A parent in Wisconsin wrote to say that the new “reform” law in his state requires that kindergarten children be assessed 2-3 times a year. He wants to opt out his child. He contacted the Wisconsin Reading Coalition to ask for their advice, and this was the response he received. He wants to know what others, perhaps some who are experts in early childhood education, think about this issue:
The kindergarten screening is like a well-baby check: looking for pre-reading predictors of eventual reading failure like poor phonemic awareness. It gives schools an opportunity to intervene early and prevent the academic, personal, and social fallout from poor reading. Poor reading, of course, affects the individual child, but also holds back the entire class. The assessment that was chosen by DPI (we would have preferred Predictive Assessment of Reading, as it also checks for rapid naming and vocabulary) is PALS (Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening), developed in Virginia. PALS is very short and low-key, delivered by the classroom teacher, and similar to many kindergarten classroom activities. You can see a video of the assessment being given at https://pals.virginia.edu/tools-k.html
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The very word ASSESSMENT is important. Rating the value of a product to the system is not what should happen to any human being, no mattered his or her age. TESTING fort skill or ability is appropriate.
REFORMERS choose terms carefully. Your children are not assembly line products.
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An assessment should be part of the ongoing process of teaching and learning, a diagnostic process, and should be in dialogue with the student and his/her parents.
Testing is an “end product” affair that serves to sort and separate students on the basis of the “score”. It is prescriptive not proscriptive.
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Be aware of who the muscle behind this group is. They are devoted to neuropsychology and brain science. Their presence on the governor’s Read to Lead commission was overwhelming. Talk to the principal and the teacher. Just say, “No!”
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Always remember this…keep a lawyer in the back of your head. Parents have the right to control their kid’s education. If it can be found, refer to the case Ms. Ravitch posted here about the parent who wrote to the school district opting her child out, and the district threatened to charge her with educational neglect.The parent wrote back and let that school official know that their letter was now in the hands of their attorney, I promise that school official ended those thoughts right there.
As for the word assessment, that is the code word, and as has been said on here plenty of times already, “FOLLOW THE MONEY”. Kindergarten tests. DISGUSTING. I know this is happening in Wisconsin, but I scream to you Randi Weingarten, Mike Mulgrew, and those who run the other bigger teachers’ unions, join Karen Lewis in Chicago, stand up and punch these “reform” bullies back in the face, it is the only thing they understand.
Mr. President, once again, you campaigned about putting on a comfortable pair of shoes and “walking the line” with the workers. Did you ever get those shoes, because we are still waiting. Just think of the statement you could have made if you had put your daughters in the DC public school system. You decided to go with the fancy private school. Health care was a great battle, a battle you won by being persistent and through you charisma, this was a battle you did not even have to fight, you did not need to get through congress. I am going to assume that you are also pushing you children’s school to do the constant barrage of testing. No?
FIRE DUNCAN! Hire Ravitch!
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Joe Bower’s blog, “For the Love of Learning,” often posts letters about opting out of standardized tests. He writes from Alberta, a province in Canada, but the discourse is often applicable in the USA.
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My daughter is in kindergarten. She doesn’t know all of her letters, and I’m not concerned. I have opted her out of the AIMS web computer program that is used to determine if a child knows letters, site words, and then tests fluency. I opted out and said that my child’s teacher can do these things.
But I’m also concerned that in the name of data collection, we’re doing these things in isolation. If you talk to Dr. Allington, who is a reading expert, he’ll state that knowing letters is something a lot of kids know before coming into the classroom. If they don’t, the best way to get them to know it is by having them start writing on day 2. Invented spelling is a great way for kids to learn their letters and sounds. Not doing it in isolation.
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It’s altogether appropriate for a kindergarten teacher to regularly asses the achievement of her students. I think the first thing to do with this “assessment law” is to ask kindergarten teachers about the assessment tool. If it’s developmentally appropriate that’s good.
The second thing to do is to determine what the assessment results will be used for. If the results are ONLY for the teacher’s use, to drive classroom instruction, that is also good. If the tool is appropriate and it’s used appropriately then opting out would be counter productive to a child’s education.
However, if the assessment is used for grade placement or other “reformer”-type, inappropriate use of tests, then opting out should be encouraged.
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Stu,
I used to teach when kid watching was huge. Can’t a teacher assess daily while kids are playing, learning through inquiry and other types of work.
In my experience these tests are being used to collect data. And data has to be measurable. So skills are testing in isolation and then taught in isolation. . . drilled. I find it hard to believe these will be used by teachers to improve learning. I expect they will be used to determine what skills kids need to be taught in a drill/isolation type manner.
