The Best Picture of the Day

By dianeravitch

March 8, 2013 //

Please see this picture. It shows what is truly sick about U.S. education today.

It proves again that a photograph is worth 10,000 words.

Categories Testing

34 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

M. Schneider says:

March 8, 2013 at 3:40 pm

This is a great quote. Such a waste to stop school for two weeks for a test. Our school is going into testing in the next couple of weeks. It’s like school-wide acid reflux.

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- Middle school teacher says:
  
  March 8, 2013 at 4:01 pm
  
  Good description. Here in Connecticut we are one week into our two week Connecticut Mastery Test season. All involved — teachers, students, administrators, guidance counselors, and parents — are grumpy, on edge, unwell, frantic, scattered, demoralized, and/or bouncing off the walls.
  
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  - George Buzzetti says:
    
    March 8, 2013 at 4:31 pm
    
    Two weeks for a test is insane. If you can not find out in a complete day what their capability is in different subjects maybe someone does not know what they are doing as this is usually what is going on. Must make a lot of money for the test companies. What is their stock doing now?
  - Lehrer says:
    
    March 8, 2013 at 10:30 pm
    
    I am a CMT refugee: I left teaching third grade because I could not stand the amount of time spent on that damn test, especially the practice packets that landed on my desk every January. We must have killed an entire forest to print them. They were the most uninspiring and depressing lessons I ever taught. I moved to second grade, thinking I would have time to give my kids a broader and more enriching experience. Well, not so much. You see, THE TEST is a year away. And, of course, they need to be ready for THE TEST.
George Buzzetti says:

March 8, 2013 at 3:53 pm

After all, two weeks without being taught is not a big deal, now is it?

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mmmmrgrif says:

March 8, 2013 at 4:02 pm

That’s a photoshopped sign. I think that should be indicated. The way you can tell is that the letters in the message do not line up with the white blocks in the background.

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- Mary Valentine says:
  
  March 9, 2013 at 6:58 am
  
  The message here is the important thing — not whether it was photoshopped.
  
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- teachingeconomist says:
  
  March 9, 2013 at 10:15 am
  
  Why not label it as fiction?
  
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- Patricia Johnson says:
  
  March 10, 2013 at 1:22 am
  
  I think you’re right. There are a bunch of similar church signs out there with “created” messages. The point is a good one though.
  
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Linda says:

March 8, 2013 at 4:07 pm

It will be much more than two weeks once the corporate bore starts….when will the nation resume real teaching? Yes, middle school teacher, we are in test lockdown mode two hours a day for a 60 to 70 minute test. I wonder if we can count that as a code blue drill?

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Elizabeth Rose says:

March 8, 2013 at 4:53 pm

Perfect! Where is this school?

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- George Buzzetti says:
  
  March 8, 2013 at 5:18 pm
  
  How many more are doing the same thing across the U.S. is my question of the day. Think about it in their terms of lost productivity and R & D. Their companies and personal well being would never take a hit like that on purpose.
  
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Joe Nathan says:

March 8, 2013 at 4:54 pm

Two weeks for assessment is way too long.

At the same time, wise schools and other organizations to periodically assess how effective they are. I don’t know what state the picture is from, and state assessments vary. One thing I’d like to see more of is surveys of graduates that ask them to identify what went well, and what could be improved. Schools with which I’ve worked have done this and obtained valuable information. They then used the info to help refine their own programs.
So while 2 weeks is too long (and the assessments may be returned too late to be helpful to the students and faculty), I think there is value in periodic assessment, done in various ways.

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- Linda says:
  
  March 8, 2013 at 4:59 pm
  
  Or better yet, this…the kids are sick of it. By the time the elementary kids get to high school there will be a revolution. See this..students call for action….walking out of the TCAP in Colorado:
  
  http://atthechalkface.com/2013/03/06/students-walking-out-of-tcap-in-colorado-stuvoice/
  
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tuppercooks says:

March 8, 2013 at 4:55 pm

B. E. A. utiful. Although it doesn’t take in the time that teachers wasted on Test Prep, teacher training for the tests and then teachers being pulled to correct parts of said tests. I’m figuring I lost a good month last year.

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- tuppercooks says:
  
  March 8, 2013 at 4:57 pm
  
  And that’s just the NY state assessments. I also lose 5 days for Fountas and PInnell , then we have our Dibels and DIbels Daze.
  
