Be sure to watch this segment about testing and Pearson on John Oliver’s show on HBO:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=J6lyURyVz7k
It is fantastic!!
Enjoy! This is a huge help in telling the public what is happening and how our schools are diverting hundreds of millions of dollars–billions–to testing instead of instruction.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is a significant event in our media coverage. This is HBO. Spread this everywhere. When John Oliver takes something to task it is well deserved.
Awesome. Posting on FB.
Last year there was a testing pep rally at the school where I taught in the arts. I scheduled a dentist appointment—I couldn’t be there for that.
And today, this email (illustrating how testing and practice testing supplants meaningful instruction. . .and also, this is arts teachers going in to oversee practice standardized tests so the teacher can take the students one by one in the hall for progress monitoring assessments). Double whammy!!!
“I wanted to let you know that 3rd grade needs your help the next two weeks. Instead of pulling kids for enrichment, they need you to come to their classrooms during this time. You won’t have to plan a thing but will just have to sit and supervise while their students take a “mock” end of grade tests. There will be volunteer parents in some of the classes. This will allow the teachers the opportunity to pull students right out in the hall to do their Mclass assessments.”
And in the lounge today I heard a young teacher, about one of our students in a homeless shelter, “he’s purposefully not answering the questions right and that reflects poorly on my EVAAS, because I know he can do it and he just won’t!”
Our public school stopped doing the pep rallies and all the pre-testing hoopla.
I just noticed it this year. I’m proud of them. It’s difficult to resist the testing obsession given how many powerful and influential people promote it.
The testing agencies themselves promote it. Look at all the videos of kids dancing and singing about how thrilled they are to take tests:
https://twitter.com/PARCCplace
worse yet, the presenter at the motivating assembly wore a tee shirt that read “Jesus is the Way.”
I mean I love me some JC, but in a public school that was totally inappropriate. And he was a known Christian kid-group organizer.
Why should kids care about standardized tests? Do you want them to be cast as Pearson enablers?
How can you be against someone trying to turn a negative into a positive. it seems most teachers and parents have done their best to denigrate tests as useless. Little wonder kids growing up in this atmosphere quickly learn to game the system by ‘doing poorly’ through laziness or intention. Test ‘pep rallies’ seem a bit much but if kids aren’t participating honestly by doing ‘as their asked’, some other motivation is needed. Giving the ‘tests’ weight seems an obvious solution, so kids falling short of minimum standards can get extra help after school, on weekends or during the summer. That interruption of family ‘personal time’ might motivate parents to encourage their kids to try harder. After all, shouldn’t kids scoring below a minimum established by law get extra help…..and a little inconvenience for the family might make the time it takes to catch up very short indeed!
Maybe you need your family personal time interrupted.
Almost seems inevidible…..hostile comments from naysayers!!!!! Too bad we can’t have a serious discussion with so much at stake.
Of course, how do you make students care about taking the test??? Even if you could find ways to provide incentives, we already know that there is a certain segment of our school population who does not care about how well they do in school. They are just waiting for magic moment they can legally quit. I still don’t understand why this is not the biggest discussion. We don’t know and will never know how much attention any child is putting into trying to answer the questions correctly. It’s nothing more than a crap shoot. Only the classroom teacher really knows what an individual child is truly capable of.
“Only the classroom teacher really knows what an individual child is truly capable of.”
NO!, Teachers have no clairvoyant capabilities, and in reality are a minor influence in the overall life of a child. They really don’t know that much and to say they do is to disregard reality.
The folks most likely to “really know” a child are the parents/guardians.
There are plenty of kids who care about how well they do in school yet don’t give a rat’s patoot about the test. The test has nothing to do with how well they’re doing in school and some kids – the older ones in particular – have figured that out.
Why haven’t schools ‘figured out’ an after school or weekend help session for kids that don’t give a rats patoot about how they score on ‘the test’? Seems like a good time to teach ‘wise guys’ there are consequences for dishonesty!
