Karen Magee, president of Néw York State United Teachers, has called for a mass opt out from state testing. Her protest is in response to Governor Cuomo’s hostile actions towards teachers and public schools.
Magee said (correctly) that test-based evaluation is an unreliable measure of teacher quality.
“New York State United Teachers president Karen Magee hinted on Monday that the powerful statewide union would launch a campaign to further encourage parents to have their children “opt out” of state-administered, Common Core-aligned exams in order to undermine the use of test scores as a component of teacher evaluations.
Speaking to reporters at the Capitol, Magee said the union has posted information on its website instructing parents on how to have their children refuse the third through eighth grade English and math exams, which are required by the federal government and will be administered next month.
“I’m a parent,” said Magee, who lives in Westchester. “My child is in 11th grade at this point in time. Had he been a third to eighth grader, he would not be taking the test. The tests are not valid indicators. The American Statistical Association has said there is no direct link to tie these tests to student performance or teacher evaluation. Let’s look at tests that are diagnostic in nature, that actually inform practice in the classroom, that actually work to serve students who are directly sitting in front of the teacher for the year as opposed to what we have in place right now.
“At this point in time, yes, we are encouraging parents to opt out,” she said. “We will be taking further steps to make parents aware of this…..”
“Magee admitted that some level of opt outs could hurt teachers in this way, but said, “Statistically, if you take out enough, it has no merit or value whatsoever.”
“When asked whether it was her goal to impact the validity of the exams, the union president responded: “At this point in time it’s the best way to go.”
Cuomo sought the most punitive possible evaluation approach to teachers. Despite the evidence against tying teacher evaluation to test scores, Cuomo demanded that 50% of each teacher’s evaluation be based on test scores.
He never explained his plan to evaluate the 70% of teachers who do not teach tested subjects.
He also has insisted that the views of an independent evaluator count more than that of principals, but has not explained the cost of hiring thousands of evaluators or why the judgment of a drive-by evaluator should have greater weight than that of the principal.
His hostility towards teachers is palpable. Future leaders will have to repair the damage Cuomo has done through his blatant disrespect for teachers, all teachers. Who will want to teach?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Great News! Now, if we can only get the other 49 states and their teacher’s associations to follow suit we can actually engage in battle with the reformists!
posted th link to the original article at OEN
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/BREAKING-NEWS-Karen-Magee-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Association_Children_Cuomo_Evidence-150330-822.html#comment539281 with this comment which has embedded links at the post.
Go to the Ravitch blog and get the Fair test links on the resistance
Learn what is going on in the country, because the media will only tell you what the politicians want, and like Cuomo and Walker these governors want to replace public education with charters as the hedge funds that pour millions into their election coffers demand!
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/3/11/new_york_hedge_funds_pour_millions
Submitted on Monday, Mar 30, 2015 at 2:55:45 PM
Again nothing from the UFT but Karen Magee, President of NYS United teachers has a message here for all the teachers in NY State. You’ve got quite a fight on the road ahead!
MoMa
>
Hee, hee, hahahahah! The UFT? hahahaha
I love a little levity. When mayoral control came in, the contract for collective bargaining WHICHIS THE ONLY THING OF VALUE THAT TENURE BRINGS went out the window… because the union never followed procedures for grievances. They threw the teacher under the bus, and I have a trunk of evidence that shows how they did it to me, and to other teachers…who game me their ‘hearing transcripts’ and records.
How do you think this happened to NYC, http://vimeo.com/41994760 where the public schools only needed sending to reduce class size, purchase ‘stuff’ like books and computers. They let the teachers be utterly routed, and they made the remaining teachers subs..
This was the plan here, in the largest system in the nation and it is imported to the second largest system, LAUSD
http://citywatchla.com/8box-left/6666-lausd-and-utla-complicity-kills-collective-bargaining-and-civil-rights-for-la-s-teachers
http://www.perdaily.com/2014/07/former-ctc-attorney-kathleen-carroll-lays-out-unholy-alliance-between-union-and-public-education-pri.html
Wake-up. We need the unions. They are there for US. Only they don’t know it, and we have to vote in leaders, who will ensure THAT OUR PROFESSIONALS are protected by DUE PROCESS.
The UFT…hee, hee, I love joke on April Fools Day…. eh Randi? You remember how Ivan treated my case? I do!
A lot of people, including myself, ask why this took so long to happen?
Had UFT, NYSUT and AFT, all of whom were forcefully represented by their leaders, Mulgrew, McGee, and Weingarten, at Saturday’s Rally of 5,000 parents, teachers, and students to #protectourschools in front of Cuomos NYC office started with an END the Tests not limit the tests stand, perhaps the bargaining with the devil for the souls of schools might have turned out in our favor?
David is exactly right, very late in the game, reeks of opportunism on union leadership’s part.
At least we’ve forced our corrupt leaders to surrender to our side, instead of to DFER. I don’t care why they come over, just don’t let them hog the mike. Add watch out, they have another trick up thier sleeves with teacher collaboration to create district-determined “measures” so we can all hold ourselves accountable to an data-driven algorithm in the cloud.
Give everybody room to come over and take a stand for this generation of kids, please. This is why we’ve been fighting to delineate two sides.
And to all you people I’ve been arguing with the past 14 years, ally ally out’s in free! Come on over, disillusioned reformers! If you were bamboozled by the hype, or distracted by the $$$, think it through. If you really want to do right by children, you can still to get over to the right side of history here. We need you. Welcome to the fight.
Bingo!
Something needs to be stated about the cost to the taxpayer for the ridiculous idea of independent evaluators . If we can get that bit out, the taxpayer will see that their money is being wasted.
They use every other excuse in the book to blame costs (and tax increases) on teachers, schools, etc.
Why not have a media blitz about the wasted costs involved for all these “evaluators” who may or may not, be educators, themselves.
The brew is beginning to simmer.
The natives are getting restless.
The frogs are getting boiled.
But there are still some outside the pot who may be able to control the stove a tiny bit.
NYSUT encouraging opt-out?
What next?
Randi on Dancing with the Stars? Mulgrew on Americal Idol?
Y’all get yer barf bags cleaned up and ready to go.
The unions might become extinct, and then what would all those upper executive do without all those lovely union dues?
It is stunning to me that a larger education union, save for the CTU, is leaning toward behaving like a real fighting union. . . You know, the old fashioned kind that used to fight, be vocal, take action, and not take or put up with anyone’s malarky.
Where is the principal’s union in all of this, because guess what: I don’t exactly think principals are thrilled with this new system. Why should they be?
Give it time.
It is only a matter of time before Albany passes legislation outlawing the opt-out of tests, and new legislation will provide dire consequences.
Meanwhile, all, we have left is:
1. Mamma and papa bears becoming ever more furious about losing local control over their cub’s education. They pay all those taxes and then have Albany and the Feds decide for them what is best. They voices are shut out and they are told essentially to shut up.
2. Unions maybe having the gumption to enfranchise and embrace parents.
3. All taxpayers putting permanent pressure on their elected officials to put pressure on the governor to rethink his approaches. That’s called being an active civic participant and using your vote as your weapon.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said that we ordinary folks ARE the government . . . . .
Perhaps it’s time for NYSUT to take a look at the Teamster’s playbook and “negotiate” with lead pipes in hand.
Violence is not a good solution.
Robert:
Quotes from Eleanor Roosevelt:
“Our trouble is that we do not demand enough of the people who represent us. We are responsible for their activities. . . . we must spur them to more imagination and enterprise in making a push into the unknown; we must make clear that we intend to have responsible and courageous leadership.”
“I know that we will be the sufferers if we let great wrongs occur without exerting ourselves to correct them.”
“In the final analysis, a democratic government represents the sum total of the courage and the integrity of its individuals. It cannot be better than they are.”
Excellent!
I adore Mrs. Roosevelt, the mother of the citizenry, the underdog, and one of the mothers of civil rights.
I have a photo of when she came to my friend’s kindergarten class in NY City to visit. A child had just risen up out of her chair to give her a small bouquet of daffodils.
Mrs. Roosevelt: Now there’s a REAL first lady.
Passing this budget shows that the fix is in. Failing ludicrous but mandated tests=failing students=failing/fired teachers=closed schools replaced by charters=Cuomo fulfilling the mandates of his coffer-fillers=purposed death of public schools and unionized teachers. This evaluation is fraudulent to all and needs to be taken to court. The fact that the media has yet to identify the true
nature of this contested evaluation proposal further reinforces to me that the owners of the
New York Times, Time Warner Cable, etc must be in bed with the unreformers. I tried numerous times to contact/make my voice heard to Errol Louis and Josh Robbins at NY1, journalists that I usually admire, to no avail. I am furious at the irresponsible rnon-reporting that impacts parents, teachers, principals, students and the public at large. Diminishing public education diminishes all of us as a society.
I am amazed to see this happening. As a young hopeful teacher seeing this movement gives me hope for the future. Although I am worried about how this will hurt teachers in New York in the near future. Thank you Ms. Magee for taking a stand for what is right!
