A reader explains how the states’ demand for standardized testing may do harm to gifted children:
“For highly gifted children, sometimes called highly sensitive children, who have high spatial intelligence, this testing is a nightmare. They will usually have signs of ADD or ADHD by 2nd or 3rd grade. That does not mean they have a disorder, but are just wired differently. They are the ones who will be artists, designers, engineers, and inventors. They need to use their imagination and curiosity to “create”. However, sitting through the traditional drill and kill of the test obsessed school environment will cause them to lose imagination and spontaneity. They are the children are the most damaged from the chronic traumatic stress of this environment, and will lose their “gifts”. Depression and anxiety are common for these children unless they can be given freedom for self expression, such as Montessori.
“Your child, if diagnosed with a disability such as ADHD, or ASD, etc. is eligible for the 504 Program or possibly SpEd services and may be allowed special accommodations for testing. Have you discussed this with the school psychologists?”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It’s not just about gifted kids. It’s all kids
Agree. I would hate to think that gifted kids are considered the only ones at stake. Plus at least for high school I disagree. My GT 8th graders are not the least worried about how their test went for Eng 1…my at risk ESL and LEP? One threw up.
It is about ALL students, not just the gifted ones. Agree.
I just started this at Petition2Congress. It is very easy to sign, copies are automatically sent to President Obama, and your own senators and your representatives. Please take the time to read and the petition entitled: STOP COMMON CORE TESTING. Thank you.
http://www.petition2congress.com/15080/stop-common-core-testing/?m=5265435
Joanne Weiss @JoanneSWeiss Mar 24
Check out this adorbs video of kids in MD getting their first taste of @PARCCPlace http://www.wbaltv.com/education/some-maryland-students-get-parcc-test-drive/25075790 … via @wbaltv11
She used to work for Arne Duncan’s DOE. Now she’s some kind of private consultant, in our wonderful revolving door system of government.
I think it’s downright weird she believes kids sitting in rows staring at screens awaiting testing is “adorbs”. Even if you’re in favor of high stakes tests for young children surely you recognize this is not fun for them, not a JOYFUL exercise for them.
I always keep in mind that not a single one of these adults sat for a high stakes test in 3, 4, or 5th grades. Not one of them. Not the media people or the consultants or the politicians or the promoters. I know I didn’t, and I’m 51.
What are the high stakes that third, fourth and fifth graders face? In my state there are no stakes for the individual student, but no doubt this differs from state to state.
If teachers are evaluated based on student test scores, that is high stakes for students as well. Not to mention just getting labeled as a “1” or even a “4”.
The teachers can certainly turn it into high stakes for students in the elementary years.
In my state the score is averaged in with their 2nd semester average. However, I’d like to make a couple of points about high stakes. For one, Dienne is exactly right. High stakes for teacher = high stakes for student, AND drives everything that occurs in class that year. I’m sorry, but it’s foolish to believe otherwise.
Also, let’s consider “no stakes” tests, such as the current PARCC field tests or the CC math and writing assessments my state administered this year. If you think that telling a child it doesn’t count for anything makes it all okay, I’m here to tell you you’re mistaken. This is true no matter the age of the child.
Dr. Ravitch has spoken of the frustration at the NAEP in trying to get high school students to take no stakes exams seriously. Dr. Ravitch said
I pointed out that when I was a member of the NAEP governing board (NAGB), we devoted an entire meeting to discussing the well-known problem of seniors not caring about NAEP scores. They know that NAEP counts for nothing, and many turned in blanks or doodled or made silly patterned guesses to show their disdain for being asked to take yet another test of no significance.
“Dr. Ravitch has spoken of the frustration at the NAEP in trying to get high school students to take no stakes exams seriously.”
What does the reaction of high school students to a no-stakes standardized test have to do with the response of elementary students to standardized tests of any kind?
I was commenting on poster Bookworm23’s post which states
“If you think that telling a child it doesn’t count for anything makes it all okay, I’m here to tell you you’re mistaken. This is true no matter the age of the child.”
