A reader posted this AP story about parent support for standardized testing and the Common Core. If you read the story carefully, it shows that parents have no idea how test results are being misused and are unfamiliar with the Common Core. The headline says parents support “high-stakes testing,” but nothing in the story supports that assertion.
One parent quote in the story below thinks the test results are used diagnostically, which would be appropriate: ““The tests are good because they show us where students are at, if they need help with anything,” said Vicky Nevarez, whose son Jesse just graduated from high school in Murrieta, Calif. “His teachers were great and if there were problems, the tests let me know.”
Parents think that the test results will be used to help their child do better. They don’t realize that the results are not available for months, when their child no longer has the same teacher. Nor do they know that neither the teacher nor the student is allowed to see the test questions after the test, so they never learn what they got wrong and where they need to improve.
A thoughtful poll would reveal, I suspect, that parents know that the teacher is not the sole determinant of their child’s test scores. Even President Obama once opined that one of his daughters got a low test score in science because she wasn’t trying hard enough. He didn’t blame her teacher; he said Malia was “slacking off.” He said, ““But even in our own household, with all the privileges and opportunities we have, there are times when the kids slack off. There are times when they would rather be watching TV or playing a computer game than hitting the books.’’ In the school his daughters attend, teachers write their own tests, which is the way it should be.
How would parents react if they knew that the tests are not used to help their child, but to give her a rating and to rate the teacher and the school How would they respond if they knew that their child’s score would be used to fire her teacher or close her school?
Here is the story. If anyone can find the questions, please send a link or the questions.
Posted by a reader:
New poll: Parents back high-stakes testing
“By Philip Elliott and Jennifer Agiesta
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Often criticized as too prescriptive and all-consuming, standardized tests have support among parents, who view them as a useful way to measure both students’ and schools’ performances, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. Most parents also say their own children are given about the right number of standardized tests, according to the APNORC poll. They’d like to see student performance on statewide exams used in evaluating teachers, and almost three-quarters said they favored changes that would make it easier for schools to fire poorly performing teachers. “The tests are good because they show us where students are at, if they need help with anything,” said Vicky Nevarez, whose son Jesse just graduated from high school in Murrieta, Calif. “His teachers were great and if there were problems, the tests let me know.”
The polling results are good news for states looking to implement increased accountability standards and for those who want to hold teachers responsible for students’ slipping standing against other countries’ scores. Teachers’ unions have objected to linking educators’ evaluations to student performance.
As students prepare to return to classrooms, the AP-NORC Center surveyed parents of students at all grade levels and found:
» Sixty-one percent of parents think their children take an appropriate number of standardized tests and 26 percent think their children take too many tests.
» Teachers’ fates shouldn’t rest solely on test results, according to a majority of parents. Fiftysix percent said classroom observations should be part of teachers’ evaluations, and 74 percent of all parents said they wanted districts to help struggling teachers.
» Despite many Republicans’ unrelenting criticism of the Common Core State Standards, in various stages of implementation in 45 states and the District of Columbia, 52 percent parents have heard little or nothing about the academic benchmarks and a third are unsure if they live in a state using them. Still, when given a brief description of what the standards do, about half of parents say educational quality will improve once the standards are implemented, 11 percent think it will get worse, and 27 percent say they’ll have no effect.
» Seventy-five percent of parents say standardized tests are a solid measure of their children’s abilities, and 69 percent say such exams are a good measure of the schools’ quality. “We know when the tests are coming up. They spend a lot of time getting ready for them,” said Rodney Land of Lansing, Mich. His daughter, Selena, will be in eighth grade at a charter school this fall. The weights-and-measures inspector supports the testing because “it shows what they know, and what they should know.”
“We need some way to keep track of whether the teachers are spending enough time educating,” Land said.
“Education union leaders have stood opposed to linking teacher evaluations with these tests, arguing it is unfair to punish teachers for students’ shortcomings. They also say teachers have not had sufficient time to rewrite their lessons to reflect new academic benchmarks, such as those found in the Common Core.
