In Seattle, teachers explained that the Smarter Balanced Assessment did not count. Not a single 11th grade student at Nathan Hale High School took the test.
They were acting in the same independent and revolutionary spirit as their schools’ namesake.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is what I’d love to see happen. No one taking the tests.
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I admire the students and their families that educated themselves enough to say “no”.
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A smarter balanced assessment is not a test
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TAGO!
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If a Common Core test is given at a school and there is no one there to take it, does Arne Duncan make a sound?
If “yes”, what kind of sound does he make?
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Flatulent.
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Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
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I’m hopeful that situations like this will have resounding impact around the country. No doubt that The Movement will feel compelled to lash out.
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Mission accomplished:
“Sure, there will continue to be strong opposition to the Common Core in some quarters, but the fierceness of the opt-out movement in places like New York will hopefully be a temporary entry in the short history of parental civil disobedience. In the meantime, from where I sit more parents are fleeing to private schools with the hope of escaping the standards – whether they can afford to self-pay or they will come to support school vouchers in greater numbers.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allison-hertog/optingout-is-silly-but-pa_b_7214478.html
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Who is Allison Hertog? An attorney who has a masters in special ed. Are we supposed to be wowed because she has an ed degree? Do I sense an odor of contempt for opt out proponents wafting on her words?
” from where I sit more parents are fleeing to private schools with the hope of escaping the standards – whether they can afford to self-pay or they will come to support school vouchers in greater numbers.
She seems to have an issue with people who opt out of tests but none with parents who can afford to flee to private schools. If vouchers allow them to opt in to quality private programs then they do not represent those of modest economic means. Do we have a charter supporter in “sheep’s” clothing?
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When the system benefits one (Hertog) to the detriment of others, well tough luck for the peons.
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OK
I can’t believe it.
Here in California, 6th Grade Students are being asked to write for their CASSP Standardized Test about the Growth and Expansion of the US from 1800 to 1900.
This is clearly 8th Grade Curriculum and the prep lesson materials for a fifty minute exercise/lesson prior to the test the next day involves extensive pair share.
So 180 of 8th Grade instruction will be delivered in 50 minutes to 6th Graders who will then write about it.
This is clearly an example of how pedagogically inept this testing is becoming.
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It looks like the backlash is beginning to spread. We can fervently hope so.
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To Parents, students, and School administrative Staff at Nathan Hale High School.
I truthfully admire the UNITED determination from all of you in action to prove “”UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL””
From “To the Memory of Capt. Nathan Hale” by Eneas Munson, Sr., written “soon after” Hale’s death:[20]
“Hate of oppression’s arbitrary plan,
The love of freedom, and the rights of man;
A strong desire to save from slavery’s chain
The future millions of the western main,
And hand down safe, from men’s invention cleared,
The sacred truths which all the just revered;
For ends like these, I wish to draw my breath,”
He bravely cried, “or dare encounter death.”
And when a cruel wretch pronounced his doom,
Replied, “‘Tis well, —for all is peace to come;
The sacred cause for which I drew my sword
Shall yet prevail, and peace shall be restored.
I’ve served with zeal the land that gave me birth,
Fulfilled my course, and done my work on earth;
Have ever aimed to tread that shining road
That leads a mortal to the blessed God.
I die resigned, and quit life’s empty stage,
For brighter worlds my every wish engage;
And while my body slumbers in the dust,
My soul shall join the assemblies of the just.”
Munson had tutored Hale before college, and knew him and his family well, so even though the particulars of this speech may be unlikely, Munson knew firsthand what Hale’s opinions were.
[From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Hale%5D
Please accept my great appreciation for your inspiration and great spirit in showing test PROFITEERS at the exit door. I salute your courage and intelligence. Back2basic
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Many years ago, when standardized testing was just entering the mainstream of education, I had the privilege of talking to a junior in high school who refused to take the test. Now this was in the 70s, so I really mean a long – time – ago — long before accountability became fashionable. The principal was having a meltdown because this 1 student just said, “no” to taking the annual achievement test! Frantic, in the face of such defiance, he ordered me to find out what was going on and “make that student take the test!” I was not sure how one would extract reliable results for any assessment if the participant was not willing to divulge information. It seemed to me that even physical, emotional or social coercion could only produce questionable validity. I complied with the request to find out what was going on. I asked the student why they dared challenge the status quo by not submitting the contents of their mind as required.
