Change the Stakes: Open Letter to Carmen Fariña INFORM PARENTS OF THE UPCOMING FIELD TESTS

...stand-alone field testing constitutes a fig leaf covering the State Education Department and Pearson’s incompetence in managing the state’s testing program. It provides the appearance but not the reality of credible test construction. ... CTS to Farina

CTS, the NYC leading opt out group, is being amongst the honorees on June 9 by Leonie Haimson/Class Size Matters at the Skinny (not Broad) Awards event. Through the efforts of our own Fred Smith, the Field Tests using our kids as guinea pigs by Pearson is being foisted on so many kids and so schools. The CTS crew wrote the

You can still get tickets and be in the company of the leading forces battling ed deform here in the city. And you can also support the opt out movement by attending or donating to assist in the work Leonie and Class Size Matters is doing. Click here.

 

 

Change the Stakes

Open Letter to the Chancellor - Carmen Fariña INFORM PARENTS OF THE UPCOMING FIELD TESTS 
 

INFORM PARENTS OF THE UPCOMING FIELD TESTS

May 28, 2015
Dear Chancellor Fariña,

We urgently ask you to inform all parents in New York City about the stand-alone field tests due to be given starting next week. The tests target 1,013 schools and approximately 135,000 children, and the state is trying once again to have schools administer them without any obligation to inform parents that this is happening.

The rapidly growing rebellion against state-mandated testing is about one thing: parents asserting our constitutional right to determine the shape of our children’s educations.  We want teachers, parents and local communities to run our schools—not corporations and privateers.  This is also one of your strongly proclaimed objectives.

Perpetuating high-stakes testing has been the core means by which for-profit corporations and the politicians they back have attempted to usurp authority over our schools. Stand-alone field testing is the expedient but discredited method Pearson has followed to generate test items and preserve its hold on the educational marketplace. The approach has resulted in the development of low-quality ELA and math exams to which our children, their teachers and we have been painfully subjected.

This is not just a philosophical argument over who should control public education and the fortunes of our children, although it certainly is that. 

There are three basic problems with stand-alone field tests all parents should be concerned about:

1)    Stand-alone field testing does not come close to reflecting best industry practices. It has been deemed by testing experts to be an inadequate way to develop test questions, because children do not take the exercise seriously. The information gained from the field tests is inherently unreliable and has repeatedly led to abominable ELA and math exams.

2)    Even if it met professional criteria for producing high-quality test material, field testing  constitutes product development for commercial purposes that demands disclosure and should require informed consent by parents before children are allowed to participate.

3)    In short, stand-alone field testing constitutes a fig leaf covering the State Education Department and Pearson’s incompetence in managing the state’s testing program. It provides the appearance but not the reality of credible test construction.

We appreciate the change in Department of Education policy that recognized the right of parents to refuse their children’s participation in the statewide tests. We know it also applies to field tests, but here we believe the situation requires a separate action.

We ask that you immediately inform all parents precisely when and where the coming field tests will be administered.  We further request that you simultaneously direct principals to advise parents that children are not required to take them. Principals ought to obtain the written consent of parents whose children are targeted for testing—allowing their children to participate. The DOE could set up the same kind of protocol it uses to gain parental permission for children to go on field trips.

In the past four years there has been no advance notice to parents that field tests were being given, much less an effort to obtain consent.  This includes your first year as the Chancellor when your spokeswoman Devora Kaye reportedly said, “We understand the frustration among parents and educators with the frequency of testing. This (field testing) is one of many practices we plan to review this summer and evaluate for the coming year” [Juan Gonzalez, Daily News, June 4, 2014].  What conclusions have you drawn about addressing that frustration, which has only grown this past year? Surely our request for greater transparency is one that you can meet.

The grass roots opt-out movement has been fueled by an increasing awareness of both the misuses of the tests and their alignment with the Common Core, which ever-growing numbers of parents reject.  The opposition will accelerate as more parents realize the state is not only forcing the use of test scores for purposes they never were intended to serve, but is also using the current secrecy surrounding the development and content of the tests to conceal a fundamentally unsound product.

Whatever your own opinion of the role of state tests in our education system, please take action immediately to support the right of parents in New York City to be fully informed about, and to give or deny consent for, their children’s participation in NYSED and Pearson’s June field tests. As you said in a news report on WNYC just the other day, “If you want to make real change, everyone in the community has to buy in.” Parents cannot buy into Pearson’s experimental field testing if they do not know it is happening.