“When states have adopted the Common Core State Standards, which aim to provide consistent requirements across all states for math and English, test results often falter and the standards can make schools and teachers appear to be faring worse than they did the previous year.”
Read this article from Secretary Duncan’s Chief-of-staff, Joanne Weiss (and fellow office-mate of Mr. Cunningham):
http://blogs.hbr.org/innovations-in-education/2011/03/the-innovation-mismatch-smart.html
The comments here of Joanne Weiss, chief of staff to U.S. Secretary
of Education Arne Duncan, really let one slip. She wrote in the
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW that the Common Core “radically alters
the market … Previously, these markets operated on a state-by-state
basis, and often on a district-by-district basis. But the adoption of
common standards and shared assessments means that education
entrepreneurs will enjoy national markets where the best products
can be taken to scale.”
Really? Our overall public school system—both in general and
specific geographic area districts—is no longer in the public
commons?
Not anymore, apparently, because according to Duncan, Weiss
and of course, Mr. Cunningham, Public education is a “market”,
and individual states/districts are “markets” where “entrepreneurs”
can get rich, and Arne’s instituting Common Core to help them
do just that.
The best interests of the students? The best interests of
students mean nothing… it’s all about profiteers getting
rich.
We need Mercedes. They surveyed a little over 1000 parents.
Sounds like the AFT national standards survey.
It was conducted by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research from June 21 to July 22 at the University of Chicago. It involved landline and cell phone interviews in English and Spanish with 1,025 parents of children who completed grades K-12 in the last school year.
Hi, Linda. I am looking at the report now. It is funded by thr Joyce Foundation. Obama used to sit on this board.
Click to access AP_NORC_Parents_Attitudes_FINAL_Report.pdf
What I notice is that it relies heavily on opinions of that which the parents are not involved with– just their perceptions, not their experiences. For example, a very low percentage of parents report any involvement that requires them to enter the school building (pg 6). Only 41% believe they influence their child’s education at school. This opinion could certainly be confounded by the publicized mantra that teachers are THE important factor in a child’s education. Single parents might also take this view because they have little time on their hands. We don’t know. Yet they report that a “serious problem” is low expectations for students. Interestingly, this group rates “lack of parental involvement” as a “serious problem facing schools” just after admitting that as a group, they rarely involve themselves with the school.(pg 8)
If the sample was randomly selected nationwide, that is good, but how the sample was selected is important. Was it done in a way that ensured fringe group involvement? Also, I would like to know how many people decided not to participate before the sample was considered “finished.” Also, since there are CCSS questions, was the sample balanced (stratified) by CCSS states? One should not assume that CCSS implementation is the same for all states.
In the case of stratifying the sample, one would need a larger sample. 1000 / 45 = only approx. 23 parents surveyed per state. This would not be an issue if CCSS implementation were the same for all states (as is a presidential election, for example).
Thank you for the link and for your insights. I am going to take a look, but I don’t have your level of expertise. It would be great if Diane can eventually make your comments into a post. I don’t see how 1,025 represents a majority of parents in the entire country.
I am sorry– there are not “CCSS questions,” but the issue of heavy reliance upon standardized testing is very much a CCSS issue, and as such, the sample should be stratified. CCSS is profoundly affecting states differentially, and this should be taken into account when selecting the survey sample.
On pg 10, the selection for “how important is it that teachers… demonstrate evidence that their students are learning” is a loaded choice, for it has become a euphemism for value-added teacher evaluation. Most parents will not realize this and will read it differently; for example, they might see it as merely meaning, “Does the teacher provide timely grades on assignments? Does the teacher offer tutoring? Is the teacher invested in my child?” One cannot know what the parents were thinking when rating this choice. If the parents needed clarification for the question, there simply is none available– unless those administering the survey led the question by verbally offering suggested meanings.(This is a problem in survey research when a desired outcome is the purpose of the research.) One cannot know.
Page 10 has some interesting findings. For example, the parents want the teacher to be a “role model,” but many of these do not rate “sharing the same values as [the parent]” highly. What, then, does “being a role model” really mean to the responders?
