After a showing of Shannon Puckett’s powerful documentary “Defies Measurement,” the opt out movement in Pennsylvania got a large boost. Shannon, an experienced teacher, made the film with the help of Kickstarter, and has made it available for free online.
After they saw the film, parents asked for yard signs declaring their opposition to the state tests, and organizers ran out of them.
The more people see this documentary and others showing the punitive nature of these tests (why should little children take standardized tests that last for several hours? Why can’t their reading and math skills be divined in a 45- minute test?), the more they want to withhold consent.
The more parents understand that these tests provide no useful information about their child (how does it help to know what percentile rank your child is in compared to children of the same age in other districts and states? How does the teacher learn more about her students when she can’t see the questions and the scores arrive when the student is no longer in her class?), the more they want to opt out.
The more parents understand that the tests are about profits, not education, the more they will opt out.
Go online for a viewing of “Defies Measurement” and help your friends and neighbors understand why they should say no and fight for their children.
“State Sen. Andy Dinniman (D., Chester), who cosponsored the bill delaying the Keystones, said he has watched a surprising bipartisan consensus emerge as parents in more affluent suburban districts complain about the number of days devoted to testing, while poverty-stricken communities say they lack the money to implement the changes.
“It wasn’t helping anyone,” Dinniman said of the Keystone requirement. “All we were doing was stamping failure on the backs of students in impoverished areas where there weren’t any resources to pass these exams.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It appears that teachers must now teach the public — forget the privatize profiteers and their puppet politicians, they are past hope — before they will be permitted to teach their pupils again.
Excellent: and thank you, Shannon Puckett.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
More communities should plan to see “Defies Measurement” in order to spread the word about the negative impact of all the meaningless standardized testing. It is a great messaging tool for Opt Out. We need to stop feeding the data monster.
http://massteacher.org/issues_and_action/high_stakes_testing/opting_out/guide_for_parents_to_opting_out_of_state_standardized_tests.aspx
“(why should little children take standardized tests that last for several hours? Why can’t their reading and math skills be divined in a 45- minute test?)”
Or, I dunno, by reading and doing math problems in class with the teacher and classmates?
Powerful, thoughtful, sensitive – a thorough and well-prepared video. It addresses what education, real education could/should be. Thank you Shannon Puckett – well done!
I would recommend it to administrators and educators at all levels and to boards of education and ESPECIALLY to politicians and policy makers across the country. Actually, I think it should be mandated for the latter – just like the tests they have mandated for students, teachers and school systems.
While there are too many specific meaningful comments to identify, a comment by Jane Duvall-Flyynn, chair of the education committee PA NAACP, stood out for me:
“There are a certain segment of people who gain positions of power are making war on the youth of this country.” (38:14)
Check out the comments of the creator of this blog at 21:28 . . .
Excellent documentary.
I imagine this is making some people at the top exceedingly uncomfortable, especially statements like
“These people want to find an enemy, make us look bad and then privatize the schools. That’s always the solution: scare the American people, then figure out how much money you can pull out of them” — David Berliner
It is excellent documentary.
Thank you very much for all of participants’ dedication and knowledge in education. I felt for the pain in teacher who is crying in Chipman PS.
I wholeheartedly agree with her that it is not expensive and fancy to cultivate children to love learning. It is frustrated to see greedy corporate single heavy-handedly destroys democracy or public education system.
I put blame on all corrupted politicians, lawyers and retired experts in higher education who are blinded for few millions of dollars to work for or to guide greedy corporate in manipulating legal system in order to harm American younger generations.
It is so sad to see history in 5000+ years that is repeating from being savage tribes to being democratic nations, from bullying certified educators, world class entertainers (Ludwig van Beethoven), and talented artists (Vincent van Gogh) to praising TFAs (Deasy of LAUSD), “porn” movie stars (Nicole Smith), and “con” MBAs (Banking Presidents) who destroy national education and economy. Back2basic
Please watch this link:
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Donald Trump (HBO)
People will be painful like teacher in the Chipman PS if they are blinded by the con artist entertainer, Mr. Trump who does not care about his own integrity. He keeps denying whatever he made up stories to suit his needs. He degrades women, smears the principle in marriage (= promote adultery). acting bully (promote craziness in wresting sport), and tells all lies and jokes to put opponents down. Palin and Christie endorse Trump. They are just the same, no integrity.
I am the suburban parent/teacher who planned this screening. The scene from the film that haunts me the most is when a wonderful Chipman teacher speaks through tears and regrets that she didn’t fight hard enough. The teachers knew intellectually and in their hearts that these corporate reform ideas were bad for kids. They knew that what they had developed was working, yet they complied. Please read my latest blog post about why I speak up in my community. I owe a thank you to Ravitch commenter, Jon Awbrey, whose comment above ends my post.
http://whatsthebigideaschwartzy.blogspot.com/2016/03/why-i-speak-up.html
It has been scary being a teacher who is speaking up, but I think most public school teachers live in a culture of fear (especially of losing our jobs). That said, the Chipman teachers ended up losing theirs and I can’t think of a worse feeling than being haunted by the knowledge that I could have tried harder… That I could have done more…
Every community should screen this film. Every teacher should find his/her voice.
“We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”
– Benjamin Franklin
Thanks for putting in the time to do the screening and for speaking out.
This is the sort of film that could make a big difference if it got the exposure it deserves.
It’s also the type of film that Sundance Film Festival shows.
Not sure whether Shannon Puckett considered submitting it to Sundance, but when I lived in Utah, I went to several of their yearly festivals and “Defies Measurement” is as good as (or better than) any of the documentaries that I saw there.
I bet Robert Redford (who runs Sundance) would love it.