Archives for category: Testing
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Should This Parent “Shut Up”?

By dianeravitch
May 31, 2013 //
60

This parent posted a comment expressing her outrage about tests that no child passed. She was told to “shut up.” Aside from the fact that this is rude language, it’s bad advice. Parents should speak up. They should organize. Alone, they are powerless. When they organize, like the parents in Texas who created Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment, they can turn a whole state around.

She writes:

“My first grader failed a 72 question benchmark test as did the ENTIRE FIRST GRADE. I begged for something to be done about all the testing. I begged for them to make any testing to be age appropriate. I begged for someone…anyone…to do something about all this RIDICULOUS testing that our children are enduring! I went through the appropriate channels, followed protocol, spoke with teachers, administrators, parents. I was asked to speak to our Assistant Superintendent regarding how I felt. I did my research and I spoke to her based on what I am living on a daily basis with my child. Of course I got some speech about how we are right on target and the manner in which we test in definitely appropriate. So I questioned then why are all the 5-6 year olds in our school district stupid if the testing is so appropriate! No answer. At the beginning of the following year, I was called to the BOE office and was told by my child’s principal and the Assistant Superintendent that I needed to “shut up.” I was told that parents in our community listen to my opinion and that I need to “shut up.” Not once, not twice, but three times…”shut up.”

“So if you think teachers are the only ones getting “reprimanded” for standing up for the rights of children…you are wrong…even parents are not entitled to their opinions regarding their own children because of the ALMIGHTY TEST SCORE!!! IT IS INSANE!!!”

Categories Parents, Testing

Where Is the Support for Our Children?

By dianeravitch
May 30, 2013 //
30

This teacher describes how the testing mania–the evil spawn of No Child Left Behind–has consumed his school without changing the odds against the students. They are still behind and certain to remain far behind.

He writes:

I teach fourth grade in a Philadelphia public school. Though the school has made AYP for the past two years, most of the students are not performing at grade level in math or reading. So, at this school, like most urban schools, the standardized tests have become our god, informing every aspect of our teaching.

For instance I am required to teach reading and math only. If I submit lesson plans with science or social studies or something else, I am out of compliance and will be told to get back into compliance. The principal is a competent and supportive school leader who is simply navigating the academic culture that has developed since NCLB and high stakes testing began. From the district, to the region, to the school, and finally the classroom, every one is under intense pressure to get the test scores up. From day one we are focused on teaching test taking skills. ( and this is in a context where teacher evaluation is not yet tied to the test scores. )

Why is it so difficult to get the students to perform better? I could write a five page blog describing the actual challenges our children contend with that profoundly effect every aspect of their lives, which also happens to include their school experience.

After more than a decade of “academic improvements” and increased oversight and “support”, the student population that has struggled the most, still struggles. Isn’t it obvious by now that we are not addressing the real problems, but are persistently dealing with the symptoms? Where is the real support for our children?

Categories NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Philadelphia, Poverty, Testing

New York Rally Against High-Stakes Testing on June 8

By dianeravitch
May 30, 2013 //
9

Carol Burris of South Side High School in Rockville Center, New York, sent out the following notice:

Thank you again for signing the petition against high stakes testing. It will be delivered on June 8 at the Rally for Public Education in Albany.

The purpose of the rally (12:00-3:00) is to express opposition to high stakes testing and support educational funding. Although it is sponsored by NYSUT, other groups are marching as well, including parents and principals.

Fellow principals and I will march behind a banner that says

http://www.newyorkprincipals.org

Our kids and teachers are more than a number .

We are assembling at the bottom of the egg, so if you are coming alone, feel free to join us or come by and say “hello”.

Parking is available under the egg. You can park for free in the two lots
on Madison Ave. I hope to see you there.

http://www.theegg.org/about/directions

*Field Testing*

This is a link to a site that gives parents information about field testing
http://www.scribd.com/doc/141872303/say-yes-to-learning-and-no-to-field-testing-what-nyc-parents-need-to-know

Although it was designed for New York City parents, it is relevant to all New York State parents.

inBloom and your children’s data

Please urge your legislators to support the bill A.6059/S.4284, to block the state’s plan to share private student and teacher information with inBloom Inc. and for-profit vendors, which has 59 co-sponsors in the Assembly and 20 in the Senate. It’s especially important to call Sen. Flanagan at 631-361-2154 and Sen. Skelos at (516) 766-8383 and ask them to support the bill and hold hearings on it now.

More about VAM and APPR

Whether you are a parent, principal or teacher, I think you will find this article on VAM of importance.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/20/principal-why-our-new-educator-evaluation-system-is-unethical/

Here is the bottom line: No measure of teacher or principal performance should put the best interests of students in conflict with the best interests of the adults who serve them.