They do want their children’s teachers to have a college degree in the subject that they teach, and they want teachers to care about their children and be passionate about teaching. They also want teachers to have a good reputation among parents.
To shape this page as parents’ favoring standardized tests in order to rate teachers is misleading.
Well it sounds like the entire “survey” is misleading. Isn’t there some type of vetting process before publishing this report and placing it on the front page of newspapers?
Page 11 also has more reformerspeak about which parents are likely uninformed. The last choice in particular is a value-added mantra: “firing teachers for low performance.” If parents had been told clearly that student test scores count as much as 50% in some states; that the computer algorithms used to rate teachers via student test scores are fraught with misclassification problems, and that “easy firing” means busting unions and leaving teachers without collective bargaining rights, the parent response would mean more. As it is, the survey question is propagandistic for its euphemistic quality.
I doubt that most parents know about value added modeling and its consequences to teachers and, by extension, to schools. If this were an excellent survey, it would have clearly asked parents what they know about such things.
I think my favorite is page 16, where basing teacher pay on standardized test results is fourth out of five choices, with the last being parental input. This survey is parental input; so basically, parents are saying,” this is what we think, but we don’t think our opinion should influence teacher salary.”
According to the parents in this survey, the top three criteria for teacher salary are “classroom observations by local officials”; “type of training/advanced degrees,” and “years of teaching experience”– the very criteria that reformers are trying to remove.
And with that, I bring my commentary to an end. 🙂
Thank you Mercedes. I am trying to catch up to you and I hope diane makes your comments into a separate post.
Excellent analysis. Thank you.
Wow, excellent work.
Thank you!
FYI… I’m seeing this info on page 13 rather than 16.
Thank you! I came across the post last night but did not have time to try to make sense of it.; I was highly disturbed by it though. I also wondered if New York parents would at this point go along with it.
I know I said I was done, but there is one more issue: The info on page 15 regarding the degree to which standardized tests should influence teacher pay was conducted using only half of the sample. So, only approx. 500 parents were asked this question. My question to the researchers is, why only half of your sample? 500 skirts the low end for an adequate sample where stratifying isn’t a question, and for this survey stratifying IS a question, as I previously noted.
Food for thought: Did the original, whole-sample outcome of this question not satisfy the funders? Did the researchers play with the sample in order to fix the outcome? There is no need to reduce the sample size mid-survey for this question unless it is to manipulate an outcome. Take that one to the bank, folks.
Great catch, Mercedes! That really is curious.
My favorite point about high-stakes testing happened when my daughter was in first grade. She took Iowas in in March. Within a few weeks her reading took off. By the time we got the results at the end of the year, the reading scores were meaningless. The following year her Iowa scores showed her reading had in increased 2.9 grade levels. What if these scores had been part of a teacher’s value-added? Just as the first grade teacher was not wholly responsible for her average reading growth, neither was the second grade teacher wholly responsible for her amazing acceleration in reading.
I read the same article on the front page of our local paper, no less. Toward the end of the article it said that the survey was sponsored by the Joyce Foundation. I’m a proud BAT and I thought I read something in the many BAT threads about this group. Can anyone supply more info on them?
and
https://www.facebook.com/groups/BadAssTeachers/
Dr. Ravitch: Here are the actual survey. If you read it, you will see that the article was cherry picked for data.
Click to access AP-NORC%20National%20Education%20Survey%20Topline_FINAL.pdf
*are the actual survey results.
And here is the report based on those results.
Click to access AP_NORC_Parents_Attitudes_FINAL_Report.pdf
Thank you! I read in more detail and the AP headline is (surprise!) misleading. On the one aspect of standardized testing, yes parents favor it but NOT for the same intent as The Reformers. Stack ranking individual teachers using tests was 4th. Overall it seems parents just want more information and have mixed attitudes about the schools though generally positive. The conclusion is a pragmatic “go slow” approach is needed – not management by contrived crisis.
“How would parents react if they knew that the tests are not used to help their child, but to give her a rating and to rate the teacher and the school How would they respond if they knew that their child’s score would be used to fire her teacher or close her school?”