The student answered, “I will not take the test because they will use the information from those tests to make decisions about my education and life that they do not have the right to make. (Civil rights?) They do not know me as a person, I am more than numbers on a scale. You can make me sit in a room and place a test in front of me but you can not force me to take a test”.
I have never forgotten the weight of the profound truth spoken that day. Why should anyone submit to such an invasion of their person. Decisions about the educational experience of a any child should be based on the deepest possible understanding of the whole child as the result of a trusting relationship. Not a score on a scale ment to sort and label children for recycling.
Accountability, judgement, sorting, labels – are we talking about human children or sheet metal specs? So much of the brain research points to the power of relationship and joy for optimal learning. If you truly understand relationship, you know that accountability results in destroyed relationship. What if your best friend made you accountable for all of your activity? Once you are asked to account, all assumption of trust evaporates.
You can hear the word “accountability” echo across the land as trust and relationship drain away. Hold the child accountable! No, hold the parent accountable! No, hold the teacher, the principal, the BOE, the state, the congress, the president, the world accountable! Holding another accountable, removes their need to be accountable. It removes the responsibility for their behavior one step away from where it should be. I am accountable, I am responsible, I am empowered to address that with which I have been intrusted.
Thinking and decision making are human behaviors. Human behaviors are learned. The very humanity of teaching and learning is based on trust and the willing exchange between learner and teacher. Stop pointing fingers, stop placing blame! We need to stop acting like we are programed to act involuntarily, helpless, and imprisoned. If you want accountability, look in the mirror because that is where it starts. The child is the least powerful – empower him/her with wisdom. Fear is not a substitute for love. Tests are not gods to whom we must kneel in blind obedience.
I proud to have known that 70s opt-outer. No test was taken that day or any other day. Teaching and learning ruled the day!
Don’t say, oh, but you don’t understand. I do understand, I got into education because I knew at a very personal level that the system was in great need of improvement. 1966-present. I have never been satisfied with the system, never! I have worked at many different levels, I am still working. I still see passionate, bright, child centered professionals working against the flood of cynical, so called, “accountability” measures. You do not have to have a microscope to see these bright creatures of the profession. However in your effort to eradicate the few “pests”, you may destroy all life and love of learning.
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TAGrO!
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Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn is very mad about what the students and parents did at Nathan Hale. He has threatened to launch an investigation to determine if any teachers were involved in this protest and if so to punish them. I was at a meeting with hundreds of parents and hundreds of teachers from Nathan Hale. They are UNITED in their disgust for the SBAC test. What Randy is going to find is that he cannot punish an entire high school that is UNITED against him. There are now high schools rising up all across Washington state in opposition to this SBAC test. Instead of punishing parents, teachers and students Randy needs to start LISTENING TO US!
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Nova High School now claims pride of place for having all 11th AND 10th graders opt out:
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OK. Yes there seems to be a competition going on among parents in Seattle to see which high schools can get the most kids opted out. Nova High School is currently in First place and it will be hard to beat 100% Opt out. But the SBAC testing season/Opt Out Season is not over yet. At one of our websites, Opt Out Washington (dot) org, more than 8,200 parents have downloaded our comprehensive Opt Out form (with lots of instructions on how to deal with threats from Randy Dorn). In addition, more than 30 school districts in Washington State have now voted to go on “one day rolling strikes.” 4 more school districts were added to the list just this afternoon! There will be a major rally in Seattle on Tuesday May 19 2015. I have a feeling this protest movement is only going to get bigger. Parents and teachers are NOT listening to Randy Dorn. The only question is whether Randy Dorn will listen to us.
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Two more school districts just joined the strike in the past hour. We are now at 32 to 33 school districts. In addition, folks are downloading our Opt Out Washington form at a rate of more than 1000 downloads per week – from a website that has only been in existence for about 8 weeks! and yet polls show that 70% of parents still have no idea what SBAC even means. When they found out, watch out. (which they will in August when the test results are announced) watch out Randy Dorn. This is not going to be pretty.
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I forgot to mention. There are many large high schools in Seattle during the past two weeks that have posted opt out rates of more than 90%. Ballard, Roosevelt, Garfield, Ingraham etc. These high schools also have parents who participate in many “Legislative District” meetings that have passed strong resolutions opposing Common Core and SBAC. So there parents know what they are talking about. So whole sections of Seattle are up in arms. It is not just the teachers. It is the parents and students themselves who are leading the way.