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I agree — that’s why I used qualifiers in my comment. If it’s not an appropriate assessment or not used in an appropriate way then opting out is the correct direction to take.
I also spent a few years teaching kindergarten — and first grade — and teaching Reading Recovery. Data is only as good as the teacher who uses it. If data is being collected only to satisfy the state then it’s a waste of time, energy, and an inappropriate use of resources. Good teachers collect their own data every day…and use it to better their instruction and further their understanding of their students.
As far as kid watching is concerned, one of the things we talked about a lot in our Reading Recovery training and meetings was the value of observing children. A good survey instrument can help a teacher focus her observations.
I used to keep checklists to keep track of what students were doing and where they were academically…and to mark down my observations.
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Stu,
(I don’t think this is going below your Reading Recovery comment, but it is in response to it.) Reading Recovery is the BEST professional development opportunity EVER. Why are we not following this model? It requires very knowledgeable teachers to work with kids. They don’t need a computerized test to collect data. I would LOVE it if we collected the data that reading recovery does.
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Stef, there are pros and cons with Reading Recovery. I agree that the professional development aspect of becoming a RR teacher was fantastic. I learned so much about reading doing that…the research behind it is excellent.
On the other hand, it’s expensive. I agree that it’s worth the money, but it’s hard for school boards to justify it if they have to raise class sizes to offset it…
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God help us.
Alliance for Childhood, Sam Meisels of Erickson, Steve Krashen…. It presumes that all children must learn to reqd through the laborious process of deliberate step by step phonics and sounding out aloud and speedily, etc etc. And it presumes that any child who is behind on any such will be in trouble unless intervention takes place, and… that even children who already know how to read need to relearn this way. Deb
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Deb,
After reading some of these posts etc., please tell me it’s o.k. that my daughter doesn’t know all the letters of the alphabet? She loves to write and does invented spelling and is getting sounds that way. . .
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I’m not Deborah, but you probably know in your heart that your daughter is fine. Over fifty-five years ago when I went to kindergarten, educators wanted us to come to school tabula rasa, so to speak. My mother dutifully followed their recommendations. I did not know my letters and couldn’t even write my name. A classmate named Peter taught me how, so you can imagine how I spelled my name at first. He didn’t write very well, and my mother had to ask me what the marks in the corner of the paper were. I do remember practicing alphabet flashcards with my Mom at home, probably in response to her discovery that most of the kids had been “homeschooled.” It was never a chore, but a game. I have no memory of any emphasis on writing or reading in kindergarten. There were much more important things to do that looked a lot like play with learning how to get along with each other as a bonus. I learned to read in first grade. I started in the low group with the programmed reader of the day that featured Dick, Jane, and Sally and their dog, Spot, and cat, Fluffy. My first big word was “something.” I promise you that your daughter will learn to read, most likely without any special intervention. Just continue to enjoy books together at home. Some of my favorite memories are reading with my kids well after they could read to themselves. Relax and enjoy being her mother!
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Stef, what got me so into this whole “unintended consequences” about testing was the day my preschooler came home telling me they took the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests by the NWEA over math and reading….I was about to flip at first, but then remained calm and asked my daughter what she learned by taking the test…..she told me, “I need to work on my counting skills, Daddy” I replied, “What makes you think that.” she replied, “listen Daddy, ‘one, two, three, five….see Daddy, I forgot to say four.” this is why we should shield our kids from these tests….
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Jim and 2old,
You are so correct. . .
Jim, a standardized computerized test cannot tell us why a child answered the way they did. This is one of the BIGGEST problems with these tests.
And 2old,
This is when I wish we lived in Finland. Instead of standardizing every child, they look at each child, figure out how they learn, and then work with their strengths to get them to where they need to be. I’m working on flash cards with my daughter but recall is not her thing. I tell her to point to a certain letter and she can. She talks to me about the relationships of letters like the look of p, b, and d. Relationships seem to be her way of learning. That’s why I emphasize writing with her as the words she writes, inventively, require her to use meaning of sounds, letters, etc. I’m not forcing writing on her but she enjoys creating books.
My hubby struggled with reading etc. and I struggle with recall. . . often can’t remember the name of a main character in a book. . . BUT, we have now standarized our children. I don’t think she’ll be watched to see how she learns. Instead she will probably be labeled at partially proficient etc. They won’t take into consideration her learning style. But when she doesn’t fit into their standards, she will be labeled. She will be labeled. And that’s a problem.
