Category Archives: High Stakes Tests

A High School View of the Reptilian SBA… Story Three… Spokane, WA

High Stakes Tests, Opt Out of Tests, Series: The SBAC Snake

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 11th 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

SBAC 3A

“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.”

Alfie Kohn 2

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”

The Venomous SBA Strikes Again… Story Two… Pasco, WA

High Stakes Tests, Opt Out of Tests, Series: The SBAC Snake

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 3rd 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 (4th & 5th) 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 3rd grader with a conscience (emphasis mine) 

Concluding Thoughts

Ask yourself if you really believe the above four components only take a 3rd 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

The SBAC Seeps with Poison… Story One… Spokane, WA

High Stakes Tests, Opt Out of Tests, Series: The SBAC Snake

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.

Poison Apple 8The 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 3rd 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

Mirror Mirror on the Wall… Beware of Apples Dripping with Common Core Poison

Apples Dripping with Common Core Poison, Common Core Standards, High Stakes Tests

Mirror mirror on the wall,

Who is the most deceptive of all?

Snow White

Poison Apple 9

A lovely child I see.

Rags cannot hide her innocent face.

Alas, she is more honest than thee.

Lips red full of questions filled with curiosity.

Hair speckled with creativity.

Skin colored with diversity.

The Evil Queen

Alas!  Who is this evil queen?

Who plots to feed our children apples laced with poison?

Is college and career ready truly the reason?

The Hunter

At first she summoned a kind hearted man,

Who disagreed with the queen’s devious plan.

The hunter loved Snow White, an admiring fan,

He spared her life, cut out a deer’s heart, into the forest she ran.

The Apple

One apple will no longer suffice,

it is masses the Empress must now entice.

Children see shiney and red,

innocently eating the venom they’re fed.

 

One juicy bite lulls parents and educators to sleep in their bed,

slumbering soundly convinced of standards state led,

and dreams of warm sand buries their head.

 

Still others willingly sip its arsenic cider instead,

guaranteeing the deception will certainly spread.

Motivated by greed and using their powers,

they push through the contagion from money laced towers.

The Seven ‘Giantly’ Dwarfs

Behold! The growing numbers kissed awake from the dead,

For Snow White, their life blood freely shed.

The grass roots movement shouting truth from roof tops,

Dispelling the lies with their fact saturated mops.

The Tangled Labyrinth

I consider my own journey through this labyrinth of common core. The ideology originally shared, my innocent heart passionate for kids, soaked in the information, returned to my school and began assisting others in its implementation. This being the fourth set of standards in 13 years, once again, I helped teachers transition from the last set of standards to these new common core standards. I was biting and chewing the bright red apple, attending professional development sessions, learning new curricular materials filled with silver bullets of rigor, and obeying the charge given to me, just as the hunter obeyed the queen… at first… that is…

As time passed, and I looked into the eyes of Snow White, an undercurrent of bitterness hit my tongue as I continued to chew. What? What is this vinegary taste?

I held up the apple, examining its core…

Behold! My eyes saw the rancorous folklore.

I threw the black apple with all putrid garbage, indeed!

Opened my computer and researched until my fingers did bleed.

A year and a half free from the contagion,

Exterminating the propaganda, now my one true mission.

Poison Apple 19

The Common Standards… Poisonous to the Core.

From the inception of the idea of the common core standards, to the gathering of the key writers, to the actual writing of the ELA and Math portions from 2009 – 2010, to forming a validation committee putting their stamp of approval upon them, to the implementation nationwide thereafter…

  • How would you go about pitching the ideology to the multitudes?
  • How would you saturate the states to adopt the belief these standards solve every woe education faces today?
  • How would you make the apple appear?

For Sale… Cider Pre$$ed Poison 

Poison Apple 6The key players behind common core had to concoct a plan. They knew sending the wicked witch herself wouldn’t work. “Here, my sweet, eat this delicious apple,” Cackle Cackle.

  • Who would you pay to sell the apples?
  • Who would you get to hand out the apples?
  • Who would you put out in front of the public testifying to its crisp, sweet juiciness? Someone who seemed trustworthy? Credible? Innocent?
  • How would you convince someone to take a bite?

As the money hungry players contrived their devious scheme, they discovered a problem as they plotted and planned…

Poison 17It’s not just Snow White they needed to deceive,

but an entire Kingdom who must be made to believe.

Handing out apples worked for awhile,

but too many discovered its bitterness vile.

Voices were raised, and heard through the press,

the truth surfaced, despite the attempt to depress.

“What now?” The queen declares! “One apple at a time is no longer enough. We must increase our efforts to hand the multitude some fluff.”

The fallacious key players all agreed,

a change in strategy was needed indeed.

The apples discovered, less were taking a bite,

Thence the idea of the cider press took flight.

Million$ and billion$ of apple$ were gathered, and placed in the cider machine.

Poison Apple 14No longer an apple to bite,

the juice now ready for anyone to delight.

They found a willing player and recorded his voice,

into the homes of everyone who had no choice.

A Robo-call went out costing someone a pretty penny.

Who would drink this juice? Would it be many?

“Hi- I’m Lyon Terry, the 2015 Washington State Teacher of the Year. I’d like to talk to you about the Common Core State Standards. All children deserve a high quality education to pursue whatever path they choose. That journey starts with high expectations and tools so teachers and parents know how their students are doing. As a teacher I know each student is unique but to succeed there is a basic set of skills that all students need. That’s what Common Core is all about, and Smarter Balanced tests help us measure how each student is doing on these basic skills. Learn more at ReadyWA.org.“

Poison Apple 5The call was sponsored by ReadyWA.org., an organization supported by Washington Roundtable. Washington Roundtable’s motto is, “Building demand for education reform in Washington” and is linked to Partnership for Learning. Partnership for Learning is supported by contributors; Thomas Fordham Foundation, Achieve, Bill & Melinda Gates, and Center for American Progress, amongst others.

This newly announced Teacher of the Year (a member of Teachers United) may very well be an outstanding 4th grade educator worthy of this award. However, has he partaken and slurped from the Cider Press Poison?  Which is he… I wonder? The one lulled to sleep with misinformation, the hunter who obeys and hides his true heart, or a joiner of the money mob willingly sipping and spreading the deception?

Whatever the case, he let his voice be used… the words toxic vapors reaching into our homes.  The motive is known, it came from the queen, to encourage the populace to drink the spiked cider-aid.  How many more will the apple drippings affect, and who will rise up and fight this mess?

The SBAC does not measure our children’s basic skills.

The common core standards are flawed with countless ills.

Do not allow yourself to be confused,

These two things are the cause of children being abused.

In the future, if you hear more of the same,

it isn’t too hard to dig and discover who is to blame.

Poison Apple 4

There are many organizations receiving benefit$ from the apple cider pre$$. 

Be leery! Beware!

Poison 15

Other recipients of funds from the Gates Foundation:

  • www.CRPE.org  (Center on Reinvention of Public Education)   A group currently focused on Washington State, with the goal of turning school systems into “Strategic Portfolio Districts” like Chicago, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and New York.   Spokane and Seattle School Districts are both working alongside CRPE with aims towards their mission.
  • www.Edreports.org  A curricula materials research organization who interestingly found Eureka Math the “only” math program meeting all the criteria necessary to align with common core.  Even more interesting, Eureka Math, once EngageNY Math, has history of funding from the Gates Foundation.Poison 16
  • Stand For Children
  • Teachers United
  • National PTA
  • Teachers Plus
  • Business Alliance for Education
  • National Governors Association
  • American Enterprise Institute
  • American Federation of Teachers
  • Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
  • Council of Great City Schools
  • Educational Trust
  • National Congress of Parents and Teachers
  • National Education Association
  • Thomas B. Fordham Institute

The list goes on and on… weaving into the dark, dangerous woods… See References.

The Song of the ‘Giantly’ Dwarfs

Poison Apple Dwarf

 We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig in a mine the whole day through

To dig dig dig dig dig dig dig is what we like to do

 Hi ho, Hi ho

It’s off to work we go

Hi ho, Hi ho, Hi ho!

Those of us who have taken the time to dig, looking underneath the shiny, red skin, have found the illusion of an ideology masterminded by a handful of self-serving philanthropists. We are the dwarfs who adore, love, and protect Snow White.

We work all day for very little pay,

but at night, we collaborate and write,

The wings of truth take flight.

Behold! The Dwarfs, who really aren’t small.

They are the kingdom’s GIANTS standing strong… standing tall.

The true ROYALTY accepting the call,

Delivering truth’s kiss to us all.

It is diamonds and gold that emerge from the mine,

singing a genuine line…

“Don’t sip the cider, or take a bite,

the common core standards all of us fight.

