This comment from one of the professionals who took the test in Rhode Island, at the invitation of the Providence Student Union. He raises the question: When will those at the top be held accountable for failure of their policies?
“I am one of those “irresponsible adults” who took the test…and failed, predictably enough. I found the content of the test to be outrageously irrelevant for the lives of the vast majority of people (80% or more?). To me, what is truly “irresponsible” and morally indefensible is attaching high stakes consequences to a test for students who know they were never taught the material through no fault of their own!
“Let’s hold Gist accountable for the costly failures of her policies before she consigns thousands of students to a grim and limited future.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
How soon can you get rid of her? Didn’t take long to give Brizard the boot!
Maybe there’s a rehab for “exhausted” reformers.
I’m sure ALEC would fund their retreat. Start a countdown clock.
“Didn’t take long to give Brizard the boot!”
That switch was just one puppet to another because the JCB puppet was no longer useful. The BBB puppet won’t last long either, but it won’t matter because there’s always plenty more people willing to make a couple hundred grand a year to be the mayor’s fall guy for a few years.
😦 a revolving door of reformers reforming each others’ reforms 😦
Kids are props.
This is the real concern. What good would ridding ourselves of Gist do if she were only replaced by another Broadie?
Yeah, Linda, & now Brizard is the “senior adviser for the College Board in Washington, D.C.” which, as we know, oversees national administration of the SATs. “‘He will help the company develop the College Board’s initiatives to strengthen and expand career education in the nation’s middle schools, high schools and community colleges,’ a source said. He starts February 1.” (Michael Sneed’s column, Chicago Sun-Times). Right, and while he’s also collecting his buyout ($225 or $250K) from CPS.
Because he cares SO much about the Chicago students, of course.
Don’t worry, Linda: Brizard now has a job in D.C. as a “senior adviser” to the College Board. That, plus the buyout he received from Chicago. Sweet! (The Broadies–they are like Whack-a-Moles–they all manage to pop up somewhere, & you can bet they’re continuing to make big $$$$.)
Oops–sorry for the repeat.
One could infer that when the test-taker says “…a test for students who know they were never taught the material through no fault of their own”, he’s insinuating that the problem rests with the teacher. Did he suddenly realize the test was “outrageously irrelevant” because he failed or because he had an epiphany? Just wondering.
It’s well past the time to hold the rheeformers accountable for the horrendous cognitive and emotional damage to the self-worth of countless young people who are internalizing that they only count as far as their score on an inappropriate test, as well as for the horrendous waste of resources squandered by the corporate reform movement, resources that are desperately needed to provide social/emotional and health supports for America’s shamefully huge number of children who live in poverty. Why don’t do-gooder billionaires like Bill Gates put their money into safe and healthy neighborhoods and nutritious foods instead of bank-rolling mindless tests and test-prep that squeeze the humanity out of teaching and learning? True, technology has much to offer teaching and learning, but technocratic mindless learning is fatal to critical thinking. George Orwell was brilliantly insightful when he wrote about double-think and double-speak. Speaking truth to power is our only option.
Right on! Abolish the requirements that high schoolers take algebra and geometry (a passing grade in which would allow anyone to pass this test with flying colors). All of this so-called “math” is completely irrelevant to most people’s lives, and we’d be better off if high school didn’t spend so much time on academic subjects.
Sorry, do your homework. The NECAP was not designed as a high stakes test like the MCAS, for example The test’s designer has verified this. Further, it tests in aggregate, which means it is designed to measure the abilities of large groups. The test questions progress from easy to too difficult for students, in order that they may test out, to see where the top aggregate score lies. If students could theoretically answer all questions, it would be a mastery test, a test which measures students mastery over the concepts they should have acquired by a certain grade level.
Has anyone explained what exactly these tests are testing? Can someone put the test makers on the spot and have them explain that as well as what exactly a passing grade means? I’ve told my students for the past 30 years that they should always feel free to ask those questions for any test I gave them and that if I could not provide a reasonable answer then I gave a bad test and it should be scrapped!
I’d offer the tests are testing the ability of corporate reformer billionaires to funnel $ into non-profits that manipulate legislators to privatize education.
