The implementation of the Common Core Standards has not only created a crisis in our educational system, but it also highlighted deficiencies that have long been ignored in Albany. New York legislators can sit idly by or create a better educational system for our students. I choose to be on the side of action and work with parents, teachers and educators to accomplish important reforms for our state.

What New York does with Common Core will set the course of our state for years to come. Last year, my Assembly Minority colleagues and I set out to speak with parents, teachers and administrators at 11 public hearings held throughout the state. From your testimony, we created an educational reform package, the Achieving Pupil Preparedness and Launching Excellence (APPLE) Plan.

This reform package would accomplish several things:

• Halt Common Core testing and evaluations until an independent panel reviews the new standards and require a slow phase-in of testing;
• Fairly fund our public schools by returning money taken from them in the 2011-2012 budget and assisting them in funding independent development of school curricula that will work for their students;
• Equip teachers with additional professional development opportunities;
• Empower teachers to develop age- and developmentally-appropriate curricula;
• Give parents a say in whether their child’s testing and personal data may be distributed to third parties;
• Prioritize special-needs students’ Individualized Education Plans (IEP) over Common Core Standards;
• Offer career pathways for 21st Century jobs by investing in our BOCES programs and giving students the opportunity to gain marketable trade and vocational skills; and
• Create accountability in our State Education Department by allowing the governor to appoint the commissioner of education and requiring unfunded mandates on public schools to be approved by the legislature and the governor.

This week, I helped pass a bill in the Assembly that addresses some of the issues with Common Core. The bill, A.8929, while not nearly as comprehensive as the APPLE Plan, prompted an important discussion about reforming Common Core’s implementation and education as a whole.

The legislation prevents the use of test scores in teacher evaluations and student placements, prohibits Common Core assessment scores from being placed on a student’s permanent record, puts the onus on the commissioner of education to evaluate Common Core’s implementation and scales back the pervasiveness of testing, especially among young children. The bill also requires the commissioner to evaluate the effectiveness of the Common Core Standards on children with IEPs or disabilities and English language learners. It bans the distribution of student data to third parties and, finally, forces the Education Department to seek a waiver from the Race to the Top obligations.

The passage of this bill should not be seen as the final vote on Common Core, but as the first step in the process to reform our education system. I will continue to have conversations with my legislative colleagues to garner support for our more comprehensive APPLE Plan. In this fight over our educational system, we must always side with New York’s students. Ultimately, we must lay out an educational plan that will ensure that our children become successful adults.