Have you ever wondered what the school day is like for a student in first grade? These are little children, maybe six-years-old.
Katie Lapham teaches first grade in New York City in a low-income school. Read what they do here:
http://www.livingindialogue.com/excessive-standardized-testing-first-grade-fairy-tale/
“I administered the first grade benchmarks to my class of 25 students. Pearson’s ReadyGEN ELA assessment was comprised of five multiple choice comprehension questions and five multiple choice vocabulary questions. It also contained a writing question for which students stated an opinion and included a reason (a detail from the text) to support their opinion. While students were given a copy of the realistic fiction reading passage, I was instructed to read it aloud to them three times. From the groans and sighs emitted from my students as I commenced the second reading, I deduced that they didn’t find the passage to be particularly riveting.
“A number of questions and answer choices, which I also read aloud to them, were poorly constructed and confusing. A vocabulary question tricked students by offering large and huge as possible answer choices for What does enormous mean? For one of the comprehension questions – and for the writing piece – students were required to go back to the text to get the answer. I would have lost points on the test if I hadn’t re-read the part of the text that contained the information. Students had to know where to go in the text and they had to be able to both decode and comprehend the paragraph in order to answer the questions correctly.
“As this test was administered in a whole class setting, I found it exasperating trying to make sure the students were paying attention and answering the right question. I observed that some of my strongest readers randomly picked answers – the wrong ones – and theorized that they weren’t paying close attention to the read aloud and/or to the reading of the questions. Only the multiple choice answer choices appeared on the test, not the questions.
“The first grade GO Math! assessment was comprised of 40 multiple choice questions, which I administered over the course of two days. Of the 40 questions, 15 tested skills that students haven’t yet learned. As I alluded to above, giving a test to a group of 25 first graders is emotionally taxing for the teacher. The kids sit together at tables so dividers are needed to prevent cheating. Also, first graders aren’t yet test savvy; some don’t know to consider all four answer choices before choosing the correct one. Multiple choice is NOT a developmentally appropriate method to use in formally assessing six and seven-year-olds. Furthermore, because the test is read to students, teachers must be vigilant to ensure that students are on the right question. For these reasons, I decided to split up the class into three groups for the administration of the GO Math! assessment. While I was testing a small group, laptops occupied the other students. For group three, I had to translate the test into Spanish.”
She assumes that students in affluent districts have time for activities and the arts, not just test prep.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This sort of testing is not educational at all. No one will learn from such an experience. The students and the teachers will come to hate school. This sort of thing needs to be stopped as soon as possible. Parents, teachers, and administrators need to make their voices heard about this nonsense.
Here is a North Carolina school superintendent who is saying that our testing regimes are insane:
http://www.nhcs.net/wordpress/timmarkley/2015/02/23/we-have-reached-the-insanity-point-on-testing/
Actually, you sort of contradicted yourself. First you say that no one will learn from such an experience, then you go on to say that students will come to hate school. In fact, I’ve come to believe that that’s exactly what students are supposed to learn from such experiences.
It reminds me of the part in BRAVE NEW WORLD when the infants in the lowest class are being trained away from books. There’s a bright, shiny display of colorful books. The babies all, of course, crawl toward them. As soon as the babies reach out for the book, there’s a huge, disturbing crashing/clanging noise, and of course all the babies drop the books and start crying. They then repeat the procedure until all the babies cower and cry upon sight of the books. Testing on the first day of first grade serves the same purpose as the crashing/clanging noise.
Dienne,
You are spot on. I teach pre-k in a high poverty community. My students start off the year so excited to be in school and by this time of year so many of them are angry and not happy to be in school at all. The program is set up for kids to fail and feel frustrated and unhappy.
What are we doing to our most vulnerable children?
Thanks for sharing this. Though many of us have been speaking out about the misuse of testing it is really helpful to see the specifics on how this really impacts schools and takes away from instruction. Insanity is really where we are at. It takes a brave superintendent to speak out in NC these days. 🙂
I’m waiting for the test that tells us whether or not first graders are on track for college.
