This parent posted a comment expressing her outrage about tests that no child passed. She was told to “shut up.” Aside from the fact that this is rude language, it’s bad advice. Parents should speak up. They should organize. Alone, they are powerless. When they organize, like the parents in Texas who created Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment, they can turn a whole state around.
She writes:
“My first grader failed a 72 question benchmark test as did the ENTIRE FIRST GRADE. I begged for something to be done about all the testing. I begged for them to make any testing to be age appropriate. I begged for someone…anyone…to do something about all this RIDICULOUS testing that our children are enduring! I went through the appropriate channels, followed protocol, spoke with teachers, administrators, parents. I was asked to speak to our Assistant Superintendent regarding how I felt. I did my research and I spoke to her based on what I am living on a daily basis with my child. Of course I got some speech about how we are right on target and the manner in which we test in definitely appropriate. So I questioned then why are all the 5-6 year olds in our school district stupid if the testing is so appropriate! No answer. At the beginning of the following year, I was called to the BOE office and was told by my child’s principal and the Assistant Superintendent that I needed to “shut up.” I was told that parents in our community listen to my opinion and that I need to “shut up.” Not once, not twice, but three times…”shut up.”
“So if you think teachers are the only ones getting “reprimanded” for standing up for the rights of children…you are wrong…even parents are not entitled to their opinions regarding their own children because of the ALMIGHTY TEST SCORE!!! IT IS INSANE!!!”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Would love to know which school system responsible for this awful behavior … who we can register our voice of distain. … Avi Poster
This was my first thought as well.
Wow. What does this response to a parent say about the hypocrisy of privatizers’ insisting they want to “empower” parents?
It’s all a lie.
They want parents to go along with privatization wishes.
And to this parent: Never, never “shut up.”
Whatever “they” say, please do not “shut up.” We all need you to keep asking.
Thank you,
An Educator in Florida
Please keep speaking up. All this nonsense won’t go away unless we all speak up.
Thank you to this parent for speaking up. I’m sure it wasn’t easy to listen to the rhetoric you were told. And saying “shut up” to someone is totally unacceptable. I think the use of “shut up” is very disrespectful. I never said it as a teacher, and I don’t find it acceptable by administrators. I wish more parents would join you and complain about the overuse of testing. Parents have so much more power than teachers.
Just like a dictatorial state. We cannot thrive without questioning authority and voicing our concerns. It’s a contagion, too. My mother-in-law’s home tells my wife to shut up (in so many words) or they’ll throw out her mom. Businesses do the same thing, Local to national politicians to the same. It’s like a cancer. Please keep up the fight!!
Yes, keep speaking up! Absolutely impt–find other parents to speak up with you. Instiutions, org’s of all kinds, ignore individuals no matter how “appropriate” or “legitimate” their claims. Only a determined group of parents working with disaffected teachers can overcome arrogance and detachment of the authorities. Compare how timid the school org’s were in kowtowing to Coleman’s CC with what’s happening at ground level when parents complain about the violence and irrationality of the high-stakes CC testing. On Mt. Olympus, the heads of unions and prof’l bodies bow before the testers and privatizers only begging to “slow it down.” Fear or self-interest or just plain clueless?
I write not only from the perspective of an educator, but also as a grandmother of a wonderful 3 year old boy, that no parent should ever be told to shut up. It actually may be illegal for hired school personnel to say that to a parent. Despite Parent Revolution and Parent Trigger in my state, parents are their children’s first teachers, and 5 – 6 year olds being so diverse in their early learning would obviously offer widely disparate results in standardized tests.
This whole system is such a mess that I, and so many others, cannot imagine a need to rush to impose even more worthless testing such as the new Common Core. I dread what will happen in California where our Governor is taking our $1 billion of tax money as with Prop.30, and using it en toto to implement Common Core.
