Testing. Performance. Assessment. It’s All Fucking Bullshit.
Governor Markell thinks that Delaware students are taking too many tests, probably because he required them to take too many tests, and so Governor Markell is going to reduce the number of tests so as to relieve the massive burden he placed on teachers and students. How nice of him. Of course, he is not eliminating tests immediately. He wants a review of the situation, another task force, to determine which state and district wide tests are redundant, and then we will do away with the duplicative tests. So it’s not that tests are bad, or that many tests are bad, so long as they are not duplicative. So this is a delaying tactic to respond to the rapidly growing movement that is opposed to a lot of Markell-based and Federal-based efforts to reform education. People are upset, so maybe this announcement will placate some.
To me, it ignores the core (no pun intended) of the issue.
Why are we testing?
Gov. Jack Markell on Thursday re-affirmed his belief that good tests are a vital part of the education system but acknowledged that some parents and teachers have complained that students are spending too much time on them.
“Our educators, our students, and their parents all deserve the benefits of effective assessments that show when students are excelling and when they need extra support,” Markell said. “At the same time, tests that don’t add meaningfully to the learning process mean less time for students to receive the instruction and support they need.”
To be clear, the Governor is not talking about the tests a student takes as part of particular class, like History or Math. No, he is talking about the performance tests that the school district, the state or the Federal Department of Education require students take to determine their overall progress, which in turn determine who gets what education funding. And the reason to require that was ostensibly to make sure that those lagging behind or those failing these tests get the needed attention, or the needed funding. The real reason, revealed by the whole Priority Schools debacle, was to determine which public schools to close and what education funding to cut.
Tests on subject matter in a particular class, and your final grade in that particular class, are the most effective assessment of how a student is doing. If a student fails the test, either he or she didn’t study, or perhaps has some anxiety on taking tests or dyslexia. Either way, the responsibility on passing the test and getting a passing grade in a class is on the student.
That became unacceptable in the 1980’s. Parents could not accept that students were failing, that their child was failing, so of course, it had to be the teacher’s fault. Or the principal’s fault. Or the Superintendent’s fault. The School’s fault. The curriculum’s fault.
But for the existence of Teacher’s Unions, the first solution to this horror of a student failing would have been to fire the teacher. So we started down the path with all these “assessments” instead to determine how a student “performs” against a “standard.” To me, these assessments have always been a tool to undermine teachers, not help students.
So how about this as an Education Reform Plan:
1) We repeal No Child Left Behind
2) We repeal Race to the Top
3) We repeal all other performance-based smart balance learning assessment standards, rules, tests, etc that have been enacted and placed on our children from the beginning of time until now.
Then a student’s performance can be assessed through how he or she does in each class each year. And then maybe all the fucking money we are spending on tests, and teaching to the test, and determining which test is the best to assess performance, and which school to close or … ahem… “prioritize” can instead be spent on raising teacher pay, so as to keep the best teachers and to hire more better teachers. If you do that, you help the student learn. And then the student does better, if he or she wants to.
Now, the curriculum, and who gets to decide what is in it, is another issue for another day, and we will discuss that next week. But I think the best idea right now is to end all assessment tests everywhere. In Delaware. In Washington State. In California. In Maine. In Florida. Everywhere. Let’s go back to the basics.
I am sure the more intelligent adults will now scold me as being too simplistic. Yes, please defend what you all have wrought some more. Time to start over.
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Oh, you know I’m in agreement with everything you wrote! Markell is shooting himself in the foot lately, and the very fact that he actually said the words “opt out” is showing he and the DOE are on the ropes. We are not a “small and vocal” group. We are rising fast, and Markell’s insistence on sticking with the status quo is causing the movement to demand more than just opt out. So thank you Mr. Governor!
Feel bad for the high school junior class. They’re getting hit by the new testing and common core during the year when colleges start looking at their grades and they’re stressed over the SAT. All of this bullshit needs to be eliminated for our high school junior classes immediately.
Imma let you finish, but that headline is the best headline of all time.
The problem, DD, with your plan as I see it, is that it doesn’t provide for outsized profits for the “school reform industrial complex.”
I hear ya, DD. The standardized testing, and the weight attached to it, is completely out of hand, but there is a boatload of money in these tests – which is why we keep declaring the “greatest test ever” as obsolete and spend more money on the “even greater test ever.”
