my oral testimony yesterday to the RI Senate Education committee: I am speaking in support of Senate bills 2158, 2059, and 2135. [Senate Bill - 2185 No state assessment or standardized test shall be used to determine a students eligibility to graduate high school Senate Bill -2059 5-year moratorium on statewide assessment as graduation requirement (companion bill to H-7256) Senate Bill - 2135 Study commission to review curriculum and tests (PARCC) for the Common Core State Standards (companion bill to H-7095)] I was a teacher in the middle school and high school at the RI School for the Deaf for over 25 years before retiring in 2011. I taught English Language Arts through an introduction to Latin, and also developmental reading and writing to our students, many of whom were immigrants from non-English speaking countries. I currently volunteer in an 8th grade English class of ELL students in a Providence middle school, and I see firsthand the poor quality and inappropriateness of the Common Core materials provided for teachers to use. Members of the Committee, we are living in the age of Orwell. The slogans that we are bombarded with mean the opposite of what they say. “No Child Left Behind” has left multitudes of children behind, and “Fewer, Clearer, Higher”—the mantra of the Common Core State Standards—are more, convoluted, and shallower. Children do not develop in lockstep by age. Each child is unique and precious and has a cultural heritage, specific talents and interests, and specific enhancements or obstacles to learning. To expect a rigid amount of progress from every student, no matter where they started or what their unique circumstances, is unrealistic and essentially totalitarian. In the age of Common Core, background information and context are disallowed; the teachable moment—verboten. This is unjustifiable and unacceptable. It is the duty of public institutions to provide for the public good and also to do no harm. It is clear that the policies of high stakes standardized testing and inflexible standards and assessments do harm. They do harm to all students, by denying them a meaningful, authentic education, but most especially they do harm to those students most vulnerable due to cognitive, neurological, or sensory differences, ELL status, or living in a high poverty neighborhood. To provide a valuable and appropriate education for every child, the Common Core and high-stakes standardized testing must be abandoned. Thank you
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 21:31:01 +0000
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