Liz Rosenberg, New York City public school parent, has a
new idea about her daughter’s test scores: she ignores them. This
is what she wrote: Refusing our Daughter’s Test Scores Earlier this
month, New York state made headlines when it revealed how poorly
schools and districts had fared on the state’s new Common
Core-aligned standardized tests. Beginning August 26, families of
the roughly 400,000 New York City public school pupils who took the
tests can log into ARIS (the system that stores student records) to
see their children’s ELA and math scores. My partner and I,
however, have decided that we will not be joining our fellow
parents in this endeavor. Instead, we are sending our school a
letter asking that they not share this year’s scores with our
daughter nor send them home via backpack or snail mail. Why? In
order to trust the reliability of this year’s scores, we would need
to believe that the tests are valid instruments that can accurately
measure what our daughter knows and is able to do. But how can
we–or educational experts, for that matter–assess the tests when
we can’t even see them? When New York signed a contract allowing
Pearson LLC, the producer of the tests, to keep the actual tests
private, it enabled the for-profit testing behemoth to shield
itself from scrutiny–and to dominate the lucrative test-prep
market. Since only small fragments of the tests are being made
public, the only other state-condoned resource that we have to go
by are the curricula the state has purchased and posted online
(produced by Core Knowledge and Expeditionary Learning). Looking at
a series of lessons that focus on frogs, we find a text called
“Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery
Creatures (DK Publishing). Who wouldn’t want third graders to read
a book by this title? But reading a book in class with your teacher
is quite different than testing students on their ability to
analyze a particular text. Everything You Need to Know about Frogs
and Other Slippery Creatures has a Lexile score of 1040 (Lexile is
a well regarded system for mapping the complexity of texts), which
puts it in the 6-8th grade range of text complexity. The Lexile
“analyzer” predicts that an average 3rd grade reader will
comprehend 50% of this text. Assessing students using texts that
are 3-5 years above their grade level does not help teachers or
parents learn much of anything about what those students know and
are able to do. Many high profile ed reform advocates, like Arne
Duncan, have voiced their support of NY state Education
Commissioner John King’s choice to set the bar for proficiency on
the tests so high. “I think the only way you improve is to tell the
truth, and sometimes that’s a brutal truth….,” he commented.*
Aside from “telling the brutal truth,” is there something else to
be gained politically from King’s choice? Perhaps he (and by
extension, his boss, Governor Andrew Cuomo) want to use low
proficiency rates to justify some of the reforms they have put in
place. The more “trouble” our schools are in, the more we need the
state or city to move to fix them. The fixes range from assessment
driven “personalized learning environments” (part of the national
Race to the Top applications for this year) or commercially
produced curricula to closing district schools, opening more
charters, and placing more schools on the turnaround list. They
also include expanding standardized testing to even our youngest
students–those in kindergarten through 2nd grade. As money and
personnel are diverted to these “reforms,” the byproducts are
larger class sizes; curricula that have no ties to schools,
students, or communities; an exodus of talented teachers frustrated
by their loss of autonomy; a stronger argument for charter schools,
and a weakened union. Given all of this, the state has not given us
any reason to trust the scores our daughter (or anyone’s daughter
or son) received this year. So like Michelle Rhee, President Obama,
Commissioner King and federal Department of Education Secretary
Arne Duncan–all of whom send their children to private schools–my
partner and I will have to rely on factors other than the state’s
standardized test scores to evaluate our child’s learning and
progress towards the standards. Our faith will lie with our school,
our daughter’s teachers, and with our own ability to assess her
learning in relationship to the standards. For other parents who
question the content, methodology, and uses of NY State’s 3rd-8th
grade tests, please consider refusing the scores with us. Our hope
is that this action will not only be the best choice for our
family, but that it will help spur a conversation about these
issues among parents/guardians around the city and state.
*http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/schoolbook/2013/aug/06/lower-scores-expected-duncan-backs-ny-new-state-tests/
Liz Rosenberg is a co-founder of NYCpublic.org, an organization
that is creating more opportunities for public school parents to
learn, organize, and take action — together. She lives in Brooklyn
with her partner, Sue Schaffner and their two children.
Liz is a good friend and a wise woman.
Thanks, JSR. Right back at you, but the man version.
This is good, but for my money, even better to skip the test and tell the district to stuff it.
As a retired educator with 30+ years service in Special Education, I can only say BRAVO to Liz Rosenberg, her partner and all the parents and educators who have joined in the struggle to turn back the tide of what has become the dominant paradigm for “Educational Reform”. Diane has provided a critical mechanism for cross-country communication by those who oppose these so-called reforms, Reading Liz Rosenberg’s communication, I am drawn back some 50 years to the words of Mario Savio one of the spokespeople for the Berkeley Free Speech Movement:
““There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious—makes you so sick at heart—that you can’t take part. You can’t even passively take part. And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.”
We are at that moment that Mario Savio spoke about. I take heart from the those who resist the machine of “Educational reform”
I don’t care about the tests, I care about the test prep. That’s what I want to opt out of.
