Archives for category: Testing
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Sacramento Superintendent to Thomas Friedman: You Are Wrong

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2012 //
19

Jonathan Raymond, superintendent of the Sacramento City school district, has some lessons for New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.

Friedman recently raved about the success of Race to the Top, claiming that it was preparing students for the high-skill jobs of the new economy.

Raymond says this is wrong. Race to the Top is divisive and subjects schools to derision.

It is top-down, heavy-handed and undermines the collaboration needed to make genuine improvement.

States that promise to comply with Duncan’s heavy handed mandates are “winners” while those making progress without Duncan’s script are losers.

He adds:

Meanwhile, school districts that are making real, tangible strides to increase student learning are left behind in this “race.” In Sacramento City Unified, we are turning around seven low-performing schools (called Priority Schools) through research-proven strategies for raising student achievement. Six of the seven schools have shown dramatic increases in student achievement and dramatic improvements in school culture and climate. These strategies include relevant professional development for principals and teachers; collaborative teacher planning time; data analysis and inquiry; and building strong family and community engagement. With federal funding, we could take this pilot program to scale statewide. California districts could build on each other’s successes and the gains of districts across the country. This is exactly what federal dollars should be spent on.
Yet Race to the Top’s scripted approach effectively discounts these reforms because they do not fit into the neat categories created by the prescriptive program. Moreover, forcing school districts to compete for badly needed resources is like offering a starving man food but only if he agrees to whatever strings may be attached. This is certainly the choice that school districts like ours face in California.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, California, Chicago, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, Education Reform, Emanuel, Rahm, Race to the Top, Teacher Evaluations, Testing, US Education

What If “No Child Shows Up”?

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2012 //
15

Recently, school officials in El Paso were investigated and found guilty of pushing certain students out of school to prevent them from taking the state tests. The purpose was to boost the district’s scores and make it appear to be doing better than it was. Some children were literally excluded from school and never finished. The superintendent was convicted and sentenced to jail. This was disgraceful, and it was an indictment of the officials’ personal ethics, but also an indictment of the absurd high-stakes testing regime foisted on the nation by No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. School officials in some district will do literally anything to get their scores up, even though it hurts children. This is wrong. And the system which it incentivizes this behavior is also wrong.

This blogger has a different take on the El Paso incident. He tends to view it as an example of “opting out” of testing. He longs for the day that “No Child Shows Up.”

Of course, if the superintendent in El Paso had told all children to stay home on testing day, he would now be a national hero to angry parents and educators. Instead, he is a convicted criminal because he did not have the best interests of children in mind. He told only the low-performing students to stay home or to drop out of school. He was not acting in their interest. He was acting from self-interest, trying to inflate the scores of his district.

Someday, all educators will have the courage to stop doing things that they know are educational malpractice.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Testing

Dear Dr. King: A Heartfelt Letter to the State Commissioner of Education

By dianeravitch
October 30, 2012 //
11

Tony Sinanis, a father of a third grade student in New York and principal of a school, writes a moving and sincere letter to John King, the state commissioner of education.

With all due deference to the state commissioner, he asks a series of questions about the purpose and quantity of tests now raining down on schools across the state.

Teachers are teaching to the test; children are concluding that are “no good” because they are not good at the testing.

Is this in the best interest of children?

Read the letter. Here is a sample:

