Peter Greene received a copy of New York State’s Toolkit for Superintendents on how to explain the importance of assessment to parents.
He concluded that its purpose was to discourage opt outs, which soared to 20% of all students this past spring. If it goes higher in 2016, the whole testing system would be in jeopardy.
New York decided to dump Pearson, but not for 2016; after that date, the new tests will be written by Questar.
Peter thinks the entire Toolkit is an exercise in propaganda that says nothing that is new and much that is not true:
Superintendents Tell Teachers What To Tell Parents
This is a handy guide to the lies that educators should tell parents. Tell them that without the test, we have no way of identifying student strengths and weaknesses. Tell them that the new Questar test will be better without admitting that the old one sucked. Say that double the number of NY teachers will be “involved” in developing the new test, but do not let them ask how you can know anything about the new test if it isn’t developed yet. Tell them that student rating of 1, 2 or 3 is really loaded with rich nuanced data. If they ask why their child’s grades don’t match test results, or why student scores went down this year, say “Argle bargle bargle.”
FOR PARENTS
Since our primary goal is informing parents enough that they will knock off the opt out stuff. So here are some mad libs aimed directly at them.
Superintendent Letter To Parents
Surprisingly weak. We have this test we give. It’s important and tests big deal stuff. No single test blah blah blah. Helps us compare your kid. The test is real fair and made just for New York and actual teachers worked on it (this is a recurring theme– the department is determined to make this look as teachery as possible without actually letting teacher have any real power). We’ll make sure your kid has time to get ready for this. And visit our mind-numbing website to give feedback on every single standard.
Parent FAQ List
There are ten questions, and zero real answers. Why should my kid take the test? Because the feds require it, NY students have always done so, oneofseveralmeasures, and it will measure college and career readiness and thereby guide instruction. So baloney, baloney, partial truth but so what, and baldfaced untruth.
Scores will tell you soooo many things. Like the ELA score can be broken into reading and writing! So granular! You can use the score to have discussions with your child’s teacher! The tests are IMPORTANT! Because reasons. And only 1% of school year to take them! Scores will be used to measure school performance, but not to affect your child’s promotion (or not). Teachers gave feedback on test questions! Questar is new and improved!
And guess what is not mentioned:
Can you guess which phrase does not appear in this section? If you guessed “Core” and also “Common,” you win! This portion does however discuss the college and career ready standards adopted in 2010, and puts the same old baloney in a pretty new chart without any evidence that any of these standards are a good idea. Also not included? Evidence that the BS Tests measure any of this stuff.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Kit 4 Tools …
That means that the term Common Core has become toxic and they are scrambling to avoid using it. Now, let’s make it toxic to use “College and Career Ready”.
Propaganda. I love when people are told what to say and then proceed to do so. Do they not have minds of their own?
Please, Mamie, That’s what GAGA Adminimals do! It’s in their blood which never reaches their brains to supply the mind with thought capabilities. One almost has to feel sorry for the state of mind of most adiminimals not being able to process and think on their own.
OMG, the sample meeting presentation is a hoot. To help their children
Parents can…
• Supply more non-fiction text
• Read non-fiction texts ALOUD OR WITH your child
• Have FUN with non-fiction in front of them
• DEMAND EVIDENCE in every day discussions/ disagreements
Methinks I will immediately go have some fun with this piece of NYSED blabbery in front of my kid and DEMAND EVIDENCE from him if he disagrees with me and finds a flicker of intelligence lurking therein.
I had the same reaction! Bizarre and random bolding of words! Reminded my of SNL’s Chris Farley and his quotation man skit (just google- hilarious). What was Elia thinking?!
I literally cannot remember the last time I received an email or letter from a teacher or administrator at my son’s school that did not make me feel stupider for having read it. So this stuff will fit right into my lifestyle.
None of this will matter. Parents here in NYS know that the opt out movement was a reaction to, not just, bad tests designed to fail, but ms-use of test scores to evaluate teachers. The test prep/narrowed curriculum craze did not go full bore until the RTT/Regents Reform Agenda required teacher evaluations tied directly to test scores.
Until that goes away, nothing will change regarding day to day classroom activities and test prep homework.
Opt out was effective in affluent schools, but there is a lot more outreach that needs to happen to convince parents of urban students that opting out is in the best interests of their children.
I’ve been saying Cradle to Career is tied to Common Core and they are using this in NY to push that effort. Look at the boards of these things. There’s almost always someone from Dept of Defense, TFF, Broad, and someone from Mental health (or many) and few to no educators involved.
The movement is rolling at rapid pace with billions pouring in from the Tech Ed and Real Estate moguls who care not a lick for the kids or the teaching profession, they want it all computerized for data collection and tracking and they want all the public school land. That goes to Charters for ZERO rent. Eventually it will wind up in the hands of the billionaires.