Respectfully,
The parents and educators of Change the Stakes

changethestakes.org
changethestakes@gmail.org
changethestakespress@gmail.com

Fred Smith: Everyone Should Opt Out of Field Tests Where Pearson Uses Your Kids as Guinea Pigs

In his letter below to parents, Fred issues a call to opt out.

Let the deformers try to see these rocks as being important --- they count for nothing but a waste of time. Fred is on the case, as always. June 7, 2012 we held a rally in front of the Pearson offices with hundreds of people and Janine Sopp had a bill for the costs of using child labor - I think it was $35 million. Still waiting for Pearson to pay.

Here are some ed notes archives from June, 2012 and some pics:

• Field Trip Against Field Tests: Parent Protest Pearson: June 7 @ 11:00 am

• Fred Smith: Saying No to This Week’s Field Tests
•  
• Pearson Rally Pics

Republished from NYC Parents blog, May 19, 2015:

The field tests are coming! The field tests are coming! Opt out says testing expert Fred Smith

Dear parents,

I just wanted to call your attention to the stand-alone field tests that are coming in June.  This is the fourth year in a row that SED and Pearson have followed this questionable approach.  And each year they do it without informing parents about the field tests.

The list of schools is here.  Change the Stakes also has information about the 1,013 schools and grades that have been targeted to give the ELA and math field tests.  The window for administering the tests is from June 1 through June 10.   Some schools have been tapped to give the tests on two grade levels. I have projected that 135,000 children are targeted to be guinea pigs in this sample of schools. A sample opt out letter is here.

Please remember that taking the tests is not mandated.  There is absolutely no requirement for kids to take them--and they have proven to be a flawed way to develop the Core-aligned exams that children have had to endure since 2012.  The CtS web site also provides information about the nature of the field tests and why children should not take them.

The key to putting an end to this practice is to insist that parents be made aware of the tests and asked to fill out a consent form if they want their children to participate.  But, to date, both Albany (SED) and Chancellor Farina have not notified parents about this field testing scheme and have not sought their permission.  Continuation of the stand-alone field tests has depended on keeping parents in the dark.

We must spread the word to all parents, especially those whose children are in a targeted school, that the tests are coming, and parents have the right to reject them.  It is a safe and responsible step to take along the path to greater parental involvement and empowerment.

Best, Fred Smith

Fred Smith, King of Exposing Field Test Scam(s), Warns About State Ed Perfidy

Since parents have become wiser to refusing these field tests, SED decided to be coercive. Failing that, for the moment, they are now offering to seek money that would allow embedded field testing to take place on a proper scale and are making transparency sounds. Don't buy it.... Fred Smith

.... the New York State Board of Regents has, for now at least, abandoned its plan to take up changes to state regulations that would have mandated stand-alone field tests that have historically been voluntary.  ...Regents Blink On Mandatory Field Testing - For Now - RBE at Perdido

Fred Smith, as a member of Change the Stakes,  has been the leading light in pointing out the field test scam where we pay for their experiments on kids and has written extensively on the subject (Fred Smith: Saying No to This Week’s Field Tests).

Years ago we delivered a $30 million bill to the doors of Pearson during a large demo and march (Pearson Rally Pics).

And here are some ed notes pieces from May, 2012 when the opt-out movement was just getting started here in NYC.

Standardized Test Field Testing This Upcoming Tues...
Parent-led Protest Against High Stakes Testing Thu...

And recent comments on the CTS listserve

Hi Fred and group, 

Just wanted to touch base and let you know Lo Hud has written about the Regents plan to table field testing. Lisa and I were interviewed and both mentioned that our concerns about SEDs proposal persist and have been compounded as a result of the Regents lack of transparency. Here is the piece:

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/education/2015/02/17/regents-table-vote-outcry-field-tests/23579365/

Anna Shah, NYSAPE

Fred Smith expands on this:

There's a back story here that puts the current SED/Regents posturing in perspective:

When SED signed a 5-year agreement with Pearson to be its consultant/contractor in early 2011 it was clear that only four field test forms (per grade) were budgeted for developing multiple-choice items. This had been specified in the RFP that vendors responded to when they formulated contract proposals.

