State Education Commissioner Observes Classrooms
By: Jenna Lento
Updated: December 4, 2012
New York State Education Commissioner Dr. John King was in town on Tuesday. He spend the day observing teachers and students,and how they're implementing new state education standards. The commissioner was able to get a first hand glance at how these schools are enforcing this in the classroom.
"It's very easy for a state to adopt a set of standards as say here is what our aspirations are, but it's different to make sure those aspirations translate to our students in the classroom," King said.
Dr. King says the challenging part is changing instruction in the classroom. New York is one of 46 states adopting these new common core standards. Dr. King observed classrooms at Fairbanks Road Elementary School in the Churchville-Chili School District. Lesson plans enforcing the state's common core standards were on the blackboard. The goal is to produce graduates who are college and career-ready.
"Students who start school early, the early get the early grades prepared with reading and math, those students are much more likely to stay in school, graduate high school, go off to college and careers and be successful in life," he said.
He says implementing these standards at a young age, will lead to economic growth for the region and the state.
