The “Role of Standards in Public Education” resolution generated an extended floor debate and lays out steps for union members to make CCSS work for educators and their students. Working with our public education partners, community allies and the Malloy-Wyman Administration, AFT Connecticut had already undertaken many of the resolution’s action items, which include:
- Rejecting low-level standardized testing in favor of assessments aligned with rich curricula that encourage the kind of higher-order thinking and performance skills students need;
- Supporting efforts to hold policymakers and administrators accountable for proper implementation;
- Advocating for states to create independent boards with a majority representation of education professionals to monitor the implementation of the standards;
- Fighting to ensure that educators are involved in efforts to engage stakeholders and secure adequate funds to ensure successful implementation; and
- Reaffirming the call for a moratorium on the high-stakes consequences of assessments for students, teachers and schools until all of the essential elements of a CCSS-based system are in place.
Click here for the full resolution at the AFT national website.
We sent in June an email with the Educators’ Common Core Implementation Task Force’s report and an outline of the “CT Core Initiative” to members of affiliated PreK-12 unions. If you did not receive that update, sign-up with your personal email address at our website’s “Take Action!” section.
Click here for the task force’s full 42-page report
Click here for an outline of the Malloy-Wyman “CT Core Initiative” response plan.
Taken together, the work of the task force and the administration’s response demonstrate that the concerns of AFT Connecticut members are being heard and — even more importantly — acted on.
We have begun to make the progress on improving implementation of new standards promised by our AFT national convention’s resolution thanks to a collaborative relationship with the Malloy-Wyman team. And we have have also shown how the collective bargaining process can win more than just strong contracts for our members — it can also help win improved public education policy.
More to come, and in solidarity;
Melodie Peters
AFT Connecticut President
Stephen McKeever
AFT Connecticut First Vice-President
Jean Morningstar
AFT Connecticut Second Vice-President
Patti Fusco
AFT Connecticut PreK-12 Jurisdictional Vice-President
P.S. Click here for videos, press statements and photos of AFT Connecticut members at the national convention at our Facebook page.