Matt,
Don’t you remember Arne said we should be able to look in the eyes of a 2nd grader and tell if he is on track to go to college?
I don’t remember that but then, again, who wants to remember such a creepy thought? It would seem, though, a more likely scenario of Arne “gazing” into a 2nd graders’ eyes, saying–over & over–“Repeat after me: I am on track for college…I am on track for college…I am on track for college…” In fact, heck, we could create a whole curriculum around that! (Not quite as good as the Onion’s idea, however.)
Then Arne contradicts himself. I thought only test scores could tell us that!!!
2nd grade is too late. In my school district pre-k children are told they have to be college and career ready
Arizona has a checklist for this purpose. It is offered up as graphic and “balloon questions” that should be answered as if proof that the kindergartner is on track for college AND a career. (Meanwhile Congress wants to reframe NCLB as “Every Child Ready for College OR Career).”
Arizona’s State Department of Education offers a graphic that also functions as a checklist for college and career readiness. There in no picture of a train on a track, just comic-like bubbles filled with text, organized around a car. The car is facing left (a visual convention that has long been used to imply “go west)”
You can see this graphic and some grade by grade versions of the college/career questions here http://www.azed.gov/azccrs/files/2013/10/k-12collegeandcareerchecklist.pdf
This kind of checklist is migrating to other states via the promoters of “personalized learning” and on-line programs where dashboard versions update information and post “recommendations” for specific colleges or for career certificates that match up with student interests, family budgets, and so on. Some of these programs are designed to by-pass the need for face-to-face guidance from middle and high school guidance counselors.
The permitted “vocational interest” classifications in these assessments typically match up with 16 “career clusters” and occupational pathways linked to O’Net, an online resource designed for job-seekers. The O’Net system in turn, is connected to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics that offers projections of labor markets by industry and occupations, the most recent from 2012 to 2022. These projections are updated every 2 years.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics labor projections show the fastest growing occupations, those with a rise or drop in average salary, those with educational requirements such as on the job training, high school diploma, and more.
You will not find Achieve, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the promoters of the Common Core, STEM, and technical education publicizing many of these projections. Why not?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projections take into account outsourcing, the shifting of professional work to paraprofessionals and automated technologies, the expansion of services for the aging baby-boomers, and so on. The jobs and trend lines show that many jobs are not destined to be “drivers of the global economy.” Neither will many produce a fast turn-around in the U.S. economy. The job projections do not match much of the career hype.
Almost all of the business and economic reasoning from the late 1990s—prompting talk about a nation at risk from global competition, higher standards as a panacea, and implied promises of unbridled growth in high tech careers—persists, along with claims that every student must have post-secondary education, preferably college. No doubt college helps on life-long income, but that has been true for a long time.
The career promoters who want to reach into kindergarten with assessments and year to year tracking are doing the equivalent of killing the seed corn. The seed corn is PLAY…unleashed from any clear purpose, unencumbered by what it is good for, untethered to CEO expectations for a 21st workforce.
It is as if…nothing changed after 9/11—just go shopping and get your little ones prepared for that and making marketable goodies.
It is as if…the world economy did not tank in 2007-2008, or if so, it was the fault of low standards, not enough testing, lazy teachers, too much play in school, especially Kindergarten.
It is as if…it is perfectly OK that 51 percent of K-12 students today live in poverty.
It is as if…it is perfectly OK that 30 states provide less funding per student in 2014-15 than they did before the 2008 recession.
It is as if…it is perfectly OK that the price tag of K-12 education has increased since 2008, due to rising costs of supplies and tests—more tests from an unregulated industry, and and dubious investments in technology for tests and data-mining.
It is as if…all of those teacher salaries were outrageous. Fact check: Between 1999 and 2013 the average salary decreased by 1.3 percent (adjusted dollars), National Center for Education Statistics.
I hope that the teachers and parents of Kindergarten children in Arizona will download and shred this ugly graphic filled with questions about careers.