GO NY! Your NJ neighbors are right behind you! http://danmasi.com/seuss-video.html
DM, Your video is ingenious!
Unfortunately a number of the local unions in New York have no backbone and cave in to the “higher ups” relatively quickly. They really do need to take charge and stand up for what’s right for their students. As a retired teacher in New York, this whole debacle sickens me.
“When asked whether it was her goal to impact the validity of the exams, the union president responded: “At this point in time it’s the best way to go.”
And now Karen Magee is perpetuating this urban legend?
Did anyone bother to ask her exactly what is the legal, % threshold at which scores are invalidated?
Answer: 100%
And that will not happen in 99.99% of NY school districts.
Magee and Mulgrew should both be calling for a statewide testing boycott and a modern day New York tea party. Unopened boxes of Pearson tests floating down the Hudson, down, the East River, down the Mohawk, in the Erie Canal, unopened boxes making their way through the locks of the Saint Lawrence and the Niagara River, boxes floating in Lakes Erie and Ontario, boxes rising and falling with the tides in Long Island Sound and drifting in the currents of the Atlantic off Montauk, boxes bobbing in Pelham Bay and the Finger Lakes too. Boxes of unopened Pearson tests all right where they belong, in a burial at sea.
“Did anyone bother to ask her exactly what is the legal, % threshold at which scores are invalidated?
Answer: 100%”
What’s the source of this legal threshold? I’m not sure I follow what you’re saying.
It will take 100% refusals to invalidate test scores per teacher.
There are 1.2 million students about to take the Pearson math and ELA tests aligned to Common Core. There were a total of 60,000 refusals last year. That’s about 5% statewide, yet some individual teachers had opt-out/refusal rates of over 50%. Not a single test was ruled invalid by NYSED. Even if the number balloons to 250,000 (20%) this will not be sufficient to stop the madness. It will take close to 1.2 million refusals which is unlikely. Until that happens (as in never) they will use whatever scores they get to evaluate math, ELA, and science teachers in grades 3 to 8.
You are right NY! Magee is late to the party. The fix is in.
Like! What Henry David Thoreau said about unjust laws….
Someone should start a public WIKI where students can post about their experiences with the PARCC!
Free speech!!!
Do it.
Do what? Start a public wiki for PARCC experiences? Like this?
http://ccrap.me
OK
Have at it. http://ccrap.me
Are the teacher’s opting out of test prep lessons during normal school hours?
teachers sans ‘
Talk about a question that cuts right to the heart of the matter.
The answer, I’m sure you know, is “no.” Even at schools with high numbers of kids skipping the tests; even at schools where the teachers will tell you that they may influence as little as 1% of the result. They still prep like crazy.
The answer is, it depends on the teacher and the administration. Broad brush claims like this are simply not true.
I guess I don’t understand why she is pushing for opting out without also advocating for the reduction the amount of time spent prepping for these tests.
If I lived in NY, I would not be inclined to opt out if my child was receiving test prep classroom instruction.
Leadership is never truly leadership without the push from those they would lead. I will give credit to any leader that listens to their constituency and takes a stand on their behalf.
Are teachers against the way the test data is used and not against the actual test and prep time?
Is she leading parents when she encourages them to opt their child out or is this what the teachers requested?
I think the point is that if parents refuse to have their children subjected to the tests, the system will implode not matter what the emperor of NY decrees. If too many parents are indifferent, there will be no change.
No standardized tests, no standardized prep time.
concerned mom, in answer to your questions, “Are teachers against the way the test data is used and not against the actual test and prep time?” answer; Teachers are against all three.
“Is she leading parents when she encourages them to opt their child out or is this what the teachers requested?” answer; I do not believe that this is an either or question. Are teachers and parents on opposite sides when it comes to our children?
It’s “teachers”, and no, most are not because it’s insubordinate.
Don’t blame the administrators, because they are only doing their jobs as well. The wealthier and whiter a district is, the more choices it can make,. EWhen you have district with many impoverished children and take federal aid, there are harsh consequences for not following the rules.
Can one blame teachers and administrators in those types of schools? I personally do not think so.
Justice and civic participation in public education are for mostly (not all) white middle and upper middle class people.
Upper middle class parents of any color have access to legal representation.
Yes, you are correct.
I stated ” . . . for mostly (not all) white upper middle class . . . . ”
Add to the mix, if you want the fine print, that anyone literate and educated and willing to inform themselves, has access to advocacy, but perhaps not nearly as much to legal representation.
Class is increasingly a factor far more than ethnicity, although in some (not all!) districts, those who are upper middle class tend to be overwhelmingly caucasian.
AS MLK stated, the only color that will matter one day is green, the color of money.
I already corrected my mistake, but thank you for your concern.
My child attends a Title 1 school. I know she will pass the test. Do I opt her out or not? I am in a state where opt out is not a growing movement.
If my child’s school, for whatever reason, feels it is important to prep for these tests, do I help my school by opting my child out?
In the past, I asked what types of aid (Federal or State) is withheld if a certain % of students do not take the test.
After April vacation, grades 6-8 students will be taking the Common Core ELA and Math exams. These tests are 2 hours per day, three days per week. This equals 12 hours of testing. Not only that – students then have to go back to regular classes and do their classwork. They’re totally fried after these tests. It’s insane.
Grades 3 to 8. And they are totally fried during the tests. By the second day of math testing the majority middle school kids will be done in 20 – 30 minutes and then take an hour long nap. Good for them and I hope they dream about something that really matters. The apathetic test taking syndrome will only be exacerbated by all he talk about refusals and opt-outs. We have sunk to a new low here in NYS.
Thanks for the correction!
The MCAT is shorter.
A certainly support collective barganing.
I do wish this call for a massive initiative had come first from an unmistakeable and HUGE network of parents, students, and citizens with the simultaneous participation of the teachers, both non-union and union, and school administrators.
I fear the political and journalistic hacks including the governor and regents are being given another reason to blame “the unions” for LEGITIMATE and really necessary protests against their arbitrary, ill-informed, and really hate-filled policies in New York. Of course, this is not just a New York problem.
Very strange since the UFT shot down this resolution. Mulgrew wanted to keep testing. So is now on board with MORE.
You are so right about that! When it comes from MORE, not good. But if it comes from NYSUT or the UFT, the same resolution, then and only then it’s good. But we had a chance to get rid of those harmful reforms and work with a governor that would understand education, respect the parents and want changes to NYSED had the WFP and the UFT had endorsed Teachout in the primaries. Now it’s going to an ongoing battle with Governor Machiavelli Cuomo and Chancellor doyenne Tisch.
The “meta” here….the “macro” story is one of the Taylorization of education. Teachers once brought a whole body of skills and knowledge to the table and we traded that for our daily bread. Now, as the article and reality show us, that has been systematically taken apart to the most basic tasks and functions and is now the PROPERTY of another crowd….another class…..the corporate reform people. They own what we once had to acquire through education, experience, inclination, labor, and focus.
All that is left now is the dreadful and ugly end game of finishing off what is really already dead.
We could go on for hours…days….years about the virtues of teachers teaching and all that. However, when it comes to educating the enormous bulk of society, well political people and corporate people have decided they have found a more “efficient” path. They made their choices. We now have to make ours.
Teachers teaching will soon be a specialty thing for rich Caucasians who want their kids to have an “authentic” school experience. And Im sure the private schools will do that….in fact many may emerge as a reaction to all this. But really, it’s like farmers markets….not designed to feed all of society,… Just the discerning elements who have enough $$.
Bleak, I know. I’m sorry. It’s been a bad day. Last night’s loss for us really made me sour. I’m not anti-hope…..but I don’t want BS hope either.
My point is that we need to be clear and honest.
This thread is about Magee doubling down on opt out. I am commenting on how I think that it is, in the end, a good but much to inadequate response to last nights blow. If that’s where we are at right now….putting all our cards on opt out….as teachers, well…..Id say we need to start looking for the lifeboats.
I thought that was all an ok enough point to bring up.
Is she saying her 11th grader will be taking the test? Here in NH all juniors also take the SBAC test…
Can someone clarify?
Her 11th grader will be taking the Common Core aligned ELA test administered to all juniors in NYS. She will not opt-out her son from this test because it is required for graduation. Cut scores for high school algebra I (grade 9) and ELA (grade 11) will be set at a 75% passing rate – no different than the old Regents exams in those subjects.
If you want to collapse the testing machine then you need to opt-out of the stand alone field tests. That way you destroy the pipeline of questions. The field tests have a low number of students taking them already, so it doesn’t require that many opt-outs to drop below the minimum sample size needed to evaluate them. Here is the link to the NYSED field test assingments: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/assessment/fieldtest/
Unfortunately she is a bit late…we have been advising opt-out for years…perhaps if she had joined us sooner.
It is never too late to grow the movement. We don’t need turf wars where some people are worried about others stealing their thunder.
Reblogged this on the realm outside of asana and commented:
I agree! I hope all parents op-out!!
Every national and local teachers’ union in the country should do this in addition all the other labor unions.
I agree. The children of members of the other unions stand to lose a great deal in this mess.