Excellent questions.
I wish we could poll parents on these questions.
“They don’t realize that the results are not available for months, when their child no longer has the same teacher. Nor do they know that neither the teacher nor the student is allowed to see the test questions after the test, so they never learn what they got wrong and where they need to improve.”
Most parents also do not seem to know that the mandated, corporate made, high stakes tests on which so much depends are frequently not of great quality.
As many of us have posted previously, they often contain:
Incorrect information.
Silly questions (Pineapples and rabbits anyone?).
Several correct answers for a single question.
No correct answers for a question.
Biased language and references.
Product placements (advertising).
And the list goes on.
I wish parents would demand to actually see the test . Insist on an answer key and the cut scores, too. I think most parents would be shocked.
And we haven’t even gotten into the work of N. Wilson…the concept that testing (even a “good” test) tells us very little about a student and nothing about anything or anyone else. (Have I got that right, Duane?)
In the mean time, perhaps the following Public Service Announcement:
Attention parents…Beware of expensive, time consuming, high stakes testing!
They do not exist to help your child!
How does a parent go about demanding to see the test, the answer key and cut scores? Do you start with the school district superintendent or your state education department?
I don’t think you can. Since the private companies claim copyright issues, no one can see the tests. However, if someone is able to actually do it, I would LOVE to see it (as I expect a lot of us would).
Hello Concerned…
My point was that “they” don’t seem to want anyone to ever see these tests.
Teachers are literally threatened to keep them from looking at the tests.
I think parents will be shocked that they are told “No”.
However, I do believe that if enough parents began insisting, it may make things uncomfortable for the test and punish crowd.
If you wanted to do such a thing, I would suggest you begin with the building level testing coordinator, and work your way up from there.
Keep refusing to take no for an answer.
It really does seem to me that if your child is required to take the test, and the results heavily impact your child and your tax money is paying for the test, you should be able to see it.
Just my humble opinion.
Good luck.
Since teachers can be dismissed (prosecuted?) for revealing actual test questions, you just have to take the word of the testing companies.
Thanks, Ang. I got your point about “they”. I’m a teacher and a parent in the northern suburbs of NYC. So far, no one – teachers, administrators, parents – are saying anything about the Common Core publicly. I’m anticipating that once parents actually see their chid’s results, they will start making noise. I want to be ready to point them in the right direction.
I’ve been following Diane’s blog and links to educate myself about the issues surrounding Common Core. My local union has said NOTHING so far. They appear to be taking their marching orders from NYSUT/AFT. Which, as you know, is like the chicken in the fox’s den. I want to be part of those like Diane, Leonie Haimson, Carol Burris who are speaking truth to power. I believe I have more leverage as a parent, than as a teacher.
I signed Carol Burris’ petition on APPR. I have sent a letter to the supt., school board, Regents rep., and local assemblyman, as a parent in the district in which I live. I’ve even sent links to Diane’s blog to the school board members. At least one that I know of has signed on. I just can’t sit and watch this nightmare unfold without doing what I can. Taking action is what I did this summer. I welcome any and all suggestions about what else I can do. I figure if I’m going down with my students, I may as well go down fighting.
NORC is funded by The Joyce Foundation that has close ties to Obama, Rahm & the reformy movement.
http://occupyamerica.crooksandliars.com/steve-horn/chicago-school-closings-and-joyce-found#sthash.t62RNN3T.dpbs
http://www.norc.org/NewsEventsPublications/PressReleases/Pages/national-survey-parents-attitudes-on-the-quality-of-education-in-the-united-states.aspx
“Markets”? “Best products”? “Education entrepreneurs”? Harvard BUSINESS Review??????
When did the Department of EDUCATION become an arm of the Department of COMMERCE?
Unfortunately, the people that read your blogs, Doctor Ravitch, are people like me that are teachers and in the education “business” , as it is appears that “education” is becoming more and more in the United States.
Will the Duncans and Weisses, et.al. soon speak of the students as “clients”, or maybe as “widgets” next?