Hear what we say, we are as credible as he,

teachers and parents, full of integrity.”

Royal Dwarf One

Nancie Atwell, won the inaugural Global Teacher Prize, which intends to be the ‘Nobel Prize for teachers’, and comes with a prize of one million dollars which she donated to her school. On “New Day” she was asked what she would tell kids who wanted to be teachers when they grew up. She responded:

“Um, honestly, right now I encourage them to look in the private sector, because public-school teachers are so constrained right now by the Common Core standards, and the tests that are developed to monitor what teachers are doing with them. It’s a movement that’s turned teachers into technicians, not reflective practitioners. And if you are a creative, smart young person, I don’t think this is the time to go into teaching unless an independent school would suit you.”

Royal Dwarf Two

The second teacher, Stacie Starr, winner of the National Top Teacher Award in 2014, had this to say:

“I can’t do it anymore, not in this ‘drill ‘em and kill ‘em’ atmosphere. I don’t think anyone understands that in this environment if your child cannot quickly grasp material, study like a robot and pass all of these tests, they will not survive. Each and every day, I have to look in my students’ eyes and tell them I can’t help them because the state has decided they have to prove what they know…It’s just hard because, as teachers, we are playing a game where the rules keep changing.”

Starr resigned her teaching job as a direct result of the standards.

 Royal Dwarf Three

Cynthia Jones, an inductee into the National Teachers Hall of Fame told The Federalist:

“They’re saying to teachers, ‘This is going to help you,’ no it’s not. They say it’s going to be richer than your paper-and pencil-tests because it’s going to teach higher-level thinking skills. If you’re going to teach higher-level critical thinking, you teach higher-level critical thinking. The only thing I can find in their materials is because they’re going to ask children to write, it’s teaching critical thinking skills. No, it’s not. It’s asking children to write a line or explanatory paragraph. None of their major rationales hold water on just a cursory look. It’s bogus.”

Jones quit her teaching job after the principal of her school told her to shut down the class’ garden in order to spend more time teaching to the Common Core tests.

Royal Dwarf Four

Another nationally recognized teacher, Chasidy White, wrote an op-ed on her concerns with Common Core. She writes:

“One of my favorite writings about education from Dr. King is a paper entitled ‘The Purpose of Education.’ In it, he wrote ‘To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.

When I sit in faculty meetings about Common Core, I hear ‘curriculum specialists’ tell me that Common Core is here to stay and I must ‘embrace change.’ I am forced to drink the kool-aid. These specialists don’t tell us to search for facts about Common Core on our own, they simply tell us what the people paid to promote Common Core want us to know. Didn’t Dr. King want us to separate facts from fiction? Why are we only given information from sources paid to say Common Core is a good thing? Isn’t that the exact same type of propaganda Dr. King discussed in his writings about education? Shouldn’t we discuss why thousands of Americans are calling for a repeal of the standards?”

Royal Dwarf Five

Jamie Highfill, initially supported the standards, and even served on a committee to assist in their adoption. However, Highfill is now a vocal opponent of Common Core after seeing what it would do to her classroom. Highfill’s students were already the top performing students on the tests in her entire district, but in spite of this, she was still required to make changes to her lessons. She was asked to cut six weeks of poetry and fiction in favor of nonfiction texts. As she puts it:

“I can read the word ‘Camelot’ when we’re talking about the Kennedy administration, but if I don’t understand King Arthur, how can they understand the significance of that?”

Royal Dwarfs Six – Twelve

Seven Teacher of the Year Recipients from New York wrote a joint letter to their Governor (here). They wrote:

“We have also endured a difficult rollout of the Common Core Standards. A reasonable implementation would have started the new standards in kindergarten and advanced those standards one grade at a time. Instead, the new standards were rushed into all grades at once, without any time to see if they were developmentally appropriate or useful.

Then our students were given new tests—of questionable validity—before they had a chance to develop the skills necessary to be successful. These flawed tests reinforced the false narrative that all public schools—and therefore all teachers—are in drastic need of reform. In our many years of teaching, we’ve never found that denigrating others is a useful strategy for improvement.”

Royal Dwarfs Thirteen – Twenty Two

On April 2, 2015 a panel of experts was put together to speak truth in a Senate Hearing. Part One (here), featuring all ten panelists, captured critical nuggets of gold dismantling common core and the high stakes testing. This Hearing demolished the robo-call and countered the claim of the standards being “basic”.

Put the apple aside, and don’t sip the cider…

listen to these giants who dispel the evil spider.

The speakers included:

  • Senator Chase
  • Senator Roach
  • Dr. Diane Ravitch (Previous U.S. Assistant Secretary Department of Education, Education Historian, Author)
  • Raschelle Holland (Parent, recipient of national teaching awards, Instructional Coach)
  • Karen Larrssen (Parent Extraordinaire, Co-Administrator Washington Against Common Core Standards)
  • Dr. Wayne Au (University of Washington Professor, Historical Testing Specialist)
  • James Wilson (Co-Founder Truth in American Education)
  • Sharon Hanek (Education Watchdog, Researcher, National Presenter)
  • Sue Peters (Director of Seattle School Board)
  • David Spring (Author, parent, and teacher)

There are many other Royal and ‘Giantly’ Dwarfs throughout the land.  Mercedes Schneider, Anthony Cody, Dr. Sandra Stotsky, and Dr. James Milgram, to name just a few.  There are masses arising to join in this fight.

Who, my dear reader, who might you be?

 Walk to a mirror and look within.

Ask yourself, “Who have I been?”

The queen? The giver of poison and taker of profit$?

A servant of the queen? Doing her bidding and spreading the contagion?

The Hunter? Sparing Snow White her life, yet sending her into the dangerous forest alone? Closing your door, doing the best you can? Hiding your head? You’ve been spared the wrath of the queen, but Snow White is still in the forest unprotected and unsafe.

A Royal Dwarf, giant at heart? Digging and Working to save the princess? Protector of children, the future of the Kingdom?

What of the Prince?

Who could he be?

Could it be you or could it be me?

The one that holds the ultimate key?

It’s truth’s kiss that brings Snow White from her death,

Will you help her return to life’s breath?

 Poison Apple 22

The prince is simply… the deliverer of truth.

It does not take a super sleuth.

The caress of the lips depart honesty.

With this knowledge, it is this I plea…

 

Bright, shiny apples are not always what they seem to be,

Examine them closely, avoid the toxins and be set free.

Join the ‘giantly’ dwarfs in this fight for liberty,

a warrior leaving behind all complacency. 

Become a member of the royalty…

The Dwarfs have the heart of the Prince,

it is only the truth their mouths evince.

Be a part of this child crusade,

Offer your voice so their freedoms don’t fade.

 

Mirror mirror on the wall,

Who is the most deceptive of all?

Poison Apple 2

Passionately Written,

RAZ ON FIRE

References (Click on the title(s) below if interested in digging deeper):

  1. Have you received a robo-call from Ready Washington about the Wonders of Common Core and the SBAC?
  2. Teachers of the Year or Just TOYS for Billionaires
  3. The Assessment Itself is Completely Artificial, Noam Chomsky
  4. 6.1 Billionaire Fake Grassroots (Gates Money)
  5. Where Bill Gates Money is Going in Education World This Year
  6. Bill Gates bankrolls College and Career Ready programs, aka the Common Core Standards
  7. Stunning revelation Bill Gates has spent $2.3 Billion on Common Core – #PARCC
  8. Meet 5 Award-Winning Teachers Who Reject Common Core, By Joy Pullman (Royal Dwarfs #1-5)
  9. You Have Made Us the Enemy.  This is Personal. – 7 New York Teachers of the Year Blast Cuomo
  10. Senate Hearing (Part One) April 2, 2015. Olympia, WA
  11. Raz and Son, Our Testimony at the Senate Hearing, April 2, 2015
  12. Senate Hearing (Part Two) April 2, 2015. Olympia, WA

Senate Hearing… Our Testimony on Common Core… By Raz and Son

Common Core Standards, High Stakes Tests, Senate Hearing

Senate Hearing

Olympia, Washington

April 2, 2015

1)  Part One of Senate Hearing

2)  Part Two of Senate Hearing

Raz and Son (Part One): Minute 21:57 – 30:49

Good Afternoon Ladies, Gentlemen and Senators. I am Raschelle Holland, currently an Instructional Mathematics Coach from Spokane, Washington and this is my 8 year old son.

Son: “Good Late Afternoon, Ladies, Gentlemen and Senators.”

I would like to thank those of you who are sitting here today, to give us, parents and educators, a voice, to tell our stories regarding Common Core and the impact it is having as it ripples through the walls of our schools and homes and into the lives of our children.

