I received this statement from Dr. Kathleen Cashin, a member of the New York State Board of Regents, representing Brooklyn. Dr. Cashin has had a long professional career in education as a teacher, a principal, and a superintendent in the New York City public schools. She has taken a principled stand against the misuse of standardized tests. I add her to the blog’s honor roll for standing up for what is right for children, for teachers, for principals, and for education.
She writes:
“As a Regent of the State of New York, I cannot endorse the use of the current state tests for teacher/principal evaluation since that was not the purpose for which they were developed. It is axiomatic in the field of testing that tests should be used only for the purpose for which they were designed. They were designed to measure student performance, not teacher effectiveness. The American Statistical Association, the National Academy of Education, and the American Educational Research Association have cautioned that student tests should not be used to evaluate individual teachers. Nor should these tests be used for student growth measures until there is clear evidence that they are valid and reliable. The Board of Regents should commission an independent evaluation of these tests to verify their reliability and validity before they are used for high-stakes purposes for students, teachers, principals, and schools. How can we criticize people for opting out when the tests have not been verified? We need to cease and desist in the use of these tests until such time as we can be confident of their reliability and validity. If tests do meet those criteria, the tests must be released to teachers and to the public after they are given, in the spirit of transparency and accountability.”
Dr. Kathleen Cashin
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Will the other Regents please stand up!!
Thank you, Dr. Cashin!
I support my fellow Regent….
Thank you so much!!
Thank you both so much. Please let us know how we can encourage the other Regents to take this stance.
Thank you, Regent Rosa!
Betty A. Rosa
Regent
Thank you for your supportive statements, Regents Cashin and Rosa.
We are feeling very defeated right now, please stand by us, we need you.
Thank you, Ms. Rosa!
Thank you!
Sincere thanks for your support!
Please resist the bullying by Cuomo and his attempts to privatize schooling in appeasement of his corporate backers.
Also, NYS should resist the undermining of its students and teacher certification from the privately owned, British conglomerate, Pearson, that has only profit in mind.
Very good blog I like it
Omg a voice of reason which is common sense and research based!!!
Dr. Cashin’s statement should be sent to Newsday, which supports Cuomo’s evaluation plan. letters@newsday.com
Thank you for the suggestion and the link redpilled. I emailed newsday
Excellent idea!
Hear hear!
Kathleen Cashin and Betty Rosa… continuing to stand up for all the hope and promise that public education is suppoesed to represent in a democracy. More power to you!
Regents Cashin and Rosa, thank you. Please keep fighting the good fight for our schools.
A double whammy. Great. And every point in Dr. Cashin’s post is on the mark. There is no evidence that student tests are “instructionally sensitive.” Students’ scores on tests should not be used to evaluate teachers.
Would someone please verify and post re the authenticity of Cashin’s statement? I just spoke with ‘media relations’ @ the Board of Regents and they were unable to verify. Thanks!
Dr. Cashin sent the statement to me for posting on this blog. Why would you ask the PR person at the Board of Regents to confirm that she wrote it? How would they know?
Just wanted to verify prior to sharing. After finding nothing online, I called the pn on her contact information on the Board’s website and after several minutes on hold was put through to the ‘media relations’ department and was told they could not confirm… I didn’t mean to imply anything. My sincerest apologies.
In response to: “The American Statistical Association, the National Academy of Education, and the American Educational Research Association have cautioned that student tests should not be used to evaluate individual teachers.”…..
From Kentucky, PERILS NOTED:
“The people that crunch the numbers will tell you you need at least three years worth of data to see if something is working or needs to be changed.” ….
“There are two things that need to be figured out, he said: Whether the standards are being taught correctly and whether the tests accurately measure what students are learning.”
http://archive.cincinnati.com/article/20140105/NEWS0102/301050035/3-years-later-Common-Core-working-Kentucky-
CASHIN is RIGHT ON!!!!
“Nor should these tests be used for student growth measures until there is clear evidence that they are valid and reliable.”
—————– Obviously, they are not.
Thank you Regent Cashin. Yours is the sort of voice that needs to be heard.
I was thinking this afternoon that New York State does a better job planning for roads than it does taking care of its public schools and considering what’s best for our children. ( And, that sure ain’t saying much, considering how our pothole pocked streets look these days….like the lunar surface.)
Did you every notice how when the NYS Department of Transportation considers if it is going to build a new road it has all kinds of meetings and environmental impact studies? Different options are carefully considered. Stakeholders are consulted, neighbors of the project are listened to, engineers study the scientific implications of what is being planned. And, then when the actual construction starts up, there are all kinds of road signs warning drivers of what is coming up. Detours are planned to protect the safety of our citizens. Sure, it can take years to get a highway project completed. But that’s the way humane, organized democracies do their work.
