Commissioner King's Message to School Administrators and NYSED Personnel

Hello. I hope your students are enjoying a safe, productive school year. When I became Commissioner last June, I set two goals: one, to help make sure every student graduates from high school college- and career-ready; and two, to make the State Education Department a model government agency focused on customer service. As part of that effort, I'll be reaching out as often as possible -- through e-mail, Twitter, and other communication tools -- directly with educators in the field. I hope we can build an ongoing dialogue about our schools and our students.

There's a great new SED website for educators, EngageNY.org, with great teaching and learning tools including professional development guides, lesson plans, and other teaching resources tied to the new Common Core standards. If you haven't checked it out yet, you should. 100,000 educators already have. It's really worth a look.

There's been a lot of discussion about education in New York recently, but one thing that's not open for debate is the need to get better. We have many excellent schools and school districts around the state delivering outstanding results for students. Our high school graduation rates have increased consistently and we are a leading state in terms of students taking and passing Advanced Placement exams. However, too many of our students are not graduating from high school, and too many students who do graduate aren't ready for college or careers. We're seeing increasing numbers of students who graduate and matriculate at our colleges, only to find they need extensive remediation. They're being taught things in college they should have learned in high school.

The result? A high school diploma isn't worth as much as it should be, and college students are wracking up ever increasing debt to pay for courses they should have received in high school. College freshmen are paying college prices for high school courses.

This is not good for students and parents, and, if we want New York to be competitive in the global marketplace, it's not good for our state. We have to do better.

That's why the Board of Regents adopted the Common Core standards. The Common Core State Standards, which have been adopted by 47 states and the District of Columbia, provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them.

I know a lot of educators are frustrated; they feel like they've seen all this before.

In the past, there have been calls for high accountability, but with little support to reach that level. That's not a formula for success. If we want our students to meet the goals we set for them, we have to provide students and teachers with the level of support they need to reach those goals. High accountability and a high level of support are the formula for success.

That's why the State Education Department is implementing the Common Core through 12 shifts in instruction, and we're aligning assessments beginning in 2012-13 to make sure students are meeting the new standards.

We're also working to implement a Data Driven Instruction model to improve instruction in real time, and we'll be implementing Evidence Based Observation to drive targeted professional development. The goal is to create a continuous cycle of improvement and professional growth and help every student graduate high school college- and career-ready.

EngageNY.org is just one tool we're using to help move our students forward. We're developing more curriculum models. Using federal Race to the Top funding, we've created the Network Team Institute to bring educators from around the state together for training sessions led by national experts to help plant the Common Core seed around the state.

We're working with teacher preparation programs across the state to provide clinically rich experiences at the undergraduate and graduate levels, so the next generation of teachers is ready to step up to this new paradigm in P-12 instruction. And we're pursuing new pathways to graduation and career, including an expansion of Career and Technical Education and the use of the No Child Left Behind waiver. We'll be backing the demand for accountability with real support.

There's much more to come, but we've taken some major steps forward.

I know the arguments against being bold. Money is tight and getting tighter. The shifts in instruction should be phased in more gradually. Students aren't ready for all this.

But the longer we delay, the more students we deny the opportunity for success. Tough times demand hard work. The best way out of these tough times is to build a workforce ready to take on the economic challenges of the global economy. If we slow down reform, we'll shut down opportunity for millions of our students.

We must start now, in every school. Our tomorrow is being built today, in classrooms across the state. We cannot allow frustration to limit our vision. We cannot allow budget constraints to close the door on our students' future. I know resources are scarce; I understand the limits the economy is forcing us all to endure. But for the sake of our students, we must do better.

Please visit EngageNY.org. Let us know what's good, and let us know what should be better. This is the work that will build a better future for our students and our state. Let's do that work together.

John B. King, Jr.
Visit EngageNY.org
Follow me Twitter: @JohnKingNYSED