Ohio started using Proficiency tests, diagnostic tests, in the mid 1990s. After the NCLB came to be, these morphed to the Ohio Achievement Tests, a rating test for the schools and districts. These became known as the Ohio Achievement Assessments in recent years. AYP is becoming the the guiding force, used to “prove” that the students have gained a year’s growth, based on comparing ONE test to the test taken the year before, and then using that information to judge a teacher, a school building, a school district on its effectiveness. The morale of countless children and teachers has been ruined by this testing insanity. The questions are supposedly decided upon by a group of people, including some teacher or administrativei input. I have always been a good student, scored well beyond my years on all standardized tests, etc. The kinds of questions posed for these tests are often beyond grade level, so they are inappropriately administered. It is one of those things where “the boss” looks you in the face and says, “Do it” … whether you like it or not. In the end the students are hurt worst, but along the way there are many great teachers (even those who have been teacher of the year) who have been driven out of the profession due to arbitrary decisions of a “testing company”.
Based on what I’ve read, there may be a legitimate gripe that portions of the exam are too difficult and/or are covering material that hasn’t been taught. I don’t think there’s anything necessarily wrong with a state requiring students to pass a statewide exam before they graduate, though. To me, that’s very different from the madness of annual standardized tests in every grade starting in elementary school.
And when I read idiotic quotes like the one below, I tune out completely.
Why even bother teaching, let alone testing, content that’s “irrelevant for the lives of the vast majority of people” in the first place? Why teach algebra?
The Animal School Parable:
Once upon a time, the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of a new world, so they organized a school. They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming, and flying, and to make it easier to administer, all the animals took all the subjects.
The DUCK was excellent in swimming, better in fact than his instructor, and made passing grades in flying, but he was very poor in running. Since he was slow in running, he had to stay after school and also drop swimming to practice running. This was kept up until his webbed feet were badly worn and he was only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school, and so nobody worried about that, except the duck.
The RABBIT started at the top of the class in running, but had a nervous breakdown because of so much make-up work in swimming.
The SQUIRREL was excellent in climbing until he developed frustration in the flying class, where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from the treetop down. He also developed a charliehorse from over-exertion and then received a C in climbing and a D in running.
The EAGLE was a problem child, and was disciplined severely. In the climbing class, he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but instead of climbing, he insisted on using his own way to get there.
At the end of the year, an abnormal EEL that could swim exceedingly well, and also, run, climb, and fly a little, had the highest average and was valedictorian.
The PRAIRIE DOGS stayed out of school and fought the tax levy because the administration would not add digging and burrowing to the curriculum. They apprenticed their child to a BADGER and later joined the GROUNDHOGS and GOPHERS to start a successful private school.
“There is nothing so unequal as the equal treatment of unequals.”
Remember: Fairness isn’t when everyone gets the same, but when everyone gets what s/he needs.
http://www.teacherdrivenchange.org/journal-old/2012/6/11/animal-school-what-the-animals-can-teach-us.html
If the professionals who took the test had so much trouble passing then would those advocating for this test content be able to pass? If the results might be about the same, how was the content chosen? If programs to “improve” schools take so long to bring on line was this test relevant 5 or ten years ago but not now? Were the people who chose the content really able to see into the future and select content that would be critical knowledge 10 years out?
How can we decide that all this test content is really what the kids need to know if adults in the real world can’t ace it? I agree with Mr. Fitzpatrick above. Who decides what is on these tests and how do they decide? I have had my high school students come back from college and jobs and life and tell me what they wished I could have taught or should have stressed more and I make changes based on that. It was all the basic foundation knowledge of science and they wanted more practice making decisions and figuring things out. They said they needed to know as much as possible about physical science and biology but the physics wasn’t applicable to all of them just those going into related college classes. They said the hands on labs were good but they wanted more on scientific process and vocabulary. Science fair wasn’t helpful except for those going into the science majors. We spent so much time preparing for it. My students who went into welding, auto repair, systems like AC and Heating wanted more measuring and calculating volume and surface area. They wanted more on energy and how it is transferred or transformed. All wanted more on the periodic table and how to use it but my pacing guide only allows so long on things and I have to move on even if most do not understand it or I get in trouble for not being where all the other science teachers are (even though we all talk to each other and NO ONE can teach all this in the time allowed. Now, mind you, these were the conversations you have with kids who drop in after a year or two to say Hi! so there were not responding to a extensive survey; BUT WHY AREN’T WE ASKING THEM?
