This is great news!
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, tweeted and wrote on her Facebook page yesterday that she supports parents who opt out of the PARCC tests. She had previously spoken out of behalf of opting out when participating in a parent-teacher rally at Fort Drum, New York. Yesterday she said that if she were a parent of children in the public schools of New York, she would opt out too.
Opting out is not about helping the teachers’ union or opposing accountability. It is a message to governors and legislators, to Congress and the Obama administration that testing is out of control. Testing is not teaching. Since the passage of NCLB in 2001-02, billions of dollars have been spent on test prep and testing. In the case of the Common Core tests, the results are not reported for 4-6 months, the teacher is not allowed to see what students got right or wrong. The tests have no diagnostic value. None. They are used solely to rank and rate students, teachers, principals, and schools. Furthermore, they are designed to fail the majority of students because of the absurd “cut scores” (passing mark) pegged to NAEP’s proficient level. We are the most over tested nation in the world. Enough!
Any politician who advocates for the tests should do one simple thing: Take the eighth grade math test and publish your score.
Thank you, Randi, for personally endorsing opt out! Encourage your members across the nation to join those who are defending their students and their profession. It is hard to stand up alone; in unity there is strength.
She wrote on her Facebook page:
I have been in NY alot fighting shoulder to shoulder with educators and parents against Cuomo’s wrongheaded actions. I was asked the question abt opt out today and this is what I tweeted out.
We believe parents have right to opt-out & tchrs shld be able to advise parents how. We’ve said it repeatedly, are fighting for it in ESEA.
@lacetothetop et al have asked what I’d do if I had kids in NYPS—based on what I’ve seen, if I had kids, I’d opt them out of the PEARSON (PAARC) tests this yr
It’s crazy what’s happening in NY, w/ Cuomo leading the misuse of testing. We understand why @NYSUT and parents are calling for an opt-out
But Randi, are the STANDARDS still the best thing since sliced bread?
Let’s talk ELA:
Nell K. Duke:
Colleagues and I published our first articles arguing for greater attention to informational text in elementary education in 1998…
Then came the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). The CCSS have specific standards for reading informational text and writing informative/ explanatory text beginning at kindergarten…
When I called for greater opportunities for students to read and write informational text, I did not mean:
• Handing students difficult books on topics that may or may not be of interest
• Requiring students to write “reports” and “persuasive essays” for no particular reason other than satisfying a school requirement
• Carrying out informational read-alouds no differently from fictional narrative read-alouds
• Asking students a barrage of low-level questions about informational text content
• Having students spend time developing “conventions notebooks” about informational text rather than actually using those conventions to achieve real communicative purposes
• Administrators focusing rigidly on the percentage of informational text teachers are using, with little regard to the content of those texts or how they are being used
• And many other practices I am seeing in the name of informational text instruction
Nell K. Duke is a contemporary educator and literacy researcher with an interest in informational text, early literacy development, and reading comprehension instruction, with an emphasis on children living in poverty. She is currently a professor of language, literacy, and culture and a faculty associate in the combined program in education and psychology at the University of Michigan.
US News
Based on concerns that before American students leave high school, they have little exposure to the informational texts that will dominate their college careers and future jobs, the Common Core standards make reading such nonfiction material a priority. In elementary school, students should be reading a mix of 50 percent literature and 50 percent informational texts, according to the Common Core. By high school, students’ reading will shift to be 30 percent literary and 70 percent informational.
the Common Core designers rationale:
Most of the required reading in college and workforce training programs is informational
The Standards are not alone in calling for a special emphasis on informational text. The 2009 reading framework of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) requires a high and increasing proportion of informational text on its assessment as students advance through the grades.
Distribution of Literary and Informational Passages by Grade in the 2009 NAEP Reading Framework
Grade Literary Information
4 50% 50%
8 45% 55%
12 30% 70%
(2008). Reading framework for the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/introduction/key-design-consideration/
The results are tragic:
From
Common Core Nonfiction Reading Standards Mark The End Of Literature, English Teachers Say-
Jamie Highfill, an eighth-grade English teacher at Woodland Junior High School in Fayetteville, Ark., and 2011 Arkansas Teacher of the Year, told the Washington Post she’s already had to drop short stories and a favorite literary unit to make time for essays by Malcolm Gladwell from his social behavior book The Tipping Point.
