About a year ago, I came across Peg with a Pen. Her blog fascinated me… and exposed me… to so much information I hadn’t been aware of before. Have you ever had one of those moments when you were handed a nugget of knowledge, and with it, there could be no going back? Peggy Robertson’s words instantly traveled off the page and made their way into my heart. The truth has a way of doing that to a person. The realization I had been handed a set of lies was startling. As educators, we often embrace ideologies without question.

I began to question.

And I found Peg with a Pen.

I hope you will spend some time getting to know her too. She is one of those gifts, meant to grace our earth, and reveal truth to the innocent and unknowing. More of us need to spend time unraveling the tangled web, research with eyes wide open, and understand what is happening to our children, teachers, and schools… The maze is complex, yet the interconnection between all the major players slithers from dot to dot, and leads to the same dark cave every time. There are powerful people in high places making decisions with the purpose of making large profits off of our children.

How are they doing this?

Write a set of standards, don’t involve educators, offer large sums of money to educational organizations to gain support, write expensive tests designed to fail 70% of children, track every student from womb to work, and develop products to sell to schools to use to help children pass the test.

What if you found out it was the same people involved in each of these steps?

Would that give you pause?

I sure hope so.

So, if you haven’t had the honor, let me introduce you to Peggy Robertson, administrator and founder of United Opt-Out. She is an instructional coach in an elementary school, like myself, and resides in Colorado. Her perspective, from inside the walls of a poverty school, will enlighten anyone who is ready to lift their head out of the sand, and learn the truth.

Just within the past few days, I was honored by Peggy accepting my friend request on Facebook.  The first post I read, written by her, reached out to me and shook me from within.

Why?

Because the story she shared is nearly identical to my own.

Story Four

Peg’s Post,

“So this is what it looks like in elementary schools in Aurora, CO today. CMAS (Colorado’s state test) for fifth grade.   DRA2 testing for everyone and PALS testing plus DRA2 for our READ act kiddos (remember our children with the greatest need get tested the most). TS Gold and god knows what else for kindergarten. All due by May 8^th.

I spend my days walking around with my computer testing kids with PALS and/or helping teachers figure out how the hell to keep the ENRICH goals/data up to date online.

Meanwhile teachers are all completing their teacher evaluations which are 31 pagers long I believe, and require filling in so many bubbles – I think I counted 270 – plus leaving comments and adding evidence (which I refuse to do because it’s BS). After you click on all these bubbles, etc. etc., you are supposed to go in and type comments about how you are meeting your goals – of which none of us have a clue what our goals are anymore by the time we’ve filled the damn thing out. All of this online, of course, a data mining extravaganza. Just a side note: did you know a military evaluation for employees is only 2 to 3 pages long?

Back to the reality in my school…

I am truly the data manager and data collector.

If anyone expects this to stop anytime soon, all parents must refuse all these corporate tests. I want to quit, but I can’t imagine leaving the children alone in there with no one on watch to expose it… and… we need more teachers to expose it.   Next year, we must have more teachers on board, educating and speaking the truth to these parents in urban areas.

The revolution is truly just beginning. It tipped this year, but now we’ve got to flood the airwaves, the neighborhoods, and drown out the messaging, the testing, and the arrogance of politicians and business folks who continue to spout untruths to save a test and punishing system which harms children, while keeping the light focused on the wrong folks. We must turn this light on the POLITICIANS who continue to attempt to keep a system in place, which denies reality of social policies, and MUST change if we ever hope to end child poverty and truly create equitable and democratic schools.”

Concluding Thoughts

She is right.

Does any of her short story resonate with you?

Anything she writes sound familiar?

Is your school saturated with tests?

Mine is.

WaKids for Kindergarten, DRA, ELA Curriculum Tests, Math Topic Tests, Math Mid Module Tests, Math End of Module Tests, Math Exit Tickets, ELA SBA Practice Tests, Math SBA Practice Tests, ELA Practice Performance Tasks, Math Practice Performance Tasks, Amplify Interim Assessments, Amplify Quick Checks, (next year add Amplify Benchmark Assessments), and the SBA Snake itself. For 5^th graders add the MSP Science Test and the state Social Studies Test.

Next year, schools will have to implement State Superintendent Dorn’s technology standards in Washington State starting at kindergarten.   All tested of course. It seems all the school’s computers will be used for… is testing. I’m interested in how we are supposed to teach keyboarding and technology standards, let alone use the computers for quality instruction and research, when they are consistently unavailable because they’re ransacked by curricular, district, and state tests?

When does this end?

Listen to Peg.

It is time to drown the serpent and OPT OUT.

We need more parents and educators to speak up and speak out.

Our children need us to expose the Viper.

It’s time.

My blood is boiling… is yours?