Son: “A Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”   Abraham Lincoln

I am one of those people living in the trenches everyday alongside incredible educators working in a 90% poverty school. I am a National Congressional Teacher Scholar and National Board Certified since 2001, one of the first 100 in the state, and have facilitated several through the process since. I have been awarded the National Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics, the United States Senate Innovative Teacher Award, and the National Christa McAuliffe Fellowship Award. I’ve attended University of Washington, Whitworth University, and achieved a Master’s Degree from Gonzaga University. (Go Zags!) I am endorsed in Mathematics, Special Education, Psychology, and Elementary Education.

And… most importantly, I have spent 25 years working in Title One, low income schools.

I have a heart for these children. They are smart and courageous and face situations unfathomable. I could spend more than my allotted time telling you the stories from the trenches, of children with no running water, children living in homeless shelters, children from refugee camps in Africa who don’t speak one word of English, children who check their back packs several times throughout the day after receiving meals for the weekend on Friday mornings.

I am here, this late afternoon, vouching and standing for every single teacher who give their heart and soul to these children every single day.

The SBA takes way longer than 8 hours. It does. Children begin the test at 9:05 and many are still working at 2:55 for the ELA Performance Task. The same is true for the Math Performance Task. Young children whose hands barely span the key board, typing their answers.   Then there is another day for the ELA multiple choice and short answer test, then another day for the Math multiple choice and short answer test. Add to the plate, computerized interim tests developed by Amplify, to practice for the SBAC, to see if they are on track for the SBAC, and often, 4-5 months of the computers are tied up in a school year, doing testing.

Carol Burris,  New York Principal of the Year in 2013 said,

“I do not believe that any of the players in this project are evil people trying to control the minds of kids.  Rather they are true believers with an ideological allegiance to untested curriculum. The Common Core has some features that are good and others that are awful.”

For me, the awful part is the one size fits all approach demanding all children meet the same learning goals and targets at the same exact time.  Our children are not robots or machines spewing forth correct information on the spot lickety split.

What do we hold most dear in our children?

What is it we hope for them as they grow into their potentials?

Will standardization be the answer?

Rigor? The new favorite word traveling around the education world.

RIGORRRRRRRRRRR!

I, for one, am tired of hearing that any of us who question the standards in any way do not believe in high standards for our students. This is a huge untruth. We believe in high standards for each individual student from their individual starting point.

Is more Rigor the answer?

Higher, Longer, Deeper, Harder, Broader, More, and then younger and younger?

Is this the answer? Is this how learning works?

Let’s take a moment to examine this. One summer day, when my son was two, we attended a neighborhood pool party. A mom was going on and on and on about how her two year old son knew all of his alphabet letters, could say each one in order, and now he was mastering the letter sounds. I inquired as to how this had occurred? She shared how every day when her son took his bath, how she had him place the bath letters across the tile in order and then point to each letter and say their names. I looked at my son giggling in the sun, and I was pretty sure he didn’t know one letter yet, nor did I care, at that time. I just wanted him to play.

Hmmmmm… how is my son doing today at 8?   I just had his parent teacher conference and he is reading nearly two grade levels above 2nd grade. The other little boy moved away. I’m curious. I wonder what his reading level is today? Did knowing his letters at two become a predictor as to what kind of reader he would become? Better than his peers?

Have you ever looked up the definition of Rigor?

Son:

 “Georgie Porgie, Puddin’ and Pie,

Took some tests that made him cry,

When the computers came on in May,

Georgie Porgie ran away.”

Welcome to Georgie Porgie’s “rigorous” world.

I went to my friend, Merriam Webster, and the word is defined as:

  • rigor: the difficult and unpleasant conditions or experiences that are associated with something
  • rigor: the quality or state of being very exact, careful, or strict

Full Definition of RIGOR

  1. a (1) : harsh inflexibility in opinion, temper, or judgment :  severity (2) :  the quality of being unyielding or inflexible :  strictness (3) :  severity of life :  austerity  b :  an act or instance of strictness, severity, or cruelty
  2. a tremor caused by a chill
  3. a condition that makes life difficult, challenging, or uncomfortable; especially :extremity of cold
  4. strict precision : exactness <logical rigor>
  5. a : obsolete : rigidity, stiffness c :  rigor mortis
  6. b : rigidness or torpor of organs or tissue that prevents response to stimuli

Are we raising the rung so high our children can walk right under it?

What are we doing to our children in the name of rigor?

Are we letting go of those things that are not measurable?

Creativity.  Curiosity.  Innovative.  Imagination. 

Let’s examine a few of these standards.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.3 Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text.

This is 2nd grade.  Draw a connection between a series of historical events.

Let’s look at a kindergarten math standard.

K.OA.3  Decompose numbers less than or equal to 10 into pairs in more than one way, e.g. by using objects or drawings, and record each decomposition by a drawing or an equation.

I really don’t think there is any necessity for a five-year-old to use college level vocabulary to explain complex math terms when many still need to develop one-to-one correspondence. Of course, someone who supports common core would say that all they are doing is raising the bar. However, this is a bar that is twenty feet up and for most five year olds, impossible to master.

Here are the voices of teachers from Spokane:

“I don’t understand why any of these things are needing to be addressed. We know so much about stages of development…why are the ‘decision makers’ choosing to ignore what we know to be true and push forward with high stress, developmentally inappropriate standards…?  Completely baffling and a waste of everyone’s time. (Especially the children’s!!) You can buy an infant a two wheel bike and even set them on it every single day…they still will not ride it until they’ve learned everything that they need to learn first…until THEY are ready!! Seems so simple!!”

“They keep changing/raising the standard, but kids are essentially the same as they have always been. They are humans, not robots that can be reprogrammed at the whim of a given standard. It’s great, even important, to set and reach for high standards as long as we recognize that children develop at different rates because each one is a unique and precious creation that was never meant to fit into an idealistic matrix of rigid, time bound demands.”

Did these “Standard Setters” have a deep understanding of how our youngest learn? All considered, is anyone else pondering and reflecting upon the developmental appropriateness in our youngest children? The frontal cortex of the brain that is able to reason is not solidified until approximately 12 years old. Yes, classrooms in younger grades need exposure to higher order questioning, experiences, and thinking skills. However, this gives children the opportunity to grow their brains and ability to learn how to reason logically. To set standards of mastery, and to espouse that all children learn skills and concepts at the same exact time seem incredulous to me.

Do all babies walk by 6 months old?

Do all children say their first word in the same exact month?

Do all children learn to read at a DRA level of 4 by five years old?

To demand that all children learn skills and concepts at the same exact time and then to “test, test, test” in the early grades, and demand reasoning in performance in order to meet these standards, seems a far stretch and may very well be setting our children up for failure. This failure will not breed the love of learning or prepare them for their future paths.

How many years have we had in NCLB? Fourteen years? Isn’t this enough time to paint a pretty clear picture this standardized, one size fits all, standardized world…and the high stakes testing madness…

Does.   Not.    Work.

So… what’s our new solution?

Create yet another set of standards. More “rigorous” standards.

Spend billions more.

Allow testing companies to make huge profits (billions) off of our children, yet there seems to be no money to reduce class size or compensate the very people working in the trenches every single day with the future in their hands.

The individual state’s set of standards supposedly failed, so these National “Common” Standards are supposedly filled with magic bullets of “rigor”.  Rigor, the supposed cure all to every educational woe.

I respectfully disagree.

My son deserves more. 

My students deserve more. 

Our children deserve more. 

Children are meant to fly.

Diffferent Butterflies!

My Letter to Senator Baumgartner February 18th, 2015… Please listen to SB6030

Common Core Standards, High Stakes Tests

Good Morning Senator Baumgartner,

I am an accomplished, veteran educator of 25 years.   I am also a mommy of an 8 year old.  I have been rewarded with several national teaching awards including the United States Senate Innovative Teacher Award.   My full bio can be found (here).

I have taken it upon myself to research this past year regarding the Common Core State Standards and the SBAC test because things just weren’t sitting right in my gut.  I uncovered a wealth of information that raises red flags and I have become very, very concerned.  My concerns have heightened as I see what is happening in the walls of our public schools.  Webpages look wonderful as school districts highlight the wonderful things going on, but underneath the surface there is more to the story.

I am concerned regarding the lack of transparency to the public regarding the standards.   Randy Dorn agreed to adopt them on July 20, 2011.   Most of us educators didn’t hear a word until the year of 2012, ranging from the spring through the fall.  Why is this?  Why was there not a comprehensive review of these standards?

