Police Estimate 400 at Pearson Field Test Protest

Pearson Rally Pics here

What a day. What a rally this morning. I'll just let the press stories and the pics I took tell the story. Video is processing tonight and I'll try to get a piece up tomorrow. Look for Jaisal Noor's professional version next week. I met loads of new people today and would love to write about it but too late and I need some sleep. I did head up to Central Park after to hang with some of the amazing parent activists and then over to the MORE education committee meeting that covered 2 chapters of Diane Ravitch's book -- we had a great session talking about high stakes testing and accountability. I stopped by the E4E meeting with John King on the way out and of course I was banned for not being a member and when I tried giving out my  leaflet they called security on me and thet told me I had to stand outside despite the fact this CUNY is a building I pay taxes for and not a play tool of private interests. Then I saw press going in  - E4E doesn't allow teachers in who don't sign the pledge but anyone in the press can go -- except me of course. Evan Stone lied to security by saying press had to sign up in advance to be allowed in but every member of the press told me that wasn't so. Should E4E be banned from CUNY events for making up stories to security? I will file an official complaint.

Here are some stories on the protest. My pics are here. See more on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/436323489726279/

http://dianeravitch.net/2012/06/07/parent-to-pearson-let-my-child-learn/

http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/162683/schools-boycott-latest-round-of-standardized-testing

http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/06/07/parents-and-students-say-enough-to-more-testing/

WSJ: Parents Protest High-Stakes Exams Outside Testing Company Offices

NY Daily News: Parents and students protest dummy exams by ‘talking pineapple’ test-maker

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Fox 5 just ran a piece at 5:35--I'd say a three-minute piece about the burgeoning anti-test feeling.

It starts out with a mother and her 6th grade son who refused to take the test (described by her as a waste of time). It mentions resistance in a number of schools.  The the scene shifts to our splendid protest on Pearson's doorsteps. Much camera time on kids, signs, parents and chanting.  Priceless. Terrific coverage from Fox.  Go figure. 

Only thing, they had to balance story with SED spin.  So we have a statement that the tests only take 40 minutes and schools are giving them in only a grade or two.  This red herring is intended to make people say to themselves--So what's the big deal?  The big deal is the fact that it is a complete waste of time and money that propels Pearson's cycle of profit via invalid testing. 

Then someone with a suit says: That's why SED needed to do embedding items. (He doesn't mention what a lousy job they did.)

My new chant:  Hey. Hey. What's The Word?  Parents and Kids Must Be Heard.

fred

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Parents in 59 Schools Boycott Field Tests for High-Stakes Exams:

Fed Up With Over-Testing, Parents Protest at Pearson Headquarters

“Enough is enough – we want more teaching, less testing!”

New York City –Parents across New York City and New York State, fed up with high-stakes and excessive standardized testing in public education, are boycotting the “stand-alone” field tests scheduled for middle and elementary schools this week. And many are joining a protest at the headquarters of Pearson, the state’s for-profit test development contractor, to demonstrate their anger as well.

From June 5^th to June 12^th, children across the state are being forced to give up learning time solely to serve the research purposes of billion-dollar test publisher Pearson, which has a $32 million contract with the New York State Education Department. But parents in 59 schools – an unprecedented number – are fighting back by refusing to allow their children to take these field tests. In support, the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council (CPAC) passed a resolution on May 31 endorsing the boycott and urging all parents to opt their children out of the field tests. The Community Education Councils (CECs) of District 3 in Manhattan (Upper West Side) and District 20 (Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Borough Park, Kensington) in Brooklyn passed similar resolutions.

“All this testing is out of control,” says Dani Gonzalez, a Bronx parent who is protesting at today’s demonstration. “Real learning happens when children can explore and experiment and do projects, when they can read books and discuss them. All this testing is crowding real learning out of the classroom. My children can’t learn when all they do is prepare for tests and take tests.”