Passionately Submitted,

RAZ ON FIRE

References:

1.  Peg With a Pen

2.  United Opt Out

3.  Opt Out Washington

Finally, the Spokesman Review prints a story about The SBA Test. It has already been established in my first two stories, story (one) and (two), how the venomous reptile has entered our schools. The harmful practices bleed into high schools.  This article fully discloses the stupidity of the constant testing of our children and steers the reader to the invalidity of the reasons being given to…

test

Test

TEst

TESt

TEST.

Jill Barville, correspondent,  wrote eloquently of her own reasons for opting her 11^th grader out of The SBA. Her article appeared in the Spokesman Review on Friday, April 24, 2015.

In order to expose how this looks at the upper grades, I will highlight some of Jill’s statements capturing the essence of her article. If you are interested in the full article, click (here).

Story Three

“Normally, I’m a compliant complainer. I’ll follow the rules, however asinine, while rolling my eyes and making sarcastic jokes in the back of the room.

This month is different. I’m joining some rebels with a cause. Sort of. I’m opting my 11th-grader out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium test.

As a Running Start student at Eastern Washington University he’d miss four days of college classes in order to take a test that’s supposedly designed to “accurately measure student progress toward college and career readiness,” as stated in a letter from our school district.

We already know he’s ready for college-level work. He’s in college classes.

As an aside, I’d like to thank his teachers for preparing him so well, despite how many hours they had to skip teaching because they were stuck administering tests.

Our decision to opt out was a no-brainer. That’s the kind of decision that’s so obvious you could make it even if you’re a scarecrow without a brain.”

This is interesting when considering State Superintendent, Randy Dorn, just sent a blanket letter out to high school students and parents expressing how important these tests are and how much they are a predictor of college readiness.

Bunk.

Jill went on to write,

“We’d also opt him out if he were still taking high school classes, where instruction is canceled for four days for juniors taking the test. Haven’t they been tested enough?

I can hardly count the number of tests he’s taken over the years, like the reading proficiency tests in elementary school that made him think he was stupid when he just wasn’t developmentally ready to read. That took years to overcome. Then there was the controversial WASL, followed by the MSP, HSPE and end-of-year exams.

To top off all that testing, juniors with college aspirations are steeped in additional standardized tests thanks to the PSAT, SAT and ACT. He’s taken two out of three so far this year. So why do we need another new test in 11th grade?”

Ye$, Mr. $uperintendent Dorn, why do we need another new te$t?  Could it be to fill the pocket$ of the te$ting companie$?  Between the Robo-call made a few week$ ago, and now the blanket email from $uperintendent Dorn, I wonder what the next deceptive $trategy will be to encourage people to drink the cider-aid pre$$ed from the poisonous apples?

Jill did her digging.  Like me, if anyone spends just an itsy bitsy amount of time, the absurdity surfaces.

This is what Jill’s quarrying found,

“I turned to smarterbalanced.org for answers. Maybe I was missing something. I hoped to find a compelling reason that this test is an effective use of educational time and money.

According to the site, the SBAC is designed to “gauge which students leave high school with the English and mathematics knowledge and skills necessary for entry-level, transferable, credit-bearing work.”

In short, are students ready to take college classes that count toward graduation?

This sounds a lot like the SAT and ACT, which the College Board website states, “are designed to measure students’ skills and help colleges evaluate how ready students are for college-level work.”

But don’t start celebrating, students. The SBAC isn’t replacing the SAT or ACT. You’ll still want to take those tests unless you know your university of choice isn’t one of the thousands that require one of them.

The SBAC marketing material concedes it won’t replace the SAT but asserts it’s different, that the SAT is for admissions and the SBAC isn’t. Huh.”

As an educator, I find her following statements the most endearing.  She uncovers the cry of my heart, as I witness the sacrifice of time for authentic learning experiences being replaced with test prep and testing.

At Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane, the computers are tied up for 64 days due to the testing.  There are 180 days in a school year. One third, 33% of the year, this school’s schedule revolves around the constant testing.

“While I agree some periodic standardized testing is necessary and important, I’m concerned with how much time my children have spent in school taking tests when they could have been doing science experiments, reading literature, discussing politics, making music or art, and learning new math skills.

Testing is only one part of the picture.

Our public schools are staffed with educators who have demonstrated their qualifications and expertise through college degrees, teacher certification, and ongoing clock hours and education. Most of them have also earned highly qualified status. Their expert assessment of student achievement and progress should not be minimized.”

In my twenty-five years of being an educator, I have seen the continual erosion of how I am treated as a highly, qualified professional.   More and more canned curricular materials are being force fed to teachers, espousing their silver bullets (which they never are), with strict guidelines to follow the lock step programs. The problem with this philosophy is we are teaching children, not robots.  Innovative and creative teaching creates innovative and creative children.