Why no elementary teachers on the writing committee?  Why no early childhood specialists?  500 Early Childhood specialists wrote a joint statement expressing their concerns with the K-3 standards.   I have heard many of them speak, and my awareness level has continued to increase.

Why the rush with these standards?  If they are so wonderful and so amazing, why no transparency?  Why the secrecy sworn by the validation committee?  Dr. Stotsky, the only ELA specialist serving on the validation committee did not endorse the standards and refused to sign.  This is true of the only Math specialists.  He wouldn’t sign either.

This is concerning.

Dr. Stotsky is speaking throughout the country to raise awareness.  She speaks eloquently as to why the standards are flawed.  They truly are Senator Baumgartner.  I have links and information showing how the SBAC test was written in a hurried manner and is being found to be invalid and unreliable.

I feel so strongly about this I have started a National Blog.  “My All Babies Walking By Six Months Old… A Satire on the Common Core Charade” has been read by 30,000 people across the United States and in about 86 countries, the last time my son looked at my stats.  Please read: (here).

I also have been so moved by the idea of teacher evaluations being linked to the SBAC.    I am so tired of people claiming it is because us teachers don’t want to be accountable…  I am accountable to my students every single day.   There are so many layers to tying test scores to teachers performance….  there are simply way to many variables.  I feel so strongly about this I wrote another article called:  A Tale of Two Teachers…. Linking Teacher Evaluations to a Test… Lunacy.

I am passionate about teaching and working with teachers… I have been an instructional coach for many years and served as a District Math Coordinator in my previous school district.   In October, I just switched schools and went to the poorest school in Spokane, WA…  90 poverty and given an F rating by Washington State….  We have 15 new staff members willing to teach these wonderful children.   Many come to us 2-3 years delayed.

I believe the SBAC test will be discriminatory and will not give accurate information about what our children know.   Doing a test on a computer, expecting children to type their reasoning of how they solved math problems and type algebra equations at 8, 9, 10, 11 is so unreasonable.  It will not get at the heart of what they know.  Their hands are developing fine motor skills, some more advanced, some less.   Will the better typers score better?

In my school only 2-4 kids in a class have access to the internet at home.   My son goes to a affluent school on the south hill.  He gets fed a hot breakfast every morning… goes to school with a packed healthy cold lunch… he is secure… so are all of his classmates.  My son spends time on his iPad and computer at home.  We research nightly…

The achievement gap widens.

How will my 8 year old perform compared to children that have none of what he has?

How can we compare?

My heart is so sickened by what I am seeing in the walls of the schools.  They truly are becoming test prep factories…  My district ordered the Amplify Testing…. It has 3 Interim Assessments and then there are checkpoints between the Interims.  Our children are funneled constantly into computer labs to test, to prepare for the test, to analyze data to see if they are on target to pass the SBAC.   I am the Amplify Testing Coordinator in my building.  Not one 3rd – 6th grade student passed.  All were red and a level one.

Why are we funneling children to troughs of failure?

How can we continue this ethically?

It is well known the SBAC is set at 70% to fail.  Why would we send our children to that kind of day?  Why bother?

I challenge all of us to look to countries like Finland…  their educational system is a haven.  I have been reading so much about this, as well as all the research around PLAY and movement for our youngest children.

Senator Baumgartner, I am so convicted about this, I have opted my own son out of all this testing…  I care about the classroom based evidence his teacher provides at this young age.  He is developing… growing… give our children a chance to mature.  The pre-frontal cortex of the human brain doesn’t solidify what we are asking of our children until 11/12ish years old.

I still teach higher order thinking skills.  I still challenge my students and have high expectations… I do this to help them develop their capacity to reason and think and learn.  However, to expect mastery of these things is near child abuse.  I have seen the tears in the testing labs.  It is profound.

This isn’t about accountability anymore… this is about going down a path that is harmful to children and their natural curiosity and love of learning….  until they hit this madness.

Thank you for your time.  I would love to speak with you personally if you would honor me with your time.

Please give SB 6030 a listen.  It isn’t perfect, but those putting it together, often are people like me that have full time jobs and don’t have the luxury of time like many lobbyists who are paid by special interests.

Passionately Written,

Raz

Mommy and Educator

ALL Babies Walking By Six Months Old… A Satire on the Common Core Charade.

All Babies Walking By Six Months Old, Common Core Standards, High Stakes Tests, Teacher Evaluation

“A Lie cannot live.” – Dr. Martin Luther King

Omission 2

Race To The Stadium (RTTS) established…

A group of professional sports team owners and product sponsors decided the United States was losing ground globally in producing high quality athletes…. so they met with The President and the National Secretary of the Department of Sports to convince them to set new athletic policies. Soon after, the new RTTS (Race To The Stadium) was established.   A committee was selected to write new and rigorous standards starting from womb to stadium.

A handpicked group of professional team owners and employees of national product sponsors were selected to establish the new standards. A few adult level doctors were also added. Written in under a year, they were rolled out to the state Governors and the State Superintendents of Department of Sports. In order for the new Common Sport State Standards (CSSS) to be adopted, only the Governor and State Superintendent needed to sign.

Two signatures.

Bam!

It was then pushed through the State House of Representatives and the State Senate with little time for review or public input. In fact, these standards were pushed upon the states by the federal government and the National Department of Sports. This was not initiated by the people or for the people….

“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”   Abraham Lincoln

Putting the values of the United States Republic aside, if the two governing officials signed the CSSS into law, a stimulus package of money arrived from the federal government to implement the new standards. If not signed, money was denied and/or removed.   “Naughty” were the states who did not sign on.

Naughty, Naughty. “You will leave your babies behind.”

Some Governors later admitted they were asked to sign the document before the final draft of the standards was completed, but… I guess this is beside the point.

The State Superintendent also needed to sign the document. No committees formed. No review process. No early childhood physical therapists consulted. No pediatricians consulted. No athletes gave input.

Definitely no parents. “What do they know?”

About a year after the State Superintendent signed the standards into law, a soft roll out to parents and pediatrician offices was initiated so enough time would be given to prepare their homes and offices. New baby materials, sports products, and technical support would need to be purchased to assist in helping the babies achieve the new standards.

Here were the new early babyhood Common Sports State Standards (CSSS):

  1. All children shall walk by 6 months old.
  2. All children shall run by 6.5 months old.
  3. All children shall do summersaults by 7 months old.
  4. All children shall do cartwheels by 7.5 months old.

It was ensured, by adhering to these rigorous standards, ALL babies would be on track for the Olympics and/or professional athleticism. No one questioned the age appropriate sports standards. No one questioned who wrote the standards… and those who did, in any way, were looked down upon.   Many, at first, even believed these standards were appropriate, necessary, and the answer to preparing the babies for a solid future in professional athletics and quite possibly a turn in the Olympic Games.

In the beginning, very few realized the standards were written by the owners of handpicked professional teams and the high ranking employees of the favored brand name sports products… like… hmmmmm….Nike, Gatorade, 5 Hour Energy… these well intended people, of course, really desired to start our babies off on the right foot. (No pun intended).

Next, a nationwide curriculum, specifically designed for parent use, was written by the same people… contracts were drawn up, with undisclosed amounts of money to be paid to them. This curriculum was accessible to parents once they bought a tablet. This tablet was the only platform that could run the software. If they followed the steps perfectly, the parents were promised their children would accomplish these high and rigorous goals.

Interested in following the money?:  Ten Common Core Promoters Laughing All The Way To The Bank.Money eye

Parents followed the lock step programs, using the accepted products only,  and pediatricians tracked their patient’s progress and entered weekly progress into a data tracking system to help parents target certain muscle groups that were failing in their babies legs.

Gill Bates, of course, in all of his athletic background and expertise, paid $200,000,000 to the committee to write the standards. The standards started at one day old. Each day, starting at day one, a lock step, scripted walking curriculum was established…incorporating all the sports baby products sold by the very writers of the CSSS.

Next, knowing the standards needed to be embraced and accepted by the masses, Bates, the athletic expert, also paid at least $200,000,000 for the promotion and advertisement of these new and rigorous baby standards… AND… do not forget… he also funded, through grants, the development of the software for the tablets for parental use.   Just imagine the profits $$$$$ made after every parent purchased one of these tablets.

Interestingly, even Gill Bates admitted the success of the new CSSS wouldn’t be known for 10 years. Listen at 45:22 in his speech at Harvard, “It will take 10 years to know if this “sport” stuff will work.”   Watch it (here).

The signs of implementation were clearly seen, as anyone driving through the majority of communities across the nation, or observing activity in local parks, saw no children playing or mommy’s pushing babies in strollers. Most were home practicing and following the programed script to ensure their child was walking on time. They didn’t want to “leave their babies behind” or to the doom of factory work for Nike.  Rather their dream was for their child to have the best chance of wearing the Nike gear out on the court as an athlete.

With time, many parents became frustrated with the script, and called their pediatrician’s office with their complaints. “This isn’t working.” Or “Johnny isn’t responding to lesson 6.” Or “My baby failed the three month module test, what do I do next?” Having the pressure themselves to ensure all their patients walked on their 6 month Birthday, the pediatricians continued to encourage integrity to the national walking program.

The pressure mounted.

Each parent knew they were required to take their child to a Smarter Balanced Athletic Testing Center to be analyzed by their Certified Pediatrician. The Pediatricians had checklists full of Criterion, Domains, Components, and Elements… with detailed rubrics (oops, I mean scales) to be tracked. All total there were 41 Elements within the Domains through the Elements based on the Components they would be judged upon whether they met the Criterion. The parent was given an evaluation based on all of this. Within the first 6 months of the baby’s life, the parent had four formal observations to determine if they were accomplishing the 41 Elements within the Domains through the Elements based on the Components and whether they were on track to meet the Criterion.

It was all a little confusing.

Confused BabyThe parents were informed, by Senate Bill 5946, if their child was not walking by the exact date of 6 months old, they would lose their child for 3 hours a day to a state run walking school with the goal of closing the walking gap. Soon there were walking schools springing up throughout the land, filled with state trained certified walking specialists holding the “key” to successful walking.

In a private meeting, the Smarter Balanced Athletic Consortium (SBAC) met, to establish what level of walking would be acceptable to pass the 6 month walking mark.  They based the cut scores on the previous year’s field test done on countless babies throughout the land. The cut score was publicized and revealed approximately 30% of the children would indeed be able to walk by the 6 month mark. However, 70% would fail.

The parent’s fears grew.   They wanted the best for their babies, and not passing the Smarter Balanced Athletic Test would doom their babies to a life slaving in the Nike and Gatorade Factories, or worse yet, peddling 5 Hour Energy Drinks in local stores.

The state run walking schools were prepared, however, and remedial walking programs were written and sold to these schools by the very same company who designed the Smarter Balanced Athletic Test.

The Pressure Mounted.

District Doctor’s Offices, overseeing the Pediatricians, hired testing coordinators. The coordinators found practice walking interim assessments with checkpoint assessments in between the practice interim assessments. Parents could administer these practice tests in their own homes to prepare for the ultimate Smarter Balanced Athletic Test. The data was uploaded to the District Doctor’s Offices in order to follow each baby, parent, and pediatrician and keep track of who was performing well.

Next, Walking Specialists were hired to assist parents in how to implement the tablet run Walking Program and answer the questions that continued to arise. The Walking Specialists were also able to help the parents look at the data from the interim tests and the checkpoints in between the interim tests. This assisted the parents to better understand how to target specific muscle areas needing stimulation, and established next steps for their baby in order to ensure their success on the Smarter Balanced Athletic Test.

The end goal for all, no matter what level they served in the Sporting System, was to get the baby to….

Pass.   The.   TEST.

The Pressure Escalated.

As the parents implemented the new Walking Program, they were informed and mandated to attend several evening professional development classes in order for them to understand the new Parental Evaluation System. You know, the one in which they had to show evidence of the 41 Elements within the Domains through the Elements based on the Components to see whether they were on track to meet the Criterion?

Baby said, “Eh?”

Their checklists looked much like the following:  TPEP List 3

Harder still, the parents had been mandated by the state to utilize a new Nutritional Program and Eating Schedule, (written by 5 Hour Energy), for their babies that was entirely different than the one used before. So… now… they were implementing the new Walking Program which included utilizing a new technology with the tablets, establishing a new Nutritional Program and Eating Schedule for their babies (thanks 5 Hour Energy!), as well as learning how they would be evaluated upon these things… all at the same time.

Sheesh!

Who would have dared question this charade?

 It was a Race To The Stadium…

 The Pressure Continued to Mount.

The Pediatricians were “under the gun” too. They were also judged and evaluated by similar criterion, much like the parents. Percentages of pass rates of his/her patients were logged and tracked into CEDARS, the state data bank. The data was then uploaded to The Feds. FERPA laws were loosened, so data could be released to third party vendors. Every pediatrician… every parent… every baby followed…

Data Tracking of Children.....Tracked.
Data logged.
National Baby IDs established.
The following link shows how to access the National IDs and how the FERPA laws have been loosened.  Click (here).

If the Pediatrician’s percentage rate was found failing, the state closed the doctor’s practice, and brought in their own set of better trained, “higher quality” doctors to run the offices.  All at tax payer expense of course.

Sadly, the pediatricians were tied to their desks, entering their evaluation data into computers from the four observations of each parent capturing the 41 Elements within the Domains through the Elements based on the Components to see whether they were on track to meet the Criterion.

Baby said, “Eh?”

The actual time with their patients decreased significantly because most had anywhere from 45 – 100 parents to track times four in a sixth month period.  (There’s some mathematics for you!)

Note… this was a “growth model” with the full purpose of helping the parents become better at teaching their babies to walk.

Again Gill Bates got involved, and helped fund Pediatrician For America (PFA). This program allowed those with a bachelor degree to be put in five week crash courses to become Pediatricians. After all, most were young and willing to follow the script and do exactly what they were told. Another benefit to the PFA, was the lower end salaries paid to these new doctors due to their placement on the salary schedule.  Additionally, this was considered a good thing because many of the traditionally educated Pediatricians were leaving the field and Pediatrician shortages became a real problem.

Sadly, the PFA program began to collapse too, as most PFA doctors gave only two years of their lives to helping babies walk before moving on to other jobs that became their real careers.

The Pressure Increased.

In the beginning stages of the implementation of the CSSS (Common Sports State Standards), it was decided the parents needed to incorporate a new sleep therapy program. New “research” had come out stating babies with strict sleep schedules were better able to practice their leg exercises each day to prepare for walking. The parents again, were called to more professional development in the evening to understand the strict sleeping program and how to adhere to it without waiver. Boxes arrived to their homes.   They cleared out hall closets to make room for all the resources arriving from the state.

The Pressure Point of Collapse Loomed.

A few parents and a few pediatricians started to raise some questions. They were scorned. Didn’t they understand these national Common Sport State Standards were written by experts in the field and necessary to prepare babies for the Olympics and Professional Sports? Didn’t they understand how critical it was to be able to compete globally with other countries producing star athletes?

The few parents and pediatricians grew in strength. They began to uncover the CSSS weren’t written by experts, but rather by the owners of professional sports teams and the product sponsors. Their voices grew.

In fact, in New York State alone, the Pediatricians wrote a letter of concern regarding the evaluation of parents by baby walking scores. It was signed by more than 1,535 New York pediatricians and more than 6,500 parents: Following The Common Core Money.  Where are Millions of Dollars Going?

Another joint document was written and signed by over 500 early baby specialists stating their concerns with the CSSS: (Joint Statement).

Still many states insisted on staying the course. Eyes shut. Ears closed.   A lot of officials made arguments the cost was already too high and there would be no way to abandon the CSSS.

Dr. Peg Luksik wrote, “When parents approach school districts or state legislatures with their concerns about the disasters occurring in Common Sport “homes” and ask that the program be stopped before even more damage is done to the education and self-esteem of America’s little ones, they are told that such a step would be irresponsible because of the huge amounts of money that have already been spent. So our “babies” will just have to “soldier on”.

Dr. Luksik went on to say:

“The apparent success of that argument must have many other industries rethinking their approaches to problems.

Pharmaceutical companies who have been forced to stop production of a new drug that made it all the way to the final testing stage before the discovery of serious negative side effects could claim that they had already invested a great deal of money, so it would be “irresponsible” to stop production at this late date.

And companies that brought drugs into the marketplace, only to be faced with recall either because the drug had not been properly tested or unforeseen complications had arisen from its use, could make the same claim and avoid having to pull that product off the shelves.”

 Dr. Luksik makes more arguments for the halt of the CSSS despite the money spent so far.  She furthered her logical argument by mentioning how the auto industry may need to rethink how they go about business.  Baby Driving 2

A failing car?

No need for recalls.

After all… it cost too much to design the car, manufacture the car, and transport them to all the car dealerships.

Her full article can be found (here).

…
Fast forward ten years.

“Funny” thing…

Few pediatrician doctor’s offices exist. There are thousands and thousands of state run baby schools of walking. Parents are up in arms… protesting. Their babies no longer theirs.

And…

“Funny” thing…

Ten years later… The majority of 6 month old babies… still… aren’t… walking.

