The days of test and punish are over. After a disastrous experiment with the Common Core standards — implemented without proper curriculum or teacher training — New York now has a chance to get things right.

No area of human effort is free from bad ideas and mistaken theories, but the quest to "reform" public education is particularly awash in misguided convictions. Concepts like "merit pay," the scapegoating of teachers, and the alleged superiority of charter schools manage to stay alive as policy options despite clear proof that they don't work.

A “reform” proposal now in state law essentially blames teachers for the problems of eight New York City schools on the state’s must-improve list. The state mandates that these schools re-interview all existing staff — and systematically push out all employees found to be “unwilling or ineffective.”

The incremental gains New York City recently scored on statewide reading and math tests are good news for our schools and children — and a much more positive and credible development than the rapid, but ultimately meaningless, increases in scores touted by Michael Bloomberg during his tenure as mayor.

It’s time to ring down the curtain on a long-running farce: New York’s current statewide standardized tests. These exams — administered last month — give parents misleading information, encourage schools to focus on test-prep rather than real learning and are all but useless to teachers, the people who need them the most.

The keys to better schools are active and involved parents, well-trained and supported teachers, and focusing social and medical services in school buildings as in our community schools program.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo may have billionaire friends, but we have something his money can never buy: people power.

A bad idea about teaching children doesn’t become a good idea just because someone calls it a reform. That’s why I am proud of the fight the UFT has put up to protect our schools and our children from the wrong-headed and often destructive strategies embraced by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his allies.

The tentative agreement between the city and the United Federation of Teachers is a good deal for the students, schools and communities we serve, in addition to the teachers themselves.

The United Federation of Teachers and the de Blasio administration agreed Thursday on a teachers contract that fosters an environment that will move the profession forward. Instead of the “Hunger Games” atmosphere encouraged by the previous administration, we have a contract devoted to the spirit of collaboration between educators — and between labor and management.