Posted on the Ravitch blog. Also - PS 261 in the same neighborhood is holding a rally and forum tomorrow - Thursday - Janine and Fred from CTS will be on the panel. The UFT will probably start trying to take credit for these revolts when in fact they have done nothing to encourage and support the teacher rebellion.
Let me make one prediction which I will make time and again -- the test scores will rise dramatically through NY State Ed manipulation of cut scores to make it look like things are beginning to work. That is the reason getting results takes till summer -- they have to figure out what scores they want for maximum political impact.
Parents
are not allowed to see the Common Core tests. Teachers do see them.
Here is what the teachers at PS 29 in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, say about
the tests.
Dear Diane,
WOOHOO!
Don't you feel we've reached a turning point? It is amazing to see all
of the incredible acts of resistance bubbling up all over the country!
Thank you,
Michelle Kupper
CEC 15 member
Parent, PS 29 Brooklyn
----
At
PS 29 in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, teachers could not wait any longer to
speak their minds about the tests. For too long, they had felt the
curriculum growing more restricted, the pressure mounting to get their
students to perform, and an increasing dissatisfaction with the
profession they so love. A group of six progressive teachers wrote a
strong position paper on testing with the intention of moving the
conversation along in the neighborhood and forging a path of resistance
against the testing machine.
Last
year, a forum was held at the school about high-stakes testing.
Teachers voiced their concerns about the high-stakes nature and growing
prominence of the exams. This year, a group of like-minded teachers and
parents came together to form an Education Action Committee. The
teachers on this committee drafted the resolution and presented it to
the staff as test prep was getting underway. They had the resolution
ready to go before the tests began. Out of respect for the community and
the families helping to ready their children for these stressful exams,
however, they decided to delay its release until after the exams were
over. It became clear - with the ELA’s incredibly developmentally
inappropriate content and ambiguously worded questions – that they could
wait no longer to go public with their sentiments.
They
advocate for parents to join the movement against high-stakes tests;
they advocate that parents raise their voices and take meaningful
actions such as contacting legislators and making informed decisions for
their children about the tests; and they advocate for parents to gain a
better sense of teachers’ sentiments about high-stakes tests and make
public the conversations about tests that have been happening in private
for years.
The
full resolution is below. Thank you to the growing throngs of parents,
students, and educators all over the country raising their voices
TOGETHER!
PS 29 Teachers Resolution
April 4, 2014
Over
the past decade, standardized tests have taken on greater importance in
New York’s public schools. New York City’s students now take state ELA
and math exams in grades 3 through 8, and their performance on these
tests is linked to promotion, middle- and high-school admissions,
teacher evaluations and school progress reports.
Because
the tests are now aligned with the Common Core State Standards, they
have become more difficult, resulting in much lower passing rates across
New York City and State. The tests have also become longer: elementary
school students will spend between seven and nine hours taking the state
tests this month and next, and students with testing accommodations may
have to sit for as many as eighteen hours of testing this spring.
Moreover, during March and April, students in testing-grade classrooms
can spend up to three hours per day preparing for the state tests.
As
teachers, we feel the impact of these changes in our classrooms. In
testing grades, the anxiety that students and teachers have about the
state exams is palpable. Some students break down in tears during
testing and related test-prep sessions, knowing that their performance
impacts not only their promotion to the next grade, but also their
chances of getting into choice middle and high schools.
Compounding
the emotional turmoil, teachers in testing grades must narrow their
otherwise rich curricula in order to make room for test prep. Subjects
like social studies, word study and read aloud are cast aside, and
valuable social-emotional learning and exploration must be limited in
order to make sure that students are ready for the exams come spring.
High-stakes
tests require that teachers narrow not only their curricula but also
the skills they emphasize. As teachers in testing grades prepare
students for the state exams, they must often put aside their emphasis
on skills like elaboration and creative thinking in order to teach kids
to write formulaic responses and find the one right answer.
Even
the lower grades have been affected by these high-stakes tests. The
pressure to prepare students for their upcoming years of testing has cut
time for exploration and play. Additionally, that pressure has
increased the need for students to meet, at times, developmentally
inappropriate milestones in reading and writing.
Beyond
the scope of individual classrooms, high-stakes tests have significant
consequences for a school as a whole. As teachers are pulled from their
programs to accommodate the proctoring and scoring of exams, a number of
critical support services, ESL periods, ICT classrooms and specialty
programs are disrupted for nearly a month.
When
used correctly, we believe that assessment is a powerful tool. At PS
29, we constantly assess our students, collecting meaningful data that
informs our day-to-day instruction. Unlike the high-stakes tests, our
assessments improve the education we provide.
Across
grades, we feel with great certainty that the rise of standardized
testing—and most specifically, its high-stakes nature—has eroded real
student learning time, narrowed the curriculum and jeopardized the rich,
meaningful education our students need and deserve.
As
such, we, the undersigned, believe that it is crucial for teachers to
raise our voices on these issues, and we resolve to stand together to
advocate for the elimination of the high-stakes nature of standardized
tests.
Sincerely,
Kim Van Duzer
Leah Brunski
Rachel Knight
Peter Cipparone
Sara Thorne
Susannah Sperry
Liz Sturges Cosentino
Carolyn Rivas
Sophia Soto
Kristen Adamczyk
Sarah McCaffrey
Mollie Lief
Chantelle Luk
Melissa Bandes Golden
Frank Thomas
Jackie Lichter
Tristram Carver
Jessica Albizu
Hana Pardon
Lisa Cohen
Dan Turret
Lauren McGivney
Adam Gerloff
Bradley Frome
Izzi Kane
Molly Dubow
Kathy Nobles
January Mark
Jasmine Junsay
Nadira Udairam
Aaron Berns
Monica Salazar-Austin
Rachel Certner
Alice Pack
Marisa Noiseux
