This Ed school Professor, Tom Slekar, is not silent. He blogs, makes satirical videos, has a radio program (The Chalkface). He even ran for school board in his town in Pennsylvania. And he is leading the fight against high-stakes testing.
Slekar has called on his colleagues to join him on the barricades.
Read this post for more information about Tim.
Slekar writes:
Parents get ready for new tests this school year.
Pennsylvania is rolling out the new Keystone exams (the Keystones will take the place of the PSSAs).
All of Pennsylvania’s 11th graders will be required to take Keystones (high-stakes standardized tests) in algebra, literature and biology.
Great. New tests to replace the old tests.
And why has Pennsylvania decided to get new high-stakes tests?
According to the spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Education Tim Eller, “We have heard from the higher education community and business community that students are not graduating with the skills needed to enter the workforce. These exams are raised to the level of what’s needed to ensure that students are meeting certain requirements before they leave school.”
First, what qualifications does a spokesman for the DOE have that permits him to make such a broad statement about testing?
Second, the above quote is total garbage. Being in the higher education community, I can tell you for a fact that most college professors do not want more high-stakes testing. In fact, we want it to stop.
Students aren’t coming to college unprepared because they didn’t have the right test. They come to college unprepared because of tests. They don’t have workforce skills because of tests.
High-stakes tests and the perverted notion that we can test students into proficiency are the real problem.
We also know (but for some reason “qualified” people at the Pennsylvania DOE don’t know) that the last 10 years has been a disaster for students.
Testing has essentially denied a generation of children a quality and equitable education rich in all academic areas. Testing and test preparation are the problems.
The new Keystone exams will do nothing to better prepare students for college and the workforce.
You don’t need test-taking skills to thrive in college and the workplace. You need to be able to think and you need to be able to learn – two things standardized tests don’t and will never measure.
Parents, please save your children from this new disaster by opting out.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
http://nepc.colorado.edu/newsletter/2012/09/options-Teacher-eval
FYI. Just received this, and it backs up what we in education already know. Time to stop the testing madness and take back education. We need to bring back practices that support true learning and thinking.
LikeLike
Love to see people in Schools of Education taking on this fight. Thank you, Tim Slekar. Wish we could be so lucky in Chicago that new tests replace old ones. We just pile them on. Imagine the greater uproar we would have had during the Chicago strike if we’d waited until we’d all experienced this year’s testing schedule which increases the amount of new testing by 30%. It’s time for classroom teachers to start speaking up.
LikeLike
With all due respect to teachers–I’ve been hearing whispered rumblings from educators for at least 8 years (since my oldest entered public schools) that teachers knew/know these tests are a load of crap. Teachers SHOULD have been speaking up louder a long time ago. Look what silence/fear/going-along/intimidation has resulted in for a generation of our children. Instead of hearing whispered, whimpy rumblings, parents should have been hearing forceful denunciations of these useless tests a long time ago. Parents are not in the classroom every day. Parents have no idea how bad these tests are unless teachers make them aware. At least where I live (Connecticut), that wasn’t the case. In fact, the few times I’ve tried to bring up the subject in the past I got averted eyes and a changing of the subject. I get it–this is your livelihood and you have administration to worry about. But these are our KIDS we’re talking about here. Water under the bridge now, I suppose. But now is the time to make up for lost time. Now is the time to speak up forcefully and DEMAND a change to better practices. And if your unions aren’t supporting you in this THEY SHOULD BE. Union management works for YOU. If they aren’t leading the fight in this, hold them accountable!
LikeLike
My duaghter’s kindergarten class just took the Measures of Academic Progress tests (MAPS) by NWEA today on the computer while she put a puzzle together and played an interactive game on an IPAD instead. Although it’s not a state mandated test, opting her out of the MAPS was good practice for opting her out of the new state mandated test that all the kindergarten kids are supposed to take called PALS. Although Wisconsin has no opt out provision, she will not be taking that one either.
LikeLike