There are 14.6 million Americans who belong to labor unions. Almost 4 million are teachers. If the teachers’ unions are destroyed, what will happen to those who remain in other labor unions outside of education.
Public-sector workers had a union membership rate (35.7 percent), more
than five times higher than that of private-sector workers (6.6 percent).
(See table 3.)
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm
Raise Your Hand, an anti-testing group in Illinois, sent a FOIA request asking for “Validity and reliability findings for the PARCC assessment.”
ISBE responded “ISBE has not yet administered the PARCC assessment. Therefore, we have no validity and reliability findings to report at this time.
http://www.isbe.net/foia/default.htm
now if we can only get the people of the state of new York to revolt over his stupid gun control bill, and get this fool out of office, then we will be doing something.
Reblogged this on North Denver News.
We can opt out of testing, but an even greater concern is the test prep leading up to April. Is there anything I can do as a parent about that in particular?
MominPA, one step at a time.
Complain to the principal.
Start talking to other parents. Make sure that PTA meetings are held when all can attend and put out an agenda stating that there will be a discussion about the over testing of your children.
Why opt out just on 3 -8 testing. Magee should also have her grade 11 child opt out as well. Those tests would also be used in the teacher evaluations. Easy for someone to say what others should do but not lead by example. All educators who agree with opting out should have their children grades 3 – 12 opt out. Let’s see how many grade 9 – 12 parents lead by example.
3-8 are very formative years (socially, psychologically, personal-pathway…) that are suffering due to non-educator intrusion into a process they are tired of supporting financially. Can’t really blame them, because they suffer from their class blindness, but simply stated: as the wealthiest have redirected the economic and social resources upward, more kids come to school less ready to learn. The burden to fill developmental gaps falls disproportionately on educators of the poorest children, and the criticism (not so coincidentally) falls on them as well. Money being made in the testing and eval of children/public education would be better spent on ensuring equity and enacting policies that would send more children to school ready to learn and better prepared to met more rigorous standards. As soon as Obama called for “shared sacrifice”, though-he was pulled quietly aside by the 1% who told him: “Uh, dude, watch that talk…you don’t mean us.”
Teachers are being blamed for inequity, testing 3-8 is the manufactured smoking gun. Later school tests are preparatory for a college career path and are more useful to the student.
The leadership of all of the education advocates groups in NY State has been very weak. Unions, the School Boards Association, and the Council of School Superintendents have stood idly by and let Cuomo have his way for too long. Even now they would prefer to align with the powerful in Albany–rather than check the powerful. These groups want to be Albany “insiders” instead of insurgents. The leaders of these organizations have finally been forced (by events and members) to stand up. The kind of leadership these groups have provided reminds me of the fools that were being “run out of town” so they decided to try and convince everyone “they were leading a parade!” Only one educational advocate has had the courage to speak truth to power in Albany–Dr. Rick Timbs. Sadly, both the politicians and the “insiders” have tried to marginalize the man!
The opt out letters are accumulating, and many more are expected to follow…Cuomo is self-destructing right before the eyes of all New Yorkers….including those without children in our great state…it is time to build a financial fund to bankroll the arrest and successful prosecution of the criminal in Albany…the Citizens of the State of New York vs. Cuomo.
Thank you for voicing your optimistic forecast for the future of NY Steve B!
I am feeling more optimistic than I have in years. The movement to Save Our Schools is growing and more good people are engaging in the struggle.
Cuomo is winning on every front.
I would disagree NJ Teacher.
Is it your intention to convince everyone that the cause is lost, so we should all just give up? Is that what you came here to do?
If you are really feeling so defeated that you are ready to throw up your hands and walk away, then do that for awhile. Every one needs a break now and again.
OK Betsy! Which point has Cuomo conceded? I am a Newark teacher. Where would you suggest I go?
He is losing… he is losing respect. He is losing ground and he knows it…
This is NOT over!
How true! Enrollment in pedagogy is down in many colleges across the country, partially due to less available jobs and partially due to political climate regarding teachers and education. College education departments are being / will be affected. Teachers who didn’t retire due to the economy will be looking to do so now or very soon. Who will replace them? And charter schools are not the answer!
Sorry, NYSUT is close but is still missing the cigar. Cuomo can still call together the Administrative troops to block the parents’ letters – add barriers that have to be negotiated to their delivery, etc. The appropriate action for unions is and has always been to be involved in the development and review of teacher evaluation systems being used in the many School Districts in NY and across the country (much as Samuel Gompers did when he was fighting the use of Frederick Taylor’s Time and Motion studies to set time standards for production workers in the early 1900’s).
As an applied mathematician, who has delved in the development and use of statistical models throughout my career (consulting for government agencies at state and federal levels), I personally think that VAM is a travesty. However, if I were a judge and the case was put before me, I would not be inclined to give NYSUT’s claims of VAM-invalidity much credibility because neither it or other teachers unions has shown any interest in attacking the evaluation problem themselves. Since they have refused to dirty their hands, the side that has taken the initiative gets the initial nod in my court (glad I am not a judge). They show no credibility to back their position.
Basically, their lack of even any acknowledgement of what the issues are (making evaluations difficult or suggesting what a better ‘can opener’ might look like) hardly gives them status to step up on the platform in my court. They can talk invalidity till they are Blue in the face but they really don’t have credibility as critics because they can’t show that they cared enough, in the past, to even get their hands dirty dealing with the issue.
“I personally think that VAM is a travesty. However, if I were a judge and the case was put before me, I would not be inclined to give NYSUT’s claims of VAM-invalidity much credibility because neither it or other teachers unions has shown any interest in attacking the evaluation problem themselves. Since they have refused to dirty their hands, the side that has taken the initiative gets the initial nod in my court (glad I am not a judge). They show no credibility to back their position.
Basically, their lack of even any acknowledgement of what the issues are (making evaluations difficult or suggesting what a better ‘can opener’ might look like) hardly gives them status to step up on the platform in my court.”
Then you’d be a piss poor judge (which I think you allude to-ha ha) because the COMPLETE INVALIDITY of the educational standards and standardized testing regimes has been PROVEN by Noel Wilson’s never refuted nor rebutted treatise “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error”, not to mention the COMPLETE UNETHICALNESS of using the results of an evaluation of the student to evaluate a teacher. The last being a foundational principle of Testing 101. Unless the plaintiff-NYSUT didn’t bring those facts up in your court, then of course you’d be a genius judge. (and I’m not so sure that NYSUT is capable of understanding the above two points considering their complicity in the usage of VAM currently)
Damn, hit enter too soon again!
To understand the COMPLETE INVALIDITY of those EDUCATIONAL MALPRACTICES see: “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error” found at: http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/577/700
Brief outline of Wilson’s “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error” and some comments of mine.
1. A description of a quality can only be partially quantified. Quantity is almost always a very small aspect of quality. It is illogical to judge/assess a whole category only by a part of the whole. The assessment is, by definition, lacking in the sense that “assessments are always of multidimensional qualities. To quantify them as unidimensional quantities (numbers or grades) is to perpetuate a fundamental logical error” (per Wilson). The teaching and learning process falls in the logical realm of aesthetics/qualities of human interactions. In attempting to quantify educational standards and standardized testing the descriptive information about said interactions is inadequate, insufficient and inferior to the point of invalidity and unacceptability.
2. A major epistemological mistake is that we attach, with great importance, the “score” of the student, not only onto the student but also, by extension, the teacher, school and district. Any description of a testing event is only a description of an interaction, that of the student and the testing device at a given time and place. The only correct logical thing that we can attempt to do is to describe that interaction (how accurately or not is a whole other story). That description cannot, by logical thought, be “assigned/attached” to the student as it cannot be a description of the student but the interaction. And this error is probably one of the most egregious “errors” that occur with standardized testing (and even the “grading” of students by a teacher).
3. Wilson identifies four “frames of reference” each with distinct assumptions (epistemological basis) about the assessment process from which the “assessor” views the interactions of the teaching and learning process: the Judge (think college professor who “knows” the students capabilities and grades them accordingly), the General Frame-think standardized testing that claims to have a “scientific” basis, the Specific Frame-think of learning by objective like computer based learning, getting a correct answer before moving on to the next screen, and the Responsive Frame-think of an apprenticeship in a trade or a medical residency program where the learner interacts with the “teacher” with constant feedback. Each category has its own sources of error and more error in the process is caused when the assessor confuses and conflates the categories.
4. Wilson elucidates the notion of “error”: “Error is predicated on a notion of perfection; to allocate error is to imply what is without error; to know error it is necessary to determine what is true. And what is true is determined by what we define as true, theoretically by the assumptions of our epistemology, practically by the events and non-events, the discourses and silences, the world of surfaces and their interactions and interpretations; in short, the practices that permeate the field. . . Error is the uncertainty dimension of the statement; error is the band within which chaos reigns, in which anything can happen. Error comprises all of those eventful circumstances which make the assessment statement less than perfectly precise, the measure less than perfectly accurate, the rank order less than perfectly stable, the standard and its measurement less than absolute, and the communication of its truth less than impeccable.”
