Audrey Beardsley, one of the nation’s leading experts on teacher evaluation, recently visited Néw Mexico and there found an unhappy, test-obsessed school system.
She says Néw Mexico has gone “high stakes silly.” She attributes this to state commissioner Hanna Skandera, who was deputy commissioner in Florida when Jeb Bush was governor. Hanna never taught. She believes in the Bush gospel of testing.
What’s more, teachers in NM must sign a contract promising never to disparage the tests in school or in public. Beardsley tried to make sense of the state’s VAM program but couldn’t. Then she learned that a group of rocket scientists at Los Alamos tried to understand it, and they couldn’t either.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I dunno, competition for both of those titles is awfully fierce.
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Cross posted at OEN to Vamvoozled,
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/New-Mexico-UnEnchanted-by-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Discussion_Education_Movement_System-150324-867.html with links here, and this comment
This from the end of the article bears a second look:
Can the “Opt Out” Movement Succeed?
“There’s a movement growing across the nation. It’s called “Opt Out,” and it means, refusal to subject oneself or one’s children to the rampant standardized testing that has gripped public schools. The tentacles of the accountability testing movement have reached into every quarter of America’s public schools. And the audience for this information is composed of politicians attempting to bust unions, taxpayers hoping to replace high-salary teachers with low-salary teachers, and Realtors dodging red-lining laws while steering clients to the “best schools.” Those urging parents and students to refuse to be tested cite the illegitimacy of these motives and the increasing amount of time for learning that is being given over to assessing learning. At present, the Opt Out movement is small — a few thousand students in Colorado, several hundred in New Mexico, and smatterings of ad hoc parent groups in the East. Some might view these small numbers as no threat to the accountability assessment industry. But the threat is more serious than it appears. Politicians and others want to rank schools and school districts according to their test score averages. Or they want to compare teachers according to their test score gains (Value Added Measurement) and pressure the low scorers or worse. It only takes a modest amount of Opting Out to thwart these uses of the test data. If 10% of the parents at the school say “No” to the standardized test, how do the statisticians adjust or correct for those missing data? Which 10% opted out? The highest scorers? The lowest? A scattering of high and low scorers? And would any statistical sleight of hand to correct for “missing data” stand up in court against a teacher who was fired or a school that was taken over by the state for a “turn around”? I don’t think so.”
Gene V Glass
Arizona State University
National Education Policy Center
University of Colorado Boulder
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The Albuquerque Teachers Federation, the union representing teachers in the largest school district in NM, told teachers to sign the document “signed under protest, violates 1st Amendment.” ATF has also filed a lawsuit on behalf of its members because last year’s evaluations, the first using the ridiculous VAM, was riddled with errors.
It is important to note that NM’s Secretary of Education, Hanna Skandera is not only the darling of Jeb Bush but Arne Duncan and President Obama have praised her on numerous occasions for her public education reforms in NM.
Skandera was finally confirmed last month by the NM Senate. For the last five years she was the Secretary Designate because NM’s Constitution requires that this position be held by an educator. Many New Mexicans felt that Hanna’s position as a volunteer in a Catholic after-school abstinence program did not qualify her as an educator.
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Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
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“Defies Measuement” from Peter Greene at Curmudgucation:
Well worth watching and sharing
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I think the title of “Silliest” and Dumbest” belongs to Secretary of Education Skandera and Governor Martinez. They both have fallen head over heals in love with Ex-Jeb Bush’s ideas for education. They are blindly following this fool, as did the rats in the children’s fair tale of the Pied Piper. As in the fair tale, in the end, it was the children who were taken away never to be seen again. In this case it is Skandera and Martinez who are taking our children, our students, away down the path of educational destruction from which they may never return. It is Skandera and Martinez who are dictatorially forcing the high stakes test, PARCC, on the people of this state. Neither Skandera nor Martinez are willing to listen to the professional educators of New Mexico. Skandera is a big player on the Chiefs for Change, Foundation for Excellence in Education, and a player in the development of the PARCC. She is not going to back down from this test regardless of the outcome. Martinez received big bucks into her campaign coffers for re-election from the corporates who are pushing the Common Core and PARCC. She will not going to push back. These two have placed our Students, Parents, Teachers and Administrator in such a state of fear that many are not willing to stand up and push back. Many Principals are saying they will NOT speak up for fear of retaliation by Skandera and/or Martinez on them and their schools. Many State Legislators are not willing to stand up and push back on these two fools. People are waiting these two out because they will be gone in three years. By then it will be too late. VAM is a terrible joke on the people of New Mexico that nobody understands. Skandera definitely does not understand the VAM and the person that wrote the VAM has left the Public Education Department.
