This is such a powerful post that I hope you will read it in full. It was written by a parent in California.
The testing mania is spinning out of control. It is turning into child abuse. It demoralizes teachers. It offers the fodder to kill schools. It must be reined in. What kind of person would claim credit for such madness?
Start here:
A parent’s vignette of the CST from child-level:
Two minutes late for the appointed retrieval time, I receive a frantic phone call from the middle-schooler. By the time I arrive tears cling to her chin, her face is blotchy and she looks just terrible. I know why without asking, because this is not the first or even sixth time during the past two months that I have seen these symptoms: acute anxiety is easy to spot.
Alerting the grandma on the telephone of imminent need for sage advice, we embark on this well-frequented, no-win exchange: “Please tell me what’s the matter”?! “It’s the CSTs, I’m going to fail them, I’m going to do a terrible job and my teacher will be in trouble and my school will be in trouble and I’m going to fail my class and everyone will know I’m a failure”.
The tirade borders on hysteria for approximately 5 minutes before any word can be uttered edgewise.
Can any non-parent truly appreciate the toll these tests extract emotionally? The cost in terms of ‘man-stress-hours’ is excruciating to contemplate, excruciating to experience. Stress is generated, in its full destructive, wasteful glory, in every conceivable direction: from the teachers regarding students, from the students regarding teachers, from the parents for the students, from administrators regarding teachers, from everyone for their school Š on and on and on. My child has endured at least three full-blown bouts of insomnia replete with physical manifestations of shaking and mental manifestations of worry just for fixating on the implications of these tests. As a result several hours of actual, literal sleep have simply been lost: gone. Insofar as a child’s purpose is to grow and learn, any loss to this end amounts to permanent, irretrievable damage.
I have had to drop my own adult work, to sit through long, iterative, pointless expressions of the child’s pent-up terror surrounding these tests and their implications. I have repeated the same lecture at least a half dozen times: ‘these tests are of the teacher, not of you; your performance is essentially your gift to the teacher, to the school. You will not be, should not be, penalized for your performance. You should do the best you can because you want to demonstrate what you know; no one can expect more than that. Think of the tests as a mental exercise, like the crossword puzzles grandma loves. Sit and puzzle, do your best, reflect your abilities faithfully and that is enough’.
But it isn’t enough. Not for the children from whom these tests extract punishing, arbitrary adjudications of the very teachers they are meant to have developed a relationship with. Whatever the child does, it will not be enough: if under-par, their performance could be the agent of trouble for their teacher or school. The guilt of responsibility for a consequence meted out upon a third party is fierce, worse, even, than any personal consequence. But in this particular case the third party is the superior, the role-model. What can it mean for the subservient to be in charge of the fate of the mentor? This is an unnatural, discombobulating fear.
At par, their performance would fail to demonstrate the super-teacher status necessary to deliver the properly transferred teacher-friend from the jeopardy of the school’s intensely-charged, jobs-at-stake atmosphere. Above-par and the responsibility for salvation is sharpest of all. Anything shy of a perfect score unveils the child-defined tyranny of magic. The kids feel it is up to them now to deliver protection for their entire school community from the trauma of educational “reform”; school co-locations, enrollment loss, library-closings, staff and services dropped, and other sequelae of a society setting priority for their education way down at rank bottom. The standard these kids are setting for themselves in just retaining status quo, is nothing less than perfection.
Thus, a perfect storm for misery. On top of the impossible expectations is testing of “standards” not even in the curriculum. As a working parent I must first deal with panicked shrieking over question topics that the teacher “has not even taught and which have never been seen before”. The pervasive negativity that “I cannot do this” is unnerving and necessitates my attention to the exclusion, even, of work deadlines.
Countless wasted stress-hours multiplied across a half-million families across the city. Across the country. Among teachers’ and administrator’s families’, among staff’s families. Because make no mistake, the drama of these tests shuts down functioning far beyond the classroom; it extends into households and across families and generations far and wide. When a system as systemic as our public schools turns dysfunctional in the wake of these foolish tests, tendrils of its effect suffuse the fiber of our very society.