In other word all the logical errors involved in the process render any conclusions invalid.
5. The test makers/psychometricians, through all sorts of mathematical machinations attempt to “prove” that these tests (based on standards) are valid-errorless or supposedly at least with minimal error [they aren’t]. Wilson turns the concept of validity on its head and focuses on just how invalid the machinations and the test and results are. He is an advocate for the test taker not the test maker. In doing so he identifies thirteen sources of “error”, any one of which renders the test making/giving/disseminating of results invalid. And a basic logical premise is that once something is shown to be invalid it is just that, invalid, and no amount of “fudging” by the psychometricians/test makers can alleviate that invalidity.
6. Having shown the invalidity, and therefore the unreliability, of the whole process Wilson concludes, rightly so, that any result/information gleaned from the process is “vain and illusory”. In other words start with an invalidity, end with an invalidity (except by sheer chance every once in a while, like a blind and anosmic squirrel who finds the occasional acorn, a result may be “true”) or to put in more mundane terms crap in-crap out.
7. And so what does this all mean? I’ll let Wilson have the second to last word: “So what does a test measure in our world? It measures what the person with the power to pay for the test says it measures. And the person who sets the test will name the test what the person who pays for the test wants the test to be named.”
In other words it attempts to measure “’something’ and we can specify some of the ‘errors’ in that ‘something’ but still don’t know [precisely] what the ‘something’ is.” The whole process harms many students as the social rewards for some are not available to others who “don’t make the grade (sic)” Should American public education have the function of sorting and separating students so that some may receive greater benefits than others, especially considering that the sorting and separating devices, educational standards and standardized testing, are so flawed not only in concept but in execution?
My answer is NO!!!!!
One final note with Wilson channeling Foucault and his concept of subjectivization:
“So the mark [grade/test score] becomes part of the story about yourself and with sufficient repetitions becomes true: true because those who know, those in authority, say it is true; true because the society in which you live legitimates this authority; true because your cultural habitus makes it difficult for you to perceive, conceive and integrate those aspects of your experience that contradict the story; true because in acting out your story, which now includes the mark and its meaning, the social truth that created it is confirmed; true because if your mark is high you are consistently rewarded, so that your voice becomes a voice of authority in the power-knowledge discourses that reproduce the structure that helped to produce you; true because if your mark is low your voice becomes muted and confirms your lower position in the social hierarchy; true finally because that success or failure confirms that mark that implicitly predicted the now self evident consequences. And so the circle is complete.”
In other words students “internalize” what those “marks” (grades/test scores) mean, and since the vast majority of the students have not developed the mental skills to counteract what the “authorities” say, they accept as “natural and normal” that “story/description” of them. Although paradoxical in a sense, the “I’m an “A” student” is almost as harmful as “I’m an ‘F’ student” in hindering students becoming independent, critical and free thinkers. And having independent, critical and free thinkers is a threat to the current socio-economic structure of society.
Their hands are dirtied by reformer cash.
A former student runs a lawn care and snowplowing business. By all measures of “School Assessments” he was an abject failure and was labeled as such repeatedly over 12+ years. He has a house, multiple vehicles and expensive equipment and a great family. I’m so much a part of the system I regularly catch myself wondering how he could be so successful when he was such a “failure”. We must change the system!
Actually, before Cuomo stepped in with VAM and other ridiculous standardized test “effectiveness measuring” strategies, school districts across the state were in the middle of putting together new teacher evaluation measures that would have included comparing standardized test scores from existing exams over time for each student and developing rubrics for each classroom based upon student need and district realities.
My own district spent a full year and thousands of dollars and hundreds of teacher & administrator hours putting together a teacher evaluation system that was complete, reasonable and made sense for (and to) our community. No one hears about these evaluation systems because Cuomo stepped in and disabled them all before they got off the ground. So the case that NYSUT never attempted to provide a reasonable measure of effectiveness is invalid. NYSUT was fully supportive of the process that was happening when districts were in charge of their own evaluation process.
I am unsure what the benefit of the opt out is to the student or the students parents? I also received a little postcard advising me of my right to “opt out” and encouraging it but the post card implied this was somehow good for my child/student. That seems very disingenuous, and in reality it is simply the intent of the teachers union to make a political statement to the Cuomo.
Why should I forego the very small benefit of an unbiased standardized test to help me know and understand in some small way how my child is doing and progressing ion comparison to other children across New York? I should go ahead, let the classroom time for class prep, and the huge costs associated with the testing that my taxes are going to be used to pay for anyway, simply to help the political aims of the teachers’ union? While certainly that is a something they can ask ask me to do to support them it really should be made very clear that is the point of the opt out- to show political support for a fight between NYSUT and the state. It is not as th epost card implies to help my child.
If you want support from me as a parent make your case (which certainly has a lot of valid points) and ask for my support with school boards, writing to the state , and supporting your goals with my vote on election day. Use your considerable skills to educate the public on the situation facing teachers due to unfair evaluations. Do not use smoke and mirrors political goals asking us to opt out “for the benefit of the child” when in reality the sole purpose is to support your union in a political argument.
Send a post card that says “WE encourage you to opt out to show your support for the teachers against unfair teacher evaluation practices” or some similar wording. Let the parents know the real reason. Aside from the fact it would likely still get equal measures of support, it would be the truth. It would also serve to elevate public’s education on what the actual issue is so that it could be combated at the ballot box.
The method you have chosen to fight this argument make sit seem like the teachers are scared of students being tested. I do not believe that to be the case at all, simply that you want the results to be used appropriately. Encourage the standard testing to show the need for greater funding and resources, to show the difference class size has on the ability of students to learn, and the need for more teachers. The teachers union should be demanding the standardized testing to show the results of years of budget cuts and school overcrowding. Spin the results, not the reasons.
Reuben,
Opting out is not to benefit the teachers or their unions. Opting out is to send a message to the Governor, the Legislature, the Secretary of Education, and Congress that parents object to the absurd emphasis placed on standardized tests. Your child will receive no benefit whatever by taking the test. The results won’t be available for at least four months, perhaps longer, when she has a different teacher. The teacher is not allowed to see how she answered questions, what she got right or wrong. You will learn how she compares to students in the nation but the teacher will learn nothing to help your child. The test has no diagnostic value. Do you want her to spend weeks doing test prep so you can learn how she compares to students in California or Illinois? Meanwhile, her school may drop the arts, cut back on time for physical education, civics, history, science, field trips, because more time must be devoted to test prep. Opt out for her sake. Send a message.
How about the field test question???? My poor students have to work through questions that have no baring on their score. Those question add to the stress & anxiety kids will experience on test days. The test is difficult enough, but when you add multiple, upon multiple questions and allot a limited amount of time, honestly… One day, in the future, our society will look back at this practice of over testing, to be a form of child abuse.
AND, even if you think it’s necessary to compare your child to children in other states (I don’t), you can’t compare them anyway. The tests are different in each of the above mentioned states. So much for “common.”
And, consider this true story about what happened to my son. Perhaps it will help you to realize that there is NO benefit to the tests. When my son was 10, there was a big, computer-taken, state writing test. He was stressed out for weeks, and for the last few days before the test, he was getting up in the middle of the night and coming to my husband and me because he was so worried. So he took the 90 minute test and we thought it was over. UNTIL, about a week later, when the school called him back in and made him redo the ENTIRE test, because the computer had eaten his submission. We were not aware that this was happening until it had already been finished. The school never told us. How is that at ALL positive?
“. . . that you want the results to be used appropriately.”
Those “results” are COMPLETELY INVALID so there is no “appropriate use”. See my comment above/below about Wilson’s work proving the invalidities of educational standards and standardized testing.
“Why should I forego the very small benefit of an unbiased standardized test to help me know and understand in some small way how my child is doing and progressing ion comparison to other children across New York!.!.!.!.!!.!.!.!.!.!.!. ”
That would be a very good question if the results were actually presented to you the Parent and or the Teachers.
“unbiased standardized test”
…and the test was unbiased. We have no evidence to support that statement.
I am always surprised when someone comes to this blog and thinks that their argument in defense of their supposed child, and against those awful selfish and greedy teachers, will gain any traction here.
Others here are more patient than I and will accept the possibility that said person is not being disingenuous and respond with a rational argument.
That, I suppose, is a good thing.
Perhaps someone can clear up something for me. The testing seemed to be all fun and games when it penalized only the students. Last year teachers begged parents NOT to opt out because the portfolio assessment would give the teachers more work. Now all of a sudden when the teachers are more affected by the results we are being urged to opt out. The sudden about-face really bothers me. 2 points: #1) if **high performing** students opt out this could negatively affect individual school funding AND the teacher in question. Shouldn’t they be careful about who they are asking to opt out? #2.) it’s easy to opt out when doing so will not affect the kid, but those of us with 4th graders (the year scrutinized for middle school applications) in unzoned schools who need those test scores as part of the admissions process have a lot at stake. They claim that the 2015 statewide test scores are no longer as relevant as what they used to be to this process, but I have found under closer inspection that this is not necessarily true. It depends on the individual criteria of the school you’re applying to. I love and appreciate my teachers and want to support them for sure, but at what expense? I cannot throw my child under a bus and have the kid end up in MS Nowheresville. I think I will wait until next year to be a rebel when it doesn’t affect the kiddo as much. If I have been misinformed, please feel feel to chime in and tell me so. My goal is to do the right thing by all involved. Thank you.