And what about all that data we collected from the DSTP and DCAS? Yep, that’s obsolete, too, because that test simply wasn’t good enough (altho these were the best tests ever and we simply had to spend a lot of money on them) altho… DCAS results are good enough to label schools as priority schools, but not good enough to assess students. Go figure.
I’ve said it before… everyone brace themselves for when the Smarter Balanced Assessment scores hit. It promises to be ugly.
Well, the check’s been cut.
How ’bout we start a slogan contest for the next education wunderkind?
No Child Left Behind
Race to the Top
Climb to the Finish?
Exit for the Future?
Which Boat to China?
The irony with Smarter Balanced (at least one of them) is that according to the State’s implementation plan the results from SBA cannot be used for a performance indicator for a school (assuming they get their way) for 3-4 years. This means that they used DCAS to determine which were the Priority Schools, and they’re supposedly holding the schools accountable for performance with standardized tests, BUT they won’t be able to use the next three years worth of data to evaluate the success or failure of the initiative.
All of which points to the fact that it was all about converting those schools into charters, and not about accountability, since there was never an accountability structure even planned that would measure anything in the correct timeframe.
Great point, Steve. Depressing, but great.
I knew charter was the end game, but had forgotten about the SBA performance indicator delay. So, in a nutshell, priority schools were labeled as such due to DCAS test results, but in order to show improvement (based on those DCAS test results) they’ll need to ace the SBA – a test they haven’t even taken, but will be measured against. Does that make sense to anyone?
I was talking to Jaques the other day and he says, in essence, that teachers are OK with not getting Smarter Balanced results until the school year is finished because they’ve got other ways of assessing how their students are doing in the classroom.
Of course, what Markell is saying now is that we should have fewer tests, but we have to keep Smarter Balanced.
Taking those two messages together, it suggests that the assessments that are on Markell’s chopping block are the ones that teachers say are valuable, so the outcome becomes either (1) we cut useful assessments or (2) we keep what we have now because they’re essential.
Perhaps I’m oversimplifying, but it’s evident that Delaware does not have a clear mission statement on the value and purposes of student assessments.
It should also be clear by now that Smarter Balanced has little to do with actually assessing students — after all, greater percentages of kids are going to be rated “not proficient” but there isn’t going to be any change in the number of kids who will have to repeat a grade (or even a class). And if it’s not assessing students, then it’s only assessing teachers and schools … and we all know where that led us.
So, what do we need:
1. A clear statement on the purpose of comprehensive statewide student assessments.
2. A test performance that not only achieves that purpose but also triggers supportive outcomes (e.g, tutoring, remedial work) for students who do not meet benchmarks established for their grade level, and that does so in a time frame that makes it possible for remediation to occur before the student is pushed into the next grade.
3. If schools are to be rated, and classified as “high performing” or “priority” and who knows what in between, we need a separate system that takes into account student test results, student demographics, class size, expenditure per student and any other variables that folks with more expertise than I have would recommend.
To address Joanne’s need for sloganeering …
the best way I can characterize what’s happened in the last 4-5 years (or longer) would be: “Muddle to the Middle.”
I don’t have a kid in school, so I’m not sure of the details, but if anyone knows: How many tests do students currently take per year/how many days of the school year do they spend on testing?
Common Core is a joke:
Mom address’s come core in 4 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZEGijN_8R0
Common Core Math
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XmMBUb7Gl0
Bring on the voucher system. Let parents make an informed decision. Choices would include Public, Charter, home school or Private.
Parental choice would scare the shit out the unions and all the Liberals trying to tell parents whats best.
Let’s not forget the overeducated administrators milking the system dry…
LOL! Vouchers would only create brand new “voucher” schools. Sorry, but private schools doesn’t want you. Don’t believe me? Check out Louisiana. Be sure to look at how many voucher kids those private schools took in.
“private schools doesn’t want you”? Good grammar. I am guessing you went to public school.
You got me… I originally wrote Tower Hill, then changed it. So, did you look at those Louisiana voucher numbers?
Hey – has anyone else had a kid whose class had to RETAKE the “smarter Balanced” test because the computer system didn’t record the test. Happened a couple of times at PS duPont – so kids had to be pulled from yet more classes to retake tests they already wasted time on….