The Pearson field tests follow April’s state-mandated English Language Arts (ELA) and math exams, tests that were twice as long as those given in previous years--largely because they contained embedded field-test items. Over a two-week period, students in grades 3-8 had to sit for tests 90 minutes a day for six days. Students with special needs had to sit even longer – up to 180 minutes each day.

“It was horrible,” says Tony Kelso, a boycotting parent from Manhattan. “My 8-year-old son’s tests were about as long as my finals were in college! Then he couldn’t even take recess on those days because the period conflicted with the time the students in the other school in his building were taking their tests. Friends told me about how their children were stressed out and crying. This is simply too much pressure to put on children."

Parents are especially outraged by all the high stakes attached to these tests. In New York City, grade promotion, school report card grades, and school closings hinge on state test score results. With the new state teacher evaluation law, teachers’ jobs will be dependent on their students’ scores as well. Parents see a narrowing of the curriculum and an increased focus on the tests as a result.

“More and more, state testing determines what children learn in school, how teachers teach, and even whether or not teachers will remain in the classroom,” says Sonia Murrow, a 5^th grade parent who is boycotting in Brooklyn. “We want a rich curriculum for our children, not teaching to the test.”

Fueling parent anger is the fact that Pearson, a for-profit company that made $800 million dollars in its North American Education division alone last year, is using valuable classroom time for product development purposes. “Children shouldn’t be used as guinea pigs to enrich private companies,” says Jeff Nichols, a Manhattan parent from a boycotting school. “Our schools are being cut to the bone, but city and state education officials always manage to find money for all these tests and test prep materials.”

Disclosures about the poor quality of this year’s state tests – 29 questions have been invalidated so far, including two associated with the infamous “Pineapple and the Hare” passage – have raised questions among parents about the validity of the entire testing enterprise. Parents are further enraged that Pearson and the state refuse to make the tests public, as they were in the past. Lisa Edstrom, parent of a 3rd grader in Brooklyn, contends, “The proponents of high-stakes testing always talk about accountability – but who’s holding Pearson and the State accountable?”

Since opting-out of the stand-alone field tests will have no negative consequences for parents or schools (as opposed to April’s tests), parents see this boycott as an opportunity to communicate the widespread resentment public school parents feel towards the untrammeled growth of high-stakes standardized testing. This growth will only intensify with the new teacher evaluation law, which promises testing in more subjects and more grades, including kindergarten – 2^nd grade.

Organizations supporting this demonstration include: Alliance for Quality Education, Change the Stakes, Class Size Matters, Coalition for Educational Justice, Edu4, Parent Voices New York, Public Education Matters, Restore Education Funding – Nyack/Valley Cottage, Time Out >From Testing

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Schools Where Parents Are Participating in the Field Test Boycott

Arts & Letters

The Center School

Central Park East I

Central Park East II

The Earth School

East Side Community School

East Village Community School

Ella Baker School

Institute for Collaborative Education

MS 51

MS 54

MS 74

MS 245/The Computer School

MS 250/Westside Collaborative Middle School

MS 311/Amistad Dual Language

MS 447/Math and Science

MS 448/Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies

PS 8

PS 9

PS 10

PS 29

PS 32

PS 75

PS 84

PS 87

PS 102

PS 107

PS 132

PS 139

PS 146/The Brooklyn New School

PS 162

PS 165

PS 192

PS 230

PS 242

PS 261

PS 295

PS 314/Muscota New School

PS 321

PS 361/Children's Workshop School

PS 363/The Neighborhood School

PS 372/Brooklyn Children's School

NEST+M

School of the Future

Tompkins Square Middle School

Schools Outside of NYC

Cottage Lane Elementary School

Felix Fests Middle School

Liberty Elementary School

Link Elementary School

New City Elementary School

Nyack Middle School

R.P. Connor Elementary School

Scarsdale MS

Sloatsburg Elementary School

Sourth Orangetown Middle School

Strawtown Elementary School

Upper Nyack Elementary School

Valley Cottage Elementary School

Woodglen Elementary School