There is a hugely important development in Texas.
Tom Pauken, the former head of the state Republican party and a current state workforce commissioner representing employers told a meeting of business leaders that testing had gotten out of control in the state and was actually hurting the workforce of the future. “I’m really concerned we’re choking off the pipeline of skilled workers that our employers need,” he said. “We’re spending too much time and effort teaching to the test instead of focusing on real learning.”
Teachers have been saying that for a decade and no one has been listening. Now that the business leaders hear it from one of their own, maybe they will listen.
I wonder if the anti-high stakes testing revolt by the school boards of Texas is making a difference. I wonder if the arguments the school boards make are so powerful, that they can’t be ignored.
We are making headway. Do not lose hope. This mighty vessel will turn, and lots of empty suits will be left behind when it does.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I am so happy to hear this. Empower public schools to assess and guide kids to the jobs that are out there now, create more jobs for the kids that will grow up into them.
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What a nice, refreshing surprise. Common sense is alive and well in at least one state. Now there are 49 more that we have yet to hear from, along with DC and 5 territories.
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Oh no, Texas! It’s still a royal mess. I have seen hundreds pass my door in these few years, and it is a crime!
My school offers buy back hours. My school offers something called Grad Lab: Profane. I feel “dirty” every day. I do my best, but I can relate with a poster who said, “I feel like I am part of a crime family.” WE should ALL turn state’s evidence.
Reference grad lab and buy back: The tools that my district uses to boast about the increase in student attendance and graduation rates. It’s all a scam! Our kids just SHOW UP! And yes, they may claim not to like school, but they enjoy “hanging out” with their friends. My school is just a little more sophisticated than a street corner. On the street corner, they don’t get FREE lunch. I digress because I just can’t believe this is my America. How shameful!!
The kids laughed as they explained they “just show up” programs to me. They had to repeat themselves several times for “teacher” to get it. “Nooo Miss, nooo. We don’t have to do well in class, we can just take the class on the computer and look answers on Answer dot com. Omg!
One 10th grader, describing his freshman year, said, “I didn’t care what happened in geography class. Some kids threatened the teacher for a grade. He was so scared. Me. I just took the class on the computer in grad lab. Took it during the summer. It took a few days. I plan to take health this summer. My friend got a half year of credit in two days, ha ha.”
If I wasn’t actually there, I would have never believed it!
As far as attendance! No wonder so many kids missed half the year, needing to buy back 100 and 200 and even 300 hours. They got five hours for doing one hour of “community” service. What a deal!!
Omg!
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Since we’re running schools like a business, is it possible that we’ll see a nasty bust soon? (e.g., dot.com, housing bubble, collectibles)
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When will the bubble test bubble bust? (say that fast three times)
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Being a Texas teacher I’m glad to hear this and can affirm it is true. The district I work for is strongly against teaching to the test. We treat it as a genre and only spend about 2 weeks doing test prep. Hopefully other districts in Texas will get the message and follow suite. It is possible to get good scores on these tests without teaching to the test, I do it every year, but I’m lucky I am allowed to and not paralized by fear. Keep it up teachers were making headway because they can’t ignore us forever.
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“. . . only spend about 2 weeks doing test prep.”
Just about 2 weeks too many. That’s easily time for at least one new learning unit.
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I agree. However, it is better than what I have had to do in other districts where test prep takes up months of valuable teaching time.
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I’m in Texas too. And over all, it’s just horrible. The ignorance among all this beauty is just overwhelming and terribly sad. They segregate the ELL population in many districts. These kids follow each other around in little packs. What good is that going to do for a kid that needs to LEARN English. It’s called immersion, but PEARSON makes a lot of money off of a program called TELPAS… It’s just a disgusting situation down here.
This teacher is just VERY lucky! I also don’t teach to the test, but I, like this teacher, was also lucky enough to have been at a wonderful school my first three years.
You are correct, any test prep whatsoever is ridiculous. He did not mention the weeks of nothing but benchmarks, and the weeks of solid actual testing. All in all, the focus on the test is much more than just 10 days–Even in our “best” schools that have no problem passing the mediocrity of this state’s test.
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You are right I am lucky because we do not give benchmarks either. We give 1 assessment at the end of our nine week grading cycles. These test are made by our district and are used to assess what we have taught thus far in the year. In another district I used to work at we gave benchmarks that were released TAKS tests and those cover skills not yet even taught. So, needless to say were very difficult, frusterating, and often sucked the air out of my students by making them feel terriable about their performance. I am firmly against testing and test prep, but in this age 2 weeks is better than the whole year.
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I didn’t realize that Texas was interested in having a “skilled” workforce, since most of the jobs they’ve been creating are low-skill, and make just enough for you not to qualify for food stamps. http://www.npr.org/2011/08/15/139652124/why-has-texas-seen-a-rise-in-new-jobs
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Mr. Pauken offers insightful thoughts and suggestions in his commentary. His suggestion to offer three pathways is on target, and could energize students who feel like pawns in someone else’s chess game. Providing families with full disclosure as to the pros and cons of each pathway proffered by Pauken empowers families enabling them to engage in the education system rather than be subject to its whims. The pathways place curricular choice and decision-making in families hands where their children’s destiny is no longer based on the narrow prescription of a legislature or state board of education beholden to Washington, and its lobbyists. Instead, students, with their family’s guidance, take charge of their educational pathway based on their interests and desires. [1]
Thirty years ago, when I reported to the United States Military Academy at West Point, I learned of two education pathways available to me as a new college student whose names align nicely with those that Pauken promotes: “Humanities and Public Administration aka HPA” and “Math, Science, and Engineering aka MSE.” If this option benefitted attendees and graduates of one of our nation’s greatest post-secondary educational institutions, surely it can benefit the tens of millions of high school students. [2]
While many may deride Pauken’s suggestion as reverting to the days of rampant discrimination against underprivileged students of color, they are misapplying labels to sustain the fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) they have so expertly crafted these past few decades. These fear mongerers’ greatest accomplishment has been to co-opt those that would naturally oppose their initiatives, privatization namely, had they not couched their efforts as benefiting all students. With that smokescreen laid, they are free to dismantle public education to line their pockets, leaving students no better off than had these education reformers stayed away. With one major difference, the colleagues, beneficiaries, and toadies of the education reformers carved one more notch in their wealth confiscation belt. In their eyes, having transferred vast public funds into their private accounts and claiming that they acquired the wealth on their own, they see themselves like the pioneers of our country who conquered the West, very patriotic and entitled to their spoils. This time, however, instead of taking from the indigenous native Americans, or other residents, these educational reformers pillaged from our public coffers, in essence, transferring wealth from the masses to the few.
Providing students multiple pathways in educational attainment provides the opportunity for our great nation to right itself after drifting sideways. Properly connecting secondary schooling to community colleges and four-year colleges enables students who travel one pathway to switch to another if they so decide. We do not need to keep ourselves constrained to a closed, single path for all students for education to be equitable, accessible, or desirable. Opening multiple pathways, while diligently guiding students and families along these pathways, offers the greatest hope to our nation than any simple bromide an education reformer may espouse.
[1] This change need not require wholesale revisions to public education either. It can be enacted within each existing school, if desired, or shared among schools within a district. Working out these details provides even greater opportunity for communities to become more directly involved in the education of their children, and the future of the community.
[2] Pauken’s third path, with a vocational emphasis, empowers those that do not see themselves attending traditional four-year colleges.
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Let’s hope it crosses state lines and beyond!
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Reblogged this on Abelardo Garcia Jr's Blog and commented:
Headway is being made!! Spread the word and spread the knowledge. Hope is visible!
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Isn’t anyone aghast that it takes the clout and self interest of businessmen instead of the actual experiences of teachers and well being of students to foster change? Money talks.
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True, but with the current climate of fear and intimidation used lately, we can use all the help we can get, to raise awareness and hopefully lead Pearson out the door, and recover those 500 million dollars and place them where they can really do good.
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