But here we have Governor Cuomo, ramming through his untested education scheme, wreaking havoc in neighborhoods from Niagara Falls to Montauk. It’s a rush job with little thought to the people involved. Imagine if government officials tried to bulldoze a highway or string high tension power lines this way. Meanwhile, state legislators with backbones the consistency of overcooked macaroni just melt into a pool of goo and let this outrage happen.
I can only hope that other members of the NYS Board of Regents show similar courage. This could be one of their finer moments, too.
Here is the courage of Regents Chancellor Meryl Tisch on full display. She wants to exempt high performing schools and their teachers from Cuomo’s education agenda.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2015/04/8565369/tisch-exempt-high-performing-schools-new-evaluations
Here’s a quote from the article you reference: “It’s time to say, as a state: one size doesn’t fit all,” Tisch said
Yup, you have the “Rich Size” and the “Rest of Them Size”.
Over and over again, intelligent, articulate people have documented on this blog the relationship between income and achievement on standardized testing.
Tisch’s comments along with our just minted New York State budget provide a snapshot of the values espoused by our “leaders”. People who buy yachts get a break on the sales tax so they can sail off into the sunset with their kids. Meanwhile the decision to not increase the minimum wage just leaves our low income families further behind, sitting in a puddle of mud.
What a sad, sad day for New York State and our country.
Problem: The law says NYSED is responsible for these things, but gives them no time to take this approach.
What happens if NYSED doesn’t meet the legislative timeline no matter how unreasonable?
They will be forced to take a slipshod approach to satisfy legalities over what is best for the system.
I think that may be intentional since there is no phase in period really for this. Not even a training or pilot period. All of New York State is one giant guinea pig for this practice.
That’s what happens when you build an airplane mid-air . . . .
Which will have a cap on the amount of sales tax you have to pay on it!
Don’t be surprised when they announce a delay in their June deadline. With no money allocated, and no additional staff, NYSED has been tasked with an impossible job. Impossible to do correctly at least. They must be challenged regarding their credentials as psychometricians because I’m sure they have none. So bureaucrats with no training in psychometrics and consultant test writers for Pearson are going to be the primary people (probably 12 of them) policing our profession. The careers and livelihoods of 200,000 public school teachers are about to be placed in the hands of a dozen know nothings.
The absolute key to our futures will lie in the student “growth” criteria developed at state ed. And they want them to develop this in just two months.
Please note that the NYSED has plenty of psychometricians, asssessment experts (meaning people who have been working on exams for YEARS, Ph.Ds (in content areas, education, curriculum & instruction, educational technology, etc.), certified and experienced educators and parents of NYS public schoolchildren on its staff. Many people in the department are highly qualifed. If the right people are tasked with this job, it will get done correctly this time. Unfortunately, that may not happen.
Then why didn’t it happen the first time? Their 20 point growth band solution would’ve flunked a high school statistics assignment. They have a fundamental problem that they can’t overcome even is they were qualified: The Pearson and Regents tests are not designed to test teacher effectiveness as they lack instructional sensitivity.
You forgot to mention something else they still don’t have: A new commissioner
(After Cuomo’s last trainwreck educrat was shown the door subsequent to the union vote of no-confidence. Good riddance). Let’s see if the new commissioner:
a) has a clue
b) has a moral compass
c) has a background in pedagogy
d) isn’t a Michelle Rhee/Koch Brothers/Walton/Bill Gates charter-school shill
e) will listen to the advice of Regents Tilles, Cashin, Rosa and (at least in part) Tisch.
f) will take some advice from Diane Ravitch!
I read the law differently. Time after time, it is the Commissioner, not the Board of Regents, entrusted with creating and implementing updated APPR policies.
You don’t need much time to implement boilerplate text which is already written and sitting on the future Commissioner’s desk.
Whoever is hired will be much worse than John King ever was. The next person will be less compassionate and more aggressive.
They will be happy to execute Cuomo and Tisch’s bidding.
Thank you for your ‘spot on’ thoughtful comment. Where, indeed, is verification that this multi purpose use of student test results to evaluate teachers– is valid? The lack of validity in that use is troubling. Where is the public evidence to prove that we can actually and meaningfully use tests for a different purpose, not intended by test makers? By what means has the leap to do so been made? The public has a right and a need to know.
As an attorney who has represented public schools for close to 30 years, I, too, have been very concerned about this questionable use of student test results and continue to write about my concerns.
Are you interested in a pro bono class action suit?
Please consider doing a class action suit. Pushing through legislation to use tests to break unions and break contracts to fire teachers without due process must be illegal in some way.
We need to demonstrate that the policies have caused harm. When good teachers start losing their jobs, the law suits should follow.