Categories Class size, New York, Privacy and Privacy Rights, Support for public schools, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

Why High-Stakes Testing Is Useless For This Student

By dianeravitch
May 29, 2013 //
21

A teacher explains how useless high-stakes testing is for some students, and for this one student in particular:

He writes:

In response to a state standardized test question about analyzing the author’s use of hyperbole, a student of mine recently responded with one brief sentence: “I don’t know what analyze means.” This student (who receives special education services) sat with his head down for most of the testing session. I was struck by the fact that he felt compelled to finally lift his pencil and scribble this when he could have easily just turned in a blank test booklet. It tells me that, even at a school that does not emphasize the importance of these tests (like ours), they are stressful and demoralizing to students. Students’ self-esteem is damaged and they feel the need to explain why they can’t produce a satisfactory answer. Mainly, it reminds me that these tests are a huge waste of time and resources that could go toward engaging students in actual learning.

But what does it tell them?

A test scorer looking at this student’s response would conclude that the student’s response is “totally incorrect or irrelevant or contains insufficient information to demonstrate comprehension (0 points).” Same for most of this student’s other answers. So, he’s got a “below basic” achievement level in “literature,” according to the test. Most people could tell you that by listening to the kid read aloud for one minute. So what else can we gather from his poor performance? He’s probably not learning anything in school? Doesn’t keep up with the assigned readings? Doesn’t finish any of his writing assignments? His teachers must not be addressing his unique learning needs by teaching him all the state instructional standards… I bet he attends one of those “corrective action” schools that have failed to meet AYP measures over and over… (Hey, we should close all those schools!) …if he even attends at all.

The reality is that he attends an alternative high school that doesn’t believe in testing their students in the traditional way. Instead, this student demonstrates his learning through the completion of a multidisciplinary project each semester. His project is based on real world learning that he engages in at his internship at a reputable local motorcycle shop. Last semester, with the guidance and support of his internship mentor, he built a “go-ped” motor scooter from scratch using technical schematics that most of us would be hopeless at deciphering. He collected data on the cost of all the materials as well as retail pricing and crunched the numbers to determine how much he could reasonably charge for his product. He researched and wrote an essay on the inadequacy of driver education programs, presenting evidence from several studies that showed that teen drivers are largely unprepared for emergencies on the road. He developed a hypothesis and and analyzed the results of a science experiment that involved taking samples of and growing bacteria in a petri dish (How “dirty” are those go-ped handlebars anyway?). Instead of a final exam, he created and delivered an exhibition where presented evidence of all of this learning to a group of his teachers, mentors, and peers. Pretty amazing accomplishments for a student who is “below basic,” I’d say.

I keep this student’s response to the “analyze” question in mind as a good example of why these tests pretty much useless.

Categories Special Education, Testing

High-Stakes Testing: The Albatross of American Education

By dianeravitch
May 29, 2013 //
9

Teacher Aaron Pribble wrote a critique of high-stakes testing for “Edutopia.”

He explains how high-stakes testing warps teaching and distorts the educational process.

When teachers get rewards and punishments tied to test scores it ruins education.

He has a simple idea: Raise the standard for entry into teaching. Then give teachers the freedom to teach. Treat them as the experts they are.

Categories Campbell's Law, Merit pay, Testing

The Risks of Data-Driven Decision-Making

By dianeravitch
May 29, 2013 //
22

Our policymakers claim that their decisions are based on data.

What our policymakers seldom admit is that numbers by themselves are not reality. They are representations of reality. To draw conclusions from numbers, you must be awfully sure that you are measuring what matters and that your measurements are accurate.

In this post, the Red Queen in Los Angeles warns us that some of our leaders are guilty of making a “common, insidious mistake of believing that just because some concept is quantified it holds inherent meaning.”

Not so.

“Without knowing what a number represents – what it measures, how and why – without that backward tie to reality, any mathematical modeling has no practical interpretation, no meaning.”

Categories Accountability, Testing

Jason Stanford: The Cheating Will Continue Until….

By dianeravitch
May 29, 2013 //
41

Jason Stanford says that so long as there are high stakes attached to testing, there will be cheating.

Arne Duncan says districts need more test security.

A new report by the federal GAO documents instances of cheating in 33 states.

When Duncan was asked about a moratorium on high stakes, he couldn’t give a straight answer.

Stanford says:

“Removing the high stakes from standardized tests would take away the incentives to cheat and return testing to its original, intended purposes—to diagnose where schools and students need improvement. Sec. Duncan can do better than holding a meeting, issuing a report, and calling it a day, but until he addresses the root causes—to paraphrase the Japanese submarine commander’s famous phrase—the cheating will continue until morale improves.”

Categories Duncan, Arne, Race to the Top, Testing

Rhode Island: Teachers Oppose Gist, Business Leaders Support Her

By dianeravitch
May 28, 2013 //
16

This is the kind of result you expect to read in a red state.

85% of teachers voted to show their opposition to Commissioner Gist.

The business community supports her.

The students oppose her.

Civil rights groups oppose her.

How do you improve schools when the people who work in them don’t support or respect you?

This is like a general heading into battle without the support of his troops.

Categories Teachers, Testing, Unions

Good News: Texas Legislature Reduces Number of Tests to Graduate; Bad News: More Privatization

By dianeravitch
May 27, 2013 //
6

The good work of many parent organizations and local school boards achieved a positive result yesterday when the Legislature passed a bill reducing the number of tests needed to graduate high school from 15 to five.