Jesuit Jerry has never had any children, but he has a cute little dog…so upon what does he base his unilateral decision? Sadly, I am urging my grandson’s parents to find a highly rated academic private/independent school, with a long track record of making good decisions within the framework of Early Childhood Education. Play is so important at this age, and testing, preparing for testing, is so specious.
When they tell you to “Shut Up” they are admitting they are failures as they could not answer your questions about why are they all failing. They are so stupid that that is the only answer they could think up even though you had a scheduled meeting. Their usual game is intimidation and if that does not work retribution. Never shut up when your and other childrens’ fate is at hand. Do not be intimidated especially if a lot of other parents and community look up to you for leadership as a result of your “Due Diligence” in knowing what is going on and looking for a proper “Outcome.” Obviously, your school district and leadership doesn’t have a clue or they would have never responded to you in that manner. Typical ignorance and arrogance.
Sounds like a very unfortunate situation, although it’s always difficult to know about the full story when one hears from one side (something I learned as an urban public school teacher and assistant principal).
Does this respect for parent views extend to the parents in California who signed the notice that led to a principal removal because some parents felt she was rude, and because the school’s students had not made much progress on standardized tests over several years?
As if you care…asked to shut up, spoke louder and louder and louder.
I would contact parent advocacy groups and I would also consider contacting an attorney. There may not be anything legally out of line with speaking to a parent that way – but there may be. They are trying to intimidate you – push back. Districts respond quickly to attorney letters. Write letters to the local newspapers describing your encounter. They are counting on closed doors to protect them.
“Shut up”? Perhaps the “testing jig” is up an those who support it are scared. they have invested so much $.
If more parents start to speak out bravely, as this parent has done, this insanity will cease. I applaud this parent.
I’m a teacher and I strongly suggest that you not shut up, but speak louder.
If other parents are listening to her, then there is hope for a future for the children of that school and district. Continue spreading the word!
To the parent involved: Please name names and school!
http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/op-ed_an_open_letter_to_connecticut_students/
It goes all the way to the top. This from Sarah Littman at ctnewsjunkie.com:
“Duncan, who led the Chicago schools from 2001 through 2008, was taking credit for eliminating the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. The Iowa test was used by his predecessor in Chicago, Paul Vallas (does that name ring a bell?), to retain students in 3rd, 6th and 8th grade. The Iowa test was 135 minutes of annual standardized testing
Duncan didn’t nix the Iowa test because of any great belief in over-testing, as he may have led you to believe, but rather he did it because Chicago students were moving to another test — the ISAT, or Illinois Standards Achievement Test — to conform with the provisions of No Child Left Behind.
What he neglected to mention was that “the ISAT takes longer to complete than the Iowa test, with more than twice as much time in reading, and half again as much time in mathematics,” according to the Consortium on Chicago School Research report. The consortium puts the ISATs at 240 minutes annually.
Duncan is pushing education reform based on the model he and his predecessor Vallas implemented in Chicago. “I am eager to apply some of the lessons we have learned here in Chicago, we have worked with a sense of urgency, because we can’t wait,” he said at the press conference announcing his appointment by President Barack Obama, held in front of one of his great “success” stories, Dodge Renaissance Academy. Yet, this month Chicago Public Schools announced Dodge Renaissance would be closed and reopened at another location, disrupting families and communities — again.”
http://www.wbez.org/news/education/cps-wants-close-first-renaissance-schools-107072
Every year there is a college math exam that students take called the Putnam exam. It consists of 12 problems, each scored on a 0-10 point scale, so the maximum possible score is 120. There are years where the national median score on the exam is 0. Does that make the Putnam an illegitimate measure of mathmatical ability?
Benchmark tests are supposed to test material students have learned. It’s not designed to be a competitive exam. The tests are supposed to show us where the kids need remediation. I doubt your Putnum exam was designed to be a benchmark test.
Are benchmark exams typically graded on an A-F scale?
Doesn’t matter what “scale” they are graded on, they are all still bogus unless made and used by the teacher for the teaching and learning process.
