Why my students should all opt out
Iam not a risktaker. I have played by the rules my entire life and prefer it that way. Follow directions, work hard, get rewarded. But what do you do when you feel as if you are playing fair and square against an opponent who isn’t?
I’ve been a teacher in the New York City public school system for 10 years. I’ve watched the emphasis on and stakes attached to standardized testing in New York State increase each year. Yet each spring, teachers are expected to proctor these tests without contest or debate. I can no longer do that.
Many proponents of testing argue that these state assessments allow schools to follow students’ progress and watch how they are growing each year, to measure what they know and can do relative to the new Common Core Learning Standards in English and mathematics.
If that were all they were doing, that would be one thing. In reality, they have become tools to reward and punish students, teachers and schools.
Worse, look at the tests themselves. When New York introduced the new Common Core tests three years ago, they argued that high-quality, grade-appropriate reading passages would be used to assess students’ reading ability. What teachers and administrators have found is that more and more of the reading passages and questions asked on these tests are actually above grade-level standards.
On last year’s third-grade English test, many of the questions were examined by a teacher and former testmaker who normed them at a seventh- and eighth-grade reading level!
The math tests use language that’s tricky so that its results often wind up assessing reading comprehension more than problem-solving ability.
When students have to select their answers to multiple-choice questions, they have yet another challenge. The state argues that “answer choices will not jump out; rather, students will need to make hard choices between ‘fully correct’ and ‘plausible but incorrect’ answers that are designed specifically to determine whether students have comprehended the entire passage.”
To prepare students, many teachers emphasize healthy debate, in which students are encouraged to prove that their answer choices are correct, using text evidence. On the test, however, students are only rewarded if they circle the correct answer choice. Thus, the student who grapples with an answer but makes the wrong choice is not rewarded for his or her deep thinking and analysis.
Then, of course, there is the issue of time. Both the ELA and math tests are administered over the course of three days in each grade. That’s six days of testing for a total of 6 hours and 40 minutes for third-graders. By fifth grade, the total testing time is increased to 8 hours and 40 minutes. To put this in perspective, aspiring lawyers must sit for the LSATs for 3 1 / hours. Why is it
2 that 8-year-olds must be tested for nearly twice as long?
But this is just the beginning. Test scores are also being used to evaluate teachers, principals and schools. Gov. Cuomo proposed that 50% of a teacher’s evaluation be based on state test scores alone.
As a result, more and more schools are increasing the amount of time that is spent on test preparation instead of real learning. While the state Department of Education does not support rote testprep practices in place of quality instruction, teachers and principals often feel as if they have no other choice.
In my 10 years of teaching, I have seen the toll that these tests take on even our best schools. Our curriculum becomes watered down, and learning becomes a passive act. I cannot ignore the impact these tests are having on classroom culture and content of the curriculum.
As a teacher, my vision is for the classroom to be a learning laboratory, where students spend their days discussing and analyzing books with their peers, debating current events, solving real-world math problems, conducting hands-on science experiments, diving into historical research with open-ended questions, writing stories and exploring the worlds of drama, music, art and dance, all the while linking such rigorous instruction and activities to standards.
Some smart people in our city’s school system are waking up to the fact that these tests cannot begin to measure everything a child learns in school. Chancellor Carmen Fariña has discontinued the use of these tests as the sole criterion for student promotion. Many middle schools are no longer using fourth-grade test scores for admissions. This is a start, but I fear that the stakes for teachers and schools will only increase if we do not speak up as a collective force.
I understand the dilemma that parents are faced with when they must decide whether to opt their children in or out of the tests. As I said, I’m not a risktaker by nature.
But I believe that opting your child out is an act of courage and the single most powerful thing a parent can do to change the future of testing in New York State.
A Brooklyn teacher’s plea