A reader tells us what is expected of Pre-K teachers in New York CitY, where teachers must administer laborious tasks which are filed away and forgotten.
|
too late..pre-k is already being assessed with performance tasks.
that’s what the DOE calls units–bundles. I’m not quite sure why.
Back to the assessment. After the children drew their pictures, each child had to conference with the teacher and tell the teacher what he/she had drawn and what sense had been used.
And they didn’t really learn anymore than when I taught the 5 senses in one week. |
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I teach special ed in District 75 in NYC. My students are severely cognitively impaired and are exempt from state tests. Yet I have to do the same thing with my students, only the bundles have to be on grade level. I have 8,9, and 10 year olds who function academically at a pre-K level, but I am obliged to teach 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade “bundles.” ( Yes, you read that right. I have to do all 3 grade levels) So a student who struggles to count to 20 has to work on adding fractions with different denominators for 6 weeks. Due to their cognitive limitations, they become frustrated easily and have difficulty coping. They cry, run away, hit each other, hit adults, become physically ill…- It’s CRIMINAL.
Also, ” bundles?” WTF?
I teach students with cognitive disabilities in NYC – District 75, the special Ed district where the students with the most severe disabilities go. The students in my class are exempt from state standardized testing due to their limitations. (instead we, do a time consuming ” data folio”).
However, I am still required to do grade level ” bundles.” my students are 8, 9, and 10, So I have to develop and teach 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade “bundles.” Students who struggle to count to 20 have to add and subtract fractions with different denominators. These students become frustrated easily and limited skills to cope with the frustration. So they cry, run away, throw things, hit each other and adults…it’s CRIMINAL.
After a point, I simply refused to continue, and handed in what I had. No one said or did anything, they just got filed away in a warehouse.
Also, ” bundles?” WTF?
“Bundles”, are they all wrapped up? Where do they get these goofy words as well as the goofy ideas?
If you can explain a Department of Education that has a Chief Knowledge Officer and a Chief Talent Officer, then you would understand.
Diane
Kathy1
The bundles are unwrapped during PDs
In the Chicago Public Schools we also have REACH Students – PreK performance tasks that were created to evaluate teachers and gives value added points to a teacher’s rating. REACH is an acronym for Recognizing Educators Advancing Chicago Students, this is a way to try to push merit pay. The perfomance tasks were created in a hurry this summer, resulting in many mistakes, mismatches in the student document and the teacher document script. I’m sure these tasks were not created by early childhood educators. It is so developmentally inappropriate what they are asking the students to know and the amount of teaching time that is wasted; you are right it’s criminal what they are doing to the youngest and most vulnerable of students. Childhood is being slowly killed by Rahm Emanuel, Arne Duncan and sorry to say Obama.
Whatever happened to the Rights of Children? To be loved, nurtured, cared for, educated, etc. this does not include the right to be tested.
Our school follows the pedagogy of the Preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Based on the rights of children and belief that all children area capable, intelligent human beings. Who can co-construct their own knowledge from their interactions with other children and adults, with their environments and through the rich, meaninful experiences provided to them. We pray that we would be able to keep a balance of complying with requirements and still meet the needs and rights of our students.
You should also see the tasks and assessments that come with the Talent Management (Danielson Frameworks). Last November my Pre-K children missed a week of cooking activities/experiences because I had to administer a literacy task that involved comparing fiction and non fiction books using a Venn diagram! Then the students had to draw pictures and tell about them. This was done individually. They had to determine if their story was fiction or non fiction. The material was collected. It was never assessed and we never got any feedback. The final task at the end of the year was never given. Others had to do this same thing with math. It was ludicrous, a huge waste of time and way above the heads of all but one child. The bundles were never meant to be mandated. They were supposed to be guides for teachers to use as they teach thematic units. But of course they are being used incorrectly just to gather DATA! We are going to start burning three anf our year olds out before they begin. Something has got to change and fast.
i learned last week that in order for our school to be given back its second Pre-K class, among many requirements, we were told that we were supposed to have a “formative assessment” in place. The one the DOE representatives were pushing was The Work Sampling System by non other than Pearsom. When I researched the other alternatives they all involve putting DATA online. They don’t give a hoot that an ELL and selective mute made a breakthrough and spoke for the first time all year. All they want to see are his numbers on a data base. Now these programs that the school must purchase are not mandated per se. But if they are not in place we are being punished. The administration, the network people and I invited the DOE folks to visit my classroom, see for themselves the portfolios I keep and the work the children are doing. They refused to come, twice. Our school barely has money to buy curriculum materials or pay for substitute teachers and ywt they want us to pay into Pearson for an online monitoring of four/five year olds. When I mentioned in a phone conference that the main elelments of Pre-K are the social-emotional and building of vocabulary, I was ignored. I have been teaching early childhood for 30 years in Day Care, Head Start and 20 years in the DOE. I know a lot about teaching and assessing children successfully, and yet my knowledge doesn’t count. I am very close to being able to retire. I may have to even though I still love my work and the children. It is painful to see the hoops children are being asked to jump through for a number or label, instead of giving them time to grow and mature, discover and learn. I can bet this kind of assessment is not required in the private schools that many of the ed deformers send their children to. But they demand it of our children in poverty and of those who are learning the English language. This is insane and cruel to the children. It does not make learning and education an enjoyablr experience for the teacher or the students.