Public sentiment was strongly opposed to the massive testing regime that had grown out of control and beyond reason.

More than 80% of the state’s local school boards had passed resolutions opposing high-stakes testing.

And the parent groups led the charge to persuade the legislature that testing had become a burden, not a means of improving student achievement.

The parent group called TAMSA (Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment) was also known as “Moms Against Drunk Testing.”

However, do not believe for a minute that the Texas Legislature has turned wobbly overnight. At the same time that they passed House Bill 5 to reduce the number of tests needed for graduation, they also passed a bill that will vastly increase the privatization of Texas public education by lifting the cap on charter schools. Another bill opens up the state to unlimited expansion of online corporations, the predatory companies that take dollars away from public schools while providing inferior education.

This is the language opening the door to exploitation of public dollars by the online industry:

“7:13 p.m. by Morgan Smith

Legislation expanding online education in Texas public schools is heading to the governor’s desk. Both the House and Senate have adopted the final version of HB 1926 from Rep. Ken King, R-Hemphill.
The bill opens up the state’s virtual school system — which is now restricted to school districts, charters, and colleges — to nonprofits and private companies. Currently, many course providers within the virtual school systemalready subcontract with private companies. Starting in middle school, HB 1926 also requires all districts to offer students a chance to take online courses, though it limits the number of those classes students can take to three per year.
The Texas Education Agency would authorize course providers, renewing their approval every three years depending on student performance.
The online industry is powerful in Texas, and it lobbied hard to open the door to its inferior products. There is no evidence to support the value of online courses or homeschooling online at the government’s expense. There is a wealth of evidence that these courses and virtual schools are a waste of money.
So, score this legislative session as a victory for the critics of high-stakes testing, and a victory for the vultures who want to suck money out of the public system for their own enrichment.

TAMSA issued the following press release after the testing bill passed:
Dear TAMSA Members:
Today, legislators in the Texas House and Senate voted to adopt House Bill 5 as recommended by the Conference Committee. TAMSA commends this effort and would like to specifically thank Speaker Joe Straus, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, Representative Jimmie Don Aycock, Chair of the House Public Education Committee, and Senator Dan Patrick, Chair of the Senate Education Committee, for their extraordinary leadership and commitment to shepherding HB 5 through the legislative process. Rep. Aycock and Senator Patrick and their committees personally listened to days of parent and student testimony on how the excessive focus on state-mandated standardized tests is negatively impacting Texas schools and student learning. These leaders met with stakeholders and other members of the legislature to diligently craft HB 5. Rep. Aycock and Sen. Patrick have set a new threshold in Texas for legislative access and transparency.
HB 5 has been extensively debated and amended during this legislative session. This much-needed legislation reforms and reshapes public education at the high school level, in particular revising the testing, curriculum, and accountability regime in Texas. Under HB 5, state-mandated STAAR exams required to be passed for high school graduation will be limited to five:  English 1 and 2 (reading and writing combined into one test), Algebra 1, Biology, and US History. HB 5 also eliminates the provision that required 15% of EOC scores to count in students’ final grades, as well as the cumulative score requirement. Two additional state-designed standardized tests, Algebra 2 and English 3, can be administered at the school district’s option. Further, HB 5 provides flexibility in high school curriculum that will allow Texas students to pursue their interests, while retaining rigor and allowing all high school graduates to be eligible for admission into Texas public colleges and universities. This bill also modifies the school accountability rating system.
“Texas parents have been extremely active and involved in the legislative process for the last two years since realizing the detrimental impact of the new STAAR tests,” said Dineen Majcher, President of TAMSA. “Parental involvement significantly helped legislators to understand the dire, albeit unintended, consequences of the current system. We have worked together to craft meaningful solutions.”

On behalf of parents across the state, TAMSA expresses its deepest appreciation to the House and Senate leadership and members for taking bold and positive action on behalf of Texas students.

TAMSA
Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Reform, On-Line Education, Testing, Texas

Duncan: In Chicago, I Cut Testing by 50%

By dianeravitch
May 26, 2013 //
59

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joined Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy at a meeting with students in Hartford, Connecticut. The main topic was school security, but at one point a student asked what could be done to cut back on excessive testing.

This was the exchange:

“Student Justin Vega said he feels as if all the time and money spent on standardized testing has compromised the quality of his education. He asked whether the money might be better spent on security.

“Both Malloy and Duncan agreed that it makes sense to find the right balance in testing. Malloy noted that Hartford schools could potentially have a 40 percent dropout rate. “We have to do everything in our power to make sure that doesn’t happen. We need a multifaceted approach which doesn’t overemphasize [testing],” Malloy said.

“Duncan agreed about balance and noted that when he was the head of Chicago schools, he cut the amount of standardized testing by 50 percent.”

The student didn’t ask Duncan about what he had done in Chicago, but what he could do now to reduce the time and money spent on testing.

Does Duncan not understand that his zeal to evaluate teachers by the scores of their students has led to more testing than at any time in the past? Why didn’t he answer Justin Vegas’ question?

Categories Chicago, Connecticut, Duncan, Arne, Testing
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »