Another one of those zany testing stories.
In California, the staff gets the kids all excited about doing well on the state tests. They ave pep rallies, pizza parties, motivational assemblies, prizes, and anything else that might encourage the students to do their best.
But here is the odd part. The tests have no stakes for the students. Their purpose is to evaluate teachers, principals, and schools. The kids have no skin in the game.
Al Shanker used to say about merit pay (I heard him say it): “Let me get this right. The kids will work harder so the teachers can get a bonus? How does that work?”
In California, the kids have it in their power to fire their teachers and close their school, should they choose to do so. Is this a crazy country or what?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Yes, this country is crazy. Make those who love testing take those tests, every single one of them.
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My own take on this subject:
http://sanleandro.patch.com/articles/students-anesthetized-not-traumatized-by-api-tests
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excellent post. My experience is closer to your’s but that other world exists. Here’s my take:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-thompson/dc-schools-have-you-no-sh_b_3179121.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications
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Unfortunately, in Tennessee, these tests are now worth a portion of their final grade. 15-percent I believe. So if they boycott, they risk dropping a full letter grade or more.
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I’m not fond of stakes for either the student or the teacher, but if there are stakes for the teacher, there have to be stakes for the student. If anything, that’s how we’re going to get rid of testing, when too many little snowflakes are being held back or getting bad grades or whatever.
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Grades can and will be manipulated to either discount or play up the test scores. How can you justify giving that much weight to a test unless it is exactly aligned to what the students learned. Even then, it isn’t about number right and wrong, but about comparing students.
The abuse of numbers that is currently rampant in education shows why kids should learn about how numbers work. If they don’t, people will continually dupe them with bogus statistics and manipulations.
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didn’t we play into their hands with that sort of argument? Besides, our job is to protect our students, not have them share in our pain.
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Precisely. And I don’t think our job is to protect students but to prepare them. Snowflakiness is the basis of our current crisis — we “progressed” from “everyone gets a prize” to the logical next step of “everyone gets a mortgage.”
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It’s 25% in my district.
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I could easily make sure that the students had at least a 15% buffer that could absorb a 15% loss. Grades, like standardized tests are pure bullshit.
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Indeed. I remember taking the Pennsylvania standardized test in 1997. They marched all the 11th graders off to a separate building, to take a week-long test which we knew had nothing to do with our studies and wouldn’t help us get better or teach us anything. I remember taking one look at that POS test, closing the test booklet, and going back to studying for my actual education. I think out of boredom I later wrote an essay belittling the test within the test booklet.
I knew it was a joke, my classmates knew it was a joke, and my teachers knew it was a joke. I got my results in the mail (they didn’t count for anything else), and I was in the 30th percentile. I was in the 99th percentile on the SATs, but was below proficient on the standardized test. We need to wonder if students are rated as incompetent by Rhee, etc. because the really are that stupid, or because they’re smart enough (even in 11th grade) to know there’s more to education than these corporate tests.
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Seriously, it was called the POS test? At least it was aptly named.
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No, I just wrote that ’cause I thought it was a POS.
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Careful, Moose, you’re might be considered “unprofessional” for talking like that-ha ha!!
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Moose, your story is quite universal!
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I will now channel a member of the finance committee (usually comprised of the most fiscally conservative members of the community in New England towns) and ask: “Do you mean to tell me that my property taxes are paying for a pizza party for kids so that teachers get more money?”
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A lot of times pizza parties are paid for by fund raising or out of pocket. I recently dropped over $75 for a pizza party for ONE of my six classes. Could I have gotten my school to pay for it?
Let’s just put it this way. I BOUGHT chalkboards to put in my class because there never seemed to be enough money to buy whiteboard markers ( starts to add up quick). For three of my seven years of teaching I did not have a projector( the old one lasted a year) because “there was not enough money. ” I did not have a working computer for two years because, “there was not enough money.” I used my own.
Even if there is enough money ,the paperwork and hoops to jump through are such a pain and take so long that It is not worth it for $20 here or $30 there.