Each form would allow a reading passage and six related items to be embedded and tried out, yielding a maximum of four passages and 24 items to be auditioned per grade for ELA and math. Note: Even if all material passed muster (an impossibility), there would not be enough new items for a subsequent round of tests.  Limited printing capacity was not immediately given as the reason so few forms could be produced.

Pearson, an experienced testing vendor knew this design would leave the state short.  It had contracts with states where many more forms were produced and collectively contained a large pool of embedded field test items from which to select in order to build new tests. In some states the number of forms ranged between 15 and 20.

In its role as a consultant Pearson should have pointed out that four forms would not work. As a vendor eager to win another state contract, however, Pearson wanted to suit its client--the SED.  So it did what was called for to win the bid.  But shortly afterward, I imagine Pearson feigned shock at learning that four forms wouldn't work and so the idea of using stand-alone field tests in June no less--to generate items took hold. 

Kind of an expedient and rescue mission at the same time, with Pearson ready to do what was necessary to keep the testing ball rolling, even though the stand-alone approach had been discredited after 2009's testing and, in general, was a dubious way to develop items.

The contract between SED and Pearson never called for stand-alone field testing of multiple-choice items. This arrangement was outside of its requirements, terms and conditions. In fact, I checked the State Comptroller's Open Book web site and, to date, I have not seen an amendment to or modification of the contract that reflects this extra work, nor any indication of how much this foreseeable overrun has cost and where the additional money has come from. But SED and Pearson pulled it off.

SED should have made the case for more money and more forms years ago, when Chancellor Tisch was trumpeting her forward looking reform agenda, which involved more rigorous testing and which spun into the transition to the common core.  With testing looming so large in all the high stakes decisions that were being tied to it--there was and is no excuse for trying to do it on the cheap.

Over the last two years, having botched the testing and the roll-out of the Core, Tisch and King have not acknowledged any of this history.  Instead, we've been given a story that SED's hands were tied by the legislature, which didn't provide funding to support adequate printing capacity--which they are now trying to obtain in order to do embedded field testing correctly--which will allow them to disclose more material--which they hope we believe will be taken to mean that SED has suddenly become transparent.

BUT... the crude attempt to mandate stand-alone field testing by passing a resolution, reveals that their basic impulse has been to continue to do ill-advised field testing. Since parents have become wiser to refusing these field tests, SED decided to be coercive.  Failing that, for the moment, they are now offering to seek money that would allow embedded field testing to take place on a proper scale and are making transparency sounds.  Don't buy it.

Fred

Fred Smith Calls Farina on Field Test Waste of Learning Time

From Schoolbook. Go Fred. No time now but I will add to this later about the Bronx teacher who was fired years ago because 4 of his 8th grade classes refused to take the field tests. Search ed notes for Doug Avella if interested. I've been too busy with the contract stuff so have neglected the great work Fred and CTS people have been doing around this absolute waste of time where kids and teachers in essence work for Pearson.

Stop Pearson Child Abuse: Get Ready to Rumble - er - Opt Out -- of June Field Tests

1,391 NYC schools with June Stand-Alone FT assignments

Thanks to Fred Smith for getting this material together. What are field tests? They are tests given in June to use our kids as guinea pigs for future tests. So kids and teachers are made to go through useless testing for the purpose of Pearson profit -- PPP. Fred points out that the kids and teachers know full well these tests have no meaning and they put little effort into them, with many kids just guessing to get through the test, thus invalidating the test.

Last year's field tests created a bit of a stir with some parents opting out. Look for a more massive opt-out movement this year with rallies and demos. And Ed Notes will be there to cover.

Fred has more stuff for the rest of NY State/Long Island if you are interested. Email me and I'll put you in touch.

CtS PDF 2013 June NYC Master Stand-Alone FT Assignments

Before there was a GEM, the NYCORE Justice Not Just Tests Committee, Teachers Unite, Center for Immigrant Families and Time Out From Testing  supported a teacher whose 4 8th grade classes refused to take the field tests. Kids testified that the idea came out of a discussion in class after they asked the teacher why they had to take more tests that had no meaning. We asked the UFT to support that teacher.  [Posted on ed notes: June 3, 2008].

