So you thought testing season was over!
Nope, now it is field test season, when test vendor Questar tries out its questions on a trial basis, to see how they work in practice. Some parents think their children should be paid to do the work. Others say, “Opt out.”
More instructional time lost.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
more childhood lost …
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You’d think every true libertarian would be positively outraged at the theft of liberty these children endure at the hands of corporations.
But of course, all we have today are lily-liveried libertarians who do nothing but defend the liberty of corporations to do as they please.
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Exactly. Liberty for corporations, not individuals.
Leaving aside the uselessness and negative consequences of the tests themselves, if the companies that develop these tests want to “field test” new questions, then they should get parental permission, pay the families, and set up times outside of actual classroom time to administer these questions. And not use unwilling kids as free guinea pigs.
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Well, there are still some restrictions on child labor.
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“And not use unwilling kids as free guinea pigs.”
Do you think these testing corporations think about just actions and how their usage of underage children is wrong?
“Should we therefore forgo our [testing corporation’s] 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.”—Comte-Sponville [my additions]
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Jon Aubrey and Zorba: well put.
And notice that in threads under such topics, Non Sequitur and Non Sequitur Jr. and the other ferocious pushers of “choice” that make periodic forays on this blog—
Suddenly can’t find it within themselves to defend “choice.”
Or could it be that, as the only “sane” people to write on this blog, they find it inconvenient to walk their own talk?
Hmmmm…
😎
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KrazyTA,
Stand-alone field testing is given in only one grade in one subject at any given school, so I’ve only once had one of my children scheduled to field test. My partner and I opted that child out, reasoning that the multiple embedded field questions on the state test that the child had taken that year ought to suffice.
Another KrazyTA ad hominem swing, another KrazyTA miss. I support parent choice in any form, be it opting out of field tests, or opting out of public education entirely. Better luck next time!
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Oh my. Non Sequitur’s counter-punch was actually a heavy-handed blow inflicted—
On himself.
We can now hold him to “choice” when it contradicts his promotion and defense of rheephorm “choice.”
But I admire his love of the classics:
“Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it.” [John Steinbeck]
😎
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Not sufficient notice for parents to opt out. Terrible.
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“Not sufficient notice for parents to opt out. Terrible.”
Yes, terrible! This is why my opt out letter to the principal included field testing, too.
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The information gained from field testing is useless. Once again, adults in their cubicles implement a game plan using a completely false assumption: that students taking these field are actually trying their best on a test that doesn’t count.
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The whole testing thing is false.
Yes, they seem to think that all kids (except, perhaps, in those high schools that use the standardized tests as a graduation requirement) are “trying their best.”
Obviously, they don’t know kids. If someone had told me (or I figured out) when I was in elementary school/high school that this or that test didn’t count against my grades/promotion/graduating whatsoever, I might have been nasty enough to choose stupid answers, or skip most of the answers, just out of a perverse need to say “F you.”
Don’t get me wrong, I was a straight-A student, a National Merit Scholarship winner, etc. I did what I had to do to get the scholarship money for college, although, very frankly, I was bored out of my skull in high school (and I went to a “good,” high-scoring high school).
But if they had presented me with a test that had nothing to do with my grades or my scholarships? No, I don’t think so.
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Is there any facet where education “reform” doesn’t parallel a cotton plantation? Any?
Students answering field questions = unpaid (slave) labor.
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I live in what was in 2015 a very dense opt-out area. Overall, 2016 has seen barely a peep about opt-out here, let alone opting out of field tests. In the district I teach in, field tests are going forward without even the slightest pause or hesitation or hiccup. They are, this year more than any other, seen as the norm not only with families (who by and large have no idea about them), but among the vast majority of teachers. It’s simply not a thing unfortunately. Raising the concern with union people just for me quizzical looks. Nobody cares.
Day late and a dollar short on the opting out of field tests thing. Looks like all of the hard work at the Governors office, e regents, and state Ed have paid off nicely. They quieted the movement it seems.
Opt out numbers needed to be larger than last year across the board. Don’t think they will be. Nobody wants to acknowledge it, but if we come in lower or equal to last year, opt out is receeding from the battlefield.
Any folks have any thoughts about how we are going to continue to fight privatization and reform?
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Yes. The stand-alone field tests are the Achilles Heel of testing. By refusing to have children take them, you are preventing test items from being tried out and developed. In effect, you are killing the poison seeds that publishers need to sprout in order and become next year’s crop of tests.
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Not really Fred. Nothing can stop the Testocracy from writing their fraudulent assessments. Evan if there was a 100% opt out in NYS, Questar would still develop tests as there is no requirement to use field test information. The bell curve will form with or without field tests.
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NYST
The tide is already turning on test-based reform. It is obvious to all but a few high ranking Testocrats that 15 years of their test-and-punish policies have produced no tangible benefit for students; nothing but a waste of time, energy, money, and opportunity costs. They have FAILED and they offer nothing but more of the same failed ideas.
As far as privatization, the wall is cracking under scandal after scandal. It is only a matter of time until the charter movement will be relegated to the smoldering ash heap of FAILED reform products.
All we can do is continue to pull back the curtain and continue to shine a spotlight on their endless parade of FAILURES. We have the truth on our side – something all the hedge fund money in the world cannot buy.
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Reblogged this on Mister Journalism: "Reading, Sharing, Discussing, Learning" and commented:
I keep wondering when parents across this country will, as Nancy Reagan said about illicit drug use, “Just say NO!” to testing testing testing!
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Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
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