{"id":100,"date":"2013-06-26T11:29:37","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T15:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortlandwp\/?p=100"},"modified":"2013-08-07T11:02:09","modified_gmt":"2013-08-07T15:02:09","slug":"thousands-gather-in-albany-for-education-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/?p=100","title":{"rendered":"Thousands gathered in Albany for education rally"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands gather by the state capitol Saturday, June 8th calling for a change in the state’s public school system.<\/i><\/p>\n

\"OneVoicerally<\/a> \"OneVoicerally<\/a><\/p>\n

Representing SUNY Cortland in pictures above<\/strong> – Left to Right: Nancy Kane, John Fracchia, Rickie McClure, Marc Dearstyne, John Driscoll, Kathy Lattimore, Jen Drake, Dave Ritchie and Bill Buxton.<\/p>\n

Representing SUNY Cortland not pictured:<\/strong> Dave Ritchie, Kathy Lattimore, Jamie Dangler, Jo Schaffer, Anne Wiegard, Jim Ramsey, Ben Patrick, Kendal Patrick, Mario Hernandez, Dorothy Troike, Susana Davidenko and Maria Mandolesi.<\/p>\n

ALBANY, N.Y.<\/strong> — The message was clear Saturday. The protesters — teachers, parents, students — said they’ve had enough.<\/p>\n

“We need to do better. We need to do better for our kids,” said Joe Cantafio from the West Seneca Teachers’ Association.<\/p>\n

Cantafio joined thousands from all over the state, calling for changes in the public education system.<\/p>\n

“This is about making the Common Core work. More importantly, this is about access, things like quality, and issues like fair and equitable funding,” said Richard Iannuzzi, NYSUT president.<\/p>\n

The driving force for many at the Capitol this weekend is the state’s emphasis on standardized testing.<\/p>\n

“Students cannot be placed into a number,” said Cantafio.<\/p>\n

Students grades three through eight took tests based on Common Core standards in April. Some students said they were not prepared for it.<\/p>\n

“A lot of stuff on the tests were stuff I didn’t learn,” said 5th grader, Reilly Malloy.<\/p>\n

Some teachers say they did not receive proper guidance from the state on how to implement the Common Core, which the state adopted in 2011.<\/p>\n

“I think if the state is going to make demands and ask requirements, you can’t ask local districts to figure out those demands by themselves,” said Iannuzzi.<\/p>\n

Teachers will be evaluated based on how students do on these tests. In fact, 40 percent of their evaluation will be based on standardized test scores. It’s a system many say is unfair.<\/p>\n

“I can tell you that when you see students interacting in the classroom, that is much more indicative of their learning,” said Katie Ferguson, a 2nd grade teacher in Schenectady.<\/p>\n

And, others called for investments in public education, specifically higher education.<\/p>\n

“When I started in U. Albany, it was around 50% of the school’s budget came from state support. It’s down to around 18 percent. That’s a scary number,” said Thomas Hoey, vice president of U. Albany Professionals.<\/p>\n

“This isn’t only about dollars. Getting it right is what will make the difference,” said Iannuzzi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thousands gather by the state capitol Saturday, June 8th calling for a change in the state’s public school system. Representing SUNY Cortland in pictures above – Left to Right: Nancy Kane, John Fracchia, Rickie McClure, Marc Dearstyne, John Driscoll, Kathy Lattimore, Jen Drake, Dave Ritchie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=100"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":343,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions\/343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/cortland\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}