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Spring 2016 Testing Refusal Movement - Long Island, NY
The document discusses the testing refusal movement in New York, emphasizing the distinction between opting out and refusing state tests. It outlines concerns over high-stakes testing and its implications for students, teachers, and educational quality, referencing both protests and administrative changes aimed at reducing testing. The narrative highlights numerous sources, experiences, and statistics that stress the adverse effects of excessive testing in schools.
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Spring 2016 Testing Refusal Movement - Long Island, NY
- 1. LI’s Testing RefusalMovement Change nothing and Nothing changes Brian Wasson Parent of 3 in Sachem Schools Member of S.C.A.P.E. the999ers.wordpress.com diigo.com/user/the999ers
- 2. Click here forMarch 24, 2014 story Click here for April 2, 2014 story Click here for March 31, 2015 story
- 3. There is ahuge distinction in wording here: Opt Out vs. Refuse
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- 11. If you readone current piece about this topic, make it this one. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/study-says-standardized-testing-is-overwhelming-nations-public- schools/2015/10/24/8a22092c-79ae-11e5-a958-d889faf561dc_story.html Fall 2015
- 12. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/study-says-standardized-testing-is-overwhelming-nations-public- schools/2015/10/24/8a22092c-79ae-11e5-a958-d889faf561dc_story.html In one ofthe most notable attempts to reduce testing, Miami- Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho earlier this year cut the number of district-created end-of-course exams from 300 to 10 and eliminated them entirely for elementary schools. “I believe in accountability,” said Carvalho, who runs the nation’s fourth-largest school district. “But fewer assessments of higher quality are better. . . .What we have now across the country is confusing, hard to navigate and, I believe, abusive of both teacher and student time. We can’t assess our way to academic excellence.” Fall 2015
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- 24. Vote 49-40, twoNY senators spilt and 11 missing from the vote. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-03-14/john-king-confirmed-as-education-secretary March 2016
- 25. So… Three years later… Theyheard us.
- 26. 1. How wegot here 2. What testing refusal looks like 3. Why “we” are fighting excessive high stakes testing 4. How I got involved 5. Testing issues 6. Data collection: starve the beast 7. End Goal "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." -The Lorax Outline
- 27. 1. How wegot here President G. W. Bush = No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Law 1. New over-emphasis on yearly standardized testing 2. The mantra begins … “Our schools are failing.” President Obama = Race to the Top (RttT) Award 1. New “common” learning standards 2. New assessments 3. New teacher evaluation system 4. New data collection/mining efforts NY accepts the largest amount awarded to states: $700+ million over 5 years Entire program a result of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act 2009 (The Stimulus) (here and here)
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- 29. "In a civilizedcountry 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 …
- 32. What do therefusal students do during testing? - Sit and read in testing room - Relocate and read (or other activities) - Sit and stare (no LI districts left?) * Some students have to verbally refuse * Some parents remove kids from school and bring back
- 34. NYSED Spring 2014Response 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
- 35. NYSED Spring 2014Response Source: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/04/new_york_wont_penalize_schools_where_students_opted_out_ of_exams.html
- 36. 3. Why “we”are fighting excessive high stakes testing Full story found here
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- 38. Kinder 2008 "First theyignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.“ -Mhatinas Ghandi Kinder 2012
- 39. Kinder Homework 2008v. 2013-14 “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.“ -Mhatinas Ghandi
- 40. 3rd grade homework/classwork 2012 “Even ifyou are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.“-Mhatinas Ghandi
- 41. 4th grade homework/classwork 2013 “You maynever know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result.” -Mhatinas Ghandi
- 42. Kinder homework /classwork 2014 “Freedom isnot worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.“-Mhatinas Ghandi
- 43. 1st Grade homework /classwork 2015 “Freedomis not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.“-Mhatinas Ghandi
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- 46. “Miss Vee” askedher 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/
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- 50. http://www.edweek.org/media/joint_statement_on_core_standards.pdf More than 500early childhood professionals — including educators, pediatricians, developmental psychologists, and researchers — signed the 2010 Joint Statement of Early Childhood Health and Education Professionals on the Common Core Standards Initiative. The statement says in part: “We have grave concerns about the core standards for young children. The proposed standards conflict with compelling new research in cognitive science, neuroscience, child development, and early childhood education about how young children learn, what they need to learn, and how best to teach them in kindergarten and the early grades.”
