FROM STATE REPRESENTATIVE KAREN CASTOR DENTEL Adding My Perspective as a Teacher, Mother and Legislator: The Lee County School Board is in BIG TROUBLE! Last week, three of the five board members voted to refuse the state mandated standardized testing that has grown exponentially over the last two decades. I want to thank them for truly listening to the parents, teachers and children and I applaud them for their courageous vote. Some characterize the Board’s decision as premature and uninformed to have voted without another plan in place. I say it is long overdue, and a reprieve from abusive testing is better than the plan in place right now. The pressure students and teachers have experienced for so many years has now been transferred to the Board members by many who have a financial stake in the decision and a legacy to protect. To understand my perspective you need to know my background as a teacher. The first class I taught was a group of 4th graders in Orlando and I was eager to open them to the world. This was in the early 90’s, before the Sunshine State Standards were created. At that time, my colleagues and I relied on our extensive undergraduate education in psychology, teaching methods in all subjects, child development and a variety of experiences and internships teaching children. I used a student-centered approach in my classroom by getting to know each child and their strengths and interests. From there we developed the blueprint of the curriculum for the year based on broad themes and what the children wanted to learn. It was challenging but students learned to ask their own questions and to seek their own answers. I still recall those students fondly. I remember a parent remarking that her daughter had never been so excited to come to school. I recently learned that little girl returned to that school as a kindergarten teacher. I remember one student finding a wasp nest outside and wanting to know more about how it was made. Her curiosity led us to the set of Encyclopedia Britannica in the library and we not only learned about wasps, but also how they compared to other insects, which then led to how living things are classified. We went on a “hunt” for living things outside to learn about more critters. We then wrote and shared stories about our pets and researched reports about how to care for animals. It was a rich learning experience for the children as I followed their lead and nurtured their curiosity. It was a time when teachers were trusted and given the resources and flexibility to use our professional judgment to help children love to learn. Fast forward 20 years and the classroom may look similar, but it certainly feels different. In my most recent year of teaching I had a class of 2nd and 3rd graders. When I started the year, I was struck by how many 8-year olds expressed their fear of failing the FCAT and being held back. We began the year with mandatory online reading tests and Benchmark tests in math and reading which simulate the FCAT testing environment later in the year. In some schools, student test scores on placed on bulletin boards, called data walls, for all to see. While we still work on projects and play games in class, there is little time for spontaneity and exploration. There is even less time for PE and recess as we try to maximize every minute for preparing for the tests. Social skills won’t be tested, so there is less emphasis on developing the whole child. So much more time is devoted to preparing for the tests. Students take monthly practice writing tests which are timed and assigned a topic. Unfortunately, such tests don’t reflect how most people actually write. Writing is a recursive process of generating an idea and purpose, composing a draft, revising it and sharing it with others for feedback, editing and making a final version for a particular audience. It can take a day, a week, a month. A timed writing test on an assigned topic is difficult enough, but then you have to put in the items the test reviewers are looking for; an introduction with a hook, unique word choice, alliteration, elaboration, paragraph structure, sentence variety, on topic, correct spelling, variety of punctuation marks, transitions and a closing paragraph. Some of my students have gotten sick and run out of the class to vomit. Others cry due to anxiety and freeze while the clock ticks down. And to add insult to injury, most test reviewers are temps, not writers, not teachers, and they spend little time reading the writing. They assign a score of 1-6 and quickly move on to the next essay. Problems arise once tests scores arrive and the results are not a true reflection of the students’ abilities. Every year that I taught 4th grade there were major flaws in the scoring. My most gifted writers often received the lowest score in class, while some students who struggled all year to write a cohesive paragraph received the highest scores. What good is that kind of test score when I have to tell the next year’s teacher to ignore it. And what an awful position for the teacher, having to explain to the parents and the students the test results which don’t accurately reflect all the class work produced and progress throughout the year, but will follow the child through school nonetheless. Ive seen the effect on my kids and they feel defeated. Other testing problems abound. Let me list a few here. Once during the FCAT, rain water poured through the roof in my classroom, flooding the floor and distracting the kids. Last year, computers quit working in the middle of the tests for thousands of kids in the state. Strangely, teachers are forbidden from seeing the test questions and can be fired if they do! And teachers don’t receive the test scores until the end of school and sometimes not until the summer. What is considered passing one year is adjusted up or down the next year. Bright high school students who rank in the top of their class arent allowed to graduate if they don’t pass the 10th grade reading test, even if they are still learning English. The incentive to cheat and game the system is high when so much is riding on the test scores. Parents wouldnt appreciate how teachers divert attention away from students whose scores aren’t likely to change from year to year to those students who are on the “bubble” and may go up or down a level. Folks in Tallahassee were even found to manipulate school grades for certain schools just to improve their standing for a friend. For some reason passing scores are usually determined AFTER the tests have been taken. There are so many more problems, just ask a teacher. The over-emphasis on testing and its severe consequences for students, teachers and schools, corrupts the learning environment. This year, my own two children have noticed how instruction has become more test-centered with teachers focusing on the End of Course exams in every class and every grade. However, when teachers speak up to principals they often respond that their hands are tied. When principals speak up to superintendents and school board members, they say they have to follow what Tallahassee dictates. Folks in Tallahassee blame the federal government and Race to the Top. Frankly, everyone gets a share of the blame for not fighting for what they know is best for children and taking a courageous and principled stand. That is until last Tuesday, when three members of the Lee County School Board listened to the stories from members of their community; the mother of a terminally ill child who was forced to take a standardized test in the hospital; the story of a child losing her confidence in her ability to read due to a lousy test score; the story of teachers leaving the profession they used to love, and more. I don’t blame Ms. Fisher for indicating she wants to now rescind her vote. Powerful politics are at play and the pressure from above is immense. Teachers and students have been shouldering the burden for years. And the threats of the sky falling if we take away the high-stakes nature of testing evoke a palpable fear of the unknown. But what I would like to offer Ms. Fisher is the more serious FEAR OF THE KNOWN. The FCAT replacement tests being created in Utah are not ready yet -- not field tested, not validated. The technological infrastructure needed in each district to give the tests online is not in place nor load tested. And of the students in New York State who were given the new common core test last year, 75% failed! We know what that plan is and we would do better to stand up for the kids who are suffering now with our current system and say “Enough!” Thank you, Lee County School Board for forcing the conversation, for revealing the intimate relationship between high-stakes testing and its stranglehold on every aspect of our educational system. If more districts in Florida had the courage to push back and oppose what is wrong, our school boards could loosen the grip of testing companies, regain their Constitutional responsibility, and parents and teachers may once again have a voice in the education of their children.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 12:59:40 +0000
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