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Local News


Orleans/Niagara BOCES receives $400,000
“Teaching Is The Core” Grant

The Orleans/Niagara BOCES District Superintendent, Dr. Clark Godshall, announced today that they have obtained $400,000 from the New York State Education Department under New York State’s “Teaching is the Core” initiative.  The grant, funded through New York’s Federal Race to the Top grant, will support the thirteen component school districts and the BOCES in their efforts to eliminate locally adopted tests that do not contribute to teaching and learning. In addition, the funds will help the districts identify and improve high-quality assessments already in use that can be included as a component of multiple measures of student learning and school and educator effectiveness. 

“The recent outcry over too many school assessments belies the need for quality assessments that are an integral part of teaching and learning,” Godshall  said, “While tests provide useful feedback to teachers, parents and students, they must be of high quality and informative.  Unfortunately, due to various pressures at the federal, state and local level, testing has increased in many districts in ways that do not always support good instruction and sometimes-even crowd out time for student learning.  Testing should be the minimum necessary to inform effective decision-making in classrooms, schools and districts. This grant will help reduce non-essential local testing in our region.  And, more important, they’ll help teachers teach more and test less, which is exactly what our students need. The grant also supports professional development throughout the districts to maintain educational excellence.”

Godshall noted that, “assessments can take a variety of forms.  College- and career-ready assessments require students to do more writing and real world problem solving.  Essays, science experiments and research projects may, in many instances, be very effective tools for measuring particular skills. The districts and teachers that are part of the Orleans/Niagara BOCES will be able to improve their understanding and use of student assessment information as a result of this funding. We look forward to the ultimate impact on student learning.”

The “Teaching is the Core” funding will allow the 13 districts and BOCES to:

• Determine which assessments support the instructional goals of the district;

• Determine an appropriate action plan that will eliminate unnecessary assessments and increase the use of diverse and quality assessment;

• Support the use of diversified assessment strategies by encouraging a review of local assessments currently in use for teacher evaluations (APPR); and

• Establish a professional development program that will aid teachers in identifying high-quality assessments and improving assessment practices.

The Orleans/Niagara BOCES serves 13 school districts located in Niagara and Orleans Counties with a total student base of over 36,000 students.
 
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