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It is truly hallelujah for all conscientious educators, parents, and students in Seattle.
Virtue should prevail in the end. We all owe Dr. Ravitch and her NPE staff for their dedication and relentless effort to maintain this website for all voices as per her advice:
“UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL”. Back2basic
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In many ways, Nathan Hale High Schools is a model of what a high school can be.
Here, it gets promoted for the boycott of the Common Core-related Smarter Balanced Assessment.
But let’s remember that both the ACT and the College Board were instrumental in developing the Common Core, and both say they’ve “aligned” all of their products with it.
Nathan Hale offers Advanced placement (from the College Board) courses and tests in American Literature grade 11, Language Arts grade 12, Calculus A and B, Statistics,
Environmental Science, Japanese, and Spanish.
The PSAT will be given at Nathan Hale in October, 2015. Nathan Hale advertises SAT summer prep classes (at $339) and practice tests ($47). SAT and ACT tests are routine.
So, how many students at Nathan Hale boycotted their AP tests? How many will boycott the PSAT in the Fall? How many students are refusing to take the ACT or SAT?
I doubt that it’s time for “Hallelujah” yet.
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You are right that ACT and SAT are just as bad as SBAC. However, most parents, teachers and students still do not know this. Education is a slow process. The good news is that there are parents in Seattle advocating for opting kids out of SAT, ACT and AP. I am having this conversation with my daughter and other parents are also talking about it with their kids. This year has been the largest uprising against high stakes tests in the history of Washington state and that is a good thing. Some day, all unfair and unreliable high stakes tests will be banned in our state.
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@David: I’m pleased that some people are having a “conversation” about opting out of the ACT, SAT, and AP.
But I doubt that there are very many of those conservations.
Let’s see how many students at Nathan Hale – as one example – opt out of the PSAT that will be given in the school in October of 2015.
As I mentioned, in many ways Nathan Hale is an exemplary high school. Yet it still promotes SAT prep classes. And offers up AP courses and tests (though not as many as many schools).
And, as I keep pointing out on this blog, the College Board (which produces the PSAT, SAT, and AP) was instrumental in developing the Common Core, and has “aligned” all its products with it. So has ACT Inc.
How many students.parents nationwide are boycotting the PSAT, SAT Advanced Placement, or ACT?
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I agree with Haleyes. I know parents and teachers at Nathan Hale. The concern is not just SBAC. In fact, I was surprised when I wrote a bill in the Washington state legislature repealing SBAC and returning our state to the prior state high stakes test called MSP. I was told that the goal should be to get rid of ALL HIGH STAKES tests – by parents and teachers at Nathan Hale (and many other schools). I am therefore working on just such a bill. Parents and teachers and students are waking up to the drawbacks of high stakes testing – regardless of the name of the test. I believe the day will come when we as parents get rid of all of these evil monsters.
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In a discussion with the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee many years ago, I ask her if the SAT’s were an indicator of success in college. The answer, of course, was no! Maybe it’s time for snob universities to become real.
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We can only hope. AP tests are not mandatory in ELA. They are opt-in. We voted to suspend PSAT for the 10th graders next fall just prior to the Senate vote on the 11th SBAC in February. It was the PSAT concerns voiced at community meetings that led to the SBAC parent supported and led refusal movement. As a CES school, we support authentic assessment and are actively looking to seek a waiver for future Federal testing mandates.We have just begun to fight.
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And yet, Haleyes, the PSAT announcement for the PSAT testing remained on the Nathan Hale website as of late last week, as did an announcement for SAT test prep at nearby Roosevelt High, one of the Seattle schools that is alleged to “have passed strong resolutions opposing Common Core and SBAC.”
And, at the end of March, 2015, KPIU reported that “According to principal Jill Hudson, Nathan Hale’s juniors also took the PSAT last year and this year because of a federal Race to the Top grant, in addition to the SAT exam they took last January.”
Meanwhile, at Roosevelt High, this information is related to parents on Counseling News:
“On Wednesday, October 15th, there will be a late start for all 9th and 12th graders while 10th and 11th graders take the PSAT or CT Aspire. Roosevelt will offer the PSAT for all 11th graders. In the past, tenth graders took the PLAN test, which was the practice ACT test. Roosevelt staff strongly believe that it is ideal for students to get experience with both the ACT and SAT testing formats, so that they have as much information as possible when deciding which test to take for college admissions. This year ACT has switched to a new version of practice test known as the ACT Aspire. Roosevelt will be piloting this new test for the district as an option for tenth graders…. Tenth graders who did not sign up for the ACT Aspire will be able to take the PSAT. Students cannot take both, as they are being offered at the same time. 10th graders who take the ACT Aspire will be able to take the PSAT as juniors but 10th grade is the only year in which students may take the practice ACT test.”
Perhaps all this will be negated too. Hopefully it will, or has been.
If not, then it’s obvious there’s still an awful lot to be done.
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Well this is cause for ‘Hallelujah’, and will impact SAT and ACT tests, no doubt:
http://www.fairtest.org/new-survey-shows-record-number-colleges-and-univer
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Dear AS: Please do not hold your breath.
“It’s not that the SAT is losing customers…the number of test takers has grown…the ACT is growing much faster, in part because 12 states now require, and pay for, all public high school juniors to take the test.”
And frankly, I fail to see why this issue –– PSAT, SAT ACT and AP testing -– is not discussed more on this blog.
It’s as if readers are being led to believe Common Core testing is failing, and quite frankly it is not. It is alive and well and embedded in the products pushed by ACT, Inc. and the College Board.
How many educators and students and parents are boycotting the AP courses? SAT and ACT tests?
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“And frankly, I fail to see why this issue –– PSAT, SAT ACT and AP testing -– is not discussed more on this blog.”
Not only that but the concept of “grading” students as if those grades are any more valid than “major” high stakes testing (as are those mentioned in your point)-they’re not.
My take is that political and policy discussions seem to take precedence over fundamental conceptual/philosophical*/rationo-logical discussions probably due to the fact that many of the posts have their genesis in some form of traditional media-MSM and most, if not the vast majority of Americans are quite ignorant, downright malicious towards such fundamental conceptual thinking. “Oh, how does that help??”-supposedly pragmatic thought which then allows many educators to succumb to and implement so many “schemes” presented to/forced upon to them.
I’ve been having a conversation with a couple of young (under 6-7 yrs experience) teachers who are touting their own horns for giving so many AP tests-they think it’s the bestest thing to have students be robbed of $85-90 bucks and get no benefit other than perhaps to be more careful the next time in spending their parents hard earned cash. The two teachers are of the “play the game” mode who believe that the AP shows that they are the bestest teachers. Idiots, who have been snookered in my mind. It’s quite hard to such fools (Okay so I’m an elitist bastard for saying so-ha ha!)
And many think I’m nuts for posting references to Wilson’s work so much. We have a long way to go, democracy!!!
*Paraphrasing Andre Comte-Sponville (oh shit another French philosopher):
“Philosophy is thinking without recourse to proofs.”
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Duane
Yes, we have a long way to go.
And, yes, many educators are part of the problem. There are tons of administrators, teachers and guidance counselors who push AP relentlessly, not to mention the ACT and/or the SAT. There are teachers who self-identify as “AP” teachers.
And yes, far too many educators have no philosophy of education whatsoever. And, as I’ve noted on this blog numerous times, many of the leading educational organizations –– from the AFT and NEA to ASCD and the National PTA –– are little better.
If it’s true that parents are really leading the anti-testing movement, then why are they so in the dark about the ACT, SAT and AP courses? Because they are all tied (“aligned”) with the Common Core and, essentially, are now just an extension of it.
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We need to believe in what we can and cannot DO in order to maintain and to preserve our strength in
“”UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL””
The LION PRIDE cannot over power the mass of BISON, or the SHARK group cannot easily eat the mass of SALMONS. However, they can easily break down one by one of any small, independent individual/ GROUP BUT NOT A MASS like TIGER, HYENA.
Definitely,the “”soulless”” PRIDE can attack the mass of SHEEP.
The 1% can use money to control some “”soulless”” tigers, some hyenas who in return bully all sheep and some bison on the behalf of 1%.
All conscientious parents (in all different PROFESSIONS), students, educators, retirees ( in all different PROFESSIONS) are conscientious LIONS themselves, and some are TIGERS or BISON in terms of intelligence, strength, and network of trust. We are not sheep or hyenas.