I’m bumping my own comment up, because I’m like that. Someone here must know….how many tests do students take a year? I tried using the google machine to figure it out but the answers I was getting looked like students only take one test each year, the DSTP. But I see people here talking about Smarter Balance…so…two? Is the argument that students are over tested that we should go from two tests to one?
Or, do they only take one test and the argument is they should go from one to zero?
Good question. I thought it was one test with multiple topical components, which could be construed as multiple tests. One of the commenters with children in schools should be able to tell us the answer.
The argument if far more complex. This year allegedly there is one test: the Smarter Balanced Assessments. However available prior to now, were practice tests which could be used by districts to test on how to later take the test. If older, add the SAT and PSAT’s. If special education, some old DCAS tests continued.
Howerver, the problem, the elephant in the room, is THIS test.. The Smarter Balanced Assessment. Every adult who has taken it has said, “*&^%&*$^, WTF”. It is so bad, that if all readers had taken it, and it is readily available on Delaware educational websites, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now… one adult equated it with guessing how many jelly beans are in a jar.
It is the most ridiculous compilation of human excrement ever produced.
The issue is, if you found out that your child was being feed processed sh/t in your schools cafeteria, would you do something about it? Fvck yeah! Well, parents are finding the metaphor directly applies to this test, and they are doing something.
Opting-out or now, since the test is in progress, keeping your kid out, is the only reasonable action left for parents to take… especially if they truly love their kids.
Anyone who tries or even if well meaning, argues over things like “policy” and “rigor” and “college and career ready” while children are being ruined every single day, is an obfuscater. Pure and simple. Trying to cloud up the water so no one sees the balls of shit flowing by, and encouraging others to drink it, swearing it on his own opinion, is it safe to do so… “It’s just a “little” cloudy.”
Right now, anything Jacques says is meaningless. Thorough him and his actions, children are being abused… Flat out! Mentally and psychologically, if not physically or sexually.
Anonymous: Thank you for illustrating the kind of ignorant person who whines about Common Core. Math has been taught that way to grade-schoolers since the 1970s. Your inability to understand it is your problem, along with millions of other American ignoramuses.
Trying to discredit teaching methods by showing that mouth-breathing Americans don’t understand them undermines your argument pretty badly.
And, of course, none of the curriculum is what “Common Core” actually is.
I’m going to give this a shot, based on my daughter’s experience (She’s a senior and will be graduating this year, so no more standarized testing for her, other than her IB exams).
It seems (I’m not sure) some schools are still giving DCAS (Delaware Comprehensive Assessment System) – DCAS replaced DSTP. That test was given 3 times a year (Fall, Midyear, Spring) with immediate results. The idea behind this test was that teachers could track their students progress over the year and also to be able to address problems in real time.
Smarter Balanced will be given once a year (spring), be sent out for grading with results coming back… after the school year ends? Sorry, I should know this. Guess I’m not the only one with Senioritis in my house.
I’m really not sure of any other tests. Guess you could include PSAT, SAT, AP, IB, ect. in high school, but I doubt Markell is speaking about them.
From what I’ve heard there’s been a lot of time spent on test preparation – not just teaching to the test (because that does take up a lot of time), but in teaching students how to actually use the software program. If true, then that alone is a problem.
I don’t have a problem with Common Core Standards. I do have a problem with the SBA. My daughter took it last year (her school was a pilot school) and said it was a mess – poorly written, confusing (it didn’t always say what to find for. She went with “x”, but the correct answer could have been “y”) and in some cases unable to accept the correct answer (There was a graph question that required two numbers, like 33, 59, but the test would only allow one number).
Personally, I think Markell’s speech was an attempt to stop people from opting out of the SBA and had little to do with any other test (most of which would be replaced by SBA). Basically, I think it was a stunt – a way to say, “Hey, people are upset with standardized tests… well, l I’ll get rid of tests that don’t count and most of which would be going away anyway.”
Three tests a year sounds insane, if we’ve moved from 3 to 1, that definitely seems like a common sense step in the right direction.
So, it sounds like the problem now is not LESS testing, but more having the correct test. Unless there’s an argument for no standardized testing at all? Which wouldn’t make much sense to my layperson perspective. I guess it’s also about the emphasis on testing, that it’s too high. How much does the testing count towards teacher’s evaluations? And, I assume the testing is high stakes for whether students advance to the next grade, get placed in certain reading/math levels, etc?
