This video was posted on YouTube. It shows a pep rally to prepare children for 4, 6, even 8 hours of testing. The school is in an urban district, not Néw York City.
I wonder if the teachers know that the test was designed to “fail” the majority of children? Every year these Common Core tests have been administered, 65-70% of the children “failed.”
They didn’t fail because they are dumb or their teachers are ineffective, but because the test makers aligned the passing mark with NAEP “proficient,” which is out of reach for most children. The NAEP scores of American students have been reported state-by-state by “achievement levels” since 1992. No state but Massachusetts has had as much as 50% of students reach NAEP proficient. In other states, 30-40% of students have registered scores that reach NAEP proficient. This reflects 25 years of NAEP testing.
The children pouring their hearts into the rally don’t know that most are expected to fail. They don’t know that more than 90% of children with disabilities and English language learners have failed on previous Common Core tests. They don’t know that more than 80% of black and Hispanic students failed on previous tests.
They don’t know that the deck is stacked against them. The adults in Albany and D.C. Rigged the game against them.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
An Upstate urban district near me also filmed a test prep rally. It was on the news. Imagine my surprise when I looked at this video, and it was a different urban district. This means these rallies are likely more common than we think. Yuck.
Spirit Week – Beginning this Monday, we will have a spirit week to get ready for PARCC testing. Have fun with this!
Monday – Hat day to remind students to “put their thinking cap on.”
Tuesday – Favorite team shirt as a reminder to “team up for great scores!”
Wednesday – Poster day. Students will be encouraged to create a motivational poster during study hall.
Thursday – Backward’s day. Wear your clothing backwards to remember to go back to check your work.
Friday – Pajama day to remind everyone to get a good night’s sleep.
This is what’s done at the public school my children attend. I REFUSE the tests….except the ones that matter for HS graduation. Makes me sick. I am instructing my children to write that PARCC is
P=Pretty
A=Awful
R=Ridiculous
C=Common
C=Core Test
for Poster Day!
Lisa Moore,
That’s pathetic. Opt out. Child abuse.
The adminimals who promote this CRAPP can’t help it. They know not how to think, only obey, cheerlead for it and then punish those who can’t/don’t/refuse to think like they, the adminimals do.
The incompetency of the vast majority of public school administrators these days and their inability to use critical thinking skills leaves me in a state of perplexity.
Due to the endless disorder delivered by a chaotically “deregulated” test-score reform, administrators are often so new to the game in our district that they have no sense at all of what might be more effective or traditional. Same with the many, many young teachers. They often don’t even have the experience to know WHAT should be happening instead.
@Duane Swacker….I’ve talked to the Principal and she is just as much against this testing/common core issue as anyone (she sends her kids to private school), but says that she must comply with the “Supers” because she needs her job just like everyone else (teachers). I don’t know what it will take for a National teacher walk out for a week or two to make these Ed Reformers start listening that enough is enough!
Lisa,
And that principal then exemplifies what I am getting at. Sends her own kids to a private school? She “has to comply”, good German that she is. And “. . . says that she must comply with the “Supers” because she needs her job just like everyone else . . . .” Nuremberg defenses don’t ethically and morally work anywhere. She’s just a complicit adminimal with no moral fiber or guts like the vast majority.
Let me leave you with these thoughts from Comte-Sponville on expediency trumping justice (and what the principal is doing is a matter of educational justice):
“Should we therefore forgo our self-interest? Of course not. But it [self-interest] must be subordinate to justice, not the other way around. . . . To take advantage of a child’s naivete. . . in order to extract from them something [test scores, personal information] that is contrary to their interests, or intentions, without their knowledge [or consent of parents] or through coercion [state mandated testing], is always and everywhere unjust even if in some places and under certain circumstances it is not illegal. . . . Justice is superior to and more valuable than well-being or efficiency; it cannot be sacrificed to them, not even for the happiness of the greatest number [quoting Rawls]. To what could justice legitimately be sacrificed, since without justice there would be no legitimacy or illegitimacy? And in the name of what, since without justice even humanity, happiness and love could have no absolute value?. . . Without justice, values would be nothing more than (self) interests or motives; they would cease to be values or would become values without worth.”
A costly waste of instructional time and taxpayers dollars. This is nonsense. Bring back folk-dancing.