How is it dishonest to not care about a standardized test that is a waste of students’ time? Why should we punish kids who don’t care about the test? By the way, that sort of Saturday or after school session would blow up in the face of any school that tried it. Kids would be FAR LESS likely to want to do well on a test after that!
On the contrary, Kent, the kids are being completely honest in their contempt for the tests, while too many of the adults through fear, opportunism or ignorance are the dishonest ones.
Why all the clever retorts? Our failing schools need help and tests are a necessary evil! Wouldn’t you want to know how your kids ‘rank’ with their classmates? Allowing, even encouraging them to ignore or answer questions frivolously is tantamount to giving up on the problem.
“Allowing, even encouraging them to ignore or answer questions frivolously is tantamount to giving up on the problem.”
No, it is giving up on the faux solution. And by the way, evil is not a necessary ingredient for learning.
I only care how my children are doing compared to how they did before. The standardized tests cannot show me that, because the cut scores change every year. I don’t care how my children do relative to other children. That’s frankly none of my business.
Kent, I hate the term “failing school”. What does that mean? It just means the kids in that school test poorly. The school could be a phenomenal success on many other measures (e.g. raising learning through herculean effort from an abysmally low level to a mildly low level). Every teacher in that school could be a hero teacher, and yet, because of the low scores you thoughtlessly slander it as a “failing school”. That term needs to be retired. “School with low-test scorers” is more accurate; or possibly, “School with a high-proportion of kids from stressed, low-income, low-intellectual capital homes” since these are ALWAYS the schools with low test scores regardless of the quality of the staff there. (OK Success Academy creates the illusion of overcoming these hurdles, but it’s just an illusion: it culls the weak in sneaky ways). Conversely a school with high scores could be a mediocre school with mediocre teachers. The high scores could simply be a reflection of the intellectual capital and affluence of the kids’ parents.
Kent, I never cared how my children did in comparison with others on tests. I cared that they were learning, that they cared about school, that they were developing as human beings.
Ranking kids with others by measurement–which is scientifically, systematically flawed, is exactly the fundamental problem with education.
Ms. Ravitch, you may well be able to guide your children to optimize their school experience without comparisons with other students, or more importantly with their own ‘achievement level’ a year ago, a month ago! Most parents don’t have this ability. Although many children are ‘test challenged’ these clumsy tools are still the best a typical school, teacher and parent has to see how close to ‘mastery at grade level’ the child has achieved. Although too few seem to agree, ignoring the mastery requirement already written into most curricula is a travesty our kids live with for the rest of their lives.
National standardized tests given once a year are certainly not the “measure” by which any child should be deemed ready to advance or not. Such a decision happens at a classroom level with a variety of assessment tools and techniques available to the teacher.
Kent, the reason so many people are attacking you is that you are arguing from emotion and not facts. The validity and reliability for the essay sections on “standardized” test is often in the range of .04-.08. Not .4 but .04. Do a litle research and you will find that much of the animosity towards these tests comes from the fact that they are not reliable assessments. Please read a few SCHOLARLY articles by Huot, Korbrin, Popham, NCTE etc. and I think you will have a much better grasp of the issues at hand. You will also discover that people like Popham are actually PRO testing; however, he is against the misuse of standardized tests.
Reblogged this on blog L. R. Capuana and commented:
Nocivi per studenti e docenti e allora chi ci guadagna dai test INVALSI? Qui la risposta per gli equivalente statunitensi.
¿Qué?
Shall I post in Klingon?
International interest in how we are fighting testing should not be ridiculed. If you don’t recognize Italian, try pasting into Google for a translation. “Incentives for students and teachers and so who is profiting from invalid tests? Here is an answer for the equivalent in the US.”
Boy the opt out movement is really throwing a wrench into the big machine:
“The newest math scores for Minneapolis South High School’s 11th-graders plunged more than 25 percentage points compared with 2013. At Southwest High School, scores dropped 22 points over the same period.
The dramatic fall off at two of Minneapolis’ best schools is not because of a crisis of academic achievement, but rather historic numbers of top students who are exercising a little-known right to opt out of standardized tests.”
