Three activists for racial and social justice take issue with the position of several civil rights organizations that opposed opting out of mandated tests. Pedro Noguera of New York University, John Jackson of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, and Judith Browne Dianis of the Advancement Project support the right of parents to opt their children out of state tests.
The NCLB annual tests have not advanced the interests of poor children or children of color, they say.
“Schools serving poor children and children of color remain under-funded and have been labeled “failing” while little has been done at the local, state or federal level to effectively intervene and provide support. In the face of clear evidence that children of color are more likely to be subjected to over-testing and a narrowing of curriculum in the name of test preparation, it is perplexing that D.C. based civil rights groups are promoting annual tests….:
“We are not opposed to assessment. Standards and assessments are important for diagnostic purposes. However, too often the data produced by standardized tests are not made available to teachers until after the school year is over, making it impossible to use the information to address student needs. When tests are used in this way, they do little more than measure predictable inequities in academic outcomes. Parents have a right to know that there is concrete evidence that their children are learning, but standardized tests do not provide this evidence….
We now know students cannot be tested out of poverty, and while NCLB did take us a step forward by requiring schools to produce evidence that students were learning, it took us several steps backward when that evidence was reduced to how well a student performed on a standardized test…..
The civil rights movement has always worked to change unjust policies. When 16-year-old Barbara Johns organized a student strike in Prince Edward County, Virginia in 1951 leading to Brown v. Board in 1954, she opted out of public school segregation. When Rosa Parks sat down on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 she opted out of the system of segregation in public transportation. And as youth and their allies protest throughout the country against police brutality, declaring that “Black Lives Matter,” we are reminded that the struggle for justice often forces us to challenge the status quo, even when those fighting to maintain it happen to be elected officials or, in this case, members of the civil rights establishment.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Standardizing education is not the route to any meaningful educational equity.
Equal does not mean Same.
Bull shit is not always the best fertilizer.
Many who do not make the grade on yearly assessment will overcome this additional handicap to be successful.
Until U. S. deals with economic segregation, early language development, and social ills, there will be failing students on poorly created assessments. There is no short cut. People I know who see education as a solution to the nation’s wealth benefitted from federal government largesse but think they are self-made. They had supportive, educated parents as well and were poor because of war. Poverty and wealth are creations of governments, not individuals. Individuals take advantage of favorable economic climates.
I think the opposite is true. This testing madness will lock children in to poverty limiting their odds of escaping that life.
Yes, your point is taken and I should have said a few. The few includes the students who have innate fortitude and perseverance. I have known a couple who against all odds scored in the 90th percentile and came from the second lowest scoring middle school in Los Angeles.
Those are not the only kids who should be successful. Two out of 600 classmates doesn’t cut it. And who knows as adults they may not be the really successful ones.
Maybe many are like a student in my reading class who now owns his own business. Low scores on standardized tests in middle school are meaningless by the end of one’s education.
Standardized testing, as actually used, stack ranks young people—before they have lived even a fraction of most of their lives!—into a few “deserving” winners and a great many “undeserving” losers. These labels last a lifetime and are a sure-fire guarantee of social rigidity and inequality, not social mobility and equity. *For a resoundingly reality-based presentation of why this is so, in practice, please read Yong Zhao’s WHO’S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD DRAGON: WHY CHINA HAS THE BEST (AND WORST) EDUCATION SYSTEM IN THE WORLD (2014).*
Rheephorm proponents of standardized tests and the scores they generate argue that, “technically speaking,” the resulting forced ranking to reward or punish is not their intended or inherent purpose. It is immaterial to me whether or not they believe what they say since the vast majority of rheephormistas haven’t a clue about what the figures mean or don’t mean. It’s simply a reformulation of what is known as “mathematical intimidation”—the numbers & stats put a veneer of scientific objectivity on shaky and unsupported assumptions with the intention of shutting down discussion about, and ensuring compliance with, radical social engineering that strives to afflict the afflicted and comfort the comfortable.
So, if I may add one last thing to your fine comments, it is not just that children will be locked into poverty but that they will accept their lot with the rheephorm “grit” and “determination” we hear so much about.
And why is it so important to get the vast majority to agree to their own degradation? A genuine American hero put it much better than I could:
“I didn’t know I was a slave until I found out I couldn’t do the things I wanted.”
Frederick Douglass. Before he could break physical chains he had to break mental ones.
And just what did he do once he freed himself internally?
“I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.”
He took action.
He was right then. He is right now. Free your mind and your heart. Use your legs.
Opt out of the standardized testing that is the lifeblood of corporate education reform.
Opt in to genuine teaching and learning.