Diane, I just read the blog now and clicked on the youtube link. It is now set to private.
Diane, I just read the blog now and clicked on the youtube link. It is now set to private.
This my 30th and final year, thank God!
This is the kind of stuff that drives me up the wall.
How so many teachers and administrators in NY State have bought into this testing nonsense is beyond me.
I really think teacher and administrator prep courses should include a course in common sense.
This years test, while a bit shorter is actually taking longer to administer than last year.
The questions haven’t changed, readability is still grade levels off.
I figure we’re losing 20-30 days of instruction due to all the testing we do in our school
It’s sickening.
Kind of liker a petting zoo, I’m surrounded by lemmings and ostriches (heads stuck in sand).
Rant over, have a great weekend!
There’s a chant too! See the district’s website here:
http://www.poughkeepsieschools.org/
Scroll down to find the video and a photo of the chant text. Maybe SomeDAM poet can revise it.
Here’s another recently released video from a New York public school, PS 225 in Brooklyn. A paraprofessional punched an eleven-year-old child directly in the face (WARNING: the footage is extremely difficult to watch). The NYC DOE lost its year-long battle to keep the video from being released to the public and to news outlets.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Brooklyn-School-Aide-Punches-Autistic-Boy-Face-Video-Parent-Sues-City-5-Million-374532241.html
What’s probably most disturbing is the fact that the para who was actually assigned to the child, who can be clearly seen in the video trying to separate the child from his attacker, repeatedly denied and still denies that the assault happened.
Not a peep from the New York Times on this—an eleven-year-old child’s getting punched squarely in the head by a school employee, the democratic and transparent traditional public school system’s attempts to cover it up, and evidence of a “code of silence” among adults working in schools are apparently not news that’s fit to print.
Tim,
Oh, those awful public schools. We know what you are selling: the charter miracle.
Diane
“Oh, those awful public schools. We know what you are selling: the charter miracle”
If anyone points out facts with appropriate citation that makes the public schools look bad, you fall back on attack mode using the charter school.
Tim is not selling anything but you are.
What you are doing is selling “The Charter School Debacle”
Raj, it’s my blog
I will say whatever I want
If you don’t like it, go elsewhere
And I bet you’re one of those who think teachers (and aides and other public school staff) get paid too much, right? Well, let’s slash the budget even further and see who we can hire. Maybe we can have cage matches.
Diane, that is probably the best response (to Raj) from you or anyone ever! Made my day!
Tim,
Thanks for the link. And yes, it is atrocious that the incident occurred and that the district has attempted to cover it up, although I would think that the district had no business releasing the video to the public (privacy issues), it did have the obligation to properly address the issue.
As far as the NYT not covering it, well that lack cannot be attributed to the district and in no way can it imply a “code of silence”.
I am a strong critic of almost all administrators for their lack of critical thinking, lack of courage in resisting and not implementing malpractices that they know are wrong-most are “good Germans” in that regard. But I’m not sure from your link that your description of the event is any more true than the district’s. And certainly it should not be used as a condemnation of public education and/or a condemnation of Diane who cannot possibly air out every single story about public education, especially your take (“. . . are apparently not news that’s fit to print”) on them.
Duane Swacker
The district had no choice. The video was released by court order
Tim, since we’re kind of slow on this blog, please remind us again how your comment relates to test prep rallies?
Michael Fiorillo:
Please don’t suggest that Non Sequitur address the issues at hand—you’ll make his head explode.
😱
And then Non Sequitur Jr. will chastise us for not cleaning up the mess.
But I must admire your nod to a famous writer:
“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.”
Ionesco will not, of course, be on the next Common Core test-to-punish.
😎
Duane,
Recordings of incidents like this that involve public servants and take place on public property are public records. Attempting to cover it up isn’t any different than suppressing video recordings of police shootings. The recording doesn’t belong to an individual or the Department of Education or the City of New York, it belongs to everyone.
The “code of silence” I was referring to has nothing to with the media; it is the practice (again, most commonly seen with the police) of not cooperating with an investigation against a coworker, the unspoken agreement being that they would not cooperate if you were the one being investigated. Watch the tape: the woman who was standing directly next to the child said that the para didn’t attack him. If this culture is in place at public schools, shouldn’t the public know about it?