ASK THE UFT TO MAKE THE TESTING BOYCOTT A PRIORITY ISSUE

CONTINUE TO DEFEND ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH
ASK THE UFT TO MAKE THE TESTING BOYCOTT A PRIORITY ISSUE

We ask that you continue to write e-mails to Chancellor Klein in support of a teacher who teaches critical thinking.
We are also asking the UFT to make this issue of academic freedom and freedom of speech a priority. Please e-mail UFT President Randi Weingarten rweingarten@uft.org and Vice President Leo Casey lcasey@uft.org asking the UFT to continue to defend teacher rights in this matter and to make this issue a priority for the UFT.

A sample letter is below:
Dear Leo Casey and Randi Weingarten,
As a member of the UFT, I ask that the teachers' union continue to be proactive in the struggle to defend the academic freedom of public school teacher Douglass Avella, who wanted his students to think critically about their education.

As an educator concerned with the abuse of standardized tests, I also support the 160 8th grade students who used their freedom of speech to boycott the practice test to demonstrate how excessive testing has taken away valuable learning time from the classroom.
Because of the large amount of support from teachers, educators, organizations, parents and students, I ask that our teachers' union make this issue of academic freedom and freedom of speech a priority.
Sincerely,

____________________
Teacher/UFT Member

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Supported by:Center for Immigrant Families, NYCoRE, Teachers Unite, Time Out From Testing

Fred Smith Explains Field Tests

I was reading through your site (Change the Stakes) and could not easily locate any info about any past or pending NYS field testing for the elementary or middle grades. I am a Long Island parent whose child has refused to take the NYS ELA and Math assessments this year. We are curious if any field testing is coming next, which I think there is some this year, perhaps even computer based. Any insight you can provide is most helpful. Thanks! --- Parent

There is another kind of field testing — known as stand-alone field testing — coming to our students soon. This is where the field test items are contained in separate booklets and results don’t count except for the publisher; the sole purpose is to try out more items for possible use. This will occur in the first week of June. There are three problems about field testing children in June. First, they know the tests don’t count. Second, it’s June. Third, after a test-heavy school year, it is unlikely they will give their best effort and perform optimally. So, the results derived from the stand-alone field tests will be a misleading basis for selecting items for next year’s exams. ---- Fred Smith: excerpt, Field Tests: Unfair Burden on Students at Schoolbook

As the one who monitors comments at CTS, I can't tell you how many parent requests for assistance on opting out have come in and the CTS parent advice crew have been busy. The hope is that CTS expands its outreach to create a bigger opt out movement on the field tests coming up. Field tests are used to check out future questions and don't count. These questions were embedded in the current tests but there are stand-alone tests coming that count for nothing and amount to child and teacher abuse.

In May 2008, middle school teacher Doug Avella discussed the field test with his classes and they all boycotted the tests. Non-tenured Doug was quickly disappeared from the system as the UFT went, "cluck, cluck" with disapproving nods even though the kids took action based on a fair discussion and never implicated Doug's words. The kids were treated like criminals. Here is a link at ed notes:

Ed Notes Online: Support for Doug Avella Builds

May 27, 2008

The students of I.S. 318 stood up for what they thought was right. They have been taught by a beloved teacher whose job is now in jeopardy. It is critical that we stand up right now and show our support for Doug Avella .... Letter from

Sam Coleman and Geoffrey Enriquez, on behalf of NYCORE
Priscilla Gonzalez and Donna Nevel, on behalf of Center for Immigrant Families
Jane Hirschmann, on behalf of Time Out From Testing
Sally Lee, on behalf of Teachers Unite

Fred Smith is the expert on the issue and sent this response to the parent above.

Your question provides and opportunity to talk about the field tersting.

There are two kinds of field tests (FT)--One kind took place today in ELA in grades 3-8--where FT items were embedded in the test booklets among the other items. The FT items do not count in scoring the test. They are there to be tried out so the publisher can see how the items work and can decide which ones to use next year. The other items will count. They are referred to as operational items. Scores will be based on student performance on these items.

For example, today's 3rd grade ELA test (Booklet 1) contains 30 items (5 reading passages followed by multiple-choice items). Children have 70 minutes to complete the test. They don't know which items count and which do not (i.e., the FT items). The test publisher hasn't said how many of the 30 items are FT test items--only that FT items are included on the test.

