The North Country Alliance for Public Education brings over 300 parents, teachers and administrators to a Summit at Plattsburgh State University Thursday Night.. The format of the forum on education included statements from a panel made up of teachers, administrators, and students, all with a unique perspective on the impact of new federal and state requirements in their schools.. The Panel Discussion includes Sophia Stevens, a 9th grader at Saranac Middle School.. She spoke about how students are dealing with the extensive testing in today’s schools. “I understand that some testing is needed, but there’s a fine line between guaging our knowledge and over testing. We crossed that line a long time ago.” She continued by saying the learning experience is lacking because there’s no excitement about the learning, we’re memorizing information for tests and then forget because we don’t need to remember it but when we have memories including music, games, art, and involvement, we remember the information” Sophia summed up the feelings of many of the panel members in her own way..
Download the audio here – or click on the play button at the bottom of this post
Prior to the start of the forum, we spoke with Saranac Lake Teachers Association Co-President Don Carlisto and others about their views. The forum on public education was sponsored by the North Country Alliance for Public Education..
The Keynote Speaker is Assemblywoman Janet Duprey. She was passionate about this topic and was clear about where she stands on education..