I’m trying to not be anxious, but we’re going against this huge tide that many have bought into.
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Stef,
It’s okay. You are giving your child authentic experiences with literacy that are meaningful and relevant to her. In a print rich environment, she is likely to pick up the remaining letters soon.
There is not one right way to teach reading to all children, but if your child is using invented spelling, this indicates she has already learned a lot about letters and the sounds they represent, so it sounds like you’re off to a great start!
For more info, please read, Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children, A joint position statement of the International Reading Association and the
National Association for the Education of Young Children (1998)
Click to access PSREAD98.PDF
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Stef,
I did not mean for my experience to be prescriptive in any way, and it sounds like you know your daughter well. I imagine I learned the alphabet looking at the pictures on the flashcards. I rely heavily on visual connections, and while I have a difficult time recalling details given to me orally, if I write it down, I may not have to look at it again to remember. The point is, everyone has their own way, and you seem to be doing a good job of recognizing your daughter’s strengths. I firmly believe that she will do fine, but I would not be overly concerned about a kindergartner who is already using invented spelling to write under any circumstances. We are pushing too hard and taking the joy out of learning. At least keep your interactions fun and don’t let her see that you are anxious.
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Just to clarify, the PALS-K is a standardized test, but it’s not a computerized test. Teachers administer it to children in small groups and, with some of the subtests, one to one.
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I retired from Milwaukee Public Schools in June 2011 after teaching kindergarten for the last 13 years of my career. I think we need to carefully pick our battles in Wisconsin, and I am not sure that the PALS screening tool is one of them. It is nothing different from what I have done as a kindergarten teacher for many years, which is to determine how to focus instruction and to report growth to parents. It is not standardized or computerized; and when done correctly and with sensitivity, it does not threaten or frighten children. It can provide valuable information for differentiation purposes. There are other horrible things going on in MPS kindergartens that need to be addressed, such as computerized MAP testing from kindergarten on up. Believe it or not, four year olds were taking that test until the MTEA lead a movement for more developmentally appropriate practice. Currently kindergartens (k4 and k5) are all day programs in which recess, play and rest are discouraged. Four and five year old children have a 90 minute literacy block each day, a 60 minute writing block, and a 60 minute math block. Bathroom breaks are discouraged. This is what is happening in MPS, but other Wisconsin districts need to be very cautious about allowing this type of thing to spill over into their districts. Governor Walker is no friend to public education and the PALS may just be the first mandate. The worst part of it is that we are paying some for profit company to provide something that teachers do informally as part of planning instruction. I give all the credit in the world to this dad, who is truly paying attention. I encourage him to talk directly to the teacher and get as much information as he can from someone who would actually be giving the test.
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“It is not standardized or computerized; and when done correctly and with sensitivity, it does not threaten or frighten children.”
The PALS is a standardized test. Techinical data can be found here:
Click to access K%20Tech%20Ref%202011_A.pdf
I’ve administered the PALS-PreK to many kids, which is done individually for all subtests, unlike the PAKS K which has some subtests that are administered in small groups.
I observed a correlation between how much kids knew and whether they demonstrated stress, such as by resisting or crying –even though I tried to make it like a game for them. Few appeared stressed if they knew a lot; those who knew little didn’t get why I kept asking questions they didn’t understand. I thought the point at which you could stop after kids didn’t answer or gave a series of incorrect responses came too late to be able to prevent stress for many kids who knew little or nothing.
When I taught Kindergarten, I assessed emergent literacy skills informally and that worked fine for my students and me.
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Apparently, a parent in TN does too.
http://www.buildbetterschools.com/?p=486#comment-13774
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In Clay County FL, we give NINE assessments to the kindergarteners. The math assessment will have 25 questions on it and be given one-on-one. The assessments include reading (FAIR), Performance Matters Math and Science. Our kinders are now being given grades weekly E, V, S, N, U.
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As a former kindergarten teacher and an administrator of United Opt Out National I strongly encourage parents to opt their young children out of any assessments that focus on isolated skills such as this test does. We already have parents opting out of DIBELS and AIMS.
I am concerned by this statement, “Poor reading, of course, affects the individual child, but also holds back the entire class.” First of all, many kindergartners are not developmentally ready to read – children in Finland do not even attend school until the age of 7 – there is good reason for this – they are allowing them to naturally develop as readers versus being force-fed alphabet sound bytes which do nothing to encourage a love for reading or writing. Also – “social fallout” – really? These young children who come to their first day of school and must already be tested to avoid SOCIAL FALLOUT?! This is a fear tactic and is completely unacceptable. Young children need to play, experience music, art and a literacy rich environment. How dare anyone already try to scare a parent with words such as “social fallout.”
