Dumbing Down New York

After months of study, state educrats at last have a timeline for “fixing” the master publicschool curriculum. Step One: Study the issue some more. Yes, it’s a joke — on New York. On Monday, the state Regents considered a plan to 1) rejigger the Common Core curriculum, and 2) produce annual student tests based on it. New committees are to start reviewing new standards next month. Then come months of “public input,” followed by months more of added tweaking.

By fall 2017, schools might start to use the new material. Students might take (supposedly) tougher new tests by perhaps 2019.

And the test data won’t be used to identify and fire terrible teachers before 2021 or 2022. (Actually, never.)

Even this snail’space timeframe is wildly optimistic — “fluid,” to quote Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia.

“It would not pay for us to push something through if in fact we felt we were putting people in positions where they could not possibly handle it,” she explained.

Translation: No changes as long as any special interest complains.

New York first adopted Common Core in 2011. Yet it’ll be 2019 — eight years later — before the state will even vouch for its Common Core tests actually measuring anything about kids’ achievement.

An overwhelming majority of students bomb current tests that officially don’t count: The educrats’ real goal will be to “fix” that by dumbing down the exams.

They’ll produce tests that make the kids, and their schools, look far better than they really are. It’s New York City’s “worthless diploma” scams gone statewide.

That is, the Regents are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic to make the ship look pretty. They just don’t care if the kids sink.