Standardized Tests
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April 2012
The standardized tests are causing lots of stress for my child. My boy
actually scores very well and I'm worried the school will pressure him
to take the test so they can meet their goals. The tests, after all,
ludicrously ''grade'' the teachers, the principal, and the school as a
whole. However, the stress the teachers put on the test is working my
kid up too much. I myself consider the tests a drain on the education
system (millions of dollars could go to actually educating the kids
instead). The school also bribes the kids with packets of drawings to
take the test and then on test taking day, they hand out mints, candy,
and bars to ''help kids concentrate.'' I would opt out just to stop
participating in this nonsense. Recently, my kid said he didn't want to
take the test anymore. His anxiety level is up already and we are still
over a month from the test. So, what do we do to opt out? Write a
letter? Keep the kid home for half a day? Have you done this? Has
your child been retaliated against? My kid is in the BUSD school
district, if that helps.
Anon
I can't address the opt-out part, but if your son does take the test, I have a
couple of suggestions: 1) ask the teacher if you and other parents can bring in
healthy foods for test days. I can't believe the teacher gives them candy!
Are you sure it's a school-wide thing? 2) Say what you can to your son to take
the pressure off of him.
I'm not a fan of the tests, either, but it's not the district's doing and I
don't want to penalize the school. Like it or not, there is plenty of
test-taking in our society and learning how to take tests isn't a bad skill to
learn. My daughter doesn't mention the tests to me so I don't talk about them
to her.
public school parent
Opting out in California requires that you submit your intention to opt your
child out in writing to the district. I would cc one to the principal,
superintendent and board. I would also explain exactly why you are opting out,
even though you don't need to offer any reason. That is all. It's the law.
''CA Ed Code 60615. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a parent's
or guardian's written request to school officials to excuse his or her
child from any or all parts of the assessments administered pursuant to this
chapter shall be granted.''
http://unitedoptout.com/state-by-state-opt-out/california/
-Richard
It is your right as a parent to opt out of state testing. Just right a letter
to your principal.
Anon
Maybe the more appropriate question is not how to get your child out of the
test, but how to help him cope with stress. Will you call his college
professors when he's too stressed to take his finals? He can't avoid tests
forever. Get him the help he needs now in dealing with stress and anxiety. Left
untreated, it will only get worse. (I say this from experience.)
Anon
Standardized tests are a fact of life that you and your child need to learn to
deal with. The current tests are good practice for the tests that really matter
later- the SAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, Bar Exam, Medical Licensing Exam, etc.
Teaching your child that he doesn't have to do things that are boring,
stressful, etc. is really good preparation for having your child live in your
basement for the rest of his life. If he's having learning problems that make
the tests really hard, now is a good time to focus on figuring out what the
problems are and fixing them before it's too late. But if he's just getting
stressed out, this is a good time to teach him how to deal with that. You
really think that this is the only obstacle that he will ever face during his
educational journey?
Besides being incredibly short-sighted about your son's future, I also think
that you are doing your school a disservice. These tests are a fact of life and
a lot of the school's funding is based on them. If your son can help the school
do better, I really have a hard time understanding why you would even consider
keeping him home so that he misses the test. You might be among the first one
to scream and yell if any of the school's funding is taken away due to low test
scores.
If you really think that these tests are so awful, start working to change the
law so that NO kids have to take them, not just yours.
anon
It is very simple to opt out of the standardized the tests - and it's every
parent's right. You just need to write a letter to your school's principal,
stating that you are choosing to have your child opt out of all of the state
tests.
Schools usually provide ''alternate activities'' during testing week, but know
that it will be likely entail sitting quietly in a room, as the school's focus
will be on keeping the campus quiet for testing. And since schools (and
principals) are judged on the testing, including the percentage of children
tested, there will be little incentive to giving your child anything
interesting to do.
anon
We opted out of STAR testing for one of our kids for 2 years at our Oakland
public elementary school. All we had to do was write a note to the
principal. It turned out to be a good decision for our son. No one made
him feel bad or sit quietly while other kids took the tests. During the
actual testing time, he was able to be a helper in lower grade classes. We
did get some pressure from one teacher who thought it was a mistake for us
to excuse him from testing, but our awesome principal listened to our
concerns and supported us in making the decision that made the most sense at
the time for our kid. We ended up excusing him for 2 years in a row, then
having him take 2 out of 3 tests last year. (It turns out that's an
option.) This year he's going to participate fully in the testing as a sixth
grader.
Good luck with your decision
May 2010
I have read ''The Death and Life of the Great American School
System'' by Diane Ravitch, and despite what I already knew
about the major problems of NCLB, this book was eye opening.
Anyone who has had to deal with the stupidity of high stakes
testing -- whether you are a teacher, a parent, or a former
or current public school student -- should read this book.
And anyone who gets their info primarily from the TV and
radio media should *especially* read this book. However, my
question is: What is being done to turn the tide and bring
some rhyme and reason back for our children? Does anyone
know of any organizations that are attempting to fight these
stupid laws and horrifying ''reforms''? Are people still so
enamored of Obama that they still haven't noticed that ''Race
to the Top'' is just an extension of NCLB? Please let me
know what groups are doing something to end this madness. I
have asked a few educators and principals, and they did not
know of any groups working toward this aim. Thank you.
Quality Education Should Mean Music, Art, Science, Foreign Languages...
As a product of Berkeley public schools of the 1970s, I
must say that I am in favor of the current testing and
accountability, as well as homework in elementary school.
I ended up lacking many basic skills such as grammar and
essay writing and had to work hard playing catch-up in
college. I feel secure knowing that my daughter, her
teacher and the school district are held to task to make
sure that none of the California education standards are
left behind. My opinion has nothing to do with Obama or
Bush or any political position at all, just that the state
standards represent critical skills and I appreciate that
there is accountability that my daughter will learn them.
-- it is a good thing
I've done a bit of research on the web and have
found
only a few calls to end the madness of
high-stakes testing.
I think the main problem is a publicity problem.
That is,
so many people think that a test score is a
measure of
education (which it isn't), and that teachers are
be-all,
end-all of that score. Really, it's parental
education and
income level that determines the test score of
the child, so
holding a teacher accountable makes no sense.
Even ''great''
teachers have kids who score inconsistently from
one year to
the next, so high-stakes testing is stupid all
around: it
doesn't measure the teacher's teaching or the education
received.
As for people taking or advocating action, here
is what I found:
http://www.fairtest.org/
The National Center for Fair & Open Testing
(FairTest) works
to end the misuses and flaws of standardized
testing and to
ensure that evaluation of students, teachers and
schools is
fair, open, valid and educationally beneficial.
Has a list of resources and people to contact per
state.
http://perimeterprimate.blogspot.com/
This site is compiled by an Oakland mom and has
links to
many different articles about schools and the
crazy reforms
going on. This is site that has calls to action
on 10/7/10
as well as a petition way down at the bottom of
the home page.
http://www.alfiekohn.org/stdtest.htm
Lots of research cited here about the stupidity
of
high-stakes testing. This page has info on why
oppose
testing, how to oppose testing, whom to contact
and where to
get more info.
http://www.schoolsmatter.info/
The home page cites a recent study on the pay per
performance experiment in Chicago schools (Arne
Duncan's
baby). Basically, pay per performance did not
raise math and
English test scores.
Join each of these blogs and get others to do so
as well, so
that when an action is called for, you will know
about it
and be able act in concert. One person can do
little against
these high-powered, corporate-led reformers
who hold the
top political positions or other-wise influence
them, but
large numbers of people (parents, educators,
students, etc)
can make a difference.
The Educated Need to End High-Stakes Testing
I just wanted to second the person who wrote in
about
going to schools in Berkeley in the 1970's and
lacking
skills.
I went to schools in Davis at the same time and
lacked
grammer, essay writing, and basic math skills. I
also had
to do a lot of catch up when I got to college.
While I think the testing part is overdone - I
would
rather see elementary kids tested in 3rd and 5th
grades
only - I think the standards have helped
education.
Though there are things I don't like about our
Oakland
Public school, I think the academics are
generally quite a
bit better than when I went to school.
-another perspective
I wanted to correct one inaccurate statement. Science is
tested in 5th grade in all CA public schools.
I agree that high stakes testing, as currently implemented,
needs a serious overhaul. It's too much, too soon. We should
do STAR testing in 3rd grade, 5th grade, 7th, and 9th grade
and follow each students' progress, not hold teachers
responsible for a random group of kids they get each year,
some of whom come to school with huge educational advantages
and disadvantages.
From my experience with 2 kids in the public school system,
the schools with a significant amount of middle class
families do not experience the narrowing of the curriculum
that happens at schools where kids are mostly poor.