Hmmm, they probably are already doing so behind closed doors in the circles that they travel in.
It’s a shame that our children, the future of this country, are being viewed as “consumers” of education, rather than as students by those that supposedly have the interests of those children at heart, as they PUBLICALLY ( and hypocritically) claim to have.
If more parents were made aware of what’s really going on when they think they’re sending their children to the public school to get an education, I wonder what would happen?
Teachers have been referred to as human capital and in the Rheeject’s lame response to the Newtown shooting she referred to the children as assets…..no lie. I saved it.
I won’t torment you with the entire pathetic self serving statement. See excerpt here:
From Students Last: “Our children are our most valuable assets, and we lost too many of them today. Today’s event forces us to ask ourselves: how are we expected to foster an environment in which students can learn, grow, thrive, and set off on positive life-paths when we cannot guarantee basic needs such as their safety?”
So, did the Rheeject ( LOVE it!) actually propose ANY solutions for how our “assets” ( when did people become objects, I wonder?) can be “protected”?
Hopefully, this woman will never be asked to speak at any event where people are grieving the loss of their “human capital” and their “assets”…..
Have we, as a society, collectively lost our sense of humanity and morality when fools such as Michelle Rhee are elevated to positions of power, and deign to speak for us?
Why don’t we just throw the bums out, and call these people out for what they are? Charlatans selling snake oil……
I like kids to get an occasional exam that is scored outside of the school just to see how my kid is faring comparatively. When you read of schools tempted to cheat standardized scores because of the “high stakes testing” (which I’m not in favor of, per se), it’s not a stretch to think there’s grade inflation.
My neighbor (in the 70s-80s) was a “B” student. He received no negative teacher comments and his parents were always pleased with his teacher evaluations. However, when the standardized test scores came in for third grade he was in the bottom 2% for reading and math. Not the top two. Unfortunately, his parents didn’t understand that. He dropped out in 10th grade because he was so far behind and could catch up. More on the ball parents would have recognized those “Bs” for what they were.
I desperately remember wanting to be in the gifted classes in elementary school. They had the better reading assignments and the more challenging math assignments. My grades were always good enough (always As), but the teachers didn’t think I was “good enough” to move up. The 3rd grade standardized test came out. They showed that I was in the 99th percentile in all subjects. My mother marched to the principal’s office (in July) and demanded to know if ALL the kids in the schools gifted program scored as well as I did. Let’s just say I was in the gifted classes for the rest of my academic career.
Fast forward a couple of decades. My son was on honor roll all year and mostly received good reviews. Scored at or slightly below the school/county/state average on the latest round of standardized tests. Which leads me to believe that honor roll=average.
Standardized tests can be useful. Should they be “high stakes”? No. Should school performance be based on them? No. But removing them altogether may remove a valuable comparative tool that gives parents another opinion on the progress of their children in school. It can also be great unbiased leverage in tracking placement when teachers decide they “know” a child’s ability, when they really don’t.
Here’s the link to the AP-NORC survey. See my comments on Facebook in the BAT group. http://www.apnorc.org/PDFs/Parent%20Attitudes/National%20Education%20Survey%20Topline_FINAL.pdf
The Joyce Foundation participating in push polling? Where have I encountered this before…
Not saying that Bill Gates is directly behind this survey, but circumstantial evidence points to that possibility. Gates has funded at least one recent NORC survey. And, after all, who benefits from this kind of PR trickery? Check this out. http://www.norc.org/Research/Projects/Pages/gates-foundation-national-college-ready-survey.aspx
NORC used to be the gold standard on opinion research. So sad to see such a sell out. This “poll” is exactly like the one you linked to several months ago about the CPS school closings (which, on-so-coincidentally, was also done in conjunction with the Joyce Foundation).
This was in our local newspaper today. After I read it, I thought it was a superficial reflection of a complex situation… and misleading to the majority of readers who will simply take it at face value.
It’s everywhere today…cut and paste job from the AP. please spread Mercedes comments to colleagues and parents. I am hoping diane will make into a separate post.
