Re: Fwd: testing lunacy

From: Marie Judson (mjudson@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Sun May 15 2005 - 11:47:48 PDT


No Child Left is certainly right. How do we turn the
tide on this, Kris?

"Why is Corporate America Bashing our Public Schools?"
by Emery and Ohanian also contains many telling and
frankly disgusting stories about testing, and some of
the sources that push the testing agenda.

This article reminds me the essay question my son
received on his recent SAT exam, which now requires a
large written section. The question was about the need
for creativity in education. What an ironic question
to answer for this anonymously scored and formulaic
context - a bit like the flying principal tale. For
these kids, who are daily terrorized by the notion
that their futures are shaped by these tests and what
colleges their scores will afford them, the
psychological consequences are devastating, not to
mention the egregious damage to any desire or courage
to write creatively!

Marie

--- Kris Gutierrez <gutierrez@gseis.ucla.edu> wrote:

> Had to forward this..... No Child Left! : - (
> Kris D. Gutierrez
> Professor
> GSE&IS
> Moore Hall 1026
> UCLA
> Los Angeles, CA 9009501521
> 310-825-7467
>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > > >
> > > An op-ed length something to mull over the
> weekend.
> > >
> >
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > ---
> > >
> > >
> > > AND THE ANSWER IS:
> > >
> > > TESTING DRIVES PEOPLE NUTS
> > >
> > > Gerald W. Bracey
> > >
> > >
> > > Test-Induced Craziness. Call it the TIC tic.
> Consider it Orwellian.
> > > Orwell's Newspeak pounded the brain with
> certain ideas while
> > > precluding others. So it is that many school
> people can today think
> > > only of test scores and sanctions, and their
> cerebrums can no longer
> > > entertain the idea of "education."
> > >
> > > In Bennett, Colorado, Frank Maes, a father and
> middle school math
> > > teacher whose brain is still capable of thinking
> beyond tests, told
> > > the administration that his sixth-grade
> daughter, Nicole, would not
> > > participate in the Colorado state testing
> program: "All it does is
> > > label schools and kids."
> > >
> > > OK, fine, said Bennett's administration, but if
> Nicole doesn't take
> > > the tests she won't get promoted to seventh
> grade. This is official
> > > Bennett policy. She took the tests.
> > >
> > > Unlike some states, Colorado doesn't offer any
> "opt-out" provision.
> > It
> > > punishes schools that can't round up all their
> kids on test day: as
> > it
> > > grades Colorado's schools, it gives zeros to
> students who bailed out.
> > > The state can take over schools with low grades
> and convert them to
> > > charter schools which, given the low performance
> of charters, doesn't
> > > sound exactly like a rational policy.
> > >
> > > Meanwhile, Aberdeen, Washington schools
> suspended, nine-year-old
> > > fourth grader, Tyler Stokes, for a week for not
> completing the state
> > > test. Not for declining to take the test. Not
> for having refusenik
> > > parents who kept him home on test day. For
> failing to complete the
> > > test.
> > >
> > > Tyler was doing fine until he hit a writing
> prompt that said, "Now
> > > children, you're looking out the window and see
> your principal flying
> > > by…." Tyler was supposed to create a fanciful
> story about the flying
> > > principal.
> > >
> > > Tyler didn't know what to write so he wrote
> nothing. Six times the
> > > teacher commanded Tyler to write. Six times
> Tyler sat there. The
> > > principal summoned Tyler's mother to the school
> to extract the tale.
> > > No luck. Mom told reporters that he simply
> didn't know how to answer
> > > the question. Tyler says he was trying to save
> face for the
> > > administration: "I couldn't think of what to
> write without making
> > fun
> > > of the principal." Quite a dilemma.
> > >
> > > He needn't have worried. Principal Olivia
> Carter was quite capable
> > of
> > > looking foolish on her own. Her letter to
> Tyler's mother said, in
> > > part, "The fact that Tyler chose to simply
> refuse to work on the WASL
> > > (the test's acronym) after many reasonable
> requests is none other
> > than
> > > blatant defiance and insubordination." She
> called Tyler's perversity
> > > "a particularly egregious wound" to his
> classmates whose average
> > score
> > > Tyler's zero torpedoed. Tyler's mom has joined
> Mothers Against the
> > > WASL.
> > >
> > > And from Texas, a state where high schools can
> lose 400 kids a year
> > > and still claim that they have no dropouts,
> reports come of a more
> > > commonly occurring form of child abuse. Four
> kids who don't speak
> > > English very well and who flunked the Texas
> reading test twice, are
> > > pulled from Judith Bingham's fifth grade each
> day "and taken to a
> > > sixth grade teacher. He spends all morning
> teaching them 'new'
> > > strategies. The strategies are not new but are
> (simply) presented by
> > > yet one more person…While they are tutored, they
> get no P. E., no
> > > Music or Library break." If they fail again,
> they have to go to
> > > summer school and if they flub that, they get to
> repeat 5th grade,
> > > thereby greatly increasing the probability that
> they'll leave school
> > > without graduating.
> > >
> > > Bingham: "I'm asking the public, Can't we do
> something to stop this?
> > > Accountability is one thing; abuse is something
> else."
> > >
> > > Not too many years ago, we spoke of "love of
> learning," "lifelong
> > > learning" and "learning for learning's
> sake." No more. Just as
> > > Newspeak closed off ideas the government didn't
> like, so the testing
> > > juggernaut has come to preclude the idea of a
> genuine education.
> > > Consider the long term implications. Who among
> children enduring
> > such
> > > assaults upon their psyches will consider later
> returning to schools
> > > as teachers?
> > >
> > > The testing systems above are all state-level
> programs, but they also
> > > function as part of the even more punitive
> federal No Child Left
> > > Behind law. Using smoke and mirrors about high
> standards and
> > > accountability, these programs are doing
> everything in their power to
> > > destroy the concept of education. I can only
> hope that there are
> > dark
> > > recesses in the brain where Newspeak has not yet
> penetrated that will
> > > let us one day look back on the TIC tic years
> and ask, "What on earth
> > > were we thinking?"
> > >
> > >
>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marie Judson
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Communication
UCSD, Mailcode 0503
858.643.9090
mjudson@ucsd.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Jun 01 2005 - 01:00:04 PDT