Student-Testing Backlash Grows

[IIOY]

The increasing role of standardized testing in U.S. classrooms is triggering pockets of rebellion across the country from school officials, teachers and parents who say the system is stifling teaching and learning.

Exam-Creation Firms Come In For Criticism
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In Texas, some 400 local school boards—more than one-third of the state's total—have adopted a resolution this year asking lawmakers to scale back testing. In Everett, Wash., more than 500 children skipped state exams in protest earlier this month. A national coalition of parents and civil-rights groups, including the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, signed a petition in April asking Congress to reduce federal testing mandates.

In recent weeks, the protest spread to Florida, where two school boards, including Palm Beach County, signed on to a petition similar to the one in Texas. A parent in a third, Broward County, on Tuesday formally requested that school officials support the movement.

The efforts are a response to the spread of mandatory testing in the past decade. Proponents say the exams are needed to ensure students are learning and teachers' effectiveness is measured. Critics say schools are spending disproportionate time and resources on the tests at the expense of more-creative learning. They also contend the results weigh too heavily in decisions on student advancement, teacher pay and the fate of schools judged to have failed.

"They've turned a generation of kids into test-taking machines who are lacking creative-thinking ability," said Debbie Shaw, whose two children attend Palm Beach schools. She said she intends to enroll her younger child in a private school next year because she is so angered by Florida's "insane" testing regime.

The importance of standardized testing increased markedly in 2002 with the passage of No Child Left Behind, the federal law that requires that schools test students in math and reading in third through eighth grade and once in high school.

Under NCLB, schools could face closure if not enough students pass the exams, which are often one-day, multiple-choice tests. In recent years, the tests have been used to evaluate teachers, propelled in large part by President Barack Obama's $4.35 billion Race to the Top initiative. The program offered funds to states that linked teacher evaluations to test scores. At least 26 states have adopted such policies. Mr. Obama also offered money to states that overhaul low-performing schools—including ousting teaching staffs—based, in part, on student test scores.

Research on standardized testing suggests that its value depends on how the results are used. For example, in states where students who fail exams are held back, studies show they don't do better unless they get intensive follow-up instruction in the second year.

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Some educators argue the tests can be effective tools for ensuring that students absorb knowledge. "To compete in today's economy, our kids have to know the content but they also need to know what it takes to retain information and perform under pressure," said Geoff McKee, principal at Boca Raton Community High School in Florida, where 1,200 of the school's 3,000 students were taking state or local exams on Tuesday.

The biggest complaint is that teacher and schools are compelled to orient their curricula and classroom experience around passing the exams—known as "teaching to the test." Because many of the exams measure basic standards, critics say, that shortchanges students who could be spending time learning more advanced material.

Matthew Goldman, a junior at Wellington High School in the Palm Beach school district, said he took a high-school level algebra course in eighth grade and geometry as a ninth grader. But the Florida ninth-grade math test focused on algebra, so his geometry class spent weeks reviewing algebra concepts.

"Teachers are rewarded if we do well on the tests and they don't get rewarded if we leave school with the knowledge we need," said Mr. Goldman, whose mother launched the website "Testing is Not Teaching" in response to complaints from her children. "It's messed up."

Some civil-rights groups have opposed the emphasis on testing because, they argue, African-American and Latino students are disproportionately affected by sanctions such as grade retention and school closure.

The National Education Association, the nation's largest teacher's union, has also criticized the emphasis on testing—and its link to merit pay raises. It signed the national petition asking Congress to decrease testing mandates.

Testing advocates say it is possible to have a broad exam system without teachers focusing exclusively on the tests. "There are a lot of teachers in Florida who spend their time focused on teaching, not on test prep, and their children are doing quite well on exams," said Florida School Superintendent Gerard Robinson. "This is about accountability and making sure kids are learning, not about using tests to punish people."

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303505504577406603829668714.html

[Deleted]

I'm so frustrated with the testing. DS1 is just finishing 1st grade. They have so much testing when do they have time to teach and he doesn't even take the state test yet.

