I grew up in a large family – the middle child, youngest
girl – in a family of seven brothers and a sister. My parents, who were post World War II
pioneers in the Second Great Migration, moved our family to Buffalo from
Louisiana in 1947. They left behind
family and friends in search of economic opportunity, social and political
equality and access to educational advancement for their children. While neither completed high school, their
belief in the power of education as a means to a better life was communicated
to us through their expectation that we would adhere to school dictates and
strictly enforced by their authoritarian parenting style. So I grew up always
pushing through educational challenges and stoically persisting in following
the rules, even those that seemed unfair or questionable. Opting out was not an
option.
This week, beginning on April 14th, hundreds of
thousands of students in the 3rd – 8th grades, across
this State will begin a three day cycle of test taking in English Language
Arts. The following week, those same
students will take the standardized tests in math. During this period, thousands, perhaps
hundreds of thousands of their classmates will refuse these tests. Their parents have decided to opt-out of the
“high-stakes testing” mill. They are pioneers
in a Movement that is growing, not just in New York State but in states
throughout this country. They are opting
out, not because they don’t value educational assessment; not because they don’t
believe in setting standards for educational achievement; not because they
don’t think their children should learn perseverance in the face of difficulty
and not because they don’t have high expectations of their children. They are motivated by principled opposition
to the use of these tests for purposes that are not validated and the intense
focus on teaching to the test.
Blogger, “Lace to the Top”, offers an analysis of the upcoming
ELA test for 3rd graders. He
states that given the length of the passages and the questions that students
will have to read, they would have to be able to read 75 words a minute, at least,
to complete the test. EngageNY, the
website for information about the ELA and Math tests provides the following
guidance about this year’s test: “many
of the questions on the 2015 Grade 3 Common Core English Language Arts Test are
more advanced and complex than those found on prior assessments that measured
prior grade level standards. Answer
choices will not jump out; rather, students will need to make hard choices
between “fully correct” and “plausible but incorrect” answers….” Is there a plan to trick students? Why?
As a school board member and educator, I have followed the high
stakes testing debate. Last year I wrote
an article entitled “Are you smarter than a 3rd grader?”, that cited
reasons why these tests are not true measures of our children’s abilities: 1) they are not developmentally appropriate –
reading levels are far above the grade level being tested 2) the tests are not
diagnostic; they don’t provide information that helps the teacher target student
learning needs 3) almost all children take the same test, regardless of their
ability or their English language proficiency; it’s a one size fits all
approach 4) the emphasis on the tests
encourages teaching to the test at the expense of time for other subjects 5) children are being demoralized and frustrated
by long hours of testing. In addition test
results are being used to grade schools and to evaluate educators, even though
statistics experts dispute the validity of this methodology.
I am a proponent of the Opt-Out Movement. I believe in the purpose/goals/validity of
this Movement. And this is where my
journey becomes relevant. My support has developed over time and resulted
from research, reflection and discussions with advocates. However, belief is not enough if it isn’t
married with action, when warranted. I
began this article with a brief personal reference to the learned behaviors
ingrained by my parents. They also encouraged
me to stand up for my beliefs.
I have two granddaughters who attend a focus school. The oldest one, a third grader, is scheduled
to take the ELA and Math tests this year.
Although she is a very bright girl, loves school and her teachers, she
has a reading problem associated with a vision disability. She is working hard to overcome her problem
but reading is a challenge and she is easily discouraged. In addition to all the arguments for opting
out, my granddaughter’s reading difficulties added another compelling reason to
refuse the tests. But the
decision isn’t mine; it’s her parent’s. However,
a grandmother can be influential. Over
the last six months I’ve had long discussions with my daughter, supplied her
with information about the tests and urged her to visit EngageNY to see sample
questions. Today, I can say that my family has joined the
Opt-out Movement. My granddaughter will
not be taking the ELA or math tests! I
think my parents would approve.
Local school districts are having serious conversations about
the Opt Out Movement and its impact on students and the school system. Unfortunately these conversations have not
been on the Buffalo Board’s agenda because the focus has been on a myriad of
other pressing issues. Yet, many of
these pressing issues are directly related to high stakes testing as these
tests are used to identify our schools as “failing” and “out-of-time”. This issue has been raised to an even higher
level of importance given the Governor’s recent budget and legislative agenda
resulting in greater reliance on these tests to evaluate student, school and educator
proficiency. I’ll propose that the Board
begin a dialogue about the impact of high stakes testing and policies that we
should consider in response. It’s time to extend the journey.
Thank you for your leadership.
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