Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner (D-Round Lake) announced she helped pass legislation that would allow teachers to discuss the contents of the Common Core standardized assessments with other faculty members (A.7402).

“The excessive secrecy surrounding Common Core has had a negative impact on our children’s ability to learn,” said Assemblywoman Woerner. “Teachers must be able to have a dialogue about what is being included on these tests, in order to ensure they can continue to provide a quality education to all our children.”

The state Education Department currently requires that teachers and other faculty members sign a confidentiality agreement barring them from discussing questions on standardized tests with other teachers, making it harder for them to prepare and improve teaching materials. This measure would prohibit the state from requiring educators to sign such agreements for grades 3 through 8.

This legislation follows the recent passage of a measure Assemblywoman Woerner supported, which would reform other areas of the Common Core standards. These reforms include creating a committee to review the English language arts and math tests for grades 3-8 to ensure they are grade-level appropriate, as well as mandating that Common Core education standards be reviewed by the education commissioner (A.7303-A).