Posted on 04/16/2015 7:30:42 PM PDT by Kid Shelleen
It's an anti-testing tsunami.
Thousands of families across the Empire State said no to standardized testing, boycotting the state-mandated English Language Arts exams which began Tuesday.
While accurate figures were hard to come by, testing opponents, parents groups, and school officials from Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, to Buffalo all agreed the number is likely to far exceed the 60,000 students who refused to take the test last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Not the worst thing that Ross Perot did, but probably on his top 5 list.
That should bend the curve upwards.
This testing is intended to see if students are being taught what they need to know. It’s to their benefit.
So folks side with the teachers who don’t the public to know they are failing, and the kids refuse to take the test(s).
When they grow up they can refuse to take cancer screening test too. Hey, they can prove another point.
This testing is intended to see if students are being taught what they need to know. It’s to their benefit.
Depends on who decides what needs to be known.
“So folks side with the teachers who don’t the public to know they are failing, and the kids refuse to take the test(s).”
So DO, how do we know that the test results won’t be jiggered like they were down in Atlanta? It’s patently obvious when you watch “Watter’s World” on O’Gasbag, that the morons in NYC haven’t been taught anything. You don’t need a test, just a five minute interview to figure out the level of failure.
“This testing is intended to see if students are being taught what they need to know. It’s to their benefit.”
The new tests are aligned with common core, so it’s really not to their benefit. It is to the benefit of some crony corporations like Pearson Education, though.
Wait for the retribution against the students...
I agree. With math and English skills, it’s probably a pretty good test.
If you and I were in charge of a given school, wouldn’t we want to have some indication if the kids were learning?
I know the Left sucks, but I don’t see this as a bad thing. It’s seems reasoned.
We talk about whether teachers are performing. How else do we officially determine that.
And I don’t disagree with your interview comments. I think there’s truth in that. How do you quantify that though?
“We’ll, I didn’t think he did very good.” “Okay, what exactly did he do wrong?” “Well, I can’t put my finger on it, but it was obvious he wasn’t learning.”
Isn’t that what we’d wind up with if we didn’t test and only did interviews?
What I generally notice about these protests..., they’re never framed to focus on the Conservative point of view.
They are Leftist in nature. The only group I have heard that hates this testing, it’s the teachers and their unions. They hate it because they view it an invasion of their classroom, and it holds them responsible.
So Common Core may have gotten caught in the process here by accident, but I still submit these protests are Leftist in nature. They aren’t protesting Common Core. Common core won’t be challenged. It’s the testing they hate.
I don’t necessarily disagree with your point about Common Core, but testing is an important way to see if the kids and the teachers are improving.
Now, should common core be addressed? Why sure it should. I agree there.
I’m still waiting for a cogent answer to this question:
http://screenreader.practice.parcc.testnav.com/tests/grade-4/session-1/section-1-7.php
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3240610/posts
The fact that teachers oppose the tests speaks volumes; the fact is grades have been so watered down every parent thinks their children are prodigies when the truth is they are not educated much at all.
These tests expose the lie, and that is why they are attacked. I don’t need a standardized test to tell me my “A” student children would be “C+” students in the schools I attended 30 years ago. The testing may not be oerfect, but without it we have to take the word of teachers who have every reason to lie.
What are the consequences for the student of not taking the test?
I don’t object to testing in general, but I do object to these particular tests, which are aligned with Common Core. Also, something that a lot of parents don’t know is that these tests are part of a big data mining operation on the kids. In my area, kids are having to take the old Washington state tests, plus these new Common Core tests, plus other tests that they might need for college (SAT/ACT, etc.). The amount of testing is ridiculous.
Yes, you touch on problems. I can’t deny it. So do we stop all testing? Perhaps so. I don’t agree with that.
One other problem that no one has touched on, is the fact that teachers actually teach to the test rather than the full curriculum. I attended an open house night with one of my young family members, and teachers were moaning and groaning that they were going to have to stop regular classwork in preparation for the tests.
When I was in school, the teacher taught and then tested us on what she had taught us. She didn’t drag out the test days before and go over it so we could pass.
Even juveniles know this is wrong.
Common Core is the subject of the protest for most of the parents involved. I have family in NY that are very vocal in the common core opposition - so much that my sister in law ran for and was elected to the school board because she adamantly refuses to accept the garbage teaching methods.
The tests, further, are not written to measure knowledge of a subject. The math tests, for example, require the use of common core methods to the exclusion of proven mathematical techniques. If a student does their multiplication long hand, using the time-proven method, they get no credit because they didn't use the common core technique (which many people who are fluent in math find counter intuitive and difficult to apply).
The story may center on the school employees, but the parents in large part are defending their children from common core.
MortMan, I appreciate you writing this. If the parents are trashing common core, then I stand corrected. I am happy to be corrected, because it means some folk are actually in tune with what is going on.
Common core needs to be done away with. Once that’s done, testing should be designed to make sure the kids are learning math skill and communications skills (English) and composition.
I appreciate your post.
Again, I don’t have a problem with testing in general.
Thank you. Hope I didn’t imply you were.
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