“I’m struggling with this, and my students are struggling,” Highfill told the Post. “With informational text, there isn’t that human connection that you get with literature. And the kids are shutting down. They’re getting bored. I’m seeing more behavior problems in my classroom than I’ve ever seen.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/common-core-nonfiction-reading-standards_n_2271229.html
Richard, it was a mistake by the standards-writers to use NAEP instructions to test developers as a rationale for dividing up fiction/informational text in the classroom. NAEP assessment criteria are not instructions for teachers. Teachers are the best judges of whether to use fiction or informational text. I know of no nation that has a similar mandate imposed on teachers.
“Testing is not teaching.”
A simple but true statement. TAGO!
Señor Swacker:
What you said!
And thanks to all below that have commented.
The growing opt-out movement is another sign that the self-styled “education reform” movement is in trouble. Big trouble.
And they have no one to blame but themselves.
😎
Weingarten’s timing is suspect. She is merely providing cover for Cuomo’s budget deals. In New Jersey, for example, the first round of PARCC testing is over.
I agree, she knows the anti CCSS thing has gone viral and she is eying a place in the DOE if her pal Clinton is elected . If I am wrong then she is remiss in her duties and is an even bigger burden to teachers because she is asleep at the wheel. Hiw can one go as lone as she has endorsing that scripted mess and tell us it’s a good thing? Remember Mulgrew? He went nuts and threatened violence to anyine who criticized CCSS a few months ago .note that this was at an event where Weingarten was rooting for him , laughing at his so call joked and caught on audio whispering he something not very foattering about teachers who Mulgrew insisted CCSS “was for .” None of us want it and there are many reasons why . Academic freedom comes to mind . It doesn’t surprise me that WEINGARTEN and Mulgrew cannot comprehend this . They did not really want to be teachers . They wanted to be more important and richer than a teacher will ever be .
I find the WHole thing galling, especially when teachers are so buried and desperate that cannot find time to follow these exploits . They assume AFT is rooting for them, not PEARSON . It is a foolish assumption but it is also teachers’ nature to be trusting . They tend to act with good faith . Unfortunately, we can safely say our union leaders are not capable of good faith , much less respecting the rank and file who pay their wages and help put sock puppets and political patsies in office.
Teachers ,you have more power collectively than any other demographic in this country . It is part of the reason we are targets . You cannot trust Clinton as she is under the Bruad influence as is Weingarten whi sounds like a few hundred step up from Duncan . She is not l she may be more articulate and cunning , but mark my words her agenda is identical to his . We don’t really have two parties anymore . We just have one group of capitalists who is more preoccupied with legislating our orafices more then the other . And if you think about it they are just focused in different orafices .
It’s time to start looking at the Green Party . Luis Rodriguez git a million votes in the Gov Election in CA last year . That is amazing because he is a former Gang banger poet without big money backers or much political experience . It is clear even he was stunned by his success. Jerry Brown has done fairly well with balancing a budget Ahnold left in tatters and people like him . Of course , he is fracking that up good now and his comportment with CTC scandals make me sad and angry , but few people are actually aware of this scandal which involves kick backs , teachers targeted for destruction and giving people certificates without the proper course work and testing (Broad’ s Academy just buys them ) .
If we don’t quit our bipartisan addictions , we will see things become far worse. It’s time to break the habit of voting for the lesser of two evils . You still get evil. Th Green Party , progressives , even anarchists and nihilists are better than Clinton or some Tea Party hypocrite who damns abortion until his wife needs one, And we sure the hell don’t want anyone who is condoning torture . You hear me , Dick Cheney ? We don’t want your sadistic Hyde running this country , and that goes for you too, Hillary .
It shoukd be Ralph Nader or Teachout , maybe Elizabeth B. But these plutocrat poster children and propoganda monsters gotta go . Take RANDI with you !
Bravo, Hemlock!
Notice how Randi said, “I’d opt them out of the Pearson PARCC tests”. . . .
Well, for Randi, as she always scans the horizon to see what others are doing, she had taken quite a big step.
