“Reclaiming Quality Education” panel discussion set for March 25

The State University of New York at New Paltz will host “Reclaiming Quality Education: Test Refusal as a Human Right,” on Tuesday, March 25, at 7 p.m., in the Coykendall Science Building auditorium on the New Paltz campus.

Framing test refusal as part of a long tradition of democratic, collective approaches to change in our country’s past that have advanced human rights, this panel will explore how excessive high stakes testing is undermining quality teaching and learning, and the ways educators, parents, students and administrators are resisting it.

Panelists include: Brian Jones, teacher and leader in Movement of Rank and File Educators, UFT in New York City; Tim Farley, principal of Ichabod Crane Elementary and Middle Schools; New Paltz Middle School student Maya Gold; and Bianca Tanis, parent and co-founder of NYS Allies for Public Education.

This forum is co-sponsored by SUNY’s Humanistic/Multicultural Education Program; the Departments of Educational Studies, Elementary Education, Secondary Education and Sociology; Campus Auxiliary Services; New Paltz Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa; and Re-Thinking Testing Mid-Hudson and NYS Allies for Public Education.

For further information contact Professor Nancy Schniedewind at (84) 257-2827 or schniedn@newpaltz.edu or Associate Professor Terry Murray at murrayt@newpaltz.edu.