Rick Karlin is reporting for the Times Union State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia told a group of teacher trainers October 10, that she may ask for an extension of the moratorium current in place on the proposal to tie student test results to teacher evaluations. "If we feel like we need an extension I'll ask for an extension," she said. She noted the state Education Department and state Board of Regents are still gathering input on the issue. The moratorium is currently set to continue through the 2019-20 school year. It was was put in place following what Elia described as an “inferno” of protest by teachers and parents when the testing plan was first announced in 2015. In June, lawmakers failed to pass legislation that would have permanently removed a proposed mandate that standardized state math and English test scores be used in teacher evaluations. Under that measure, local teacher unions would negotiate whether they wanted the tests or other measures to be used. In her remarks Wednesday, Elia also told the teacher educators that interest in teaching careers has fallen off, despite the importance of the work and what she said was New York’s tops-in-the-nation teacher salaries. “This is the first time we have parents saying they aren’t telling their children to be teachers,” she said. Read the full story in the Times Union.