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LI’s Testing Refusal Movement
Change nothingand
Nothing changes
Brian WassonParent of 3 in Sachem Schools
Member of S.C.A.P.E.the999ers.wordpress.comdiigo.com/user/the999ers
Click here for March 24, 2014 story Click here for April 2, 2014 story
Click here for March 31, 2015 story
His kids will refuse the spring 2014 state tests. http://vimeo.com/90498744
http://www.msnbc.com/the-reid-report/watch/standardized-testing-causes-controversy-219357763737
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/231454/three-way-deal-announced-details-monday/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Longislandoptout/permalink/437334596439884/
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2015/03/8565264/outline-education-reform-proposals-budget
https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-highlights-passage-2015-16-state-budget
http://data.newsday.com/long-island/data/education/opt-out-2015/
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/teacher-evaluations-to-be-focus-of-may-7-summit-in-albany-1.10345425
1. How we got here2. What testing refusal looks like3. Why “we” are fighting excessive high stakes testing4. How I got involved5. Testing issues6. Data collection: starve the beast7. End Goal
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." -The Lorax
Outline
1. How we got here
President Bush = No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Law1. New over-emphasis on yearly standardized testing2. The mantra begins … “Our schools are failing.”
President Obama = Race to the Top (RttT) Award3. New “common” learning standards4. New assessments5. New teacher evaluation system6. New data collection/mining efforts
NY accepts the largest amount awarded to states: $700+ million over 5 yearsEntire program a result of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act 2009 (The Stimulus) (here and here)
"In a civilized country when ridicule fails to kill a movement it begins to command respect.“ -Mhatinas Ghandi
2. What Testing Refusal Looks Like
• How do you refuse?• What happened in prior years?• What did this year look like?
At the moment, no real ramifications for ANYONE for refusing – no loss of funding, no automatic AIS, no arrests …
NYS Testing Refusals Hit Main Streethttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URkNzkADnIM
What do the refusal students do during testing?
- Sit and read in testing room- Relocate and read (or other activities)- Sit and stare (only one LI district left?)
* Some students have to verbally refuse* Some parents remove kids from school and bring back
NYSED Spring 2014 Response
Sources:http://www.newsday.com/long-island/schools-expect-state-test-opt-outs-to-increase-1.7481327 http://www.newsday.com/long-island/education/thousands-of-li-students-refuse-to-take-state-tests-1.7577393 http://www.newsday.com/long-island/education/nearly-9-500-li-students-refuse-state-exam-say-officials-1.7613887
NYSED Spring 2014 Response
Source:http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/04/new_york_wont_penalize_schools_where_students_opted_out_of_exams.html
School Administrator Spring 2014 Response
Sources:http://www.newsday.com/long-island/schools-expect-state-test-opt-outs-to-increase-1.7481327 http://www.newsday.com/long-island/education/thousands-of-li-students-refuse-to-take-state-tests-1.7577393 http://www.newsday.com/long-island/education/nearly-9-500-li-students-refuse-state-exam-say-officials-1.7613887
School Administrator Spring 2014 Response
Source:http://ny.chalkbeat.org/2014/04/02/is-testing-taking-over-our-schools-an-entire-faculty-says-yes/
3. Why “we” are fighting excessive high stakes testing
Full story found here
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Longislandoptout/permalink/449736458533031/
Kinder 2008
"First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.“ -Mhatinas Ghandi
Kinder 2012
Kinder Homework 2008 v. 2013-14
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.“ -Mhatinas Ghandi
3rd grade homework/classwork
2012
“Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.“-Mhatinas Ghandi
4th grade homework/classwork
2013
“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result.”-Mhatinas Ghandi
Kinderhomework /classwork
2014
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.“-Mhatinas Ghandi
1st Gradehomework /classwork
2015
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.“-Mhatinas Ghandi
http://nypost.com/2013/01/27/playtimes-over-kindergartners/
“Miss Vee” asked her class to write the sentence, “I have a pet.” Kids struggled with putting letters on the line, spacing, and period placement. One wrote, ‘I. hav. a. pet.” Another wrote, “I wet. a pet.”
The “super challenging” demands leave less time for puzzles, coloring and games, she said.
