Education Brian Ahrens

Rob Astrorino

"Astorino, the Westchester county executive, released a 15 point plan to improve public education that, not surprisingly, starts with abandoning the Common Core curriculum. Astorino has made opposition to the Common Core a focal point of his campaign and has gone so far as to create a ballot line dedicated to its repeal."
"I am a product of New York public schools, and I have seen them serve as a ladder to success for a generation of New Yorkers," Astorino said. "Sadly, though, politics and bureaucracy have stifled the ingenuity of teachers in the classroom, and a one-size-fits-all mentality, in the form of the experimental Common Core curriculum, has come down on high from the bureaucrats in Washington, all but negating what's unique in each student. This bold plan will replace Common Core with high standards achieved at the local level, with the input of parents and teachers, and it will make the governor's office directly responsible for school improvements through an executive-appointed State Education Commissioner."


 Astroino feels that the Common Core  is obsolete  and ridiculous  .  He feels  that it degrades  the unique abilities that the students have in them.   

1 - Replace Common Core and with standards and curriculum developed by in-state educators with input from parents.

Reform Board of Regents by creating an elected 13-member board.

- Ensure full funding for special education services.
- Increase life skills training in schools, such as nutritional literacy instruction in middle school and financial literacy instruction in high school.

Begin foreign language instruction in elementary school.

I agree with Astroino's plan for education.  He wants to see the unique potential in each student and testing is just not enough u to determine it.  Some of these tests  are pretty hard.  Some students are not great test takers.  They should look at other things such as collaborations,, projects, and teaching students based on their own intelligence.   Also he wants to reform the regents because New York  is the only state that has this policy and it should be changed.   I also like how ensuring full funding for special education services because these kids need to get the services they need and being a special education student my whole life, this would be important to me and anyone in the future.  I also agree with teaching life skills such as nutrition literacy, and financial literacy because  these students need these skills when they live by themselves when they grow up and they may be lost.  Finally I also agree bringing foreign language to elementary school because students can learn another language earlier and it will help them learn and know it better than learning it later on, which may not grow with their native tongue.  Its good to speak other languages because people need to connect with more people that don't speak English, and learning a language earlier, I feel that students will be better learners and speakers of whatever foreign language they learn.