Speak Out: Testing Time Waster
It’s hard to believe we’re halfway through another school year. What’s astounding, however, is how much time testing has eaten from our classroom schedules since winter break.
Since Jan. 7, teachers have given nearly 30 standardized tests, including the Dominie, given in grades 2–5; quarterly assessments given in grades 2–12, and the full-length OAT practice test, given in grades 3–8.
At minimum, that’s 60 hours spent giving the tests, not to mention the hours spent teaching the test format through sample questions and practice exercises and filling out paperwork. Teachers are frustrated by the enormous amount of testing; and our students are burnt out, also. Click on the jump below to read more.Spring isn’t here yet and more testing is coming.
CEA wants the administration to reconsider the amount of testing required. This includes the time it takes to administer, score and scan the tests. Teachers have spent more time giving multiple assessments than instructing students in the month of January.
Another level of frustration in the testing saga is teachers have reported numerous mistakes on the quarterly assessments including no correct choices for test items, typing/keying errors and items that cover material not yet covered in the pacing guide. This is another example of the waste of valuable time our teachers spend correcting the errors made by the district.
We have forwarded to arbitration the grievance filed back in October and hope to resolve the testing issues. Stay tuned. And pay attention to the hours you are spending. It’s time the administration recognized that it is wasting the talent in our classrooms.
What are your thoughts on the amount of time you spend on testing and related activities?
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January 23rd, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I’m tired of testing! A child is more than a test score!
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Often, a looming question with these tests is: What is done with the results? Consider the quarterly assessments. As many teachers know, they have numerous errors at various levels. Students see these errors as well. Knowing this, are the results valid or useful? Most teachers are hesitant to use the results because the tests are faulty.
OAT Practice simulation. By the time they are graded and results are given, is there really enough time to change teaching practices to review?
Good teachers already know their students’ weak areas, they don’t need two weeks of tests to tell them what they already know.
January 24th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
The Dominie test is the only part of “LACES” that is in the new reading program…it takes an unbelievable amount of time to individually test each child. With the huge classes that we have now, it took me four days instead of the two reading periods that was “scheduled” for us to do them in. The DRA worked perfectly fine. We really don’t need constant assessments to tell where are students are!
This year we have a new reading program, new report card system, new behavior program, increased testing and paperwork, classes larger than ever( our third and fourth grades are at 28, 29), elimination of reading remediation in elementary school (why try to catch and solve a reading problem early?) and we are being pulled from our class to go to workshops on behavior and OAT vocabulary!
One workshop was even held during a test week! I HAD to leave my class for a day to go to it.
LET ME TEACH!!
Our concerns fall on deaf ears when it comes to administration that is making all these decisions. Guess whose fault it will be in the spring when due to all these distractions from teaching our students scores go down?
January 25th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
CONFUSION ABOUNDS!
Because 8th graders were still testing, 7th grade teachers were forced to keep students for 4 periods on Friday morning. Then no one came to cover my lunch, so I had to send my students to the gym teacher so I could at least use the restroom before my afternoon classes began!! Then, as if that weren’t bad enough, there was even more confusion about whether students should follow their first semester schedule or second semester schedule this afternoon. What a mess!! Hopefully we can return to the business of education on Monday.
January 25th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
As of the end of next week I will have given 46 different OAT and Quarterly Assessment tests to my class of 3-5 intermediate special needs students this year. This does not include DIBELS and Dominie testing.
The approximate length to administer each test is 1 entire school day. Since I can only read and scribe for one test at a time, the other 2 grade level students sit and do mostly busy work for the day (learning less and leaving me more to grade).
My building administrator requested the 3-5 teachers give a practice reading and math OAT test prior to winter break, 1 week was spent giving and hours at home grading.
The week we returned from break I spent 1 week giving Dominie, the following week on Quarterly Assessments and and now next week will be spent on more OAT practice. I have only taught class 4 days this month!
January 26th, 2008 at 5:37 am
Administration wonders why students leave to go to charter schools. I teach Spanish to middle schoolers. So far, in the month of January, I have spent 10 hours testing (or housing students while others test in the building). I have only spent 7 hours and 45 minutes teaching each of my classes so far this month. Charter schools boast about their course offerings, opportunities, and flexibility.
CCS needs to realize that over-testing students does nothing but lower student and staff attendance, lower building morale, and decrease student achievement.
January 26th, 2008 at 10:09 am
The last sentence by “NoTeacherLeftBehind” succinctly lays it out. What I don’t understand is why the decision-makers cannot figure that out? How do larger classes and constant testing improve our student’s education?
January 26th, 2008 at 10:22 am
It is clear that people downtown and at Northgate making decisions for our students and classrooms do not get input from classroom teachers. Dominie testing, for which we were given 4 hours to complete (two days of the elementary r/la block), took 25-30 minutes per student, and the stories are of questionable content. Did others notice that the Level 10 story ended by saying unicorns have been proven to be real?
If I spend 3 hours scoring tests, that is 3 hours less time I have to spend putting together focused lesson plans. And it is not just the open-response we have to score. Because there are so many errors with scanning machines, we have to score everything, and then check our scores with what is posted online to make sure the online record is accurate.
During the first 3 weeks of Jan. elementary teachers have scored and prepared: writing portfolios, OAT in up to four subjects, quarterly assessments in up to four subjects, grade cards, which we are still handwriting; and dominie. Then in February we will be doing the third round of the diebles reading fluency test. All this, and we have between 27-30 in each class in grades k-3, and have spent most of January with indoor recess.
The district is spending tremendous amounts of money on data for us to use, but if we don’t have the time, what is the point?
January 26th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Along with all the above issues, how about the time we have to spend grading short and extended response answers on the “practice” OAT for GLIs that we have not even taught yet? What a joke!
How would you feel if you had to take a test on things you have not even been taught yet? No wonder the kids don’t take testing seriously!
Has anyone noticed that the CiMS tests for reading at 4th grade level actually test GLIs that weren’t even scheduled to be taught last quarter?
Also, the “practice”OAT tests we are giving them are the same ones that are posted online-both the CCS and ODE websites have them.
We have been told to use these tests in our rooms for our own practice tests-so the kids are taking tests that they have already gone over in class!!! Another joke-this whole process has NOT been thought through.
It truly shows that those who do the planning for CCS have not been in the classroom for years and have not contacted/consulted the teachers in the rooms-the true warriors!!
January 26th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
And let us not forget the shorter school day… because that’s worked out so well… not. I am confounded by the decision-making process that touts ‘doing what is best for kids’ being an ultimate paradox! I agree with all of you, and I do feel that ‘NoTeacherLeftBehind’ did sum it up best in his/her assessment of the situation. Ultimately, those suffering the most here are the KIDS! What kinds of adults are we cultivating for the future?
To add to that, the CEASELESS and oppressive oversight of holding us to standards - coming into our classrooms and being the CONSTANT critic… MORALE IS LOW - and it’s a systemic issue that starts with those dictating this rigorous testing!
Oh - and one more thing… while addressing the TIME issue, I’m sure you all have to grade these tests too, right? Well, as an English teacher, I find it incredibly time consuming to grade and SCAN all of these tests!! As if I don’t have enough of my own classroom reading and grading to do… Oh - and THEN, I am supposed to log into the system to ANALYZE my data - on top of everything else… Sometimes I wonder what it is I was hired to do. All I want to do is inspire and educate my children… and cultivate an intrinsic appreciation for learning.