It is time for some civil disobedience to stop careerism, especially in Kindergarten and the early grades. This must become as important as stopping the endless testing…for the sake of children who need to experience childhood for the joy of that and as the greatest way to learn stuff that matters to them. That “stuff” may, by a circuitous path, matter more to the future of a great nation than all of the rigors and angst created by today’s strictly academic regime.
Data sources on request.
Some of the items on the checklist are innocuous and time honored Kindergarten items, but overall my reaction is WOW! Thank you for sharing this because I had no idea career exploration had been so inappropriately pushed down to the primary grades in some states. Very disturbing.
I just read the KG one. I’m sitting here with my mouth open in shock. I can’t even think of anything coherent to say. I couldn’t stand to look at the other grade levels.
Diane, will you turn that chart into its own post so that more people will see it?
Wait, does enormous mean large or huge? I was an English major at Oberlin College, have an IQ of 132, scored 720 on the language arts SAT, 163 on the LSAT, and have worked as a major newspaper reporter and a political campaign media spokesperson, have read Shakespeare and Chaucer and all those other heavy cats and more or less understood them (I think), but I guess I was playing hooky the day a teacher must have explained whether “enormous” is more synonymous with “huge,” or with “large.” Don’t know how I’ve got this far in life without that information.
Closer to huge, but the dictionary actually says something like “very large, gigantic, huge”, so it’s not like “large” is wrong, just less right. Sigh.
I have a Masters in Writing and I couldn’t have answered that question correctly.
I’m starting to think that all these tests are a crutch for those who can’t teach. With all the prep, practice, and testing…it’s a miracle that any teaching…let alone learning takes place nowadays. Just from my observation and experience. Something to think about.
“I’m starting to think that all these tests are a crutch for those who can’t teach.”
Well, quit “starting to think” that thought because I’ve never heard, seen, been acquainted with any teacher that use tests as a “crutch”. Now maybe if you’re talking about a TFAer, perhaps some of them may do so but then that’s just speculation on my part.
The teachers didn’t choose to test so much. The politicians did Ever heard of No Child Left Behind? That legislation was not created by teachers.
As for your point about the tests and test prep wasting instructional time, I totally agree. That’s why I think we need to get rid of most of these standardized tests.
Mark, it’s a crutch for legislators who are flexing a muscle they don’t really have. I guess there are no rules that they can’t legislate what goes on in a classroom, but have they developed their concepts of good teaching? Likely not. So there’s your crutch. It’s for those calling shots who are not aware of what classroom experiences are like from the standpoint of the one teaching and maintaining classroom order. The 90s “accountability” promises came due to be cashed in (continued support for public schools by business folks came with assurance that accountability would be increased. . .I know, because I’ve gone back and read the speeches of leaders from that time). So it came time to deliver on the “get tough on teachers and schools” promise and all they knew to do was require outcomes in the form of test scores.
And that’s where we are. And unfortunately, they current trend in thinking is that accountability in schools will solve the achievement gap. We’re stuck op that. Like a scratched record. We need to pick up the needle and get to the next song.
The face of standardized testing = insanity.
Don’t forget those quotes, Duane! “Standardized” testing…because the tests are neither valid nor reliable.
You MUST be wrong. These politicians do not make mistakes. Just ask them.
What’s the purpose of all this testing? It’s solely to benefit the testing companies–our kids have become pawns for profits–data points in a big machine.
Follow the money$…
http://theprincetonsun.com/2014/02/13/standardized-testing-will-cost-school-district-255000/
“She assumes that students in affluent districts have time for activities and the arts, not just test prep.”
