Here is a question: Answer in five sentences or less. Who decided all the students of the U.S. should be tested online? Another question: Who benefits? What can we do about it? Opt out.
Teachers in Nashua, Néw Hampshire, took an early version of the online Common Core test, Smarter Balanced Assessment, and encountered multiple problems.
“NASHUA – If there was any question about how well the state’s transition from the New England Common Assessment Program to the Smarter Balanced assessment for 2015 is progressing, a recent letter by Fairgrounds Middle School Principal John Nelson to Nashua Superintendent Mark Conrad paints a rather disturbing picture.
“Teachers at Fairgrounds Middle School staff took an early version of the assessment in December and say the new computerized test required as part of the Common Core standards is confusing, doesn’t work well and leads to frustration.
“Teachers shared frustrations they had when they were taking the test and disappointment in test format and the difficulties they had trying to use their computer to take this test,” Nelson said in his letter shared with members of the Nashua Board of Education.
“Based on the experience at Fairground, Nelson said teachers agreed the test should not be used on Nashua students.
“The FMS staff collectively believe that the Smarter Balance Test is inappropriate for our students at this time and that the results from this test will not measure the academic achievement of our students; but will be a test of computer skills and students’ abilities to endure through a cumbersome task,” Nelson wrote.”
Conrad’s answer was not encouraging: he said, more or less, follow orders.
Where have we heard that kind of obedience to authority line before?
Here is his response:
“Conrad, though, called any discussion to avert the Smarter Balanced assessment as counterproductive.
“The reality is there is going to be a new assessment,” Conrad said.
“The superintendent said his focus would be to meet with principals in February “to look at ways to better prepare our students to take the test.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“. . . teachers agreed the test should not be used on Nashua students.”
The world doesn’t give a shit about what teachers think! (sorry to whatever edudeformer said the original).
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Duane: I agree; the big fish have already eaten the little fish; Education Next has an article up today (Wednesday) explaining how the money flows from federal coffers to the “entrepreneurs” with some really good examples…. Thanks for your post and comments Duane.
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Jean,
De nada. And thanks for your kind words.
I was torn between what I wrote and for me the other obvious choice to say that “the test should not be used on ANY students” for all the reasons Wilson has shown in elucidating the errors of process and the invalidities of any results. Guess I’ll put that at the end in a separate posts so as to not “string bean” this post.
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Sadly, the answer from leadership and supporters of CCSS and assessments, (Superintendents, NYSED, the Governor, etc), is to plow ahead no matter what. Where is the outrage from parents?
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Sadly MOST parents know nothing about CCSS or the testing involved. What needs to happen, is to make TAXPAYERS aware of where their TAX DOLLARS are going. Most would not want their precious dollars wasted on for-profit tests and test materials. But, when the Waltons and Gates control NPR (the station for people who ‘think’ they are getting unbiased reporting) and all the tax payers hear is that testing and charter schools are the way to college, some people tend to believe it and do no further research. I keep trying to direct my non-teaching friends to this blog to see what is really going on…eventually even ostriches have to come up for air and maybe then they will get a peek at the lion waiting to feast on them.
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At least NYSED/BOR had the sense to suspend PARCC testing.
When Long Island, Buffalo, and other regions are ablaze, maybe theyll reconsider the 3 year moratorium. If and when that happens the wind will be out of the CCSS sails, but Gates and Co. will needed years just to count up all the cash they made before the public caught on to them.
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Where have you gone Bill Duncan, NH turns its lonely eyes to you.
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Surprisingly (and unfortunately, in my opinion), Bill Duncan is a staunch supporter of Common Core and SBAC.
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“That test and the field test were not adaptive tests,”
So, let me get this straight. The operational tests will be adaptive tests but the field tests are not. Therefore, the field tests are a totally different format than the operational. Hmmm, doesn’t that make the field tests meaningless?
Howard
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“Therefore, the field tests are a totally different format than the operational. Hmmm, doesn’t that make the field tests meaningless?”
SSSHHHH! Quit being so logical!
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Or it makes the adaptive test simply another “field test.” But it won’t be called that.
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>…took an early version of the online Common Core test, Smarter Balanced Assessment, and encountered multiple problems.
And yet, didn’t offer any specifics about those problems. But we did:
http://ccssimath.blogspot.com/2013/06/our-sbac-practice-tests-run-through.html
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A superb analysis!
The ELA tests are going to be MUCH worse.
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Mr. Shepherd,
Dont you think you are undersestimating the ability of the 4,000,000 eight year olds (including learning disabled and ELL), to successfully type their essay responses on a timed test so that their third grade teacher can keep her job?
