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Chancellor Merryl Tisch

NYS Board of Regents89 Washington AvenueAlbany, NY 12234

July 18, 2013

Dear Chancellor Tisch:

We understand the Regents are meeting on July 22ndand 23rdand are writing to express our

serious concerns regarding the negative impacts of over-testing as conveyed to us by numerousparents and educators over the past school year and at a recently held education forum on the

impact of testing and mandates. We respectfully request that you give these concerns your fullattention and take appropriate action to address them.

Our bipartisan group of Capital Region legislators hosted a forum on June 5, 2013, entitled: K-

12 Education at a Crossroads: A Forum on the Impacts of Testing and Mandates. The forumwas held in response to a number of emails, letters, and phone calls received concerning testing

in our schools. Capital Region superintendents, teachers, parents, students, and business leadersspoke about how a dramatic increase in testing over the last year has negatively impacted

students.

The forums panelists spoke of the many ways over-testing is impacting students including: thetime taken away from instruction; the overall stress of testing and negative effects on student self

esteem; and the reduced emphasis on developing the type of creative thinking and problem-solving skills needed to prepare students for the 21

stcentury workforce. While each panelist

agreed that accountability is essential at every level of education, they all noted that the currentlevel of testing was excessive and called for more autonomy for districts, transparency on testing

material, and consistency in directives and deadlines.

We recognize that a significant number of directives from the New York State EducationDepartment (NYSED) are as a result of Race to the Top funding; however, the tests associated

with the teacher and administrator evaluations, along with the rush to implement testing on theCommon Core Curriculum are having a cumulative effect, which appears to be detrimental to

student morale, learning and creativity while creating anxiety in the classroom. These same teststhat are supposed to assist in measuring and improving education outcomes may instead

negatively impact these outcomes, with student achievement suffering as a result. As a way toalleviate these concerns and growing evidence that the number of tests and directives may be

counterproductive, we urge you to work with NYSED to consider the following:

Place a moratorium on the high stakes consequences of testing related to the CommonCore Curriculum;

Reduce the overall number of tests (and combine tests where at all possible);

NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATURE

STATE OF NEW YORK

ALBANY

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Decrease the amount of time students spend being tested, the length and duration of thetests, and the number of questions on each test;

Ensure that the data and results from the tests be received in a timely way by the schooldistricts so it can be useful to instructors.

Thank you in advance for your serious consideration in addressing these issues. We look forward

to your response and would welcome a discussion.

Sincerely,

Assemblymember Patricia Fahy Senator Neil Breslin

Assemblymember John McDonald Senator Cecelia Tkaczyk

Assemblymember Phil Steck Assemblymember Peter Lopez

Assemblymember Steve McLaughlin Assemblymember James Tedisco

c. Members of the NYS Board of Regents

Speaker Sheldon Silver, NYS AssemblyAssemblymember Catherine Nolan, Chair of NYS Assembly Education Committee

Coalition Majority Leader Dean G. Skelos, NYS SenateCoalition Majority Leader Jeffrey D. Klein, NYS Senate

Senator John J. Flanagan, Chair of NYS Senate Education CommitteeDr. John B. King, Commissioner of NYS Education Department