This is not a trivial matter, turning over our children’s schooldays to high-stakes, high-anxiety, disproportionately affective testing. We are subjecting our youngest and most vulnerable members of society to the impossible task of righting trends they are innocent of starting. More pernicious, we are saddling them with responsibility for it. They shoulder culpability at a group-level (among teachers or school) for the consequence of their work collectively when they contribute to its measurement only as an individual. Whichever way they turn results in irreparable consequences Š to someone or something else.
We are torturing our children by relegating them to such feelings of doom and despair. Why do we coerce our kids to participate in an exercise the only solution to which is personal, inherent failure? Whom is this all for?
Obviously it’s not for the kids, but neither is it for the teachers or administrators – all this testing seems intended for no one in sight. It’s for an idealized paradigm of our ability to tease out some truth statistically. But this is a capacity that just doesn’t even exist, at least not with such a clear signal. No given test or even battery of tests can ever accurately rank a teacher’s or schools’ quality or worth. But the process of asserting otherwise itself conveys a signal of the strongest measure: all the collateral, ancillary unrest surrounding the testing is in itself, destructive beyond compare.
That’s life kid. Get back up and rub a little dirt in it or be afraid of failure and end up on medication for the rest if your life.
What a callous remark. They’re too young to be put under this kind of stress. This is not good for their mental or physical development. Children are not mini-adults.
I developed debilitating anxiety from these types of tests in high school. I feel this child’s pain. This is child abuse.
My 80-year old neighbor said to me the other day,
‘What’s happened to this country? We used to love children. Eveyone’s children. What’s happened?’
You might ask yourself that same question, Jack.
Assuming that the Jack above is being serious, then people like Jack are what happened to children. 😦
Jack #2 – Telling children to continue to subjugate themselves to an abusive situation is the behavior of an abuser.
How can people allow pain to be inflicted on another or inflict pain? Researchers have found that it occurs all too easily.
I’m sure many of you have read this study and perhaps the updated study.
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/pain/articles/2009/01/05/researcher-finds-most-will-inflict-pain-on-others
Who cares? This parent obviously isn’t a wealthy entrepreneur, and therefore her opinions are irrelevant. The plight of her child might be of some import, if only a way could be found to use it to push for more charters. Otherwise — irrelevant.
These lower caste units of human capitol need to learn their place, and stay in it.
Hi,
I post here from time to time—also under the name “Jack”—
and unless to above comment from this other “Jack” is
sarcasm, I most certainly do not agree with it.
Jack (the first)
I’m with you.
Unfortunately, teachers have become prisoners of a system that no longer seeks to serve our children. As parents, we have to take back school so that we aren’t slaves to a broken system that is literally using our children as experimental props.
How about a “National Bubble In Answer ‘A’ Day” or “Make Pretty Patterns on The Answer Sheet” Day?
The whole system breaks down without DATA!
Exactly. I don’t understand why parents just don’t opt out, especially elelmentary school parents.
All testing should end.
Yes, it’s archaic.
When I asked my dept chairperson how the ela went, his response was children cried, some were frustrated they didn’t finish, parents called and our superintendent is annoyed. Mission accomplished!
All the time, money, and human potential wasted on these ridiculous tests. It’s criminal.
If we want to “improve” public education, the current National Teacher of the Year has a plan. He says that making a relationship with the students FIRST and then looking at the content.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/23/2013-national-teacher-of-year-public-education-not-in-crisis/
http://q13fox.com/2013/04/22/washington-teacher-named-2013-national-teacher-of-the-year/#axzz2RISL6jtb
http://www.geekwire.com/2013/stemfocused-washington-high-school-instructor-nations-mostawesome-teacher/
Wow! I am impressed with the choice. Seeing he is meeting with President Obama today, I hope he passes on his passion and plan.
A kinder gentler world, brought to you by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, along with their good friend, Mr. Warren Buffett.
” What kind of person would claim credit for such madness?”
Answer:
a BROADIE !
if I am wrong, let me know. The only testing that matters in high school for later in life are the PSAT and SAT. Some schools offer a class for the preparation for these exams, one class. All the other testing is for government use TAAS, etc. useless, information that rewards school districts with government funding. and Principals with monetary rewards for passing. Ridiculous.
Testing should not be tied to payment of any kind to avoid abuse of teachers and the test.