Ingenious Experiment.

For Whom?
FOR WHOM?
Real or not real? –Peeta Mellark, The Hunger Games

This is the birth to kindergarten mental health interventions for babies. This is “research” for the early learning and the $1 billion Obama is funding for daycare and preschool.  See for yourself: Obama Targets Babies

Martin Luther King Graphic

Passionately Submitted,

RAZ ON FIRE

References:

  1. HB 5946: http://app.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5946&year=2013
  2. Teacher Evaluation Bill:  http://tpep-wa.org/about-tpep/legislation/essb-5895/

 

Common Core and Testing Concerns… A Letter to My Principal

Common Core Standards, High Stakes Tests

Background Context about My Letter

Before reading my letter to my principal I want it to be public knowledge that I adore and love her.   She is an amazing administrator on so many levels.   In my 25 year educational career, I have encountered two principals I hold in the same high level of regard…  two principals that fall into the category of Distinguished. My current principal is one of those two.   The most critical practice she employees is listening.  

I have the opportunity to express myself.

I have the opportunity to share my perspective.

I have the opportunity to disagree with educational policies.

I have the opportunity to share research I encounter and we actually talk about it.

I have the opportunity to question decisions and seek understanding.

I have the opportunity to ask the tough questions.

She listens.

She honors my expertise and what I have to contribute to my school’s community.

She shares her perspective, too, and I listen.

Sometimes she challenges my thinking.

I feel respected.

I feel honored.

Principals are being put under the same pressures as us teachers.   They, too, are being handcuffed with educational mandates and policies that are shackling them to their desks, writing endless reports on every teacher to the nth degree of minutia.   (This is not an exaggeration).

I met with my principal this Friday, January 9th, 2014, and was able to discuss many of the topics I’ve included in this letter.   My purpose for writing this letter is threefold:

  • I wanted her to have the links to the videos and articles I was referring to so she could get some context around what I was sharing.
  • I wanted to have a letter written for other educators that may act as a template or a talking point to open conversations with their administrators.
  • I could utilize talking points in this letter to use in my future letters to our Governor, our State Superintendent, and our legislators.

I am sure my principal and I will have many, many more conversations around the topics in this letter. The key is… I can have these conversations. I am not shot down.   She doesn’t look at me like I am an alien from outer space.   She values me as an intelligent human being whom has the best interest of every child and teacher in my school at the center of my heart and mind. She understands these conversations are necessary if we truly are going to improve our schools and advocate for what is the very best for our children.  In my opinion, my principal has the same heart as Carol Burris.

Carol Burris, New York Principal of the Year 2013

Principal

I continue to receive letters, email, and instant messages from teachers sharing their stories.   I am also getting letters, emails, and instant messages from parents sharing their stories.   I plan to continue to write and advocate and use these stories to try to help stop harmful mandates and policies.  My dream is for teachers to thrive and be freed from their handcuffs so they have the time to fill their days with creative and innovative instruction without the pressure of test after test after test.

For those reading my writing for the first time, I hope a few things can be understood:

  • In the beginning I accepted the CCSS standards and did not ask a whole lot of questions. Questions like:  Who wrote them?  What was the process? Who reviewed them? Who approved them? This is true of many educators across the nation.   However, as knowledge came my way, and I was willing to dig underneath the surface and start asking questions… I have come to be opposed to the CCSS standards at the early childhood level for many, many layered reasons.
  • I do believe in standards. They act as guides for teachers. However, the standards need to be developmentally appropriate and never used in a punitive nature to children or teachers or schools.

 

Good Morning Principal,

It is Saturday morning and I wanted to send you some of the things I have been reading and researching to establish a deeper understanding as to why I have become so burdened for our children, our teachers, and our schools.  The first video link is the best one I have seen yet around why the early common core standards are not developmentally appropriate.

Dr. Megan Koschnick says, “Children cannot yet think abstractly until the Formal Operational stage occurring around 11 – 15 years old.”

She went on to say, “Children will be measured against inappropriate standards and will be held back and tracked into remedial classes that they don’t really need.”  (HB 5946 in Washington State for example)

Dr. Koschnick speaks here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tSQlJE6VuA

This second video is by Dr. Sandra Stotsky, one of the 30 people invited to be a part of the validation committee of the Common Core.   She is one of the five that would NOT validate the Common Core.  She explains very clearly why she would not validate the CCSS and in her ELA expertise why the push for text younger and younger is not appropriate, and she also addresses a child’s natural process for writing.

It is interesting to note her comment about how the five people who would not validate the standards simply disappeared off the committee.   The document only lists the 25 that did validate the CCSS. Why not be open and honest to the public and list the five people who would not validate the CCSS?

Dr. Stotsky speaks here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0aLonR51Ac&app=desktop

My main questions and concerns around CCSS is knowing that none of the writers were early childhood specialists, none had any real classroom experience, three of them a few years at secondary, and most worked for educational businesses and the testing industry.   One of the lead math writers works for Pearson.   Pearson is now the writer and publisher of PARCC, SAT, GED, and many more tests. (McGraw-Hill publishes SBAC).   They also have their fair share of the textbook industry, including all the remediation tests and programs.   Is it ironic they write a test, set the cut scores at 70% failure, and then are able to sell the remediation programs?

Here are some links about Pearson and the monopoly they seem to have in the United States education system:

  1. http://www.alternet.org/education/corporations-profit-standardized-tests
  1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/enough-is-enough-pearson-_b_3146434.html
  1. http://dianeravitch.net/2014/12/31/shocker-after-pearson-aligns-ged-with-common-core-passing-rates-collapse/

Pearson $

From the Trenches:

As educators, many things come our way and most of us do not question anything.   In fact, it is discouraged.   We are expected to take our marching orders without question.   Courageous conversations around what is best for kids are not had.  There isn’t time.   I often feel we chase our tails and jump from one thing to the other without really taking the time to examine, critique, ask critical questions.  We panic, we try this, we try that… etc…  At year 25 in my career, and in my past being recognized with several awards for my innovative teaching and motivation of children, I have never seen anything like what is happening now in our schools across the nation.

Obviously I am very, very concerned.  I have also done some research around Amplify and have found some interesting information.   Amplify is owned by Rupert Murdoch.  He is the big Fox News multi-millionaire.  He also has purchased Core Knowledge which two of our schools are using.   He is quoted as saying, “The United States education system is worth 500 billion in untapped profits.”

500 billion.

Rupert Murdoch started a company called inBloom.   Bill Gates funded the development of the software of inBloom.   InBloom is a testing and data tracking system for use in schools to see children’s growth over time.   Ten states were using this at one time.   It slowly collapsed.   Louisiana and New York were the last to hang on to this system.   Data was leaked to third party vendors and parents became outraged.  Due to this “leak”, inBloom closed its doors and failed as a company.   Well, Rupert Murdoch isn’t so stupid.  He regrouped this company, and it has now resurfaced.   Its new name… drum roll please…

Amplify.

He hired Joel Klein, the ex-chancellor of New York, to be his CEO. The following is an article about how they are trying to keep Rupert Murdoch separate from his new company because of the history of the failure of inBloom:

Amplify Education Tries to Build an Identity Outside of New’s Corps Shadow:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mollyhensleyclancy/amplify-education-tries-to-build-an-identity-outside-of-news?utm_term=.eiDDP5N26#.faA9KGWdw

I have other links following the history of inBloom and its evolution to Amplify.

Therefore, this is why I have growing concerns as to many, many decisions that seem to be made without a full comprehensive review.   Somewhere decisions are made with no real trial period with lengthy discussions to follow, from the field, in order to make informed decisions to purchase a testing product or any other product for that matter.   It seems, in order to evaluate a new product, a few schools use the product and then there should be a discussion around the pros and cons of its effectiveness? A courageous conversation or two or three occurs before purchase? No?

I shared a little of this with a few coaches and they looked at each other, smirked, looked back at me and said, “So, what are your first steps as a data coach?” There are literally no opportunities to discuss multiple perspectives and the impacts we are seeing within the walls of our schools.   My questions were completely discounted and ignored. I had expressed my concerns around the test questions for both Amplify and the SBAC.   The high level of reasoning expected of the children is truly astronomical. I shared how we all read the book a few years back, “How the Brain Learns Mathematics” By David Sousa, and tried to put on the table how it said children’s ability to reason does not occur until 11-12 years old. I innocently asked, “Are you at all concerned, too? Is it concerning at all that the cut scores are set at 70% not meeting the standard?”   And this is the moment I got the “look” and the question about my first steps in my new job. In other words, “We will not discuss this with you.”