BTW, for those of you who have little to no proximity to the English as a New Language Community in New York State, I should let you know that the standardized, federally reportable test known as the NYSESLAT (New York State English as a Second Language Aptitude Test) mandated for ELLS has no opt-out provisions whatsoever.
For this standardized test, opt-out and refusal are purely illegal. I think teachers and administrators should be careful when disseminating information to parents of English language learners.
I’m not saying whether or not I agree with the quality and purposes of the NYSESLAT, which has been revised to be CCSS aligned. I am simply saying the law for immigrant ELL children taking this standardized test is different than the law for children taking other standardized tests, and we should be aware of those legal differences.
This sort of difference in testing privileges hardly reaches the media because the voices of immigrant parents have the volume turned down, many times because they are undocumented and afraid to speak or because they come from countries where questioning the government has had draconian consequences.
ENL children must take the NYSESLAT according to the law.
Please don’t shoot the messenger . . . .
What do you mean by this? The lack of opt-out provisions does not by itself render opting out illegal. Students can simply not show up, no? More important, what would be the consequence for students or families for opting out (or not showing up)?
PH, When dates for standardized tests are set make-up dates are scheduled at the same time (typically 3-5 school days later). Not showing up isn’t viable approach.
Need to order teachers not to administer!!
THAT’S true union activism.
We need a statement from AFT and NEA that they will support teachers who opt out of giving the tests.
LOL!
Exacto.
Not in a million years!
That’s what I was going to say. It’s nice that Randi supports parents. But her job is supposed to be supporting teachers.
Teachers disseminating a technical protocol would seem to be protected under the First Amendment. But teachers advising or encouraging parents to opt out is not protected. It really isn’t. I’m not trying t be a pain.
Just saying . . . .
only PARCC?, where’s the beef? With testing and Common Core, the unions are so marginal, which is why politicians tread all over them. They need advice from the OPT Out Wall Street folks. They should not be at the bridge to Selma event.
I would LOVE to hear a statement from NEA and AFT that they will support teachers who opt out of giving the tests, AND teachers that tell parents about their opt out rights. I have begged the NEA affiliate in Utah to go public and tell parents of those rights, but they will not.
I would also like to see both NEA and AFT come out against Common Core, but that won’t happen in my lifetime.
In short? Too little, too late, Randi Weingarten.
I’m with you! We both, I believe, live in states where our legislatures have made it illegal for teachers to discuss opting out. What is our recourse, Randi? What support will the AFT and NEA provide us? How will you use your formidable resources to get the word out and educate the poor and immigrant parents whose children I work with?
Perhaps at this summers national union conventions we could decide to not give money to those who hurt us the most, like Barack Obama, and instead use that money to pay for a national Opt Out educational advertising campaign?
I know, a pipe dream with non chance of realization. Still, I hope.
Yep, Chris. It’s not illegal in Utah for teachers to tell parents about opting out, but the state has threatened our licenses if we do.
“When the people lead, the leaders will follow.” Gandhi
I’d rather she tell the legislators to vote no on the Cuomo budget plan.
Really, this.
So would I.
RW’s response is a start. She said parents should opt out their children “THIS YEAR”. RW at her “best”. She should support opting out without qualifiers, period.
Two teachers’ union leaders in the last two days endorsing opt out?
Must be the massive solar storm
If almost twenty years of Randi’s betrayals of teachers and enabling of the so-called reformers are any guide, I strongly suggest that people watch what she does, and heavily discount what she says.
“Discount what she says” is the operative part. She stated to opt out THIS YEAR as opposed to opting out indefinitely.
She didn’t actually say to opt out. She said she supports those parents who choose to opt their children out. Two very different things. So, actually a very lukewarm statement, lacking any kind of courage.
Fellow members of this circular firing squad: can we lay down our arms? Stop shooting at one another? When an ally–whether a 10% ally or a 100% ally (is there such an ally?)–says or does something positive, we ought to praise and encourage that, rather than accusing them of all sorts of omissions and crimes. We can learn from the other side on this.
Sorry, but Weingarten is not an ally, but one of Them, temporarily used by the so-called reformers to manage us while teaching and public education are destroyed.