First of all, our children are feeling overwhelmed, stressed out and they are starting to doubt their own abilities and it is only October. Why? Maybe it is because they are being subjected to numerous difficult tests and tasks as a result of the expectations of the Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) that have recently been put in place. Don’t get me wrong – I know pre and post assessments are critical and that various data points (when properly analyzed) can be a powerful tool for guiding future instruction and personalizing learning; but, when is enough, enough? Do they really need to take a paper and pencil test in the gym in first grade as part of a Physical Education SLO? Or do they need to take the TerraNova in kindergarten as part of a literacy SLO? Or does a second grader need to take an online assessment as part of reading and mathematics SLOs that can go on for hours? Are these types of assessments really developmentally appropriate (especially when considering some of our kindergarten students are still four years old)? Is the data we are gathering actually useful or even accurate? As I heard you recently mention, each district can negotiate their own SLOs so maybe not every first grader is taking a paper and pencil test in the gym but they are taking some type of assessment even though they have barely had a chance to get acclimated to their new teacher, classroom environment and school year. Is this really in the best interest of children? I am not sure but if it is, please let me know how so I can explain it my third grader who shut down during a mathematics SLO and said he was too stupid to finish and refused to take the test (by the way, his teacher wasn’t sure whether she should intervene because all she wanted to do was swoop in and take care of this little boy’s emotional well being but she worried that it might compromise the integrity of the test). Please understand that I am not questioning the importance of assessment nor the analysis of data to help us better instruct our students but in light of the new APPR and SLO requirements, my question is, are we actually doing what is in the best interest of our children?

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, New York, Testing

Vouchers in Chile: Greater Inequality

By dianeravitch
October 29, 2012 //
0

Valerie Strauss has a good post by Michael Pons about vouchers in Chile. The main effect seems to have widened the divide between rich and poor.

One correction I would offer to Pons. The testing and accountability framework for federal policy (No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top)  is no better than the voucher approach (Romney). In fact, the testing and accountability framework sets the stage for vouchers by the following scenario:

1) set an impossible goal of 100% proficiency or every child must raise his/her scores every year to the extent that the computer predicts

2) grade every school A-F based on test scores

3) convince the public that American education is failing because it can’t meet unreasonable targets

4) privatize the schools that are graded C, D or F

This is actually a process, not a choice of one policy or the other.

Choosing between NCLB/RTTT or vouchers is like choosing whether you prefer to be hung or shot.

The testing regime is part of the privatization plan.

Categories Accountability, International, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Privatization, Race to the Top, Teacher Evaluations, Testing, Vouchers

How to Make Kindergarten a Terrible Experience

By dianeravitch
October 29, 2012 //
34

Here is a good way to ruin the lives of very small children.

Give them lots of tests. Start when they are very young, say, five, in kindergarten.

Instead of letting them play or giving them age -appropriate instruction, test them.

In Chicago, the little ones will be tested again and again. By the reckoning in this article, as much as one-third of the year will be devoted to tests.

This will encourage their parents to find a charter school or leave for the suburbs.

It will dishearten their teachers, who might leave before her salary gets too high.

And it will teach the little ones to sit silently, training them for…sitting silently.

Categories Chicago, Childhood, Pre-K, K, Testing

Do We All Love Teachers?

By dianeravitch
October 27, 2012 //
20

This is an excellent article, written by NYC charter school teacher Allison LaFave.

It was prompted by Bob Schieffer’s off-hand remark during the last Presidential debate that “We all love teachers.”

Do we all love teachers?

Why don’t we trust them to manage their classrooms?

Why must they be evaluated by the test scores of their students?

Why do so many politicians want to take away their collective bargaining rights?

Why are legislatures reducing them to voiceless robots whose sole job is to raise test scores?

Categories Charter Schools, Teacher Evaluations, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

NC Teacher: “I Quit”

By dianeravitch
October 27, 2012 //
893

A letter from a disgusted teacher:

I QUIT

Kris L. Nielsen
Monroe, NC 28110

Union County Public Schools
Human Resources Department
400 North Church Street
Monroe, NC 28112

October 25, 2012

To All it May Concern:

I’m doing something I thought I would never do—something that will make me a statistic and a caricature of the times. Some will support me, some will shake their heads and smirk condescendingly—and others will try to convince me that I’m part of the problem. Perhaps they’re right, but I don’t think so. All I know is that I’ve hit a wall, and in order to preserve my sanity, my family, and the forward movement of our lives, I have no other choice.

