FairTest: Testing Resistance Update

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1. Stewart Riley says:

   November 15, 2014 at 6:53 am

   It’s been a slow gathering of momentum here in Pennsylvania, but resistance to standardized testing is finally picking up some steam. What’s prompted the latest outburst is the release of the final numbers on the state Keystone graduation exams. The class of 2017 will be required to pass these monstrosities in order to graduate, but (as with other Common Core-aligned tests) a significant protion of the state’s students failed to reach a “proficient” score (1500 on a 0-1800 scale) on each of the three tests last year. The numbers tell the tale: 60% failed the Algebra Keystone, 58.6% failed the Biology Keystone, and 47.6% failed the English Keystone. Far too many parents are now looking at their child having to take these tests again and again (twice a year until they pass) or having to do an extended online project/assessment in their senior year (after three years of testing) in order to graduate from high school.

   It is shaping up to be a disaster for our students. No one knows how many will end up needing to do the alternate project/assessment in 2017, but with the current numbers it will be a large percentage in most districts. Where all the student and staff time to do this (on top of everything else that needs to be done during senior year) will come from no one knows.

   What is clear is that the real purposes of the Keystone tests are finally being revealed to parents: to label schools as “failing” so they can be turned over to private management and to line the pockets of the testing companies who create them (including the online project/assessment, not just the regular tests.)

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   • NY Teacher says:

     November 15, 2014 at 8:24 am

     Do you have numbers for Philadelphia or Pittsburgh? Interested to see if raising the bar to ridiculously unfair heights is closing the learning gap as it is NOT doing here in NY.

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     • dianeravitch says:

       November 15, 2014 at 9:02 am

       NY Teacher, I don’t know anywhere that standardized testing–and more of it–is closing gaps. Its purpose is to measure gaps, not to close them.

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     • NY Teacher says:

       November 15, 2014 at 9:50 am

       So much for branding this the “civil rights” issue of the 21st century. The reformers who make this claim probably thought that turning fire hoses on blacks in Birmingham should have helped make them better swimmers. Do they also think that using cattle prods against black protesters in Selma helped them to understand Ohm’s Law?
       This outrageously false claim regarding CC testing as a way out of poverty is pure snake oil. Unfortunately, a lot of low information citizens and minority advocacy groups are falling for it. Here in NY the parent revolt is made up of mostly affluent, whites from Long Island and Westchester. The Black and Hispanic parents are sitting back watching their children get pummeled (80+% failure rate) by these crap exams, which are as culturally biased as any, and have remained strangely silent. Time for ALL New York parents to express their outrage and use the power they have to STOP the MADNESS!

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2. Texas teacher in need of assistance says:

   November 15, 2014 at 2:12 pm

   I am a Texas teacher who needs some help. Yesterday in a PLC meeting, I was told to stop teaching the Texas history standards taught in the 7th grade and began teaching 7th graders the 8th grade standards. I am to focus on the 8th grade standards that students were weakest in on the previous year’s state test (STAAR). In Texas, students in the 7th grade are not tested in history. I spoke to the Texas Education Agency after the PLC meeting and was told that this would make our school out of compliance with the educational codes adopted by the state.
   To clarify, the 7th grade standards for the second half of the year would remain largely untaught. The curriculum was not compacted, nor were the standards aligned vertically so they could be taught simultaneously. When I brought up the legality of this, I was told I could work Texas history in when I wanted. I am appalled at the unethical nature of this situation and the message of “teaching to a test at any cost” that it sends my students. I sent out a pacing plan and syllabus at the beginning of the year with no mention of teaching American history. How do I protect myself and my students?

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