The NY State School Boards Assn. is asking members to vote yes to its resolution for the continued use of test scores in teacher evaluations. Our PTSA wrote the following letter to our Board of Ed asking that they vote NO. Feel free to copy and send the letter to your Boards of Ed. Dear Board of Education members: We write to ask that you vote NO on the NY State School Board Associations (NYSSBA) Resolution number 10, entitled Supporting the Use of Student Performance in APPR, at the NYSSBAs Annual Business Meeting at the end of October (see p.15, nyssba.org/clientuploads/nyssba_pdf/final_resolution_book_2014.pdf). NYs Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) law requires that student performance count for at least 20% of a teachers annual evaluation and be based on state assessments or other comparable measures (NY Education Law 3012-C). For many of our teachers state-wide, this component uses the scores on the grades 3-8 Common Core English Language Arts (ELA) and Math standardized assessments. Since APPR was in its infancy, educators and experts have cautioned against the use of standardized tests with high-stakes consequences, for reasons of forcing teaching to the test, narrowing curriculum, causing undue stress on students, creating more costs to districts by increasing unfunded mandates, not accounting for scoring differences for children with special needs and English Language Learners, and more (see, e.g., kpae.us/kpae/strong-words-about-appr-from-the-west-seneca-central-and-springville-griffith-institute-central-school-board, newyorkprincipals.org/appr-paper). But before any of these issues can be studied, the threshold issue of test validity and reliability must be addressed: are these standardized tests accurate measures of student learning and of effective teaching? For that determination to be made, the tests must be available to the public in full, so that independent analyses can be made by disinterested parties, proving or disproving whether the tests are quality tests and are valid indicators. Unfortunately, these Common Core ELA and Math tests are not available for public review or for independent assessment. A state-issued gag order prevents teachers and administrators from discussing any test details. And while NY used to publish the grades 3-8 ELA and Math tests in full for the public, it abruptly stopped full transparency in 2011. Now the State Education Department releases only portions of the tests (25% in 2013, 50% in 2014) and specifically cautions that the released state-selected questions do not represent a full test: These Released Questions Do Not Comprise a Mini Test and are NOT intended to show how operational tests look (see,e.g., https://engageny.org/file/103116/download/2014_ela_grade_7_sample_annotated_items.pdf)(emphasis in original). Without transparency, there is no way to even begin to insure that these tests are effective indicators of what a child has learned or how well a teacher has taught. Parents have been so dismayed by NYs lack of transparency over these high-stakes tests that in June and July this year, over 3,000 New Yorkers wrote to our government leaders (Gov. Cuomo, Board of Regents, Commissioner John King, and various legislators) demanding that the tests be published in full, for the very reason of assuring that they are fair and accurate tests that truly measure learning and teaching. These requests have gone unanswered as of yet. (We are hopeful that the various Transparency-in-Testing bills in our state legislature will pass this year, allowing for publication in full.) Making matters worse is that based on the information that is available, the Common Core ELA and Math tests are terribly flawed. These tests have been cited for containing numerous factual errors as well as for being confusing, developmentally inappropriate, above grade level, too long, and not aligned with the Common Core Learning Standards. In May, 2012, NY Board of Regents Commissioner Merryl Tisch called the myriad errors on these tests inexcusable and really disturbing. She cautioned Pearson, the test creator, to take this really seriously (nydailynews/new-york/education/chancellor-merryl-tisch-condemns-testing-mistakes-article-1.1074997). This past years tests were reported to be even more troubling. Liz Phillips, principal of the high-achieving PS 321 elementary school in Park Slope, wrote in the New York Times that [i]t was truly shocking to look at the exams in third, fourth and fifth grade and to see that they were worse than ever. We felt as if wed been had (nytimes/2014/04/10/opinion/the-problem-with-the-common-core.html). As long as these tests are not available in full for public review and independent assessment, they must not be used for weighty consequences; specifically, these tests should not be permitted to be part of a teachers or administrators annual review. As discussed above, extensive anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that the tests are deeply flawed -- and there is no other means of checking the tests validity at this time. Fairness, due process concerns, and common sense dictate that student performance data in the form of these tests be rejected. Accordingly, we ask that you vote NO to this resolution. Please let us know what position you will take on Resolution number 10, and know that we are readily available to discuss this issue further. And of course, our many thanks for all the time and effort you dedicate to our schools. Sincerely, The Hastings-on-Hudson PTSA Executive Board
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 18:59:19 +0000
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