Unfortunately, these $20 and $30 here and there add up quick. One year I figured I spent between $100 to $200 per month – and I was not the only one. Many teachers did ( do) what I did (do), especially the special ed teachers.
Sometimes I wish the public really knew what happens in education. Private money going to pay for public education and in some cases teachers caring more about the kids than the parents. We live in sad times.
Two years ago I sent out a list of supplies that would be need for the class. Not supplies FOR my classroom, but rather supplies the kids will need to do their science homework: colored pencils, metric ruler, tape and glue. All total it was about $4 worth if you went to a Dollar Store. As a matter of fact I also sent out a letter stating where these supplies could be obtained and listed at least three dollar stores in the area. I was stunned at the backlash I got from parents. Many went out of there way to drive up to the school and precoded to tell me how they cannot buy the supplies.
Who do you think bought supplies for children so they can do their homework at home?
Meanwhile teachers are being blamed for being greedy, even though we are paid significantly less than the public believes. Politicians all the way up to the Commander in Chief seem to be out to completely decimate the profession of teaching……and I could go on and on and on about the massive amount of disrespect …but I have a ton of papers to grade. I will wind up taking these home and spending another two hours at home grading papers like I do damn near every night. Why do I do this you ask? Because I refuse to teach to the test and use the lowest level of Blooms to teach my kids. That is the easy way out. Instead I spend my own money and my own time to ensure that other people’s children love science and actually want to learn it. They tend to score better that way too. Like I said earlier, I wish the public REALLY knew what goes on in education.
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Bob,
You’ve been played for a sucker then (as have so many teachers, myself included). Give the students the resources that the district is willing to pay for. Let the parents know that the district isn’t willing to pay for what is truly needed. And yes those whiteboard markers are extremely expensive when one goes through a dozen a month like I do (I like to have students write on the board for a variety of reasons). I long for a chalk board again, not to mention I’d rather breathe in chalk dust rather than the crap that comes off the markers.
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Hi Bob,
Totally feel you, my friend.
I am a science teacher at a low SES school who has had her budget for supplies cut so much I now run labs out of my own pocket and Kroger. Can only occasionally afford Wards/Carolina, etc.
I buy white board markers and really miss chalk, like Duane said.
But like I keep saying…
There is always money for common core meetings, books by Marzano to hand out to the teachers (sigh), tests, tests and more tests and don’t get me started on the yet another database I have to sign in to ….Yep. No money worries there.
Hang in there.
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Bob the Science Guy, Duane Swacker, Ang: this blog is rich in discussion about education policy and the ins and outs of testing and the latest pernicious foolishness by the upholders of the ed status quo and the like. Sometimes we forget to say something as simple as “thank you” or “muchísimas gracias.”
I know I speak for many that visit this blog. From the bottom of my heart, know how much so many of us appreciate you for doing what so many teachers have done—and are doing—over and over and over again. And it often goes far beyond school supplies.
It reminds me of the redoubtable Ms. Barbara Pene, an elementary school teacher I worked with long ago who quietly and without fanfare paid for meals and clothes [and who knows how many other things?] for the most desperately poor and deprived of her students out of her own pocket. I well remember how school staff admiringly spoke of this short and stout woman who couldn’t get around without her cane, standing up to a very abusive and threatening father who had terrified the rest of the school staff [administrators on down]. She backed the bully parent down—he was no longer going to be abusive to his son, starve him into obedience, and send him to school in dirty smelly clothes. As long as that child attended school she made sure [whether he was in her classroom or not) that the had clean clothes, ate two meals, and was well treated at home. Period. That’s the kind of ‘no excuses’ a real teacher talks about and practices.
Courage comes in all sizes, shapes and forms. And so does generosity.
“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” [Mother Teresa]
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I spent over $2,400 this year for vital teaching supplies. My district’s allocation for such supplies is 1/10 of this.
I can write a tiny fraction of my expenditures off.
I get no letter of commendation, no recognition for it, but I do get to teach my students properly.
It is sickening considering how much the “government” I pay taxes to spends on offshore tax havens, standardized testing and data collection services, tax cuts for the rich, bailing out Wall Street, and democratizing Afghanistan and Iraq.