” ‘these tests are of the teacher, not of you; your performance is essentially your gift to the teacher, to the school. ‘”
No, these tests are not of the teacher. I know this parent was trying to soothe a distraught child, but, obviously, the child didn’t buy it. She cared about her teachers and her school. It terrified her that she would let them down. Admittedly, the parent later on asserts that these tests cannot and do not provide an accurate measure of a teacher’s or a school’s worth, but it will take a lot of distraught children to turn the tide. People need to see in their child’s eyes and hear it in their voices. They will fight for their kids.
I commented the same on her blog about it being about the teacher.
2old2tch, You know, while saying this and relating it later, it doesn’t at all feel right what I’m saying — I am not proud of this response. It is borne of impatience and frustration and emasculation; just not knowing what else to say. It’s a little bit of mean bullying on my part toward my child. Because I know this loads responsibility on her and isn’t relieving it or her stress. It’s just, she’s going on about how it will reflect badly on her and I want to head that one off as well … every which way you turn is wrong! Not only for the kid, for a parent and I daresay all the teachers and administrators as well. This is a lot more of a catch-22, it’s something like a catch-22^10 . As if it weren’t enough that she worries about responsibility for the consequence of her own performance on herself, she shoulders it for the institution too … but then confusing this message of too-much with the qualification that ‘oh, BTW, you not only get to feel pressure in multiple directions for the tests, but the instrument used to assert the pressure isn’t real…’ — this would all be way too much to take in, I think!
The point is, the ramifications of these tests are really complicated, diffuse, and do affect many parties in many directions. Yes, my child may not have bought my attempts to deflect her personal responsibility; I don’t even know how accurate this would be. But she certainly feels the big gemisch of it all.
My response was in no way a condemnation of you. I apologize if you took it that way. You shouldn’t have to take to the streets to protect your child from misguided educational policy. You should be able to expect the experts, teachers, administrators,…, to provide an appropriate education for her. Unfortunately, the forces driving education go way beyond a teacher’s pay grade. Those who are still standing have some power when they speak in concert, but we are slowly being picked off. Parents and students cannot be ignored. To put it in crass corporate speak, you are the customers. Up to the overt push with high stakes testing, the “reformers” have been able to hide their agenda with shrewd marketing. Years ago, there was a push in my community to consolidate our neighborhood schools. It was only because a group of parents from the schools to be closed got together and fought the consolidation with research that the move was voted down by the school board. Teachers were only able to help covertly, so, it was up to the parents to make the case.
yup yup — thanks for the gentle reassurance, 2old. As I suspect you know, we fall down so many times as parents, I appreciate knowing you are thinking about the bigger picture.
But I think it’s so, so important to understand that this creation of antagonistic entities, the “parents” in one corner pitted against “teachers” in another and “administrators” in the third and “students” in the last — this metaphor is just spurious. IMO “parents” are not and cannot be an organizable entity; looking to them as a force to stop a concerted attack is just waiting for water to dam a lake. I tried to argue that on my blog, but I really don’t think anyone’s listening to the point. I understand it may be the only entity that could stand up to the forces of educational privatization. But short of flat out national revolution, I don’t see how this can be achieved. I hope I am wrong. As I see it, there is a structural misunderstanding afoot and this makes us inherently incapable of staving off these advances.
Personally, I think the courts must be engaged as there is so much criminality involved. As well as unconstitutional, inherently jeopardizing activities. If providing citizens protection against such incursions is not what our constitution exists for, I don’t know why we even bother operating under this system at all.
“Personally, I think the courts must be engaged as there is so much criminality involved.”
Perhaps that is one way parents can help, but I suspect as it was with parents’ effort in my town, focus will be local. There is nothing wrong with that. When we look at the forces arrayed against a strong public education system, it is daunting. There are a few national forums (thank you, Diane), but most of the activity is probably on a local or state level. That is where parents come in. Join the local groups, read the blogs. I get very down, on occasion, especially when I focus on myself or when the destructive reform forces seem overwhelming. My kids are grown, thank goodness, but my career is probably gone. I will learn to deal with my career disappointments in time; I am subbing, so I still have to watch my mouth. Sometimes I used to tell my students parents that they might have to get annoying. I was a special ed teacher; it’s not unusual for sped teachers to be told not to recommend services because then the district has to pay for them. Having persistent parents was frequently to a student’s advantage. So now we need pushy parents. I feel for you.
