What a REAL Education Commissioner in NY would fight for

1. Restore the local diploma for high schools graduation for students for whom Regents exams are developmentally inappropriate. Let all young people who work hard and pass their courses get a high school diploma

2. Cut the length of exams in elementary school to 2 days with no more than 90 minutes of testing each day.

3. Eliminate the use of standardized testing to rate teachers, principals, schools and school districts. Use such tests for diagnostic purposes only to help individual students.

4. Enforce complete test transparency and end punitive test secrecy

5. Radically expand the number of consortium or portfolio schools in the state that are exempt from state tests and develop holistic strategies for assessing student performance

6.. Bring back vocational and technical education through out the state in collaboration with community colleges and local employers.

7. End the requirement that all tests in the state be aligned to the Common Core standards and end all contracts with for profit test companies. Go back to the system of having teachers and teacher educators devise state tests.

8. Prohibit cancellation of recess or physical education for test prep and work to promote play and physical activity among students