I didn’t opt my 6th grader out partly because he didn’t want to opt out but also partly because I am fairly confident he will help bring up the school math average and therefore his public school won’t get hurt by the anti-public school/anti-labor political faction in this state, who have a lot of power. It’s a small district. I don’t think we can take any more hits.
I know that isn’t perhaps the best long term decision but it is the decision we made. I might have made a different call for my eldest, who would have been stressed and rattled by CC tests and ironically enough, now works in a math-dependent field.
http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/302318381.html
Chiara, not ironic at all about your eldest! Thoughtful people can be very rattled by thoughtless tests. And anyone with genuine insight into anything is going to be especially vulnerable to the fake rigor of the Common Core tests. They simulate genuine intellectual challenges either by pitching the material three grade levels too high or making the material deliberately obscure. Just glad to hear neither of your kids has been harmed by the madness!
I sent this to both Diane and a teacher friend in a low income district. the teacher friend responded that she had seen it yesterday at school. Yes! No sooner did I send it to Diane than I saw that she had already posted it. After reading a really biased editorial in the Chicago Tribune that dripped reforminess, watching this video improved my mood.
The American way of testing is a dystopic society personified.
Humor and ridicule will bring down this clown Godzilla pedagogy faster than earnest academic pleas to reason and sanity.
God Bless the jesters. Pity the fools who still peddle this nonsense.
This was fabulous. It’s a shame that the only true reporting on this scandal exists on comedy media like Oliver and The Daily Show. To the New York Times, this isn’t news.
This is hilarious and so sad at the same time because it’s all true!
Why isn’t anyone doing a parody on Smarter Balanced???
Are all the SBAC tests the same? Since SBAC is online, we have no idea if Duncan’s ‘White suburban mom’s” kids are getting the same test as other kids.
Show us the TEST!
I think this covered both tests–the program did show the logos of all the publishing companies (still in existence)–it’s just that Pear$on is buying them all up, & owns the majority of the important tests (G.E.D. which, since Pear$on bought it, has a much higher failure rate–I believe $omething like 72%–$pecifically de$igned to pu$h “other people’s children” into “career readiness”…careers in minimum wage positions, working for the Waltons & Koch bros., that is.)
Anyway, this is absolutely the BEST video/information to date–Oliver & his writers covered it all, & in only 18 minutes. Perfect!
Next, I’d like to see Oliver interview Louis C.K. on this subject.
18 minutes is the length of a TED talk. It seems to be a meme…
I often use the word “brilliant” when referring to John Oliver commentary. The standardized testing segment is beyond brilliant! Do what you can to make it go viral so we can end the insanity (and corruption) of test-based accountability.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
Wish some of these year’s passages could have been included. But Pearson has a wall of protection around their poorly written tests. I bet the people who write these tests were also found on Craig’s List.
Or a $5,000 ad in the Sunday papers! (Pear$on placed a number of these ads–a quarter page, illustrated & some in color.)
Very prudent $pending of taxpayer fund$ meant for REAL education.
You can see a breakdown of some of last year’s test here. This teacher does an amazing job pointing out the flaws. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/05/01/teacher-i-am-not-against-common-core-or-testing-but-heres-my-line-in-the-sand/
This piece is brilliant because John Oliver exposes the utter absurdity of this entire nightmare without embellishing the facts. Loved it, share share share!!
Just thought you’d be interested to know that this video is restricted. I get the message that “This video is unavailable in your country.” I live in Australia and frankly I’m aghast by what is happening to education in the US. Common Core is already here (quietly, in the background – for now). I blog about it but it’s a tiny blog as I’m not yet sure of the best way to get followers & all that. I’ll work on it. Any advice gratefully received. vasblog.com
That was absolutely the best explanation of this disaster called reform I have seen.
A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down and a good dose of humor does, too.
Not only did he explain Pearson, but also Obama. Brilliant.
Reblogged this on A Writer's Life and commented:
The best analysis I’ve seen about everything that’s wrong with standardized testing as currently implemented.