If we continue on this path, we’ll lose them all…
January 26th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
I’m glad school morale has been mentioned. It is at an all-time low because of all the new mandates that clearly interfere with actual teaching.
Then our rooms are visited by the “experts” who complain to our principal that we are not adhering to the LACES schedule! I have been teaching a long, long time,and there is NO way a good teacher can stick to the ridiculous timeline or would WANT TO! It doesn’t allow for hardly any of the skills we need to teach for the OATs! Our students do NOT all progress at the same rate…why would I move on when many of my students aren’t ready? Just to stick to the timeline? No way….progressing at the rate that is the most beneficial to all my students is far more important and will produce much better results.
When I have a room full of students who all learn at the exact same rate, then I will be glad to adhere to a strict guideline. Being admonished for not following it strictly, tells me that those making the decisions either do know know, or do not care how students really learn best.
While I’m at it:), why was DRA eliminated? It was a successful and appropriate reading assessment, Is it so the LACES program, (which who knows how much money was wasted on only to be eliminated as originally written), could keep ONE component so the new program could still be under that name? Perhaps to save face that the LACES program for all intents and purposes had to be scrapped after all the time and money invested? We can all see that this new program has little LACES in it. And we lost millions of government money because we used it as a program that was not researched-based.
In our school, we were lucky enough to have a program before that really worked and our students scores have been quite good. We don’t feel that’s going to be the case with all the stumbling blocks these new decisions have been left for the teachers to handle.
One last thing, (for now:), who, in administration or on the Board, believes that leaving us with classes of close to thirty is going to help us raise the scores in our school or for the district report card? Ultimately, what increases our district rating is the product of the hard work of the teachers in the classroom, not what changes Northgate, or administration, or the Board, make. The decisions are going to backfire, while we work even harder to counteract them.
Then when negotiating a new contract, will they be willing to pay us more for all the extra responsibility and exceptional efforts?
January 26th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Too much time taken away from teaching the students; too much stress placed on the educators and students.
January 26th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I taught 4th grade for four years in the years of proficiency testing and I was saddened by the overemphasis on testing at that time but I am even more sickened by the amount of testing my first graders now endure. They are 6 and 7 years old! I am convinced that the most needless and destructive test first graders currently take is the reading quarterly assessment.
In my classroom, the reading quarterly assessment takes approximately 1 ½ to 2 hours to administer (spread out over 2-3 days) and at least 2 hours of my time to “bubble” answer sheets and score extended response questions. This occurs four times a year. If the test were something of value I could swallow this amount of time taken from planning and teaching but this is not the case. The test tells me absolutely NOTHING about my students’ reading progress.
I could tell you the scores for each student before they take it. Those who read at grade level or above will do fairly well (once you take into consideration the questions that weren’t fair to begin with—e.g. many answer choices are filled with words far above grade level and the stems cannot be read by the teacher, questions only); those who don’t read at grade level will do miserably. On occasion, there is the comical instance in which a student who cannot even sound out the word “cat” gets a proficient score. This just goes to show how worthless this type of assessment is!
I am convinced that the reading quarterly assessments teach first graders only one thing and it is the not lesson we want them to learn. What they learn is how to play the game, how to just bubble an answer, any answer, in order to get the agony over with. After having fought the “just guessing” battle over and over with fourth graders, I am dismayed to realize the district’s testing mandates for early grades actually teach children to quit thinking and guess.
To know my students as readers, I need only one type of an assessment. Currently the Dominie best meets this need but I personally preferred the DRA. District mandate or not I will always use some type of running record/miscue analysis to guide my instruction. It would be nice to be allowed to decide as a professional which test best fits my classroom (dream)!
At the very least, the district needs to ensure that the tests we use actually match our curriculum. This grading period, many of my “grade-level” readers, according to Storytown, were not “grade-level” according to the Dominie. It is wrong for me to report to parents that their students were below grade level when the Dominie “grade-level” score required phonics skills not yet introduced or practiced in the Storytown reading series—yet, what choice do I have? I am doing my best to do the best for my students regardless of what the district tells me I have to do, but still I sometimes feel so trapped in a mess beyond my control.
This is getting long, and it is my weekend, and I should be reading my novel while my little ones nap (aren’t teachers supposed to read for pleasure too?) but I will continue in the hope that someday, something that teachers say will make a difference. I’ve spoken of two of the tests first graders take thus far, so here’s the skinny on the rest.
State diagnostics: In the subject of reading, math and writing. Most parts require that students be tested individually or in small groups. Students sit doing busy work instead of learning. I get to test instead of teach, score instead of plan. Total time wasted: approx. 15 hours during September and October.
Why? So I know that my students, who have never been taught how to count money, don’t know how to count money. Hopefully there will still be time after testing to teach them how to count money when the time comes. I realize this is not a battle to be fought with the district but with the state, but it should still be taken into account as the district decides what tests to add to what the state already requires.
Dibels: I really don’t understand this test. I don’t use it for anything. It takes about 6 hours to get through a class of 23. Same story as above…students sit, I test individuals, no learning for me or them.
Math quarterly assessment: I have less of a beef with this test. It seems more grade-level appropriate and is not one of three required math tests, as with reading. Still I could do without it. I feel I get good information about my students from unit assessments and classroom observations. The test takes about 1 hour to administer. 1-2 hours to bubble and score.
Add all of it together (including the Dominie with about 6 hours to administer) and Columbus first graders are victim to more than 75 hours of wasted instructional time. That’s too much even if it were necessary, and it’s not! This is how we prepare even our little ones for the testing years and most importantly, their future. Test, test, test. Teach with whatever time is left. Please, please, please, oh powers that be, someone fix it!
January 26th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
I teach about 43 ESL students from grade k-5 and was expected to do their Dominie, DIBELS, and any students not finished with Cims tests are sent to me to finish. During my day I have a regular reading block with 1st graders and a writing block with 5th graders, all ESL students needing ESL services. I was expected to keep up with the LACES block and the writing curriculum calendar.
Due to all the testing I am now 3-4 days behind the schedule and have to either skip important content or skim over them. This is an extremely unconscionable way to treat ESL students who need more specialized teaching, not less. My writing block students were with me for less than 3 days to finish their writing portfolio piece…that’s too much pressure and, in my mind, borders on inhumane.
January 26th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
As I graded the mounds of test, I am amazed by the sheer amount of PAPER used in printing these tests.
And, administrators will not allow colored paper to be orderd when we know that the colored paper can add so much to the already limited learning opportunities. I buy my own colored paper and use it for my students. They are thrilled to see something different from white paper.
When questioned by administrators as to what we are doing to prepare our students for the OAT/OGT, we need to firmly and loudly reply: “Being the best darn teacher we can be!”
January 26th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I forgot to mention one thing… re: the tests. Last year, I found SEVERAL typographic errors and INCORRECT answers all over those quarterly exams I administered to my students. I was told, “We’re working through the problem.” As my students were taking them, they even found the errors! (We would even take days and use the errors in the test questions as an anticipatory set, having the students deconstruct them.)
It was appalling, as a professional, that my ‘professional supervisors’ would require me to administer a test that not only DIDN’T align with the skills being taught that quarter (as mentioned above) - but went so far as to have WRONG answers and glaring grammatical and content-based errors! I found it offensive - and the district only adding insult to injury.
January 26th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
The amount of time wasted on all of this testing is ridiculous. We are being asked to waste our time bubbling in test after test. My family just laughs at the fact that I sit at home at night bubbling in answers sheets.
