A sixth-grade English teacher at Ichabod Crane Middle School in upstate New York broke down in tears in front of the school board, as she requested to be reassigned when it comes time to issue the Common Core ELA Assessment tests for her students.
Jennifer Rickert told the board that the Common Core Curriculum Standards were well beyond a sixth-grader’s language development and referred to the testing as “cruel and harmful.”
She added that she could no longer remain silent, and that she doesn’t “believe in knowingly setting my students up for failure.”
Watch the report from WNYT below:
Another teacher on Long Island, Beth Dimino, also has opted out of the Common Core standards, hoping that if enough teachers follow her and Rickert’s lead it would “cause this entire nonsensical system to implode.”
Dimino is a 16-year science teacher in the Comsewogue School District. She made headlines in 2013 when she described teaching to the Common Core standards as a form of “child abuse.”
This past school year, students opting out of Common Core testing had a significant impact in New York state schools, leaving districts with a dilemma when it comes to grant money provided by the federal government.
For her efforts, Rickert received a standing ovation at the end of her school board speech.
Cross-posted at the Mental Recession
