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Officials: NY Standardized Test Scores Won't Be Used To Evaluate Teachers

ALBANY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- New York State education leaders have suspended the use of standardized test scores in teacher evaluations for four years while the state revises the Common Core learning standards and related testing.

The moratorium was approved by the policy-making Board of Regents in Albany Tuesday.

The decision stems from Governor Andrew Cuomo's Common Core Task Force, which released recommendations on revisions to the state's standardized testing program last week.

Cuomo called for a "total reboot" of the Common Core amid criticism that the state rushed out the college-driven standards that have been adopted by most states without adequately training or equipping teachers, and then too quickly linked the standards to standardized tests used to evaluate teachers and students. 

Educators 4 Excellence, a group representing 10,000 teachers in New York City, told WCBS 880's Marla Diamond the move is an important first step.

"This transition will give us time to get everything else right, so when we bring test scores back into the equation we can do it in a way that supports our teachers," Evan Stone, co-founder of Educators 4 Excellence, said.

Earlier this year, tens of thousands of students across the state chose to opt out of both the English and Math exams, with parents calling the testing methods grueling and stressful.

The measure sets up a transition period during which grade 3-8 math and reading scores will be used only on an advisory basis, rather than as a key component of annual performance reviews that can lead to teacher firings.

The New York State United Teachers union says the moratorium is a first step toward ending what it calls a "test-and-punish mentality.''

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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