A safe assumption is that at least one reading passage about 500-600 words in length was being tried out along with the set of multiple-choice items associated with the passage. If everything was evenly balanced, that would mean about six items were being tried out with this passage--and would take about 14 minutes to complete -- one fifth of the allotted testing time.

The publisher (Pearson) is using four forms of the test to try out items. What does this mean? The four forms will consist of the same operational items, but each form will contain one of four sets of FT items.
So Booklet 1 will have 30 items with the same items that count and a unique set of unrefined items that are being tried out. The publisher represents the four forms as A, B, C and D.

The following is how this arrangement might look, based on the 3rd grade example I gave: (P=operational passage; O=operational multiple-choice items following the passage; FTP=field test passage; FT=field test multiple-choice item)

Form A: P-OOOOOO / P-OOOOOO / P-OOOOOO / P-OOOOOO / FTP-FTFTFTFTFTFT
Form B: P-OOOOOO / P-OOOOOO / P-OOOOOO / FTP-FTFTFTFTFTFT / P-OOOOOO
Form C: P-OOOOOO / FTP-FTFTFTFTFTFT / P-OOOOOO / P-OOOOOO / P-OOOOOO
Form D: FTP-FTFTFTFTFTFT / P-OOOOOO / P-OOOOOO / P-OOOOOO / P-OOOOOO

The State Education Department (SED) has said that the FT material will be interspersed with the operational material. Since students don't know which readings and items will count from the material that is being field tested, students will be expending energy of parts of the test that will probably wear them out and frustrate them, because SED has called for tougher, more challenging items. That will have a bearing on how well they do on the test. It is likely they would do better if the test was limited to the 4 operational passages and 24 operational items.

Furthermore, since one-quarter of the students get one of the four forms, then the children who get Form D or Form C will run into the FT items (by definition less refined than the other items) right from or near the start of the test and have a greater chance of being worn out and defeated before they get to the end of the test compared to children taking Form A--who, even if they don't finish the FT items, will have a better chance of completing all the items that count.

[This has implications in New York City, where the Department of Education (DOE) makes extrapolations based on student test scores to student promotions. teacher evaluations and school ratings--clearly, high-stakes decisions that may well rely on which FT form a given class of students happens to take.]

By the way -- tomorrow ELA Booklet 2 will contain embedded multiple-choice items in all grades--3 through 8. And next week, the first two days of the math tests--Booklets 1 and 2 will contain the FT items.

The other kind of field testing is known as stand-alone field testing. This is where the FT items are contained in separate booklets and the results don't count except for the publisher. The sole purpose is to try out more items for possible future use. This will take place in the first week of June (the same as it did last year.)

SED has never established that taking the field tests is mandatory. Nor has SED cited any legal authority that requires students to sit for either the embedded items or the stand-alone. This lack of authority makes the June stand-alone field test an ideal target for resistance. I believe that not taking this week's and next week's exams on the grounds that children are being forced to engage in field testing would add a strong argument to the reasons they should not have to sit for the exams. More on that below.

Last year 20 forms (12 ELA and 8 math) were tried out in June--a service deliverable not called for in SED's contract with Pearson. The reason for this was that the four April forms did not generate enough of a pool of items to build this year's (i.e., this week's) tests. So the June 2012 field testing was hastily arranged.

There are three things wrong with field testing kids in June. First they know the tests don't count for anything. Second, it's June. C'mon, after a year of being bashed by tests--you're asking kids to concentrate on more items, take them seriously and perform optimally (the rationale behind embedded field testing). Third, as a consequence, the children are not motivated to perform their best. Therefore, the results derived from the June stand-alone field tests will be a misleading basis (or source of intelligence, if you will) for selecting items for next year's exams.

But there is a more fundamental and insidious problem lurking in the field tests. It is a reflection of the top down arrogance in Albany that insinuates children into taking the field tests (both embedded and stand-alone), which are nothing more than experimental, serving the commercial interests of the test publisher, and making children the subjects of research -- without bothering to seek the permission of parents to allow their children to participate in otherwise un-required testing activity. Doing so violates the right of parents to do what is best for their children. It is a form of exploitation to perpetuate the kind of high-stakes testing that has channeled all the creative energies of teachers and students into testing. Parents are entitled to know what is going on and to have a say in what's going on.

