Posted on 04/11/2003 11:04:18 AM PDT by Michael2001
LOS ANGELES -- Demonstrators urged the Los Angeles school board Tuesday to reconsider the use of tests they say are racist and unfair to blacks and Latinos.
Some people believe the California High School Exit Exam and other standardized tests are culturally biased toward whites and Asians.
"We are concerned about the racist tests that are going on in the schools today," said Paige Leven of the Coalition for Educational Justice.
The demonstration was timed to coincide with proposal from school board members Genethia Hudley Hayes, who is black, and Jose Huizar, who is of Latino descent. They want state officials to explore the "legal, financial and policy implications of establishing a moratorium on the high stakes consequences of the (high school exit exam)."
At the same time, Hayes and Huizar want to continue using results from the exit exam as a "diagnostic tool."
Whites and students of Asian descent typically score better than blacks and Latinos on standardized tests. Huizar said the gap was at least a "20-25 percent disparity."
Last spring, the school board voted 4-1 to consider alternatives to the Stanford 9 and high school exit exam after Hayes and Huizar suggested the tests were biased against nonwhites from poor families.
But Superintendent Roy Romer said the two tests are required by state law.
Tuesday, Hayes and Huizar proposed that the district consider adopting or expanding "alternative or interim assessments to improve the quality of information available to individual classroom teachers."
The alternatives would include "language arts performance assignments" for grades 2-9 and quarterly assessments in math.
Hayes and Huizar also want to create a task force to devise an "Opportunity to Learn Index that would provide public information on ... students' equitable access to tools, resources and materials that inform the educational conditions under which they are assessed."
Demonstrators said many inner-city students were disadvantaged.
"We have very little funds. We have very little books," said Victor Banuelos, an 11th-grade student at Los Angeles High School.
Hayes said she was concerned that the district was considering offering two kinds of high school diplomas -- one saying the student passed the exit exam, and the other saying he or she did not.
The school board will vote on the Hayes-Huizar proposal in two weeks.
We give standardized tests to see what the children have learned.
To imply that racism is involved is amazingly stupid. If your child doesn't do well, your child hasn't learned the objectives... pure and simple.
These people who are screaming racism are simply idiots of their own choosing.
I sincerely doubt they would do well on these tests.
george wythe: Source?? Link??
zuggerlee: Read "Losing the Race" by McWhorter.
The Shaker Heights Ohio data show that parents education and income levels correlate much less for blacks than for whites.
What about hispanics?
What about a link?
This year, LA Unified School District will hold students back a grade (retention) in the 2nd and 8th grades if they don't pass certain "standards." By 2001 and 2002, LAUSD will hold students back in all grades based substantially on the Stanford 9 standardized test and others (given in English). Why should we oppose this?
High-Stakes Testing and Retention are Class-Biased and Racist
1. Low-income students, who have fewer resources at their schools, aren't given an equal chance on these tests. Retention policies tied to test results, therefore, are class- and racially-discriminatory because poverty mostly affects immigrants and communities of color. For example, LA County schools are hyper-segregated and schools in communities of color are 12 times more likely to lack basic materials than schools in white communities. These schools are 6 times as likely to have less experienced teachers.
2. When given only in English, tests measure national origin more than mastery of school material. When tests are language-biased, otherwise competent students are punished for not speaking English fluently.
3. The tests are culturally-biased as mostly middle-income, white test-makers produce tests that measure the knowledge and experiences valued by middle-income whites. They ignore the knowledge and experiences valued by other cultures.
4. Schools in low-income communities of color in particular, where test pressure is highest, focus on destructive "Back to Basics" lessons and testing drills. They also "track" students. "Back to Basics" does not have high learning standards. Wealthy schools more often do rigorous, project-based learning.
5. Low-income students are retained twice as often as high-income children. Students of color are retained in large numbers. Retention contributes to the high dropout rate among African-Americans and Latinos, as compared to whites. The gap between white students and students of color is widened, not narrowed.
High-Stakes Testing and Retention Hurt Learning, Students, and Teachers
1. Standardized tests do not measure creativity, problem-solving abilities, ethical thinking, and many other things central to learning. They mostly measure what is crammed into students' short-term memories.
2. Positive jumps in test scores are often due to narrow test coaching rather than real learning.
3. Most students like school less when their classes and time are focused on standardized tests.
4. Retention contributes to academic failure rather than to success in school. A single grade retention increases the chances that a student will drop out by 50%. A second retention increases the risk by 90%.
5. Retention blames poor performance on children, not on the school district. Rather than transform schools, retention policies make students repeat an experience that failed them before.
6. Testing hype puts negative pressure on teachers and stifles their creativity.
7. Ongoing tutoring without retention should be greatly expanded for students with academic needs. The focus on retention ensures that only narrow, pressure-filled tutoring programs will exist.
TESTING AND RETENTION PUNISH MOSTLY LOW-INCOME STUDENTS OF COLOR FOR THE FAILURES OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS. GET INVOLVED IN CEJ.
Contact Alex Caputo-Pearl caputoprl@aol.com
I think the classic example given is "match the phrase: cup and ______" where the correct answer is "cup and saucer." It is claimed that poor kids don't use saucers with their cups at home since they only have large coffee cups. The poor kids would be more likely to select the incorrect answer "cup and table" since they associated seeing a coffee cup sitting on the breakfast table more than they associated a demitasse or dainty tea cup with a saucer since those are relativly unknown to them.
The argument is that since black kids are more likely to be poor than white ones, the grammar question above can be considered racist.
Homeschool rules!
Thanks for posting the link to this article.
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