Commissioner Elia's letter directly to you, our educators.

Commissioner Elia with students
Colleagues,

As you know, our survey of the Common Core Learning Standards started on October 21. To date, we have had 26,469 unique visitors to our AIMHighNY website; 3,087 of them provided feedback on individual standards. I want to thank those of you who have already given us feedback. If you haven't yet participated in the survey, I urge you to do so. The survey will be open until Monday, November 30.

Many teachers have already logged on to give us feedback on the standards, but we need to hear from more of you. You and your colleagues know these standards better than anyone. Your feedback is vital to strengthening the standards and improving teaching and learning for our students.

Our survey is intended to solicit thoughtful, specific responses about individual standards. I understand that it takes time to provide such quality feedback. That is why I am asking that, to the extent possible, your principals help facilitate opportunities for grade-level teachers to gather with colleagues to discuss specific standards. My hope is that, where possible, you will be able to use time during the school day-perhaps during the time you usually have weekly faculty meetings-for this discussion and to enter your feedback into the survey.

Thank you again for your help in encouraging participation. We want as many educators, administrators, parents, school board members, and concerned citizens as possible to enter their feedback on the standards into the survey. Together, we can AIMHighNY. Our students are counting on us.

Sincerely,

MaryEllen Elia
Commissioner
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