The task force, convened earlier this year by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, issued its report Thursday afternoon.

The task force said it believed standards are important for education in New York, but was critical of the rollout. The group said the process did not include enough meaningful input from educators, parents and school districts, and was in general, not open and transparent enough.

The standards themselves, the group said, were too rigid and not adaptable. The standards didn’t address the needs of some groups of students, particularly English language learners and students with disabilities, according to the report.

Also, Teachers were not given enough time or resources to develop curriculum based on the standards.

Overall, the roll-out of the standards placed too much emphasis on testing and created a feeling that teachers needed to “teach to the test.”

As a result of the findings, several recommendations have come forward, including:

• Reduce time spent on testing
• Don’t use tests to evaluate teachers
• Also, a single test shouldn’t be used to evaluate a student either.
• Establish new standards
• Develop better curriculum

A complete list of all recommendations can be found at the governor’s website.

Among those serving on the task force are State Education Department Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, New York State United Teachers vice president Catalina Fortino, State School Boards Association Executive Director Tim Kremer, and SUNY chancellor Nancy Zimpher.

The Task Force will complete its review and deliver its final recommendations by the end of this year.