EPIC! http://www.epiconline.org/aboutus/board-of-directors/
Backgrounds of EPIC are:
*Broad Residency
*Wrote CC standards alignment book
*Staff Dir of U.S. Senate Sub Committee on Manpower/Plus Behavioral Science and PACE
*Sr. VP of State and Fed Relations for Voyager Learning Systems –
http://www.voyagersopris.com/ AND
the Jeb Bush appointee via Dept of Defense for Ed for Iraqi school systems and
*WestEd
Low key propaganda can have a stronger effect than more strongly worded propaganda, depending on context.
I saw this as in response to a union organizing drive for adjuncts at a college I taught at.
The college responded with very low key propaganda.
the low key propaganda basically said, “You are free to choose. But we’re still in charge. Trust us.”
More strongly worded propaganda would have produced a negative reaction, in favor of the union organizing drive.
Then the college was able to manipulate the list of potential adjuncts (the prospective bargaining unit) so they were able to avoid an election.
And they proved they were still in charge by what you state in your last sentence, eh!
Yes, they did. I believe most people will accept what they see as inevitable, rather than try to fight in vain.
The latter is how one might understand my union activity at the time.
Now I live in a red state where unions are more like a rumored conspiracy that might exist somewhere else.
While I expected Commissioner Elia’s take-the-tests toolkit to be controversial, I didn’t expect it to be so sorely lacking in factual basis.
One of the biggest “shifts” promoted by the Common Core Learning Standards is that writing must be backed by evidence. In fact, in the toolkit’s “Parent’s Guide to Higher Learning Standards,” parents are instructed to “[a]sk your child to provide evidence in everyday discussions and disagreements.” But the toolkit itself fails to do this — at all.
The toolkit materials constantly talk about the rigorous standards and that they will make your child “college and career ready” (whatever that really means). The toolkit pushes that the tests help guide instruction. But never does the toolkit provide anything, anything at all, to back up these claims, or any other claims. And these are the same claims that the state has been making for 3 years, and that parents have been questioning for 3 years. Where is the study that shows how these tests help improve your child’s critical thinking skills? Where is even one expert’s quote supporting that these tests help guide instruction. (How can these tests guide instruction to a child when the scores aren’t released until after the child completes that grade?) While I personally feel that Common Core overemphasizes evidence-backed writing (starting in kindergarten seems silly), in this situation, evidence is the only thing that could possibly persuade parents to embrace these tests — but evidence is entirely lacking, and instead we are given loud, repetitive soundbites. In fact, the only true evidence we do have on these tests — which Commissioner Elia studiously avoids stating in her toolkit — is that the tests show that our rigorous new curriculum and standards have produced no improvement at all in ELA over 3 years, and only the most minimal gains in math.
Repeating in a mantra-like fashion that the tests provide useful information hasn’t worked for the last 3 years and isn’t going to cut it this year.
To think and argue critically and effectively, Commissioner Elia in her toolkit needs to address the very real concerns of parents, the concerns that lead to over 20% of students refusing these tests. They need explanations and evidence proving that these tests are valid, i.e. that the test material in fact matches the curriculum, as myriad educators have voiced that the tests are not curriculum-aligned and are above grade level. The Commissioner needs to deal head on with the fact that parents don’t trust the tests anymore, in large part because, unlike tests prior to 2011, they are not fully transparent. And parents need to hear how a test can inform instruction when the scores aren’t available for roughly 4 months, and even then, a parent never sees the particular questions that were incorrect. Parents need answers as to why these tests are so helpful and meaningful but at the same time are so problematic that Gov. Cuomo and the legislature won’t permit the scores on transcripts. And parents need real answers as to why a third grader must face the pressure of having her test score account for half of her teacher’s review.
The toolkit address none of this, and accordingly, will not accomplish its goal of increasing test participation. To the contrary, the toolkit isn’t going to change anything — except perhaps further inflaming parents by ignoring their real concerns and adding fuel to the opt out fire.
“But the toolkit itself fails to do this — at all.”
Great point. My state is offering an “explainer” too (it’s just a single sheet, so not as extensive as NY’s) and I realize now it’s the same situation. It’s just a series of assertions- “the standards are…”, “the assessments will…” – these adults would do poorly on the 6th grade CC english exam 🙂
They actually call it an “explainer”?
Cuomo and Elia are just pathetic.
If they are the best that NY can do as far as government is concerned, then I’d have to say that NY State has much bigger worries than it’s schools. They are actually an insult to the intelligence of every thinking person in NY.
“Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark school-yard,
And he tapped with his Test on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the Test Lord’s VAM-eyed Super,
Elia, the New York Super
Planting a bright red “Opt Not!!” inside the “Opt out” lair. ‘
from “The Mywayman”
Just read Peter Greene’s entire piece. Brilliant! This part made me laugh so hard I have tears running down my face:
“Sample Flyer
‘Whether they want to go to college or straight into the workplace, our students need to be able to think critically and solve complex problems.’