Making matters worse there will be stand-alone field testing again this year at the beginning of June--throughout the state in ELA and math. Most schools will have assignments to administer the try-out exams. And, just as SED did last year--it will try to keep parents in the dark about the field tests until the last minute. That's because SED understands well that these tests are not required and, if parents knew they were coming and more classroom time was being sacrificed, they would opt out of the stand-alone field tests. SED obviously feels there is a greater need to satisfy the publisher and keep the testing going than to show respect and regard for parents.

The answer going forward next week and up to the first week of June is to mobilize parents to refuse to take tests with the embedded FT items, which parents never signed onto. And between now and June --it is imperative to mobilize against the coming stand-alone field tests and to reach consensus to boycott them. This is a fight we can and must win to prevent the seeds of the next year's test from sprouting.

Fred Smith

Parent-led Protest Against High Stakes Testing Thursday, June 7th

I will be there to tape this. And see below for notes on Pearson feeling the heat.
See Leonie Haimson at Schoolbook:

The Lessons of Pineapplegate

PRESS ALERT

Press Contacts:

Martha Foote            

Tel 347-967-8159

martha_foote@hotmail.com

Anne Stone

Tel 917-757-3618

anne.judith.stone@gmail.com

Parents in X* 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!"

WHAT:        Press conference and demonstration against the State Education Department, the NYC Department of Education, and Pearson over excessive and high-stakes standardized state testing.

WHEN:        Thursday, June 7th at 10:45 A.M.

WHERE:      Outside Pearson headquarters, 1330 Sixth Avenue, between 53rd and 54th Streets, Manhattan.

VISUALS:   Parents and children holding posters and giant puppets; a theatrical marching band; children in costumes.

WHY:         From June 5th to June 12th, 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 an unprecedented number of schools (number to be revealed at the press conference) are fighting back by refusing to allow their children to take these field tests and joining a protest at Pearson headquarters. 

*Number to be revealed at the press conference

Here is a comment from a NYC teacher pointing to the Pearson spin job at the Pearson site: 

In my seven years of teaching, I have written many "tests" to measure the learning of my own students. I weed out unfair questions by reading the test over carefully and revising it as needed. Sometimes I ask colleagues for suggestions about wording or presentation. On rare occasions a student raises his hand and asks for clarification about the wording of a question. If I can answer him without compromising the content I'm testing, I do. Having the ability to recognize when you don't understand something and asking a reliable person for clarification is, after all, an important college- and career-readiness skill. Apparently the test-writing experts at Pearson cannot determine the fairness of a question without subjecting hundreds of students to it first. Field testing DOES affect students; this year I had 3 students (2 with special needs, 1 an English Language Learner) break down crying during the state math test upon encountering untaught non-grade-level material that may or may not have been embedded field items. Now that teacher evaluations are going to be tied to test scores, I guess the field tests will affect me too!

Here is an internal communication about their response strategy.

