The rollout of the Common Core standards was accompanied by the arrival of online testing. The dream of corporate reformers is a seamless standardized system that allows comparison of every student to age mates across the nation.
The dream has encountered some obstacles, however, which Emma Brown reports here in the Washington Post.
In some states, like Alaska, Kansas, and Tennessee, the breakdowns were serious. Alaska canceled this year’s testing.
Presumably, over time, the glitches will disappear and every child will see exactly the same questions and have a chance to choose the same answers (depending on whether there are one, two or three national test vendors).
What then? We will be able to compare schools, districts, states, and students. What then? The tests have no diagnostic value. What will we learn from the millions or billions invested I national testing that we have not already learned from NAEP?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Our school district is curtailing use of internet/network-connected activities in the school district while SBAC testing is taking place. Says it reduces bandwidth needed to implement the test. This is placing a significant crimp on teachers who try to be as paperless as possible in their instruction.
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At my school, because of the testing, no one can use a computer lab OR the library for the entirety of 4th term.
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They can only hound kids for so long before they feel like Chief Joseph and say I will test no more forever.
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They are much more like General Custer: “I will use my brain no more forever”
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Oh, i see your “they” refers to the kids.
My bad
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I am wondering whether or not any adjustment is made to the computer test scores in view of the evidence that kids do worse on these than on paper tests?
“Evidence? What evidence? Did our people come up with this ‘evidence’? No? Well, it’s not evidence then.”
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In Texas, there were multiple reports of test scores that mysteriously disappeared and were not able to be recovered.
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Happened to my son several years ago. The computer ate the entire essay, and the school (without our knowledge or permission) made him take it again. That’s when we started opting out.
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Wow!!. What state, besides the state of confusion, do live in out west
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I think it’s all intentional. Just the first step to getting kids acclimated to digital testing. The next step, of course, is competency based testing, which will eliminate a lot of the problems with every student trying to log on to test at the same time. Each kid will just test whenever they complete a module. The standardization, at least as far as the platform and setting goes, isn’t really important any more because once every kid is testing on their own schedule that part won’t be standardized anyway.
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It’s funny that they sell it as “new” because “competency- based online instruction” has been in (blue collar) workplaces forever.
It’s modules, you test at the end of each module, and when you pass all the tests you’re qualified for the new skill or position.
They’ve been using it at a steel mill here (Northstar) for at least a decade.
I think they would be amused to hear this referred to as “personalized learning” with all this lavish language about creativity and innovation.
The whole point is it doesn’t involve paying anyone for instruction- no “persons” – and it’s absolutely rote. Get a 70% and you’re trained!
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I am a little concerned that NAEP will be targeted for appointments to the governing board who will do their best to make this the preferred test for college and career readiness, hard wiring that flawed slogan into all of the assssments. From a quick look at the website the visual arts test for grades 4 and 8 will be pencil and paper.
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Laura,
NAEP is not given to individual students. Cannot be an accountability test.
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Also, no test can assess both college and career readiness
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Wait a minute you lost me, Diane. Who is NAEP given to if not individual students?
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NAEP is given to samples of students in every state. No individual student takes the entire test. In testing jargon, it is called “Bibb sampling.” No individual student gets a test score. There are scores for states and for urban districts that ask to be included in the testing. But there are no scores for schools or individual students
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Thank you. I knew that individual scores were not given, but I did not know that each student only took pieces of the test.
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Why is NAEP given to seniors (a very unreliable cohort) as opposed to juniors?
If the entire test was administered to a single student, how many hours of testing would be needed?
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NAEP stopped giving its tests to seniors years ago, because their motivation to do well on a test that didn’t count was very low. Some doodled on the answervsheet, some answered every question with the same letter (a, a, a, etc).
Since no one takes the entire test, I have no idea how long it would take.
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Diane,
Thank you for this post.
Two physicians I know who are good friends are disgusted with this “blended learning” stuff. They DO NOT LIKE that their young children sit in front of a screen and told me they are disgusted with the DEFORMS. The eye, ear, and nose specialist is warring with the school her young children attend.
