In addition, an eighth-grade science assessment test is being given for the first time this year. But the New York State United Teachers, kicking off its annual convention in Rochester today, said the Regents requirement should be delayed pending a sweeping overhaul of science education at all grade levels. The union is expected to pass a resolution calling for a delay in the Regents requirement, and for additional teacher training, science lab safety standards and greater state guidance on science curriculum. State Education Commissioner Richard P. Mills opposed a delay in the science requirements, saying districts can make any necessary improvements between now and 2003. Putting off the requirements, Mills added, would send the wrong signal.
Standards are a very powerful lever for change.
I'm very skeptical of anything that weakens that lever. Another 35 percent said they are not sure, and only 18 percent said the state is doing enough. Benjamin L. Randle Jr., principal of Buffalo's Grover Cleveland High School, agreed that the requirements should be delayed and said the survey results mirror conditions at his school. He said the West Side school has just five functional chemistry lab work stations, that biology lab stations lack water and gas and that students get by with a handful of antiquated microscopes. In addition, teacher shortages probably will force Grover to have math or social studies teachers handle science classes when veteran teachers retire in the next few years.