Second – how dare they say that a whole class could be held back – that is NOT a race and these young children have every RIGHT to develop with ease and joy and play – this statement infuriates me.
Third, I strongly suggest that all parents begin to educate themselves and be highly aware of all and any testing that occurs in their child’s kindergarten classroom – this will only get worse with the implementation of the common core standards which are NOT developmentally appropriate – see the statement by Alliance for Childhood http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/standards.
If I can help in anyway please contact us at our website http://www.unitedoptout.com or my email at writepeg@juno.com.
Peggy Robertson
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I had the same reaction and I could not agree with you more on all counts.
What do you suggest that parents do in states where they have no opt-out option?
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Like Wisconsin, where there is no opt out provision for this PALS kindergarten test, my legislator who voted for this law informed me that there is also no provision for the enforcement of it….I would suggest that parents don’t just assume they cannot opt out just because there is no opt out language,but investigate as to whether or not there is any provision to enforce it….if not educate the school with this knowledge and hopefully they will cooperate…or fight it all the way and rely on us in this blog to help out any way we can
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Prof W – It is my belief that parents always have an opt out option – I work with parents every day to support them in opting out, and with the right support and necessary information to support their opt out they typically succeed. For example, we are continually told that parents cannot opt out of FCAT – yet parents opt out every year. I just opted my child out of 3 tests – Reading Counts, MAP and TCAP . I actually struggle a bit when people ask for permission to opt out – in my opinion these are OUR children and the 14th amendment is on our side – not to mention multiple Supreme Court cases. I will not deny that things can get tricky when opting out – but we simply must demand that our children deserve authentic learning and authentic assessment, and at United Opt Out we help people navigate through the process. If we do not stand up now – and I mean NOW – I fear it will be too late – with Common Bore/I mean Core is it prime time to add more computerized tests and that is the goal under Race to the Top. Here is a link to an opt out letter for DIBELS – if anyone needs support in writing an opt out letter for a particular test please let us know at http://www.unitedoptout.com. DIBELS link: http://unitedoptout.com/high-stakes-testing-thy-name-is-dibels/
Quite honestly, if all parents would raise hell and opt out – they’d have no choice but to accept it – they ultimately know that they cannot force a child to take test. When this happens, the money trail ends, therefore the game ends, and we can get back to real learning and real teaching.
Never for one second believe that they have this control over us – mass opt out would end their game NOW and they know it. If you haven’t noticed I feel rather strongly about this 🙂 – Peg
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Peggy, Thank you for making such excellent points and for providing very useful advice!
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Keep your child home anyway. Call it the testing flu.
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Can someone explain why it’s important for a kindergartner to read? Back in the day we started to read in the first grade. What caused the change? Did our brains change? I would hate to be a child today. No fun and no play.
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John Dewey said that children should not start school until age 7 or even 8.
Schools in Finland don’t began until age 7.
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Dr. Ravitch,
Do you have any suggestions of books to read about John Dewey. I understand there is a biography out there that’s good. I just want to get the best one in my starting to learn about him. Thank you!
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best to read John Dewey.
Read “The School and Society”; “Experience and Education”; “The Child and the Curriuclum”
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Stef,
Don’t read about him, read his works.
Duane
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The screening test being questioned does not test reading or have reading in kindergarten as its main goal. From what I have managed to look at so far, I don’t believe the Common Core Standards require reading in kindergarten either. The tests measure phonemic awareness, which we used to call auditory discrimination, and the alphabetic principle. Both skills are useful for predicting success in learning how to read. I have been concerned about this kind of mandated testing really getting out of hand as it has in Florida. I agree reading shouldn’t be a goal in kindergarten, and until NCLB it really wasn’t in Milwaukee. But when you are a “failing school district” the pressure is on to show everyone that even MPS four year olds can read. Except that hasn’t been the case. All of these beautiful children come in smart and eager and many end up feeling like failures by the end of kindergarten. No wonder they drop outl.
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“Both skills are useful for predicting success in learning how to read.”
Do you have a study to back that statement? If so could you please link?
Thanks,
Duane
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I don’t have any specific piece of research I could provide a link to and my MA in reading is 15 years old, and I confess I have been too busy teaching to keep current on recent research in reading. I do know that there was enough independent research out there to point to phonemic awareness and knowledge of the alphabetic principle as being predictive of reading success. My own experiences have not caused me to question, but perhaps I should delve back into the body of research and take a look. Thanks for challenging this old dinosaur.