Tangsandtanglets, you have been misinformed. Opt Out is not about saving teachers; it is a protest against high stakes testing, which hurts students, teachers, principals, schools, and the quality of education. It is a great benefit to testing corporations, who not only make hundreds of millions in profits but are data mining your child. If you don’t care about her privacy, make sure she takes the test.
“The testing seemed to be all fun and games when it penalized only the students. Last year teachers begged parents NOT to opt out because the portfolio assessment would give the teachers more work.”
In which school or district Ms. Tang? Name the school and the specific teachers who begged parents not to Opt out. It certainly not in the very large district that I work in.
Thank you, @dianeravitch. I guess what I am trying to figure out is what is different about this year’s test *for the students* versus last year’s test. Can you speak to that? If I am misinformed I would like to correct that (and very quickly, as the testing is fast-approaching). @Betsy: I would never identify our principal and teachers. I will say that last year they did in fact DISCOURAGE (beg was an exaggeration) parents from opting out. I still have the e-mail, and know what I heard in a meeting. It was still presented as A CHOICE though, which is what is important. I was initially going to opt out last year, but after attending a meeting and receiving the e-mail I decided not to. I wanted to act in unison with what our principal and teachers thought was best and plan to do the same this year. This time around they seem a bit more guarded about their opinion, but I still did not get the impression that their stance had totally changed.
I’m guessing that last year your district did not feel they had enough information to comfortably make the decision to encourage opting out. The landscape is changing and more people are speaking out. If they went through the same brutal regimen last year, that alone might make them more willing to speak up. Perhaps they now know first hand how destructive a test prep curriculum is and how useless the tests are in guiding instructional decisions. Just speculating.
Opt out is also about stopping the intense data mining of students from K to career. I refuse all standardized tests for my children. This releases my children from sitting thru tests that give me or their teachers no real information about what they have learned over the year.
Under NCLB testing (2001 – 2012) only schools were penalized for not meeting AYP. The grade 3 to 8 math and ELA tests were based on individual state standards. Here in NY, the math and ELA tests were fair and reasonable exams that did not set anyone’s hair on fire. And no, teachers were not threatened by test scores. Passing rates statewide were over 70%. Many districts had 90+%.
Here in NY, under Arne Duncan’s NCLB waiver requirements (and RTTT guidelines), the new tests (2013 – present) are aligned to the Common Core standards and the test scores are used to evaluate teachers. Even this would have not produced much pushback had the new Common Core tests been fair, reasonable, and developmentally appropriate. Instead Pearson produced tests that entrapped students into failure and cut scores were established that produced a 70% failure rate statewide – for two consecutive years. Failure rates in the cities were closer to 95%. All by design.
The uproar has everything to do with tests designed to fail and now using bogus, invalid, hyper-inflated failure rates to beat down students, teachers, and schools. The punitive test-and-punish reform movement perpetuated by the Obama administration has nothing whatsoever to do with improving teaching and learning. We know it, and they know it. The difference between us is that they just don’t care.
Okay.. I am taking this in.These test were written by these pretenders, so the kids would fail, and they replaced genuine performance assessments! This can be proven?
Sounds like fraud to me. Sounds like something that deserves more than blog gripes and commentary. Where is the law?
You know I write at OEN about education, linking to Diane, Anthony Peter and others, so as to clue-in the clueless as to what is afoot in this great design of the “billionaire’s boys club,” as Diane calls them, but the immoral criminal oligarchs as we know them.
Our kids, and in fact our people mean nothing to them. They know what everyone knows, that education is the key to income inequality. They have impoverished this nation with their austerity politics, stolen the homes and health coverage of the people, and now they can steal the road to opportunity, a real education.
I have not written my next piece yet, but it is in drafts. Called ‘Charlatans’ it is a story of liars and con men, all of whom I met when I returned k to teaching in 1990. But, at that time, I had no idea how big the scam was.
It is 16 years later, the since I wrote this ” Magic Elixir: No Evidence required!” http://www.opednews.com/articles/Magic-Elixir-No-Evidence-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-130312-433.html
These snake-oil salesmen watched the con-men sell ‘sh..’ for shinola on the stock market, and watched as the top honchos walked away with zillions while Americans lost their homes. Why not, (they figured) take the ponzi scheme into education…. and sell charters and tests and technology. When you own the media and the subject of how human learning occurs is complex — it is a snap to sell the people that THIS is what schools needs.
How did that Nazi fascist in the mustache put it in 1930s: “The receptivity of the masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan.”
I do not know who is going to break this run that Gates, Walton, Broad, Koch and pals are having.
I know it takes the return of the LAW, and they BELIEVE they are beyond its reach, but I do not think they are. I think that Americans love their kids, and they are fed up, and are not going to make it anymore.
I think this , this… travesty, needs the attorney general to take a good long look at what they have done behind the scenes.
I hope my Madison High School alumni, Chuck Schumer moves up to lead the house, because I want to see him take a long hard look at the breakdown of law in the educational landscape. I hope my fellow Madison High School , Bernie Sanders becomes president. It is time for someone with integrity to end the circus and around up the clowns.
I personally, will sit on their doorstep until they will listen to Diane, Tony, Leonie, Carol and you guys tell them what is happening.
Gotta love Brooklyn public schools for the kind of people they produced!!!
It is time to fund our Brooklyn Schools with the money saved on all that testing.
It is time to return to the classroom practice in NYC schools, to the educated, talented, dedicated professionals that once faced our children —who are not children for long, but our future workers and voters.
The law needs to return to the schools, because we cannot give them to the Charlatans!
Tangsandtanglets,my heart goes out to parents like you who are trying to make the best choices for your children amid so many conflicting messages and heaps of misinformation. My heart also goes out to our students who are caught in the middle of a battle between the governor and the teachers union – with both sides claiming to be on the side of New York’s children, yet both sides willing to use them as political pawns. As a long-time English teacher and now administrator, it troubles me to my very core. Kids in grades 3-8 should not be called on to serve as political activists; they should be allowed to be kids. The battle is for the adults.
I am responsible for coordinating the administration of grades 6-8 ELA tests and coordinating their scoring for 1,200 students, so I am familiar with the 3-8 assessments and their design. The tests themselves have not changed significantly from last year. The tests are still long and difficult. The tests themselves, in my view, are not the real issue. The real issue is that SED implemented these tests long before students would be ready to take them, and now the governor would like to use the results to condemn teachers and convince New Yorkers that our schools are failing. Children develop skills in ELA and Math over time, and students must master certain prerequisite skills before moving on to more sophisticated skills. Students currently in grades 3-12 are missing years of instruction aligned to the Common Core, yet SED makes them take tests that they are not ready to take. This is something that no quality teacher would ever do. So, it is no surprise that about 30% of students are proficient in grade level standards statewide.
So what has changed this year? The governor has launched a campaign against teachers and principals and plans to use testing data as ammunition against them – testing data that illustrates nothing about teacher quality and is grossly misleading given that students are missing years of Common Core aligned instruction. Hence the battle cry from NYSUT. So, the governor would like to use your child against teachers and principals, and NYSUT would like you to use your child to send a message to the governor.
My advice to you as an educator and as a parent is to consider only what is best for your child. It is nearly impossible to predict how your child’s score would help our hurt your child’s teacher. If you think that having your child take the tests will provide the edge for middle school, have your child test. If you worry about your child’s privacy more, opt out.
Roy
The tests in your view are not the issue? Seriously? Tests designed to entrap all but the most advantaged and disciplined students into artificial failure. Tests with cut scores set at the SAT equivalent of a 1630 for all students – even the learning disabled and ELLs. Tests that misuse the fundamental MC format (subjective item stems) to such a degree that they any independent expert would deem them invalid. Tests written at several grade levels above the one being tested. Tests that have no meaning or consequence to the test taker. Tests that defy test prep because the abstract skills they attempt to measure are untestable and un-teachable. Tests that come with bogus claims of college and career readiness. Tests that would make any snake oil salesman jealous. Makes one wonder if your “familiarity” actually involved reading them?
My son will probably opt out. Testing stresses him out and he scores poorly. He has a developmental disability that affects his working memory which is exacerbated by stress. Test week invariably begins a downward spiral of stress, anxiety, poor self esteem and inappropriate “coping” mechanisms.
I see no reason to subject him to an anxiety inducing test designed by a set of for-profit “experts” to rate his teacher’s effectiveness, especially when I know full well that his test scores will tell a false story of how well she does in the classroom with my son and all of his classmates. I would much rather he spend those MANY hours reading, doing maths and experimenting in science and art class. That would look like education to me.
Ms Burnett;
Not to imply that your choice for your child is wrong, I’d like to offer you another prospective.