Before I go too much into my choice, I must say that I have the advantages and disadvantages of differentiated experience under my belt. I have seen the other side, where the grass was greener, and I unknowingly jumped the fence to where the foliage is either so tangled and dense that I can’t make sense of it, or the grass is wilted and dying (with no true custodian of its health). Are you lost? I’m talking about public K-12 education in North Carolina. I’m talking about my history as a successful teacher and leader in two states before moving here out of desperation.

In New Mexico, I led a team of underpaid teachers who were passionate about their jobs and who did amazing things. We were happy because our students were well-behaved, our community was supportive, and our jobs afforded us the luxuries of time, respect, and visionary leadership. Our district was huge, but we got things done because we were a team. I moved to Oregon because I was offered a fantastic job with a higher salary, a great math program, and superior benefits for my family. Again, I was given the autonomy I dreamed of, and I used it to find new and risky ways to introduce technology into the math curriculum. My peers looked forward to learning from me, the community gave me a lot of money to get my projects off the ground, and my students were amazing.

Then, the bottom fell out. I don’t know who to blame for the budget crisis in Oregon, but I know it decimated the educational coffers. I lost my job only due to my lack of seniority. I was devastated. My students and their parents were angry and sad. I told myself I would hang in there, find a temporary job, and wait for the recall. Neither the temporary job nor the recall happened. I tried very hard to keep my family in Oregon—applying for jobs in every district, college, private school, and even Toys R Us. Nothing happened after over 300 applications and 2 interviews.

The Internet told me that the West Coast was not hiring teachers anymore, but the East Coast was the go-to place. Charlotte, North Carolina couldn’t keep up with the demand! I applied with three schools, got three phone interviews, and was even hired over the phone. My very supportive and adventurous family and I packed quickly and moved across the country, just so I could keep teaching.

I had come from two very successful and fun teaching jobs to a new state where everything was different. During my orientation, I noticed immediately that these people weren’t happy to see us; they were much more interested in making sure we knew their rules. It was a one-hour lecture about what happens when teachers mess up. I had a bad feeling about teaching here from the start; but, we were here and we had to make the best of it.

Union County seemed to be the answer to all of my problems. The rumors and the press made it sound like UCPS was the place to be progressive, risky, and happy. So I transferred from CMS to UCPS. They made me feel more welcome, but it was still a mistake to come here.

Let me cut to the chase: I quit. I am resigning my position as a teacher in the state of North Carolina—permanently. I am quitting without notice (taking advantage of the “at will” employment policies of this state). I am quitting without remorse and without second thoughts. I quit. I quit. I quit!

Why?

Because…

I refuse to be led by a top-down hierarchy that is completely detached from the classrooms for which it is supposed to be responsible.

I will not spend another day under the expectations that I prepare every student for the increasing numbers of meaningless tests.

I refuse to be an unpaid administrator of field tests that take advantage of children for the sake of profit.

I will not spend another day wishing I had some time to plan my fantastic lessons because administration comes up with new and inventive ways to steal that time, under the guise of PLC meetings or whatever. I’ve seen successful PLC development. It doesn’t look like this.

I will not spend another day wondering what menial, administrative task I will hear that I forgot to do next. I’m far enough behind in my own work.

I will not spend another day wondering how I can have classes that are full inclusion, and where 50% of my students have IEPs, yet I’m given no support.

I will not spend another day in a district where my coworkers are both on autopilot and in survival mode. Misery loves company, but I will not be that company.

I refuse to subject students to every ridiculous standardized test that the state and/or district thinks is important. I refuse to have my higher-level and deep thinking lessons disrupted by meaningless assessments (like the EXPLORE test) that do little more than increase stress among children and teachers, and attempt to guide young adolescents into narrow choices.

I totally object and refuse to have my performance as an educator rely on “Standard 6.” It is unfair, biased, and does not reflect anything about the teaching practices of proven educators.