😎
Well said!
Not only does the information from the hi stakes test get to teachers way too late, the “test” falls short of accomplishing it’s intended purpose. It is simply level B or 2nd class achievement.
In the words of Dr. Angela Dye, “Traditional school outcomes as level “B” achievement can occur in the absence of learning how to work and learn independently; (“A” level learning includes) learning how to synthesize, transfer, and apply knowledge to the world beyond the classroom; learning how to value self as subjects not as objects; and learning how to engage in and share power in democratic spaces”.
The Collins amendment ( http://www.wholechildreform.com to read this amendment ) to ESEA allows some states to use innovative, whole child assessment in lieu of the test. This is a powerful breakthrough. The window of opportunity will now open a crack and we must dive through it head first.
Opt out is a great beginning toward the solution of the problem but by itself will not solve it. It’s time to erase from our minds how schools are s’posed to be and dream about how schools must be.
Envision a school where students are assessed using whole child, 1st class assessment, not cheapened with a narrow scope and the convenience of a test, but broadened as a stepping stone for whole child learning.
Envision a school where assessment becomes geared to the whole child as a priority driving the curriculum that now becomes focused on that whole child philosophy with critical thinking a part of the daily routine. That is a game changer!
Civil rights organizations want to assure that all children are respected for their skills and abilities on an even playing field. That must be supported by all. Many have made it clear how the test fails to accomplish that. But we must all stand together with a viable alternative to the test. And this alternative begins with the Collins amendment.
There is still a long way to go, but we must remember, change is a process that moves slowly, one step at a time. Standing together to clearly define a viable alternative to the test will surely be supported by civil rights organizations and more importantly parent, students and educators.
I’m interested to know how do we gage students’ understanding of the curriculum?
Thank you for that question. A great example is the science fair as a way to assess the way students use the scientific method. Another comparison of 2nd class vs 1st class achievement is as follows:
2nd class:
Who discovered America? Circle one
a. Atilla the hun
b. Americus Vespucci
c. Christopher Columbus
d. Sarah Palin
Of course students are brainwashed into believing it is “c”.
1st class:
Given the ability to use critical thinking, students can delve into the internet and find resources that say this continent was founded by settlers from the west coast much earlier. And when did other settlers come through Alaska? This simple question is deeper than one can imagine and many answers could be correct. And they can present it as a play, or a song, remember the song “Battle of New Orleans”? It was a hit but written by a Principal to encourage students to learn history. Or it could be a speech or a written thesis.
Let your imagination go wild.
In the words of that great Irish philosopher George Carlin:
“They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. That’s against their interest. They want obedient workers, people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork and just dumb enough to passively accept it”
Envision a school where assessment is not cheapened with a narrow scope and convenience of a test but broadened as a stepping stone for the whole child learning experience. Where, like life, is a constant flow of problem solving experiences where failure is not only an option but a positive, experience essential to the learning process.
It is time to challenge the way we think about education
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
Seeing these anti-opt out civil rights organizations say “obey the rule” is just like having US Consuls asking American left-behind parents “shut the hell up and follow the order of local government!” on parental child abductions in Japan.
Just as there are climate change deniers, there are poverty deniers. The entire “reformist” premise is based on the idea that poverty makes no difference; only anyone that has taught poor students for decades knows this is a fallacy. Also, the preponderance of evidence does not seem to dent their dense little minds. There are too many delusional people in powerful positions that refuse to accept this fact. That is why they can continue to conduct witch hunts, unfettered by reality, against teachers.
perhaps this will help them: Everyone please watch this presentation on Compassion and Creativity! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb3_wqX7yNE
Florida district may hire test proctors for next school year.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/school-zone/os-orange-schools-test-proctors-hire-post.html?track=rss
…and the includes poverty of academic background and stimulation, poverty of attention at home, poverty of affection, poverty of adequate sleep … not just poverty of money, food, clothes, and housing. It isn’t racial. It isn’t class specific. It has to do with all the environmental things that go on from birth, plus the lack of true attention and interest in raising a child to succeed in the society. Many of them are raised by their siblings, grandparents, or street people. Somewhere the desire to learn and be a productive member of society needs to be instilled in people. There are differing viewpoints as to what that is. I will refrain from saying that parents
“should” do anything, since the last time I did this, I was slammed for my thoughts. But, it something needs to happen to get the children to find the passion.
Another great and irrefutable truth is the fact that “The common core standards cannot speed up child development” Apparently reformers don’t/won’t get this and instead would have the nation believe that even a two year old can be a navy seal if only they have enough grit and accept the high expectations inflicted upon them.