High school students in Portland, Oregon, are organizing to fight high-stakes testing.
From their statement:
“The PPS and Portland Student Unions will be teaming up in organizing an Opt-Out Campaign in which students are encouraged to opt-out of taking their standardized OAKS tests. The Student Unions want to send a strong message against to the standardized testing system as we believe that standardized tests scores are an inaccurate depiction of a student’s knowledge, have an extremely high correlation to a student’s family’s income, have a high correlation with race, are expensive, and in all are taking up class time that we could use learning things that are more applicable to our lives, as well as be developing better relationships with our teachers and peers.”
How come they know more than Congress, the U.S. Department of Education, and their own state legislature?
When you add the teachers’ protest at Garfield High and the school boards’ protest in Texas and the demands by civil rights groups to stop closing their schools and the rising number of students who are sick of being force-fed standardized tests, you have the makings of a movement.
Stand tall, Portland students! Students, parents, teachers, and yes, administrators are counting on you. Tell the truth. Don’t be afraid. Demand a real education, not training in test-taking.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It’s about time we started listening to our customers…the students and their families! Key words in this piece -> relationships, applicable learning, correlation, expensive, civil rights. The only things that matter are the outcomes for the students. No amount of corporate interference will alter the innate development of a human being. Money won’t buy it, fear and repression won’t create it, either. Doing so is like trying to push a rope…can’t be done naturally. At some point, it becomes unwieldy, unproductive, awkward. This great news of student uprising is a glimmer of hope that common sense will soon prevail so educators can reclaim their profession for the benefit of the students.
Calling students and parents “customers” makes me cringe. “The customer is always right”. In an educational setting, does that mean that parents and/or students can demand high grades for no work? Easy classes just to graduate? Stellar recommendations for colleges and employement? Ugh.
Not at all. That phrase bothers me, too. It was not the intent of my comments to imply that we teachers always defer to students and parents. My experience has taught me that a few parents and students will make irrational demands on my time and efforts, but the majority respond to my work with gratitude, respect and understanding. I am the professional. Whether all teachers demand that respect and professionalism is a whole other debate. Dealing with an irate parent and/or unmotivated, disrespectful student is a nightmare. But, if we don’t make them the heart of our work, what is that we do? We need to take back our classrooms, walk the talk, stand up to admins, educate and cooperate with parents and allow students opportunities to sit at the table of reform. All in a perfect world, of course! Hey, I’m retired. Looking back on my career, the two things that made the most difference in my day to day experience -> attitude & belief that “this, too, shall pass”!
Best of luck in Portland, and hello from Australia – hoping to see our US colleagues liberated from some of the horrors of high-stakes testing soon. As well as changing the work of teachers (not for the better), students in both our countries are enduring a narrowed curriculum and are suffering increased anxiety and depression as a result of these exam-centric systems and policies.
Testing doesn’t raise the bar. Raising the amount or frequency of testing doesn’t raise the bar. And obsessing over test results doesn’t raise the bar.
Thank you to all the teachers, students and communities standing up for their schools across the globe!
Sandy:
you were right! The customer is always right but the parent is a facilitator, one who pays the bill and oversees the child to make sure they are happy and learning. A child does not become a ‘customer’ until you have convinced him/her to want more of what you have to offer. That has always been an underlying but rarely stated premise of our public system: that it was compulsory. I know you are aware of this but we all have to deal with it. If school is going to be required, then we need a way of separating out those who don’t want to be there and provide some services to them that make them want to rejoin the other people of their age-group. If they don’t get proper attention, they end up feeding into the prison system or becoming a teenage parent.
This is encouraging.
This year, my math students will miss seven instructional days due to testing.
My 8th grade ELA sudents will miss 37+ days for “assessment. EdWeek’s article this morning suggested that those who don’t agree with the Common Core just need to get over losing their “sacred cows” from their old curriculums. While I don’t mind changing my curriculum, I DO mind losing content in favor or MORE tests.
Yes, they know much more than our state. Our Oregon Governor, urged by individuals and organizations who receive large sums from Gates and others have been pushing disastrous reforms that aim to raise test scores …but completely lose sight of providing a quality education. Thank you to these students for taking a stand! I am a parent, and I will be opting out my daughter who is in one of the testing grades in elementary school.
I am impressed. These students have obviously been paying attention to what is happening. They are learning about the democratic process first hand and using their knowledge to push for change in a credible fashion.
Student Union representative Alexia Garcia’s awesome Student Representative Report to the Portland (Ore.) Public Schools board starts at 24:00. She shares her concerns at Monday’s board meeting, calling for increased school funding and an opt-out of high-stakes test. http://www.pps.k12.or.us/departments/tv-services/6442.htm. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtCIGGmg3Yc&feature=share&list=PL8CC942A46270A16E
Student Union representative Alexia Garcia’s awesome Student Representative Report to the Portland (Ore.) Public Schools board starts at 24:00. She shares her concerns at Monday’s board meeting, calling for increased school funding and an opt-out of high-stakes test. http://www.pps.k12.or.us/departments/tv-services/6442.htm. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtCIGGmg3Yc&feature=share&list=PL8CC942A46270A16E