I get doing benchmark testing at the beginning of the year for grouping purposes, but seriously they do benchmark testing every 9 weeks it seems and it takes up a 1 wk of class time each time. If the teacher is doing her job she should know whether a kid is on track or not without having to take class time to administer a stupid test. DS's teacher emailed me the 4th week of school and said "DS seems to be improving rapidly, I'd like to give him another DRA test and move his group". She didn't need the DRA test to know he had improved but needed it to change his reading group.

[Deleted]

To add more... I always impressed with the parents that kept their kids home on the state testing days in our old district, but here that really isn't an option because apparently when DS is in 3rd his scores on the TCAPs are going to count for 15-25% of his final grade in test subject areas.

[heightsyankee]

This is why my kids go to private school. I know I am very fortunate to be able to be so principled about it and that not everyone has the choice, but the testing makes me insane. Testing + TX being 47th in the country in per capita spending on education = me eating ramen every day for the rest of my life if that's what I need to do to cover tuition.

[UMaineTeach]

so much testing - not even so much worried about the mandated gr. 3-8 tests, but more what septimus said.
my school has 5 benchmark assessments that are given 3x a year to all students. And the special ed kids - they get to take the assessments on grade level with their class, and then re-take the assessments at their actual cognitive level in the resource room, then SPED has 5 other assessments that only SPED kids take - and it all has to get done in a couple weeks. oh, and if the kid's IEP is coming up, we have to re-do the SPED assessments if they were done more than a month ago.

[heightsyankee]

May 17, 2012 10:21:39 GMT -5 @septimus said:

To add more... I always impressed with the parents that kept their kids home on the state testing days in our old district, but here that really isn't an option because apparently when DS is in 3rd his scores on the TCAPs are going to count for 15-25% of his final grade in test subject areas.

My niece is in Round Rock school district. She is a straight A student but in 5th grade had, I dunno, a bad day and scored her lowest ever on the TASK test that year. She was in the low 80s I think, where the year before she was in the high 90s. Anyway, she was not allowed to take an honors classes in middle school because of that test score, despite her good grades and desire to do well and be challenged. I couldn't believe it and that was when I really started hating the testing.

[Deleted]

May 17, 2012 10:36:15 GMT -5 heightsyankee said:

May 17, 2012 10:21:39 GMT -5 @septimus said:

To add more... I always impressed with the parents that kept their kids home on the state testing days in our old district, but here that really isn't an option because apparently when DS is in 3rd his scores on the TCAPs are going to count for 15-25% of his final grade in test subject areas.

My niece is in Round Rock school district. She is a straight A student but in 5th grade had, I dunno, a bad day and scored her lowest ever on the TASK test that year. She was in the low 80s I think, where the year before she was in the high 90s. Anyway, she was not allowed to take an honors classes in middle school because of that test score, despite her good grades and desire to do well and be challenged. I couldn't believe it and that was when I really started hating the testing.

This is huge issue. It is 5th grade not law school. One test shouldn't make or break your entire trajectory just because you were sick, grandmother died the night before, etc.

They should be looking holistically at each child.

And to what end with all the testing? It doesn't seem like our schools are getting better even though we now have all this data from testing.

[secretlyevil]

Standardized tests blow big chunks and really should take a back seat to everything else.

[Deleted]

I'm against testing. Why can't we go back to the old days of surprise its IOWA test day... and be done with it.

I understand needing some measure of accountability, but it seems we've gone too far.

[Deleted]

May 17, 2012 11:02:02 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

The one thing I'm realizing from this story though, is that parents could do something about this if the organized enough. We managed to organize 11,000 virtual people in 5 days and bring them to an entirely new website, couldn't the 28 parents in Ms. Eads 5th grade class simply refuse to bring their children to school for the test? I bet the teacher would love that as much as the kids.

our old district started to enforce truancy laws to get the protestors to send their kids to school.

Most are not willing to have a criminal record for their convictions unfortunately.

[shadowboxer]

All the more reason I am getting excited about sending DD to Montessori.

[curmudgeon]

May 17, 2012 11:02:21 GMT -5 @septimus said:

I'm against testing. Why can't we go back to the old days of surprise its IOWA test day... and be done with it.

I understand needing some measure of accountability, but it seems we've gone too far.

