Michael Weston shares the news from his school, where testing takes precedence over teaching.
He writes:
May 3, 2013. It actually happened at Freedom High School today. The Unthinkable. Beyond the Pale. This afternoon, 7th period, we had an AP Testing pep rally. Yes, a testing pep rally. I had heard rumors of such things, but had a hard time believing them. Today I saw.
Hillsborough County Florida is one of those districts that has stuffed AP classes full with any student who a) wants to take one, b) can be cajoled to take one, c) is involuntarily signed up for one, or d) is placed under extreme pressure to take one.
This is all in the name of increased rigor of course. Apparently “increased rigor” is “New English” for Superintendent bonus. Yes, the number of AP tests taken is in her contract as a bonus provision.
Students lose instructional time taking these tests.
Students lose instructional time when their teachers have to proctor these tests.
Students lose instructional time when classes are under half full because OTHER kids are taking tests.
The list goes on.
For the last 4 weeks we have been FCATing. Two weeks ago started Florida End of Course Exams (they continue for some weeks) and Monday begins AP testing season.
Now – students lose learning time to a TESTING PEP RALLY??? REALLY?
Florida teachers should file a class action law suit or union grievances that this level of attention to testing creates a hostile environment for teaching.
Parents should likewise take action, as this level of attention to testing creates a hostile environment to learning.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It is critically important to recognize that testing as a path to progress was always a diversionary sleight-of-hand — designed to distract the gullible marks from the invisible hand steadily privatizing the public sector.
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These ralllies are going on all over the country. We have a “CST” rally during instructional time to get the kids “pumped up” for the test. They chant the API number. They have no idea what it means, but they go along with the program. My students are being tested to death. Between the district benchmarks, the district writing prompts, the online reading and math assessments for the district, the CST and the fact that my students had to be guinea pigs for the common core online test BEFORE the CST is disgusting. Not to mention the “test prep” time. This is all instructional time wasted so Pearson can make a buck.
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Don’t participate. I don’t. We didn’t have one this year thank goodness.
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As a fine arts director, I shudder. The thought that the band playing anything from a classic rock tune to the latest from Lady Gaga will inspire a child to get one more question correct on a test is ludicrous. I’m sure the cheerleaders were chanting about proper essay form or math formulas too. Give me a break. We can be a vital part of and even an inspiring part of the “Friday night experience” but this is not the place.
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Evidently the losses for students are unimportant compared with the gains for the College Board.
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Diane, here are some thoughts by Michael that are worth reading about the evaluation system being used in Tampa call EET, A Gates initiative. Michael and others have been personally attacked by members of the district for speaking up. Michael has been attacked personally! Can you post this, or ask Michael to forward it to you? Thanks!
http://www.gopublicschool.com/from-florida-a-classroom-teacher-speaks-out/
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“Rock the test, rock the test” My K-8 in Arizona has been having test pep rallys for years. I always thought being calm was the best way to go into a test. I wonder if this is why the office the fills with sick and crying students the week of AIMS testing.
Nothing like stressing out children to encourage lifelong learning.
And don’t forget assemblies after quarterly testing to praise classes and students showing improvement (in test taking).
As an Art Teacher I was on the fringes, I wasn’t involved in standardized testing – until this year. One of the reasons I retired last year.
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Gross, just gross…
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Reminds me of the SNL skit with Will Farrell and Cheri Oteri cheering at the chess tournament.
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Perfect!
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Because everyone knows that it is sports that is what is really important in high school?
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Re: the testing pep rallies, as I always say, wouldn’t it be nice if we could get this excited and fired up about actual learning?
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how is that possible if all teachers are permitted to do is to teach to the test?
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As an addendum, I seriously just saw a local aquatic store commercial that said “students who have fish score higher on math and verbal SATs.”
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I would guess that families with kids who have fish are higher on the socioeconomic scale…
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We have become data driven rather than student driven! I feel bad for the kids .
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My kids have been known to object to the frequent athletic pep rallies at our high school, the most burdensome happening at 5:00 a.m.. Is this an objection to pep rallies in general or just ones that are not sports related?
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Come on TE, you’re asking “those” questions again!
I object to both.
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It looks like you and I are the only ones that object to pep rallies in general.
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Why are your kids going to a 5:00 am pep rally if it’s so burdensome?
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All student club officers were required to go. My son was Vice President of the math club.
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Oy. That really stinks. I’m not a fan of pep rallies, either, except for the optional, before (but not 5 am!) and after school ones.
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Most of the sports pep rallies happened during normal school hours. The early morning one happened because a TV station decided to broadcast it.
I take it that you object to all pep rallies held during school hours, not just those organized around tests. If so, I think we agree on this issue.
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Yep. I agree. I’m not a huge fan of a million disruptions to learning. My school is very careful on assemblies and we only have about 4 a year (including the very last day of school). Between those and fire drills, announcements, etc, school is disrupted enough. And I know my school is lucky to lose as little time as we do.
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Have you seen the metrics used by US News and World Report to define “the best HSs in the US”? The percentage of students taking AP tests is one of the factors. Some HSs don’t place a high value on AP tests because many “brand name” colleges don’t place a high value on them… but if you want your HS to get a good national rating, you’ve got to get lots of kids signed up for AP classes..
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Why the hell would any one give a rat’s ass about school rankings by some pud magazine that has no clue what it’s talking about?
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You need to ask your local chamber of commerce this question… or your local realtors…
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“This is all in the name of increased rigor of course.”
