Education

Skugg: ‘Cautiously optimistic’ on Common Core changes

JULIE LANE PHOTO Superintendent JULIE LANE PHOTO School Superintendent Leonard Skuggevik wants Common Core changes to reflect more local control.
JULIE LANE PHOTO
Superintendent JULIE LANE PHOTO
School Superintendent Leonard Skuggevik wants Common Core changes to reflect more local control.

Shelter Island School Superintendent Leonard Skuggevik is “cautiously optimistic” about what he’s hearing from Albany about Common Core.

That applies to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s critical statements he’s directed to new State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia about the implementation of standardized student testing. Mr. Cuomo, who had been a vocal supporter of state-mandated tests, has obviously changed his mind after facing a growing chorus of parents and educators across the state protesting the new standards.

The governor termed the Common Core rollout “problematic” and called for a diverse commission to recommend changes to ensure that students are ready for the challenges of higher education and the workplace.

This would be the third special commission Governor Cuomo has put in place in two years. It aims at the increased numbers of students who are opting out of taking the standardized tests and the criticisms of the implementation of the program.

“I have said repeatedly my position is that while I agree with the goal of Common Core standards, I believe the implementation by the State Education Department has been deeply flawed,” Mr. Cuomo said.

At the same time, Dr. Elia has told educators lately that she thinks the tests themselves are too long and need to be changed, Mr. Skuggevik said.

“I want to believe them,” he said, agreeing with both assessments.

At the same time, Mr. Skuggevik pointed out that the Common Core standards have been in preparation and implementation for five years and if they were meant to better prepare students for college, it’s not being reflected in SAT scores. Those scores have dropped during the same period, Mr. Skuggevik said.

“There has to be some correlation here,” he said.

With the just-released teacher evaluations based in part on student performance on standardized tests, Mr. Skuggevik continues his call for local control.

“We don’t need them to tell us how we’re doing,” Mr. Skuggevik said about the State Education Department. “We will be working to improve ourselves.”

He’s prohibited from releasing specific evaluation figures for his staff, or even the number of teachers judged to be highly effective, effective, or ineffectual.

“We have the best teachers — bar none,” Mr. Skuggevik answered when asked about the evaluations.

Last year, when he discussed state scores for district teachers, he said his personal assessment was tougher than the state’s.

The district has just passed a resolution authorizing the superintendent to sign the “Implementation Certification Form” the state requires indicating that it has a teacher performance plan in place for the previous school year and the 2015-16 school year.

One element that took effect as of July 1, 2015, is a clause affecting tenure.

The state now requires a five-year period, not the original three, before a teacher can be granted tenure. But in addition to the longer wait — something Mr. Skuggevik said last year he thought unnecessary — a teacher must, during a four-year probationary period, have received three annual composite ratings of “highly effective” or effective” and in that fourth year, can’t have a composite rating of “ineffective.”

If a teacher demonstrates capabilities over a three-year period, Mr. Skuggevik said, he doesn’t think adding another two years is likely to change anything.

The appointment of Sean Brennan last week as a social studies teacher carried the new regulations for tenure.