Poughkeepsie Journal from Poughkeepsie, New York • Page 5A

POUGHKEEPSIE JOURNAL THURSDAY. APRIL 11. 2tffi STATE 5A SUNY to begin assessing learning, but in private By Erika Rosenberg Journal Albany bureau ALBANY The State University of New York this fall will begin its first ever statewide assessment program to measure student progress in 10 critical subjects but it does not plan to make the results public. Thousands of college students at almost all the state's 64 public campuses, including community colleges, will be examined under the new program How they do will be known only to SUNY leaders. "The purpose of this is diagnostic, for the campuses to improve instruction.

It is not to make invidious comparisons among campuses," said SUNY Provost Peter Salins. Each campus has developed its own assessment plan, which could include standardized tests, locally developed exams, essays, projects, portfolios of students work or other measures of learning. SUNYs central administration will approve the plans after a review going oh now. Watchdog group critical One taxpayer watchdog group said for the assessments to be effective in improving education at SUNY, the results should be made public. "Because they're taxpayer funded institutions, the citizenry of New York has a right to know at what level campuses are performing," said Brian Backstrom, vice president of Change NY.

"It doesn't make sense to say to a parent who is trying to decide where to send their child to college, We're not going to give you the data on how well we educate By keeping the results private. i Tir si ASSESSM ENT PROGRAM I jSUNY, campuses must rriea i i sure student learning ir( tho 1 0 general education require i merits adopted by the SUNVjtj board In 1998Those ara.W$$f math; natural science; ex)aijM western civilization, ometMm yterld civilizations, humanities luieign language ana tm IviJWH ij. lui SUNY is going in the opposite direction of New York's school system, which publishes test scores and other information about each school every year. "Prior to the use arid release of those score cards, no one knew how well or poorly schools were doing," Backstrom said. "Now the debate, is only over whether the standards are high enough and are schools making enough progress." Salins said the State Education Department's report cards on schools amount to "public shaming" that SUNY doesn't want to copy.

SUNYs move to measure student learning is somewhat rare in higher education. Only a handful of other states, including California, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Virginia and Missouri, have statewide assessment programs on their public campuses. SUNY students won't have to pass these assessments in order to advance through college or graduate, as a few states require. In facj, SUNY campuses might only give the assessments to a sample of students, providing the sample is representative and selected at random. POUGHKEEPSIE BREWSTER vV'dE BIKE INLINE SKATE HffiHHH VBnflraKaVHaHBaaaaaaaaHEl PiwvwISI bbbbbHbbbbKbbSv BBBStBSBB bW' aac.

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"What we're looking for in the budget negotiations is to try to find a way to get more funding for education and I think we will be able to," Pataki said Wednesday. AssemblyjSpeaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, have sought more school aid. "We're insisting on an increase, clearly," Silver said Wednesday after a closed door budget nego tiatiomwith Pataki and Bruno on the state budget for the 2002 03 fiscal year that began April 1. State's first female treasurer appointed ALBANY Gov. George Pataki has appointed Aida Brewer treasurer and deputy commissioner of the state Department of Taxation and Finance.

She is the first woman to hold the post. The Treasury Division issues more than 19 million checks annually for more than $40 billion. It also oversees a $L5 billion investment portfolio on behalf of state authorities and agencies. Since May 2000, Brewer, a LeMoyne College graduate and Schodack resident, has been deputy treasurer. She joined in 1983 as an assistant investment officer.

She had worked for. Key Bank. Freed inmate Is back behind bars within hours GRdVELAND, Livingston County A prison inmate who tasted freedom Monday morning after serving a four year sentence was back behind bars Monday afternoon. Thomas Duffy, 27, was charged with driving while intoxicated and firstniegree reckless endanger ment, both felonies, after failing to pull over for a police officer on a highway within sight of the prison in western New York. Teaching assistant faces charge of biting student PHELPS, Ontario County A substitute teaching assistant was charged with child endangerment for biting an unruly Tyear old pupfl.

Marie Savoie Leopold, 41, was fired after the boy informed a school secretary. She told district officials she "nipped him on the shoulder" March 21 after he refused to cooperate in class and bit her on the wrist, said school Superintendent Mikeford. A school, nurse found bite marks on the boy's shoulder but the skin was not broken. "It was a case where the child has a few problems, but nothing what should cause a teacher to bite him," Phelps police Chief Ron Nieskes said. The superintendent said Savoie Leopold told him she had bitten other children to teach them not to bite.

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