Another parent is also totally disgusted with all those tests and said that THIS REGIME IS HURTING HER primary age daughter, who already thinks she is dumb. Awful stuff going on re: the USDoE, and this mother is really upset, so upset that she worries when her daughter leaves home to gontovschool. She told me that she has seen the joy of learning being replaced with fear of learning, because her daughter is afraid of making mistakes. OY VEH! Guess the USDoE does not understand that making mistakes is a by-product of learning as well as a series of approximations.
Maybe the powers in charge should take up seeing. Then they may understand how ridiculous and lunatics education is in this country.m since those ridiculous standards m, testing,,and now “blended” learning, which is just lame, but sounds good … MARKETING BAD IDEAS!
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Bill Gates wanted the data. For what is a conspiracy analyst’s guess.
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The whole mess makes me think of Jacques Ellul who predicted much of this, I’d say.
The so-called reformers try to make schools that function like machines, dehumanizing us all. And, when their schemes don’t work, their solution is to throw more and more machines at us.
And, once again, John B. King blames everyone…but himself!
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Here’s the thing. While this blog keeps saying the opt-out movement is winning, there’s another move underfoot which suggests the opposite.
The New York Times reported this movement 10 days ago, but I missed any discussoin of it here. This is the gist:
The state of Delaware announced recently that its high school students will now take the ACT in place of the Smarter Balanced test. And Colorado will have its high school students take the SAT instead of the PARCC test. According to The Times, “At least seven other states, including Connecticut and Michigan, have said they will use the SAT or the ACT to meet the federal requirement to test high school students. Legislators in Illinois, Tennessee, Florida and West Virginia have proposed requiring or allowing high school seniors to take the college admissions tests instead of ones tied to common standards.”
I’ve discussed this before in comments posted on this blog. Both the ACT and the College Board were instrumental in developing the Common Core, and both have “aligned” all of their products to it. That means the ACT, the PSAT, the SAT and Advanced Placement. It also means the “college and career readiness” tests these groups peddle.
So, while the opt-out movement may be picking up some steam in some places, it’s being undermined simultaneously.
As I’ve said previously, it’s more than a little difficult to be against Common Core but in favor of the ACT or SAT or Advanced Placement. They are all part-and-parcel of the very same thing.
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oops….”discussion”
And The Times link:
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There is one big difference democracy. The College Board cannot create Common Core aligned SAT, ACT, and AP tests that produce 70% failure rates like the Pearson tests here in NYS, grades 3 to 8.
This is already happening at the HS level. In my district, grade 3 to 8 Common Core math and ELA FAIL rates for the last three years have hovered around 80% – 85%. Yes, you read that right.
The HS Regents tests, Common Core algebra I (grade 9) and Common Core ELA (grade 11) are required for graduation in NYS. If the abysmal pass rates in grades 3 to 8 held true in HS, we would have a local disaster on our hands. Of course, the pass rates at the HS level are significantly higher. Does this mean Common Core standards and instruction are working? Ha!
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Interesting to note that the College Board had no problem writing a Common Core GED test that did produce 90% failure rate. They certainly understand which side of their bread is buttered.
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The more students fail, the more they must pay to take the test again.$$$
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Democracy, I did discuss the SAT-ACT expansion pan in two different posts. One was Wendy Lecker’s post about Connecticut’s pan to use SAT as an accountability test and why it was wrong. The other was part of another post, the one about New York officials thinking of using SAT scores to evaluate teachers.
The point is always the same: tests should be used only for the purpose for which they were designed. The SAT and ACT were designed as college admissions test,disconnected from any particular curriculum. They should not be used for student accountability or teacher evaluation. Decades ago, when testing cops use recognized ethical obligations,they warned against the misuse of their tests. Now, however, they are businesses competing for market share.
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Diane
Someone needs to make this revealing comparison here in NYS:
Grade 7 Common Core math v. Grade 9 Common Core algebra 1.
(Many accelerated 8th graders skip the grade 8 test. so results are skewed downward).
The data is surprisingly hard to find. It will say a lot about creativity in scoring. And a lot about unfair reform practices.
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