DOE spokeswoman Erin Hughes said, “These are the types of activities and exercises that students need to work on to acquire the skills they need to be ready for middle school, high school, college and careers.”
But kindergarten, she added, should include a “wide range of activities, including free play.”
From: http://nypost.com/2013/01/27/playtimes-over-kindergartners/
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2014/01/is_kindergarten_the_new_first.html
http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/04/27/does-common-core-ask-too-much-of-kindergarten-readers/
Is there room for these kids?
"In a civilized country when ridicule fails to kill a movement it begins to command respect.“ -Mhatinas Ghandi
- Syracuse area teacher on Diane Ravitch’s blog herehttp://dianeravitch.net/2014/04/08/teacher-the-joy-of-teaching-isgone/
NY’s Lost Standards
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/education/2014/05/10/common-core-derailed-ny-standards/8918925/
NY’s Lost Standards
http://data.lohud.com/tables/commoncore/commoncore.html
4. How I got involved“Honey, I think we have found a cause.”
“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result.”-Mhatinas Ghandi
• 4 years of research • More Than a Number presentation March 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9MGK4zvH-Q
• Mt. Sinai parent/educator forum March 2013, meeting Jeanette Deutermann
• The tech end of these reforms• Conversation, research, connections all fueled
by social media
http://wp.me/p3pStf-8 & http://the999ers.wordpress.com
Relevant Facebook Groups
19,979 membersLong Island Opt-out Info
980 members
NY Parents Opposed to Data Sharing without Consent!
13,647 membersLace to the Top
3,045 membersNYS Refuse the Tests
149,592 members … and climbing
15,799 members
4,472 members
11,234 members
21,522 members10,708 members
15,799 members
15,799 members
1,282 members
2,793 members
17,663 members
4,605 members
5,573 members
6,901 members
2,973 members
9,461 members
Spring 2014 Parent/Educator OPEN Forums
5. Testing Issues
“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result.”-Mhatinas Ghandi
• High stakes tied to multiple tests (SLOs, state tests, …)• Length & content (reading level, passages)• Useless results, secretive, testing on content rolled out
simultaneously• Data collection used for variety of purposes• Field testing = free child labor• Cost (e.g., RVC and Comsewogue both estimate it costs
them $550k-$1million … low balling it)• Computer based testing (CBT) coming with PARCC
“All tests and student results should be available to teachers and parents after test administration. They should be used only to inform parents and teachers about a child’s learning and to improve instruction. Tests should exist to serve students not politicians or for-profit testing companies.”
- NY Principal Carol Burris in the resolution against high-stakes testing
(She is an original author of the NY Principals Open Letter of Concern Regarding New York State’s APPR Legislation for the Evaluation of Teachers and Principals and the NY Principals Letter to Parents About Testing. Also NYS High School Principal of the Year.)www.newyorkprincipals.org
From Kevin Glynn in the Lace to the Top Facebook group: “Printed side by side you would never know they are for the same grade level.”http://wp.me/p3pStf-2S
NYS Grade 3 ELA Sample Exam 2005
NYS Grade 3 ELA Sample Exam 2013
http://elafeedback.com/comments/view/-/-
Post Spring 2013 State Assessment Collected Feedback
https://web.archive.org/web/20130818204109/http://elafeedback.com/comments/view/-/-
Click here for full version
Click here for full version
“Give us data we can use to inform instruction and help our children learn and grow! Our children spend hours taking these tests, which we are never allowed to see again, and we receive the results just in time for the next school! What’s the point? We cannot do anything with this information because we don’t have all the pieces in a timely fashion. As educators, many of us dedicate our lives to using as many assessment points as possible to help us plan and guide future instructional decisions to best meet the needs of our children. The data from NYS seems to be used for one purpose, and one purpose only, to judge.”
