Comments on: High-stakes testing is one of our biggest obstacles to overcome! http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/11/29/high-stakes-testing-is-one-of-our-biggest-obstacles-to-overcome/ Comments, reflections and occasional brainstorms Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:50:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.4-bleeding By: amanda http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/11/29/high-stakes-testing-is-one-of-our-biggest-obstacles-to-overcome/#comment-39829 amanda Mon, 19 Mar 2007 13:24:28 +0000 http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/11/29/high-stakes-testing-is-one-of-our-biggest-obstacles-to-overcome/#comment-39829 Isn’t it supposed to be NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND? Well, all high stakes testing is doing is causing a greater gap between the under-funded schools and the upper middle class to executive elite schools. Upper middle class schools, though they may dread taking the test, most of the time think of these tests as a waste of time for their students who are beyond the knowledge on the tests. An effective school has nothing to do with the basis of ONE test. And a test should also not prove whether or not you are a good student. All of this though, really depends on the social class backgrounds that these students live in. According to Anyon, “students of different social class backgrounds are still likely to be exposed to qualitatively different types of educational knowledge.” Comparing an impoverished schools’ scores to an executive elite school’s scores is utterly ridiculous. This makes sense because students that are imprisoned in the lowest rungs of the social ladder are subject to the lowest forms of education and given the least opportunities with the least necessary tools to succeed anywhere close to the wealthier schools that have anything and everything they need to teach these students whereas in poor schools, the teachers must scrounge for anything. I will defend this with data from Johnson and Johnson’s, High Stakes Testing: Children, Testing, and Failure in American Schools. To begin with I will look at how the scores foretell the destiny of the school. Schools that score extremely low are in danger of being denied funding, but the only thing this does it to make the polarizing gap between the impoverished schools and the wealthy schools (and their students) even worse. What this high stakes testing does is to neglect family accountability. The scores tend to place the teachers at blame of a student’s low score. However, what these scores do not do is to make the family, not just the teachers, accountable for these scores. The high stakes testing is making these differences between schools more apparent and obvious to everyone, which is causing embarrassment among the lower ranked schools. This embarrassment is causing chaos in the school systems because they are going at all lengths to make sure there test scores are high. Its depressing what the high stakes testing is doing to our society. To me, I have always thought teachers were supposed to be caring and be there for the kids that are not at the same level as the rest of the children. Being in college, I could talk to every student in my class and I guarantee almost every one of them could name a teacher that had a positive impact on their life or even just went out of their way to help them succeed. Unfortunately, I feel like the high stakes testing is taking that away from the children because it is not allowing the teachers to teach and it is putting so much pressure on them that they no longer care about what “extra” knowledge they can teach the kids. The teachers see the children who are having trouble learning as a setback instead of an opportunity to help him/her succeed. Its sad to think that even the teachers of our society are being turned into heartless business men! In my eyes it was one of the very few jobs left that was full of compassion and now even that’s being taken away from our children. This shows where our society is heading. As an example, I want to cite Johnson and Johnson about the Louisiana LEAP tests. A school called Redbud Elementary, was so deeply under funded that there was no playground, no library, no hot water, no art classes, one bathroom, no constantly working air conditioning, and some of the students lived without electricity, running water, or floors. The teachers of this extremely under funded school were sometimes not even certified. And even so, the teachers had only one prerogative in their classrooms as given to them by the superintendents: get their students to pass the LEAP test. Teachers were given no freedom to teach the curriculum they wanted to, they were treated like children: told exactly what to teach, which they had to record every detail of their days, were basically “threatened” that an administrator would check up on their classrooms to make sure that the teacher was following correct preparation curriculums. They had to focus only on the LEAP test, allowing little free time to help the children with their individual needs (as the preparation was the curriculum). Not only that but they were forced to attend workshops and meetings in their afternoons (little time for one-on-one tutoring) and during class, there was only enough time to teach whatever the administration had given them to prepare for the LEAP test. The most interesting point to me is that the low scores result in losing government funding. However, the government should be the one to specifically help these type of schools because they are the ones that administer the “no child left behind” program. Student would come to school sick, cold, underfed, dirty, poorly clothed, and without the adequate supplies for the school (which the teachers would have to purchase out of their own pockets because they are only given a $200per year for supplies). So therefore unless graciously donated they are left with little to nothing when it comes to supplies. The most current dictionary is copyright 1952; no more than two bathrooms; they have no stable internet connections; no playground; not