I just emailed my concerns and this summary to the publisher and editor of my local paper.
Deceptive headline today: Parents Support Testing (NOT!)
I support standardized tests as an alternative way for students to demonstrate academic achievement.
Do you support them as a way to fire teachers, close schools, and demolish public education? Because that’s what’s happening now. Not to mention, HOW does one demonstrate academic achievement on a standardized test when no one can see the questions or the answers? As a teacher, I wouldn’t pass a student who hadn’t done the work in my class but got in the 90th percentile on a test, because I wouldn’t know what that meant.
Scoring in the 90th percentile means that the student scored higher than 89% of the others that took the exam.
How should I understand your grade? How should I think about it compared to the grade assigned to my children?
Yes, I know how percentiles work. But since I can’t see the questions I have no way of knowing WHAT it is that the test is asking. And I have worked with kids in the past who haven’t done some of the work but ace the tests, so my students CAN demonstrate proficiency alternatively.
The funny thing is that most kids who INSIST that they know the material and just don’t do the work really don’t know the material either. I have a few that do, but maybe only 2 or 3 a year. The rest of the kids that don’t do the work also don’t know the material.
There is interesting research looking into the differences between teacher assigned grades, standardized test scores, and the sex of the student. It is worth a look: http://www.terry.uga.edu/~cornwl/research/cmvp.genderdiffs.pdf
I agree but as a diagnostic tool for the individual student. The problem comes in when we try to use these tests as they were never intended and get scope creep. Forcing multilevel statistic models with the required adjustments and expanded parameters as a way to stack rank teachers is questionable. To do this without controlled studies or peer review is unfair to all, particularly the children who suffer the more damaging outcomes.
How to judge a grade I award? Every year I send home a syllabus with stated goals and unit objectives. I remain in constant contact with parents and students to re-evaluate based on the student. I offer evidence of student work as growth. And use high level standards as a guide to expectations.
I can imagine the reaction of my university profs if they had to use a standardized national exam for every math course. Some of my best processors wrote very challenging exams based on the makeup of our class, what we learned, and the targets.
processors => professors
How do you communicate the meaning of your grade to policy makers? This seems to be one of the important issues here. For example, I have asked a half a dozen times in various threads if there is a minimum level of literacy that we the public can be certain is attained by everyone in order to graduate from high school. I have not found anyone willing to give an answer.
I should add that your university no doubt gave students credit for math classes based on a standardized exam (AP exams) and occasionally give placement based on the results of internally generated exams that all are required to take.
I found it interesting that the poll indicated 61% of the parents think their children take an appropriate number of tests, 26% think their children take too many, and 11% think they take too few. To me, these percentages are meaningless unless there is some way to correlate the responses to the number of tests the children are taking. It would be helpful to break down the results from the national poll and look at them on a statewide basis. I would love to see a survey of what parents in Kentucky and New York think about standardized testing AFTER their first experience with the new CCSS-aligned assessments. Perhaps the NORC Center for Public Affairs should conduct polls in each state to analyze parent views on standardized testing BEFORE and AFTER the implementation of the new CCSS-aligned assessments.
Unfortunately, most parents are not aware of how standardized tests are used and the impact they have on classroom learning. Back in May, parents at my son’s elementary school decided to form a committee to look into these tests. We held a forum for parents with the purpose of learning from our children’s teachers. We hope other schools will do something similar. We so rarely get to hear from the real experts. I took notes to give to parents who we unable to attend:
It’s time that we ask — Is all this testing improving the quality of education for our kids?
As a way of opening the dialogue, we invited people who are on the front lines of this issue, who are living the reality of high-stakes testing. We approached the teachers and invited them to speak. We had a teacher from each grade answer questions that we had prepared. Parents in the audience then had the opportunity to ask their own questions. This is what we learned:
• Assessment goes on all the time. It is an ongoing process for teachers to gather information about what students know and don’t know. Feedback is immediate.
