The following comment came in response to a post about what is happening to early childhood education, about the federal government’s demand that children in kindergarten be tested to see if they are on track to be college-and-career ready in compliance with the Common Core:
Dear All, I just read this op ed and ALL the comments! With all we know (research-based, data rich science) about child development and how children at this age learn, how can we allow this to happen? Why are top officials ignoring this research and data? I am so sick of opinion (the basis of CCSS) overruling scientific evidence about how young children learn. One goal of education is to love learning. NCLB and now CCSS are molding children into haters of education who lack the executive functioning skills (developed in play) that will help them succeed in life! No other profession would allow this kind of malpractice. We are doing harm to children. We must protest before we lose another generation of children to stupidity in the form of the Common Core!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I have been in classrooms where I see the pressure now. Our school did not have the NCLB worries that some had because we were a high performing school. Now that the teachers have APPR on top of the test prep for CC, the kids are “churning out” the assignments to be able to perform according to the scoring rubrics. At least the ones that have been shared at this point.
I saw one assignment where a kid had to write a report where the teacher said: MAKE IT BORING. In other words, state the thesis, state the facts, restate the thesis in each paragraph. Atrocious writing. All in an effort to “game the system” so the kid won’t go far afield and add extraneous information. IE stick to the text.
One 4th grade short response asks for the two reasons that answer the question with supporting details from the text. I had trouble getting the full 2 points on this! Basically all you have to do is re-state the paragraph, the supporting details in the rubric appeared purely redundant and once you have inferred enough to answer the question, it is obvious you understand what you have read. It is a story by Joseph Bruchac about an inch worm saving the bear family at Yosemite Park (it’s on the NY SED website).
A famous saying is that it is all in the details. I maintain that those with the “plan” do not have a vision of what a real teacher and real classroom would look like and be like when implementing this new, education “reform” scheme.
I see miserable children, miserable teachers and something that is encouraging stop gap measures that are not going to bring the desired gains and will in fact hurt many many children in the process. (“This is boring and I don’t see why I have to bother to do this…..”and it takes the valuable time away from better ways of teaching and learning.) Are we truly thinking about kids and their learning. Try telling a truthful 1st grader they “have to do X, Y, Z” and if they don’t want to do it, they are going to tell you. We should go back and read Crisis in the Classroom by Silberman and Seymour Sarason’s The Culture of School and The Problem of Change.
We have brilliant and successful models and wonderful children and excellent teachers. We need to mine this treasure and let these people help by creative mentoring those who need some new ideas. And then there is motivation, enthusiasm, engagement and passion. And a decent paycheck will not hurt. If we expect the best and brightest to be in teaching, then we need to pay them commensurate with their skills and dedication and time. Many excellent teachers put in huge hours. Are there problems in the systems? Of course. But we are really hurting kids these days. The cure is sometimes worse than the disease. Reign of Error, INDEED it is!
Watching it in action will make one even crazier. Haters of Education is exactly what we are producing, particularly in those schools where exquisite poverty, malnutrition, trauma and PTSD run rampant in the Early Childhood wing.
Maybe if we depict it Old Testament style with an illustration of Abraham binding up Isaac? Maybe then the reality of what “We The People” are up to will finally sink in.
The idea of testing little ones is ridiculous and even the Standards themselves are not developmentally appropriate for early childhood students.
Too TRUE. When there are politicians at the behest of corporations making policy, well…CUI BONO? Always follow the money. This is a BOONDOGGLE and hurts kids.
Thousands and thousands have already been sacrificed. What happened to all the kids who dropped out of Taft HS as it closed, or Roosevelt or (currently) Robeson; 50% of the kids enrolled don’t show up…?
The most important thing I’ve learned as I travel the city telling the truth about what happens as a school closes is that No One Believes It. THAT IS SCARY. Until more people, or the “right” people believe…the sacrifices will continue…no matter who’s in charge.
We collectively keep repeating that what is going on is “crazy” and that children are being hurt or even sacrificed. At what point do we call it what it is – a form of child abuse – and pursue whatever legal means are required to address that reality?
It mystifies me as to why no serious legal challenge has been brought forth. I think one explanation is that legal advocates for children truly believe that [overly] high expectations, increased “rigor”. and {quasi] least restrictive environments are really a good thing. They are not immune from the de-facto ignorance that exists as a result of being professionally detached from children. The harm is there, the psychological abuse is there, the advocates just can’t imagine it.
“Send lawyers, guns, and money – the tests have hit the fan”
Amen GE2L2R, however “pursue whatever legal means” seems to imply a
“Legal Solution” to an Legally ENGINEERED problem, by the
Government of the People, for the People, and by the People.