I too have a developmental disability that caused me to preform porely when taking tests when I was in school. This of course messed with my self esteem and caused anxiety… but it was through these experiences, with the oversight of my parents and a few good teachers, that I learned the proper way for me to cope with such situations.
I can onhestly say that had my parents safe graded me from these experiences instead of helping me get through them I don’t think I would be as prepared and self advocating in the real world as I am. Tests are stressful, but they aren’t lasting; the real world is a lot less tolerant and forgiving as the class room.
dandandat: I was a special education teacher. Not wanting to expose children to an ill designed program of standardized testing that has drastically changed the classroom environment is common sense, not coddling. NEVER did I find stressing them to the point of shutdown to be a good way to prepare them for the “real” world.
2old2toteach
Whether or not the standardized testing is ill designed is irelivent to the prospective I was offering; its the act of performing a task that is difficult, not pleasant and perhaps even not right in the first place that builds self-awareness and coping skills. There is no opting out of the real world and from experience I can tell you it can be difficult, unpleasant and wrong in so many ways. There is something to be said for exposing these children to this realty in a nurturing environment like a school. I can most certainly say it helped me; I am grateful for the opportunity and the people who helped me through it.
Also I would say if the stress levels continually get to the point that a child is shutting down than those around the child are not doing an effective job in puttting the matter into prospective for the child nor teaching effective coping skills.
Can you not even imagine that the tests may not be an appropriate challenge for all children? When everyone takes the same test, there is no allowance for individual difference. When I was teaching students who didn’t come close to meeting grade level performance, how would it be logical to test them on material that is above grade level good practice? Why not test all 4 year olds in reading because a few can? Not giving children inappropriate challenges does not mean that you don’t challenge them.
How old are you Den….? What tests are you referring to when you reminisce about how your mom’s encouragement and support helped you overcome your disability? Are you talking about the new and improved Common Core tests that have only seen the light of day here in New York since the Spring of 2013?
If you took the new and improved Common Core State Tests as a 4th – 8th grade student, that would make you at most, what, 15 or 16 years old?
Dandandat…. good job. I even liked the smattering of misspellings. Nice touch!
Betsy Marshall
I just turned 36 last week; the testing that I took was not the current common core testing. The issues I faced was the that the education system barley started to recognize and accept that students with disabilities required accommodation rather than ridicule or being label trouble makers. For every good teacher I had, I had another who didn’t believe I had a disability and would teart and a grade me badly.
But thank you for providing my point that the real world is less forgiving than school. Thankfully I’ve learned to cope well when dealing with people like you; who find it acceptable to ridicul me for faults that are beyond my control, like my misspellings.
I realize you think your being smart for putting people down for such things; but you should realize that doing so can be quite hurtful to those people you are directing your intolerant comments too.
2old2teach
While I understand your point of view; my point was not about challenging these children; it is about teaching them that life is not fare, especially for them, and than teaching them how to deal with that reality. Tests like these, that are beyond their ability, are good opportunities for that process.
When I was in school; I took aptitude and standardize tests that where beyond my ability I always scored well below my grade level by a few years. I was penalized by such testing by being placed in classes below my cognitive abilities because it was thought I could not keep up with the normal kids. This ment I missed out on about a year and a half or more of learning putting me even further behind. At one point my parents where told they should send me away to an instetution for “kids like me”.
So i certainly what it means to be tested inappropriately. But my point is that one of the most import things i learned when in school was how to deal with such events; and now as an adult i turn to those lessons much more so than the algebra and poetry i also learn while in school.
I began teaching in 1972 at a private school for multiply handicapped kids. They were one step away from institutionalization. I was not qualified at that point to be teaching, but private schools did not require any credentials at that point. I learned on the job at the expense of my students. Special education was just being recognized as a service that public education needed to provide (PL94-142). By the time I finished my Masters in LD/SED, I was at home raising kids. When I went back and subbed K-8, the situation was vastly improved although far from perfect. When I returned to the classroom full time, part of my job was to provide accommodations that would allow my students to participate in grade level classes and/or curricula and demonstrate their learning. Giving a child a test designed for the general classroom might unfairly penalize them and not allow that child to demonstrate their understanding. I modified tests to allow students to show that they were learning. How would it have been instructive to force a child to fail? What would have been learned from that process? Throwing a kid in the lake is not generally a good way to teach kids to swim. Some will learn, some will run screaming every time they get close to water. Some will drown. My job was to find a way for every child to learn to swim. Just because your education was not always the best does not mean that sloppy, poor practice should be continued to “toughen” those kids up for the “real world.” If you are in a job that requires writing, I hope you have a secretary or at least use spell check. There is no excuse other than choosing not to use proofing for most of the errors you make. Your difficulty certainly is not with syntax or semantics.
Not ridiculing you my dear man(?) I have spent my life working to teach children who learn differently because of disabilities. You were going through school when my oldest daughter was in school.
The years that you were in school were probably the best years for students with disabilities. Special education was supported and funded in those days. The ESEA law that was passed in the mid-sixties and then IDEA in the early 70’s were strong laws that demanded that schools offer a free and appropriate education to all students.
You have no point of reference for claiming that you know anything about what children with disabilities are facing in today’s test and punish education world.
I give my real name when I speak in a public forum. Is there a reason that you can not give your real name? I am afraid that I don’t trust that you are telling the truth about who you are.
Betsy Marshall
Telling me that you like my smattering of misspelling is most certainly ridicul; it saddens me that you don’t see that. People with these types of disablities too often face people like you, who just dont see how insensitive they are being. The intolerance and discrimination that we face often comes at the end of a smile, people who think they are being helpful, or just dont know how their words can hurt. Having to prove you are disabled is one of the most degrading things one can do and you find it acceptable to find my untrustworthy on this point simple because we don’t share the same opinion on a subject.
You are correct I do not have a frame of reference to children going through the system today; as i do not deal with them on a regular bases. But you are mistaken to belive that my years were “the best years” for those with disabilities; different challenges for sure but there was nothing “best” about what we went through. For example having the school board tell your parents they should send you away to an instetution might have been considered “support” and it might have been adequatel funded … but it was gravely mistaken and dangerous.
2old2teach
I do apologize for my spelling errors; im using my phone at the moment and it doesn’t have the best spell checking ability. Computers are definitely a godsend. Unfortunately today secretaries are a thing more of the past; but the computer helps. My biggest problem on that end is when the spell check gives me a real word close to the one i want and i can’t tell the difference.
Perhaps I am not making myself clear I also agree with the work you did accommodating the needs of disabled children. With out also getting the benefits of such accommodations and working with teachers like you I would not be able to cope as well as I do today.
But I don’t see it as an ether/or proposition. These standardized tests are give once a year; and from what i read here the grades don’t come back for a while; leaving plenty of other testing opertunities to tailor the testing to the skills of the kids. They can get both messages, one that they are improving and the other the realization that they are different and must learn to deal with it even if its not fair.
I can clearly remember the pride I felt after asking my special education teachers to allow me to take a standardized test on my own with no accommodations just to see what would happen. I prepared and while I still did not achieve a proficient level; I did better than I ever did. I use such things as a sorce of strength now and I don’t think I would have benefited if my parents decided to opt out. On the country my parents always expected more from me, not in the throw the kid in the deep end way, but in the take the kid in the deep end with you way.
Unfortunately, these tests are a different animal. They are not just given “once a year.” Forget the actual test time of 10+ hours. The tests are driving instruction especially where they are being used for high stakes decisions which seems to be almost everywhere. They are narrowing curricula and using scarce local resources on a testing (and technology) regime that provides no information for school or instructional improvement. It reminds me a bit of my older children lording it over a younger one when he/she complained about some age appropriate concern. The older always had a “just wait until you’re my age” line to dismiss the very real worries of the younger child. So now we give a test designed to frustrate most children and then act as if this procedure will benefit them when they fail to make the grade? Your parents made the best of a bad situation, and that is admirable. That is an important buffer role for all parents to play. It is also important to speak out against practices that we as professionals know are counterproductive.
In reading instruction, teachers have followed an informal process of determining independent, instructional and frustration level reading material to guide a child’s choice of reading material. Both independent and instructional level materials will aid in the development of good readers who enjoy reading. Frustration level material means exactly that and is rarely appropriate except in situations where a child is so eager to learn about some subject that they will tackle material far beyond full comprehension. These tests are not designed to give us any useful information to guide us in making instructional decisions. The amount of time and energy devoted to them cannot be justified by the information they purport to give us.
Dandan… Being a poor speller is not really the point here. I happen to struggle with spelling myself, so I am careful to look up the spelling of words when I am not sure. It is so fast and easy to check for spelling these days, that I find it surprising when someone who writes as well as you do does not check for spelling. Of course I have no way of knowing whether or not you are sincere in presenting your story here. I usually assume that people can be trusted until I have evidence to the contrary. But don’t take my suspicions to heart. This is just a brief conversation on a blog.
dandandat -Keep in mind that in today’s environment, dedicated teachers like 2old2teach (who I wish my kids could have as a teacher) and the ones who helped you would be punished if their students do not score within grade level. I don’t know how much consideration is given to specific situations. but in general, teachers will be punished if their students don’t score well.