As if that weren’t bad enough with the schedule (Laces) the way it is there isn’t even any time to go over the tests with my students. I fail to see what good it does to take Practice OAT tests when we can’t take the time to go over them with our students so they can learn from the practice!
The Dominie testing took forever because the conversion table from DRA to Dominie is not really accurate. I had students reading 3-5 books because we were told to convert their DRA scores at the begining of the year. I teach 70 students reading and it took me almost a week to finish my Dominie testing. When that was done it was on to OAT and then Target Teach.
I feel as if I am drowning in tests and spending very little time giving quality reading instruction to my students.
January 26th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I recently had a conversation with a retired elementary teacher who is currently a LACES tutor in our elementary building. I asked her if all of this excessive testing was taking place when she was a teacher and she replied “NO”!
How is it that as an educational professional for 30 years she managed to teach, and have her students graduate to become future doctors, lawyers, engineers, EDUCATORS, etc?
What has changed in the last 30 years that we need to now TEST, TEST and TEST the students even more?
Are there any studies to show that students who complete 90 hours standardized testing are more successful than students whose teachers’ used their own individualized assessments?
Growing up in the public school setting we had 1 major test and that was the CAT test. I am not saying that we shouldn’t measure our students’ learning, but how can young elementary students learn when they are sitting at their seats filling in bubbles every other week? How can you tell a child that their teacher is too busy “testing” their peers to truly help them?
I have to wonder, who’s really getting “left behind” with all of this testing?< br />
As a parent I would be appalled at the amount of time my child is tested each year. I am sending my child to school to work at “centers” or on “work-packets” 2-3 hours a day for a week? So the work packet is to suffice as reading instruction for a week? I wonder how much testing the suburbs and/or charter schools do? Could that be a reason why many of the CCS students are leaving? Maybe parents are enrolling them in areas where schools focus on teaching, and not so much on testing.
As mentioned in the earlier comments, what is the validity of the tests? Some of them are on GLI’s we’ve NEVER even covered in the “new” LACES program. First grade students at the beginning of the year are expected to read words such as “entertain” and “illustrator” on their own. Hmmm, and they wonder why students have a negative attitude toward school. Wouldn’t you if you were being tested every other week?p>
January 26th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Most of the responses seem to be from elementary and/or middle school teachers. As a high school science teacher and test coordinator, I feel it necessary to put in my two cents worth.
First, I admire the elementary and middle grade teachers and applaud them for the amount of time that they must put in for testing instead of teaching. At the high school level, we are only faced with practice OGT, real OGT, and quarterly assessments. While it does not begin to compare to these horific stories from the other teachers, it still takes time away from actually teaching the students. The hours that are spent grading 150 quarterly assessments and scanning them are hours that I could be planning more creative lessons or actually grading work that is meaningful to the students. If I happen to find the time to actually log into Cims and analyze the results, I am then suppose to alter my teaching methods. Of course by this time, I have moved on to a different concept in class, so is this really beneficial.
The high school pacing guides/curriculum guides are so packed with material that it is impossible to complete. There are no “testing days” built into the day-by-day pacing guide. So when am I suppose to actually test? What lessons do I give up in order to make testing happen? I can only see two reasons for end of quarter testing. One, to make sure that teachers are actually following the curriculum guide. And two, to give the army of people at northgate something with which to justify their jobs. Imagine the amount of money that could be saved if we cut all the positions at northgate responsible for this mess and if we stopped printing all of these tests.
I say that we stick to those tests that are mandated by the state and focus on getting back to really educating children. I am sure that some of these comments will get back to friends and colleagues that I have at Northgate, and that’s ok. someone has to stop this madness. This being a negotiation year, I hope that the union is looking at this as a real issue. Filing a grievance is great, but lets actually enforce the language in the contract and make it stop. Stand up and fight.
January 26th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
I have been teaching for nine years and find that the amount of testing seems to be increasing exponentially! I have always been baffled as to why target teach was not replaced by OAT. They make it for each grade and OAT actually tests what the state wants vs. target teach which has been outdated since we started giving it.
Why can’t we trust the test that are mandated and stop testing on testing? The amount of time and paper spent on scan sheets is ridiculous for teachers and kids. Let’s focus on time on task– not time on test. Students and teachers are stressed which is not conducive for either to thrive. Dominie is so time consuming, it is so poorly done that you can discover a level of a student in listening to 100 words vs. text that never ends.
We have to be practical– we have to be able to teach!
DRA and running records are subsequent measures. In primary grades where testing is more time consuming and difficult all of our safety net teachers who helped with testing have been vortexed away from us. Assistants that are meant to be used as safety nets and teachers are so bogged down with the amount of testing we are losing weeks of instruction. Guess what? Teachers do give unmandated tests! You know, the tests that actually go with what we’re doing? That’s where I get information for what my students need– what they need, not what Northgate thinks they need to know.
I had a year where my math target teach scores did not scan correctly. We called to give correct info. no one cared, because it doesn’t matter. As a non-testing grade I feel as though we are should not be in the building during non-testing weeks. We have to tip-toe and try not to use the restroom or eat lunch on time so the building is quiet for weeks of testing.
I just think it is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
Little kids sitting for days straight.
Teachers filling out forms for hours that no one cares about with misprints that no one cares about– what a waste of resources!
GIVE US TIME AND SAVE MONEY!
January 26th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Sorry, but let’s not forget the fact that we lose specials for about 2 weeks a year as the teachers have to proctor the tests. Shouldn’t proctors be provided? I’m sure our art teacher wasn’t expecting to administer tests to children in resource rooms while every other teacher loses 40 minutes of planning time. So along with indoor recess filling in scan sheets, I’ve lost the 120 minutes of time I have to plan or use the bathroom for 2 weeks.
Between myself and my aid… about 20 hours was spent testing Kindergartners in September. We grilled them with question after question about what we haven’t taught them! They can’t identify the number 19 go figure? And like the first grade teacher said you do have to tell them to guess especially on the pre-assessments. What’s the first thing you learned in kindergarten? Guess and color the bubble nicely. RIDICULOUS!
January time spent testing Dominie 4 days, and p.s. i knew what level they were. Storytown tests 2 days, Letter i.d. one day and I have to give each test individually so what are the other children doing meaningful work? Well I really try but let’s be real, I am efficient but I cannot defy physics IT IS A WASTE OF TIME. Spring will be worse. Last year I began to wonder why we even have 4th quarter…OH to test what they’re going to test 1st quarter next year. test, test, test some more I think 4th quarter involves about a week and a half, 2 days for la target teach 2 days for math target teach, 4 mornings for dominee 2 days for dibbles, and any tests i’ll need to do my grade cards which will take my 8 hours to do after work at work because my computer at home is too nice to work with the districts system. If you love tests and paper this is the job for you. Nothing inspires a child like bubbles.
January 26th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
When do teachers actually get to teach? When the students are not taking the actual test, they are taking practice tests to get ready for the actual test. Classes such as unified arts classes are canceled and the UA teachers serve as proctors. Children are missing out on vital, exciting, engaging lessons, so they can sit like robots and fill in circles on test papers. Classroom teachers have to test each child individually for the domini tests. Each child takes an hour and what is the rest of the class doing during the hours of testing? Not engaging in meaningful education!
January 26th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
My child attends 1st grade at a suburban school. She has only been tested twice that I know of. A substitute covered the teacher’s class while she took students out, one at a time, to test their reading levels. It took a day and a half. I am sure this was difficult for the teacher, but my daughter was not stressed. In fact, she was never told she was taking a test. She was told she was going to play some games with the teacher. And her school passed their AYP goals last year, as well as the State Report Card. Oh, and her teacher (and her principal) left CCS to join that school system. We lost a good teacher, who is now working on her National Board Certification, in order to better another school system. My daughter is receiving a wonderful education, without LACES or Quarterly Assessments. She just goes to school, sits in a class of 22, and learns every day. They have time for labs in 1st grade. Apparently, our students are too busy taking tests.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:16 am
Jgrace, you keep bringing Northgate up– why? What do you have against the place? You act as if the teachers there have some kind of input into this giant testing mess, they don’t. They are doing what we’re doing, following directions given to them by their administrators. The changes that happen need to happen from the higher level administration (cabinet) because that is where the buck stops. Once again, as I said previously, getting rid of the Northgate staff would force them to go back into the classroom and would cause layoffs of younger members in order to find those people jobs.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Right before Christmas break, we had no reading for 2 weeks because of Dominie….then, we come back, no reading and some math for 2 weeks for OAT and Quarterly Assessments (this is a split class, so even when 5th is tested, my 4th have to go elsewhere for “packet” work)…so, 20 days lost of instruction, and you’re going to tell me that those days I couldn’t have been giving them strategies to pass a test?
Plus, we have at least 2 weeks coming up with Terra Nova, which basically determines gifted and talented (you know what, let us determine who get this Terra Nova and let us teach). We probably can’t spot a gifted student because we lose up to a month of instruction! The QA are riddled with mistakes, the OAT are already being used in the classroom as a teaching tool and the Dominie has some of the most racially biased, culturally abstract and useless information known to testdom…please, CEA do something about this before we all get reconstituted because we already are turning our kids into zombies!
January 27th, 2008 at 10:25 am
JGrace…thanks for the pat on the back… it is something we rarely get from anyone but each other….we are in this together no matter what level. You may have a different set of circumstances, but still have to deal with the same issues. It just proves that the problem is rampant throughout the whole school district.
NTLB: Good point. My granddaughter also goes to a suburban school, and she has not been bombarded with tests. Therefore, in kindergarten, she is reading at a second grade level. Imagine what can happen when teachers are allowed to teach and not test? And the students who are struggling actually have reading remediation so that they don’t have to struggle year after year. We all know that many reading problems are “fixed” if the help is given early. That obviously is no longer a priority in CCS as it was eliminated to have more Science instruction…why? Well, the test scores, of course.
I have nothing against any one person at Northgate. But I cannot have the confidence in their decision making regarding what we need to teach when the reading department sends out letters and fliers with misused words and grammatical errors.
We should also point out that we are quickly losing community and parent support. Shorten the school day…no remedial reading…incredible financial shortcomings because of mismanagement and dropping a research-based reading program, teacher reductions so now classes are larger than ever….and now possibly putting 13 year old -7th graders with high school. We surely cannot be optimistic about any bond issue or levy being passed in the future when the decisions are counter-productive to learning. Why is there only minimal, if any , input from classroom teachers on how these decisions will actually affect student performance? It is written that “..teachers are the backbone of a successful school…” yet credit for increased scores goes to revised curriculum, etc. Scores increase when teachers can teach…when they use their expertise to go through the too-full curriculum and choose what children really need to know and know well. When teachers can choose what test will truly give him/ her a realistic picture of what students know and need to know.
With all that I have said that is negative, the powers-that-be should know that despite the affect their poor decisions have on my ability to teach most effectively, I love my job…because I have children who LOVE and NEED to learn. I work with the most dedicated teachers who anguish over how to reach their students despite the stresses being added to the ones we already had. We’re venting because we care about our students first and foremost, and they are getting a bad deal, too. I’m afraid contract negotiations will prove again that the classroom teachers are not only unappreciated but their expert opinions and efforts are not valued.
If CCS is to grow, instead of continue to struggle and lose students, we need to be heard, understood, and allowed to do the job we always wanted to do….TEACH.
January 27th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Since we returned from our winter break my fifth graders have taken 16 hours of tests, four OAT full-length practice tests and four quarterly tests. In addition the children have been required to be assessed individually in reading with two different instruments about another 3 hours. This is a loss of 16 hours of whole group instructional time and about 3-4 weeks when reading instruction stops for individual assessment.
What does this mean for the children, for the teachers who serve the children, and for the district who are counting on raising the test scores in the Spring? What has been lost? What has been gained?
The CHILDREN who came back to school after winter break excited and motivated to work were quickly beaten down, by facing test after test. They were once again being asked to test on material that has not been taught to them. Teaching between tests and after a test became very problematic. The 10 & 11 year olds had really had enough of school each day particularly since this month most days they are having indoor recess. We are ending the month of January with children who were motivated to work, discouraged, and full nervous energy caught in a series of behavior problems during testing and after testing. The children are jaded about testing. They don’t take tests seriously.
The TEACHERS play catch-up all year. The pacing guide is unrealistic, but we ALL try to make it work. In our school we integrate the content areas with the CORE curriculum, but we were behind in December. Our team thought we would be able to catch-up in January with a little push and still provide the students with real hands on experiences to make the learning authentic and tie these experiences to OAT type questions and complete our required second writing portfolio piece too. The day before break we received the testing schedule and knew right away, not only would we not get caught up, but also the plans we had spent hours on would have to be scrapped. WE LOST THE TIME FOR IN DEPTH TEACHING TIED TO OAT PREPARATION. Now we are further behind in the pacing guide. The quarter is over and we are just beginning our second quarter portfolio pieces.
In the beginning I foolishly thought I would use these tests to inform my children on how to take a test and analyze their answers with them. I began this discussion with my children. They were serious and interested, but the snowballing effect of so many tests made it impossible. There were too many tests for anyone to remember anything, without rereading a whole test and doubling the experience. Finally, we decided to use the tests as a teaching tool to teach children how to analyze questions and to introduce new material as they tested. This is a good strategy, but is it the right time and should it be so concentrated?
The effects for TEACHERS have been even greater than the day to day administration and loss of instructional time. Teachers have lost much of their planning time (a term used loosely, because much of this is done at home) to the grading of the short answer and extended response questions. Consider the 8 tests at 5th grade. 6 questions per test x 8 x 27 =1296 questions to grade and bubble. Consider the scoring of individual assessments. Consider all of this during the weeks when Report Cards are due. How much additional time will the most dedicated teacher be able to give to his or her class for planning?
What does this kind of work do to a PROFESSIONAL’s morale, self-esteem, and energy for work? Maybe a trained chimpanzee could administer the tests. The children might not get so bored and the district could save money.
The DISTRICT. Are we in panic mode? Has the district lost its mind? Haven’t our test scores been on the rise? This episode has demonstrated how removed the decision makers are from children and the learning process. And how far removed they are from the professionals who are on the front line in this district. Do they not understand that they have a team of highly trained professionals who understand the importance of high stakes testing? Do they not understand we are all under the same pressure moving toward the same goal? DO THEY NOT UNDERSTAND THAT YOU CANNOT CURE THE BABY BY REPEATEDLY TAKING IT’S TEMPERATURE?
LOSSES AND GAINS
LOST: Instruction in January, student motivation, teacher morale, opportunities to catch-up to the pacing guide, starting and finishing the Second Quarter Portfolio Piece; authentic learning; meaningful OAT preparation; Units planned by teachers; confidence in our District Leadership
GAINS:
CHILDREN: unmotivated and tired; increased discipline problems; children who are jaded about testing and don’t take tests seriously.
TEACHERS who are working long past the contract day on task unrelated to planning; Teachers who are EMPOWERED to modify this kind of testing process to make them learning situations where questions are analyzed together AND questions on material not covered is taught as an introduction to that topic.
DISTRICT: hopefully has learned it’s lesson and will listen to the teachers and principals, and PUT THE CHILDREN AT THE CENTER and NOT just look at a calendar and think about units and scores.
Somebody besides the classroom teachers needs to remember that in the Order of Operations it’s CHILDREN FIRST. The scores are a subset. If we forget that, we can’t accomplish anything and neither will our children once they leave us.
Betty Morss,
National Board Certified Teacher
January 27th, 2008 at 11:32 am
I agree with Jgrace from high school that the quarterly tests do not inform instruction. That’s true even at the elementary level too. I give the tests, but do not even look at the results because most of the time we have not covered the material on the tests. We cannot keep up with the pacing guide and because we integrate our subjects we teach things out of sequence. It’s like living a nightmare. The worst part is the lesson we are sending to our kids by repeatedly giving them tests on material they haven’t covered.
We were told once that we would be able to select items for the tests that would reflect our teaching, but that never actually happened.
January 27th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
In addition to administering 26 DOMINIE assessments (15 had to be redone because the DRA correlations were not accurate), I was forced to grade 624 rubrics for testing that I will not have time to analyze. What a waste of time! Our students NEED to be taught the standards. We already know their deficient areas. Most of us knew the first week we had them. And we do informal assessments daily. When is the administration going to TRUST our competency? As far as I’m concerned, our administration’s function is “work generators” for the hard working, dedicated teachers.
January 27th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
As one who wrote some of the curriculum guides, I want to say that they were supposed to be Guides. They were not originally written as a day by day plan. And in the new pacing guides - at least in some of them - a day has been added for testing.
My larger problem with the tests is the “no use”. Students have been told that these are not being used for their grade. So what is their motivation to do well????? When you are giving a test - all day long in every period - how can this be a good assessment for anyone except the first period of the day?? We have shortened the school day. We have limited the amount of extra time that can be spent helping the marginal student to none - so how can taking more time away from instruction be in the students best interest?
And while the district says that they are not using the materials to evaluate teachers, the principals are using it. They have said to enough people that they do not want certain teachers to move to their building because of the quarterly assessment test scores!
If we have to use this testing, let’s have a real purpose for it and make it count for the students. There should be nothing that we do in the classroom that does not count for the students.
January 27th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I have repeatedly been given incorrect answer sheets for my 9th grade students on these quarterly tests. The essay questions on the answer sheet did not match up with the test. This means that the entire test was off. Of course, on these occasions, this was my “plan” for the day, to give the test. The last time this happened the principals were all in a meeting and told me I would have to wait another day to get my answer sheets. Unbelievable!
I have also seen the same problems as mentioned above…items on the test that haven’t been taught yet (because they were scheduled for another grading period) poor student attitude over the excessive amount of testing, typos and mistakes on the test which are simply embarrassing! In addition, I must add as an English teacher that the time to grade three extended response or essay questions is overwhelming. After I grade them, I have to take extra time to bubble in the scores on each student’s answer sheet and then scan the darn things!
Of course, I am supposed to be doing all of this at the end of the 9 weeks when I am trying to finish up grading and assessing real work from the classroom, so that I can get my grades done and entered into the system on time. I am not wonder woman but the district seems to think that we all have super powers! This excessive testing is damaging student and teacher morale and working teachers to death.
January 27th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I am frustrated as hell at the amount of mandated practice testing we have given to our students this year. As a fifth grade teacher, I am responsible for having our kids pass four OAT tests: reading, math, citizenship, and science.
Last Friday marked our 89th day of school. I have given a 2 1/2 hour assessment, either an end of the nine-week district-written test, (what we used to call Target Teach) or a practice OAT test on 18 different days. Just over the last two weeks, our kids have taken eight tests over a nine-day period.
This is on top of Dominie testing, which we are told should take only 2 days, but instead usually stretches over a 5-day period because our kids are showing growth…each child usually takes between 30-90 minutes to test. I’ve been required to give this assessment twice, stretching over another 10-day period. And the Dominie assessments are questionable to begin with…they have nothing whatsoever to do with getting our kids prepared for the OAT tests.
And let’s not forget that our students are pulled every week to read a passage so that they can be graded on how many words they can read over a minute…nothing measuring comprehension…just how fast they can read. Supposedly, that is also a measure of how well our kids are going to perform on the OAT tests.
We are just starting the third nine weeks and my kids are already burnt out. I’ve have been honest with them about the tests…how they are used, what they are measuring. We have tracked the kids growth as they take one test to another…anything to show the kids that when they are taking these tests that they are seeing progress.
Our school is well-versed in data…we know exactly how many kids we need to pass at each grade level to meet NCLB requirements…we know who our target kids are…we even know exactly how many kids need to hit basic, proficient, accelerated, and advanced in order for us to raise our performance index score 3.2…enough to get us to 80.0 and a rating of continuous improvement…quite a feat when 85% of our student population is eligible for free or reduced lunches.
THE PROBLEM IS … WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO TEACH!!! Our fifth grade students have spent 28 out of 89 school days on some form of mandated testing by our own district!!! We are constantly losing important classroom time to mandated practice testing….at what point is TOO much data enough?
January 27th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I teach first grade and I have a son in first grade in CCS. The testing is ridiculous. In first grade alone this quarter, we’ve given the DIBELS ( not so bad, only 84 minutes of lost instruction), the Dominie (840 minutes of lost instruction), the fabulous Reading Quarterly Assessment (150 minutes of lost instruction) and the Math Quarterly Assessment (75 minutes). The Reading Quarterly Assessment is the biggest joke. Really, is it so overwhelming to present a 6 year old with a 40 item test, that is written in a way that is completely inappropriate for them. Don’t we assess their reading enough that we could rely on teacher created GLI assessments?
My son is eager to learn and an average student and he feels bombarded. How does a student with little home support and struggles with grade level work feel?
As a parent I am so frustrated with CCS and their poor decision making. Shortening the school day, no reading remediation, talk of privatizing the school lunch program, larger class sizes 28 in my class, 30 at my son’s school, and don’t even get me started on the elective learning opportunities available to ALL students in CCS High Schools. Instead of attracting parents to our district, CCS makes desperate decisions which make them flee. We continue to make progress, but the district doesn’t seem to realize it. We are all on the same team.
CCS has the best teachers in the state, let us teach!!
January 27th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Not only are the regular students being overly tested so are the Special Education students. I have had students cry because they are being tested AGAIN!!! Not all the tests can be read to them. They are Spec. Ed so of course they are reading below grade level yet I have to test them as if they could read on level–witht the quarterly and the practice OAT because they do not qualify for an alternate test.
Not only are the students giving up and tired but so am I. I have 56 quarterly tests to read and scribe for. When and how!! All I do is test. I can only test 2 at a time to accurate results. There is not enough time in the day!!!!
This problem needs to be fixed!!!!!!!!!!!
January 27th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Last night I had a dream that I put all the test booklets from January(6 tests in 4th grade) in an envelope and mailed them to George Bush! (that’s how much I’ve been affected by all these tests)I have done nothing but put real teaching on hold these last several weeks. This lunancy is killing us and kids. My kids don’t take them seriously anymore as there are multiple mistakes and plain awful selections/questions on the quarterly tests.