I agree with Jill’s final thoughts,

“I’ve been a compliant complainer about testing for years. But the discussion this opened in our family makes me think I’ll soon be a full-fledged rebel, pushing back against excessive standardized testing because enough is enough.

My son said, “Mom, it’s not going to change until my generation has kids. We know what it’s like to take so many tests and we won’t want that for our kids.”

I don’t want it for mine, either.”

Jill Barville writes twice a month about families, life and everything else. She can be reached at jbarville@msn.com.

A Correspondent with a conscience. (emphasis mine)

Concluding Thoughts

This certainly isn’t what I want for my young son.

There is way too much testing starting way too young. The over testing is stealing hours and days of instructional time. More testing is not the answer. Quality and actively engaged instruction is the key.

My son is only eight and we are facing this toxic testing craze. We can’t wait for the next generation to fix it. Parents and educators need to stand up for our children now!

This testing IS harmful to children. Period.

What message are we sending them?

• A test score is the end all be all?
• A test score at 8 years old shows whether a child is on track for college?
• A high score on a test means they have a bright future and a low score dooms them to failure?

Bunk.

Snakewash.

It is time to starve this scaly beast and OPT OUT.

Passionately Submitted,

RAZ ON FIRE

References:

1. If you are at all interested in following the money in this SBA slithering mess, you may find it interesting to look at how much money has flowed to Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), and what interest Randy Dorn may have in saving face by allowing the poisonous snake into our state.

Dora Taylor (Seattle Education), exposes this in:

“State Superintendent Randy Dorn’s “interpretation” of the Common Core SBAC testing and opting out: Truthiness in education”

Let’s just get real.  Right from the get go.

Let’s call a snake a snake.

The SBA is a snake.

It coils itself around classrooms and injects its poison into the hearts, minds, and spirits of everyone it touches.

Story Two

This next story came to me from a parent of a 3^rd grader living in Pasco, WA.  As you read this story consider the time element and impact this test has on classroom instruction time.

The Parents Letter

I have a 3rd grader that I have opted out/refused SBAC.  His class took the ELA part April 14th and 16th.  The math portion is scheduled for May 5 and 7. I kept my child home with the plan being, I would take him into school as soon as testing was over, around lunchtime. 

Tuesday, I called and spoke with the teacher at noon and she had two still testing, but they were being moved to another room to finish. She said I could go ahead and bring my child in for the remainder of their day. 

Thursday, I called her at 12:17.  She said no one was finished yet.  She also had no idea how much longer they were going to be.  She said she had a student in tears. She began to cry as she was telling me this. She is a 24 year veteran third grade teacher.  Together, we decided it would be best to keep my child home for the remainder of the day.  My son and I went in after school to take his wonderful teacher a gift to cheer her up.  I spoke with her and another teacher regarding their day.

Here is a bit more detail regarding Thursday, the second day of testing for these children. School begins at 9:00, she had a “lesson” to teach prior to them starting the test. This “lesson” gives the students the context for what they will be facing in the ELA Performance Task. By 9:30, the class was logging on and beginning their test.  They all were still working on the test at lunch time. The students have lunch at 11:55.  They were given a short lunch break.  They had been given bathroom breaks. The kids began again after lunch.  School is out at 3:40.  There were students still testing at 3:35.  Those students did not finish. 

These children are 8 and 9 years old. 

They did not go to recess because there is the chance that these children would discuss the test with other children who had already finished. (Because when you are 8 or 9, cheating on a test is the only thing on your mind.) 

The other teacher had two students finish the test in 35 minutes.  Another class had about 25 finish by lunch.  There are five 3rd grade classes at this school.  There are about 28-29 students in each class, so approximately 145 students are in 3rd grade. 

Out of the 5 classes, one teacher is retiring, one is not coming back after the birth of her second child, and a third is trying to decide if she will retire this year.  All due to the testing and teaching to the test.  They want to teach.  They don’t want to teach their kids how to test.

Currently, this week the children are MAP testing. This is ANOTHER test required of the children by the district and involves a day of testing ELA, and another to test Math, also on the computer. Add the Math portions of the SBA coming in May and this equals 3 weeks in a row of testing for 3rd grade.

I only know of one other child in 3rd grade that was opted out/refused in this school.  There will be more in the higher grades (4^th & 5^th) because word is getting out parents can opt their children out.

Teachers will talk in private, they hate the testing.  They hate what they “have” to teach.  I have a relative that teaches 3rd grade in the next city over and she said “Thank You!” when I told her I was not allowing my three kids to take the SBAC. I personally am very involved with my younger kid’s school and the district.  I have talked to so many people within this district, teachers, administrators, parents, PAE.  The staff are walking the fine line they have to. 

I don’t have to. 