Dr. Cashin,
Thank you for standing up for what is right! We need more well established and experienced EDUCATORS like you to step up and say enough! The
Children and teachers of New York are more than just a number.
Dr. Cashin should be the next Educational Commisioner of New York! She is the person to bring the change we need!
Lawsuits should begin. Does Cuomo have the right to tie budget to passing of evaluation?
REGENT CASHIN FOR CHANCELLOR.
I suspect other regents may agree with Dr. Cashin. Maybe her courageous statement will encourage the others to speak up!
I have said we could have avoided the situation we are in now if the tests were released for public debate. This is where our union leadership failed.
I have no problem being evaluated on tests that measure age appropriate, developmentally appropriate student growth. The problem is that the tests are not valid measures of student growth because they test children beyond what most are capable of.
Tests designed to measure student growth are not necessarily designed to also measure teacher effectiveness. Most standardized tests do neither.
http://schoolleader.typepad.com/school-leader/2012/03/encouraging-signs-from-new-teacher-survey-on-standardized-assessment.html
An excerpt:
There are better arguments for why standardized assessments have limited value for accountability and teacher evaluation purposes. W. James Popham, author of Transformative Assessment, Everything School Leaders Need to Know About Assessment and other books, says that for a test to be used formatively, either to inform instruction or make judgments about the quality of instruction, assessments must be “instructionally sensitive.”
In other words,
An instructionally sensitive accountability test would be one that would include many items that uninstructed students would tend to answer incorrectly and instructed students would tend to answer correctly.
Makes sense, right? But for a test to meet this definition, Popham says it must have certain characteristics:
First, it must be based on a modest number of important curricular targets. In other words, the test can’t attempt to measure too many different standards. This is why assessment experts from Marzano to Schmoker to Reeves advocate that schools condense and prioritize their curriculum to focus on power standards that have leverage and endurance, and make students ready for the next grade level. If a test tries to measure too many different standards, the number of items per standard will be too small to offer a valid measure of whether students have actually mastered the knowledge and skill described by the standard.
Second, instructionally sensitive tests are based on learning targets that are clearly defined. Teachers and students alike must be absolutely clear about the specific knowledge and skill that each of these prioritized standards is meant to describe, so that test items can match those skills accurately. If a test tries to measure a standard that is too broad and vague, teachers and students are unlikely to be prepared for the various ways the items associated with that standard might be presented.
Third, performance reports for instructionally sensitive tests must generate data that shows exactly how each student performed relative to each curricular aim. This requirement breaks test results down so that a student (and his teacher) can see exactly what the student knows and is able to do relative to the learning targets the test was meant to measure. If a test does not give this per-student/per-standard feedback, it is extremely difficult to determine what a student has actually learned or the extent to which a teacher has successfully taught the material.
Finally, each item of the assessment must be carefully constructed to ensure that a student’s cultural/socio-economic background or natural aptitude can’t give him an advantage in answering the question correctly. If he could, then the test item doesn’t measure the teacher’s impact on student learning, but rather other factors separate from what has actually happened in the classroom.
Most standardized assessments fail to exhibit one or more of these characteristics that would make the test a consistently valid measure of student learning and teacher performance. Some tests are better than others, of course, and do provide per-student/per-curricular aim reports, and others are carefully analyzed for item bias based on socio-economic or aptitude variables. But no standardized assessment I know of is based on a prioritized curriculum or crystal-clear descriptions of learning targets.
Regent Cashin and Regent Rosa, Thank you for your courageous and very thoughtful words. Your unique positions of leadership come with much responsibility, and it is encouraging to realize wisdom still exists in Albany. I hope your position and influence will begin to create the changes needed to reclaim our public schools. I also hope more Regents will join you in making their thoughts available to us via Diane’s blog.
Thank you, Regent Cashin!
How many Regents, Board of Education members, superintendents, principals, teachers, parents, scholars, statistical associations, etc. will have to speak out against the misuse of standardized testing before our legislators STAND UP to our governor? The continued misuse of 3-8 testing leads to a diminished emphasis on science, art, music, history, and other subjects. In ELA and math classes, it too often leads to a single-minded focus on “getting students to pass the tests,” an undertaking that is at odds with both creativity and critical thinking. (I say this as an ELA teacher myself.) In addition, it perpetuates the outrageous stream of tax dollars flowing into the bank accounts of the corporations that benefit from mandated testing (testing, it should be noted, that provides no useful information about a student’s strengths and weaknesses). The tests, which are designed for broad failure, are meant to vilify teachers, weaken local BOE control, close public schools, and increase the role of for-profit education in this country.
Parents may not have the money to lobby politicians in the same manner as Pearson, hedge fund investors, et al., but we do have the power to make choices about our children’s educations. In large numbers, we DO have the power to change this!