many maps or globes; and not much time for individual time with their teachers because the high stakes testing administration consumes all of a teachers time. They DO NOT have the necessary tools and supplies to make their school effective. A teacher is not a miracle worker and even if they were they wouldn’t have the time or energy to administer it. Isn’t it supposed to be NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND? Well, all high stakes testing is doing is causing a greater gap between the under-funded schools and the upper middle class to executive elite schools. Upper middle class schools, though they may dread taking the test, most of the time think of these tests as a waste of time for their students who are beyond the knowledge on the tests. An effective school has nothing to do with the basis of ONE test. And a test should also not prove whether or not you are a good student. All of this though, really depends on the social class backgrounds that these students live in.
According to Anyon, “students of different social class backgrounds are still likely to be exposed to qualitatively different types of educational knowledge.” Comparing an impoverished schools’ scores to an executive elite school’s scores is utterly ridiculous. This makes sense because students that are imprisoned in the lowest rungs of the social ladder are subject to the lowest forms of education and given the least opportunities with the least necessary tools to succeed anywhere close to the wealthier schools that have anything and everything they need to teach these students whereas in poor schools, the teachers must scrounge for anything.
I will defend this with data from Johnson and Johnson’s, High Stakes Testing: Children, Testing, and Failure in American Schools. To begin with I will look at how the scores foretell the destiny of the school. Schools that score extremely low are in danger of being denied funding, but the only thing this does it to make the polarizing gap between the impoverished schools and the wealthy schools (and their students) even worse. What this high stakes testing does is to neglect family accountability. The scores tend to place the teachers at blame of a student’s low score. However, what these scores do not do is to make the family, not just the teachers, accountable for these scores.
The high stakes testing is making these differences between schools more apparent and obvious to everyone, which is causing embarrassment among the lower ranked schools. This embarrassment is causing chaos in the school systems because they are going at all lengths to make sure there test scores are high. Its depressing what the high stakes testing is doing to our society. To me, I have always thought teachers were supposed to be caring and be there for the kids that are not at the same level as the rest of the children. Being in college, I could talk to every student in my class and I guarantee almost every one of them could name a teacher that had a positive impact on their life or even just went out of their way to help them succeed. Unfortunately, I feel like the high stakes testing is taking that away from the children because it is not allowing the teachers to teach and it is putting so much pressure on them that they no longer care about what “extra” knowledge they can teach the kids. The teachers see the children who are having trouble learning as a setback instead of an opportunity to help him/her succeed. Its sad to think that even the teachers of our society are being turned into heartless business men! In my eyes it was one of the very few jobs left that was full of compassion and now even that’s being taken away from our children. This shows where our society is heading.
As an example, I want to cite Johnson and Johnson about the Louisiana LEAP tests. A school called Redbud Elementary, was so deeply under funded that there was no playground, no library, no hot water, no art classes, one bathroom, no constantly working air conditioning, and some of the students lived without electricity, running water, or floors. The teachers of this extremely under funded school were sometimes not even certified. And even so, the teachers had only one prerogative in their classrooms as given to them by the superintendents: get their students to pass the LEAP test. Teachers were given no freedom to teach the curriculum they wanted to, they were treated like children: told exactly what to teach, which they had to record every detail of their days, were basically “threatened” that an administrator would check up on their classrooms to make sure that the teacher was following correct preparation curriculums. They had to focus only on the LEAP test, allowing little free time to help the children with their individual needs (as the preparation was the curriculum). Not only that but they were forced to attend workshops and meetings in their afternoons (little time for one-on-one tutoring) and during class, there was only enough time to teach whatever the administration had given them to prepare for the LEAP test.
The most interesting point to me is that the low scores result in losing government funding. However, the government should be the one to specifically help these type of schools because they are the ones that administer the “no child left behind” program. Student would come to school sick, cold, underfed, dirty, poorly clothed, and without the adequate supplies for the school (which the teachers would have to purchase out of their own pockets because they are only given a $200per year for supplies). So therefore unless graciously donated they are left with little to nothing when it comes to supplies. The most current dictionary is copyright 1952; no more than two bathrooms; they have no stable internet connections; no playground; not many maps or globes; and not much time for individual time with their teachers because the high stakes testing administration consumes all of a teachers time. They DO NOT have the necessary tools and supplies to make their school effective. A teacher is not a miracle worker and even if they were they wouldn’t have the time or energy to administer it.