I have said publicly in many settings (even my to my school district at a school board meeting and even told one of the Asst Sec. of Education) that what is going on with testing and CCSS is child abuse. Silence….
Are there any parallels between the legal definition of emotional child abuse and the testing madness in most of our public schools today?
EMOTIONAL ABUSE
“When it comes to damage, there is no real difference between physical, sexual and emotional abuse. All that distinguishes one from the other is the abuser’s choice of weapons.”- Andrew Vachss
Emotional abuse is a pattern of behavior that can seriously interfere with a child’s positive development, psyche and self-concept.
Emotional abuse is hard to identify due to no physical evidence.
Rejection and Ignoring – Telling a child in a variety of ways that he or she is unwanted, having a
lack of attachment, showing no interest, not initiating or returning affection, and/or not listening to the child. Not validating feelings. Breaking promises. Cutting the child off while he or she is speaking. Pretending to hear concerns, but then disregard them.
Shame and Humiliation –Telling a child he or she is stupid, etc. or evoking criticism when performance is not perfect. Judging what the child does as wrong, inferior, or worthless. Using reproaches such as “You should be ashamed of yourself,” or “Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.” Pride is also a feeling that is often met with shameful condemnations, such as “Who do you think you are, Mr. Big Shot?”
Terrorizing – Accusing, blaming, insulting, criticizing, punishing and threatening with abandonment, physical harm, or death. Sabotaging success by making unreasonable demands or labeling the person as a loser. Taking advantage of the person’s weakness or manipulating. Slandering.
Isolating – Not allowing the child to engage with peers or activities, keeping a child in a room or small area, and not exposing the child to stimulation. Withholding information.
Corrupting – Engaging children to witness or participate in criminal acts such as stealing, drug dealing etc. Telling lies to avoid justifying actions or ideas.
Emotional Abuse Indicators
Hiding his or her eyes
Lowering his or her gaze
Biting lips or tongue
Forcing a smile
Fidgeting
Annoyance
Defensiveness
Exaggeration
Confusion or denial
Feeling of nakedness, defeat, alienation or lack of worth
Regression
Poor self-esteem
Angry acts
Withdrawal
Insecurity
Alcohol or drug abuse
Depression
Suicide
Difficulty in relationships
Eating disorders
Sleep disorders/nightmares
Speech disorders
Developmental delays
Nervous disorders or somatic symptoms
In my experience with children of abuse, their chances of overcoming their terrible ordeal was greatly improved if there was an adult who stood up for them. Someone who stood between them and their abuser. My fellow teachers, we must stand in the gap for our students. We cannot allow them to be used as “sweatshop” test takers to line the pockets of the educational corporate operators.
Well said. The last sentence is dead on and has great T-shirt potential. Think about it.
Given the many heartfelt posting under this topic, perhaps some of the regular posters here can help me out…
Since the time-consuming and character-building hazing ritual known as high-stakes standardized testing is becoming increasingly de rigueur in so many public schools, I was curious to see how much more strenuously applied this rheephormy practice was in [supposedly] select institutions of the highest quality.
Who knows best about educational innovative excellence than the Most Excellent Innovatress herself, the Rheemeister? At last word one of her children attended Harpeth Hall, a modestly priced [caveat: if you are well-to-do] private all-girls school. You can find it here: http://www.harpethhall.org
I toured around the above website. I must admit to being quite disturbed to see that this hallowed institution of pricey learning spends previous little time on hardening up, er, educating its recruits, er, customers, er, students.
For example, under “ABOUT US” and then under “50 Reasons” there were some pretty lame excuses for why parents should send their children to Harpeth Hall.
I give only a few of the most revealing because I am sure that like me, you couldn’t stomach all 50:
“2. A Harpeth Hall teacher is an educator, coach, mentor, and friend.”
“9. Athlete, scientist, artist: At Harpeth Hall you can be all three.”
“14. Our faculty average more than 18 years of teaching experience and 80 percent hold advanced degrees.”
“19. AP Physics, AP English Literature, and AP Calculus BC are just three of our 28 Advanced Placement and honors course offerings.”
“29. 8:1 ratio: Our teachers know our students. ”
“32. Picture perfect. Three campus art studios, a photography lab, and stellar instructors create a dynamic atmosphere for artists of all levels.”