Given the sheer amount of bandwidth the Times and Diane devoted to a single Success Academy teacher’s raising her voice and tearing a sheet of paper, I figure that assaults like these deserve equal time.
An unintended, yet amazingly effective, takedown of Eva Moskowitz and $ucce$$ Academy for their attempts to impose a “code of silence” on their abusive management and pedagogical practices.
After all, when you compare one thing to another, you are implying there is some equivalence.
I never thought I would see such a relevant (if understated) evisceration of a rheephorm supernova[ess] coming from Non Sequitur.
Thanks where thanks are due.
😎
“A person to whom a particular aspect of a professional task is delegated but who is not [trained or] licensed to practice as a fully qualified professional.”
Say no more Tim. This is exactly why the paraprofessionals of TFA and other charter hires are so ill equipped to handle interactions with children in a professional manner (i.e. diffusing not igniting).
I’m not clear what your point is.
This occurred at an NYC DOE traditional public school. The paras were certified, licensed, and trained to work with students with disabilities, and they are members of the United Federation of Teachers.
Tim, clearly we need uncertified, unlicensed and untrained teachers for students with disabilities. Is that your point? I don’t get it.
NYS Parent seemed confused about the qualifications of the professional who punched a severely autistic 11-year-old in the face and the other professional who denied that the punch happened. Both were fully credentialed, vetted, and unionized; the professional who threw the punch retired and draws a $24,000 / year pension.
To be clear, Tim, no adult should ever hit a child. Adults, especially teachers, should be kind and understanding, even in difficult circumstances. Kindness often dissipates anger.
I am still trying to understand your logic, Tim. Are you suggesting that it would be best for students with disabilities NOT to have credentialed and licensed professionals as teachers.
That retired professional must be having a luxurious life on $24,000 a year.
You keep returning to this straw man, Diane. I don’t think there is only one route to becoming a well-trained and effective teacher or paraprofessional. This is quite a different argument than the one you are attributing to me.
Elite private schools like Dalton side with me on this issue; they happily employ many classroom teachers with only bachelor’s degrees, e.g. All of the boxes were checked with these two paras–vetted, verified, credentialed, unionized–and it did nothing to prevent an eleven-year-old autistic boy from getting punched in the face.
Perhaps if the para had known that he’d lose his pension if he did something like punch a kid in the face, he’d have made a different decision. I think that many New York City and state taxpayers and voters would strongly disagree with your belief that public servants who harm children in this way should continue to receive pension benefits.
Tim,
Divert, divert, divert. Teachers at the Dalton School teach children from the city’s most privileged families in NYC. There are children who spend their vacations in Europe and arrive in school by limousine. I seriously doubt that there are any students who are autistic at the school. You still imply that public schools, which have a great variety of children from many backgrounds, should be able to have uncredentialed, unlicensed teachers.
“This reflects 25 years of NAEP testing.”
And it reflects 25 years of illogical thinking, invalid practices and “vain and illusory”, to quote Wilson, results.
Diane,
Stubborn ol MO mule that I am I will continue to point out that your belief in and reliance on NAEP scores as indicators of “quality” of the teaching and learning process is misguided, though I think I understand why you cling to the results having been a part of the NAEP process yourself. I do have confidence, though in your critical thinking skills to eventually reject the NAEP process as you have rejected other malpractices that you previously supported.
Duane,
You will really like the revised edition of “Death and Life of the Great School System,” which will be released in June.
One good thing about NAEP. It is no-stakes and doesn’t hurt anyone.
Yes, I’ll be looking forward to the revised edition.
I understand the no high stakes aspect and not hurting anyone but it still is lacking in its fundamental conceptual basis. Come by my poster presentation and hopefully that will help you see my concerns more clearly, although I think you already know most of them.
Hopefully we’ll get a chance to chat next weekend in Raleigh. Again, come by my poster presentation.
Duane
Diane please endorse Democrat Todd Kaminsky for NY state senate for the special election April 19th. It will put a stop to the pro common core and pro charter schools movement . Here are some details
http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2016/04/dems-knock-charter-support-for-mcgrath-in-sd-9/
Please look into it . Public Education of ny needs your help