-Long Island’s own, 2014 NYS Elementary Principal of the Year, Tony Sinanis
Total testing time
"In a civilized country when ridicule fails to kill a movement it begins to command respect.“ -Mhatinas Ghandi
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2014/04/today-is-first-day-of-state-ela-exams.html
Post Spring 2014 State Assessment Collected Feedbackhttp://wp.me/p3uIz3-d7 http://testingtalk.org/responses?region=NY
Used anonymously with permission from the child’s parent.
http://criticalclassrooms.wordpress.com/2014/04/03/day-3-2014-nyspearson-common-core-ela-exam/
“The governor asserted the delay would ease the statewide unrest and anxiety over the new curriculum. "I think that parents can now exhale. Students can now exhale," Cuomo said. "The test scores don't count.“”
- NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, March 2014
http://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/cuomo-astorino-spar-on-common-core-state-budget-1.7575888
Wait, what? Does NYSED know about this?
https://the999ers.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/spring-2015-nys-ela-exam-an-inside-view/
https://the999ers.wordpress.com/2015/04/26/spring-2015-nys-math-exam-an-inside-view/
“As a Regent of the State of New York, I cannot endorse the use of the current state tests for teacher/principal evaluation since that was not the purpose for which they were developed."
She continues, "How can we criticize people for opting out when the tests have not been verified? We need to cease and desist in the use of these tests until such time as we can be confident of their reliability and validity. If tests do meet those criteria, the tests must be released to teachers and to the public after they are given, in the spirit of transparency and accountability.”
- Dr. Kathleen Cashin, NY Board of Regents, Representing Brooklyn, April 2015
Sourcehttp://dianeravitch.net/2015/04/02/regent-cashin-of-new-york-speaks-out-against-high-stakes-testing/
Source:http://www.newsday.com/long-island/thousands-expected-to-refuse-state-math-tests-that-start-today-1.10310713
Governor Cuomo provides the most telling sound bite to date:
“The grades are meaningless to the students,” Cuomo said in a brief press gaggle following an Association for a Better New York breakfast event in New York City. Cuomo said he believes they haven’t done a good job of publicizing the fact that the tests, for at least the next five years, won’t count at all for the students."
“They can opt out if they want to, but on the other hand if the child takes the test, it’s practice and the score doesn’t count,” Cuomo said.
- NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, April 2015
Sourcehttp://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/232746/cuomo-remember-teacher-evaluation-tests-dont-count-for-kids/
High stakes testing is not about learning; it’s about penalizing: Districts - Schools - Teachers - Students
Who is being assessed? Teachers? Administrators? Students? The implementation of the new Common Core Standards? The Standards themselves? All of the above?
Source:http://www.lohud.com/story/news/education/2014/03/29/common-core-testing-starts/7051561/
"If a test is not relevant to evaluate students, it is beyond sanity, beyond reason, to use the same impaired test results to evaluate teachers," said Pat Puleo, president of the Yonkers Federation of Teachers. "It confirms that the evaluations are punitive and not really intended to improve education, as the state says." "The results we got last year were not helpful to me," Ossining Superintendent Raymond Sanchez said. "The results did not tell me much about the children we serve."
Time for Kids
Testing cover from March 22, 2013 (right) and video found at link belowhttp://www.timeforkids.com/photos-video/video/beyond-bubble-84696
6. Data Collection: Starve the Beast
“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result.”-Mhatinas Ghandi
• inBloom dashboard project **• Data collection begins in pre-K and continues to adult
year 26 (as of now)
– NY’s P-20 Longitudinal Database– USA Today: Plan would track students from preschool to
workforce http://usat.ly/1j6A7Ki
– Database connected to many other state agencies
• Data collection, storage, mining, sharing
"In a civilized country when ridicule fails to kill a movement it begins to command respect.“ -Mhatinas Ghandi
Click here to read full story
"In a civilized country when ridicule fails to kill a movement it begins to command respect.“ -Mhatinas Ghandi
Click here to read full story
"In a civilized country when ridicule fails to kill a movement it begins to command respect.“ -Mhatinas Ghandi
https://www.rtt-apr.us/state/new-york/2010-2011/puip
https://www.diigo.com/user/the999ers/PARCC
PARCC rollout spring 2015
Phrase above quoted via Dr. Joseph Rella, Superintendent, Comsewogue Schools, NY
7. End Goal
Stop It!
Fix It!
Scrap It!
…or we refuse it!
"In a civilized country when ridicule fails to kill a movement it begins to command respect.“ -Mhatinas Ghandi
8. Upcoming Forums & More Information
None currently planed on Long Island before April 14th, but I suspect we will see some last minute organization.
LI Opt Out Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/Longislandoptout/
NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE) http://www.nysape.org