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HA. Yup. But that’s part of the plan, too, NYS. That’s by design. Create the problem. Then those kids need to have computers and computer training earlier. Big DOLLAR$ in that.
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According to http://www.learning.com/digital-literacy these are some of the computer skills students will need:
Here are the kinds of 21st century skills your students will need to master in order to successfully demonstrate their learning on PARCC and Smarter Balanced. Students will be expected to know the following:
Fundamental computer skills Introductory computer vocabulary, computer hardware devices, mouse basics, using the computer desktop, windows and menus of common software programs, and basic web browsing skills in order to take the test online.
Keyboarding and word processing Keyboarding and word processing basics, how to format text, use proofing tools, and edit and revise text in order to express answers in written form.
Creating and analyzing charts and graphs Create and format spreadsheets and graphs, collect data, and express data visually.
Communicating and presenting information using digital tools Evaluate information for presentation, organize and compose slides, utilize design and effects, and include external hyperlinks in slides in order to create cohesive visual aids for presentation.
Conducting online research and evaluation Conduct keyword searches on major search engines, identify ethical sources of information, and examine and evaluate information for validity in order to find and use online information in their test answers. To see exactly how Common Core assessment questions require all of these skills, visit the following websites for examples: PARCC http://www.parcconline.org/samples/item-task-prototypes Smarter Balanced http://sampleitems.smarterbalanced.org
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Oh, what a bonanza for a certain publisher of operating systems and office software and networking programs!
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the “big fish” ate the little fish already; if you look at what is coming out of Education Next (which is really the scribe for Fordham/Gates conglomerate of funds) you will see the teachers (and the consultants from colleges or universities) have already been set aside in the path by the lobbyists…
This article will tell you where the money is flowing. It is at Education Next (if you google it is there front page today; Wednesday)
“For Education Entrepreneurs, Innovation Yields High Returns”
also, just for fun (but it does explain the debate with comments that are revealing) look at Jay P Greene’s blog and scroll down to Captain “Underpants”
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Don’t tease, Jean, give us a link!
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YEARS our superintendent laughed and said pretty soon they will be having classes on how to pass tests. No laughing matter anymore AND it has gone straight downhill from there.
At that time Frontline had a program devoted to that, there were several companies guaranteeing that they could raise “your child’s test scores” AND they could. Not one said that they would guarantee that children would learn more, only raise their test scores.
Ignorance proclaims that if raising test scores children MUST be learning the material. Ignorance exemplified.
I once many years ago wrote a letter to the editor asking: what does an “A” represent? A cheater? Parroting material with little understanding of content? etc etc. Things which have been covered over and over in these blogs.
“When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn”? Sometimes words in music says it all.
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The oligarchs who got together in a back room and decided that we were going to have
a. invariant, top-down national standards, and
b. these ridiculous new tests
have grown used to absolute power. They have grown used to implementing policy in their companies, for example, and having people accept it because they have no choice but to do so.
And so it came as quite a shock to them when, after the fiasco of the New York test, parents and teachers and students in New York state said, almost unanimously, “This is insane and has to stop.”
Predictably, they ignored the lowly teachers and students. They are trying to get away with ignoring the parents.
Who are these mere mortals to question their judgment?
Those guys have an interesting experience coming, for when these tests roll out nationwide, there will be hell to pay. Rarely in public policy and never in the history of U.S. education will we have seen the like of what is about to happen.It’s going to be a policy supernova. Or, to use a different metaphor,
I suspect that when the ed deform monster attacks the nation’s children with these tests, that will be when the villagers grab their shovels and pitchforks and track the monster to its lair.
Woe unto those defending it when that happens.
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The first shift of snow in NH. The avalanche is on its way.
NY was the skiier out in front. Nearly 20 million students and their parents are in for one very rude awakening. Send lawyers, guns, and money – the tests have it the fan.
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Teachers at Hamden High had to take this recently and arrived at the same conclusions. We had a difficult time just accessing the test online. Juinors will take a practice test over the next week and pilot this mess in March. I have already had several students ask, “Do I need to take this seriously?” We are quietly encouraging our kids to opt out. My 9 year-old nephew recently came home all distressed, worrying that if he did not do well on his test his teacher would lose her job. This is child abuse.
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It becomes a test to take the test. Where are the content advocates now? Are we really ready to replace the technology of the pencil. Computers will come and go, breakdown, become obsolete. This has never happened to the pencil, a very reliable technology.
Pencils will help our children be career and college ready at less cost. Don’t need to hire technicians; and they are so abundant and available, that they can be found on the floor of any classroom at the end of the day.
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But, but . . . Joseph . . . you NEED the new device, which is so much better than the old device. It has very fancy new graphics, for example. If you hurry up and do you trade-in your old device, we’ll give you a nice discount on the 3-billion-dollar list price!