High school students would seem to be included in by the statement “no matter the age of the child”. Perhaps you disagree.
In my state, if third grade student do not pass the reading portion of the EOGs, they have to attend a summer reading camp and get up to grade level or repeat third grade.
Concerned Mom’s comment brings up an important point: what should schools do if students are learning at a rate far from the average for their grade? One possibility is to retain those that are earning more slowly and have those learning more quickly skip grades.
You are offering old solutions for a complex problem that create their own set of problems if adopted as a blanket policy. Academic prowess or lack thereof is only one factor that needs to be considered. We really do need to broaden our definition of education to embrace the student who excels at communication, or music or art or mechanics or calculus,… While we have been able to contain most children under an umbrella of age appropriate understanding, we are less apt at meeting disparate needs.
I am not offering any solution, just an observation of how this is traditionally handled. I found this post, by someone posting as a concerned teacher, particularly insightful about the problems of a heterogeneous (in terms of academic ability) classroom: https://dianeravitch.net/2012/08/24/why-charters-and-public-schools-are-apples-and-oranges/comment-page-1/#comment-26732
“The teachers can certainly turn it into high stakes for students in the elementary years.”
It’s not the teachers that have turned “it into high stakes for students”, TE.
Chiara, I keep going back to PARCC place though it only makes me angry. I’d kind of like to know what people are actually fooled by all the fluffy comments that make the testing sound like the MOST.FUN.EVER!! I swear, don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Why don’t we see something like this, “Tested my 5th graders today. They sat at computers for an hour and fifty minutes before tech difficulties cleared up and allowed them to take the first 50 minute test. They had a lot of difficulty understanding what the test “wanted them to say”, even though they knew the correct answer. We adults felt like child-a users as we told them we couldn’t assist or even try to let them know what the ambiguously worded test was asking of them. Our hearts broke as we saw students with frustration and concern on their faces; then the worst….the looks of resignation as they just quit.
Those REAL images, and the memory of children later telling me how stupid they felt, certainly was not very “adorbs”.
“They had a lot of difficulty understanding what the test “wanted them to say”, even though they knew the correct answer.”
That’s my overall sense reading a lot of comments from teachers. If you get time, can you ask the 5th graders what is confusing or puzzling about it? Is it that they’re being asked to analyze structure and that isn’t how CC “close reading” was presented to teachers?
Keep writing, and thank you for doing so, because my kid takes the test next year and as far as I’m concerned people on the ground are the only credible and reliable resource for parents.
I’m not likely to listen to a former Duncan DOE hire and now private consultant, particularly one who seems to sit on a lot of boards of edtech companies that are gearing up to provide CC “help” 🙂
I spoke with the middle school librarian here and she says the kids are asking for more non-fiction, which she attributes to CC, so that’s a positive, I think. I love fiction but I also read a lot of non-fiction. I don’t think there’s any harm in them reading non-fiction in addition to fiction.
“I don’t think there’s any harm in them reading non-fiction in addition to fiction.”
One young reader of mine would definitely agree with you. He said stories are okay but he really preferred “real” reading (non-fiction). There is nothing like comments from the field to inform our understanding of what is going on.
I frequently attend school board meetings in my community. It sometimes feels like an alternate reality show; input from “the front” is carefully choreographed. School board members have an incredibly difficult job, and it is certainly impossible to please everyone all of the time. However, school boards really need access to information from the school community that is not orchestrated by the administration. The administration has a vested interest in pleasing the board as well as in pushing its own agenda, which does not always mean providing a complete picture. By the time a presentation is made to the board, all stakeholders are expected to stick to the party line. Criticism is couched in terms of possible improvements to the agreed upon approach. I know an incredible amount of work is done behind the scenes as is necessary. Board meetings can turn into a dog and pony show that can obscure reality, and these meetings are supposed to keep the public informed. In the past, objections to the direction of board or administration action has taken a vocal and sustained effort on the part of community members, and input from faculty and staff is limited to clandestine communication.
