Will parents speak up in time to end the standardized testing madness?

Jul 18

jonpeltoEducation Reform, Standardized Testing, Stefan Pryor , , , 13 Comments

Yesterday’s New York Times included a letter to the editor from Stephen Krashen, a retired professor from the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education.  Professor Krashen wrote…

“The common core standards movement seems to be common sense: Our schools should have similar standards, what students should know at each grade. The movement, however, is based on the false assumption that our schools are broken, that ineffective teaching is the problem and that rigorous standards and tests are necessary to improve things.

The mediocre performance of American students on international tests seems to show that our schools are doing poorly. But students from middle-class homes who attend well-funded schools rank among the best in the world on these tests, which means that teaching is not the problem.

The problem is poverty. Our overall scores are unspectacular because so many American children live in poverty (23 percent, ranking us 34th out of 35 “economically advanced countries”).

Poverty means inadequate nutrition and health care, and little access to books, all associated with lower school achievement. Addressing those needs will increase achievement and better the lives of millions of children.

How can we pay for this?

Reduce testing.

The common core, adopted by 45 states, demands an astonishing increase in testing, far more than needed and far more than the already excessive amount required by No Child Left Behind.

No Child Left Behind requires tests in math and reading at the end of the school year in grades 3 to 8 and once in high school.

The common core will test more subjects and more grade levels, and adds tests given during the year. There may also be pretests in the fall.

The cost will be enormous. New York City plans to spend over half a billion dollars on technology in schools, primarily so that students can take the electronically delivered national tests.

Research shows that increasing testing does not increase achievement. A better investment is protecting children from the effects of poverty, in feeding the animal, not just weighing it.

A footnote from the New York Times editorial staff reads: Editors’ Note: We invite readers to respond to this letter for the Sunday Dialogue. We plan to publish responses and Mr. Krashen’s rejoinder in the Sunday Review. E-mail:[email protected]

As Connecticut prepares to “announce” the results of this year’s Connecticut Mastery Tests, look for more about the effort to put the brakes on unnecessary standardized testing here at Wait, What?  In the meantime check out the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing at http://timeoutfromtesting.org/nationalresolution/

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  • guest

    It is definitely time to get rid of the standardized tests.

    • Brutus2011

      And time to get rid of inefficient administrators!

      • jschmidt2

        and bad teachers. Good luck with that. The unions have been major roadblocks to improving teaching.

      • mookalaboona

        You are way off base. There are very, very few bad teachers. Stop blaming teachers for the rotten parenting and lack of respect for authority. Perhaps if we fixed that, students would do what the teachers told them to do!

      • jschmidt2

        My comment was never meant to attack all teachers as bad. But the bad ones give a bad rap to the teachers in general and the union most often comes to their rescue to prevent any firings. Rotten parenting is number one and lack of respect for authority that results are the causes of bad behaviors in the schools. And teachers don’t have the power to discipline since administrators and school board are paranoid about getting sued, they refuse to discipline and usual err on the side of ridiculous instead of relying on common sense. There are defeated teachers and some of that is a result of burnout and being demoralized by the paperwork. And the bad teachers skate along making it difficult for all the others and union protects them.

      • Bill Morrison

        jschmidt2,
        As the Chairman of my school’s Union School Committee, I can attest that the unions do in fact want the bad teachers to go away. However, we exist to protect all teachers from being railroaded as administrators try to trim higher salaries from their budgets by attempting to fire senior teachers on false allegations. For example, it is easy for any administrator to place every problem student in one teacher’s classroom, then cite an inability for that teacher to manage his/her classes or show “student growth” on standardized test scores. Whether you in your myopia believe it or not, unscrupulous administrators to try such tactics. The Union is there to protect these teachers.
        I have seen many teachers get fired. This occurs when effective administrators follow the rules, document poor performance, and show their attempts to show ineffective teachers how to improve. The Unions are there to ensure that the teacher’s rights are protected, but we do not protect bad teachers from getting fired.
        How many Union meetings have you attended? How many Union members have you talked with? from your uninformed rhetoric, I would say none.

      • jschmidt2

        I was a union member in my early days as an engineer. I’m quite aware of the time wasting procedures unions have that insure mediocrity because no one can be rewarded more than another, even if they work harder. So don’t get too smug about your union experience.. NYC has historically been rife with protected union teachers who sat in rooms for years because of stalling tactics of unions. The unions are their own worst enemy since they feel the revenue source for school districts is never ending and that taxpayers will always foot the bill. That attitude is not being supported anymore. Education is going through a lot of change brought on because unions have resisted change that would better the schools. SO the bad with the good will now be forced on your profession. The over dependency on testing and administrative paperwork is bad since it interferes with what a teacher is supposed to be doing. I like teachers just not unions and school boards.

      • brutus2011

        to “jschmidt”

        I believe you are conflating the union activity of your experience with what you perceive to be the union activity of we teachers or our teacher’s unions.

        Local teacher’s unions really try to protect the due process rights of their constituents or we rank and file teachers. That’s it. And what “Bill Morrison” posts is precisely correct–many, not all, admins will do whatever it takes to keep their 6 figure jobs and generous pensions and this is why teacher local unions exist. However, those who have power in our school districts have subverted our local unions so that the power elite really control the union management while the rank and file teachers who are so busy teaching have become the proverbial sheep ready for slaughter.

        For proof just answer this one question: Why have the unions, local-state&federal, been silent on the ferocious attacks on teacher effectiveness and the corrosive effects of standardized testing?

        Look, your voice in this is very important and I hope that you will consider getting close to a school environment to see for yourself what is going on in our school buildings and classrooms.

        I think you will be very surprised and glad that you did. Peace.

      • jschmidt2

        I sent my 3 children to public school and they received a very good education through middle school. We say are share of bad teachers, One said of our son in 2nd grade, not everyone has to go to college. He graduate from GWU and is an Eagle Scout. We went through the minefield but being active in PTO were able to get a decent education despite the handful of questionable ones. I taught two of my children algebra because their teacher was incompetent, yet she retired with her pension. From one I can see the adminstration doesn’t try to improve the situation because, why bother when the union is going to come at them. I have seen little change from my experience as a union member where mediocrity is a goal. In this economy, where private pensions are a thing of the past as well as medical insurance after retiring. The unions members have a good deal that is bankrupting the cities and state. Education has problems and it isn’t all the teachers fault, but the unions don’t help when they refuse change.THey either become part of the solution or you can be sure politicians will be dictating to them. I as a taxpayer can only fight for what I believe in and as of now I see unions as more a hindrance than a blessing. Unions need some better PR instead of insisting on raises “for the children” when the rest of the taxpayers are hurting and may not have jobs.

  • guest

    Parents need to get together and all not allow their children to be tested which is their right.

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  • guest

    Hurray for Mr. Krashen for speaking so succinctly!

  • Bill Morrison

    Wendy,
    Would you like to be my attorney in a class action lawsuit on behalf of teachers?