- 51. 4. How Igot 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 • Kyle – Grade 3 – 2013
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- 53. Relevant Facebook Groups 19,979members Long Island Opt-out Info 980 members NY Parents Opposed to Data Sharing without Consent! 13,647 members Lace to the Top 3,045 members NYS Refuse the Tests 149,592 members … and climbing (as of April 2015) 15,799 members 4,472 members 11,234 members 21,522 members 10,708 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
- 54. Spring 2014 Parent/EducatorOPEN Forums
- 55. 5. Testing Issues “Youmay 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
- 56. “All tests andstudent 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
- 57. From Kevin Glynnin 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
- 58. Total testing time "Ina civilized country when ridicule fails to kill a movement it begins to command respect.“ -Mhatinas Ghandi
- 59. “We can measuresomeone’s ability to attend med school or law school in less time than it takes for a third-grader to sit for a math exam,” said Peter Osroff, principal of Garden City Middle School and co-president of the Nassau County Middle Level Principals’ Association. “It’s insane.”
- 60. http://elafeedback.com/comments/view/-/- Post Spring 2013State Assessment Collected Feedback https://web.archive.org/web/20130818204109/http://elafeedback.com/comments/view/-/-
- 61. http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2014/04/t oday-is-first-day-of-state-ela-exams.html Post Spring 2014State Assessment Collected Feedback http://wp.me/p3uIz3-d7 http://testingtalk.org/responses?region=NY
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- 68. “The governor assertedthe 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?
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- 71. “As a Regentof 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 Source http://dianeravitch.net/2015/04/02/regent-cashin-of-new-york-speaks-out-against-high-stakes-testing/
- 72. Governor Cuomo providesthe 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 Source http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/232746/cuomo-remember-teacher-evaluation-tests-dont-count-for-kids/
- 73. High stakes testingis 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?
- 74. Source: http://www.lohud.com/story/news/education/2014/03/29/common-core-testing-starts/7051561/ "If a testis 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."
- 75. 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 • Federal data collection • PARCC and other computer based testing
- 76. "In a civilizedcountry when ridicule fails to kill a movement it begins to command respect.“ -Mhatinas Ghandi Click here to read full story
- 77. "In a civilizedcountry when ridicule fails to kill a movement it begins to command respect.“ -Mhatinas Ghandi Click here to read full story
- 78. "In a civilizedcountry 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
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- 80. Go Ahead andGet the PARCC Testing Experience http://wp.me/p3pStf-69
- 81. Go Ahead andGet the PARCC Testing Experience http://wp.me/p3pStf-69
- 82. Go Ahead andGet the PARCC Testing Experience http://wp.me/p3pStf-69
- 83. Go Ahead andGet the PARCC Testing Experience http://wp.me/p3pStf-69
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- 85. https://www.ny.gov/programs/smart-schools-ny NY’s Smarter SchoolsBond Act Fall 2014 = PASSED
- 86. Phrase above quotedvia Dr. Joseph Rella, Superintendent, Comsewogue Schools, NY 7. End Goal Stop It! Fix It! Scrap It!
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- 89. "In a civilizedcountry when ridicule fails to kill a movement it begins to command respect.“ -Mhatinas Ghandi 8. Upcoming Forums & More Information LI Opt Out Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/Longislandoptout/ NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE) http://www.nysape.org Washington Post’s Answer Sheet https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/
Editor's Notes
- #3 This movement is certainly gaining not just local media attention, but nationally as well.
- #4 This movement is certainly gaining not just local media attention, but nationally as well.
- #5 Consider the following line, in red on the slide, from the general provisions of US Code, Dept of Education.
- #27 Outline of the rest of this presentation
- #28 So what does a testing refusal actually look like?
- #30 So what does a testing refusal actually look like?
- #31 Here’s a copy of our letter to our child’s teacher and principal.
- #32 Here’s a brief sample letter for just the spring Math test refusal.