Therefore, we do not have money in billions, but our UNITED conscience, knowledge, and trust ARE WORTH much more than billions that can compare to.
Money, greed, and ego have tried to break down conscience since the formation of this planet in all levels of sentient beings. However, there always are places like heaven, life, and hell in our emotion, and in every breath that we take in whether we live in civilized or savage society.
We need to protect, maintain, and preserve our own INNER PEACE and GOOD HEALTH by doing what is right without fear of any threat. If we have all means to fight back but we do not have courage to take an action, then we can watch the lives of all refugees, prisoners of war, and slaves who were forced into starvation and deprivation of rest through history and documentary in order to visualize the future of our young generations
That is the real reason why helpless people emigrate to anywhere for a peaceful living. They left behind wealth and fame to dictator. Some “”soulless”” tigers and hyenas do not know WHEN their time is up to be a meal for “”soulless”” pride of lion. Back2basic
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Huh?
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Re-read the post democracy. It sounds like something you would write. Understand that English is not May’s first language nor is Western European thought her primary basis of thought (correct me if I am wrong, May!) so that her writing might be more difficult to understand for those not realizing those facts. I understand what she is saying and think it’s spot on, a TAGO at that!!
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Thanks for your explanation, Duane.
To summarize, briefly, what concerns me is this:
Public education has – or should have – a special place and purpose in a democratic society. We should be focusing on democratic citizenship (which, by the way, seems to be Nathan Hale’s core mission). But we’ve largely abandoned that purpose in lieu of “college and careers,” which seems to be a euphemism for preparing kids to take ACT, SAT and AP tests, with a generous side-order of STEM.
It’s beyond goofy.
And yet, we have all kinds of educators and educational “leaders” and organizations who’ve hopped on that bandwagon.
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Thank you Señor Swacker for understanding my English writing. You identify my English writing well. Many English TA, who are PhD candidates always have had the same comment about my awkward writing, but they could not correct it and keep it within my original thought at the same time. Therefore, I needed to rewrite one paragraph to replace one or two sentences, hahaha…
To Democracy
I hope that your pen name explains well what you express here. Yes, that is exactly what democracy is all about – to cultivate new citizens and all young people to appreciate their freedom, their civility, and their humanity – As a result, in any democratic society, we will have the majority of citizens who, young and old, blue collar and white collar, employees and employers will act in the same manner like Nathan Hale without slight hesitation, but with a strong will to protect, to maintain and to preserve their treasure – DEMOCRACY. May
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“. . . keep it within my original thought at the same time.”
May,
And your thoughts will be “original” in a different manner than the vast majority of Americans due to your native language (if you don’t mind my asking what it is) and being brought up in a non-Western European society. Many folks don’t realize just how much where we are brought and our mother tongue has an effect on many aspects of life but especially communication and thought.
Throughout my schooling, in the few writing courses I have taken, every teacher told me/excoriated me for writing “run on” sentences. No doubt, that I needed to learn to better express my ideas but in doing so I still have many qualifiers of thought that need to be in the sentence to really make it say what I wanted. Add the fact that in Spanish, longer sentences are valued-maybe that’s why I can read Spanish without too much problem in understanding a page long sentence-has reinforced that “run on” tendency.
Take care and keep writing, I enjoy your thoughts said only in a way that May can-eh!
Duane
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Thank you señor Swacker. I am a mixed breed of Chinese-Vietnamese culture with French background. My writing is under the influence of my French Teacher who loved a long, complicated sentence with many different conjunctions like that, which, whose, who, whom, when, why, while, whereas, but, and, whereas…Thank to my Dad and my Mom who always explained the morality in every story in Aesop fables since I was very little, my writing always has an example of animals with its implication of morality in what I want to express.
As a result, my writing and expression becomes awkward to Western readers who like simple structure and direct idea in one PLAIN sentence with subject + verb + object. I have learned many writing courses in the past 40 years in Canada. This is how I learn:
1) Topic sentence in the introduction paragraph;
2) pros and cons sentences in three or four paragraphs in the body;
3) Conclusion sentence in the last final paragraph to convince readers what we argue for the pro reason.
I can do all in one “”run on”” sentence with different conjunctions to emphasize the reason that I argue for, hahaha. I hope that you now know the reason that influences my writing and my expression. May
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