That is roughly one third of the copy on the entire page. If you actually needed the state’s help to design this invitation to “An Evening with Superintendent [NAME]” you should not be responsible for children.”
NYSED is a hot mess and not getting any better.
Suggestions in the Superintendents toolkit are about as useful as her lame, panacean suggestion to buy tardy kids alarm clocks so they”ll be empowered to come to school on time. ( thereby solving the truancy problem in some urban schools).
pardon, my apostrophe key is stuck Superintendent’s toolkit…
Reblogged this on stopcommoncorenys and commented:
Elia’s new “tool kit” is yet another insult to New York parents and teachers. These educational career politicians trample the rights of our students and families and then belittle us. Shame on them all.
“Also not included? Evidence that the BS Tests measure any of this stuff.”
That’s definitely one of those NSS statements. How people believe that that standardized tests “measure” anything is beyond my comprehension level.
Wondering if the toolkit comes with a brand new, 3020a wrench?
TOOL KIT FOR A SINKING SHIP
Imagine that your ship is going down in the middle of the Atlantic. You make it to a lifeboat as you watch the “S.S. Common Core” slip beneath the roiling waves…. You assess the situation….ah…there’s a box marked “Survival Supplies”? What is in it….??
1. Half a paddle
2. Two cans of Fancy Feast cat food
3. John King’s earplugs (very used)
4. Form RET-54 NYSTRS Application for Teacher Retirement
5. A talking pineapple
6. Five copies of “All Things Possible” by Andrew Cuomo -92% Amazon one star rated
7. One big, heaping bag of grit
8. A blueprint entitled: “How to Build a Plane While Flying It”
9. David Coleman’s detached head, still alive and talking about how people in this world “really don’t give a shit” about you think or feel
10. A photograph of happy children actually enjoying recess on the playground -before the fun was sucked out of school and greed heads started trying to make our kids into tiny versions of Bill Gates
Get ready to start swimming! It will be oh-so “rigorous”.
OMG! My favorite reply here! I don’t want to be on this sinking ship, but I LOVE the lifeboat “supplies”! Thank you for my morning humor
I would just add a Barbie doll named “Kate.”
A Barbie doll named Kate???
That went straight over my head, but then again I haven’t had my hot cocoa this morning yet.
Wow, I’m glad I didn’t have to sit through that in order to be professionally developed. Put a pretty face on it, eh! Maybe that will help to put up with the bullshit that is coming out of her mouth.
Oh wow, that’s funny. Thank you.
To recap: first approach is be dismissive, second is to ignore parents entirely, third is to pretend to listen and continue, fourth is to counter with pseudo evidence and then dismiss parents, what comes next?
The deformers have a lot of $$$$$ invested in the DEFORMS, thus this kind of PROPAGANDA.
They also fail to point out that the test scores aren’t sent to parents/teachers until the summer. How can the parent/teacher use the results to help the child when the child has already moved on?
Hillsborough County, FL ousted her for her tight adherence to a reform agenda. Parents, teachers, administrators and board members couldn’t take it any more. Hopefully NY will feel the same way and do the same thing!
The funny thing is that even Bill Gates basically admitted she was a disaster when he yanked all her funding.
You know she’s pretty bad if even reformers are fleeing.
Unfortunately for Cuomo, he is not bright enough to understand what the problem is.
The over-under on Elia’s tenure in this job is two years, as of when she started.
I’m taking the under, since the likelihood is that opt-out will escalate in the spring, our Reptilian Governor will lash out in even greater desperation, and this incompetent and unpleasant woman will consequently decide to spend more time with her family and seek other career opportunities.
I’ve been saying Cradle to Career is tied to Common Core and they are using this in NY to push that effort. Look at the boards of these things. There’s almost always someone from Dept of Defense, TFF, Broad, and someone from Mental health (or many) and few to no educators involved.
The movement is rolling at rapid pace with billions pouring in from the Tech Ed and Real Estate moguls who care not a lick for the kids or the teaching profession, they want it all computerized for data collection and tracking and they want all the public school land. That goes to Charters for ZERO rent. Eventually it will wind up in the hands of the billionaires.
EPIC! http://www.epiconline.org/aboutus/board-of-directors/
Backgrounds of EPIC are:
*Broad Residency
*Wrote CC standards alignment book
*Staff Dir of U.S. Senate Sub Committee on Manpower/Plus Behavioral Science and PACE
*Sr. VP of State and Fed Relations for Voyager Learning Systems –
http://www.voyagersopris.com/ AND
the Jeb Bush appointee via Dept of Defense for Ed for Iraqi school systems and
*WestEd
Questar is better than Pearson? Just look at their Board of Directors.
http://www.questarai.com/about-us/board-of-directors/
Not a single educator in the bunch, which should come as no surprise! I see nothing different in what Questar promises to do…more test and punish…aimed at creating mindless clones who will work all their lives for others.