This little bit of misdirection was performed in an attempt to distract people from the train wreck of the NYS budget, which further undermines teachers and public schools.
For my money, Randi is backing Cuomo by working behind the scenes to protect her seat at the table.
“Bill Cala’s reply to Union Leaders”
We need our place at the table
To consummate a deal
We’ve always been at the table
Because we’ve been the meal
And we have a winner!
I’m with you, Michael.
From what I’ve seen of this woman in my 12 years of teaching, it appears to me that Randi’s first and only interest is that of furthering her own career and/or political ambitions.
Again I find both of these stories suspect. When she puts money behind opt out and gets the word out to every school in the country, then I will believe it. But the watered down deal coming from Cuomo is still crumbs.
Randi is not and will never be a leader. She is an opportunist and she uses every trick in the book to get people to do her bidding.
Instead of hailing her and showing gratitude, the headline should have read, “WTF Took You So Long!!”
Let’s not forget that a year ago she endorsed a moratorium on testing and then went dead silent. What happened to that campaign??
But most of all let’s remember she was behind Cuomo’s win, andby endorsing his running mate who is a big charter supporter, she made sure Teachout didn’t win.
Nailed it!
Yes, she puts out sound bites and than drops dead silent. She does this JUST so that she can say she said and did the right thing. It matters not if it was a robust campaign or a mere one-day mentioning. It gets put into the record so that she can whip it out if ever accused of not advocating.
She is a master manipulator, but she’s so great at it first and foremost because the person she has lied to and who believes her the most has been herself all these years. She believes so strongly in herself that she has no issue convincing others that what she is doing must be right.
This is pathological, but has served as the core lubrication that has kept running smoothly the UFT and now AFT. That, and the fact that the unions are not democratically constructed and run. are perfect storms.
Let’s not forget; she’s a lawyer.
Also a lot late to the party since testing has begun in many parts of the country! Another reason not to trust anything out if her mouth!
Testing is out of control; teachers are supposed to TEACH – not test. If this is now to be the case, let’s then change their job title to Tester, and Students to Testees!!!
It genuinely puzzles me that allegedly intelligent businessmen like Bill Gates take processes (like testing) that were intended for product manufacture and mindlessly apply them to education.
The job of a test is “quality control” but what this means in practice is trying to break the product (except in Microsoft’s case, of course, where they don’t have any real in house tests to speak of but instead let all of the users break the software for them)
Is that what we want to do, break our kids?
Because that precisely is what high stakes standardized testing is about.
Superficial Unrealistic Rigor is Atrocious.
http://barrylane.bandcamp.com/track/superficialunrealisticrigorisatrocious
The one problem with her comment is that NY is not even participating in PARCC so I am not sure what she is endorsing parents to opt out of.
We don’t have PARCC tests in NY. Oy vey Randi.
Bravo! NY isnt the only place there`s misuse. Visit FB #texasparentsoptout and read.what some parents are.facing due to no opt out policy being on place! I have already been told by the school district that opting my child is illegal!
What took her so long to state the obvious??
She had to see which way the wind was shifting first…….
“alot” is not a word. We’re teachers; we need to set an example.
Don’t be aa grammar troll . We write these out in a hurry on little gizmos that self- correct and scramble at will . I dunno about you , but after grading 200x5x2 x3 essays every year for 20 years , I have gotten pretty blurry . At this point grammar and mechanics are the least of our worries .
Completely understanding all of the cynicism expressed here, I say let’s take this and run with it.
We can raise the issues colleagues/parents/others are raising here as next steps for the AFT — and the NEA. There are some great ideas here: union support for teachers who opt out of administering the tests. Re-examining the unions’ support to Common Core. Publicizing the AFT (and NEA) stance supporting parents and children and make it real in coming to the aid of the many who are being victimized (and who are fighting back) for attempting to opt out, and for doing it. Working with our AFT (and NEA) locals to help them become strong supporters of the children, parents, yes, and teachers, who are taking on the testing horrors.
Thanks to Diane’s post here, a new door has slightly opened for us. Let’s push it all the way open and help others to take advantage of the opportunities this gives us to move forward.