We are creating test takers, not true learners. We are not trusted to teach in an integrated way on a time line that makes sense! It is a mirage that higher scores mean better prepared kids. Prepared for what? Taking tests??? A love of learning is being sacrificed with this testing culture. Great teachers are fed up. Kids are the losers.
Our district in particular places excessive demands on us that distract from our real mission. I did not become a teacher to administer tests.( and grade them) Help!!!
Think of the money that we could save doing away with the quarterly tests! PERHAPS WE COULD EVEN USE THE MONEY SAVED TO GET THE HOUR IN OUR DAY BACK! Where are this district’s priorities????
January 27th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
We need to get back to the days when teachers were permitted to teach. Teachers are highly qualified and able to access their students through-out the year, and then the district can test them in May. The children learned far more when they were not taught to the test and tested continually. Learning should be fun and engaging. We would see the students learning and retaining more information if learning were fun.
January 27th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
I am also an elementary school special ed teacher and I agree with the other special ed teachers who have posted. Since I have to read questions, scribe etc.. I have spent more than 4 weeks testing children instead of teaching.
The students who are not testing are doing busy work/packets. I am not servicing students and providing them with special education services, as mandated by law in their IEP’s, because I am too busy testing.
These tests are 2 to 3 grade levels above where most of my students are actually functioning. So, the tests are extremely frustrating everyone involved. I’ve had students shut down, cry and become physically ill during these tests.
I had a box of supplies delivered to my classroom last week. Immediately one of my students said, “Oh no, are those more tests?” This comment said it all. I need time to teach my students skills that are at their instructional level and skills they will actually be able to use in the real world.
January 27th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
There’s not much to say here that hasn’t been already said. The testing is out of control and a poor use of district resources- teachers, aides, support personnel, tutors, etc.- there is a redundance that is sad and scary when you consider the fact that it is approved by people who should realize the negative impact this has on teacher and student morale. Parents I speak to are fed up with it as well.
January 27th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
This being said, here’s something else to consider. I realize we’re all teachers and there is some expectation that we will take work home as need be. HOWEVER, our district has CROSSED THE LINE and is committing an abuse of its teachers by assigning an overabundance of tests for us to administer knowing darn well that there is NO WAY IN HECK we can score them in the time allotted to us in our contracted hours! What we should do is refuse to score any more tests outside of contracted hours. I can only speak for myself but between DIBELS, QAT, DOMINIE, my own classroom prep, OAT… I am taking piles of this so called data home and losing my quality time. C’mon CEA let’s make a stand here in this contract year. Oh and let’s not forget about the worst online grading program I have ever seen! That’s another thread in itself entirely!
January 27th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Publius: First, I have nothing against the teachers at Northgate that are just doing what they are told. My statements are actually directed more toward the administrators in charge of curriculum and instruction. Second, if we can afford to pay those teachers money to work at Northgate, then we can afford to pay them to work in schools. Not to replace younger teachers, but to be in addition to existing position. Why would anyone suggest that we actually cut teachers? That does not make sense. I was suggesting that we move those positions back into the schools. Moving them back to the schools would assist in lowering the teacher student ratio in the classrooms. I know from talking to the teachers that work in the curriculum office that many of them do not agree with the things that they are being told to do. Many of them are not happy with the testing situation or the curriculum review teams that must come out to the schools. By the way, I replied to you the last time you commented on my posting, but for some reason the moderator must have felt that it did not deserve to be posted. I sincerely hope that this clears up the confusion with my statement.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Administration expects teachers in our building to be exactly on the pacing guide. I find this hard to do when we have spent two weeks on two different schedules for testing. Let’s see if we can test the kids to death, then wonder why we don’t make continuous improvement a second year in a row. The kids hate it and act out because they have to do it. On top of the schedule changes, unwanted testing, let’s add to it that the kids cannot go outside to run off energy because it is too cold!!!
On top of everything listed above the parents are calling in droves because the kids haven’t had homework and the kids are actually asking for homework. Can’t seem to please anybody.
You give tests before the quarter is over or you get interrupted be D.A.R.E. for two weeks with no notice; resulting in the kids can’t answer any questions abour the last two weeks of the quarter-Ancient Greece. All seventh grade social studies teachers were in the same spot in our building. The District doesn’t care about that part; just the stats, just the stats. You mean we don’t teach human beings any more?????
January 28th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
A post script: A co-worker asked how my testing number reached 46. After I counted up all of the tests I realized a made an error. The correct number is 48!
Quarterly Assessments: 19; OAT practice tests (district and principal mandated: 27; 4th grade writing simulation: 1; 3rd grade Reading OAT test: 1 = 48
Also, my building administrator asked us to have all of our reading practice tests graded and returned today, tomorrow at the latest. Great- I didn’t want to spend time with my family tonight anyway.
January 28th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
As I logged into the blog to read the responses it became evident how awful these tests are for elementary teachers. This was no surprise. But one comment stood out to me the most. Jgrace acknowledges the “horrific” testing situations in the elemenary/middle schools and yet seems to be saying that high school teachers don’t have it that bad since we are only giving the practice OGT, the OGT and the quarterly assessment.
Well correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the “grand-daddy” of all tests the OGT? How much pressure is that? In my building every teaching area, art, business, foreign language (the step-children) of the district are being affected by this testing madness. Daily, all teachers are expected to take time from their regular curriculum and focus on an OGT area.
High school teachers are so entrenched in testing, scoring, scanning and bubbling that its actually frightening. My concern is that CEA says they do not support the scanning of these tests. Yet, many buildings have no designated individual in charge of scanning.
Obviously, the task be-falls the classroom teacher. Who else scans? What happens if some of this work is never scanned? Is there a punishment for not scanning? I realize a grievance was filed and it is in arbitration but come on folks, that was in October. We have since gone through 2 grading periods. By the time an answer arrives the year could quite possibly be over. As far as I am concerned, the longer teachers assume these clerical, time consuming tasks the more work they get out of us and the more ingrained we are to keep performing these jobs. Stand up and blog your frustrations!!!
January 28th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
I apologize, I certainly didn’t mean to belittle what high school teachers go through. I am the testing coordinator for the OGT in my building and I was responsible for all testing in my previous building. I know what it is like to call a senior into my office to tell them that they will not be graduating in June. I was just stating that we do not have as many tests at the high school level. q is correct that in high school we have THE BIG test. It does kind of put hold on education in our entire building.
January 28th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
I am saddened and exhausted from reading the bloggers’ comments. The frustration is real, I know. This is the first year in 29 that I have not had to grade, touch, bubble and return stacks of tests for scanning. However, my classes have been altered due to testing. As teachers, when are we going to stop falling for the “okie-doke” from the legislators and our own district leaders? I would like to give the tests to the test mandators to touch, grade, bubble, and scan. And then, tell them to find time to study the data, reteach and enrich. Perhaps, the time is now to find our authentic, collective teacher voices and mandate the time spent on tests be reallocated to the art of teaching. I agree with “peace.” Teaching and learning should be fun. It used to be.
