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Submitting News If you have any news, send an email to my Press Liaison, Jordan Isenstadt, or call him directly at 212.490.9535. Contact Me Welcome to LizKrueger.com I'd love to hear from you. You can contact me by clicking here.	Press Releases For Immediate Release: Wednesday, June 1^st 2005 Contact: Jordan Isenstadt (c) 516.991.3842 (w) 212.490.9535 (f) 212.490.2151 State Senator Liz Krueger Praises Passage of Performance-Based Assessment Legislation Albany, NY – In a lively floor debate yesterday, State Senator Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) praised her colleagues for passing a bill to protect performance-based assessment in public schools. Senate bill S. 3192 passed with a vote of 50-10 after nearly two hours of impassioned, bi-partisan debate. The legislation enables the 28 Performance Standards Consortium schools to continue their multi-pronged approach to student assessment. “The growing emphasis in our country on high-stakes, high-pressure, pass or fail testing is creating an unhealthy perception that one-size-fits-all education works,” said Senator Krueger. “In real life, the questions are not pre-phrased. They don’t come in 45-minute essay format or with A, B, C, D or E bubble-in choices. While I support the high standards set forth by the New York State Regents, the evaluation of gained knowledge and skills should not be limited to just one means of assessment.” Currently, New York State public school students must pass five regents exams – math, English, global history, science and United States history and government - in order to graduate from high school with a regents diploma. Under the legislation that just passed the Senate, the schools already using portfolio assessment under a 1995 Regents variance could continue to do so through 2008. The 16,000 students who attend these schools will take the English and math regents exams, but will also be evaluated based on oral presentations, research reports, projects and essays. The State Assembly is expected to take up this legislation soon. “All of us sitting here know whether we were good or bad test takers,” said Senator Krueger in the Senate Chamber yesterday, speaking in support of the bill and referring to her Senate colleagues. “Now as adults we realize that had very little to do with our success as elected officials. We would also admit that three days after taking those tests, we forgot most of the materials we studied. These children are learning how to learn and are finding ways to continue their education through college and life, which is the real test of our education system.” In addition to continuing the variance, this bill requires that the Commissioner of the State Education Department develop a portfolio performance-based alternative assessment by July 1^st, 2008 that must “measure the State learning standards for the respective content area” and “be at least as rigorous as the corresponding State assessment.” “Through this vote, the Senate is supporting high standards and accountability,” stated Jane Hirschmann, education advocate and Founder of Time Out From Testing, a statewide coalition seeking alternatives to high stakes testing. The success of the Consortium schools is striking. Their drop-out rate is half that of New York City public schools. With 25 of the 28 schools located in New York City, 88% of Consortium school graduates go on to college, as compared to 70% of New York City high school students. This is achieved considering that only 15-17% of students entering Consortium high schools meet State English and math standards. With 71% of the students being of color and 61% eligible for free lunch, the student body composition of Consortium schools exemplifies the socioeconomic and racial diversity of NYC schools. “At a time when more and more public school parents are demanding choices in their children’s education and policymakers are championing charter schools, smaller schools, and school vouchers, these schools embody an alternative educational curriculum that has proven successful year after year,” said Senator Krueger. “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it!” The promulgation of No Child Left Behind, President Bush’s national education policy, in 2001, placed pressure on individual states to show improvements in test scores as evidence of increased student academic achievement. But it’s up to each state to decide what standards should be achieved and how that achievement will be measured. According to the School Design Network at Stanford University’s School of Education, 27 states currently use multiple measures assessments to determine student eligibility for high school graduation. In New York City, a hallmark of Mayor Bloomberg’s Children First education initiative has been small high schools. With tremendous financial support from private organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the City has both created small, specialized high schools in new buildings and broken down existing large high schools into smaller learning communities. Long before Children First, the Julia Richman Education Complex (JREC) on East 67^th Street in Manhattan has stood as a model of creating successful small schools from a previously failing urban high school. JREC is also home to three of the Consortium schools – Urban Academy, Vanguard and Manhattan International. Starting in 1992, JREC was transformed from a large school that graduated a third of its students into a vibrant complex containing four high schools that graduate more than 90% of its students and sends 90% to college. “When you visit these schools, you feel the vibrancy. These kids are challenged, they are thinking, they are engaged,” recalled Senator Krueger about her visits to Julia Richman. “Schools like JREC and the Consortium schools embody educational models that are working for our kids. The State Education Department should be focused on how to replicate these school models.” -30-
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