My son attends elementary school in an “affluent district.” He has music and art classes, which he loves because they’re fun and the teachers are kind and make him feel good about himself. He also gets ridiculous loads of homework that consist entirely of printouts from what I assume are state-sanctioned workbooks. He doesn’t mind the math so much because he’s fairly good at it, but he hates hates hates the “language arts.” His teacher marks up his homework as if she were John Houseman grading exams in the Paper Chase: “Unacceptable!” “You need to spend more time studying your spelling!” (Yes, that’s what 8 year olds need to be doing, “studying their spelling.” Maybe flashcards would be good.) She’s astonishingly rude, both in person and over email. She has a charming habit of complaining about her students (to the staff, or her assistant teacher, or other parents whatever other poor soul has the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time) in front of them. She recently told me, in substance, that my son is a lazy dullard who could benefit from medication. I was helping him put his boots on at the time. It was like being slapped: Did that really just happen?
Once he had an asinine pre-fabricated homework assignment to “write a paragraph summarizing” a book he recently read. He actually surprised me by writing a really good, very terse three-sentence summary that expressed the narrative’s beginning, middle, and end. I was proud of him, because he did it on his own, and it’s not easy to summarize something succinctly, and because writing is difficult for him (as for many kids) because it hurts his hand. He’s also kind, generous, and courageous, and he is my personal hero, and I strive to be more like him. His teacher gave him “partial credit” on the assignment because his summary didn’t fill up all of the pre-printed lines on the page.
Last year my son got occupational therapy to help with his pencil grip in the “extended day” slot before the start of the school day, but that was cancelled by the new teachers’ contract and replaced with more professional development and/or “parent engagement.” I hear from teachers that the PD time is a waste of time, and there is nothing that I or my son’s teacher would like less than to have more “engagement” with each other.
But things certainly could be worse.
I love the way you talk about your son – you must be a fabulous dad.
Sorry about the situation with the teacher. Of course, there’s no way of knowing what this teacher would be like in the absence of Common Core, testing, etc., but it seems like maybe she feels caught between the mandates getting dumped on her on one hand vs. parental reaction on the other, and she’s perhaps rather defensive about it. Not that it makes it okay to tell your son that his work is “unacceptable” or tell you that he’s basically a lazy dullard right in front of him.
I can see how this sort of thing encourages parents to support school choice (and it’s why my own daughters are in private school). I don’t know what the answer is. But getting rid of the rephormers is going to be a lot more than just getting rid of the tests and test prep (although that would be a good start). Somehow we have to figure out how to make all schools, not just the elite ones, places where a reasonable human being would like to spend six hours a day.
Right, because before CCLS, there were never any clockwatchers, screamers, or teachers who evinced a palpable dislike for parents and kids, but especially for little boys who act and learn like little boys, not little girls.
Sorry to hear about your extended day issue, Flerp, but you can’t say that you weren’t warned. In our part of the world, decent private OT costs about $300 a pop, but my youngest can now open non-twist-off bottles of beer with a single bare hand, so I consider it money well spent.
FLERP!:
Sounds like that teacher needs a major attitude adjustment. That’s the job of the principal or her immediate supervisor. My dad was an elementary and middle school principal, and I was treated to stories like that fairly often. One hard-nosed primary teacher would say things like “If they don’t learn how to walk single file in first grade, what’s going to happen when they get into the army?” I got the impression that a big part of his job was to encourage teachers to speak more kindly to students and to remind them that the kids were just that, kids. As a teacher I found out how tough it can be to remember this. But I never forgot those bad examples.
I’ve found that it’s actually possible for a teacher to change his ways. You could copy your comment and email it to the principal. I’m not saying you should, but it’s an option. Who knows? It could even turn around that teacher’s career. This is the sort of thing–call it situational staff development, call it leadership, or whatever–that administrators should be spending their time and energy on instead of wasting it on testing, test prep, and other pointless tasks.
One anecdote doesn’t make a trend, but I hope some researcher looks into this. Do the school “reforms” of the past 15 years or so make teachers less kind and caring? Or are more kind and caring teachers leaving the field? We already know that the demands on teachers have been growing for years. It could be that more of them are reaching their limits.
In any case, there were mean and clueless teachers long before NCLB and Common Core, and long before there were teacher unions.