Dear Colleagues, This spring testing season, we’ve seen misinformation and misperceptions on standardized assessment permeate media coverage and call into question Pearson’s role in the educational testing process. Doug Kubach, our CEO of Assessment and Information, shared information today on NEO to answer your and your customers’ questions on testing.  He also announced the launch of a new social media campaign to demystify testing for parents:  “Parents, Kids & Testing.”  Through the campaign, we will share links to education and testing resources along with information about testing in all 50 states and U.S. territories for parents and their children.  To read Doug’s full announcement, visit his blog on NEO. Regards, Shilpi Niyogi Executive Vice President, Public Affairs ---------------- Another response: Dear Colleagues: Here in our Department of Hispanic Studies at the University of Northern Colorado we have been using the texts published by Pearson.  However, in view of the company’s involvement in high stakes standardized testing and the stranglehold the regimen has on public schools, and thanks to all the information that has come through this open forum subscribers’ list, we dropped Pearson from our Spanish curricula for our Spanish 101 and Spanish 102 classes.  I summarized our rationale in the attached letter to a CEO at Pearson. In appreciation, Don Perl The Coalition for Better Education, Inc. www.thecbe.org  -------   Sandi Kirshner                                                                                                                        Executive Vice President Pearson Higher Education 75 Arlington Street Boston, MA 02116                                                                            May 23, 2012 Dear Sandi Kirshner: I appreciate your detailed response received on May 22nd to my questions regarding Pearson’s “philosophy of education.”  Here in Hispanic Studies at the University of Northern Colorado we have discussed in some depth the most appropriate direction for implementing resources for our Spanish language students.  I think a bit of professional information about me is relevant at this time.  As a middle school teacher in the academic year 2000 – 2001, I was charged with administering high stakes standardized testing to my inner city students.  I studied the issue in considerable depth and after much deliberation decided that I could not, in good faith, administer these tests and still consider myself a professional educator.  That act of civil disobedience began a journey to raise the awareness of the citizenry of the dangers posed by high stakes standardized testing.  Enclosed please find a copy of the letter dated January 16, 2001, stating the reasons for that refusal.  We started a coalition, we forwarded a ballot initiative, we have advertised on billboards on the roadways of Colorado advising parents of their rights as their children face high stakes standardized testing, and have played a part in crafting legislation to take a bit of the onus off the testing regimen. In view of this mission and our moral opposition to the dangers inherent in high stakes standardized testing, and in contemplation of  Pearson’s involvement in the creation of these tests now so ubiquitous throughout the nation’s public schools, we must look to other publishing houses to provide our students with the necessary resources for Spanish language acquisition. Sincerely, Don Perl Department of Hispanic Studies University of Northern Colorado Greeley, Colorado 80639 don.perl@unco.edu 970-351-2746 cc Seth Osburn – Pearson Publishing – 16816 South First Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85045  ------------ Hello, In trolling on the Internet, (I Googled "field test" "New York" "2010"), I somehow stumbled on to this! http://www.fehb.org/gr38ftmatrix-1014.pdf (I've saved to my hard drive and doc is attached, in case it disappears online.) It came from: http://www.fehb.org/ Franklin Essex Hamilton BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) The embedded link to NYSED looks dead, but the info here says that each school's strand number stays the same from school years 2010-11 through 2013-14. So perhaps this is a way to predict what field test your school might be offered next year and the year after! For example, I don't know my school's strand, but from looking at this, it seems my school is "E3." This year's field test was 5th grade math; looks like  next year's is 5th grade ELA. Thanks, concerned NYC parent of a fourth grader/amateur detective ;)

Standardized Test Field Testing This Upcoming Tuesday, June 5, Protest June 7

Join this event!
Join CTS page.
Join us June 7!

https://www.facebook.com/events/342544932483288/

Visit 295 website for boycott letters to download and sign if you do not wish your child to take the field tests: http://ps295.org/English/pta/index.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/25/new-york-state-field-test_n_1546782.html   

As per Huff. Post article: “Opt-out rates for these field tests could be particularly high because the experimental nature of the tests means their results cannot count toward a student's academic record.”

From the people who accuse us of being about adults while they claim to be about children. Posted at HuffPo

A memo has recently surfaced in which the New York State Department of Education appears to encourage educators to mislead students about upcoming standardized field tests meant to "provide the data necessary to ensure the validity and reliability of the New York State Testing program."
"Students should not be informed of the connection between these field tests and State assessments," the memo reads. "The field tests should be described as brief tests of achievement in the subject."

 Nice work when the NYSED urges people to lie to children.

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Campo de Prueba estandarizada de pruebas, el próximo Martes, 05 de junio. Visite el sitio web de 295 cartas de boicot para descargar y firmar si usted no desea que su hijo a tomar las pruebas de campo: http://ps295.org/Espanol/pta/index.html

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

NYC Teachers Support Parents on Field Test Boycott in Letter to Walcott

You can show your support for the boycott of Pearson Field testing which uses students and teachers as guinea pigs to test sample questions in days of tests this June. There is lots of action around this issue. Find out if your school is on the list to tested by checking the links at the end of this post.

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

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PRESS RELEASE - Change The Stakes Demands Full Disclosure of School Testing Program

Elementary and middle schools in NYC will be administering field tests in June.

Do you know which grades in your school will be tested?

Read our press release

Click on your school’s borough to find out which grade and subject will be tested in your school.

Take a stand against high stakes testing!

MANHATTAN SCHOOLS

BRONX SCHOOLS

BROOKLYN SCHOOLS

QUEENS SCHOOLS

STATEN ISLAND SCHOOLS

CITYWIDE SPECIAL EDUCATION SCHOOLS

COMPLETE CITYWIDE LIST of SCHOOLS

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.