- #33 How are the refusals handled across Long Island schools. It has been vastly different, although this year was certainly better than last year.
- #34 Sample wearable cards for students
- #35 What has been NYSED’s response to this movement? Basically the same: “Why wouldn’t parents not want to know where their child stands?”
- #36 What has been NYSED’s response to this movement? How about a change to the 95% participation rule?
- #37 Here is the main reason why we fight: these kids. The kids as young as this 2nd grader who are to the point of nightly tears over … homework. Simply homework.
- #39 Here they are side by side; kindergarten homework just 4 years apart. Note that graded sheets in grades all the way down to kinder start appearing in 2012 in NY.
- #40 Here’s another similar sample from elsewhere in America. This isn’t just a NY problem.
- #41 Here’s my son’s 3rd grade homework and classwork. This one day he came home with 60 sheets … almost all look like practice tests.
- #42 And then he moved into 4th grade this year and guess what, it looks the same.
- #43 But the unfortunate thing was this is now happening with my kindergartner. This is the stuff she brings home. Kindergarten is supposed to = “children’s garden”
- #46 Even the NY Post covered this in January 2013
- #52 Here’s how I got involved in this movement. Has it been easy? No. Do I feel like I want to bail out sometimes? Yes. So why press on …
- #53 Screen shot of the blog post I wrote in Spring 2013 where I tried to detail why my family chose to refuse last year’s state assessments. It was a mess of thoughts and concerns.
- #54 This slide of several of the more popular Facebook groups devoted to the cause is as of March 2014. The numbers continue to rise every day. We are organized and “social” … sometimes too much so.
- #55 Dozens of parent/educator forums took place in the fall and winter of 2013-14 all over Long Island. I was invited to speak at 6 of them regarding the data issues. Each speaker focused on a topic (special needs kids, administration, cost, ranking in the world, refusing the tests, etc.) There were open forums where anyone could attend.
- #56 Here’s a snapshot of the testing issues we’ve uncovered – to date. These are developed and explored in more depth on the next bunch of slides.
- #59 An overall picture of the total testing time and this is just for the spring exams. This does not include any benchmarks, SLOs, etc.
- #61 In the spring of 2013 a new site popped up, created by Lucy Calkins, where teachers, parents and even students could chime in about the tests … mostly anonymously.
- #62 So then this spring Lucy Calkins and a group of professors and the like developed a new nationwide site called Testing Talk. The next bunch of slides are screen shots of some of the comments left there.
- #63 Testing talk comment
- #64 Testing talk comment
- #65 Testing talk comment
- #66 Testing talk comment
- #67 And the Facebook comments poured in after the first week of the ELA exams. These were all in the open and public LI Opt Out group.
- #68 Comments were even flying from the NYC schools during testing week and many of them were found in just the comments of the popular city blog, Critical Classrooms.
- #69 At an April 1, 2014 event at CW Post University on Long Island the Governor actually said the tests don’t count. What?
- #72 At an April 1, 2014 event at CW Post University on Long Island the Governor actually said the tests don’t count. What?
- #73 At an April 1, 2014 event at CW Post University on Long Island the Governor actually said the tests don’t count. What?
- #74 So what’s the point? What’s the point of the high stakes standardized testing?
- #75 So what’s the point? What’s the point of the high stakes standardized testing?
- #76 Here’s the snapshot of the data collection section of this presentation.
- #77 Good news! As a result of parent pressure on POLITICIANS in NY, the state education department killed the contract with inBloom literally during the first spring 2014 testing week. NYSED’s next move has to be watched very closely now. All eyes on them.
- #78 Followup story on this from the Lower Hudson Valley
- #79 So shifting gears to the other data initiative in the state is NY’s P-20 Longitudinal Database system. Here is the NYSED response within our state’s RttT application about use of this new database.
- #81 The next few slides showcase some screen shots of the PARCC testing experience. NY is only of several states piloting this in the spring 2014 for use potentially in a year or so. NYSED put PARCC on hold for now….whatever that means.
- #87 Yes, pictures with Superintendents is now popular. Here’s me with Dr. Joe Rella. His words: “Stop it! Fix it! Scrap it!” … or we refuse it.