AWESOME!!!
LOVED this video! B-R-I-L-L-I-A-N-T!!!!!!!
Thank you Dr. Ravitch for this link.
John Oliver is the true PR for the principle in life. i strongly believe that he represents for all conscientious Americans who will fight hard for DEMOCRACY as well as will expose all exploitation from greedy corporations and all corruptions from abusive authority.
I enjoy watching all of his shows. May King
John Oliver for President!
How about John Oliver to take over the Daley Show?
cx; Daily
I love this as well! Our school spent $3,000 on incentives for students for our “STAAR Carnival”!!!! I was denied a PD that would have cost $250 (a world-renowned speaker would have been very helpful to me) because we didn’t have the money.
Comment on You Tube about the program:
So the problem is: We’re assuming there’s something wrong with the schools that can be fixed if only we get enough data about the students and the curriculum. And in our eagerness to get solutions, we started acting on data before we really had an effective method of gathering that data or a comprehensive idea of what that data means.
Someone gets it!
See Funk Monkey dancing around Pearson test-makers, pro-reform governors and VAMpire advocates.
Kent,
I think you are missing the point. Tests do not have to be a necessary evil, first of all. Better education systems put less emphasis on standardized tests and perform better than US students. Filling in bubbles will never be able to measure the true capabilities of students. A clumsy test is not better than no test. But for a second let’s just say that you are right and they are a necessary evil. Do the tests have to be developmentally inappropriate? Should a 4th grader be tested on a passage suitable for a 6th grader? Should tests have texts that are overly complex? Should students be held accountable for questions that do not have correct answers?
I am one of those people who signed a confidentiality agreement with Pearson. I cannot speak of anythings I saw or what transpired for 10 years. I was on two committees to “create tests”. Sorry if I do not share your point of view that the problem lies in the kids being lazy or the teachers criticizing the tests. Testing was a dismal failure under NCLB, why continue the process, seeing that it did not do what it was supposed to? If your horse is dead, the best course of action is to dismount. Why not look at Finland, for example, and use a system that works? I bet textbook companies do not call the shots in their system.
cross-posted at http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/American-students-face-a-r-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Grassroots_John-Oliver_Schools_Testing-150506-787.html#comment544005
with a comment from an earlier post here:
“Today, a dozen civil rights groups released a statement critical of those who oppose standardized testing. Their statement is titled: “We Oppose Anti-Testing Efforts.”
“The Network for Public Education disagrees with this criticism and declares its support for those who refuse the tests. We believe that those who resist the overuse and misuse of standardized tests serve the cause of equity. The NPE statement was written by Seattle teacher Jesse Hagopian and the NPE board.
“Please read both original statements. The NPE statement contains many links for documentation.
Resistance to High Stakes Tests Serves the Cause of Equity in Education: Authored by Jesse Hagopian and the NPE Board of Directors
Today several important civil rights organizations released a statement that is critical of the decision by many parents and students to opt out of high stakes standardized tests. Though we understand the concerns expressed in this statement, we believe high stakes tests are doing more harm than good to the interests of students of color, and for that reason, we respectfully disagree.
The United States is currently experiencing the largest uprising against high-stakes standardized testing in the nation’s history. Never before have more parents, students, and educators participated in acts of defiance against these tests than they are today. In New York State some 200,000 families have decided to opt their children out of the state test. The largest walkout against standardized tests in U.S. history occurred in Colorado earlier this school year when thousands refused to take the end of course exams. In cities from Seattle, to Chicago, to Toledo, to New York City, teachers have organized boycotts of the exam and have refused to administer particularly flawed and punitive exams.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan attempted to dismiss this uprising by saying that opposition to the Common Core tests has come from “white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were, and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were.” Secretary Duncan’s comment is offensive for many reasons. To begin, suburban white moms have a right not to have their child over tested and the curriculum narrowed to what’s on the test without being ridiculed. But the truth is his comment serves to hide the fact that increasing numbers of people from communities of color are leading this movement around the nation, including: