This article explains the dangers of evaluating teachers with formulas and rankings that undermine the real tasks of school leadership.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/opinion/want-to-ruin-teaching-give-ratings.html?emc=eta1
Monday, October 15, 2012
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Legal challenge to providing student data to "Shared Learning Collaborative"
For
Immediate Release: October 14, 2012
For more
information contact:
Norman
Siegel: (347) 907-0867; NSiegel@stellp.com
Leonie
Haimson: (917) 435-9329; leonie@classsizematters.org
Attorney and Parents Send Letter to NYS Attorney General
& Education Officials Questioning Legality of Providing Confidential
Student Data to Limited Corporation and Demanding Parental Right to
Consent
On Sunday,
October 14, at a press conference held at the midtown law offices of Siegel
Teitelbaum & Evans LLP, attorney Norman Siegel and New York parents
released a letter sent Friday to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the
New York State Board of Regents, demanding that the agreement between the NY
State Education Department and the “Shared Learning Collaborative” be
released, setting out the conditions and restrictions on the use of
confidential student and teacher data to be provided to this limited
corporation. The letter asked that parents be informed exactly what
information concerning their children will be shared with this corporation,
why the transfer of this data does not violate federal privacy protections,
and demanding that the parents have the right to withhold their children’s
information from being shared. The letter is posted at http://bit.ly/W6H2qV
Background: In Aug. 25, 2011, NY State
Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli informed the NY State Education Department that he
was rejecting its proposed no-bid contract with Wireless Generation to build a
state data system, composed of confidential student and teacher information
because of privacy concerns. Wireless Generation is a subsidiary of News
Corporation. Several high-ranking former executives and employees of the
News Corporation in the UK were being investigated for violations of privacy
and bribing public officials. As the State Comptroller wrote, "in
light of the significant ongoing investigations and continuing revelations
with respect to News Corporation, we are returning the contract with Wireless
Generation unapproved." Since then, the scandal has
continued to grow, with the number of indicted News Corporation officials
expanding in number.
Yet four months
later, in December, the NY Board of Regents approved NYSED’s plan to provide
this confidential student and teacher data to a limited corporation, called
the Shared Learning
Collaborative LLC (SLC). The Gates Foundation
awarded $76.5 million to form this LLC,
with $44 million going to Wireless
Generation, to design and operate the system. According to the SLC’s
website, New York is one of five states – along with Colorado, Illinois,
Massachusetts, and North Carolina – participating in Phase I of this project,
starting in late 2012. The pilot districts are Jefferson County School District (CO);
Unit 5 (Normal, IL); District 87 (Bloomington, IL); Everett (MA);
Guilford County Schools (NC), and NYC. Four more states – Delaware,
Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana – have committed to join Phase II in
2013. Though New York City is one of the pilot districts, the city’s
parents have been told nothing about this project, and the state has not
shared its agreement with the SLC about the use and protection of this data,
despite several requests to do so.
Apart from the lack of parental disclosure and privacy concerns, the SLC website makes it clear that this student data will be used to help companies develop and market educational products. However FERPA, or the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, appears not to allow the sharing of confidential student information for commercial purposes.
Leonie
Haimson, the Executive Director of Class Size Matters, said: “Just this week
in Washington the Federal Trade Commission announced sweeping new protections
for children’s privacy data. The reason is simple: abuses are rampant, and
once a child’s identity is in the marketplace it cannot be called back or
protected. We stand with the FTC, every major privacy advocacy group, and all
concerned parents in opposing any action to relax child privacy protections,
including this plan by the NY State Education Department and the NYC
Department of Education, to share confidential information about our public
school students without their parents’ knowledge or consent.”
Janice
Bloom, a member of ParentVoicesNY and a parent of a kindergarten student and a
3rd grader in a Brooklyn public school, said, “I am outraged that
the state and the city would have agreed to share our children’s confidential
data with a private corporation, without telling us anything about it. I am
even more upset that this data is apparently being made available to companies
for the purpose of marketing commercial products to the public school system.
Parents need to be fully informed of the purpose and ramifications of this
project, and provided with the right to opt out. I do not believe that
public schools should be in the business of exploiting children for
profit.”
Karen
Sprowal, the mother of a 4th grader, added: “As a parent of a
special needs child, I need to be especially vigilant as to where my child’s
information ends up, who gains access to it and for what reason. I think
that the State and the City owe a detailed explanation to me and other NYC
parents what the purpose of this project is, as well as an apology for having
decided to go forward without telling us a word about it in advance.”
As Nancy
Cauthen, a member of the organization Change the Stakes and the mother of a
6th and a 10th grader in NYC public schools said: “The erosion of
privacy that this project represents is part and parcel of the pillaging of
public education for private gain. The fact that Rupert Murdoch’s News
Corporation is involved makes me even more fearful that my child’s privacy
will be violated and abused.”
Julie
Cavanagh, a special education teacher in Brooklyn, explained: “As a public
school teacher I am concerned not only for the privacy of my students, and the
way this data will be provided to for-profit enterprises, but I am also
worried that this national database may be used to blacklist members of the
teaching profession. Though the National Academy of Sciences and other
expert groups have concluded that teacher evaluation systems based on student
test scores are not to be trusted, the Gates Foundation seems intent on
foisting these systems on the nation. When the DOE’s unreliable teacher
data reports were released, Murdoch’s NY Post not only published them in the
paper, but tracked down and harassed teachers who had received low ratings.
”
Tracy Pyper,
the Advocacy Chair of the Westchester/East Putnam Region PTA,
said: "I was extremely troubled to learn that NY State has decided
to hand over student personal information to Rupert Murdoch's Wireless
Generation, without asking or even telling their parents about this. And
while I realize that at this point, only NYC data is being provided, it is
just a matter of time before all of our children in NY State may have their
confidential information shared. Once parents are made aware of how the
state is making critical decisions about our children’s private information,
without parental consent, they will be very concerned. I strongly urge
the State Education Department to halt all further action until they can
explain exactly what personal information will be provided to Wireless
Generation, what safeguards they are taking to protect the information, and
most importantly, give parents the right to opt out.”
Norman Siegel, attorney, concluded: “The risks
are real and immediate. The State Education Department has a fundamental
responsibility to protect the privacy rights of public school children and
their families. Before a single child's information is turned over to the
Shared Learning Collaborative (a joint venture of the Gates Foundation and
Wireless Generation LLC), our education officials must guarantee that no harm
will come to New York school children by meeting the following
requirements:
·
Publish the agreement with SLC in printed and electronic
form, include a thorough explanation of its purpose and provisions, and
make it available to parents and local school authorities statewide;
·
Hold hearings throughout the state to explain the
agreement, answer questions from the public, obtain informed comment, and
gauge public reaction;
·
Notify all parents of the impending disclosure, and
provide them with a right to consent;
·
Define what rights families or individuals will have to
obtain relief if harmed by improper use or release of their private
information, including how claims can be made;
·
Agree to allow no disclosure of public school records
until the State Education Department and the NYC Department of Education meets
all of its ethical, security, and statutory obligations to the parents and
public school children of the city and state;
·
Ensure that the privacy interest of public school
children and their families are put above the interests of the Shared Learning
Collaborative, News Corporation and its agents and subsidiaries.”
###
Saturday, October 13, 2012
New York Times 10.13.12: Johnny isn't sick, he's boycotting the test
At last, coverage of what NYC Parents are doing to fight back!
One of the panelists for our Forum on Oct. 23rd is in the picture---come and hear her in person!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/
One of the panelists for our Forum on Oct. 23rd is in the picture---come and hear her in person!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/
Thursday, October 11, 2012
from Diane Ravitch: October 17 Campaign for Our Public Schools
Spread the Word about October 17 Campaign for Our Public Schools!
31
I will write about this every single day from now until October 17.
Please write your thoughts about what needs to change in federal education policy and send a letter to President Obama by that date.
You can write it now and follow instructions here.
Anthony Cody, experienced middle school science teacher and fabulous blogger, has offered to coordinate our campaign to write President Obama on October 17.
We call it the Campaign for Our Public Schools.
Our campaign is meant to include everyone who cares about public education: students, parents, teachers, principals, school board members, and concerned citizens. We want everyone to write the President and tell him what needs to change in his education policies.
Tell your friends about the Campaign. If you have a blog, write about it. Wherever you are, spread the news. Join us.
Here are the instructions:
You can send your letter to Anthony Cody or to this blog.
Or you can send it directly to the White House, with a copy to me or Anthony.
Anthony will gather all the emails sent to him and me and forward them to the White House.
1. Email your letters to anthony_cody@hotmail.com.
2. Or submit them as comments to this blog. You can respond to this post or to any other post on this blog about the October 17 Campaign for Our Public Schools.
All letters collected through these two channels will be compiled into a single document, which will be sent to the White House on Oct. 18.
In ADDITION to this,
3. You can mail copies of your letters through US mail to The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 20500
4. You can send them by email from this page: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments
If you choose to write or email the White House, please send us a copy so we can keep track of how many letters were sent to the President.
One more thought: when you write to the President, also write to your Senators and Congressman or -woman and to your state legislator and Governor. Send the same letter to them all.
Let’s raise our voices NOW against privatization, against high-stakes testing, against teacher bashing, against profiteering.
Let’s advocate for policies that are good for students, that truly improve education, that respect the education profession, and that strengthen our democratic system of public education.
Let’s act. Start here. Start now.
Join our campaign. Speak out. Enough is enough.
Diane
Please write your thoughts about what needs to change in federal education policy and send a letter to President Obama by that date.
You can write it now and follow instructions here.
Anthony Cody, experienced middle school science teacher and fabulous blogger, has offered to coordinate our campaign to write President Obama on October 17.
We call it the Campaign for Our Public Schools.
Our campaign is meant to include everyone who cares about public education: students, parents, teachers, principals, school board members, and concerned citizens. We want everyone to write the President and tell him what needs to change in his education policies.
Tell your friends about the Campaign. If you have a blog, write about it. Wherever you are, spread the news. Join us.
Here are the instructions:
You can send your letter to Anthony Cody or to this blog.
Or you can send it directly to the White House, with a copy to me or Anthony.
Anthony will gather all the emails sent to him and me and forward them to the White House.
1. Email your letters to anthony_cody@hotmail.com.
2. Or submit them as comments to this blog. You can respond to this post or to any other post on this blog about the October 17 Campaign for Our Public Schools.
All letters collected through these two channels will be compiled into a single document, which will be sent to the White House on Oct. 18.
In ADDITION to this,
3. You can mail copies of your letters through US mail to The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 20500
4. You can send them by email from this page: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments
If you choose to write or email the White House, please send us a copy so we can keep track of how many letters were sent to the President.
One more thought: when you write to the President, also write to your Senators and Congressman or -woman and to your state legislator and Governor. Send the same letter to them all.
Let’s raise our voices NOW against privatization, against high-stakes testing, against teacher bashing, against profiteering.
Let’s advocate for policies that are good for students, that truly improve education, that respect the education profession, and that strengthen our democratic system of public education.
Let’s act. Start here. Start now.
Join our campaign. Speak out. Enough is enough.
Diane
From the mouths of babes
Read about how an 11 year old responds to having her teacher evaluated by her test score---
http://www.washingtonpost.com/valerie-strauss/2011/03/07/ABZrToO_page.html
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Social nature of "performance"
This article from today's NY Times provides more support for the fact that standardized tests are not valid measures of learning. We actually reduce our students' ability to give us a real picture of what they know.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/opinion/sunday/intelligence-and-the-stereotype-threat.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/opinion/sunday/intelligence-and-the-stereotype-threat.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Follow the link to Don Sternberg's blog posting
Don Sternberg, who aplogized to the parents of his Wantagh (Long Island) elementary school, suggests a letter-writing campaign.
http://www.schoolleadership20.com/profiles/blogs/a-new-message-from-dr-don-sternberg-author-of-the-famed-dear-pare?xg_source=activity&utm_source=October+3%2C+2012&utm_campaign=Oct+3++2012&utm_medium=email
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
By Lisa Farhi
“We’re citizens and teachers—and neither is easy. Good luck.”
— Deborah Meier, 2002, inscription in my copy of “In Schools We Trust”
Back in 2002, I approached the microphone at the Washington D.C. bookstore Politics and Prose and told the author of “In Schools We Trust” that as a teacher degreed in human development, I was feeling
(Mike Keefe/DENVER POST) muzzled by the burgeoning high-stakes standardized testing movement. I said that in 10 years we would be slapping ourselves, saying, “OMG, we forgot about poverty” in our driven pursuit for so-called “accountability” of teachers and schools. We were choosing to ignore the conditions in which children live and how they affect their achievement in school.
Deborah Meier, still one of my lifelong heroes in education, told me to fight poverty as a citizen, not as a teacher.
That turned out to be good advice, considering that my schools superintendent at the time was a hard-liner who insisted that great teaching could overcome poverty, and because in the ensuing 10 years, proponents of No Child Left Behind hurled accusations of low expectations bordering on racial bias toward any teacher who raised concerns about economic struggles in the lives of children. I was heartened to read Helen Ladd’s and Edward B. Fiske’s comprehensive New York Times op-ed piece “Class Matters. Why Won’t We Admit It?”, which chastises us as a society for ignoring the effects of poverty on student achievement.