I could go on, but I have to get to work . . . .
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Hi Krazy!
Three cheers for Ms Pene!
Thank you for sharing her story and for your support.
They matter very much.
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I used my own projector for several years and also covered my chalkboard with white plastic sheets (I had developed an allergy to chalk) for over 5 years before these items were finally included in the school budget. However, I do not view myself as a “sucker”– I knew exactly what I was doing in making my job easier and my performance more effective. For ME the trade-off was worth it. To each his own. Let’s not get into name-calling, Duane.
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Personally, I refuse to tell my students that it affects me in any way. It is almost like begging them. Our admin, however, does trot out all of those reasons that the kids should care. Bottom line, they don’t, so what would be less than stellar scores are even worse than they would be on a day when everyone was motivated.
Contrast this to a higher SES and the students are more self-motivated, want to do well to show what they can do, etc.
The bribes, parties, pep rallies, and whatever else just kind of makes me sick. If you have to bribe someone to try on a test, you probably shouldn’t be giving it.
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Would you say awarding points towards grades (which determine graduation and post graduation possibilities) count as a bribe?
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Not a bribe. A threat.
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That might be a better characterization, thought the differences can seem small at times.
Would poster Wilbert’s sick feeling disappear if students were threatened rather than being bribed to try on the tests? Would the statement that if you have to threaten someone to try on a test, you probably should be giving it be true?
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Effin A it does, TE!!
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AMEN. Bribes, parties, pep rallies, contests for testing are all really dumb and a waste of time and resources.
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High schools in my area have done something kind of clever and I think effective for everyone, which is that a good score on the test is worth extra credit. If you score proficient or advanced, your grade will increase by one letter grade. If you do not, there’s no penalty.
It makes the whole thing seem a lot less pointless and makes it more festive… you can only improve, and kids actually were studying for it.
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Wow how fair is that for the lower tier students who will never score in those categories. Sounds really foolish.
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Your grade is supposed to be about mastery of the material.
This strategy provides another, zero-risk, extra credit way, to demonstrate mastery of the material. It’s a second chance for kids who maybe didn’t turn in their homework on time or who flubbed an exam or quiz.
It doesn’t take anything away from anyone.
If they haven’t mastered the material, they’re not supposed to get a good grade. That’s how school works.
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My reaction is the opposite of poster DeeDee. I think this gives students an alternative way to show how well they have mastered the class material, and that seems like a good thing.
I don’t think this is any less fair to lower tier students than any grading scheme.
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Yep, those at the top get more and more and more and more! How equitable and just that is, eh!! Utter bullshit these incentives!!
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I don’t see how you can avoid the conclusion that this is really bad policy.
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Yep.
And yet those in charge seem to have successfully avoided this conclusion.
Can’t quite put my finger on their motivation ?
Humm…
Ideas?
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Wouldn’t have anything to do mammon would it?
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Our students in Providence do care. Yesterday, they gave their own State of Education speech. There are some really great kids involved. http://youtu.be/TKcUfk58Uoo
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Starting next year in Utah, our evaluations MUST include student and parent surveys. Yesterday the students had to take a preliminary survey on the counselors. It took us 15 or 20 minutes to take the kids to the computer lab, do the survey and return to class. Several of the kids asked me if it their names were included. When told no, several of them said they were going to mark either “agree” on everything or “disagree” on everything. And my evaluation will be based on that? And don’t even get me started on trying to get parent surveys back…basing our evaluations on test scores, surveys, or anything else that teachers cannot control is ridiculous.
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It is ridiculous and insane. How did it happen? Weren’t teachers already accountable before NCLB?
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Nah. Didn’t you know, Harlan? If you could write the date on the board and say your ABCs, you could get a teaching job pre-NCLB.
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I didn’t know this. So it must be irony on your part. And to what end? What’s your point? In fact, I never encountered a truly irresponsible or incompetent teacher in all my education except for the shop teacher who used to leave the classroom and the kids to chat and horse around and learn nothing, even the smart kids. Where he went I don’t know, but the rumor was he was listening to baseball on the radio with the janitor in the boiler room.
