Assemblyman Dave McDonough (R,C,I-Merrick) today joined his colleagues in the Assembly Minority Conference to unveil their “At the Educational Crossroads” report and APPLE plan. Over the past six months, members of the Assembly Minority Conference hosted 11 forums across the state, including the three which McDonough attended in Nassau County, Suffolk County and Staten Island, to receive feedback from parents, educators, students and education advocates on the Common Core system and New York’s education system.

Today’s announcement included the release of “At the Educational Crossroads,” a report recapping the 11 hearings hosted by members of the Assembly Minority Conference on Common Core. The forums provided McDonough and his colleagues a first-person overview of the significant problems felt by teachers, students and parents as well as offering potential solutions in six areas: Curriculum, Data Collection, Teacher Support, Funding, Student Anxiety and Special Education. A copy of the report can be viewed at bit.ly/educationalcrossroads.

“In October, my colleagues and I gathered for forums in Nassau County, Suffolk County and Staten Island to hear from teachers, educators, students and education advocates, and the overwhelming response was that Common Core is failing our students,” said McDonough. “Today’s release of the ‘At the Educational Crossroads’ report is the culmination of a statewide series of forums that allowed us to engage and learn from our educators, parents and students. It has become readily apparent that Common Core was engaged too swiftly and with too little foresight. Hopefully, this report will help us to build a dialogue between everyone involved to right the course for New York’s schools. Our teachers and parents live and breathe education every day, and they are the ones who can help during these troubling times.”

The report concludes with recommendations, known as the APPLE plan, that aim to alleviate the pressure placed on school districts, lessen the anxiety of students, encourage collaboration between the state and local educators, protect the privacy of our children, and reduce the damage done by the hasty rollout of the Common Core Standards. The recommendations also are available at http://bit.ly/APPLEplan.

“Our parents, students and teachers all have faced monumental challenges following the hasty implementation of Common Core,” said McDonough. “When we hosted our forums, we repeatedly heard concerns of undue stress, critical lack of funding and greater need for consideration of those with special requirements. I will now join my colleagues to help enact the necessary reforms that restore funding, prepare students to be college- and career-ready, and limit access to our students’ private data,” concluded McDonough.