Thank you for the ego strokes. I have the luxury of reflection that teachers in the classroom have less and less time to do. Actual teaching time that allows for independent professional judgement continues to shrink. I imagine that many teachers who are still teaching are just trying to keep their heads (and those of their students) above water. I applaud those who are still determined to teach; I understand those who have chosen to leave. I hope everyone continues to let their children’s teachers know that they appreciate their efforts.
Concerned Mom;
As an Engineer logic tells me that if these tests are designed poorly where in a majority of students score lower than would be expected than the cumulative score given to a teacher would be relative to the other low scores give to all the other teachers. The state can not fire and/or punish all teachers and if the majority of students do poorly than it becomes a mater of finding which pore scores are the worst and adressing those individual teachers.
But that really was not the prospective I was attempting to give in my original post to Ms Burnett. She was on the fence about opting her child out due to his personal circumstances and I was relating a point that opting out might not be the correct way to deal with those circumstances.
If these tests truly do need to be fixed or abolished that is definitely something worth considering; opting out however I don’t believe is the correct way of making that change happen.
“If these tests truly do need to be fixed or abolished that is definitely something worth considering; opting out however I don’t believe is the correct way of making that change happen.”
I think a lot of people took that position last year or the year before. People assumed that in the United States of America their leaders would be acting with the best of intentions and would change course when presented with so much evidence that their path was wrongheaded. Unfortunately, they have essentially ignored educators and now parents and chosen to “double down” and follow the advise of people who have remarkably little direct experience in education either in the k-12 classroom or in academia. However, politicians pay attention to political power and corporations are ever aware of the bottom line. Opting out is a strategy that has the potential to demand their attention.
Betsy;
Think you for the compliment on my writing, its appreciated.
However you should know that it’s not always that easy for everyone to look up correct spelling and check their work. That certainly should be the goal for everyone but not everyone is going to be able to accomplish that goal at the same proficiency.
For example for the posts you are reading of mine; It is not an exaggeration to say that I spend just as much time, if not more, thinking about “what” to write as I do in “how” to write it. Using spell check, using google, asking my wife how to spell a particular word, rereading what I have written several times and yet what you have been reading, with the mistakes, is the best of my abilities. You probably couldn’t read my writing at all if I did not take the time to correct it.
That is simply one aspect of my disability that I needed to learn to cope with. One way I learned to cope with it was to become a better writer if I couldn’t be a proficient speller. If I was going to be judged on my spelling mistakes, than my writing had to be that much better so that it would balance out in the end. If it was going to take me 3 times longer than the normal person to proof my work, than I needed to learn how to get my thoughts together twice as fast so that again it would balance out.
2old2teach
Since the subject has reach public awareness I’ve tried to find out how often these tests are give, though finding good information out side the redirect is hard to come by.
From what i have read there are tests administered in differing grades each year. One for math and one for English that are give over a three day period. Please let me know what other testing i am missing.
But that said; the amount of testing; how it may be interfering with other teaching and the decision by some districts to make test prep their priority are besides my original point. I was attempting to give an alternative prospective to Ms Burnett about opting out her child.
If the testing does need to be changed or shortened; if schools need to be given different priorities than their own self intrests than I would probably support a different vision. What I don’t support is opting out.
My K-8 district just completed the first round of testing. It took three weeks of disrupted classes. Principals reported that their resource centers were unavailable during that three week time because the computer labs were in near constant use. The students will soon be taking end of year district tests designed to tract student growth. The students take two rounds of benchmark tests, at the beginning and middle of the year, as well. When they are finished there is a short window before the second round of PARCC testing begins. They call it one test but it is broken into two test windows for a total of 10+ hours for each child. If you go to the Fairtest website, you can gain a much more complete picture of what is going on around the country. Even if it is ONLY 10+ hours of testing, the regular school program can be disrupted for six weeks with testing. The high stakes nature of the testing means that many districts are making choices to maximize test prep. In addition, the technology requirements have placed an enormous burden on districts that are struggling to balance tech infrastructure demands against other programs.
2old2teach
Forgive the redundancy in my last post; we must have been writing at the same time and I had no yet read your last message.
I don’t agree opting out will give this cause the political might you think it will. Most people aren’t aware of the situation and a good portion of patterns are overworked and have many other problems to worry about than some test their kids will be taking. Hell a good portion of parents are just happy their kids are in schools.
Those districts where opting out might become significant are the more affluent ones and in the end they have plenty going for them that it won’t matter.
My point isn’t whether opting out will be enough to influence legislators. We already know that it is disturbing them from the responses that opting out has generated. It may take more time and more ideas, but they are paying attention. You are probably right that most people are just happy their kids are in school, but that is changing. It makes no difference whether kids in affluent districts will fair well. That is not the point. They too are missing out on the learning time that is devoted to testing. We are spending so much time testing our children that we are stealing significant blocks of classroom time. Parents want their children in the classroom learning.
This is wonderful. There has to be a way to get this information to the masses. To many parents are not aware and teachers are not allowed to say anything to them. Can there be a mailing if some sort?
The cohesive network of knowledgeable educator-professionals, their connection to the students and the community, the principals who may still be allowed to be more than box-checkers and bean-counters: these make Cuomo very nervous. If the end game is to protect political evils by undermining social good, the strategies Cuomo is using make perfect sense.
“Opt out”
Opt out of the testing
Deny them bucks and data
Arrest their test investing
“Pearson, see ya later”
Magee was testing the waters for Weingarten. It was a nice publicity stunt. In the meantime, back at the ranch, New York teachers are additional nails in their coffins.
Parents are confused
Teachers union saying opt out
School administrators saying you better not
I am about to finish my BA after 10 years (long story). When I started I wanted desperately to teach high school social studies. Now, less than two months from commencement, I refuse to enter the education field. I still love the idea of teaching, but it would not be in my best long-term interest to do so. I see no reason to be a aprt of a system that punishes some of those people that prepare children for the future.
my oldest daughter graduated from college last year and wanted to be an elementary art teacher. she interned twice with our local art teacher ( who taught all our kids and has been teaching for about 25 yrs). after all the paperwork and stress and crying she saw from the teachers she interacted with,
she has changed her mind. how sad is that.
I was required to take the Iowa Tests (that’s what we called them, I was in NY) all through elementary school. Three days of testing, no anxiety, no stress. Maybe if parents and teachers backed off, the kids would just see these tests as the break from school that they are. We considered standardized testing a vacation. All of these efforts by teachers to explain the necessity to opt-out and “deny them data” are offensive. Fight your own battles, I don’t think you guys are doing such an outstanding job that you really deserve the support of parents anyway. My kids are smart, so ineffective teachers won’t affect them, but I feel bad for the bottom 95% who are going through the motions, just like their parents did, and their teachers do, every day. I’m in a top school district in NY and I’m embarrassed every time I have to go to a school event and listen to the teachers try and speak in front of adults for 15 minutes.
Overrated, maybe we could have schools without teachers? Ah, yes, blended learning. Only paras needed.
There are many parents who are glad that changes are at least being tried. I’m not saying it’s the best idea, but at least it’s something. Efforts to block attempts to give our kids better teachers are not in the best interest of our kids. I’ve taught in 3 different schools. NOT all teachers are good teachers! Why are so many people forgetting that? If there is a better way to weed out the bad teachers and convince the union to let the schools get rid of them..come forward. Let us at least try something. I support my kids taking the tests. I’m not alone in this. My kids actually enjoy taking tests. It gives them a chance to show off…it’s also the way of the real world. Don’t trust a union to put your child first..they are funded by teachers who don’t want to lose their jobs.
Why is it that your argument rings hollow Julie?
Teachers Unions and the “Call for Opting Out of High Stakes Tests : Are they really on the side of parents and children?
No. Not yet!
While there is certainly a benefit to parents and children fighting and suffering under the Common Core Agenda of intrusive data collection and distribution, unsound/unproven/inappropriate curriculum and pedagogy, along with the time and resources consuming high stakes tests (that have yet to provide to parents or educators that there is any proof of educational benefit to schools or children), this “Johnny-come-lately”, so-called support, from unions like NYSUT’s President Karen Magee is naught but another manipulation by one of the organizations that brought us the Common Core Agenda of top down, dictatorial indoctrination in the first place.
Only after the current hijackers of public education, in this case, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, NY State Legislators and the NYS Education Dept, rejected any compromise with teachers unions (who in years prior helped usher in the CCA, testing and teacher accountability measures tied to them), has NYSUT turned to parents to save their collectives arses.
Only after the membership of the unions, the classroom teachers themselves, launched an internal uprising against the union leadership, did Magee and NYSUT make this sudden turn. That turn, however, is a halfhearted attempt at placating the membership which avoids actual union-based intervention into the fight and instead calls upon parents, who have already been waging this battle for over two years, alone, to continue to do the heavy lifting. The union leadership itself, however, continues to refuse to support teachers directly in fighting the workplace sanctions and intimidation of Cuomo, the Regents and NYSED being foisted upon them.