Middle class parents generally raise funds to back fill cuts
to music, arts, science enrichment, and libraries. Plus,
teachers at those schools are more likely to apply for
grants to do gardening programs, conservations studies,
specialized artist programs, etc. They get a rich
curriculum. Public schools today are much better than when I
attended them in the late 70's and early 80's.
Arne Duncan has been a huge disappointment as Education
Secretary. I have nothing against charter schools (they
serve an important niche) but he spends a lot of air time
advocating for merit pay and charter schools (which only
serve the needs of 3% of the school age population). The
other 97% of school age kids are in public schools. And
merit pay leaves so many teachers out of the mix anyway. In
a public middle school, you have history, art, music,
science, special ed, and shop--none of these instructors are
going to be easily judged by a machine scored standardized
test.
The biggest problem I see right now is a broken school
financing system (in Sacramento) with high standards and no
money to back it up. Class sizes are going up but the sky
high expectations are all in place.
And when you add in the body blows to community colleges and
UC, this has huge implications for a well-educated workforce.
Even those in private school should be worried.
public school mom
I have seen the point made over and over again that test
scores are correlated with parental education and income.
This is empirically true, but that doesn't make it right.
The point of public education is to equalize opportunities
between children of all backgrounds. To accept that
children from poor backgrounds will, as a matter of course,
acheive less than their more well off peers completely
ignores the foundational purpose of public education,
besides being an incredibly insulting and offensive
perspective to take.
If you are interested in learning how it is possible for
children from all backgrounds to meet high academic
standards (not just do well on standardized tests), check
out any of E.D. Hirsch Jr.s books, or look into the
practical application of his ideas - Core Knowledge schools.
-frustrated with low expectations
To the person who stated that it is income and parent education that drive test
scores - income has nothing - absolutely nothing to do with it.
However, family wealth has everything to do with it.
Meaning - if the family earns a household income of $125,000 per year, but are
not homeowners, do not have retirement savings, do not have objects in the
household of significant value, do not have the means to pass wealth down,
the income does not matter.
Family education matters not so much in the middle grades - 4 through 8, but
the planning for college makes that dip rise and scores increase.
Wealth not Income
Jan 2007
My son is in second grade and I gather that they start the
standardized testing this year. I am not thrilled about that
system and wonder what the ramifications are for opting out. For
his school? For him to be the odd kid out, not taking the test?
And anything else I haven't considered....
anti-testing
Yes, standardized tests are controversial at best. However, you
could be doing your child and his classmates a disservice by
not participating. It is important to remember that
standardized tests, while certainly a pain, are much more than
simply about your child. They provide relevant data points and
can do much to help your child and ALL the children in the
class when used as a tool for improvement. Rather than being
used as a judgment for your child's ability, these tests can
help teachers improve their instruction. For instance, if a
significant number of students are challenged by the same
materials, it should tell the teacher/school/district that they
may need to make some changes in the way they teach certain
subject areas. This is called data-driven instruction and it
is key to improving learning and achievement in our public
schools. There is a lot of compelling research to support this,
particularly in urban environments that have the diversity of
the Bay Area.
If you are opting out because you feel that it is too much
pressure on your son, you might want to explain to him that
these tests are really to help the teachers with their
teaching. It can help take some of the pressure off of him and
hopefully will provide you with another way to look at testing.
It's certainly not perfect, but when used as a tool to evaluate
instruction rather than students, standardized tests are not
necessarily a bad thing.
Don't like tests, but understand their value
As an anonymous public school teacher, I will tell you that the
easiest thing to do is just keep your child home that day. It is bad
because you are depriving the school of the daily funds but it's kind
of like voting with your feet. I think it would be more hassle and
uncomfortable for your child to come to school when everyone else is
doing it and write a note or something. If your child is absent, they
may try to have him take the test another day, but you can deal with
that when the time comes.
anon
Test Scores vs. Grades
June 1999
My 6th grade daughter got her report card and Star Parent Report in the
same envelope last week. Her report card was terrific, A's and a B. Her
Achievement Test results were dismal, 37% in Total Reading and 35% in
Total Math. What's going on? Is this indicative of her teachers giving
indeserved high grades, the Achievement Tests being an unreliable tool
or something else? Thanks for your thoughts.