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http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-device-desirable-old-device-undesirable,2862/
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Joseph, those content advocates are making big bucks doing consulting on the Common Core State Standards and writing books about “unpacking them.” LOL.
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Good God…the term “unpacking” goes on and on across our poor country! lol…and not so lol!
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The President is right when he said this:
“Now, this year, we’ve broken through the stalemate between left and right by launching a national competition to improve our schools”
He has brought the left and right together to oppose his educational policies.
This is good.
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LOL
I had to walk away from the television at that point. I just couldn’t listen to him.
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These are the tests President Obama was referring to in his SOTU address.
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The president’s cluelessness on these issues is truly breathtaking.
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Cluelessness or mendacity. I know which one I believe.
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Let’s go with mendacity. It is not like he hasn’t been told ( recall the letter writing campaign ?), it is not like he put his children public or charter schools.
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Parents nation wide need to get informed, get involved and help make this STOP! It will happen when large numbers of children “fail” their spring test, but it would be even better if the parent revolution exploded even before testing began. Hopefully NH parents will begin to hear about this and demand that their children be OPTED OUT.
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This one reason tha NYS has indefintely postponed its committment to computerized PARCC assessments. I expect more states to do the same as the online testing disaster slowly unfolds. A train wreck on a scale that once thought inconceivable. TWENTY MILLION STUDENTS being put through this nonsense for NO GOOD REASON. Had they only aked us if we thought it was safe to play in traffic.
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This was also the big story with online testing in Indiana last year :
“For the second day in a row, a computer failure shut down the state’s ISTEP testing. The problems were so severe that the state superintendent ordered all schools to stop testing just before noon.
Students were getting kicked offline while trying to take the computer-based test, causing disruptive interruptions during the most important test of the year. ISTEP scores are used not only to gauge student improvement and advancement but also teacher performance.
School officials in Lawrence were upset to encounter another day of problems in the high-stakes test.
It was a frustrating day at the Amy Beverland Learning Center in Lawrence and at scores of other schools across the state. For the second day in a row, students taking the ISTEP had to stop because of a systemwide computer glitch.
“The screen may freeze or go blank or they’ll get a symbol; the symbol spins for a while. It may tell them that they need to stop,” said Jan Combs, associate superintendent of Lawrence Township Schools.
Combs said it’s created a huge distraction.
“You have limited computer labs and for the first time all of our children are testing online. So what was already a tight schedule has become more disruptive and tighter. So our students who are scheduled in the computer lab are extended there or didn’t work at all and we have to reschedule them back which affects all the other students’ schedules as well,” she explained.
What bothers me most about it is how the children are essentially doing the testing of these systems. I don’t think it’s fair that students should be both paying a contractor and also providing what is hours and hours of their (uncompensated) time screwing around with these tests that are rushed out. There is absolutely no benefit to the children involved in these experiments. None. In fact, there’s a substantial downside for the students, in time and energy expended AND there’s a substantial upside to the contractor who can work out all the glitches using students, rather than paying to test the product prior to delivery or initiation.
http://www.wthr.com/story/22112484/students-likely-to-resume-istep-testing-tuesday
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Click to access 225660e.pdf
Diane Ravitch cied in UNESCO publication (her 2010 book).
Thanks Diane for all you do!!!!!
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What kind of test was it? Multiple choice, bubble answers, write responses? Really curious
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I think we should push the idea that legislatxors must take any high stakes test they mandate for students, with results published in rank order.
For more information see website: http://www.deborahmeier.com
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❤
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although they make a small shift from bubbles to on line manipulatives, it is a far cry from reality. However, the future of CC could morph into something desireable if we prepare to make learning real and local. With every failure comes an opportunity for scucess. Prepare your own assessment that is real and local. Because this will happen, sooner than you think. Be prepared http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/is-stumbling-and-bumbling-good-thing.html
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That would never happen because it is counter productive to the oligarch’s plans for privatization and consulting fee extraction.
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The only explanation I have for why the hard line has been drawn on making the tests be computer based is that the architects hoped to collect data that way on every student at a level that honestly infringes on students’ civil rights and privacy. This has been largely blocked. Districts are now caught in the bind however of having been hoodwinked into paying for the more expensive tests (paper ones cost less) and far far more money going into IT and training than would have been needed with a paper test for the first three of four years of these new tests.
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The whole point of this current ed deform, Sd, is to move schools to computer-adaptive curricula delivered via an online portal that serves as a monopolistic repository of student data and curriculum gateway. Lots of $$$ in that for a certain manufacturer of computer operating systems and investor in said portal.
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