution of resources for assessments and other essential components of a sound, basic education."

As teachers and students are still familiarizing themselves with the Common Core standards, they are spending more time preparing for tests and limiting what goes on in the classroom to the materials on standardized tests and adding to the frustration surrounding the implementation of the new standards.

Latimer, the Senate Education Committee's ranking Democrat, continued, "The inclusion of this concept in the budget is the culmination of bipartisan efforts that grew out of the grassroots throughout the state. While some of the testing is necessary and has been in place for a long time, adding more on top of that is something that we should be very careful about and this budget, under Governor Cuomo's leadership, gives the public a chance to weigh in on the needs of any additional testing."

Pictured here:  Senator George Latimer.

Photo by Carol P. Bartold