I don’t mean to keep being the one like “Please explain everything to me”….but the none of this kind of CORE information is in the news paper articles OR, at least through my searching, publicly accessible online….its impossible to form an opinion without basic basic facts.
NCCAnon: it depends which grade for number of tests. Some grades and subjects are still with DCAS, and others with SBA. A mixed bag even for the same grade. For instance, 7th grade social studies is still DCAS, but Math is SBA. Also, different districts or even buildings could also be using their own “side” evaluations in testing or prepping, whether it’s MAP, Terranova, NW, etc..depending if that’s where they want to spend their money and they have it for their building. Regardless, they all get PSAT and SAT. SBA isn’t ready yet for social studies–or it wasn’t–for this year of big data, maybe next year…….
Once you cut away all the BS, we call this “high stakes” testing for the students, but it’s really high stakes for teachers and schools.
A student who scores less than proficient is not going to be held back. He/she will be promoted to the next grade where he/she will likely fall farther behind.
However, the more kids who score less than proficient, the more likely the school will be ranked poorly, and thus in more danger of being classified as a “partnership school,” a “priority school,” or whatever the six-figure name-callers at DOE decide to call it.
And their teachers will also be stigmatized, for their students will have failed to register adequate yearly progress.
And it won’t matter one bit how much baggage the kids carry with them into school each day, or whether the schools have adequate resources to teach them well.
If the testing program was about the kids, the results would be available during the school year … and there would be testing a couple of times during the year (as with DCAS) … but the tests would be used to identify where the kids need extra help, and not to put teachers’ jobs on the chopping block and to threaten sanctions on schools that lack the resources to carry out their mission.
Louisiana… I can find stats too that show Private school grads receive more scholarship money than public grads. The public school system needs top to bottom reform and until that happens the schools in most areas of DE will remain shit holes…
To add–my 4th grader takes MAP testing three times per year, which to my understanding is a better measure of her abilities and actually shows teachers where kids are lacking understanding so they can residuals it? (What I have been told). Some 4th graders also had to take NAEP testing “random” schools chosen–I opted my kid out of that one….Smarter Balanced is looming down over her….a child with dyslexia and an IEP. So for this spec ed student she has potentially faced 5 tests this year but over numerous days and hours. Last year for her DCAS we had lots of tears, no sleep and anxiety over her need to receive “4’s” on that test….she did, but it wasn’t without MANY sessions, chunking and support from her teacher one on one–which most schools don’t have the luxury to give. She scored 4’s but what does it mean to her now?—NOTHING. (But a bad memory) Making a 4th grader who reads on a 2nd grade level endure FIVE tests just this year is cruelty in my mind!!
Here is a novel idea; Why don’t we let the educators, educate! The Governor has been pushing common core and many states who adopted it are dropping it.
Joanne is correct that there is variation to every grade. However, there are also “Measure B” tests which is a pretext at start of course and a post is taken at end. The state designed theses tests to measure teacher effectiveness for those teachers who do not teach ela it math. As children progress in school (late midlle/high school ) they are able to take other course areas. Therefore, high school kid could easily have the pre/post in each class, definitely the INTERIM smarter ela and smarter math, + possible state End of Course + course final exams (college bound) + possible PSAT/ SAT and even AP and then the real Smarter ELA and Smarter math. You can see hoe testing becomes punitive. As a teacher, I oppose this excessive testing as an advocate for students best interests . A large percentage of these test fall in a small end of the year window. To the student, only PSAT/ SAT, course finals and AP are where they focus in advancement. The other tests are for people not relative to their direct learning and often devalued. I can best describe this from a secondary level but I believe the elementary may have a valuable process to share. Here is a novel idea…ask the kids! After all, it is their education ! They are more aware than you realize.
dstp was administered over 6 days in march plus make up days. the tests were scored in texas after being shipped from the schools. results were reported in july. there was also a social studies and science component. dtsp was very expensive.
kids used to take dcas three times a year each for english and math. 4th 8th and 11th took science i believe and 7th took social studies. i believe a lot of the questions were the same although the score results were immediate. about five days of testing for the kids.
in the current format students are supposed to take smarter balanced twice a year. most schools opted not to take the mid year test this year because it wasn’t required and the schools had to score them. the spring assessment will take about five days and these scores will not be available until july.
the governor is basically saying that you can do away with the assessments you create for your classroom, just leave his alone. there is huge money tied to these tests and the curriculum that is sold to help the kids pass them.