“36. Harpeth Hall girls work hard and play hard: We field 54 teams in 11 different sports from basketball to lacrosse. 64 percent of Harpeth Hall students participated in athletics during the 2010-2011 school year.”
“42. State standouts: Our cross country and track teams have won more state championships than any other school in the state whether public or private, single-gender, or co-educational.”
“46. Choices, choices, choices! More than 40 campus organizations, formed by girls for girls.”
I am sure people are sick of seeing this claptrap so I will wrap this up: their website astonishingly proclaims after the name of the school “”TEACHING GIRLS IN GRADES 5-12 TO THINK CRITICALLY, TO LEAD CONFIDENTLY, AND TO LIVE HONORABLY.”
An outrageous claim consider that there is not a single mention of steeling their young charges with the most important skill they will ever learn: how to take a high-stakes standardized test! Yes, I kid you not. And little mention of any—and I mean ANY—such tests on the entire website.
🙂
Regular visitors to this website know I have little [ok, to be honest: no] love for Michelle Rhee the edubully. But I certainly wish her children the best, and I am dumbfounded that one of her children is being deprived of every advantage that $tudent $ucce$4 can buy, so I plead with anyone who has MR’s email:
Please let her know that someone is committing educational fraud on one of her children.
Thanking you in advance,
Krazy props to whoever rights this terrible wrong.
🙂
“Please let her know that someone is committing educational fraud on one of her children”
Or could it be that one of her children needs special services that aren’t available in the posh private schools?
And might be why she has been reluctant to talk about where her children attend school? If that is the case I’m fine with it.
Last year, my then-5th grade son lost several nights of sleep over the state writing exam. He’s actually a good test-taker and did just fine, but the stress he underwent isn’t worth it. We’re working to opt him out this year.
Simple. Opt out. Exercise your parental right, practice conscious civil disobedience and don’t send your kids to school the days of the tests and make-up tests. Under most states’ education codes, parents have the right to exclude their children from education activities that they deem immoral or against their religious beliefs. High stakes testing is immortal. Most parents and older children who chose to do this, and the numbers are steadily growing, write a polite letter to the principal explaining their decision. The truth is that most educators are not for high-stakes testing, but cannot say anything against it for fear of losing their jobs. Most teachers silently applaud those parents who put their foot down and say no. Maybe the government would listen if more parents did that.
The best part is telling your child, “Don’t stress over this. You don’t have to take the test.” How can teachers be held responsible for a child’s performance when the child never took the test in the first place? You can’t factor in a score that isn’t there.
Perhaps a subconscious mistake? “High stakes testing is immortal.”
I sure hope not!!
“The best part is telling your child, “Don’t stress over this. You don’t have to take the test.” How can teachers be held responsible for a child’s performance when the child never took the test in the first place? You can’t factor in a score that isn’t there.”
I wish this was true. Unfortunately, schools and teachers get a zero in Louisiana if students do not take the test or the make-up. My school’s test administrator spends countless hours trying to track students down who were at our school for the October 1 count, but who somehow never registered at another school – despite my school’s many attempts to track them down. On testing days, the administrators at my school literally drive to students’ homes after contacting parents/guardians who simply slept late that morning or who don’t appreciate the seriousness of the test quite as much as the teachers.
Your second paragraph shows the utter (or is that udder) insanity of high stakes testing regime bovine excrement.
“who don’t appreciate the seriousness of the test quite as much as the teachers.”
I DON’T appreciate “the seriousness of the test” and I tell my children as much. I tell them these tests are stupid and pointless, and not to worry about them. My ONLY concern is for the health and wellbeing of my child, everything else, including the school’s rating or administrators keeping their jobs, is a far and wide second.
We have endured weeks of stomach aches. He cries himself to sleep and tells us he hates school now. I also tell my son that these tests are meaningless. They will do nothing for him directly. There are no advanced or gifted classes to move up to. He says, “I know they aren’t important to me but they are important to my teacher.” I can’t take that stress off of him. He feels like he will let his teacher and his school down if he doesn’t perform well. If I have him refuse to take the tests, the school in is danger of losing Title 1 funding from the state that we desperately need. I also don’t want him to think it is ok to back down from a challenge just because it is hard. It is just too much for them at this age.