• Data/scores from high-stakes assessments are not nearly as useful for guiding instruction. Data from standardized tests does not come in until the following academic year and cannot be reviewed so teachers don’t know which question, or which part of a question, students got wrong. It is not a HELPFUL assessment tool for teachers.
• Kids develop in different ways at different times but are all held to this one standard that they are all supposed to meet.
• 3rd graders have anxiety because they have never taken a test before and they have to learn how to fill in bubbles.
• Students have to be trained in the “skill” of filling in bubbles and have to be trained to NOT think creatively and NOT to see other perspectives because only one answer is correct. Our teachers spend all year teaching our kids that texts have multiple meanings, that multiple perspectives are valid, and teach them to defend their thoughts with well-reasoned and supported arguments. Then, when they prep for the tests they have to teach them that even if they reason well and support their arguments, they will still be wrong if they don’t figure out what the test-makers think the one “right” answer is.
• Students must write formulaic essays – children who are better writers will not necessarily do better on tests.
• The rubric teachers must use to grade these exams does NOT allow for creativity.
• Short passages and multiple-choice strategies have to be stressed.
• Social Studies now has more reading and writing and is now going to be more embedded in the literacy curriculum, so children who are struggling with reading and writing will have another area that is difficult for them rather than having an area of study that didn’t privilege those skills and where they could build confidence and excel.
• Kids with IEPs (Individualized Educational Plan) or English Language Learners get no real accommodations – they have extra time, which for some is torture because they have to sit still for longer.
• All around a high level of anxiety for students – they are worried they will get left back or not get into right middle school.
• Extreme pressure on teachers – their “value” depends on these flawed tests. The very language is offensive. Example: if a student scores a 3.96 one year and the next a 3.89 – the teacher has added no value to the student! Sometimes it is a matter of one question that causes scores to fluctuate.
• School report card grade depends on these scores. We have to show “growth”. When compared to other schools with similar demographics, PS 29 didn’t do as well but also did not spend as much time on test prep.
• More and more hours get lost to test prep, taking practice tests, and going over practice tests. The actual tests get longer every year. This year 3rd grade will have 8 hours of testing and grades 4 and 5 will have 9 hours and 20 minutes.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2013/03/assessment_consortium_releases_2.html
• Curriculum is already changing to meet test requirements. 5th Grade curriculum may have to change to focus on Latin America and Canada vs. Westward expansion, civil rights, and Constitution because tests will be more focused on these topics. This is also true in the lower grades to help prep for 3rd grade test. Although there are no tests in pre-K – 2nd grade yet, teachers have seen the curriculum shift to align better to the needs of the tests. Their decisions about instruction and curriculum are increasingly influenced by how to best prepare our youngest students to be ready for the tests when they get to third grade.
And from the National Academy of Sciences:
The National Academy of Sciences committee that Congress commissioned to review test-based accountability systems concluded in its 2011 report to Congress that “There are little to no positive effects of these systems overall on student learning and educational progress, and there is widespread teaching to the test and gaming of the systems that reflects a wasteful use of resources and leads to inaccurate or inflated measures of performance.” http//www. Statesman.com/opinion/insight/standardized
Has anyone reached out to the reporters re: the many methodological problems with this survey? They may have no idea that it was so poorly done or that their article is so uneven. Press members are often very willing to address inaccuracies, once they find out.
Isn’t knowing what they’re reporting on part of their job? In fact, pretty much the whole job? Sorry, no excuses!
I have been seeing lots of posts here and in other areas about grade inflation. I know that as an instructor I must continually be on guard against it – a good student who works hard and is willing to re-write and re-do may actually earn a grade as a student that is not necessarily reflective of their actual ability level. Is that wrong? Other students may not earn a passing grade because they won’t do the work – but their ability level is genius. What to do in that situation? And then there are those students who coast with a B or may earn an A – but you know they are capable of so much more. How do you say to that student – and to their parents – this A isn’t good enough. You should do more. I am going to give you a C because I know that for you this is “average” work. Seriously? I am reminded of a situation when I came into a new job in a small district. I had a senior student who had always received A’s. This student’s parent was a school board member. Everyone was shocked when I only gave this student a B. I was uncomfortable because I felt the ability level was more accurately a C. My job was on the line, so I went with the B. Teachers aren’t always right, but parents don’t always want to hear the truth about their students eitheir. Just some observations. I end with reiterating – I am always guarding against the pressures and situations that may inadvertantly impact my grading to make sure that it is as accurate as possible. The reality is that grades are not solely a reflection of academic ability, but also of academic behavior – or the lack thereof.