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  - Cheryl says:
    
    March 8, 2013 at 10:20 pm
    
    And Dibels Next & mClass Math & Reading TRC -multiple measures then constant progress monitoring & NWEA – MPG & ACCESS for all ELL students… and three times a year … and more… scary. This is for the youngest learners.
- Linda says:
  
  March 8, 2013 at 5:00 pm
  
  Easily one month….and it will only get worse with test scores tied to evaluations. That’s all they will look at and observations will be adjusted to match the results of your students’ test scores.
  
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concerned says:

March 8, 2013 at 5:46 pm

Thank you i am using the picture in my fight against the imposition of CCSS in Alabama, even though they have been renamed to Alabama College and Career Ready Standards–smoke and mirrors, wolf in sheep’s clothing-pick the analogy. It may take a few years to truly realize the serious flaws and impediments they cause, but Georgia now seems to know and is attempting, as others are, to remove themselves.

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alexanderrusso (@alexanderrusso) says:

March 8, 2013 at 9:35 pm

alas, the “roosevelt middle school” sign isn’t legit http://t.co/4MIbKJke7H

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- Linda says:
  
  March 8, 2013 at 9:46 pm
  
  Don’t be disappointed……Just think of all the fun we can have.
  
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Randy Squier says:

March 8, 2013 at 9:51 pm

Diane, you should remove this post, and do some fact checking.

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- Linda says:
  
  March 8, 2013 at 9:54 pm
  
  Big deal…how could one fact check that…so that’s what we would all like to post. It just shows you how intimidated and scared everyone is…and that makes you feel better.
  
  The kids really thrive under these conditions.
  
  Please ask Rhee, Bloomberg, Gates, and all to fact check.. They have a lot to clean up.
  
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Ms. Caesar says:

March 8, 2013 at 10:37 pm

You mean this is real ?

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twinkie1cat says:

March 8, 2013 at 11:43 pm

Ooh! Did the principal get fired for telling the truth? That was bold. Maybe he could add next week: Testing is over. Let education begin.

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liberalteacher says:

March 9, 2013 at 12:55 am

Here in New York we have to give baseline assessments and two benchmark assessments before the state exams. I am an AIS teacher who has mandated special education students. I am also the test coordinator. With these baseline and benchmark tests, my kids loses about 3-4 weeks of instruction per year. This is not counting 6 days of state testing and make up days. Testing is not teaching.

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alexanderrusso (@alexanderrusso) says:

March 9, 2013 at 12:58 am

oh, no! they must have found out and made them change the sign! http://ow.ly/iBLq6

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- Linda says:
  
  March 9, 2013 at 3:21 am
  
  It originally came from another site, but who looks desperate now?
  
  You are missing the point, but that’s okay. Your upset by a spoofed sign but not by a spoofed deform movement…..ironic, eh?
  
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- neanderthal100 says:
  
  March 9, 2013 at 5:35 am
  
  Testers COVER material..They teach no material..Too many standards…The states put TRICKY problems on the tests and then call it DEEP THINKING….WHAT A JOKE…
  Public education is all about the money…it is no longer education…however the private schools are on target and educate the absolute best of the best….
  
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neanderthal100 says:

March 9, 2013 at 5:27 am

Search the web..Look at the tests..Incredibly unreal…UN-real-applications in every case!!
Some states..took one book and half of another..interpreted the standards from the book….posted them on their website….gave the teachers no books….and expect them to run by the thousands…copies and copies and copies and copies of material. on old broken down old machines gave teachers no supplies to go with the standards..UNBELIEVABLE!!!
THE RTTT MONIES ARE IN THE POCKETS OF A FEW IN THE TESTING HIERARCHY AND WILL BE IN THE POCKETS OF THE BOOK PUBLISHERS FROM WHICH THEY TOOK EVERY WORD….WORD FOR WORD….
IF YOU RAN A COMPANY THE WAY THE STATES ARE RUNNING THIS TESTING PYRAMID…YOU WOULD GO BANKRUPT YESTERDAY!!!

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southside teacher says:

March 9, 2013 at 10:57 am

Truly, says it all. You could change the school name to any school in the country.

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d says:

March 9, 2013 at 1:21 pm

Did several of you really think this was a real sign? Are you kidding me?

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Angela Grant says:

March 11, 2013 at 7:17 am

Hey everyone, shouldn’t we have said all the before the law was enacted by Bush? But if I recall it was hailed as the new era of quality education. What happened?

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Nasira says:

March 15, 2013 at 11:56 pm

lovely

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