We had the same experience with the Star Report. My daughter got very
good grades this year in the 6th grade at King Middle School and her
Achievement Test results were awful. There is certainly a discrepancy
between what the tests show and what teachers were reporting to us
through grades and otherwise. I'd like to hear any thoughts on this, as
well.
I just received a letter from Jack McLaughlin, BUSD Superintendent,
explaining that the STAR report card is new this year, much tougher and
there are complaints all over California that students were frustrated
and unable to do well in the test. It's a case of the "cart before the
horse" and is not as meaningful to our children as it is to educators
who want to know where to begin raising the level of California's
educationally starved system that, unfortunately, has this state ranked
at the bottom 50% for quality of education. My son is in 2nd grade and
we just got this letter. I wonder if we'll get this letter as high
school parents. Anyway, the best way to improve your daughter's
education is for her to read, read, and read (as much and as often and
as many books as possible, especially this summer)--it will raise her
vocabulary and understanding tremendously because she has more
Achievement tests and SAT's in her future (and you have those to worry
about because colleges look at those scores as well as grades), but
keeping up her grades are probably most important while taking
challenging classes.
Re: acheivement tests and grades. The head of assessment for the
district gave a long presentation to the school board the week on June
14th about the STAR results (I watched on B-TV). She said parents were
likely to be shocked because test scores would probably be lower this
year. In addition, limited english proficient students were still forced
to take the test in English, although there was a parallel test (SABE)
administered in Spanish. There were things on the tests that kids hadn't
ever seen or been taught. Others were aligned with standards that are
not yet being reflected in classroom curriculum and texts. She
encouraged everyone to recognize that the scores will be more meaningful
as teaching comes into synch with the state standards.
Re: the discrepancy between grades and test scores. Make an appointment
to talk to your child's teacher(s) and see if they can help you figure
out the discrepancy. How did your kid do last year? Maybe it was a bad
year, maybe they didn't have a good test day. Or, perhaps you need to
help her work on specific things she didn't do well with or help her
with test taking strategies.
I don't have enough faith in psychological testing to get very concerned
about the disparity between the grades and the test results. For one
thing, the test is against national norms, while the grades are against
school/state criteria. For another, there's a fair amount of error in
all psychometry. For yet another, the kid's teachers and I know his mind
and abilities better than a Scantron test scorer does. About the only
use I see for the results is as another way of showing my son that he is
an excellent performer in some areas but definitely needs to quit
blowing off his arithmetic drills. There's something very convincing
about a bar chart, even if the information on it is the same thing I've
been telling him for a year.
-- John (6/99)
About testing in schools: as a teacher, I found that even with a lot of
drilling with similiar questions as on the test, kids still would miss
the question. For example on the fourth grade test there were multiple
tasks around a central theme, look at the chart, which is higher/lower,
compare this to that, add up this - subtract that. Many children just
do not have that ability. Our textbooks do not teach what the tests
ask.
My experience is that our kids (in Berkeley Public Schools) don't have a
lot of experience with workbooks that drill this kind of task. They are
asked to be creative, and workbooks are looked down upon as being
old-fashioned. Yet children love to work in them (on a limited basis).
Since our district does not buy workbooks for children and requires
teachers to copy everything they use from one machine that often is
jammed or out of order or in use - then, that is one reason they don't
do well on standardized tests.
I think there are too many children at too many levels in our classrooms
to teach everyone well. Too many disruptive children, can shut down a
classroom. We still are 50th in the nation on what we spend in
California on our schools, yet ours is one of the wealthiest states in
the US; if we were a country we'd place 7th in the world (with our
wealth). -- Linda (7/99)
My son received straight D's and F's in 7th grade (Albany), but got an
average of 98% on the STAR testing stuff. I'm not sure what that says
except grades obviously don't show what a kid knows and testing
definitely doesn't.
John (7/99)
Like the rest of you, we got the STAR results for our sixth grader- I
was slightly surprised that he exceled in the math portion, almost off
the charts, but did poorly in verbal, much worse than his grades. It has
always my inclination to take these test results with a major grain of
salt- i never feel that they really show the abilities of our kids and
this kind of test taking can be learned. The reality is that having just
had a daughter graduate from Berkeley High, I have had my fill of
standardized tests, including the father of them all, the SATs. My
daughter has decent grades and excels when she is engaged in a subject,
but she has always been a terrible standarized test taker- she's the
kind that the teacher would put in GATE and then the tests would
eliminate her, causing a big fuss between her teacher and the GATE
folks.
