A Standardized Testing Revolt












Correction- the state of Texas requires every child in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and for most core (English, Math, Science, and History) high school classes to take the state's high-stakes STAAR test.

Abby, is there any detail on how Pearson obtained $1.1 billion dollars of Texas taxpayer money in their efforts to administer these tests?

Also, why hasn't there been a competitive marketplace for testing organizations in this setting?

The facts are clear. American students are falling behind other countries all over the world in basic proficiency in language, science and math. The public is tired of the finger pointing among the parents, teachers, and school administrators.

You can decry "wrote learning" all you want, but students cannot achieve critical thinking and problem solving skills until they have mastered basic reading, writing and math skills as well as a basic knowledge in the other subjects such as science, history, etc. You cannot think critically about world history if you don't know basic facts, such as where Russia is, where World War II was fought and on what side Russia fought.

Passing tests of basic proficiency and knowledge should be the least we expect of teachers and students. If they can't do that, they cannot master higher order critical thinking skills.

In New York State where I went to high school. Every student was required to pass a Regents Exam in every academic subject. If a student did not achieve a 65 on the Regents test they could not get credit for the course. If they got an 85, as I recall, they had to pass the course. This was never controversial. It just provided a basic quality control standard on education throughout the state.

In the past two decades the cost of educating children has risen substantially over and above inflation. The public and our students have a right to benefit from this investment. Teachers and education administrators cannot have it both ways. If the want respect and good salaries, they have to be responsible for doing a competent job.

Year after year some teachers and administrators produce outsize gains in student performance and while others produce little or no progress. Yet all are given almost complete job security and equal pay based on Seniority. We must find fair and reasonably accurate ways to reward good teachers and administrators, and retrain and, if necessary, punish or fire those that cannot or will not perform up to a reasonable standard.

The current system is not working. Yes ,some schools and some students are more difficult than others, but this is no excuse of failure. Teachers and administrators must be held accountable in a way that is fair and reflects the challenges they face. The country needs it and our students deserve it.

Hogwash mrc06405J. The U.S. is NOT falling behind other countries - you listen and believe the media too much, which you means you believe the billionaires who own them. Do some research. On international tests, our middle and upper class kids outscore the world. The one thing the U.S. is leading the developed world with is child poverty - we have 25% of our children living in poverty. These students, who score comparably with Mexico, are at-risk because of their home life and other factors such as the language they speak, etc.... Research shows the obvious correlation between that of poverty and student growth and proficiency. You expect the U.S. to outscore the world, or at least compete, when we lead the world in child poverty? Not possible. You fall into line nice with the rest of the sheeple that believe the headlines, and the billionaires love you. Pearson LOVES people like you. Do you think they give a flip about our kids or helping to offset the wage inequality in this country? Class mobility and wage inequality have increased substantially in the last few decades, and child poverty has more than doubled, yet your answer is to expect kids to pass a stupid test.

Moreover, if you would do some research you would quickly find that the reason why we have increased spending on education is that we have inherited more special needs kids, significantly reduced class size (which is good - private schools do it, so should public schools), and we have many more technological needs now than we did decades ago. Plus we implement laborious, costly programs now that we didn't decades ago - the best example are the ridiculous and costly teacher evaluations that each state has implemented that does teachers absolutely no good. Billionaires love this crap to - they can prop up the private sector by firing veteran teachers, raiding teacher pensions, and slashing budgets all because a band of bankers almost sunk this country. Taxable income diminished, and rather than tap the private sector to stabilize the public sector to stabilize the situation, the billionaires have waged war on the public sector and teachers (and their unions) are priority number one - bust unions, fire veteran teachers, convert traditional public schools to charters, and offer school vouchers at a savings for the taxpayer knowing that they will do no good, especially for our poor kids that need the most help.

And teachers who produce "outsize gains" teach to the test, prep and coach their kids for the test, or downright cheat. Wake up.

The current system WOULD work if the armchair educators in this country would shut up and allow the educators to dictate the situation. Please do your research, and start with analyzing the Finland system for an excellent model of education WITHOUT using test scores as a meaningless proxy.

Standardized tests are great.

Now all we need are standardized students.

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