Everyday this blog shines a light on an irrefutable FACT:
This is NOT FOR THE CHILDREN, it is
FOR FINANCIAL GAIN.
At what point , or what will it take to to understand WHY
Public Education was established AND Mandated by the
Government?
I just spent the past three weeks pulling all 27 of my students individually to administer the PALS assessment. They are in K4. We have governor Walker to “thank” for wasting our time in Wisconsin (grades K4-1st grade are mandated to do this). Don’t think the unaccountable voucher schools have to do this. Think of all the learning we could have done in the past three weeks had I not had to do this. Ridiculous!
As an educator for more than 30 years, I have studied and observed the development of oral language, literacy and mathematical abilities in children. I have been asking the these questions over and over…. this goes against the documented research in the field of child development. I have come to realize that corporate reformers do not WANT to hear from teacher experts and researchers in our field, because they are not interested in educating our children and doing what we know is right for them. They are simply interested in making money off of our children by privatizing schools. It is truly criminal….and we feel so powerless against these very wealthy and powerful reformers.
Perhaps we should call it The Common Core of Corruption.
like:) but the truth is sad!
Diane,
Is there a link to the original op ed? And do you (or anyone else reading this) have any links to research that shows that executive functioning skills are developed in play as the commenter said? I’m curious because we know that children with ADHD suffer from a lack of executive functioning skills. Is it possible there is a connection between what happens in early childhood education with the development of ADHD, that as more pre-K and kindergarten classes have become more academically oriented and less play oriented, more students have been diagnosed with ADHD? Or am I out in left field on this?
As far as we know, ADHD is not something that comes and goes and tends to run in families. You either have it or you don’t. Mild cases may be exacerbated by inappropriate instruction, but “normal” children will exhibit ADHD-like behavior when placed in stressful situations. We all know that. We don’t need a study to tell us what kinds of situations are going to lead to meltdowns.
This is not a dig at you , cyn3wulf, but whatever happened to common sense? Why does everything have to be scientifically based? Right now, it seems like an excuse to validate a lot of mediocre research, and if you can’t spout the associated statistics, well then, anything you have to say is suspect. It seems to be the 21st century way of name dropping.
“Why does everything have to be scientifically based?”
I hear you. But, I see “research” as the reformers’ Achilles’ heel. They have placed great emphasis on it, and, largely, I don’t think the existing research backs up the reformers’ claims. In the end, it will be their downfall.
As for ADHD, it’s not so much the attention deficit or hyperactive part that interests me here; it’s the impairment of the executive functioning skills. If children do not develop these skills, whether they are ADHD or not, they are in for a lifelong struggle down the road.
Of possible interest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF1YRE8ff1g
I totally agree. We didn’t really notice the executive functioning issue when we first started to pay attention because the behavior of younger children could be very disruptive. The identification of executive functioning deficits only surfaced with older students when we expected them to plan for the future. I did enjoy that clip and am going back to sample some of the others, Thanks.
My aversion to research based claims has to do with the poor quality research used to support reform ideas as well as the over reliance on the ability to spout citations. Few of us have access or the time to thoroughly vet all the research based material that is used to claim credibility for specious positions. Professional judgement or just plain common sense no longer holds sway.
But…. executive functions do not fully develop until adolescent years, and for some even into their early twenties. Every body is unique.
“Few of us have access or the time to thoroughly vet all the research based material that is used to claim credibility for specious positions.”
Ain’t that the truth! It’s so easy to claim “research says,” and for some reason very few people bother to ask “what research would that be?”
We are praying for you to get back your health. However, please donate enough stem cells so we can create several clones because I believe we will need at least 10 of you to change the current momentum toward more rigorous testing even though most students were never able to show proficiency on the old test! Stupidity is too mild a term for what is happening to our children and their future! Thank you for all you are doing!!
The headlines screamed:
Millions of Students Fail Math and ELA Tests – Our Nation is at Risk!
The “experts” replied:
We can fix that problem – make the tests longer, more confusing, and much, much harder.
We know this will work because we said so!
I call this the punishment theory of education:
If we punish children enough, they will figure out how to learn.
If we punish teachers enough, they will figure out how to teach.
If we punish poor people enough, they will figure out how to escape poverty.
Of course, this doesn’t work. If you kick a dog every morning, it doesn’t learn to get out of the way; it learns that its place in life is to be kicked every morning.
Those pressing CCLS, “data-driven” reform, test-based teacher and school evals…know full well what they are doing. They cannot be honest, though, so they appoint regents and appoint commissioners and “elect” officials who first obediently engage in their fear-to-smear campaign (our schools and teachers aren’t just failing, they are a threat to our national security type stuff); follow with the “it’s for the children” “jobs of tomorrow”, etc campaign; bring behind it the “we must be competitive in the global economy”; only recently has it begun to sound like “you have no choice-this plan is going forward.
