Colorado students are rallying to demand testing reform. This is THEIR issue. They have been subjected to test after test after test. They lose instructional time. They lose time for the arts and history and foreign languages to make more time for testing. Their scores can get their teachers and their principal fired. They are genuine patriots. Despite 12 years of testing, they have not been turned into robots. They are standing up for their right to a real education. They refuse to be crushed by the standardization machine. These students can teach the nation what matters most.
On Saturday, March 7th, from 11 am to 12 pm, high school students from schools around the state will join on the West Steps of the Denver Capitol.
They aim to have their voices heard on the issue of standardized testing in Colorado. The Colorado Measure for Academic Success (CMAS) test proved to be the uniting factor that prompted these students to raise concerns regarding the corporate ownership of tests such as the CMAS, as well as the ways in which they feel these tests are misaligned with curriculum design.
Other grievances regarding these tests include the fact that teachers cannot see the tests their students take, and that depending upon the school district, they feel teachers and schools can be unfairly jeopardized based upon the students’ scores. After contemplating this myriad of complaints and concerns, a group of high school seniors in Fort Collins began an organization known as ‘The Anti-Test’, a group which seeks to peacefully protest certain aspects of standardized testing for the sake of testing reform. They have organized this rally in Denver so that the voices of civically engaged students may be heard in what they ultimately believe is a student issue.
I hope they bring a special message of dissent to State Senator Michael Johnston, who wrote Senate Bill 191, which made high-stakes testing the focus of “reform” in Colorado. Johnston is a former member of Teach for America. He insisted that 50% of educators’ evaluation should be based on test scores. Making testing so important, he claimed in 2010, would produce “great teachers” and “great schools.” How has that worked out?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m so happy that students and parents are leading these efforts. Whenever teachers like me have complained, critics would respond that teachers didn’t want to be held accountable. I teach at Fairview High School in Boulder, and the students here helped lead the CMAS walkout this past fall. The CMAS tests, administered in grades 4, 7, and 12, are state-mandated tests in science and social studies. Today, I’m proud to report, our parent and student community has led yet another effective boycott of the PARCC tests. It’s important that this movement is not by led by teachers so that politicians, such as Colorado Sen. Michael Johnston, Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, and President Barack Obama finally begin to get the picture.
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This battle can only be won by students and parents. Teachers have been incessantly depicted as part of (if not the major reason for) the problem. I salute your students.
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Rahm-no and Nobummer are deaf. Besides, they are getting perks and $$$$$ from the oligarchs.
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Hooray for these Colorado students.
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Here’s Mike’s latest tweet. He wasn’t meeting with the young protesters-
Mike Johnston @MikeJohnstonCO Great to visit with young folks from #reprolobbyday15 to talk about important bills they are supporting. #coleg pic.twitter.com/SvMdDvW6Ti
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I met young Mike Johnston when I was in Denver in 2010. He is very impressed with himself.
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I applaud these students and hope the politicians will listen! I was a teacher that was fortunate enough this year to have an opportunity come up and I was able to leave the teaching profession. I loved teaching, but teaching is not about teaching anymore. It is about testing and scores – even in kindergarten, which I taught for 10 years. The PARCC and the CMAS are the two tests you hear about, but just as bad or worse now is the GOLD, which is being given in kindergarten. I don’t know one teacher who likes it or thinks it is worth the massive amount of time it consumes. It is an ongoing assessment, making it even worse – the teachers are constantly assessing their kids. School and learning need to be fun in kindergarten for kids to learn, but it’s not that way anymore. If kindergarten teachers complain, they are seen as “difficult” by administration. Parents are going to have to speak out against the test or our poor kids will be starting their testing career as age 5!
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Thank you, Diane Ravitch. Please continue to speak truth to power.
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This needs to be a US movement–especially in our state of Indiana! Non-educators and those who “fancy” themselves knowledgable about educational matters are making decision that they will have future terrible ramifications. What happened to the idea of creating “lifelong and creative learners”?
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Will the politicians listen now that parents and students are voicing dissatisfaction with onslaught of standardized tests? Will they care that the tests are consuming far too instruction time? Will they care that the tests are taking hundreds of millions of dollars out of the classroom? They certainly do not seem to care that the tests are scientifically invalid. The scores are not a true measure of ability when students do not put forth their best efforts. The scores are not a measure of teacher effectiveness when a multitude of variables have an enormous influence on student performance. When Senator Johnston states that significant variables are only “excuses” he demonstrates a remarkable lack of scientific literacy. These tests are wasteful, ineffective, uninformative, and an affront to the teaching profession. I will never vote for a politician (of either party) who supports this pseudo-scientific mandate.
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