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“In this case it is Skandera and Martinez who are taking our children, our students, away down the path of educational destruction from which they may never return.”
You point out something essential, that is often overlooked. The kids who are suffering throught the current regime of all testing / all the time will never have their childhoods returned to them and their schooling done well. By the time the pendulum swings back, it’ll be too late.
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Inane!!! When know nots, know not they know not but are absolutely certain they know and are in a position of power – Tragedy results.
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I agree with the sentiments of this post and would like to see it edited so it is well received. (New Mexico has no accent mark and nation & Florida are spelled wrong.) Though our state’s Secretary of Ed makes dumb mistakes indeed, let’s not have a good story passed by because of silly grammatical errors.
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Teacher Jane,
I can’t do anything about the accent mark.
But thanks for the corrections.
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Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
Teachers in NM must sign a contract promising never to disparage the tests in school or in public. If they refuse to sign, they probably lose their job.
Is New Mexico in the United States, Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia?
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As a school librarian in NM I singed the document, “signed under protest, violates the 1st Amendment.” The contract I sign every year is with my school district and not Pearson. I openly disparage the tests- in fact I will be speaking out against the PARCC at tomorrow’s BOE meeting and will be doing informational pickets against the PARCC in front of my school. Many educators in NM still believe we have constitutional rights.
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Sara–I really like your comment–you make excellent points. What teachers have signed contracts w/Pear$on, & not their school districts? None. Hope everyone in the U.S. does what you did.
Have a good BOE meeting tomorrow!
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There are similar things going on in other states, so there’s just a whole mess o’silliest & dumbest out there, just as much as the cloud of dirt surrounding the Peanuts character, Pigpen.
And to your rhetorical question, Lloyd, I say YES (because the U.S. IS becoming the latter).
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Could it be a little from column A and a little from column B?
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Posted tis on Vamboozeled
I have just spent time looking at so-called “ethical standards” for testing, including highlights from a press conference on the new “Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing” 2014; an earlier report from USDE on a 2012 symposium on testing with supplementary comments submitted as pdf files in response to USDE questions (some of these from test surveillance experts); and ethical standards presented in the Ohio administrative code. Ohio’s document is really a long list of unethical testing activities and practices. Indeed, most of the discussions of testing security I have looked at focus on unethical rather ethical practice.
I am not an innocent in testing (consulted on items for and helped interpret results on the first and second NAEP tests in visual arts) but neither do I consider myself an expert.
Even so, I have one main gestalt from my recent forays into the “ethics” of testing, and tracking reports on testing disasters, silliness, and so on.
This seems to be where we are as a nation. Every public school student, teacher, and school administrator is now presumed to be guilty of dishonesty, in a very real sense threatened, for even thinking that a test is flawed, stupid, too hard, or clouded in too much mystery.
The ethical standards I have seen actually treat the testing industry as if test scores are the most precious jewel in the crown of education, in need of exceptional deference always and forever in every circumstance and policy. This jewel in the crown of education is also treated as if required protection from multiple and constant surveillance systems at least as sophisticated as those used by the FBI. (Better than the Secret Service!)
Federal and state policies, in tandem with policies WANTED by the unregulated testing industry are criminalizing students, teachers, schools administrators under the banner of accountability and protecting the “integrity” of test scores… as if these scores should be totally immune from any public scrutiny unless and until some official says “OK, This much you can see and know, the rest is off limits, must be in the interest of security.”
The testing industry–and those supporting it under the preposterous claim to having superior ethical standards–must be exposed as big business, committed to protecting property rights over human rights and the rights of children to be free to learn, and freed from absurd testing mandates.
Keep up the great work on exposing the flaws, silliness, and corruption in this industry–and may your tribe increase.
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Laura,
Do you have any links for the statements of ethics?
Thanks,
Duane
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Duane, here is a 2012 report on test security labeled confidential, but posted on the USDE website. It has therefore entered the public domain. This report is one among others solicited by USDE in connection with a USDE symposium on testing.
It is from a contractor named Cavon Test Security. “Caveon Response to US DOE RFI to Gather Technical Expertise Pertaining to Testing Integrity.” February 2012. http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=ED-2012-OESE-0003-0015
The issues treated in the symposium are documented here http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2013/2013454.pdf You can download pdfs of other letters that USDE solicited from about a dozen “experts” on testing, including security from Wonderlic.com
I do not think that the ethical standards for educational testing, and the systems for surveillance attached to educational testing, are intended to be in the best interests of children, their rights, or parental rights. At best, the educational value of standardized testing is given lip-service–protecting the right to test and concept of “secure” testing is the priority.