Bear in mind that these are first-graders taking this test. Standardized tests used to not be administered to children in grades k- 2 because of concerns over their validity. We are now seeing more younger children evaluated by their performance on standardized tests. There are other ways to find out what our younger students have learned that are more appropriate for them developmentally. Piaget and Gesell are rolling in their graves.
My comment was directed at the adults interpreting the scores rather than the age of the students taking the exam. It is hard to tell from the posting, but the parent has apparently mapped all scores of less than 60% into a letter grade of F. That mapping may have no more validity than saying all Putnam scores less than 72 are failed exams.
Do the test results report back why the problems were answered incorrectly?
Reporting that something was answered incorrectly is nice, but provides little basis for further instruction if you don’t know why.
I believe the committee releases examples of correct proofs eventually, but it is usually well after the exams.
I’m surprised the parent even knew about benchmark testing. We never informed our parents. It’s too hard to explain what the tests are for (they’re not a grade, they’re to satisfy someone in a suit because they never helped me plan instruction.)
Stand up on the mountain top and shout about it! Don’t EVER SHUT UP because it is YOUR child and YOUR right to demand a good public EDUCATION for them. TESTING ≠ an EDUCATION!
You are your child’s first advocate. You never shut up!
Sounds like they need to be called in.
We had a conference with our parents, we presented them with the new benchmark test results. They were not impressed, they did not want an explanation of these still being normed tests (aimsweb in our case), they wanted to know how to help their child read well and do math. They resented the fact that we were taking 1st graders and trying to teach them to touch type instead of write the alphabet, solely so they can take computerized tests. To Joe Nathan, I’d be willing to bet that the students you feign concern for will not make much progress in coming years on standardized tests. I can tell you, I’ve been involved in test construction. Here in Nevada the state Criterion Reference Test is rewritten and altered to keep the bell curve intact. Questions that too many students pass are dropped. The implicit assumption is that the “proper” distribution of scores and pass rates must be maintained. There will always be a certain percentage of students that do not pass.
Why do you doubt Joe Nathan’s concern for children and students? If I remember correctly, he taught for a number of years in an urban public school, his spouse just retired after I think 35 years teaching in urban public schools and his children all attended urban public schools. I also recall that his mother founded the Head Start program in the state of Kansas. Do you think he was just trying to establish a deep cover?
Mr. Nathan’s purported concern is belied by the fact that his organization is sponsored by those who seek to re-direct funding away from pubic schools and toward private interests.
While his sponsors hack away at public education and re-direct the funding stream to themselves, he dissembles with the typical ed deformer victimization pose, pretending to be hurt by those mean public school teachers and their supporters – “haters” in TFA-ese – who just refuse to see his and his cohort’s good intentions, while they happily accept austerity and crippling mandates for the public schools, and a laissez-faire gold rush for privateers.
He is either a dupe or a shill: either way, he deserves the reprobation he receives on this site.
My son spent most of his senior year out of his high school building, including taking a virtual class administered by K-12. That class directed resources out of the traditional public school building. Should he have been prohibited from taking the virtual class? Should he have been prohibited from taking classes at the university instead of the public high school?
40 years ago a group of us created one of the first public alternative schools – in St. Paul, Minnesota. People called us names but many kids were helped by having a more progressive, k-12 district school option. Many educators asked us to help them create new options within districts.
Al Shanker once wrote about the experience of people who tried to create options within districts. He said they would be treated like “traitors or outlaws” for daring to move outside the lockstep.” He said if they somehow succeeded they could look forward to “insecurity and outright hostility.”
27 years ago a broad group of educators, parents and community groups (including Center for School Change) helped convince the Minnesota legislature to allow high schools students to take courses on college campuses – with state funds following. Many people called us names but that program has been hugely popular, and has helped encourage many high schools to establish new cooperative programs.