I refuse to hear again that it’s more important that I serve as a test administrator than a leader of my peers.

I refuse to watch my students being treated like prisoners. There are other ways. It’s a shame that we don’t have the vision to seek out those alternatives.

I refuse to watch my coworkers being treated like untrustworthy slackers through the overbearing policies of this state, although they are the hardest working and most overloaded people I know.

I refuse to watch my family struggle financially as I work in a job to which I have invested 6 long years of my life in preparation. I have a graduate degree and a track record of strong success, yet I’m paid less than many two-year degree holders. And forget benefits—they are effectively nonexistent for teachers in North Carolina.

I refuse to watch my district’s leadership tell us about the bad news and horrific changes coming towards us, then watch them shrug incompetently, and then tell us to work harder.

I refuse to listen to our highly regarded superintendent telling us that the charter school movement is at our doorstep (with a soon-to-be-elected governor in full support) and tell us not to worry about it, because we are applying for a grant from Race to the Top. There is no consistency here; there is no leadership here.

I refuse to watch my students slouch under the weight of a system that expects them to perform well on EOG tests, which do not measure their abilities other than memorization and application and therefore do not measure their readiness for the next grade level—much less life, career, or college.

I’m tired of watching my students produce amazing things, which show their true understanding of 21st century skills, only to see their looks of disappointment when they don’t meet the arbitrary expectations of low-level state and district tests that do not assess their skills.

I refuse to hear any more about how important it is to differentiate our instruction as we prepare our kids for tests that are anything but differentiated. This negates our hard work and makes us look bad.

I am tired of hearing about the miracles my peers are expected to perform, and watching the districts do next to nothing to support or develop them. I haven’t seen real professional development in either district since I got here. The development sessions I have seen are sloppy, shallow, and have no real means of evaluation or accountability.

I’m tired of my increasing and troublesome physical symptoms that come from all this frustration, stress, and sadness.

Finally, I’m tired of watching parents being tricked into believing that their children are being prepared for the complex world ahead, especially since their children’s teachers are being cowed into meeting expectations and standards that are not conducive to their children’s futures.

I’m truly angry that parents put so much stress, fear, and anticipation into their kids’ heads in preparation for the EOG tests and the new MSLs—neither of which are consequential to their future needs. As a parent of a high school student in Union County, I’m dismayed at the education that my child receives, as her teachers frantically prepare her for more tests. My toddler will not attend a North Carolina public school. I will do whatever it takes to keep that from happening.

I quit because I’m tired being part of the problem. It’s killing me and it’s not doing anyone else any good. Farewell.

CC: Dr. Mary Ellis

Dr. June Atkinson

Categories Teachers and Teaching, Testing

Texas Democrats See the Pattern on the Rug

By dianeravitch
October 25, 2012 //
5

These past few years, some of us have been trying to awaken the public to the goals and strategy of the privatization movement.

First, they demand high-stakes testing, and they claim they want to “reduce the achievement gap” or “it’s all for the kids.”

Second, they use the scores to give grades to schools and to declare that those with the lowest scores are “failing schools” (purposely ignoring that those with low scores are almost always located in the poorest neighborhoods and enroll high proportions of children of color)

Third, somewhere along the way, they strip teachers of every job protection so they can’t complain and do not have a seat at the table when the budget is slashed

Fourth, they welcome private management, and freely hand out public dollars to entrepreneurs, amateurs, and assorted corporations (don’t forget, “it’s all for the kids,” because “kids first,” “children first,” “students first.”)

In Texas, as the letter below shows, the Democrats are beginning to see what is happening.

The Texas legislature cut over $5 billion from the public schools’ budget but somehow managed to find a measly $500 million for Pearson’s testing regime. Pearson must have super lobbyists, like the guy who was the architect of No Child Left Behind.

Now the next legislature is likely to expand charters and vouchers.