This has gone way, way too far. I'm with SBP, we need an organized backlash against this madness.

[heightsyankee]

May 17, 2012 11:02:02 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

The one thing I'm realizing from this story though, is that parents could do something about this if the organized enough. We managed to organize 11,000 virtual people in 5 days and bring them to an entirely new website, couldn't the 28 parents in Ms. Eads 5th grade class simply refuse to bring their children to school for the test? I bet the teacher would love that as much as the kids.

But there could be long term repercussions for the kids. See my niece's story above. If her whole class skipped, that would have been a whole class with no option of advanced classes in middle. Andplusalso, not taking the test doesn't help with the hours and hours of learning that are lost through the test prep. I would rather have the kids take the damn tests and do away with all the prep work, which is what is really robbing them. But, yes, parents can organize and effect change. I hope to see more and more of this.

Septimus- Exactly! Her whole educational career was determined by that one test day. I hate to sound hyperbolic, but when she went to high school last year she was too nervous about being behind her peers, so she limited the amount of challenging classes she took there. This was also advice from someone "don't make it too hard on yourself." If I find out who that person was, I'm going to go batshit crazy on them.

[Deleted]

You all know how I feel about testing.

To add to that, pete brings home STACKS of fucking papers showing all of the tests he's been taking. I use them as printer paper once I pry all the staples out.

Pinky takes at least three tests a week, one of accelerated math and the other two for accelerated reading.

[heightsyankee]

May 17, 2012 11:15:57 GMT -5 @shadowboxer said:

All the more reason I am getting excited about sending DD to Montessori.

Fucking love Montessori!

HOwever, I don't know about your district but in Houston ISD the public Montessori schools still have to do testing. It's very frustrating for the parents who chose to go to those schools because the kids have to stop their Montessori curriculum and do test prep and then testing. I do know one teacher at a public Mont who doesn't do the prep with her kids. Good for her, because if the kids are smart, they're smart. I don't think prep does a whole hell of a lot of good.

[shadowboxer]

It's a private Montessori, so I'm hoping that's not the case. Will be good to doublecheck though.

[whitewolf]

doesn't Montessori stop at high school? If so, the kids will still have to take tests-- shittier tests-- in high school.
NCLB is the worst thing to happen to American education since segregated schools.

[heightsyankee]

May 17, 2012 11:26:43 GMT -5 @shadowboxer said:

It's a private Montessori, so I'm hoping that's not the case. Will be good to doublecheck though.

Then you're probably in good shape. My kids go to a private Montessori and there is no testing until high school, where they have one they have to take for college entrance, but that is it. I love Montessori in a kind of absurd way. Have you seen the "Superwoman was already here" video?

Whitewolf- my kids' school goes all the way through 12th.

[ceejay]

Sbp- I will totally join your anti-test movement. Tell me when and where the first march will be.

[Deleted]

The only thing I hate more than testing is test prep.

[Deleted]

My kids did/do montessori up to K. However even their school to be accredited by the state has to give standardize tests (but at least it is only once a year).

[ChillyMcFreeze]

::golf claps for sbp::

Testing is turning teachers into liars because they're forced to fear for their jobs when, as you say, we're changing absolutely nothing about the way kids are taught, whether parents give a rat's ass or supporting schools with better funding, and expect different results. It's insanity. I hate what happened in Atlanta Public Schools, and I know the teachers involved are not blameless, but it's the administrators who encouraged the behavior and--even more so--the legislators who have allowed NCLB to continue wreaking havoc on American education who should be on the chopping block.

[whitewolf]

May 17, 2012 11:40:26 GMT -5 @habbsies said:

The only thing I hate more than testing is test prep.

right?! That is NOT facilitating learning.

I've said it before on here-- in Illinois, we use the fucking ACT as our NCLB achievement test.

[IIOY]

May 17, 2012 10:36:15 GMT -5 heightsyankee said:

May 17, 2012 10:21:39 GMT -5 @septimus said:

To add more... I always impressed with the parents that kept their kids home on the state testing days in our old district, but here that really isn't an option because apparently when DS is in 3rd his scores on the TCAPs are going to count for 15-25% of his final grade in test subject areas.

