Will Richardson has his own blog, where he writes about many topics, especially technology.
I invited him to write for us, and he graciously consented.
Will Richardson writes:
Last week I had the opportunity to work with a group of teachers and administrators in a state that is supposedly leading the way in education “reform” here in the US. It’s a state where schools are getting letter grades, where teachers are being assessed in large measure by results of student tests, and where not surprisingly, educators at the ground level are not given a very large voice in the conversation.
Two things struck me in my discussions with them over those two days. First, despite the barriers, these 100 or so educators were more than willing to tackle the conversation around what now needs to happen in classrooms and schools now that we have access to so much information and knowledge and so many teachers through the devices we carry around in our pockets. Almost all agreed that we urgently need to begin to redefine the value of schools and rethink what relevant learning looks like if we are to fully prepare our students for this new world of learning that the Web is creating on a global scale. Their excitement and energy were palpable
But what struck me even more was this: their appetite for that change conversation is being driven in no small measure by their sincere frustration with what the state is imposing in their classrooms. Frequently, teachers spoke of their inability to take risks, to be creative in their practice, or to deviate from the script for fear that results on statewide assessments would regress. One teacher told me that when administrators visited her classroom, the expectation was that she should be teaching the same topic in the same way at the same time as all of her colleagues who were teaching other sections of that class. Another said that regular weekly objective assessments to measure “progress” were raising her kids’ stress levels “through the roof” as well as her own. Lesson plan titles reflect the day of the school year (as in “Day 47”) rather than the unit or goal of the lesson. And more.
Some of the administrators I spoke with expressed concern that many excellent veteran teachers are choosing to retire rather than deal with the new expectations. One actually said that he counseled his son to pursue a career outside of education given the new realities of the evaluation system and its after-effects. And almost all of them said they felt hamstrung by the ever narrowing measures that the state was placing on “learning.”
But here might be the most troubling piece: according to most of the folks I talked to, parents, by and large, just want the scores. Policy makers and corporate reformers have done a great job of convincing the public that the tests tell all, that if a school gets a “D” by some formula that didn’t exist a year ago, that means the kids in that school aren’t learning much. And if their kids don’t do well on the tests, it’s their teacher’s fault.
We have many battles to fight if we’re to build an effective counter narrative to the “reforms” that seem to be currently in vogue across the country. I’m becoming more and more convinced, however, that until we articulate a message for parents that can scale, one that can convince them that their children need much more than the tests are measuring and that there is a lot more to “learning” than just numbers on a scorecard, we’re going to have a very difficult time gaining a voice in the “reform” space.
(Will Richardson blogs at willrichardson.com, Tweets @willrich45, and is the author of the just released “Why School? How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere.” Details at whyschoolbook.com.)
Isn’t all of this testing child abuse?
Time For “Testing As Child Abuse Suits” to Fill the Nation’s Courts
from California Progress Report
“A tragedy is quietly taking place in America’s public schools that represent an important opportunity for America’s lawyers to advance the cause of equity and justice. All over the nation, with the support of both major parties, schools systems are now requiring that teachers and administrators be evaluated on the basis of student test scores, with their jobs placed in jeopardy if the scores do not reach a certain level.
To implement these protocols, the number of standardized tests being administered in schools is being ratcheted up to unprecedented proportions, with some systems testing student in every grade and every subject. Worse yet, these tests are being applied across the board, with no exemptions given to special needs students and English Language Learners, and severe consequences attached to students who don’t pass them, as well as the teachers and administrators who work with them.”
http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/time-testing-child-abuse-suits-fill-nations-courts
I am re-posting a comment from another public blog for parents & teachers in Chicago that is relevant. This teacher explains how the district’s emphasis on multiple assessments for kindergartners overlap and interfere with her teaching.
My biggest issue with high stakes testing right now in CPS for early primary is the sheer number of tests, how long these tests take and that the information the tests provide overlap making them redundant. The test also do not accurately measure ESL learners.