To read the rest of this post, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet
"Teacher: What school reformers don't know"
“We’re citizens and teachers—and neither is easy. Good luck.”
— Deborah Meier, 2002, inscription in my copy of “In Schools We Trust”
Back in 2002, I approached the microphone at the Washington D.C. bookstore Politics and Prose and told the author of “In Schools We Trust” that as a teacher degreed in human development, I was feeling
(Mike Keefe/DENVER POST) muzzled by the burgeoning high-stakes standardized testing movement. I said that in 10 years we would be slapping ourselves, saying, “OMG, we forgot about poverty” in our driven pursuit for so-called “accountability” of teachers and schools. We were choosing to ignore the conditions in which children live and how they affect their achievement in school.
Deborah Meier, still one of my lifelong heroes in education, told me to fight poverty as a citizen, not as a teacher.
That turned out to be good advice, considering that my schools superintendent at the time was a hard-liner who insisted that great teaching could overcome poverty, and because in the ensuing 10 years, proponents of No Child Left Behind hurled accusations of low expectations bordering on racial bias toward any teacher who raised concerns about economic struggles in the lives of children. I was heartened to read Helen Ladd’s and Edward B. Fiske’s comprehensive New York Times op-ed piece “Class Matters. Why Won’t We Admit It?”, which chastises us as a society for ignoring the effects of poverty on student achievement.
To read the rest of this post, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet
"Teacher: What school reformers don't know"
Monday, October 1, 2012
Did you know that Pearson is running yet ANOTHER field test this month, one more that will rob our students of instructional time and (likely) further reduce their love of learning. Use this link to find out more and see if yours is on the list of participating schools.
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2012/09/attention-parents-get-ready-for-another.html
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2012/09/attention-parents-get-ready-for-another.html
Sunday, September 30, 2012
letter from the Principal---about how reform is hurting our children
I am back!
Use this link to read a letter sent by a Long Island principal to the parents explaining why education in their school will suffer this year under the weight of "reform."
http://www.schoolleadership20.
Use this link to read a letter sent by a Long Island principal to the parents explaining why education in their school will suffer this year under the weight of "reform."
http://www.schoolleadership20.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Yesterday, New York City Councilman
Robert Jackson entered Resolution 1394-2012 in the
City Council. This
Resolution calls upon the New York State Education
Department, the New York
State Legislature, and the Governor to re-examine
public school accountability
systems and to develop a system based on
multiple forms of assessment which do
not require extensive standardized
testing.
If the City Council
passes Resolution 1394, it will be an important moment
for all of our
children, teachers, and school communities.
The folks at Time Out from Testing have
been working closely with Jackson's office. Right now
we would like to ask you
to write the Councilman and thank him for his
leadership on this and ask that
he push the bill forward quickly by
holding a hearing in July and a
vote. Below is his email address and you
can copy Speaker' Quinn's office.
Councilman Jackson: rjack@council.nyc.gov
Speaker Quinn's Office: MSubraman@council.nyc.gov
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Growing National Movement Against "High Stakes" Public School Testing.
Fantastic video--a must see about the parent-driven movement against high stakes testing, Pearson, and coporatization
Fantastic video--a must see about the parent-driven movement against high stakes testing, Pearson, and coporatization
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
Post #3 for the day---they're coming fast and furious!
Pop Quiz on Testing
By Lisa Guisbond
Ed Week
You can practically hear the collective relief as school testing season winds down across America. It's not just the sighs of millions of overtested and stressed-out children. Joining them are state officials, school administrators, teachers, and parents. All, for varying reasons, are no doubt happy to close the door on a particularly disastrous season that included public uproar over a confusing reading test question and a scoring fiasco on the Florida writing exam.
Before we put away the No. 2 pencils, though, how about sharpening them for one last exam? Why should our kids be the only ones to suffer the acute anxiety that comes from opening the test booklet to Page 1? Let's share their pain and take a test to see how well we've been paying attention and learning from our obsession with tests.
1. Why did Florida's state board of education call an emergency meeting to lower the passing score on its writing exam?
A) The percentage of 4th grade students with passing scores plunged (http://www.fldoe.org/board/
B) The board realized student writing wasn't really any worse, but the new test-scoring guide was too harsh and penalized students for minor mistakes.
C) The sudden drop in scores called the state's entire testing system into question.
D) All of the above.
2. Why did New York eliminate the "Hare and the Pineapple" (http://usny.nysed.gov/docs/
A) A student came home and told his mother about extremely confusing and incomprehensible questions regarding an absurd reading passage.
B) The author of the story adapted for the test item expressed his contempt for the way his writing was used to confuse and distress young test-takers. "This was done by somebody who was barely literate," Daniel Pinkwater said (http://www.newyorker.com/
C) Media attention to the item embarrassed both test-maker Pearson and state education officials.
D) The "Pineapple" item was only one of more than 20 mistakes on the tests.
E) All of the above.
3. Why have 525 Texas school boards (http://www.tasanet.org/
A) The Texas board members believe "the overreliance on standardized, high-stakes testing ... is strangling our public schools."
B) The New York principals said: "Our students are more than the sum of their test scores. ... According to a nine-year study (http://www.nap.edu/openbook.
C) School board members, principals, and many parents across the country recognize that testing mandates compel them to do things that undermine teaching and learning.
D) All of the above.
4. Who pays for and who profits from the testing explosion resulting from the No Child Left Behind Act and similar misguided education policies?
A) Taxpayers spend billions of dollars for ever more testing, money that could be used to improve school facilities, hire and train teachers, and staff school libraries.
B) Pearson, the company behind the twin fiascos in Florida and New York as well as years of other costly testing errors, saw its profits increase by 72 percent in 2011.
C) Veteran teachers with years of positive reviews by knowledgeable evaluators are being labeled ineffective and denied tenure or fired based on inaccurate and incomprehensible formulas using student test scores.
D) All of the above.
5. What can parents, teachers, administrators, and school board members do to change the costly and destructive path we are on?
A) Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing (http://timeoutfromtesting.
B) Get engaged with your local school system to review and reconsider the amount and uses of testing.
C) Write your members of Congress and tell them federal education policy needs to fundamentally change course and regain a sane and reasonable approach to assessment and accountability.
D) All of the above.
[The correct answer to all of the questions is "All of the above."]
Lisa Guisbond is a policy analyst with FairTest, the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, in Jamaica Plain, Mass.
------------
Pop Quiz on Testing
By Lisa Guisbond
Ed Week
You can practically hear the collective relief as school testing season winds down across America. It's not just the sighs of millions of overtested and stressed-out children. Joining them are state officials, school administrators, teachers, and parents. All, for varying reasons, are no doubt happy to close the door on a particularly disastrous season that included public uproar over a confusing reading test question and a scoring fiasco on the Florida writing exam.
Before we put away the No. 2 pencils, though, how about sharpening them for one last exam? Why should our kids be the only ones to suffer the acute anxiety that comes from opening the test booklet to Page 1? Let's share their pain and take a test to see how well we've been paying attention and learning from our obsession with tests.
1. Why did Florida's state board of education call an emergency meeting to lower the passing score on its writing exam?
A) The percentage of 4th grade students with passing scores plunged (http://www.fldoe.org/board/
B) The board realized student writing wasn't really any worse, but the new test-scoring guide was too harsh and penalized students for minor mistakes.
C) The sudden drop in scores called the state's entire testing system into question.
D) All of the above.
2. Why did New York eliminate the "Hare and the Pineapple" (http://usny.nysed.gov/docs/
A) A student came home and told his mother about extremely confusing and incomprehensible questions regarding an absurd reading passage.
B) The author of the story adapted for the test item expressed his contempt for the way his writing was used to confuse and distress young test-takers. "This was done by somebody who was barely literate," Daniel Pinkwater said (http://www.newyorker.com/
C) Media attention to the item embarrassed both test-maker Pearson and state education officials.
D) The "Pineapple" item was only one of more than 20 mistakes on the tests.
E) All of the above.
3. Why have 525 Texas school boards (http://www.tasanet.org/
A) The Texas board members believe "the overreliance on standardized, high-stakes testing ... is strangling our public schools."
B) The New York principals said: "Our students are more than the sum of their test scores. ... According to a nine-year study (http://www.nap.edu/openbook.
C) School board members, principals, and many parents across the country recognize that testing mandates compel them to do things that undermine teaching and learning.
D) All of the above.
4. Who pays for and who profits from the testing explosion resulting from the No Child Left Behind Act and similar misguided education policies?
A) Taxpayers spend billions of dollars for ever more testing, money that could be used to improve school facilities, hire and train teachers, and staff school libraries.
B) Pearson, the company behind the twin fiascos in Florida and New York as well as years of other costly testing errors, saw its profits increase by 72 percent in 2011.
C) Veteran teachers with years of positive reviews by knowledgeable evaluators are being labeled ineffective and denied tenure or fired based on inaccurate and incomprehensible formulas using student test scores.
D) All of the above.
5. What can parents, teachers, administrators, and school board members do to change the costly and destructive path we are on?
A) Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing (http://timeoutfromtesting.
B) Get engaged with your local school system to review and reconsider the amount and uses of testing.
C) Write your members of Congress and tell them federal education policy needs to fundamentally change course and regain a sane and reasonable approach to assessment and accountability.
D) All of the above.
[The correct answer to all of the questions is "All of the above."]
Lisa Guisbond is a policy analyst with FairTest, the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, in Jamaica Plain, Mass.
------------
http://www.youtube.com/
This link will take you to an amazing video about curiosity. It's Mr. Rogers, remixed, with an important message. It seemed appropriate for my blog.
This link will take you to an amazing video about curiosity. It's Mr. Rogers, remixed, with an important message. It seemed appropriate for my blog.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
#9 of the 10 Things You Can Do to End High Stakes Testing:
1.
If you are a parent or guardian of a student, ask your school
administration about the possible consequences for “opting out” of the
standardized tests. This will help dispel the idea that you don’t have the
right to make decisions about your student. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT YOUR STUDENT.
iiImagine if they gave a test and nobody came?
Without high stakes tests, there is no time wasted on test prep, no children marginalized because they had a bad day or a learning difference or spoke a different language, no teachers called "unsatisfactory" because they take the challenge every day to work with ALL students who enter their classrooms, no schools closed and called "failing" because they care for the students with the biggest challenges.
High Stakes Tests are the basis of everything that is undermining public education.
I
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Pearson Demo
Amazing! 300 + parents, kids, activists in front of Pearson Publishing raising their voices against bubble sheets. One kid's sign said "I could have been playing my violin." The momentum is building!
Sunday, June 3, 2012
#8 of the 10 Things You Can Do to Oppose High Stakes Testing:
1.
Contact and support an organization that opposes high stakes testing: GEMNYC.ORG,
Unitedoptout.org, Changethestakes.wordpress.com. This will help dispel the idea
that you are alone in your opposition to high stakes testing. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Letter to Chancellor Wolcott about the Pearson field test
Teachers and concerned citizens,
A handful of parents fought back against high-stakes testing last month by refusing to have their children sit for the state tests. Most recently hundreds of parents across New York City have been telling their principals they do not want their children to participate in the Pearson standalone field tests that schools are required to administer this month or next.
While many teachers would like to be able to join parents in boycotting the tests, we also know that such risks require a strong union leadership that is willing to support teachers in taking job actions of this kind in protest of unjust DOE practices.
For this reason several teachers have instead drafted a letter to Chancellor Walcott and the DOE requesting permission to not be required to participate in the June field tests. You can read and sign the letter here. The letter is polite and in no way could be considered insubordination, but please know that it is an open letter and we will be sending the names of those who signed along with the letter to the DOE and to press within the next several weeks.
Below is the text of the letter. It has already been endorsed by Movement of Rank-and-file Educators, the social justice caucus of the UFT. Please share widely with those who might be interested, and sign on by clicking here. Non-teachers such as concerned parents or community members can also sign on in support.
May, 2012
Chancellor Walcott and the New York City Department of Education
52 Chambers St
New York, NY 10007
Dear Chancellor Walcott and the New York City Department of Education,
We, the undersigned educators of the New York City schools, are writing to respectfully request that teachers across New York City not be required to participate in or proctor the Pearson stand-alone field tests that the New York State Education Department plans to administer in most schools this month and next. Our reasons for reaching out to you with this request are many-faceted, and while we will comply with any decision that is made, we would ask that you please consider our concerns with the field tests before coming to a decision.
To begin, many parents have become increasingly frustrated by the use, nature and abundance of standardized tests in our schools. We have seen this personally, in conversations with parents who express their concerns to us as their children’s teachers. And we have also seen it as a city-wide movement, which recently included a group of parents who refused to have their children sit for the New York State ELA and Math exams. This effort by parents, organizing alongside concerned educators through the Grassroots Education Movement’s Change the Stakes committee, was supported by many more parents who said they would like to remove their children from the state exams but were concerned about the consequences. In explaining their reasons for choosing to boycott parents wrote that the increased focus on improving scores has forced teachers less time focussing on “inspiring a love of learning, fostering creativity, or encouraging critical and interdisciplinary thinking.”
Additionally, hundreds of parents organizing with groups such as Time Out from Testing, Change the Stakes and ParentVoicesNY have now submitted letters to principals in schools across New York City stating that they “respectfully request that the school not give the [stand-alone field] tests at all, and that all students benefit from a day of instruction rather than waste yet another day on test-taking.” In the letter, parents cite concerns such as wasted instructional days and the use of their children as guinea pigs for the research purposes of “a for-profit corporation without [their] consent or permission.” We feel that as teachers it is our responsibility to be responsive to the concerns of the parents whose children we serve, and we would like to support this most recent parent effort around the stand-alone field tests.
Secondly, as teachers we agree with parents that excessive testing is damaging to our students. Indeed, the use of standardized tests to make high-stakes decisions about children, teachers and schools has been repeatedly documented by researchers to have negative consequences on children and on their education. We have witnessed worrisome anxiety in the children we are charged with educating as the increased pressure to perform on the state exams affects them. We have seen- and in many cases been forced to comply with- a narrowing of the curriculum and the neglecting of non-tested subjects. We think that the use of time for test preparation as well as the number of days taken up by tests and practice tests is unconscionable. Considering all this, we cannot in good faith subject our students to additional testing days in May and June without at the very least requesting permission to recuse ourselves from this practice on moral grounds.
Finally, we feel that the form and use of the stand-alone field tests are inappropriate for their stated purpose, and we lament the intended long-term strategy of increased “accountability based on tests” of which these field tests are a part. The use of stand-alone field tests for the purpose of norming state exams has been repeatedly criticized by experts. In fact, the NYS Education Department itself blamed stand alone field-testing in part for the need to re-calibrate the cut scores on the 2009 state exams that moved thousands of students across the state from passing to failing. We also know that the field tests are meant to pilot various questions for exams that will then be used as part of the new New York State teacher evaluation system. We feel that the use of test scores in any form to evaluate teachers is inappropriate. The Board on Testing and Assessment of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences has warned that so-called “value added models” based on test scores cannot be considered fair or reliable enough to make operational decisions about teachers. But even if such models were improved, the consequences of using tests to evaluate teachers will be damaging to students’ education for reasons mentioned previously, and will also have a negative effect on school culture. The money spent on contracts with Pearson and other for-profit companies to develop, field-test and administer these exams should instead be spent on increased resources for classrooms and on supporting the educational and non-educational needs of all children, in particular children living in poverty.
In conclusion, we would like to assert that our request is in no way intended to be insubordinate but instead to raise concerns about the field tests and to respectfully request that educators across New York City not be mandated to participate in tests to which we have moral objections. Teachers need to be empowered to stand up when we recognize injustices done to our students and ourselves, and we need unions that support teachers in taking on such challenges. Indeed, teacher protections and the ability to take collective action against injustice help us protect children. We hope that you will consider our request, and we thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Concerned teachers of the New York City Schools
Endorsed by Movement of Rank-and-file Educators, the social justice caucus of the UFT
A handful of parents fought back against high-stakes testing last month by refusing to have their children sit for the state tests. Most recently hundreds of parents across New York City have been telling their principals they do not want their children to participate in the Pearson standalone field tests that schools are required to administer this month or next.
While many teachers would like to be able to join parents in boycotting the tests, we also know that such risks require a strong union leadership that is willing to support teachers in taking job actions of this kind in protest of unjust DOE practices.
For this reason several teachers have instead drafted a letter to Chancellor Walcott and the DOE requesting permission to not be required to participate in the June field tests. You can read and sign the letter here. The letter is polite and in no way could be considered insubordination, but please know that it is an open letter and we will be sending the names of those who signed along with the letter to the DOE and to press within the next several weeks.
Below is the text of the letter. It has already been endorsed by Movement of Rank-and-file Educators, the social justice caucus of the UFT. Please share widely with those who might be interested, and sign on by clicking here. Non-teachers such as concerned parents or community members can also sign on in support.
May, 2012
Chancellor Walcott and the New York City Department of Education
52 Chambers St
New York, NY 10007
Dear Chancellor Walcott and the New York City Department of Education,
We, the undersigned educators of the New York City schools, are writing to respectfully request that teachers across New York City not be required to participate in or proctor the Pearson stand-alone field tests that the New York State Education Department plans to administer in most schools this month and next. Our reasons for reaching out to you with this request are many-faceted, and while we will comply with any decision that is made, we would ask that you please consider our concerns with the field tests before coming to a decision.