My niece is in Round Rock school district. She is a straight A student but in 5th grade had, I dunno, a bad day and scored her lowest ever on the TASK test that year. She was in the low 80s I think, where the year before she was in the high 90s. Anyway, she was not allowed to take an honors classes in middle school because of that test score, despite her good grades and desire to do well and be challenged.

This is more disturbing than I can possibly articulate.

[emilyj]

I would join the anti-test movement in a heartbeat. Tell me where and when it is, and I'll be there.

Because I will tell you as a college professor, when these kids show up in my classroom with no critical thinking skills whatsoever, it is torture. How can a 20 year old not be able to apply concepts to a real-life situation? How? Instead, they're looking at me like I just asked them to dissect the person sitting next to them with their pencil and no anesthesia.

[IIOY]

May 17, 2012 13:06:41 GMT -5 emilyj said:

Because I will tell you as a college professor, when these kids show up in my classroom with no critical thinking skills whatsoever, it is torture. How can a 20 year old not be able to apply concepts to a real-life situation? How? Instead, they're looking at me like I just asked them to dissect the person sitting next to them with their pencil and no anesthesia.

My husband would agree with you and add that they cannot write a complete, properly-constructed sentence.

If bridey is around, she can chime in with a horror story or two from her husband's teaching experience.

[Deleted]

May 17, 2012 13:12:31 GMT -5 IIOY said:

May 17, 2012 13:06:41 GMT -5 emilyj said:

Because I will tell you as a college professor, when these kids show up in my classroom with no critical thinking skills whatsoever, it is torture. How can a 20 year old not be able to apply concepts to a real-life situation? How? Instead, they're looking at me like I just asked them to dissect the person sitting next to them with their pencil and no anesthesia.

My husband would agree with you and add that they cannot write a complete, properly-constructed sentence.

If bridey is around, she can chime in with a horror story or two from her husband's teaching experience.

My sister complains about her HARVARD undergraduates... I can only imagine the trickle down

[emilyj]

May 17, 2012 13:12:31 GMT -5 IIOY said:

My husband would agree with you and add that they cannot write a complete, properly-constructed sentence.

If bridey is around, she can chime in with a horror story or two from her husband's teaching experience.

My personal internet ethics won't allow me to post the shit my students write (but oh, I want to).

I had one group get a 41/100 on their final project, and they went ballistic, telling me it wasn't faaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiir, that that grade didn't reflect the amount of effort and heart and soul they poured into the project, and I just couldn't give them that grade.

I told them if they had really given that much effort, they would have proofread it. Because if you actually put forth effort, you'll catch that "Implemon" is not the same as "Implementation".

[heightsyankee]

May 17, 2012 13:18:17 GMT -5 emilyj said:

May 17, 2012 13:12:31 GMT -5 IIOY said:

My husband would agree with you and add that they cannot write a complete, properly-constructed sentence.

If bridey is around, she can chime in with a horror story or two from her husband's teaching experience.

My personal internet ethics won't allow me to post the shit my students write (but oh, I want to).

I had one group get a 41/100 on their final project, and they went ballistic, telling me it wasn't faaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiir, that that grade didn't reflect the amount of effort and heart and soul they poured into the project, and I just couldn't give them that grade.

I told them if they had really given that much effort, they would have proofread it. Because if you actually put forth effort, you'll catch that "Implemon" is not the same as "Implementation".

I hear stories like this a lot. I think it's the education system but we are also now seeing the results of the 1st generation of helicopter parents, don't you think? I am often SHOCKED by the sense of entitlement by a majority of the 1st year lawyers at my husband's firm. They get an office, a (shared) secretary, and a 6 figure salary and still don't want to have to work. Assholes.

[emilyj]

The entitlement is fucking brutal. I have students that tell me "I need you to give me the notes from the class I missed" or something similar. One girl in the fall didn't order her book for my class and told me that she was going to need me to meet with her individually each week and explain the book to her because she didn't have it and she wasn't doing well on the tests.

Usually I just look at them and say "Well, I need a million dollars but that's not going to happen, so why don't you rephrase that request?"