My daughters school is mastery learning. Grades are P/F. And she had to know the concepts. The antithesis of standardized testing.
I like that!
I am curious, is this a traditional zoned public school?
And grades reflect the individual beliefs of the teacher as well. There is some interesting research on boys grades and standardized test scores : http://www.terry.uga.edu/~cornwl/research/cmvp.genderdiffs.pdf
Yes there is! I went to a presentation on boys and literacy last winter that was eye-opening. As the mother of an elementary-aged son, I am paying attention.
A few things I haven’t seen mentioned:
1) Are parents aware that “testing” is not just the time the students are actually taking the test, but also all the time preparing for and teaching to the test? I wonder how parents would react if they knew that.
2) Are parents aware that testing is about to dramatically increase in the next couple of years with Smarter Balance and PARCC? We are moving past one state test a year to multiple state tests along with national exams.
I was wondering about your second question, myself.
I don’t think most parents have a clue. I’m not sure most teachers can alert the parents without repercussions. It would have to be underground….parent or para you trust to spread the word or somehow get a tip out to the PTO.
I don’t know enough about ACT’s Aspire test right now, but as I learn, I will share my knowledge and that will include teaching people about opting children out. Lately, I have been walking the parking lots at local grocery stores, putting a flyer stating a number of Facts vs, Myths regarding Common Core under people’s windshield wipers! I have also given numerous copies of the flyer to non-teaching friends and family members to distribute at will. I can so the same about the testing once I have enough information!
This is a planted article or as someone said “a cut and paste” that we see all too often in our papers these days. It is more about setting the stage and moving the already in place education initiative set by the government with the blessing and help of the corporate sector and as media the handmaiden of the thought police. They ran this in my paper and I just shook my head. A strong statement of correction or reality should be sent to every Voice of the People by as many educators as possible around the country to try and set this right. Everyone on both sides of this are laying on the parents as the last word on things and it is a bunch of crap! Since when did parents get to make the decision about the tests their children take. Educators want parents to have their children opt out of the tests but won’t refuse to give them even with a consensus that they are unfair and do nothing to improve the education of the children. If they are not good for children then in concert with each other don’t give them and Do No Harm!!! I see little honesty in education articles which are being dropped into the papers on a constant basis. This is a hype and PR game at best.
I wrote to the publisher and editor of my local paper about this cut and paste “survey” and I included many of the points posted by Mercedes. I did not receive a response yet and I may not, but I want them to know we are watching and spreading the word.
They have been referring to schools as “profit centers” for a while now…
http://blogs.wsj.com/ceo-council/2008/11/23/failing-our-children/
I’m very happy to see such excellent in depth analysis of this report. I so wish it would receive the national attention that it deserves.
As is, we have a ridiculous conflict of interest between the Joyce Foundation and our president and education czar which, in itself, should make this survey unreliable. ive lost so much much respect for these men.
So few people have any idea of Obama’s and Duncan’s ties and aims. I mention it to my colleagues and friends and they actually think I’m lying or misinformed. So I’ve taken to carrying links with me on my phone.
This is so typical of emerging readers. My mother, a retired teaching veteran with 35 years of teaching, and 30 of those years in first grade, often counciled parents that not all children are reading by the end of first grade, i.e. it is a developmental process. But this is no longer taken into consideration. A first grade teacher saying this to parents could get her/himself into a lot of trouble with administrators.
The AP used 53 media outlets to tell the US parents value high-stakes testing. Lace to the Top conducted a survey reached out to 1,031 (6 more than the AP survey). Our results were remarkably different. The results will be posted to Lace to the Top group page on Facebook.