20 some years ago a group of folks helped create the nation’s first chartered school law. Again, many people called names but today more than 2 million students attend such schools. Some of them are great, some not. In some places, ranging from Boston (and its district Pilot Schools) to the Forest Lake and Rochester Mn districts, the opportunity to create new charters has led some districts to be more responsive to parents.
Ten years ago the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation asked us to work with the Cincinnati District schools, to help increase graduation rates and reduce the achievement gap between white and AFrican American students. We partnered with the Cincy Federation of Teachers, the district, some great teachers and community groups. This produced major gains in graduation rates and significantly reduced the graduation gaps between whites and African American students. Some people called us names. Others decided it made sense to work together.
It apparently makes some people feel better to call others names. Nothing new.
Apple once did an ad that included the following. I send it to all who spend more time creating, less time calling others names.
“Here’s To The Crazy Ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world – are the ones who DO !”
We don’t even have to try..he always makes our point. It is all about the great Joe…always will be.
Nope it’s about the students, educators and families.
I second what Michael Fiorillo said. Mr. Nathans diversions are easily seen for what they are by all here, as are his false equivocations.
“. . . to keep the bell curve intact. Questions that too many students pass are dropped. The implicit assumption is that the “proper” distribution of scores and pass rates must be maintained.”
Yep, that good ol’ bell curve:
From whence did it come?
Why the need to describe various aspects of the world in statistical terminology?
Can we truly describe the world using this model?
Does all “true”description of world, by definition, have to be based in mathematical terms?
Does using the normal distribution curve make sense in relation to educational assessment?
Is the sample size large enough to escape the inherent limitations of using this concept as a base model in education?
Are there not “outliers” that for all logical purposes deny the legitimacy of using the normal curve for educational purposes?
Is this concept so embedded in educational thought that it has become an “educational law”?
Can the feelings of love and empathy (important ingredients to one being an effective teacher) be described using mathematical terminology?
I simply can’t keep my mouth shut. Especially when it comes to my own children and my students.
When I warned people that as teachers we were shooting ourselves in our collective foot with the new STAAR testing in Texas, the reply was that it was great that there was a new test for our subject as now the resources and respect would flow. “We treasure what we measure. Those Math and English folks have had it easy for too long!”
When Texas teachers who taught AP subjects to freshmen and sophomores reached out for help because the state required kids to take the STAAR AND the AP exam for that class adding up to MORE than 5 exams per year, I advised them to consider the kids and not to add more to their plates. With my experience (and the wisdom of others) I advised that doing AP Human Geography or AP World History was preparation enough for STAAR and adding anything else was unnecessary and inappropriate.
Others advised adding more out of real and imagined fear of the STAAR tests. Some suggested 4-6 weeks of additional material to an already packed AP curriculum. Required after school tutorials and Saturday STAAR camps after a healthy dose of benchmark tests. Imagine a 15 year old doing that! Where would be the time for true learning and reflection? Where would be the time for an independent project or community service learning?
I argued that we should ignore the test and work on our craft. New STAAR review materials and consultants popped up like mushrooms after a heavy rain. Others proclaimed that they couldn’t wait for the state to release exam questions so that they could “game the test”. I didn’t want to game anything but countered that we needed to show kids how cool, interesting and important our subject was.
I was told in many forums that I could lose my teaching certificate if I didn’t add more and “cover everything”. I encouraged “just enough” considering the class, the age and the larger goals of education. Push too hard and most teens start to dig in their heels. Ask too much and parents will naturally step in since we educators en masse have failed to stand up for kids and have gone along too long.
As a parent, when I advocated for my oldest daughter, one of the first STAAR Babies-more like guinea pigs as so little had been done to prepare teachers and students-no one would accept responsibility. A wrong test score had been used and neither the school nor the district would admit the error and apologize. They had sent a letter home stating-not asking-that she had been registered for an early December re-take of a STAAR from last May. She had passed the first time and done a re-take to get a better score and did very well. Someone had used the first passing score.