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“The screening test being questioned does not test reading or have reading in kindergarten as its main goal. …I don’t believe the Common Core Standards require reading in kindergarten either.”
Word Recognition in Isolation is presented as an optional subtest of the PALS-K. The Common Core State Standards do expect children to be reading in Kindergarten, so I think districts would require that subtest, too:
“RF.K.4. Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding.”
http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards/english-language-arts-standards/reading-foundational-skills/kindergarten/
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The research base can be found in, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, by Snow, Burns & Griffin (1998), which can be read for free online:
http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=6023&page=R1
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It’s not “important for a Kindergartner to read”. That is a pushed down curriculum which is likely to benefit corporate profiteers more than anyone else, i.e., book and curriculum publishers, test companies, owners of competitive charters and private schools, etc.
Academics are not as important to early development as exploration and experimentation, i.e. play. We have many approaches to help children develop skills within meaningful contexts in play-based programs, while academically oriented programs tend to do drill and kill.
In ECE, many of us have fought against the pushed down curriculum for decades. Gates comes along, pays non-educators with no knowledge of developmentally appropriate expectations to write the Common Core and now it’s a requirement. In states with completed Common Core Standards for 0-5 year olds, the push down continues.
Who knew some billionaire could just buy up the childhoods of millions of American children?
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The test is not nearly as bad as the years of multiple choice tests that are coming down the pike for these kids but it isn’t a particularly harmful test. But, it would be better given to kids who had been referred for language testing not the whole entire class. ( It is used in speech/language path.) The school teachers would need to adminster, score and maintain records on all the students instead of using class time using their own professional judgement.
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I looked over state materials to refresh my memory. I was at the hearing on this and it was dominated by phonics zealots, including the Wisconsin Reading Coalition (the Wisconsin State Reading Association is a better and more professional group: http://www.wsra.org/).
The state is requiring two rounds of testing/screening for all Kindergarten students in public schools, Fall and Spring (no requirements for the publicly supported voucher schools), and an optional third test in the Winter.
No opt outs allowed according to DPI: “When is parent opt-out allowable?
The statute requiring screening (Wis. Stats. 118.016) does not provide a provision for opting students out of screening. Schools and districts should make every effort to screen all students.”
More here: http://www.palswisconsin.info/
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I am a wisconsin parent of a soon to be kindergarten kid….please keep the comments, thoughts, advice coming. I obtained a copy of the contract for this test with the Southern Virginia HIgher edcuation Coalition that Wisconsin signed with them. In it the testing agency is defined as a “school official” giving them access to ours kids’ records in accordance with FERPA laws without our consent as parents…this being another issue of course. We should also remember that Gov. Walker is mandating that every school in the district use the same data collection software system by “Skyward” I think it is called so that all the data and info can be centralized in one easy to access location. I’m sure that will be used to “drive instruction” and not hold teachers accountable who don’t get with the program. Diane, thank you so much for the time you put into this blog and for your dedication to our schools. You are a great leader.
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oops, i should proof a little better….every school in the state…not in the district…and consent from parents…not consent as parents. I guess i didn’t get enough testing as a kid apparently. lol
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Thomas, thanks for the info. I should add though that I’ve contacted my state legislator who voted for this law, and she also pointed out that although there is no provision for opting out, there is also no language for enforcing it either. I lobbied unsuccessfully leading up to ACT 166 to get the opt out language put in, and I’ve been working for the last 2 months to try to get the DPI to recognize a parent’s right to opt his or her kid out of any govt mandated test.
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The Task Force, the hearing, the vote and the politics were all bad. The only real pushback form anyone in office (DPI or the legislature) came on the voucher school issue. As with the new test-based school and educator “accountability” measures, the voucher school issue has been a distraction which has helped obscure the unwarranted assumptions behind the whole system.
I second Dr. Ravitch and Duane Swacker on reading Dewey. I had the honor of doing a slow read of Democracy and Education in a seminar with Herb Kliebard. Such a rich book!