It seems we must assimilate much like The Borg in the T.V. series Star Trek.   Even John Luke Picard assimilated into the Borg until he was rescued and disconnected.

The Borg

My parent hat:

As a parent, I am not willing to sacrifice my child’s childhood, his chance to explore, ask questions, use his imagination, create, innovate, discover, play… I believed my job as an early childhood educator is to foster the curiosity of my students.  Students that are curious will learn.  Especially at 3 to 12 years old.  Make a learning environment that looks like a living, breathing museum fosters children’s desire to… race for books and to read and research,  perform science labs, work hard on math skills, and so much more.  When I had my own classroom…  well planned, creative, innovative, and integrated learning… had my student’s achievement soaring through the roof.  (You can read more here.)

My Educator Hat:

I strongly believe we are handcuffing teachers with compartmentalized programs that are killing the life blood of what makes teaching teaching and learning learning.   We are piling things on their laps that their legs can no longer hold, and they become lemmings… (term used by kindergarten teacher) marching in line, doing what they are supposed to do… all the while heading for a cliff.

My worry, in this Race To The Top (RTTT), is we are, at a more rapid speed than I realized, becoming Test Prep Factories.   Our classrooms are being filled with instruction that can only be measured by a test item and the policy makers are forgetting the most critical components of learning in early childhood children.

RTTT or Real Learning

Here’s China, who many seem to point to as the “ideal” and state, “We need to ‘catch up’.”   I have heard often we are “competing” with China.   It is interesting for me to read the real story behind the red curtain. As a parent and educator, I’m in no way interested in an educational system that produces regurgitating robots.

Inside a Chinese Test Prep Factory: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/magazine/inside-a-chinese-test-prep-factory.html?_r=2

And for a little more “fun”… I found this article to be telling… and I love everything this man writes.  “Your five year old failed a standardized test. Therefore he is Stupid, Insane, and Doomed to a Life of Failure”:

http://themattwalshblog.com/2014/02/10/your-5-year-old-failed-a-standardized-test-therefore-he-is-stupid-insane-and-doomed-to-a-life-of-failure/

The above is not far from the truth.   In California they are now experimenting with a 3 year old Common Core Test.  A research project is studying whether they can look at predictors of math failure based on 3 year old responses.   To me, this is nuts.

So… on this Saturday morning… I decided to pour my heart out… and give you some context to where my concerns are in regards to how children learn and the over testing.   Teachers are being held to these standards (many that are being shown to be developmentally inappropriate in the name of “rigor”), yet are stolen days and days and days and days and days of instruction time for more and more and more and more and more….

TESTS.

A pig does not get fatter by weighing it.   It needs to be fed.

Sad Pig

If children do not receive appropriate instruction, then how, dare I ask, are these teachers expected to get their students to standard?

I really hope, the powers that be, start examining the reality of the teachers in the trenches…

How Principals can Avoid Administrator-itis:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/11/24/how-teachers-can-avoid-administrator-itis/

I wish this article was entitled, how District Offices and State Departments of Education can avoid administrator-itis. It seems the farther removed an educator becomes from a classroom, the more they forget how the decisions they are making often place many burdens on teachers laps, sometimes to the breaking point.   This is one of those times.   When I was the K-12th grade district math coordinator in my last school district, I always viewed everything through the eyes of the teacher.   I led a Math Cadre of teachers, who met monthly to guide the decision making around mathematics instruction. Teachers had real ownership of the full process.

Our schools and teachers are being zapped with endless tasks and expectations that I believe will not get us where we want to go with our children…  there are more important things about the life of a child than what can be measured by a test.

Here is an example of something I wrote the other night as I reminisced about inspirational teaching and learning:

A Lesson in Science and Integrated Learning

My son got a snowman kit in his stocking.   After building the snowman, we watched it slowly melt.

I asked, “Is this a solid or liquid?”

Snowman Melting

As we discussed this idea I went to my cupboard to find the ingredients for making Oobleck. My son and I googled the Dr. Seuss Book and read the story… and made the substance… Many teachers do this every year.

Oobleck #1Oobleck #2

When I taught I was able to take the idea of “Oobleck” and turn it into a full scale integrated unit of study.

With 5th Graders I used to have the substance premade. I made enough for each group of four kiddos, but it was dyed blue. I informed them I had written a NASA Astronaut and they sent me some samples from the surface of Neptune they were able to obtain. I shared the scientists from NASA were requesting for students to explore the properties of the substance and to send them our findings.

My first question I wrote on the board was, “Is this a solid or liquid?”

Students were given a piece of paper and divided it in half. They labeled one side “solid”, the other side “liquid”. They were to experiment with the substance from Neptune and discuss the properties of each and write observations on both sides.  Later, students wrote detailed descriptions and included this in letters capturing their findings.  A month later, a return letter came back with gratitude for their hard work and thorough reports. (Written secretly by me of course!)

Next I posed a question… what is really known about the planet Neptune? Books were checked out and computers were used to research. Interest grew and students began doing studies of the other planets.  They wrote reports.  We learned about topic sentences, detail sentences, conclusion sentences, and paragraphs.

They began to make charts and graphs with the sizes of the planets including measurements like diameter and circumference as well as surface area. This became a great lesson in place value in a meaningful context. Distances from the sun were explored, and large numbers were written on charts and graphs.

Student’s natural curiosity led to a lot of research, reading, science, and math. The unit always ended with each student writing a story of an expedition to another planet. Within their story they had to include at least five facts of the planet they explored.

Creative and Expository writing continuous… it was a natural part of our day, every day, writing for varying purposes.

And…  my students loved to write.  Surprised?

What standards were taught? What learning measurable?

Most students scored a “4” for their love of learning as well as a “4” for their incredible imaginations… Of course, I collected their papers and used rubrics to score their writing and gave the students constructive feedback. My point here is, not every iota of learning can be measured. In fact, dare I propose… the most important kind of learning can’t be measured by a test question?

Matt Damon 2

Teachers need the time to plan lessons like the above.   Teachers are creative human beings trained to do this.  I am saddened by the programs handed to them that squelches opportunities to innovate, create, and inspire.

One teacher from another school district contacted me and said, “My principal came to my room today and told me to stop being so creative.  There isn’t any time for creativity anymore.  Please stick to the programs given to you. It is critical these students pass the test.”

Sad.

Disheartening.

Thank you for hearing me out, principal.   In my twenty-five year career, you are one of two principals I have worked for I believe understands the full range of instruction, and if you don’t, you ask for guidance.  I am thankful you have not fallen into administrator-itis…  I appreciate your willingness to listen, hear multiple perspectives, and have courageous dialogue around educational issues.   I am asking a lot of tough questions right now.  In my past school district, I knew each of the school board members personally and had a strong, working relationship with the superintendent.   I often met with them and spoke at school board meetings.   I am just a little fish here in Spokane.   It is the conviction of my heart, and what I am seeing inside the walls of schools, and the exhaustion on teacher’s faces, that is compelling me to write this lengthy letter to you.

Sincerely,

Raz

(RAZ ON FIRE)

DivineSpark

Fire is Catching

A Tale of Two Teachers… Comparing Teachers based on High Stakes Test… Lunacy

High Stakes Tests, Series: Teacher Evaluation (TPEP), Teacher Evaluation

Comparing teachers based on one high stakes test that happens on one day in 180 days is an absolute form of lunacy.  Furthermore, linking teacher’s evaluations, even 10% of the evaluation,  on the high stakes test… still… another form of lunacy.

Looney Tunes 8

Here’s why:

Teacher A:  The school year starts with a class of 25 third graders.   Breakfasts in their bellies, clean clothes on their backs, and a night of solid sleep.   The initial screener shows 85% of them are already at standard in both reading and mathematics.   Twenty-one of them Caucasian, one African-American, two Hispanic, one Pakistani. Three students qualify for free and reduced lunch.  One student has an IEP and receives special education support services. Their parents from the middle to upper class consisting of educators, doctors, lawyers, etc…  The majority of homes have more than one computer, at least one iPad, and the children’s bedrooms are filled with books.  These children had an average of 1,000 more hours of lap time reading with their parents before they entered Kindergarten as compared to Teacher B’s students.  One thousand hours.   Through Kindergarten to this initial year of 3rd grade, the hours of time with text at home continues to far exceed Teacher B’s students.