I learned through an email sent in error that my wife and I were problem parents and had “running battles” with the school. We received that erroneous email after my wife had emailed all her teachers to ask that they consider not assigning home work over the Winter Break. Final Exams had just ended the Fall Semester and my daughter had a novel to read, a couple of chapters for another class, art assignments and more over the break. We thought breaks were necessary and proper, vital to learning and important for families.
At one point, after I emailed folks to attend a Community Voices for Public Education meeting and detailed some of the above, we were told via email that my daughter needed to think about attending another school. Hers was a Magnet school. My email was only to illustrate that standardized testing and accountability drive even good schools and good teachers to do questionable things and to encourage others to take action.
Two weeks ago I received an email from my younger daughter’s school saying that her class was going to be given a district written End of Course exam in addition to her final exam. I went ape. Since April 22 she had done 3 STAARs-4 hours each, days of practice Stanford tests, 3 days of real Stanford tests, an Iowa math test for placement, and an AP Chinese Exam. I don’t know how the last happened. I thought they were going to give her a released exam to work on for NEXT year’s exam. It was the real deal on the same day as a portion of the Stanford.
I emailed everyone and posted it on CVPE’s facebook page. Again there was finger pointing between school and district and who said what and issued what directive. TNTP’s teacher appraisal tool was involved as well. In the end, many of my questions were not answered but the “additional” test disappeared. Instead it became her final exam for the class during the normal one hour time frame. The school also stated that it was setting up a committee to investigate and implement some sort of test oversight policy or body to make sure that so much testing doesn’t happen again.
Sometimes being a squeaky wheel works for kids, parents, teachers and all who love true learning and the amazing things that kids can do when we allow them the time to do so.
kjopowicz,
Please opt your daughter out of this nonsense.
Duane
I did. I’ve been tireless in organizing, speaking and writing and today Governor Perry signed a bill stripping testing to its bone and reviving a diverse and personal education. Hopefully my daughters will get to do some of what I did almost 40 years ago. Hopefully they will get to do things I never dreamed of.
This wonderful parent who did her research was told to “shut up” precisely because–as she states–“I was told that parents in our community listen to my opinion.” Therefore–as I’m sure you will, respected parent in your community, gather your listeners, get together and make a collective noise, which will most certainly change the outcome for your children. It’s the only thing that will. And–while you’re at it–start a local chapter of Parents Across America–in numbers there is strength!
Many kudos to you, and good luck–yes, YOU can! And you WILL!
The world is turning upside down! Tests were divised as a way to measure progress in learning. Now, educating our children is done to satisify the demands of the tests. Standardized testing, common core, and the rest of it is nothing more than big business hijacking the education process to extract a few more bucks AT THE EXPENSE OF OUR CHILDREN’S EDUCATION! When I taught (I’m retired now) I used the test results as a measure of my success at teaching. I always took the questions that students answered poorly and went back over that material, often getting students that had correctly answered to explain the concept in their own words to the rest of the class. The object of course is for students to master the knowledge, NOT TO MAKE A GOOD GRADE ON A TEST. If the majority of a class does not do well on an exam, it demonstrates that knowledge content has not been successfully transferred to the students and nothing else. There are many reasons why that could occur, but whatever the reason(s) it is nonsensical to punish the students with more meaningless tests, or to close their school or blame the teacher without understanding the problem. Since the school administration will not stand up for our children, you must not shut up, you must increase your volume and enlist other parents to do the same. It sounds like you are starting to make some headway. They must be very frustrated if they are telling you to “shut up.”
I am going from memory, so this may not be the exact quote:
“It is because Socrates engaged in civil disobedience that we have academic freedom.”
– M.L. King
I suggest that you not shut up.
I would have had a lawyer yesterday suing the pants off those Testing Maniacs!