Getting ready to finish off public education.

This letter is from Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party:

Dear Democrat,

There’s a reason that the Texas Republican platform is opposed to teaching critical thinking skills. Anyone with the ability to think can look at what Republicans are doing to our schools and realize that it’s insanity!

Last year, Republicans cut five billion dollars from public education. But they won’t be happy until they fully end public education as we know it. There’s a war against teaching and schools going on in our State, and we won’t sit by and let this happen!

 

Republican Senator Dan Patrick was recently appointed Chair of the Senate Education Committee. We know what that means for the next legislative session, because he’s already told us.

 

“This is the session for us to be bold. This is the session for us to reform public education,” Patrick has announced.

 

“Reform” is code for defund and destroy.

 

Patrick is partnering with Perry and Dewhurst to further defund our schools in a dramatic way.  They want to take money from our children’s futures and pass it to their cronies. Republicans call it vouchers, but it’s clear that their goal is not to provide better educational opportunities. Those who truly champion our children would not start by cutting over five billion dollars of support for their education.

 

It is absolutely insane and objectionable that Texas Republicans see the education of our children as a political tool and as a way to give more money to their rich buddies.

 

Every Democrat in this State needs to get out there and vote like the future depends on it because IT DOES. At the Texas Democratic Party we’re fighting against this insanity. But we need you to fight with us.

 

Yours,
Gilberto Hinojosa 

Categories Accountability, ALEC, Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Testing, Texas, Vouchers

Treasure the Whistleblowers

By dianeravitch
October 24, 2012 //
4

I posted earlier about a charter leader who was accused of orchestrating cheating, was fired, and was given a $245,000 settlement.

The whole sordid mess associated with Crescendo Charter Schools in Los Angeles might never have come to light were it not for teachers who were whistle-blowers.

Robert Skeels tells the story here.

Without tenure, without the protection of a union, whistleblowers get fired or never surface to blow the whistle.

Part of the faculty at the charter chain belonged to the United Teachers of Los Angeles.

They blew the whistle on a corporate culture that condoned cheating.

They thought it was wrong.

Imagine that. They thought it was wrong to give students the answers to the questions.

It was alleged that the founder of the chain ordered principals to break the seals on the standardized tests and direct teachers to teach the tests, all to get higher scores and create the illusion of miracle schools.

That is the route to fame and fortune.

But it wasn’t because there were whistleblowers.

The whole chain was shut down.

Deregulation has its perils.

Categories Charter Schools, Los Angeles, Testing

Thomas Friedman Needs Your Help

By dianeravitch
October 21, 2012 //
25

I am assuming Thomas Friedman knows a lot about foreign affairs, which is what he mostly writes about. He certainly knows very little about America’s public schools. I wonder when was the last time he stepped into a school or talked to a real teacher. My guess: it has been many years. Maybe he went to a public school.

His article in Sunday’s New York Times demonstrates that he is not only out of touch, but woefully misinformed. Everything he knows about Race to the Top he learned not by any research or school visits or investigative reporting, but by talking to Arne Duncan.

Guess what? Arne Duncan thinks Race to the Top is a huge success. He says so. It must be so. It will make the entire population college-ready. Everyone will go to college, get a good job, poverty will end, and we will outcompete every other nation in the world.

If you believe that, I have a bridge I’d like to sell you. It’s not too far from where I live, and it is regularly sold to the gullible.

Of course, Friedman also really admires No Child Left Behind too, even though it wasn’t perfect. and he sees the close connection between NCLB and RTTT. Where do you begin with a man who opines but knows so little?

Please, someone, bombard Mr. Thomas Friedman with the nearly 400 letters from parents, teachers, administrators, and students about the massive disaster called Race to the Top.

Ask him where we are racing. Ask him who will get to the top. Ask him why we ditched equality of educational opportunity.

Categories NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Privatization, Race to the Top, Teacher Evaluations, Testing
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