Oh lordy does your post bring back memories. To a different post I might enumerate the incompetents I worked with in a corporate office & remark that fools with the corporate equivalent of tenure exist in all professions, due to poor administrative decisions. But when its your child those fools are harming it’s a different matter. I will note that in our ‘elite’ district, once there was a truly excellent principal in place (the 3rd in my 8 yrs’ experience with that primary school), a word to the wise was sufficient. Naturally, he was soon promoted & replaced with another back-scratcher.
I teach enrichment in daycares and nurseries. One of the saddest things I see is little kids who aren’t even fazed by a teacher’s yelling or mean remarks– apparently having gotten so much of it at home, they’ve built a Teflon coating already.
I agree with Andy. Let’s see….today my kids were learning the verb “to have” in French. Since I am lucky enough to have classes of 16-22 students, I was able to circulate among students, check their work, and see who was “getting it” and who needed a little extra help. This was after we’ve practiced for a few days. Nope – I didn’t have to give a test and then waste time doing an item analysis, reporting how I’m going to teach it again and how and why. Teachers observe and learn about the abilities of their students like this all the time. I usually don’t need a big test to tell me what students know and don’t know. I observe it every day. Unfortunately, there’s no profit to be made from this. If I were a parent, I’d much rather have a teacher discuss their child’s effort, participation, strengths and weaknesses in class than look at a number on a report card. The “data-driven” mentality is ruining our schools and eliminating the human factors in teaching and learning. It’s a sad situation.
You said it! The tests are not meaningful. My daughter scored “proficient” on the MCAS in 3rd grade and “advanced” in 4th grade. What does that mean to her 5th grade teacher and to me? Absolutely nothing. Her teacher is a wonderful teacher and knows my daughter well because she observes her, talks to her and talks to me. She uses her own assessments, work samples, etc. to learn what my daughter knows and teaches her accordingly.
Forgot to mention that I’d prefer that the cost of the test and the $11 per hour paid to the temp non- teacher workers who score the tests be put towards my kid’s teacher’s salary rather than line the pockets of some fat cat who couldn’t care less about my kid! That’s not why
I pay taxes…
There are other issues, too, that go with testing that disrupt the school day. So even if all students are not being tested on a particular day, they will need rooms to test in. Often, the art teacher must give up his room. The art room is next to the music room, and suddenly, while being given 34 first graders for almost an hour for music to allow for optimal data drilling down time among classroom teachers, the music room needs to be quiet and cautious that there is testing going on. 34 first graders for 50 minutes in music and they need to be quiet. And when they enter the hallway to walk back to class (possibly stopping for water and bathroom), there are signs everywhere reminding them to be quiet.
Every TA is pulled into the testing, so teachers and students lose help and assistance in their lessons on those days.
There are many aspects to testing that many folks don’t even think about when considering testing.
In my school, because one of the computer labs is in the Library, we can’t use the Library or any computer lab for nine weeks a year. I have to check out all of the books on the research subjects in the Library and move them up two flights of stairs and a parking lot to get the books to my room, so that my students can still research while the Library is off limits.
Carol Burris and others have stated that tying teacher ratings to student test scores will have a negative impact on the way teachers relate to students. And it’s common sense. Imagine having your paycheck determined by children doing ANYTHING let alone taking tests, some of which are inadequate, unfair, age inappropriate, etc. This, of course, is AFTER you’ve spent many years getting an education and maybe trying to pay back your student loans. It’s going to create fear, anger and bitterness.
I hear you and I only have 7 first and second graders, all with iEPs and all who require individual assistance. I have one child with TBI, Two children with Autism, 3 labeled ID or DD, and one who is OHI. Trying to get the ones that can to open a book is like trying to pull teeth. Between all the behaviors we are lucky to accomplish one or two things each day.