I can and will speak up for all these kids. 

I have to! 

Our kids, our country, they depend on me and others like me to speak up.  Our children are NOT getting the education a country like the United States should provide.  We are not a leader in education.  We are not making these children ready for college or life by teaching them to the test.

Sincerely,

A Parent of a 3^rd grader with a conscience (emphasis mine) 

Concluding Thoughts

Ask yourself if you really believe the above four components only take a 3^rd grader 8 hours.

Dare the truth be exposed?  Some (many?) District Offices, Departments of Ed, and others are saying, “This testing only takes 8 hours.”

Another bold faced lie.

Deceptive.

These children often take two days on the ELA performance task, and there are still 3 other test days, some of these sucking up more than one day, depending on the class and the students.

Do the powers that be think they are getting valid and reliable results from these young minds? How many adults sit from 9 – 2:55 in front of a computer with only a 30 minute lunch break…  facing question after question requiring high levels of reasoning.

REALLY?

Educated adults are for this?

Educated adults in charge, casting their votes, want to continue to pour billions of dollars into testing?

For what?

This is horrific and wrong and awful and unethical and putrid and poisonous to the core.

It is time to starve this scaly monster and OPT OUT.

The venomous testing snake is here.

Unless, of course, we slay the reptile.

My blood is boiling… is yours?

Passionately Submitted,

RAZ ON FIRE

It’s only the first few weeks of the Smarter Balanced Assessment and already stories of its poisonous venom are striking into our children’s lives. This is only the beginning. More of these stories will be cascading in, as the toxic testing continues.

The testing puts our children in developmentally inappropriate conditions as they are made to peck at their keyboards. The performance tasks require paragraphs. This test is discriminatory in more than a handful of ways, and it is definitely not a tool to measure how well our children are doing in school.

The stories of threats to those opting out are seeping into the walls of Washington State Schools, including to the children themselves, who are being told at school without their parent present… “if they don’t take the test they will have to repeat the grade, not be allowed to go to the next grade, or go to summer school.” This is rotten to the poisonous core.

Deceptive.

A bold face lie.

This story is the first in a series as I know there will be many, many more.  It comes right out of my home school district, Spokane Public Schools. I have opted to protect the names of the principal, teacher, and the school this occurred, to maintain their confidentiality. The saddest part is all the people involved are wonderful educators who I admire and respect. They too are victims in this toxic web.

The teacher sent this letter to the union president, Jenny Rose, of Spokane Education Association. This teacher made the request it be sent onto me, as well as the WEA President Kim Mead, and all legislators. I was asked to publish it on this blog.

The Letter:

Hi Jenny,

I recently sent you a copy of a letter that my principal wrote to the parents of my students regarding an SBAC testing screw up.  My third graders had to retake the SBAC ELA (non-performance) assessment because the state issued the wrong test to my students last month.

Once we discovered the mix up, my principal did his best to fight the state testing administrators to accept responsibility for the error they created.  But, we were told that my students had to retake the assessment.

So, we started the make-up process this past week.  Due to a tight building testing schedule, my students had to take the SBAC Performance Task Assessment AND re-take the SBAC ELA Assessment (non-performance).

Needless to say, this past school week was extremely stressful for my students. Monday through Wednesday was wall to wall testing. There was no teaching happening those three days.  By late Wednesday, my principal and I realized we needed to let students finish the ELA Nonperformance assessment (retake) in order to meet a state imposed deadline. So, Thursday morning, nearly half my class spent more time testing.  Again, no formal teaching due to kids on computers testing. Yesterday (Friday) was the first full day of the week I was able to teach any of my time bound curriculum.

Jenny, I am providing you this detailed narrative so that you can add this example to future SBAC talking points with our members, the media and our state legislature. I just finished reading a letter to the editor (Seattle Times) written by Kim Mead. In that letter she indicated that other third grade classrooms, one in Richland and the other in Mukilteo, experienced the same testing fiasco that I am currently trying to correct.

In conclusion, I am disgusted by what has happened to my 8 and 9 year old students.  As their teacher, I’m feeling defeated and helpless. Starting Monday morning, I have about 11 students who still need to wrap up the ELA Performance Task Assessment. And, another day will be spent testing and not learning.

Sincerely,

A 3^rd grade Teacher with a conscience (emphasis mine)

Concluding Thoughts

This is a tragedy and a disgrace to our current educational system.

• How can the results possibly be valid and reliable for these students?
• How can the legislators even think about using this test to measure the value of a teacher?
• Who can justify the money being spent on this test (billions) denying our public schools low class size and decent compensation for those serving our future?

It is time to starve this monster and OPT OUT.

The venomous testing monster is here.

Unless, of course, we slay the beast.

My blood is boiling… is yours?

Passionately Submitted,

RAZ ON FIRE