Yep, in the name of educational rigor mortis.
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Duane, love “educational rigor mortis!” We can start a whole new vocabulary for those tests–that, villainthropy/villainthropists, bloviating/bloviated (Linda), & some that are great from Jon Awbrey, but can’t remember right now.
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It’s logical to expect that since there are so many educational malpractices shoved down teachers’ throats all the way through and down onto the students that the results would be educational rigor mortis.
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This is no exaggeration. At the high school just down the street from the school in Mr. Weston’s post, a parent had to spend a considerable amount of time trying to convince one of the guidance counselors that she did NOT want her son taking a particular AP course. It was not something he was interested in and would interfere with other skills/subjects he was focused on. Mother and son agreed that it would be too much for him to handle and counter-productive. The guidance counselor registered him for the course AGAINST the mom’s wishes and although he was finally able to withdraw from the course, it was very clear that it was all about getting students enrolled in the courses, NOT whether or not it was the right thing for the child. Shameful.
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When I first started teaching AP classes in Florida six years ago, I only had the top 50 students. Now there are 200 freshman enrolled in AP world history at my school. The reason for this are two fold and both can be blamed on the Florida Legislature. An easy way to bump up your school grade has been to increase your AP enrollment. In the past, it didn’t matter if the kids all failed the test, it still bumped up your grade. Now the state is incorporating pass rates into school grades but only for juniors and seniors. Freshmen only help the score grade if they pass the test, they don’t hurt if they fail it. The second reason AP enrollment is expanding is because the Legislature exempted AP classes from the class size amendment. Now they are just dumping kids into AP classes because the other classes are full. You can read my blog post about how I ended up with 54 freshmen in my AP world history class the fall after the Legislature circumvented the twice voter approved class size amendment. http://kafkateach.wordpress.com/2012/05/27/class-size-matters/
Now here’s the catch. Two weeks ago my district awarded Race to the Top bonus money to AP teachers based on which teachers had the highest pass rates. Ironically, I had the highest pass rates my first year teaching AP because I only had the top 50 students. Now that I’m teaching 180 freshmen, my pass rates have dropped but the absolute numbers passing have gone up. But I can guarantee you I am a much better teacher now even though my pass rates have gone down. It helps my school grade and my administrators’ evaluations if they have a high number of students enrolled in AP. Unfortunately, it ends up hurting my evaluation to have a large number of AP students taking the test (even students who have a D or F are forced to sit/sleep through the exam). I also volunteered to be an AP mentor for the district last year (not knowing in advance that we would be ranked against each other for bonuses). Now that my evaluation and raise is going to be determined by comparing my pass rates to other teachers in the district, I’m not helping anybody anymore.
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That is insane! Thanks for sharing!
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Yes, thank you. There are many involved parents out there who are not aware of how things work, and we need to know.
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Who is paying the 90 bucks a pop for kids to sit/sleep through the AP test? That’s ridiculous!
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That’s a good question. Nobody has ever been able to answer it for me. I assume it’s the tax payer? If the kids had to pay for the test themselves I’m sure they would see pass rates go up.
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Reblogged this on onewomansjournal and commented:
Insanity. Pep rallies for testing? And those same DEFORMERS talk about time on task…DUH…
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we had an fcat pep rally, the day before fcat began. kids were out of our classes for 2-3 days prior to the pep rally to practice for their performance in it. we then had a math testing day, two days of reading testing, one day of science testing for my grade and the following week the same for 6th grade b/c we don’t have enough computers to test everyone at the same time. then we had make up days. then THREE days after all of this insanity, we gave them a mandated writing exam. next week is FAIR testing (still have no idea what that is) and the week after is SRI (a reading test). then we will have nine weeks exams. this began april 15th and right now, my classes will not be done with all of this foolishness until june 4th. how is this education?
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and for all the parents in florida who push their children into those ap classes: wait until your child graduates and gets into a florida university. my friend’s daughter passed NINE ap classes, but the university of florida would not accept her scores (5s) b/c they, of course, want you to take the class and PAY for it. i never allowed my daughter to take one. she dual enrolled and that is how she got 12 credits that count.
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Universities must vary a great deal if Florida does not take any credits from a national AP scholar like the student you talked about. My University would have given aomething close to a years credit.
On the other hand, many will not let students count classes for both their high school and college degrees, so dual enrollment has risks as well.
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Says here that university of FL does accept many AP credits.
https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/advising/info/AP-examination-credit-info.aspx
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Thanks for the link Ang.
Perhaps Floridateacher is a little confused about the situation. It looks to me like 9 fives should get a student a boxful of credit hours at Florida, just as it would at my university.
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Hi TE,
I agree, perhaps fl teacher misunderstood something? However, I have heard similar things said by other people.
I have my students (In AP) do a summer assignment where they investigate several colleges and universities that they may be interested in attending. (Because most of my students are new to this country and or first generation college).
Part of the assignment is to find out how the school treats AP bio credit.
We have yet to come across a school that does not, in some way or other, honor AP credits. So, I don’t know were the misinformation / confusion is coming from re AP credits.
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My former school was known to have pep rallies for CAPT testing (as the Connecticut flavor is called). This was quite a few years ago, so I guess we were cutting edge (barf).
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A rally is an absolute necessity (JOKE) when the tests are as bad as this. Putting on some kind of mental armor to defend against the Kafkaesque stupidity of the entire situation seems a better choice though. http://ccssimath.blogspot.com/2013/03/godzilla-vs-consortia.html
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