Why would they be so comfortable lying, misleading, and marginalizing those who have actual research and experience based knowledge? Why would Lloyd “ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances” Blankfein and Goldie Hawn get the stage for a conversation on education reform?
Reformers are clearly comfortable in how they have grasped the reins of policy and aligned their forces to drive our children to market like cattle while they usher their children comfortably into the upper class.
Who decided children in kindergarten needed to learn to read? This occurred prior to the CCSS. i agree that asking K students to do a standardize test brings it to a whole new level of wackiness.
However, I still want to know who decided to make K into 1st grade and when did this change occur?
It may have started earlier, but I seem to recall that it was one of the responses to NCLB. At least here in Florida, since 3rd graders are retained if they don’t pass the FCAT, the thinking was that we couldn’t wait and leave it all in the hands of the third grade teacher. So, second graders started doing third grade work, first graders started doing second grade work, and kindergartners started doing first grade work. It only got worse as the years went on, and now with the constant demand for rigor, it has soared beyond the level of ridiculous and has reached the level of absurd. Not sure what level comes next.
NEXT?
Using their logic..or lack thereof…
They will be requiring all pregnant women to attend a class of Test Prep……..When a child is born….you must first do this ..then that..Your children will learn to be better Test Takers..
“College ready” out of HS was a concept/set of skills that was bulldozed/backfilled into the grades below…gradually spread down to K. It was more a game of “uhhh, now where can we put THIS?” that ended up ignoring developmental needs of the youngest-esp those from least affluent areas coming to K without the same security/stability that more affluent peers come “ready to learn” with.
Who in the world can afford to pay for college these days anyway?
The construction worker that remodeled my house told me that the math he learned in school was absolutely useless in his career..
I had to write him a check that superseded any amount of money that I ever made in 6 months as a Public School Teacher-Tester..
The young man was so proud of his work and was doing what he loves to do..The young man owned the construction company and ran it like a pro…
He said he decided that if he was going to learn what he so loved to do…he had to buy some old math books and learn the math himself…He showed me what he had learned for himself..
He was proud and I was amazed…
.When asked about his children….he said he would home school them before he let them go through all of this nonsense testing…
How many children do we need to sacrifice before we wake up?
ONE CHILD is too many to sacrifice !!!!!!
And that is where the Testing Maniacs have lost their minds and do need to be sued by parents all over this nation..
Class Action Law Suit…It can be done..
This is all very simple.
First, we have a problem…poverty. We don’t want to pay anyone a living wage (no matter how educated they are), so let’s say they’re not ready for career/college.
Second, make standards that are either so chopped up we can’t see the forest for the trees, or make them so vague we won’t see the trees for the forest. Then we can make up some tests and put them all “online” so none can every verify or validate anything. Put all of the control in a few hands to diminish any leaking of info. Since most teachers are so dedicated and compete tent, they may very well step up to the challenge. Don’t worry.
Next we can play with cut scores until we get it “right.” Then watch how many schools/teachers/parents/students “fail.”
The next step is very important. We don’t want to look too evil, so let’s pretend we are here to help. Who are these masked men? Meet the “Turnarounds.” That’s right, we have consulting groups who (despite they are made up of billionaires, hedge fund managers, etc.,) don’t need money (they are already stinking rich); they just ride in to help all of us slackers out of a seemingly impossible predicament.
The consulting groups get the fed $$ for “turnaround” and set up shop in the schools to create data, mine data, and feed the huge data monster that spews out “real research” about how schools fail because of inept teachers and administrators. (Oh, and don’t ask questions about where the $$$ goes, because none seems to know).
Finally, after the $$$ has all disappeared, the “turnarounds” say they have a solution to this problem, “shut the school down.”
Now we have created a need for a new school. Where will we get the $$$? We will get it from the taxpayers. Oh, and we won’t have our schools beholden to any of those rules and regs. That didn’t work before. That’s a problem too. Let’s just wing it.
Now we have what we wanted the whole time…a citizenry who are uninformed, uninterested, unprepared, and certainly undeserving of a living wage. Yabadabadoo!
I hear us all complaining on blog after blog. On Facebook and at school. We have all come to the conclusion this is about politics and money. This is not about education or instilling a love for knowledge and life. The common core is turning our children into haters, who will not have the skills nessasary for functioning in the real world.
Ok
So what are we going to do about it! If we the parents do not advocate against this injustice no one else will.
Parents have the power to reclaim your school and keep your children’s records out of the hands of data pirates.