I pray so hard that the Next Generation Science Standards are all that we have been promised and I have been reading about!!!) I have keep up with them and I hope they are tested and tweaked and then piloted and are solid when we get them in the classrooms.
I know what the basics are and the students need those. I try and teach them how their brains work and how they learn. I help them understand that they are in control of their education, to speak up, ask questions and participate. I have high expectations for them; many parents don’t want that. I never set a kid up to fail like these tests do. Failing these tests makes these kids feel like failures and the parents often attack by claiming the child didn’t try hard enough. I would rather they attack me. Our schools expect kids to pick a “5 year plan” and start charting their classes to a specific career or college degree. Really?? Eighth grade students are supposed to all know what they want to be when they grow up? A few do, and many of them change their minds in high school. So many of my high school students didn’t have a clue until junior year, yet now we demand 8th graders pick one and then plan on all their high school classes to get there. They haven’t even thought about it, except for the football players who are ALL going to go pro, the cheerleaders who are all going to go dance for a pro football team and the few science nerds like I was who have always know what they want to be.
I would love to have the data of how my students do in high school and beyond so I can improve how and what I teach. Having data based on tests that are not asking the right questions does me no good. Evaluate me all you want but make the data valid so I can use it.
Why are we allowing people who have been out of school for years and years as a student or an educator, tell us what 20 somethings need to succeed?
“How can we decide that all this test content is really what the kids need to know if adults in the real world can’t ace it?”
Agree.
A barrier to a diploma should be things that real world, normal adults (those with further education of all kinds, careers of all kinds, lives of all kinds) can do/know.
Hello Dr. Ravitch, I’m an elementary school Librarian in RI, and a huge fan of yours- thank you for your good work! Here’s some information that may interest you pertaining to the NECAP test- it seems that it was never meant to be used in the way it is being used: http://www.rifuture.org/open-letter-about-necap-to-eva-mancuso.html
This assessment is the equivalent to those old Jim Crow literacy tests that subverted their constitutional right to vote. This test is subverting a student’s right to a diploma. Gist should be subject to an equivalent test and we will see if she can pass it. But she has to sign a contract with the people of Rhode Island which states that if she fails, she must give up her high school and college degrees.
“This test is subverting a student’s right to a diploma.”
I think you mean “ability to get a diploma.” Students do not have a right to a diploma.
Perhaps the issue here is not whether or not some concept is irrelevant to people’s lives.
Perhaps the issue is what concepts/standards/abilities/tasks should serve as a barrier to a HS diploma.
I can only speak for the science tests in my state, but there are some pretty obscure, advanced, and downright “irrelevant” stuff on them.
Endosymbiotic theory?
Cladograms (reading and constructing)?
Graphing rates of enzymatic reactions?
The details of transcription and translation?
Anyone besides a biologist ever need this stuff?
How many of you have any idea what I am talking about (Scientists not included)?
(Rhetorical question..no need to prove you are a genius…I’m looking at you……).
Should we teach these concepts?
YES!
They are interesting, they are exciting, they are a lens through which some of us understand the world around us.
Should really “getting it” and being able to pass a state mandated, standardized, high stakes test on these things be a barrier to graduation?
NO!
Just my HO.
Endosymbiont theory is COOL, though! And cladograms… and punctuated equilibrium…
My, is it getting warm in here?
I really need to go get my certification in Biology…
Like I said, I love it…but as a barrier to graduation?
Not so sure about that.
But if it grabs you, please do join us in teaching Bio. we need more who get it and fewer who do not. (see posts on the teaching of creationism).
“we need more who get it and fewer who do not. (see posts on the teaching of creationism).”
Truer words never typed.