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[quote=Anonymous]http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/248-li-principals-join-protest-against-over-testing-1.6449414

More than 500 principals from across the state -- nearly half from Long Island -- have joined the movement against the newly revised state assessments, saying that students are being tested too much with no clear benefit to their education.

In an open letter to parents from New York State principals and written by local principals including Sean Feeney of The Wheatley School in Old Westbury and Carol Burris of South Side High School, the group outlines 11 problems they see with the state assessments and cautions about the tests' future impact.

"Under current conditions, we fear that the hasty implementation of unpiloted assessments will continue to cause more harm than good," read the letter drafted last month. It has 3,160 signatures, including 248 principals from Long Island.

This latest missive against the more rigorous Common Core learning standards and the high-stakes testing associated with it follows a week where top state education officials faced irate parents, teachers and others in two community forums on Long Island.

Also, the New York State PTA called for a one-year moratorium on tests linked to Common Core curricula, even as it continues to support the more rigorous national academic standards.

The principals' letter says that testing has increased dramatically and the tests take too long.

It also said ambiguous questions are peppered throughout the exams and that children have become stressed out taking them.

The tests threaten other instructional initiatives and widen the achievement gap, the letter said. Educators say there is no way to know how the tests help children and how much they cost local taxpayers.

"We felt that the state Department of Education wasn't listening," Feeney said. "Were we surprised when the state Department of Education continued to not listen? Sadly, we were not."

Valerie Jackson, principal of Belmont Elementary School in North Babylon, said she has nothing against the philosophy of Common Core, but rather how it was implemented.

"Teachers and principals don't mind being evaluated -- it's not that we don't want that process," she said. "Our motto here is 'Preparation yields success.' We need to be prepared and I feel from the rollout from New York State -- they didn't prepare us, they just threw it at us."	With Jo Napolitano
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