Dear Commons Community,

Students, teachers and at least 37 principals in Manhattan protested the state’s controversial Common Core tests Friday, saying the exams were full of poorly constructed questions.

“We are disappointed by the design and quality of this test, as well as the lack of transparency surrounding this process,” said Adele Schroeter, principal of Public School 59.

Advocates said all the schools in District 2, which covers most of the east side south of E. 97th St. and the west side south of 59th St., protested the exams administered last week.

The New York State Education Department has a major problem on its hands and seems to be in denial that there is a growing movement against the Common Core exams.  Elizabeth Phillips, the principal of Public School 321 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, had  an excellent op-ed piece in the New York Times highly critical of the tests administered last week in grades 3 through 8.  This should not be mistaken as a protest against the Common Core curriculum but against the tests designed by Pearson Education.

Tony