In K at my school, we give:
NWEA
Reach performance assessment
TRC
Dibels
Mclass
The information we get in NWEA covers much of what is done in Dibels and Mclass. (according to the conflicting emails I get from central office every other day about which tests we are giving)
As well, on Dibels and Mclass, kids must be “progress monitored”. In my school it works like this:
If a kid is on green (proficient) they are progress monitored one time between benchmarks assessments. That is no problem. If a kid is on yellow (some risk), they must be progress monitored once every 4 weeks between benchmarks. If a kid is on red (high risk) they must be monitored every 2 weeks. If a kid is on RTI, they must be retested every.single.week. without fail, the entire period between benchmarks. (at least at my school).
Last year, I had 27 kids. 7 were RTI. A few others were “red”. A few more were yellow. I was “progress monitoring” every single day.
Today I did TRC’s. These are like running records, or reading tests. I have several children who speak little to no English. These tests do not measure the reading ability or lack thereof of these students. My kids don’t even know what they are answering. Yet I must give them anyway.
For NWEA, kids with an AXIS score (I think that’s the acronym–its is an ESL test)–oh one more test I forgot about–of less than 3.5 are not really even supposed to be taking the NWEA tests, yet the district mandates them to do so.
Diane, question:
What would you recommend those of us who are interested in combating the GERM do? You noted in an earlier comment this morning that you prefer writing articles, books, and blogging to writing letters to the editor. However, for those of us who don’t have the name recognition and work history to have books or articles published, what else would you suggest?
Right now, I primarily focus on talking about progressive ed reform in person when people talk badly about public schools, as well as writing letters to elected officials and to newspaper editors. I’m also studying to become a public school teacher (I taught preschool in a non-profit last year).
Someone asked me to write a letter to the editor. I don’t do that.
But not everyone has the access that I have–a place to blog, etc.
So, yes, write letters to the editor. Do it as often as you have time.
The lies pile up and they must be constantly confronted.
The reformers pay people to do it.
I can certainly attest that parents have bought into the testing mania. When I visited our local public school (which tops out at third grade, mind, and then kids go to a different public school), the principal (who was in her first year) was gushing over the fact that her school had the highest test scores in the district* and that kids were transferring in from all over the district (meaning that class sizes were in the forties). She was very proud of how many tests the kids are given and the “rigorous” test preparation the school provides. She was completely baffled at my look of horror, as apparently to most parents these are selling points. Our neighbors always brag about what great test scores their kids get.
* I had talked with the outgoing principal of that school the year before and she wasn’t nearly as enamored with the whole testing thing. She pointed out that the school is located near a main thoroughfare with quarter million dollar+ homes, whereas other schools in the district draw more from the $500/month apartment blocks, which just might have something to do with the higher test scores, ya think?
Will – nice to hear your voice here. Yes, parents have been brainwashed into looking almost exclusively at test scores. Sadly, it is spreading to teachers in classrooms, too. The complaints you heard from teachers are typical – everywhere. It’s why I left.
Thanks for showing up here, Will. I’ve enjoyed each and every one of your seminars that I’ve attended at various technology conferences. We live in perilous times… Times in which we need to “up the rigor.”
I read what Mark Ahiness wrote, but I disagree. Teachers are fuming about the increased rigor of ridiculous and inappropriate tests. What’s new, however, is that parents are finally beginning to catch on. When they join the fight in force, the tide will turn and the bizarre pendulum ride we’ve been on for 15 years will finally begin its return to the station.
Thom, I agree that teachers are fuming. I have devoted the past 18 years of my teaching career to pushing the rigor of the tech envelope.
But when you say “parents are finally beginning to catch on”, I disagree. From where I sit, the brainwashing is almost complete. Parents have no idea what’s going on. The enlightened (relative) few parents who read this and other like-minded online forums are in the extreme minority in this country right now.
Many talk about teacher voices not having a focused, organized voice, but we teachers are miles ahead of any kind of organized and influential parent group speaking out against the reform insanity.
We should abandon the term “reform” and use “reformat”… because the major change we should be making is to move away from aggregate letter grades for schools based on standardized tests toward personalized education plans for each student. Most parents I’ve worked with over the years tend to rate their school based on their child’s personal experience at that school. This could be the basis for emphasizing personalization.
I was at a back to school night recently, listening to a amazingly progressive English teacher talk about a much more effective way of doing vocabulary, and all the parents wanted to know was “where’s the list?”
I don’t blame parents. I do, however, think parents need to be educated.