To begin, many parents have become increasingly frustrated by the use, nature and abundance of standardized tests in our schools. We have seen this personally, in conversations with parents who express their concerns to us as their children’s teachers. And we have also seen it as a city-wide movement, which recently included a group of parents who refused to have their children sit for the New York State ELA and Math exams. This effort by parents, organizing alongside concerned educators through the Grassroots Education Movement’s Change the Stakes committee, was supported by many more parents who said they would like to remove their children from the state exams but were concerned about the consequences. In explaining their reasons for choosing to boycott parents wrote that the increased focus on improving scores has forced teachers less time focussing on “inspiring a love of learning, fostering creativity, or encouraging critical and interdisciplinary thinking.”
Additionally, hundreds of parents organizing with groups such as Time Out from Testing, Change the Stakes and ParentVoicesNY have now submitted letters to principals in schools across New York City stating that they “respectfully request that the school not give the [stand-alone field] tests at all, and that all students benefit from a day of instruction rather than waste yet another day on test-taking.” In the letter, parents cite concerns such as wasted instructional days and the use of their children as guinea pigs for the research purposes of “a for-profit corporation without [their] consent or permission.” We feel that as teachers it is our responsibility to be responsive to the concerns of the parents whose children we serve, and we would like to support this most recent parent effort around the stand-alone field tests.
Secondly, as teachers we agree with parents that excessive testing is damaging to our students. Indeed, the use of standardized tests to make high-stakes decisions about children, teachers and schools has been repeatedly documented by researchers to have negative consequences on children and on their education. We have witnessed worrisome anxiety in the children we are charged with educating as the increased pressure to perform on the state exams affects them. We have seen- and in many cases been forced to comply with- a narrowing of the curriculum and the neglecting of non-tested subjects. We think that the use of time for test preparation as well as the number of days taken up by tests and practice tests is unconscionable. Considering all this, we cannot in good faith subject our students to additional testing days in May and June without at the very least requesting permission to recuse ourselves from this practice on moral grounds.
Finally, we feel that the form and use of the stand-alone field tests are inappropriate for their stated purpose, and we lament the intended long-term strategy of increased “accountability based on tests” of which these field tests are a part. The use of stand-alone field tests for the purpose of norming state exams has been repeatedly criticized by experts. In fact, the NYS Education Department itself blamed stand alone field-testing in part for the need to re-calibrate the cut scores on the 2009 state exams that moved thousands of students across the state from passing to failing. We also know that the field tests are meant to pilot various questions for exams that will then be used as part of the new New York State teacher evaluation system. We feel that the use of test scores in any form to evaluate teachers is inappropriate. The Board on Testing and Assessment of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences has warned that so-called “value added models” based on test scores cannot be considered fair or reliable enough to make operational decisions about teachers. But even if such models were improved, the consequences of using tests to evaluate teachers will be damaging to students’ education for reasons mentioned previously, and will also have a negative effect on school culture. The money spent on contracts with Pearson and other for-profit companies to develop, field-test and administer these exams should instead be spent on increased resources for classrooms and on supporting the educational and non-educational needs of all children, in particular children living in poverty.
In conclusion, we would like to assert that our request is in no way intended to be insubordinate but instead to raise concerns about the field tests and to respectfully request that educators across New York City not be mandated to participate in tests to which we have moral objections. Teachers need to be empowered to stand up when we recognize injustices done to our students and ourselves, and we need unions that support teachers in taking on such challenges. Indeed, teacher protections and the ability to take collective action against injustice help us protect children. We hope that you will consider our request, and we thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Concerned teachers of the New York City Schools
Endorsed by Movement of Rank-and-file Educators, the social justice caucus of the UFT
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Use this link to go to a petition to give New York State parents the right to "optout" their children from standardized tests.
http://signon.org/sign/give-new-york-state-parents.fb1?source=s.fb&r_by=322644
http://signon.org/sign/give-new-york-state-parents.fb1?source=s.fb&r_by=322644
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
This is a wonderful site. The writers saw the dangers in testing a long time ago, and set this up. Now that the movement is growing, this is a great place to stay current.
http://fairtest.org/
http://fairtest.org/
Monday, May 7, 2012
#7 of the !0 (at least) things you can do to oppose high stakes testing:
1.
If you know a student, support him or her with a friendly smile, an offer
of help, a job for her or her family. This will help dispel the idea that a
child’s success depends on one teacher. A
STUDENT’S SUCCESS DEPENDS ON EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING IN THE STUDENT’S LIFE.
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