January 28th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I teach second grade children who have a very limited attention. All these tests have so frustrated them that many (not all) have gotten to the point that they just fill in the circle in front of any answer just so they can say that they are done. Not only do we have to take the time to fill in these bubbles, but these tests come boom, boom, boom; one on top of the other. To make matters worse we are constantly initiating “new” programs and doing paperwork to send in to the heads of the grant programs. Thirdly, we have been teaching above contract with 30 students in our rooms. It appears that the powers that be could be a little more sensitive.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:16 am
Where to start. The data from a test is a great tool for all teachers to use in their classroom, but at what cost to our students? As a 5th grade teacher in the district my 5th graders are burnt out and so am I. Start back from break and the principal is like get those Dominie tests done….ASAP….then by the way you have to give 4 OAT practice tests to your students and grade them all by a certain date that kept getting changed….then the following week give four more Quarterly Assessments to the students for the nine weeks….and the students haven’t even got to review for any of this since before Winter Break. In 5th grade that was a total of 9 tests our 5th grade team had to administer and grade over the past few weeks. I am just now back to teaching a regular group instead of testing my students to death. Although, I am a week behind on the districts Reading Pacing calendar.
Oh!!!! and guess what? We had report cards to do this week on top of everything. Figuring up my grades for everything that i taught and graded before break becasue I sure didn’t teach or grade anything once we came back from break.
The district needs to get back on track and extend our school days so there is adequate time to get everything taught in a school day, week, quarter, and year!!!! Along with this teachers need to have a Records day added so that we can complete our report cards on the clock and not at 11:00pm at night or on the weekends at home. The district also needs to pick one assessment tool to use with the students or spread them out so that all subjects arent tested at the same time.
If the district wants some good publicity they need to get things rolling so that they have the teachers backing them when it comes time for getting the next levy passed.
January 30th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I have had as many issues with the testing situation as everyone else! But, my main problem/concern is the lack of accuarate communication between CEA and the administration regarding the deadline for grading and scoring of all of the tests! 3 different dates were announced/posted for the quarterly test scoring deadline. Then the union emphatically said that the deadline for ALL scoring was Feb. 8.
The problem is that the administration & principals in various buildings were not informed of this new deadline, so they made it impossble for anyone to adhere to the union’s assertion that the deadline was indeed the 8th of Feb. and not Jan. 24th. And, while it was wonderful to receive the information that Dr. Harris agrees with the union and the deadline is indeed 2-8-08, it comes much too late, as Jan. 24 was 6 days ago and many CEA members not wanting to cause any (or further issues) with their building administrator have already submitted their scores for scanning.
I know that this gross miscommunication has caused myself and many others untold and unnecessary grief. I have been told by a 3rd party that because I did not plan to have my tests graded by the 24 (which I did, due to pressure from my administrator), I am now known to have an “attitude”. Had I known this would be the outcome of supporting my union; I most certainly would NOT have even thought about waiting until after the 24th to turn in my tests. And, I will have a very hard time trusting information from CEA again.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
As I said before, the task be-falls the classroom teacher. Who else scans? What happens if some of this work is never scanned? Is there a punishment for not scanning? I realize a grievance was filed and it is in arbitration but come on folks, that was in October. We have since gone through 2 grading periods. By the time an answer arrives the year could quite possibly be over. As far as I am concerned, the longer teachers assume these clerical, time consuming tasks the more work they get out of us and the more ingrained we are to keep performing these jobs.
What exactly would happen if teachers simply administered the tests and did NOT scan? I repeat, did NOT scan. I believe CEA has said we do NOT have to scan. What is the truth? Why not just stop the madness by refusing to do some of the clerical tasks? Maybe we should unite and stand up for what is right!!
January 30th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
The people in the “ivory towers” who are making the rules and setting the test schedule don’t know a thing about what we are going through. Why don’t they get off their chairs, come out into the real world, and see what we are actually doing? After the 5th test, my 4th graders were so tired of tests that they finished all the 9 week tests in 45 mins and could have cared less if they did well. Which, believe me, they didn’t!
We ask them to sit there for 2 hours, do a test that has things that we haven’t covered yet, and then ask them to sit while we instruct them the rest of the day. My kids are so antsy by the afternoon, it’s all I can do to keep them focused and not running around the room. Especially since we now don’t have recess due to the weather. Do the “ivory tower” people understand that each week we are testing them for some reason or another — because they say we need the data?
Data that does what?
Tell me that my students aren’t doing well …… because I don’t have the time to instruct on anything?
I actually don’t really have to read the instructions to the tests because my students know them by heart already, as do I. And by the way — I am sorry if I repeated something that someone else already said……..I didn’t have time to read everything posted here because I need to go grade all the tests that I just gave, grade the work that my students have done, get my lessons ready, and call several parents about behavior issues before going to bed tonight.
My husband just said that “you are not teachers — you are testers.” I think he hit it right on the nail head!!
February 2nd, 2008 at 1:46 am
I’ve read all of your posts and have such an appreciation for what you all do. Your comments are very revealing. As an elementary music teacher, my circumstances are different than yours. I’d like to add my perspective:
I am teaching from a cart, so I see what is going on in your classrooms. Usually staff members take time for a break during my class time. Not now. They are furiously working throughout the day AND their planning periods. No time for anything else. Barely time to teach, too.
We all are not ones that shirk our responsibilities, but this is unbearable. Testing is affecting the kids and they are lulled into complacency….the kids are BORED. What’s worse is that they have little time for recess or “down time”. Child development experts would consider this to be detrimental to our students. WHERE IS THE LOVE OF LOVE OF LEARNING?
If the students are giving up their recess for finishing work, spending time with their teacher, going to band/choir/other classes - when do THEY get a break? Yes - some of our students are TUTORED during lunch. They bring their lunches into the library, eat lunch there, and continue tutoring. I can’t stand watching them trying to keep up.
One benefit to teaching music is that I give the students a time to learn in a creative manner. Hands on. Expression. Whole brain learning. Cross-curricular lessons. Geography. Math…etc. I’m sure you’ve heard that before, but when am I supposed to teach when my classes are cancelled for testing? The tests preempt everything and all staff will be involved in administering them. When I help with testing, my other students not taking the tests do not have music. The tests shortchange these kids, too. I have my own standards and a curriculum to complete, too. NCLB has killed my music program, too! I lost nearly everything I built my career on because of testing and NCLB. Sorry, but my students are left behind, too.
It makes me MAD when I see my friends stressed out like this! The testing, paperwork, grade cards, IEP’s, meetings, and so on are killing them. They simply are not able to teach! WHEN is it going to stop???
***Personally, I can remember the first meetings we had waaaaay back when the “proficiency” tests were developed/administered. We were told that it would not be the only yardstick to determine progress. We were told that it was merely a measurement of what WE were teaching our kids. All staff knew that this wasn’t true because the tests would determine which teachers were “successful” - regardless of factors affecting our classroom environment.
I told my colleagues at the time that this was the sign that they were putting “the cart ahead of the horse”, i.e. the test determining our curriculum and teaching schedules. Was I right, or what?
A family member of mine (remaining nameless) was complaining about education, “the kids of today”, etc. I think I blew a fuse and told that person what education was really like. They were shocked when I told them about the amount of testing, paperwork, etc. They didn’t know what to say.
As members of CEA, we cannot ever speak out individually to media to let them know what is going on. I truly understand that because we need to be united as a group. Inflamatory comments would be detrimental to us all. We cannot appear divided. Please CEA - can someone representing us there tell others our story? Can someone let our community know what we are faced with regarding testing and NCLB?
I’m FED UP! THIS WILL BE ONE OF THE POINTS THAT I WANT TO INCLUDE IN OUR NEXT CONTRACT.
February 3rd, 2008 at 5:50 pm
I teach 8th grade math (and algebra, 7th pre-algebra, and 6th grade math). In addition to all the concerns about taking teaching time, causing discipline problems, stress and so on, I have a very large concern about what we have taught our students about tests.