It is insane and not developmentally appropriate.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
I also just gave interim first grade tests. It took us 45 minutes to log into the test. This means that the students had already exceeded their patience before we even began the test. Because reading selections and test questions are read, it is important that all students be on the same page at the same time. This means that students must wait for all students to finish a test item before moving onto the next one. This waiting between questions is torture for some students. The quick students feel bored, the slower students feel pressed. When everyone is ready, we have the class click to the next question. (I had two other proctors to help manage the testing). I have had students click an answer before the question is read. I am not allowed to say anything. The LA portion had 22 questions as well. When the group clicked from question 21 to 22 at least five students had their tests ended. They had no opportunity to answer the last question. The test also has a summary at the end so that we can check to see that all questions have been answered. We go back and retread missed items. The summary missed two unanswered questions on one student’s test. I happened to have checked that student,s summary myself. I know it said he had completed all the items. But when I checked the scores, he had two blank questions.
Another issue that I find interesting is how to handle students who forget that they cannot process their thoughts out loud. I have yet to have gotten through a test without at least one student vocally answering a question. They don’t mean to do that. When something is difficult even adults think out loud at times.
Another issue for young children is the need to remain seated. It is not unusual for young children to stand while they are doing seat work. They are busy doing their work, but they simply cannot concentrate without moving. They work while standing to control their need to move. Add the stress if testing and the long time it takes to log in and some students just need to stand. Because the children can see another student’s screen while standing, if is not allowed. By the end of the test, the room looks la bit like whack-a-mole. Students attempting to stand and stretch and the teachers pointing to seats.
Today, I gave the math portion of the test. We were a bit faster on the login-30 minutes. About half way through I has a student get stuck on a problem. He became very upset when I told him that it was a test and that he would need to answer it on his own. When he realized that I wasn’t going to give him the answer, he proceeded to a full and complete meltdown with screaming, throwing chairs and hitting when he was removed from the room. You can imagine how the rest of the test went. At least we didn’t have any computer glitches today.
Another issue is that the testing disrupts the rest of the day. After testing the students are finished. They cannot concentrate and can’t sit. No learning happens. I do try.
I also find that rating my effectiveness by test scores as unfair. I cannot choose the students in my class. Two years ago I had a class in which 50% of my students had a specific educational need. I had a child with severe hearing loss. The child was completely deaf in one ear and had an implant in the other. The implant was only two years old. She was non-verbal and had 30 minutes of speech therapy each day. She needed much more. I still wonder how to teach phonemic awareness for this child. I had a child with autism who also had services for speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy and special ed. I had two others on IEP’s. In addition, I had four other children with behavioral issues including two with unmedicated ADHD. Two of these qualified for special ed during second grade. I also had five ESL students. My Dibels scores that year showed a 300% increase! But 50% of the students were still far below level and 25% were below level. The next year I had 30 first graders. They were easier than the previous year’s 20. This was the year of absentees. I had three students who lost one full term of school due to absence over 45 days. Several others missed more than twenty days. I began to wonder it I was going to have to go to each child’s home, get them up, bathed, dressed and fed in order to pass my evaluation. This year I have 25. They are the highest class academically that I have ever had. But their behaviors echo those of my class two years ago. I expect they’ll do better on testing than my other classes have done.
I might add that I teach in a title one school. Poverty is a real issue. I have children that spend a full twelve hours at the school each day to accommodate parents work schedules. I have several parents who hold two part time jobs and are going to school as well. I have a student who comes to school each day with just a sandwich for lunch. Both parents work in retail. They make too much for free lunch. A sandwich costs less that school lunch. It is all they can afford. I had a child who only owned one pair of pants. She often missed school so her mother could wash that pair of pants. The school has provided back packs, coats, hats and mittens for many of my students. Evenso, i have had plenty of experience with DCFS as I have had to deal with multiple issues of child neglect and abuse. All of these things affect my student’s scores and I can’t fix any of it!
Last year, five teachers retired early because of these issues. They are subbing this year. One said I make less, but I own myself. I think that sums things up nicely.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. There should be a repository for teacher stories like this one. Maybe NPE could set up a story bank of some kind. The people causing this havoc need to be exposed for what their grand schemes are doing to children.
At the very least, the policy types and the testing companies should have to pay for the dismal quality of the tests. Maybe more kids and teachers will “steal” and publish test items this spring.