I apologize to all those administrators and board members who may feel unjustly tarnished by my comments. I know my criticism is unfair to many of you. Chalk it up to my relatively recent realization that you can’t close the door on politics without becoming an easy target.
Except the kids AREN’T reading non-fiction “in addition” to fiction. My sophomore son has not read a SINGLE novel or play all year. No Shakespeare (which he adores), To Kill a Mockingbird, or anything. Only non-fiction. The teacher has told them that it’s because of district requirements of Common Core.
It is so so wrong that you have to be “diagnosed with a disability” (never mind that it is wrong to label ADD as a disability) in order to be allowed to simply MOVE during these tests!
As a special ed teacher, I’d like to issue 2 warnings: First, we are about to see it become much, much tougher for a child to be identified as eligible for services. Second, the number of children (who do have 504 plans or IEPs) who receive accommodations is going to decrease DRAMATICALLY.
This is something parents need to keep their eyes on. I know from experience that most of my students’ parents trust the system to do the right thing; they question very little. They simply don’t know when to kick up a fuss. This is about to be an even bigger problem; decisions about services and accommodations are going to be made at state and federal level, and the IEP team will be really fenced in as far as actually writing that “individualized” plan.
A big part of my job is to protect my students and inform their parents. Yes, legally I am required to inform them of their rights and responsibilities. But, as any teacher knows, there is a big difference between giving parents the huge “rights and responsibilities” packet and doing what I’d LIKE to do: I’d like to look every parent in the eye and say, “Ask questions. Fight. Document everything said to you, and don’t let up! Get involved with reputable groups that advocate for you and your child. Don’t take this nonsense lying down.”
Folks, it’s unlikely that many teachers will be in the position to say those things to parents. Teacher intimidation is alive and well, though it varies greatly between districts and between schools. For my part, I’m spending the time before this all occurs (in my area, it will be next year) educating myself as much as possible. I am connecting with parents of students with disabilities across the state, and learning so much from them. I’m doing my research on child advocacy and I’m asking many, many questions of our state department and the testing consortium. It is something, anyway.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Could you elaborate on what specifically has changed? Are these changes to IDEA and/or Section 504?
“teachingeconomisot
April 12, 2014 at 9:07 am
What are the high stakes that third, fourth and fifth graders face? In my state there are no stakes for the individual student, but no doubt this differs from state to state.”
Their schools and teachers will be measured on the tests. I don’t really understand what I see as “taking kids out of context”.
These are their schools and communities. They live there. High stakes for that is high stakes for them. That’s the point of the rallies and such. “Work hard for our school!”
If you watch the video, it’s the opposite of “adorbs”, actually. They’re quite serious discussing the testing, the kids. Which is not surprising, because it’s not “cute” to them, it’s the work they do. They don’t seem particularly unhappy; I think I would describe them as “stoic and serious” rather than “adorbs”.
In Ohio, the governor has publicized his “third grade reading guarantee.” All kid will score proficient on the state reading test or they will be: a) tested again after a summer “intervention,” or b) held back a grade if they don’t pass muster on the summer re-test.
BUT, the scores from the regular state test, and the summer intervention are not produced in time for school officials to get the word to parents or to plan schedules.
So schools will have some students who show up believing they are in grade four, but may not be if they did not pass muster on the tests. There are huge spillover effects for students who are held back, and those who are not, and for the system as a whole on adjustments to teaching and room assignments, etc.
In the United States, the evidence is fairly strong that poor grade 3 reading scores correlate (repeat correlate) with later difficulties in school and in life. During the third and fourth grades, most students are fluent enough to make a transition from learning to read to reading to learn. There should be some discretionary judgment on whether to hold students back. It is just bad policy to take that decision out of the hands of teachers and parents altogether. I am not a reading specialist. As a teaching economist you might want to review the literature on this topic.
No doubt these are difficult decisions and timing can make them more difficult. How much notice is there when a student is held back under the system that did not use standardized test scores?