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I read that book along with some other work by Dewey…I think I should read it again. It’s been a while. With respect to the read to lead law I noticed that State Rep. Steve Nass, a Republican out of Whitewater who severs on the education committee, voted against it. He’s not my rep, but I contacted his office anyway, and he seemed to right in line with what you just shared. He didn’t like the bill much at all. My rep. asked me, “well if we don’t test, what’s the alternative?” So, I bought two copies of Diane’s latest book and gave a copy of it to her and assigned her homework. She’s been reading it, and we’ve had some good discussions since. I contacted the WI State REading association as you suggested. Haven’t heard back yet. Also, I contacted Wi VARC. This is a group I think we need to be very concerned about. This seems like the primary vehicle driving this mess. Do you remember much of what they had to say? Also, there is a great study as I’m sure you are aware titled the WI Longitudinal Study (WLS) which looked at numerous aspects of over 10,000 wisconsin graduates over the last 50 plus years or so. One of the authors of a recent publishing shared his work with me that really calls into the question of the overuse of testing and its misuses. Are you familiar with it? Was anything from this study discussed?
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James
Contact me via Facebook if you can, or leave a comment under “get involved” at http://www.madisonamps.org and I’ll get in touch with you. I don’t want to do too much Wisconsin talk in these comments.
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As a Speech Pathologist we did short simple tests with pre-schoolers all the time to determine if there was a language or speech weakness, and if so what it is and how we would improve the problem area. We did it one on one and with lots of encouragement and made it fun with great reinforcement for answering, whether they were right or not. Those are some things to look for: one on one, short, age appropriate, those doing the testing can develop a good rapport with your child right away, you get to be included so you can observe and help. If your child seems unhappy, that is not a good sign.
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Thomas J. Mertz, trying to find you on FB…is your name the same as here?
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Same name. Ask to join the “Stop the Charter School Bill” FaceBook group (it started as only that, but it has expanded to be a general WI progressive education network): https://www.facebook.com/groups/192494060791234/. We’ll find each other.
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Took a bloggers advice and contacted the Wisconsin State Reading Association about my concerns…..this was the reply I received from the person who served on Scott Walker’s Read to Lead task force as a rep. from the WSRA.
Hello Jim,
I served as the WSRA representative on the Read to Lead Task Force. Early on I voiced my concern that many districts/schools in Wisconsin have a literacy screener for kindergarten students to help determine what types of literacy instruction would be appropriate for individual students. I thought it unnecessary to mandate through legislation a statewide kindergarten screener. However, the greater majority on the task force thought it necessary to have a statewide screener. And so my work became finding an instrument that would give instructionally useful information to teachers and one that teachers, not support personnel, would administer. An instrument that helps teachers understand individual student’s knowledge about how print works is very helpful. We can screen all we want but it’s what happens with kindergartners in their literacy instruction that is the most critical component. As a reading specialist and teacher for 40 years, I know that more and more testing isn’t what is needed. Like I said, strong classroom instruction based on instructionally useful information about children is critical.
What WSRA was adamantly against was initial legislativelanguage that would say the results of that screener could be used to identify children with special needs. We know that would be extremely detrimental to children. So much needs to happen before we ever go down that road. We fought to eliminate that language from the pending legislation in March and I am happy to report we were successful.
WSRA also fought for legislative language that would allow a screener that was administered by kindergarten teachers and that would give useful instructional information. That was a fight but I am happy to say we were successful on that count.
We never had a conversation about parents’ rights to opt out of testing. WSRA does not have a position statement on that issue. We will be looking into it however.
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I bet that was Kathy Champeau from WSRA. Her testimony at the hearing was one of the few voices of sanity (Kathleen Vinehout was good on the time and money, also). Jim, we need to connect…keep trying.
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good call Thomas….did you get my fb message?
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I taught Kindergarten for 12 years and I think it’s ridiculous to suggest that poor reading in Kindergarten “holds back the entire class”. Kindergartners are not a homogeneous group. Children begin school having had very different early learning experiences from each other, and every child also develops at their own rate, so there is a wide range of development in the typical KG class each September, with skills in the 3 – 7 year old age range. (I read research on this, when I was teaching KG, and it just confirmed my own experiences.)
Kindergarten teachers need to plan on differentiating instruction, in order to meet individual needs. That means providing appropriate challenges for all children, including for those who are already reading and kids who are on the cusp of reading, so they are not held back, as well as for kids who are at different points on the emergent literacy continuum, so their continued development is encouraged and supported.
I do not, however, believe that any Kindergartner should be pushed to read if they’re not ready or just because it has been determined on high that all 5 year olds must read.
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Short and low key my ass. It takes DAYS DAAAAAAYSSSSSS to test my 4K class. It is long, tedious, and the same information could be had in minutes but they make it a process which takes hours. I’m very unhappy about it.
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