I will Shout……March….Protest…..until someone sees that these STUPID TESTS are the product of Greedy Politicians in bed with the Book Company Giant who do not give a d*mn about any student in this country except their own..who most always attend a Private School!!
What school system?
Where are the artists here? Lets have a t-shirt slogan contest.
Ei – “I’m a parent… “try to shut me up”” or “I’m a teacher… “try to shut me up”” “I’m a teacher…they shut me up”
“I’m an administrator, “shut up”….
jaded: What a GREAT idea! Perhaps, Diane, the NPE could have these designed/made for fundraising. Or–how about PAA? I’m an instant customer!
I would nominate Robert Rendo for the design:):)
Now I would never wear this particular shirt, but for some reason a picture of Rhee, with duct tape on her mouth, with the slogan “shut up” comes to mind. It sort of reminds me of shirts with the slogan A-Roid when I was visiting the Inner Harbor in Baltimore during an Orioles/Yankee baseball game.
If anyone else has any ideas I’m in!
that was let’s. and ie not ei
“I resigned…try to shut me up” “I retired….”
Now that the parent has gone through the proper channels to advocate for her/his child, and been told to shut up, I would echo others here who suggest the parent contact an attorney and have a letter written to the administrators and the superintendent that advises them of the inappropriateness of their actions.
Also it will be very helpful if you join with other parents at your school. Let them know what is going on. You may also decide to join the PTA, to raise the visibility of your issue.
Join with nearby ed advocacy groups for ideas and support. Be sure to stay away from fake astro-turf groups like Stand for Children, DFER, TeachPlus, and their kind.
Be sure your advocacy includes your local and state politicians who fund schools. Letters to the editor and online advocacy is very effective, too.
200+ Oklahoma Parents at Jenks Middle School probably feel they’ve been told to “shut up” by the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s investigation of their “opting out” of “field tests”. http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx/Jenks_schools_scrutinized_by_education_dept/20130519_11_A1_TheOkl857604
The reason she was being told to ‘shut up’ is because the NCLB waivers put it on districts to enforce the 95% participation rate in state testing. There is nothing in the waivers I can see that forces parents to have kids take the test. There is however in my state policy of the board of education that districts, principals, teachers discouraging participation or not having children participate in these tests could result in THEIR prosecution through ‘AYP sanctions’, ‘Civil Action’, OR ‘CRIMINAL ACTION’.
The NCLB waiver my state got (and all states) had our department of instruction say that a child that did not take the test would be remarked as ‘not proficient’ but it also says that no test is a single indicator of being held back, it also says that if less than 95% of an ethnic group (with at least 30 of each who took the test) does not participate, the school has to send a letter to the parents indicating that less than 95% took the test, and over time the school would be designated as ‘insufficient participation’.
Diane, I don’t see that parents have to take these tests and I don’t see what other school sanction there is under the NCLB waivers other than possibly an ‘F” for ‘insufficient participation’ if parents opt out…
To have an attorney weigh in on NCLB waivers and the implied parental choices would be great…I am going to try to do that in my state…and get the information out to parents that schools are prohibited by state education boards from doing with threats of prosecution.
I also see nothing in the new school A-F rating system in my state or anything in the statutes that requires students to take the test, FYI…
Names need to be named here. Where did this happen and who did it? Great story for the local media if the have the guts and integrity.
HB 5 has numerous unintended consequences that are going to be very difficult to overcome. TAMSA never wanted “meaningful” assessment. They wanted their own way or the highway. Better to have non-TAMSA parents be educated on how our accountability system works and FIX IT.
Does any one if there is a way to get a copy of this benchmark test? I assume the parents of the first graders at the school/district should have access to it.
Normally you will not be able to see the test itself, you only get a list of standards, a brief description of the standard, and the number of questions the test has per standard. The student report will show correct and incorrect answers on each standard, but not the actual question itself. This is another reason for computerizing these tests, it maintains secrecy,er security.
testing………