On the other hand, my son encountered a true incompetent in 3rd grade who sent him to the library every day for a year, a dried up old stick of an authoritarian in 5th, and a hail fellow well met in 6th grade who didn’t know as much as my son did by that time. It was not what my wife and I expected from the public schools in a good district, but there it was. What had changed? Politically correct hiring. So when I hear about good, kindly teachers, I tend to be somewhat skeptical. Even more skeptical about intellectually capable teachers. If we had had our wits about us, we would have home schooled him or sent him to the Catholic school a block from our house.
What we discovered was that you just couldn’t DEPEND on the quality of the public schools after the 1960’s and I guess one still can’t. This privatization drive is NOT fueled entirely by the greed of the charter operators. It is fueled by parental dissatisfaction. It may be a bad thing ultimately, but the public schools have lost their credibility, though not, first hand serving their clientele quite well) and vouchers prospectively.
For true public school reform, teachers must FIRST accept that most of the trouble comes from within themselves from what they have tolerated and enjoyed, rather than from outside. It’s a bit like reforming a church. If the lay congregations AND the priests, AND the Pope, don’t get it, you open the door to Martin Luther. That’s what the debate on this blog site resembles to me.
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Hi Harlan,
I am going to bite…
I will assume good will on your part.
In order to get my teaching certificate (Before NCLB) I had to…
Graduate from an accredited college with enough credit hours in the subject I intended to teach (at least a minor).
Have at least a B over all avg.
Pass a state wide standardized test in my subject area.
Take and pass various education courses (how to teach type classes, history of ed, child/adolescent development classes, etc.)
Successfully complete a student teaching experience.
When I became a teacher, I was evaluated numerous times a year by my dept. chair, other dept. chairs and all 4 administrators. This involved them sitting in my class and watching me teach for at least 20 min. at a time. They then filled out a long detailed form and gave me a copy.
I was also answerable to the parents of my students, who could have filed complaints with the school and or the district if they so desired.
So, YES, sir. We have always been accountable.
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Ang, you had to do all those things, and in properly run schools there was accountability. Even so, all those requirements leave a large space for variability. I’m not sure what an undergraduate English major looks like these days, but in my day one had to read ALL of Shakespeare, much of Chaucer, and much of Milton in separate courses, do a comprehensive History of English Literature (two semesters) and then take a couple of more period courses plus a cognate. So the term “major” seems to me to tell one utterly nothing about one’s actual preparation in a non-science subject.
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I’m not sure what you mean by “What had changed? Politically correct hiring.”
Huge changes in employment opportunities for women had much to do with the fact that few graduates of top (most competitive) colleges and universities taught in our high schools anymore after the mid-1970s.
I graduated from Brandeis in 1983 (major in English and American Literature, minor in secondary education– all you mention plus 2 linguistics courses taught by MIT PhDs under my belt). I believe there were about 5 other students in a class of about 650 who planned to become secondary school educators. The number may well be fewer today!
In all the years since then I have volunteered to have a Brandeis student job-shadow me, or to mentor a prospective HS teacher. Never been taken up on it, and I teach in southern NH, only about 90 mins from my alma mater..
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Penny Culliton, is the implication of what you past that the bulk of current public school teachers are ignorant, because they didn’t have a good education like yours?
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Standardized tests don’t count towards the students grade in New Jersey either but teachers’ jobs will be determined by them anyway. It’s great that adults livelihoods will now be determined by children with no skin in the game.
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This is what I worry about in Florida with the “merit” pay law’s requirement for end-of-course exams for subjects not covered by the state exams. Will these scores be factored into students’ grades, or will it not count at all?
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“It’s just like in athletes,” McCowan said. “If the goal is scoring a touchdown, you focus on scoring a touchdown. We do focus on what the state says a student should know.” (from page 2 of the article)
If the principal thinks of education like this, there is little hope.
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Should school be thought of as more like a 100m dash for people with no sense of direction?
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=bYvbaqfq9mI&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DbYvbaqfq9mI
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Read Wilson for vignettes on racing and standards. See: “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error” found at:
http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/577/700
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