Teacher B:  The school year starts with a class of 25 third graders.  Empty stomachs until they arrive to school 30 minutes early to eat breakfast, some with cleaned clothes, others wearing the same outfit from the day before with aromas of cigarette smoke wafting from them, and many without the necessary sleep to cognitively engage.   The initial screener shows 20% of the students are at standard in reading and mathematics.   Six of the students Marshallese, three students are refugees from Sudan and speak zero English, one Arab speaking student,  and two Russian speaking students with limited English, three Hispanic students, and ten Caucasian students.  All 25 students qualify for free and/or reduced lunch.  Many of these students also qualify to take home a grocery sack filled with meals on Fridays so there is food in their homes for the weekend.   Many of these students parents have combined incomes of less than $10,000-$20,000 a year.   It is rare to hear of any of the students who have computers at home, let alone an iPad.   They have had very little time on the lap of their parents reading, and their vocabulary substantially below Teacher A’s students.   Many students live in shelters, or have moved multiple times from apartment to apartment, and some homeless.  Stories from their lips of mommies and daddies in jail, or a night spent sleeping under a bridge until they can get into a shelter, empty cupboards, exposure to drugs, and parents losing their jobs… run rampant in Teacher B’s classroom.  Pretty Fairy Princess or Superman themed individual bedrooms rare, let alone a bookshelf to hold a book.

Looney Tunes 5The Clincher:

1) Teacher A and Teacher B both are expected, and may I venture to say are “required”, to get their students to standard by March/April as measured by the Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium (SBAC) in which is taken on a computer.

2) This means the two teachers have September – March (maybe April) to teach and ensure all of their students are at standard by the testing date.   This is 6.5 – 7.5 months of instruction….. and remember the two week break in December?  So let’s just say these two teachers have 6-7 months to prepare their students for the big “TEST”.

3)  The big “TEST” (SBAC) is THE one and only measure used to determine if their students met the “rigorous” common core standards.

4)  Teacher A’s students have computers at home.   Teacher B’s don’t.   The test is on a computer.  Which set of students have the advantage here?

5)  The majority of Teacher A’s students came already at standard and she must close the gap from 85% to 100% meeting standard by the big “TEST” date.  Whereas, Teacher B must move her children from 20% to 100% in the same time period.

Anyone catching the drift here…..?

Looney Tunes 7

What school would you like to teach in, if you knew your teacher evaluation… how “good” of a teacher you are… was based on this big “TEST”?

Scores are published after SBAC, the big “TEST”.   Let’s just have some fun with some hypotheticals.  Shall we?

According to the No Child Left Behind Act, all children shall be at 100% on the big “TEST” or the teacher and the school are deemed a failure.   ALL children must achieve the same standards at the same time…. and 100% shall do so… “or else”!

Teacher A’s scores come back and 95% of her students scored proficient or above.   (A level 3 or 4)  An increase of 10%.

Teacher B’s scores come back and 55% of her students scored proficient or above. (A level 3 or 4) An increase of 35%.

What’s published in the newspaper?

Teacher A’s class/school rocks the big “TEST” with 95% of their students meeting standard or above. Yahoo!

Cheer!  Clap!  Amazing School!  Amazing Teachers!  Wow!

What a school!  Parents declare, “I want my kid to go to this school!”

Cheer!

Clap!

But…

Teacher B’s class/school is considered a complete failure.   The big “TEST” showed only 55% of the students were able to meet the standard.   This school is now put on “steps”.  They are given a probation year.  Eventually, the state comes in and overtakes the school, sometimes firing the whole staff, and replacing them with “better” teachers.

Or… of course… A charter school down the road can spring up, utilizing tax dollars, and experiment with the children… it  doesn’t matter that most of them close down eventually… but what the heck… keep giving it a try… see the tremendous “success” rate (here).

Looney Tunes 3The “or else”…..  the data from the big “TEST” (SBAC) is what is used to determine the success or failure of a school.   The 8-9 year olds have one day of testing on a computer in reading, one day in math, out of 180 days of school….  and this is how we measure a school’s success or failure?

Let’s put a microscope on this….

1)  According to the No Child Left Behind Act, BOTH schools are in failure.  Yep.  You did hear this right.   According to the No Child Left Behind Act all schools were to have ALL of their students to standard, 100% of them, by 2014.

2)  So….. Teacher A moved his/her children from 85% meeting standard to 95% meeting standard… and…  Teacher B moved his/her children from 20% to 55% meeting the standard.

May I stop and ask you to reread the conditions in Teacher B’s classroom verse Teacher A’s?

And… may I ask the question again… What gets published in the newspaper?  I forget.

Oh! Yeah… that’s right…

Only the end result.

Does Teacher B get any credit at all for moving 35% of her students to standard that weren’t there before?

So let’s get back to the original point…  Comparing teachers and/or linking a teacher’s evaluation to the big “TEST”…

Makes. No. Sense.

May I suggest another experiment?  Looney Tunes 1

After the scores are published and a teacher’s class scores analyzed for “success” in teaching let’s experiment:  The following year the two teachers swap classrooms.  Teacher A comes to Teacher B’s school.   Teacher B gets to teach at Teacher A’s school.

Can you predict what the scores will show?   Will Teacher A come to the 90% plus poverty school and raise the 20% meeting standard to the 95% she got before?   Will teacher B show incredible growth in his/her teaching ability because last year he/she had 55% of her students meeting standard and now he/she magically has 95% meeting standard?

The Tale of Two Teachers…

Let’s follow their paths.   Each year they swap schools.   Each year we look at the scores on the big “TEST”.   What will we find out?

The Finnish Swap

Finland’s Pasi Sahlberg is one of the world’s leading experts on school reform and the author of the best-selling “Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn About Educational Change in Finland?”

He had the same idea about the teacher swap…  Let’s take Finnish teachers and bring them to the United States and let’s take United States teachers and  bring them to Finland and let them teach for five years.  What Pasi Sahlbert reveals may be quite surprising… In a five year time span, he says the United States teachers would be flourishing, where as the Finnish teachers most likely would quit before the five years were up…

Hmmm… I wonder why?

Read the article to find out (here).

A side note on National Board Certification:

In Washington State the legislatures approved paying National Board Certified Teachers a bonus of $5,090 and an additional $5,000 bonus if they would go to work in a high poverty school.  (70% or higher free/reduced lunch count)  This means they are paying an annual $10,090 bonus to attract “highly qualified” teachers to these schools.  I have devoted myself to high poverty schools for most of my career.  I just transferred to my current school in October which was given an F rating by the state of Washington.  Every classroom looks just like Teacher B’s.  What would draw a teacher to teach in a school with high poverty?  Ever think about this?

I have.

And I know the answer.

Heart.

Grit.

Tenacity.

Devotion.

Belief.

Heart.

When the SBAC scores come back after Spring of 2015, our first official year, I am pretty sure my school will be deemed a low performing school because the majority of the students will not meet the standard.  Especially after knowing the SBAC cut scores were set on November 17, 2014, in Washington State… for approximately 70% of our students to fail.  Just as Pasi Sahlbert reveals, there are outside factors that influence student performance… “small” things like, hmmmmmm…. let’s say poverty?

I know this…  Incredible teachers teach in my school.  Teachers with solid instructional practice.

Who could possibly think the SBAC is an accurate measure a teacher’s abilities?

I wonder some days if the $5,000 additional dollars is worth it?  There are a good many NBCTs in my building.  It is interesting to consider how many are asking if the additional bonus is worth it?  Does the state of Washington want to push us outside the door?  Anyone of us could apply for a transfer and teach in a more affluent school.  Imagine… having the majority of students walking in the door already at standard from the previous year, and ready to learn… and… according to the big, one day, high-stakes “TEST”,  the scores in this affluent classroom will supposedly show how much better of a teacher I am? Looney Tunes 4

Are ya kiddin’ me?

Looney Tunes.

Let’s put the big “TEST” itself under the microscope:

Who else is asking if the test items are appropriate and measure the Common Core Standards?  Who says this test is valid and reliable?  Not this (study).  Even SBAC admits they don’t know if its a valid measure of college readiness. Is this test developmentally appropriate?  Eight and nine year olds just learning to type are put on a computer and asked to explain their reasoning and write comparison analysis of text?

Really?

Yet some of our legislators and billionaire business men seem to think the big “TEST” will show who is teaching well and who isn’t.

Lunacy.

We would do well to learn some lessons from Finland.

Let’s expose this story of “The Tale of Two Teachers” and the idea of the teacher swap to anyone who thinks a teacher’s value can be based on a standardized test.

Can we put to rest once and for all that there are factors in our beautiful children, rich and poor, that affect their performance and come to us with varying degrees of understanding for various reasons?

One test, on one day, will never show how good of a teacher I am.  Especially a “TEST” like the SBAC.  I am convinced this test is not a valid or reliable measure of student success, nor am I convinced it can accurately measure the quality of a teacher.

Looney Tunes 6

Respectfully,

RAZ ON FIRE

Fire is Catching