Thrusday marked a big shift away from high stakes standardized testing on both the federal and state level, as NY1's Lindsey Christ reports.
The day began with President Obama signing legislation replacing the No Child Left Behind Act. The measure restores a large amount of state control over education policy, including decisions about which standardized tests to use and what to do with the results.
"The goals of No Child Left Behind, the predecessor of this law, were the right ones," Obama said. "High standards, accountability, closing the achievement gap, making sure every child is learning, not just some. But in practice, it often fell short."
A few hours later, Governor Andrew Cuomo's education task force recommended that the state replace the controversial common core learning standards, develop new tests and not use test scores in evaluating teachers until at least 2019.
"Today, we will begin to transform our system into one that empowers parents, teachers and local districts," Cuomo said.
For Obama and Cuomo, this all represents a big shift.
Both had long defended using high-stakes tests to hold students, teachers and schools accountable. But a growing number of teachers and parents have been rebelling against the testing, in New York last spring, parents of one out of every five students refused to let their children take the exams.
The teachers unions helped to fan the flames, spending millions of dollars lobbying federal and state lawmakers and attacking Governor Cuomo.
Thursday, teachers union leaders were with Obama as he signed the new law.
"It's an affirmation of what we've been saying for years with parents," said United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew. "But it also marks the end of the test and punish ideology, which is something we've fought for over a decade."
Critics of the No Child Left Behind law complained that the high-stakes testing took the joy out of learning, and that one national approach could not fit all. But some reformers fear that moving away from accountability will perpetuate failing schools, dooming countless children.