The “ethical” standards I have looked at do not, for example, clearly honor the principle of informed consent, except for tests to determine if students need special education. Mandated tests and the surveillance systems spawned by federal and state policies–most of these under the banner of accountability and “closing the achievement gap”–are protecting and enriching the testing industry.
That industry remains unregulated. The savvy test publishing lobbyists have co-opted the Council of Chief State School Officers to update Operational Best Practices for Statewide Large-Scale Assessment Programs (2013). I believe that document has just been revised but it is behind a pay-wall. Amazon may have it.
Also recently revised is the classic “Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing” a joint product of the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME). This publication has long been considered the gold standard for guidance on testing. I have not studied the 2014 edition, but a video from a press conference to launch it (arranged with the help of Elizabeth Warren) has an inane blurb about evaluating art teachers by shared attribution…not promising.
My impression so far is that hardly anyone is up and running on the ethical issues of computer based tests, so the testing companies are just ramrodding through legislation to protect their right to exploit all student data and the data from surveillance companies. Diane has some posts on this effort.
You may want to look at the American Educational Research Association publication, Educational Researcher (March 2015). ALL articles are devoted to teacher evaluation, including the continued use of VAM.
The second article in this issue illustrates several methods that statisticians use to identify “highly probable” cases of cheating by teachers. Scores for analysis come from math and reading/ELA tests required for accountability in grades 3-8. The authors show major deficiencies in the EVASS ratings of teachers (used in four states and many more districts). They also illustrate how and why statistical conclusions about “cheating” by teachers may be a product of the formats for “roster verification” –meaning formats for entering data about which students are assigned to which teachers, for how long, and in which classes. Bill Gates thought his “teacher-of-record” concept would work. It doesn’t.
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It is a mad mad world. Doing what I can day by day to bring this to light to my fellow New Mexicans. Thank you for this great comment, I needed encouragement of where we can take this.
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I cannot share this blog entry until you correct/edit the misspellings of New Mexico. There is no (é) in New. And another mention of New Mexico has an e at end (not Mexicoe). I believe this is an innocent mistake. But if want to argue the point that our NM education department is silly or dumb (I think they are moronic and corrupt), then you will need to correct these typos. Thank you.
About me: I disseminate much of Diane Ravitch’s writings and videos on my Twitter and Facebook. I have been raising awareness of the Common Core agendas and players and our Opt-Out, End Corporate Ed Reform Movement to mostly a New Mexico audience (family, friends, teachers). We are organizing locally to expand our reach and inform parents in our school district of the crisis at hand and increase test refusals. I attended Audrey Beardsley’s presentation at NMSU recently on VAM sham and have discussed and shared her research. I am a proud New Mexican, a product of the public schools, and have 3 generations of teachers and school administrators in my family. Many of my friends are teachers here under what has revealed itself to be an oppressive regime. I am pleased you have chosen to share this information and assist our efforts to expose the corruption and educational malpractice from our Governor’s office, legislative cronies, and Public Education Dept (Hannah Skandera).
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Teresa,
I wish I knew how to take the accent off the “e” in Néw Mexico. I do t know how it got there or how to remove it. When I get a new cell phone, it will go away.
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I like how it shows up in Néw York, too. I look at it as a kind of watermark of authenticity.
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Ms. Ravitch just replied to me! Wow! I feel complete embarrassment for pointing out a silly typo. I’m sorry. You are a true hero and an American leader with a moral conscience. I cannot thank you enough for what you have done for putting us to task. Very passionate groups in New Mexico are organizing to turn the tide. Blessings to you. (And you and Ms. Christine Langhoff are just too cool, I have much to learn!)
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While I certainly see the point you are attempting to make, I think there are several things you failed to identify in your short blog. First, it is spelled New Mexico, not New Mexicoe.
Just over four years ago, we had the misfortune of electing an ambitious republican governor who selected Hanna Skandera to run the state Public Education Department (PED). Skandera has, as you suggested, continued in her new position to forcefully implement the VMA program that has failed in other states and has been shown in several studies to lack validity. In spite of that, she and the governor, Susana Martinez, push on.
The point you missed is that it is not New Mexico that is stupid or silly, it is the leadership. New Mexico has many dedicated, hard working educators who are being hurt by Skandera’s model. Our kids are suffering and becoming discouraged under her onerous testing schedule. And don’t make the mistake of assuming us to be a backward state. We are home to three national labs, the first private spaceport in the US, have just as much a claim to starting the microcomputer revolution as Silicon Valley, and have had many of our students place highly in prestigious academic competitions such as the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. New Mexico is neither silly or stupid. We just made the same mistake as the rest of the United States in electing republican leadership.