To JC
Here is a quote for you to remember to be proud of being AMERICAN = democracy
“On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, “The WORLD must be made SAFE for DEMOCRACY.”
JC, which point out of the 8 points, as follows that seemS to bother you to make an inquiry to PR person at the Board of Regents? Don’t you think highly of Regent Cashin’s GOLDEN words and experiences? Please wake up to smell coffee.
I am neither educator nor parent of children in K-12. However, I am a conscientious citizen who would go extra mile to protect American Public Education at all cost include my selfish-happiness and my life.
Please remember that Hitler, Mussolini, and Japanese emperor would transform this North America into a hellish lab of slavery ONLY IF Americans have not had HONESTY, COURAGE, COMPASSION, and WISDOM.
Most of all, without the belief in Americans (people), NOT GOVERNMENT, I would not even consider to risk my life in ocean to reach out for the Statue of Liberty in NYC in the late 20th century. Back2basic
1) It is axiomatic in the field of testing that tests should be used only for the purpose for which they were designed.
2) They were designed to measure student performance, not teacher effectiveness.
3) The American Statistical Association, the National Academy of Education, and the American Educational Research Association have cautioned that student tests should not be used to evaluate individual teachers.
4) Nor should these tests be used for student growth measures until there is clear evidence that they are valid and reliable.
5) The Board of Regents should commission an independent evaluation of these tests to verify their reliability and validity before they are used for high-stakes purposes for students, teachers, principals, and schools.
6) How can we criticize people for opting out when the tests have not been verified?
7) We need to cease and desist in the use of these tests until such time as we can be confident of their reliability and validity.
8) If tests do meet those criteria, the tests must be released to teachers and to the public after they are given, in the spirit of TRANSPARENCY and ACCOUNTABILITY.”
Seriously? I was just trying to verify the statement prior to sharing. I wholeheartedly agree with Cashin’s position. I don’t know her personally and simply called the pn on her contact information as posted by the Board. Get a grip.
JC, I’m glad you are interested in validating information before passing it on.
Are you new around these parts JC? (Said with a Texas drawl);)
God bless you Regent Cashin–it takes courage to put yourself in a position which can potentially leave you exposed to the big money juggernaut that is promoting educational privatization–another unproven policy initiative that is simply taken on faith to represent reform. There is always a need to improve public education–but the leadrs of NY State’s Board of Regents has promoted a “crisis” that does not exist. Public education is critical to our nation’s future.
We needed some good news after this week in Albany….
I rememebr being at a ceremony a couple of years ago at which Regent Cashin was the recipient of an award. She posed a question: “What is the most important quality a person needs if they want to bring about change?” Her answer was “courage.”
She is a woman of her word.
To JC:
My experience will tell me that Dr. Ravitch with 17 millions + viewers and Dr. Cashin’ s current Regent position are more trusting enough for anyone to pass or inform others about the info of this thread.
If you are cautious because your reputation or fear of reprisal is more weight than the integrity of both Dr. Ravitch and Dr. Cashin, then your full name and position should appear. Otherwise, your inquiry comes across as “smug” and arrogant to other readers, like me. In other word, your excuse is very weak. Back2basic
Dr. Cashin thank you thank you thank you!
clear. to the point. And no nonsense. Thank you Dr. Cashin for calling them the way you see them…. It was a honor to work with you in NYC… and an honor to hear your commentary…
Thanks for having the guts to be honest about the tests, and for being mindful of the fact of their true purpose: as a diagnostic tool for students, not as a means to punish teachers!!!
Thank you Dr. Cushin. I appreciate your statement as a teacher and a parent. Please keep advocating for our children.
Thank you, Regents Cashin and Rosa, for taking a stand for our children and our teachers. PLEASE enlist the support of the 4 new Regents, and perhaps Regent Tilles would join you as well. You are finally some reason to be hopeful that the thousands of parents of parents who are refusing testing abusive to their children and punitive to their teachers, are being heard and respected.
While many of us take this at face value, there has been at least one friend of mine that is asking for verification. (This person has been silent about the whole issue until now.) this MUST get out to the general public and it must get out LOUDLY!!
I wrote to all 17 Regents – only Regent Cashin replied – thank you Regent Cashin!
Now that all 17 Regents have had time to read the bill they must all stand up and support refusing the test. Cuomo and the legislature cannot turn it around. Time is running out. The Regents must stand up or we must do everything we can to get rid of them.
Thank you Regent Cashin.
Reblogged this on Confessions of a Pop Culture Fanatic.
Thank you Dr. Cashin for supporting the teachers of the NYC school system. It is unfortunnate that the people making the decisions are not educators.
I totally agree with your opinion of the unfair use of student’s Common Core test results to evaluate a Teacher or Principals effectiveness.