You say “During the third and fourth grades, most students are fluent enough to make a transition from learning to read to reading to learn,” Do you have a rough estimate of what most means?
I certainly believe in discretion, and there is likely no great choice in either holding a student back or having a student skip a grade.
What is “adorbs”?
short for adorable
as in “he is toets adorbs”
Thanks Ang!!
That’s what I thought but I didn’t know if it had a twist on the meaning.
From my years as a school counselor, observing children in this increasingly toxic elementary environment from an obsession with “performance & data”, I can say without a doubt, this environment is causing chronic stress for all children. However, for Highly Sensitive Children (HSC estimated 1 out of 5) with genetic predisposition to autism and other neurological sensory disorders and developmental delays, this environment is one of chronic “traumatic” stress. It is slow “trauma” that takes away the spirit of a child in the same that a stream of water over time can wear away mountains.
All children who are “captive” in environments of chronic stress will become “desensitized” to some level of depression and anxiety. In a “controlled” school environment with “authoritarian” teachers using “Behaviorism” masked as “teaching”, the children’s natural fear response of flight, fight, or freeze will only allow them the option of “freeze! This chronic “survive” mode of “hyper vigilance” will change their brain chemistry, causing psychological erosion that will become permanent damage.
The desensitization and dissociation that can be observed in children’s behavior after a while in this toxic environment causes them to appear more like “prisoners of war” than typical children. They will lose spontaneity, imagination, and the ability for imaginative play. They will become very obedient, submissive, and robotic. When those symptoms become observable, it is a sign that psychological damage is severe and irreversible.
The emotional dysregulation caused by stress in this environment will be greater for Highly Sensitive Children; but for all children, the psychological damage will be “hard wired” into their personality, causing psychiatric disorders at some level.
The University of Washington’s research (Dr Marsha Linehan) on mental illness and personality disorders has shown an “invalidating” environment of chronic traumatic stress in childhood leads to Borderline Personality Disorder in young adulthood.
Why are we tolerating this abuse to children, knowing full well the damage it is causing
to all children?
In Ohio we have the lovely”3rd Grade Reading Guarantee.” It is estimated that at least 10,000 3rd graders will not be allowed to advance based on a test. Of course, that depends on which way the wind blows when the Kasich anointed State School Board determines the cut score. It is sickening.
Likewise in NC, except it is called ‘Read to Achieve’ the cut-off has been lowered – now a ‘high 2’ (which used to be failing) is renormed to a 3 and instead of 4 levels, they now have 5 – (eventually we may get to a Spinal Tap 11)
Perhaps parents of students in Westchester County will be stirred to action when they read this account of Dr. Ravitch’s talk to “400 school technology people and administrators” in Briarcliff Manor yesterday.
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/education/2014/04/11/ravitch-speaks-briarcliff/7597245/
Or, the parents could opt their gifted children out! Don’t allow the testing maniacs access to ruining your children!
The problem is extreme test prep still exists unfortunately.
I teach gifted ES students and I see the writer’s concerns every day. The ones with the highest ability are asked to do, for them, lowest ability work. Do we really want to have the children who are a great natural resource, who are the ones who think out of the box, who will have the ability to solve the world’s problems, do mind numbing work every single day they are in school? Ummm no. Gifted children receive NO federal funding for services. It is up to the states to determine if they get services they desperately need. We can do better. They need us to do better for them. This is not to say what is happening to all children is not important. It is. But this article discusses the needs of a very important population that is too often overlooked. That is sad for the gifted child because they do think differently. It is sad for humanity as well in the lost potential for the country. We are squandering their high intellectual abilities in the name of high stakes testing. It is sad because of the myths of teachers, politicians, and many stakeholders in thinking that they will be “just fine” because they are smart. They aren’t just fine.
They need funding and teachers who are trained in specifically addressing their unique needs, similar to special education. Without this level of support, the reality for many gifted children is a frustrated, fruitless waiting game.