In the winter and spring of 2013, I began calling upon teacher’ unions to boycott and strike against the tests and the Common Core, much as they have done when benefits and pay were an issue, along with thousands upon thousands of parents in NY and, indeed, across the entire nation! Even Diane Ravitch followed suit in 2013 on her blog by calling for teachers to strike against these draconian and Orwellian education deformations. Alas, these pleas were ignored until in March of 2013 at the iRefuse! Rally which took place in The auditorium of Superintendent Dr. Joe Rella’s Comsewogue High School. Former NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi, took to the stage and swore to support parents, students and teachers in the fight against the entire Common Core Agenda. Parents were thrilled, inspired and rose in thunderous applause to the courageous and appropriate stand President Iannuzzi took.
It was a moment of hope and joy for all… Students, parents and,yes, teachers! Teachers who had been left to suffer silently as NYSED and school administrators, who lacked the integrity of Superintendent Joe Rella, proceeded to brow beat those teachers, their students and their parents into submission through the use of gag orders, legalese and outright lies and threats to get their way.
Mr Iannuzzi did what a Leader and a Union President is supposed to do… Stand up for his membership and for the sound educational practices that licensed professionals knew had been abandoned in favor of the graft-based corruption that was being implemented in the name of Barack Obama’s “Race to the Top” initiative and Andrew Cuomo’s Common Core Corporate Kickback scheme, that was being orchestrated behind closed doors with the likes of Pearson Inc, Regents Tisch and Comm. King, members of the NY Legislature, AFT President Randi Weingartern, NEA’s Denis Van Roekel (along with the NEA TURN group headed by Adam Urbanski) and a slew of DC and Wall Street investors and lobbyists.
Iannuzzi became in that moment a Union Leader that the late Samuel Gompers could be proud of… But that was a fleeting moment in time.
Barely one month later, the powers that be in NY politics and labor saw fit to have Mr Iannuzzi removed from office during a suspect union election and Karen Magee became the new NYSUT President. Although she campaigned in a platform of supporting the membership, as well as students and parents who were protesting the testing and Common Core, and claiming Ianuzzi was unfit to continue this fight, she dropped the ball. In fact, the argument could be made that she threw the ball away.
Against all the evidence presented and the pleas of teachers, parents and students that these reforms were harming children, their teachers and their schools, President Magee chose to, tacitly at best, oppose only tenure and accountability issues related to the testing, instead of the anti-Common Core platform that she had campaigned on, which Mr Iannuzzi had seen, that it was the entire system under the Common Core that needed to be addressed.
Over the course of her tenure in office, students suffered the effects of seeing their teachers being forced to cower before the onslaught of Cuomo’s education policy being forced upon them by the NYSED and NY State Regents. Teachers lost their jobs and began suffering the effects of PTSD, much as thousands of students were. Mean while, Magee and her administration went publicly silent for months on the issue as she and her people bought time for Cuomo to win reelection. A reelection that would not have occurred and would have meant the end of the Common Core, it’s test crazed madness and the suffering of all who were subjected to it, teacher and student alike.
NYSUT and Magee chose instead to take the safe road of political triangulation based on the false promises of a known liar, Andrew Cuomo, that he would go easy on teachers. Promises that were betrayed within a week after the election.
All that has been seen from NYSUT and Magee since has been feigned indignation and halfhearted lip service… And no real action.
“We will support parents in refusing the tests” means nothing if the largest Teachers Union in the State of New York does no more than make a few press releases and creates a website for refusal guidance, but then only offers only opposition to the use of these tests for teacher evaluations and tenure issues, yet continues to support the reforms that require the tests and mandates that children in school take them and that their teachers, the very membership the union is supposed to protect, must administer these educationally unsound and child abusive tests!
Does Magee and the NYSUT leadership not hear or see the hypocrisy of their position… Or do they not care?
Do they think the parents of New York’s children and their teachers are not aware and concerned that NYSUT is likely to abandon them once they get their concessions from Cuomo?
Does Magee, like Cuomo himself, think them all fools?
What NYSUT needs to do is issue a call, and provide the support and union muscle, for all it’s members to boycott, aka STRIKE, against administering these tests and it’s associated curriculum, pedagogy and illegal data collections!
Parents, who are desperately torn between supporting teachers and having to protect their children, have been begging for such an act of solidarity in the effort to save Public Education before it’s too late. They want to help their teachers save their jobs and their schools but they are duty bound to save their kids first.
Parents are justifiably suspicious of anyone who offers only tacit support and appears to be only concerned with their bottom line and political position in Albany. Placing the onus upon parents and students to act and refuse the testing, while allowing the state to intimidate teachers into administering those tests and cajoling parents and students into taking those tests through the use of lies and threats does not cut the mustard!
New Yorkers are known for being streetwise, seeing through the bullsh*t and not taking anyone’s crap! This is more than apparent by the tens of thousands and growing number of anti-CC parents taking a stand!
The NYSUT and Magee need to understand that time is running out, budget negotiations will not work and Cuomo is hellbent in destroying the teaching profession and the schools in which they practice their art.
There exists only one ally in which teachers and their union have any hope… And that ally is the parents of the students of NY Public Schools!
NYSUT needs to get off their collective duffs and spring into immediate and tangible action if it is to have even the slightest chance of saving teachers, students and Public Education’s future!
Half measures just won’t do.
It’s time to go on strike!
Do that and you will have parents and children marching the picket lines with you.
Don’t do it… And you’re on your own.
Cuomo and his allies only know power. Use it while you still have it!
-Michael Bohr, CI
Co-founder and Organizer of iRefuse! The Great American Opt Out
Badass Parents Association
Stop Common Core in New York State (founder and organizer of iRefuse! The Great American Opt Out)
Magee and Mulgrew should both be calling for a statewide testing boycott and a modern day New York tea party. Unopened boxes of Pearson tests floating down the Hudson, down, the East River, down the Mohawk, in the Erie Canal, unopened boxes making their way through the locks of the Saint Lawrence and the Niagara River, boxes floating in Lakes Erie and Ontario, boxes rising and falling with the tides in Long Island Sound and drifting in the currents of the Atlantic off Montauk, boxes bobbing in Pelham Bay and the Finger Lakes too. Boxes of unopened Pearson tests all right where they belong, in a burial at sea.
I love it. Mulgrew?
it is April Fools today? here hahah!
Thank you Michael Bohr, someone who makes sense of this madness that I have been trying to following since 2013. Thanks for finally saying what has been on my lips for 2 years – STRIKE already! Glad I hooked up with you tonight. Born and bred in Brooklyn!
Tell you what, i will support your cause, right after you tell me how to keep paying more taxes on top of the 12k a year i pay now for teacher salaries…..and continue to watch them cut classes and increase study halls…….this cycle of increases can not be sustained at the rate it is now…..but there is never an answer. for this looming question.
Those dang teachers! Cutting classes and adding study halls…! Huh? You might start by protesting unfunded mandates and loss of local control of educational decisions. If I had my druthers, a lot less money would be devoted to testing that provides no useful information for teachers or parents. Standardized, computerized education proclaimed from on high has done nothing to provide an education worth my tax money.
I wanted to opt my son out last year, but the principal of his school informed me that the school loses all state funding for each child that opts out. How can this be? And how can a parent reconcile with that???
ProudMama, the school won’t lose funding. This is an intimidation tactic.
Wow! I teach at one of NYS eleven 4201 (state funded) schools that educate NY’s most vulnerable students (regents tracked blind, deaf and physically disabled). These are basically Cuomo’s schools, and he hasn’t been able to afford to give his schools any increase in funding in 9 years. Not even COLA. That means no staff increases of any kind (by that I mean no step, % or bonus) in almost 9 years and yet he can find the money to hire independent evaluators for all the teachers in NYS? Isn’t that a real slap in the face? Are these independent evaluators friends of his? Will they be paid better than the teachers? Will a requirement of these evaluators be a current NYS teacher certification in the area they are evaluating? Maybe we should all quit teaching and become evaluators. Nonsense. This can’t be good for administrators either. A large part of their jobs are evaluations. If they won’t be doing that the districts should be able to save $$ on administrators to give to teachers. November can’t come soon enough!
I agree 100%…. I have had my letters signed sealed and delivered to the City of Poughkeepsie School district!!! Now I am hearing from staff teachers and parents that children that have opt out are now being penalized ie: taking away there honors classes, does a district have the right to do this????
We have to stop this! !!! Teachers deserve better.
Are all local unions in NY following these recommendations of our union leader? I hope to hell they do. If not, “solidarity” is just a bunch of TALK, and cowardice is apparently running rampant. If local unions don’t uphold and promote Magee’s recommendations for teachers to opt out their own children and for the public to opt out, what is the point of paying union dues? What is the point of a union?
This should help- COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES DO NOT FACTOR IN, CONSIDER, OR DETERMINE STATE TESTS!!!!!!!! This means out of all of the years your child will be harassed by Common Core there will be no referencing years of testing for college admissions or scholarships by the time your child gets ready to graduate.
The CCSS DO N ALIGN WITH THE ACT AND SAT.