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Ray Nance,
I did not mean to insult Néw Mexico or its teachers or children, nor did Audrey Beardsley. I did mean to say that what your leaders are doing is silly and dumb. And they are doing it to the educators and children.
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I have also taught in New Mexico Public Schools for 25 years and I think maybe we have some of the most beaten down, disrespected teachers in the country, so I can see where Ray is feeling defensive. When I read the quote, I took no offense whatsoever, I was just grateful to see our craziness called out on a national platform. Anyone who knows how hard you and your blog works for teachers knows you are in the trenches with us. Thank you.
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Ummm…Yeah. Well, Ray, I might agree with you if this state hadn’t just re-elected this team. I might be able to excuse the people of New Mexico for voting for Ms. Martinez the first time since the average person might not have realized what “school reform” meant. However, after four years of this duo, with a growing opt-out movement, ridiculous testing requirements and a VAM teacher evaluation imposed by rule, I think the word DUMB is not inappropriate. I realize there are many reasons people vote for a particular candidate, but I really can’t see what this woman has done for the state of New Mexico. The economy is still in the toilet and I know that in my own county, she has made decisions that have cut vital services to the community. I have heard people complain that they didn’t vote for the opposing candidate because he wasn’t charismatic enough. Well, my response to that is – when are we going to grow up and be at least a little bit informed about the issues and judge candidates on their platform rather than whether or not they are exciting? Again, I know that people may be looking at many issues when they choose a candidate, but Martinez and Skandera have made no secret of their education agenda. I will never cease to be amazed at how people will willingly vote against their own best interests. I guess we are getting what the majority of voters in this state wanted – and yes – I think it was a DUMB decision – and it will continue to have a negative effect on students, teachers and families for another four years and beyond.
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I am fed up with administrators who insist that every child is the same and they all have to follow the same plan of curriculum. The same administrators also state we are doing midyear evals on the teachers but don’t ever enter their rooms. Public education has literally hit the bottom……..At 60, and rather a newbie still, I don’t know how long I can hang on. Diane, will there be another March on Washington soon?
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Quite. Their leaders just recently showed that they are neck and neck with clueless education ministry of Japan.
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Dumbest, or silliest. . . tough one, but after my fourth week of straight testing, 4 hours a day, five days a week. Having to stop one test, in order to proctor another one (of which I am not to impune, or disparage, but it begins with a P), the students finished the SBA retakes and then went back to test that I am not at liberty to mention, or I can be turned out to the unemployment line, just for using the P word. After Spring Break, we will then return to another two weeks of the P word test, which will be followed by the End of Course Exams and if anyone is left standing, students, or teachers, we can then start on our finals. Dumbest, or Silliest, I’m going to have to go with both. If a student needed to see me, they will have to wait until May. ABQ. New Mexico, former teacher, turned professional proctor.
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Gives new meaning to the expression, “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure _____ out.”
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I am an experienced educator. I love teaching. I love learning. I connect well with kids of all ages. As fate would have it, I took a NM public school position this year. With about 6 weeks left until the end of the year, I think I can make it through. We will be testing pretty much until the end of the year. The library will be closed to students during testing and there are no computers for my classes because of course they are all tied up with testing. The evaluation system assumes the worst of teachers. The environment is stifling. In short, I hate it. The night before Spring Break I barely slept a wink because I was so excited about the anticipated reprieve. Words like absurd and bizarre are not strong enough to describe how ridiculous the schools are in NM. I will not return to NM. I will starve before I would consider NM schools or a charter school. With a Masters degree (with a 4.0) and the equivalent of a second masters in Educational Leadership, multiple certifications and international teaching experience, I am now looking for a way out of the madness. Perhaps I can open a small coffee shop or similar business. I’m thinking of a location not too far from a beach. Please respond to this post if you are like minded and would consider a partnership in a small business.
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How very sad.
So sorry to lose you.
If the public had known what happened to us, the veterans thrown into the streets in the nineties, then the destruction could have been stopped.
To this day the people this nation do not know the crux of the crisis, which is the removal of the professionals in a carefully executed hidden agenda.
The kids will miss you!
I write at OPED news…http://www.opednews.com/author/author40790.html feel free to message me there http://www.opednews.com/populum/messagesend.php?to=40790&from=40790&a=n&o=&entry=%2Fauthor%2Fauthor40790.html&submit=Send+Message
and update me on your plans or experiences.
Good luck.
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