Education Commissioner's Back To School Message:

New York State Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. has posted Back to School messages for students, parents and educators on the State Education Department website.   

The message for students is "Work Hard, Get Smart." Commissioner King asks students to think about challenging themselves with reading and writing this year and to make a persuasive argument on a topic they really believe using evidence to make their case.  King urges parents to "dive into their students’ school experience."  He suggests that parents ask their children, "What did you learn today?  What does that mean?"  He asks both students and parents to "take every advantage of the learning opportunities in the year ahead."

The message for educators is that all adults in schools should constantly be asking "Who is proficient?  How do I know and how do I increase those levels of proficiency?" From the district superintendent, to the superintendent, to the principal to the teacher, to the office staff … everyone has to be continuously asking, where are we?   Where are we in terms of our goals and where are we in terms of our students’ college and career readiness and how do we get there?"

The Commissioner points to the new engageny.org website as a resource to support the work of the Regents reform initiatives.

The video messages are available here:

http://engageny.org/resource/back-to-school-message-for-students-and-parents/

http://engageny.org/resource/back-to-school-message-for-educators/