By the time my students have gotten to the eighth grade, they have taken about 20 large tests every year (this includes the OAT’s and the end of the grading period assessments). It does not cover the simulated writing assessments, the IN VIEW and all the other “things” that we test the students on. NONE of these tests have any direct effect on the student, or on their grades, except the discomfort that they have to endure while taking the test. In effect, we are teaching them that the tests they take have no consequence to them, and they can do as they please. It never has before.
HOWEVER, at the beginning of the 10th grade (only a few months from the day I start teaching them), the TESTS take on a whole new meaning as the Ohio Graduation Tests. If they cannot pass these tests, they will not graduate. I know my students CANNOT grasp this concept. They honestly believe that the tests are not worth bothering about because there is no reason to actually try. (Experience has told them that if they don’t pass “the test”, they suffer no consequences.)
While I understand the politics and reason for this stance, from the student’s point of view, we are actually teaching them to fail the OGT, by testing a whole lot, and having no consequences.
February 5th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Wow.
Wow.
This is quite a lot of information to process. I believe it is quite clear that no one is a big fan of standardized assessment. As a 9th and 12th grade teacher I do not feel the strain of testing as acutely as many of my colleagues; however, I know that standardized testing has become all consuming.
It is becoming obvious that most if not all curriculum decision are based on meeting the “needs” of the tests that we administer. We as a professional community need to redirect this conversation, much like we redirect are students, to what and how are students are learning. That is the point of these assessment. Unless we stand united on these issues the district will continue on this misguided quest to “standardizing” teaching at Columbus City School.
We, the CEA, must stand up and say “NO” to unnecessary testing. And that if we are required to test, that we teachers are given sufficent training and time to process and use the data being generated. As it stands now we are innudated with so much information that we can not make nearly enough sense for it to have impact on our classroom and on our student.
We must stop the “practice” OATs and OGTs that generate no useful data. We must demand a records day each quarter to process through this information and allow it to guide our practice.
We must demand that these assessment do not take away from the classroom’s real purpose — to educate students.p>
It is doubtful that the big tests will go away any time soon; they fill a basic need for the public - quick and easy ways to judge our sucesses and failures. But we can demand that additional test be evaluated on usefulness, timeliness, and impact on teaching. Perhaps we need to set up a group, much like the reform panel, to keep the district from burying us in tests.
February 5th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
This past week our students in grades 1-3 received no Safety Net tutoring. We were told that the Safety Net teachers were out for “training.” Today I found out that “training” really means scoring practice OAT writing assessments. Next week, instead of getting to work with their students, the Safety Net teachers have to go score tests again.
My students who desperately need the interventions that the Safety Net teachers provide are missing out on 2 entire weeks of small group reading instruction. With Domine, DIEBELS, and CIMS testing, they have barely had any whole group reading instruction during the past month either.
Just another example of how much instruction time is being lost due to over-testing.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Is there a reason that, at the high school level, we can’t give semester assessments in an EXAM SCHEDULE to replace the quarterly assessments? The tests could actually be useful if they were not a burden to teachers. The point is… let’s give the test during a scheduled testing time, let’s make them valid tests, let’s count the grades, let’s give teachers time to give, grade, and assess the students’ performance on the test WITHOUT making it just another thing that has to be fit into an already too busy schedule.
February 11th, 2008 at 12:08 am
This week as we prepared for parent conferences, many teachers were dismayed to find out that the reports we printed from Cims were full of incorrect data. It seems that there are some problem with scan sheets. So, we weren’t able to use the data from the tests we administered and scored. But, these incorrect test scores are now part of the Cims database. I am wondering, will these scores be corrected, and the database updated?
February 12th, 2008 at 9:51 am
In my opinion, there is a great misalignment between classroom instruction and the OGT assessment, and that incongruency doesn’t lie in the curriculum, rather it has to do with conflicting expectations that we impose on students. Does it make sense that students who pass their classes and earn all 21 graduation credits can not pass the graduation test? Shouldn’t there be an alignment between the types of academic expectations that we impose in the classroom and the academic expectations for graduation? From the direction of the classroom, many students are being told that they are meeting expectations, and from the state, the same students are being told that they fall short of earning a basic high school diploma. If a student doesn’t pass the OGT in a subject area, the state deems the student as lacking certain basic academic skills. When does the student get the opportunity to relearn these skills—if he is being passed on to the next subject and grade level?
Teachers set their academic expectations according to directives that they receive from educational pedagogy as well as the school administration. From the pedagogical perspective, teachers are expected to be “student centered.” These means taking into account the various learning styles and offering diverse assessment opportunities for each student to display their areas of strength. The administration continually tells us that we are failing too many students—even though the classroom failure rates are generally lower than the OGT failure rates! Because of these directives, teachers tend to construct grading systems that are largely not reflective of whether students have “mastered” the subject matter—according to the definition of mastery set forth by the state department and as reflected in the OGT tests.
How can students strive in an education system where there are contradicting definitions of subject mastery? The curriculum of course defines the subject areas and skills necessary for subject mastery. However, it nowhere defines objective assessment standards, meaning in what form (i.e., writing, projects, homework, multiple choice assessments) students must demonstrate their understanding and how those assessment results should be factored into the students’ final class grades. Nonetheless it is implied by the OGT graduation requirement that students should be able to demonstrate their understanding on INDEPENDENT, OBJECTIVE measures of assessment. If students cannot do this, they should not be allowed to graduate, regardless of all other factors. So why are teachers strongly discouraged from all directions to assess students in this form?
I think it makes basic common sense to align classroom academic expectations to the graduation expectations, as long as these graduation expectations, whether we agree with them or not, are in place. This means that administration would encourage teachers to greatly increase the weighting that is placed on independent assessments (i.e., TESTS) in the calculation of the final grade. Doing so would likely result in a classroom failure rate that roughly corresponds to the OGT failure rate. This would mean that students would have to retake classes for subjects that they have not shown mastery—and relearn the OGT concepts that they are lacking. This would also mean that students would go through high school with a clear understanding of the types of academic expectations they are to meet in order for our society to consider them as literate. We need to put aside whatever differing opinions we may have about what constitutes as valid assessment for the sake of creating this unambiguous pathway for success for our kids. Our society cannot afford to continue to play a cruel trick our children by nurturing them in a feel-good fantasy world of multiple intelligences, multiple assessments and green-colored marking pens* when most of us grownups know well that students will eventually step up against the cold and merciless reality of standardized testing. This kind of escapist approach will not put food on the table in the real world–and our kids, the inner city kids, don’t have the benefit of having savvy educated parents to point out to them the schizophrenic injustice of it all.
* We were told not to use red because it “injures students’ self esteem.” I don’t think that the color of the marking pen really a priority concern when, as it is, students are in jeopardy of live long failure issues because of lack of basic literacy.
February 13th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
[…] has been the subject of a grievance sent to arbitration by your Association
February 13th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
This comment came in via email:
Most special education kids take the regular tests with accommodations. The accommodation of extra time usually means that I need to plan to double the time allotted for the test. Also, scribing takes an incredible amount of time with all the short answer and extended responses. Finally, most special ed teachers have more than one grade. Each grade needs to be tested separately. Add a few more days! I totalled the amount of time devoted to testing at my school. It will take me approximately EIGHT weeks over the course of the year–one entire marking period testing, rather than teaching, some of our most needy students! Their scores count too for CCS and for them personally.