That’s a very good point.
federal law regarding high stakes testing. I might add that this is proof that the feds DO NOT REQUIRE HIGH STAKES TESTING and could/would not require high stakes testing as a valid accountability measure because it would have the burden of proof (accountability would be transferred from local to federal level) to ensure validity/legality of such use. Particularly note regarding disparate impact (race discrimination) in high stakes testing. I believe we can and must put together a case against the tests used as high stakes in this state, particularly the upcoming tests that cannot possibly be valid due to non-alignment with curriculum. A huge error made by promoters of CCSS is the attempt to connect the resulting test without first guaranteeing alignment to a curriculum. Their need to make it appear that local districts “wrote” the curriculum will be their Achilles heal. It is impossible to create a valid test for high stakes purposes without a curriculum. We need to quickly build this case and take to court ASAP. This does not appear to be a case where we have to wait until “Harm has been done.”
http://www2.ed.gov/offices/OCR/archives/testing/introduction.html#40
Harm has already been done in NY. A class action law suit would be a slam dunk!
These tests are “high stakes” only for the teachers and the schools, and not the students? If opt out is possible, then they can’t be “high stakes” for the student can they?
‘Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery Creatures’
An illustrated encylopedia of school deformers.
Ya, kind of dry reading for eight year olds.
TC,
As KrazyTA is too busy defending baby seals from scurilous attacks I have been recruited to help with the “Association of Frogs, Toads and Other Slippery Creatures” request to have you cease and desist with associating their members with such heinous people that are the edudeformers. We ask for a retraction of your statement and a promise to never associate the members of AFTOSC in such manner ever again.
Sincerely,
Oliver Edwards & Yates LLC.
Ms. Rosenberg puts forward a cogent and articulate response to the current testing debacle; however, I was under the impression that Arne Duncan’s children attend public school in Virginia. Can anyone confirm whether Mr. Duncan’s children attend public or private schools?
I would like to suggest that New York Regent’s Chancellor Merryl Tisch be added to Ms. Rosenberg’s otherwise comprehensive list of arrogant know-nothings who are responsible for this debacle in New York. Ms. Tisch did not attended public schools and neither did her children; however she has no compunction about throwing her constituent’s children “in the deep end”.
It will be a happy day when EDUCATORS (people who actually have experience teaching children in public schools) become responsible for creating and implementing education policy in New York.
The Duncan children attend a public elementary school in Arlington, VA:
http://www.parenting.com/article/mom-congress-special-report-meet-the-duncans
One of Michelle Rhee’s kids attends a public school in Tennessee, too.
Many parents of 4th and 7th graders in New York City couldn’t refuse the test scores, since it would greatly limit their child’s options for middle school and high school admissions. Would Liz Rosenberg support opening up any middle schools and high schools in her district that don’t require test scores to kids from across the entire city?
And Duncan’s kids are tested constantly, have no music, art, extra curriculars, lack of a library…all the chaos is happening there as in Philly? Chicago? NYC? Yes? No?
As soon as other Rhee is old enough I wonder if she will join her sister at Harpeth Hall?
Tim and hrh88, thanks for the fact checking. This makes me want to research Duncan and Rhee’s kids’ schools. Their budgets in relation to those in nearby urban cities, all of the questions that Linda asks below.
It does make sense to look at 4th and 7th grade scores if only to help our children in applying for middle or high schools that are likely to accept them.
As you know, principals around the state have been fighting the new teacher evaluation system and some are taking a stand against the tests themselves. These principals will not be using scores for admissions this year http://www.scribd.com/doc/143099790/Dear-New-York-State-Education-Commissioner-John-King
We need more schools to sign on to this letter.
Educators can only be truly responsible for creating and implementing education policy when they own the school in which they teach, as in a cooperative or collaborative.
Our state legislature passed a law that the test have to be released the following September. It was easy to see why scores went down in Texas. Many questions were
developmentally inappropriate, lexile and syntax were too hard, and the questions were ” gotcha ” questions. Scores dropped an average of 20 %. Pearson here too.
Are these tests available to view for those out of state? Maybe NY parents can just point to Texas tests since we aren’t allowed tosee our own.
Excellent! More power to you!
Thanks for checking the facts on Duncan and Rhee’s children’s schools. I knew Rhee sent at least one child to private school and that Duncan also sent his children to private school when he lived in Chicago. I’m glad to know that Duncan’s kids go to public school.
The reason I included this part of the essay is that so often people will wonder how we can possibly know how our children are doing without test scores. Reminding all of us that the Obamas have no test scores to look at is a good way to help shake this mindset.
For those of you who wrote encouraging comments, thanks! I encourage all of you to find good friends to help you write an op ed. I could not have written this without a lot of support.
Good for Liz Rosenberg!
Here is what New York has released. I believe some are materials teachers used in grading the tests this spring. We still don’t and won’t know the actual multiple choice questions students saw due to a proprietary agreement with Pearson.
http://www.engageny.org/resource/sample-student-work-from-the-2013-nys-ela-common-core-test
http://www.engageny.org/resource/new-york-state-common-core-sample-questions
Can’t wait to see the tests that prevent 70 percent of high school students from graduating.