]]> By: Tiffany http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/11/29/high-stakes-testing-is-one-of-our-biggest-obstacles-to-overcome/#comment-3190 Tiffany Thu, 07 Dec 2006 06:18:52 +0000 http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/11/29/high-stakes-testing-is-one-of-our-biggest-obstacles-to-overcome/#comment-3190 Anne, I know in some circles this can be a dirty word but I'd be interested to hear where you stand--what is your feeling on a public charter school system? Ideally, I see it as a way to accomodate the diverse needs of learners and teachers...but it seems less compatible with our current fixation on testing. Your last bullet point about one-size-fits-all brought this question to mind... Cheers, Tiffany Anne,
I know in some circles this can be a dirty word but I’d be interested to hear where you stand–what is your feeling on a public charter school system?
Ideally, I see it as a way to accomodate the diverse needs of learners and teachers…but it seems less compatible with our current fixation on testing. Your last bullet point about one-size-fits-all brought this question to mind…
Cheers, Tiffany

]]> By: Anne Davis http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/11/29/high-stakes-testing-is-one-of-our-biggest-obstacles-to-overcome/#comment-3110 Anne Davis Mon, 04 Dec 2006 16:41:27 +0000 http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/11/29/high-stakes-testing-is-one-of-our-biggest-obstacles-to-overcome/#comment-3110 Thanks, Liz! I needed this! Your blog keeps me going on many days! The humor helps! Thanks Chris for speaking out on this and many other issues! Good thinking Art! Keep joining the conversations. Thanks, Liz! I needed this! Your blog keeps me going on many days! The humor helps!

Thanks Chris for speaking out on this and many other issues!

Good thinking Art! Keep joining the conversations.

]]> By: Art Burdick http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/11/29/high-stakes-testing-is-one-of-our-biggest-obstacles-to-overcome/#comment-3090 Art Burdick Sun, 03 Dec 2006 14:00:39 +0000 http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/11/29/high-stakes-testing-is-one-of-our-biggest-obstacles-to-overcome/#comment-3090 I find you thoughts interesting, I added comments to my blog at http://beginingat50.blogspot.com/, Thanks for sharing. Art I find you thoughts interesting, I added comments to my blog at http://beginingat50.blogspot.com/, Thanks for sharing.

Art

]]> By: Chris Lehmann http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/11/29/high-stakes-testing-is-one-of-our-biggest-obstacles-to-overcome/#comment-3086 Chris Lehmann Sun, 03 Dec 2006 03:31:11 +0000 http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/11/29/high-stakes-testing-is-one-of-our-biggest-obstacles-to-overcome/#comment-3086 Well you know *I* agree with you. :) Well you know *I* agree with you. :)

]]> By: Liz Ditz http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/11/29/high-stakes-testing-is-one-of-our-biggest-obstacles-to-overcome/#comment-3073 Liz Ditz Sat, 02 Dec 2006 16:26:00 +0000 http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/11/29/high-stakes-testing-is-one-of-our-biggest-obstacles-to-overcome/#comment-3073 Did you see NCLB--The Football Version? Author Unknown l. All teams must make the state playoffs, and all will win the championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable. 2. All kids will be expected to have the same football skills at the same time and in the same conditions. No exceptions will be made for interest in football, a desire to perform athletically, or genetic abilities or disabilities. ALL KIDS WILL PLAY FOOTBALL AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL 3. Talented players will be asked to work out on their own without instruction. This is because the coaches will be using all their instructional time with the athletes who aren’t interested in football, have limited athletic ability, or whose parents don’t like football. 4. Games will be played year round, but statistics will only be kept in the 4th, 8th, and 11th games. 5. This will create a New Age of sports where every school is expected to have the same level of talent and all teams will reach the same minimal goals. If no child gets ahead, then no child will be left behind. Did you see NCLB–The Football Version?

Author Unknown

l. All teams must make the state playoffs, and all will win the championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable.

2. All kids will be expected to have the same football skills at the same time and in the same conditions. No exceptions will be made for interest in football, a desire to perform athletically, or genetic abilities or disabilities. ALL KIDS WILL PLAY FOOTBALL AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL

3. Talented players will be asked to work out on their own without instruction. This is because the coaches will be using all their instructional time with the athletes who aren’t interested in football, have limited athletic ability, or whose parents don’t like football.

4. Games will be played year round, but statistics will only be kept in the 4th, 8th, and 11th games.

5. This will create a New Age of sports where every school is expected to have the same level of talent and all teams will reach the same minimal goals.

If no child gets ahead, then no child will be left behind.

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