Having said that, the fact of the matter is that if your kid is going
to go to a UC or State University and does not have an incredible GPA,
those test scores are very important. This is a sad but true fact- that
despite what we know about our childrens unique and special qualities,
the Ca. Universities look first at those test scores as the key to
admission, especially if the grades are under a 3.5.You can avoid the
standardized test score dictates by having your kids go to private
schools, where other qualities are considered much more important, but
then there is the issue of $$$- and some kids, like my daughter, refused
to apply to any private school! -- Lynn (6/99)
I think that despite the emphasis on standards and test scores, parents
should use a variety of indicators to guage how their children are doing
in school--homework, grades, "effort", willingness to tackle new
subjects and work beyond their comfort level, even willingness and
ability to help other students who are struggling with assignments!
Unfortunately, some teachers tend to look at scores and label a child
with that score--I hope the teachers are as sensitive to the limitations
of these new scores as the parents are being encouraged to be.
For all the rhetoric about teaching to "multiple intelligences" the
tests really focus on only a few of the "intelligences" and good test
taking abilities (which she suggested can be taught to some extent eg
how to eliminate obviously wrong answers and spend time on the other
choices).
That said, I also think there *is* such a thing as grade inflation. My
daughter got excellent grades (all A's) in 6th grade. Although I'm very
proud of her and think she worked hard I only saw her really stretch a
few times throughout the year.
Tests such as the Star test are designed to compare and rank children
against one another. They include questions at your child's grade level,
as well as questions below and above your child's grade level. In other
words, much of the material on the test may never even have been taught
to her.
It is most likely largely up to your child's teacher(s)to determine what
the letter grades are based on. But she is mostly likely only being
judged on materials at her grade level. The grades probably reflect such
things as whether she completes her homework, is a willing participant
in classroom discussions, does complete and neat classwork etc. How much
of the grade is even based on classroom tests of the subject matter
taught varies widely
from classroom to classroom.
I have two sons, one entering 8th and the other entering 4th. Especially
with the middle schooler the test results reflect the same curriculum
gaps in language arts I have been asking teachers and principals to
remedy for years. Beyond workbook and drills, principals need to be
assessing how well grade level curriculum is covered and manage the
sequential skill-building curriculum.
Currently the principals labor over too much required paper work and
BUSD's teacher contract states every teacher has the right to teach
curriculum as they see fit. I would welcome clear assessment tools to
evaluate effective teachers and their stategies. I would like students
and families to respond to classroom surveys. Of course, some might
preceive this to be threating, though in a more honest supportive
environment this information will lead to mentoring, collaboration, and
perhaps team building. Next year our teachers are going to be stressing
over math standards, continuing reading assessments, and now
interventions for students at risk for retention. I'm still primarily
concerned with improving home-school communication. Unfortunately, I
think all this new pressures will add more defensiveness to our teaching
staffs overall.I participated in disrict committees last year, this year
I want to continue with the retention intervention committee, and keep
parents needs in the discussion.
Laura (7/99)
In recognition of the fact that tests such as the Star test may not be
the best measure of whether a child is learning what they should learn
at each grade level, California school districts are being directed by
the state to develop "multiple measures." The state has developed
standards and benchmarks outlining what students should learn at each
grade level, and each district's assessments are supposed to check
specifically whether the
child is meeting those benchmarks.
-- Betty (6/99)
Concerning the Star Parent Report. Didn't you get the letter with it.
It said, "Don't base your kid's furture on the scores. The textbooks
weren't available. The teachers weren't familiar with the new
curriculum." Many excuses. However, since it was percentile scores,
some districts must have been up to speed.
As a 6th and 7th grade teacher in Moraga I have to say that the Star
test does not reflect what we teach our students. In other words it is
not aligned with our curriculum. Why is that? A fracture in Sacramento
between who sets the Framework ( what we teach) and who sets the
testing. The standards aren't really addressed completely either.
Grades are often inflated in our middle school because they can reflect
so much - attitude,
effort, besides achievement. ellen (6/99)
We just got our son's STAR results and they were worse than his grades.
But other than that there were no real surprises: all his strengths and
weaknesses showed up as usual. The difference between his grades and his
test scores doesn't necessarily mean that his teachers have been giving
undeserved high grades, or that the achievement tests are unreliable
(although both could be true).
-- John (6/99)
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