Wednesday, February 13, 2013

More than a Test Score

Below is a slightly longer version of "More than a Test Score," which appears in March's East Side Monthly. The online version is here, paper versions at coffeeshops near you (if you're near me).

I wrote this a few weeks ago, and then read Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman's New York Times Magazine "worriers and warriors" piece, "Why Can Some Kids Handle Pressure While Others Fall Apart?" which looks at genetic and neurological reasons for our varied reactions to stressful situations, with a particular emphasis on the stress trigger that is a high-stakes standardized test. Had it been in print when I wrote "More than a Test Score," I would have cited it; as it is, I post-datedly cite it in conjunction.

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Illustration by Jessica Pollak
More than a Test Score

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” There’s some truth there, but I recommend that we not apply that adage to most aspects of formal education. Generally speaking, schools have changed a great deal. Following my own advice, I try to ignore my own experiences as a student when I think about the learning experiences of young people today (there is no way to write that sentence without feeling old). Of course, I am comparatively old, more than a generation removed from today’s high school students. During the intervening decades, the structures, practices, and environments in schools themselves have changed significantly.

However, even with the plus ça change caveat, when I think about the experiences of today’s high school students, I’m glad that I remember how it feels to get wound up about high-stakes standardized tests--not exams and other assessments associated with coursework. I’m talking about fill-in-the-bubble tests that compare you with nameless multitudes similarly confronted with a number two pencil and a test booklet. Back in the day, for many of us such tests often meant college entrance tests such as the SATs. I distinctly remember my internal monologue just before I took the SATs. “It’s one test, a couple of hours on a Saturday morning. Colleges are going to care more about how I am doing in school, day in and day out, year after year. This doesn’t matter in the long run.” Even though I was anxious, I knew that that the test in and of itself would not keep me from my life’s goals and thus was able to get through the SAT mostly unencumbered by panic.

I’m glad I remember how that felt, and suggest that if you graduated from high school more than ten years ago, you should do the same. During the past decade, federal and state policies have dramatically expanded the significance of high-stakes standardized tests, not just for students preparing for four-year colleges but for all students as they head toward high school graduation. Here in Rhode Island, high school graduation will soon depend on in part on partially proficiency (or better) on the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) mathematics and reading tests. Current Rhode Island Department of Education plans stipulate that this will concern the class of 2014 and beyond, meaning that this year’s 11th graders will be the first class affected by the implementation of the graduation requirements that include NECAP proficiency.

According to the Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes the new graduation requirements, this will have a deleterious effect on the number of graduates statewide, putting over 40 percent at risk of not receiving a high school diploma. In Providence, over two-thirds of students in Providence may not graduate. Students of color, English Language Learners, and special education students face even worse odds. Many of these students struggle with the NECAPs while demonstrating proficiency in their coursework. These are successful students who will be barred from high school graduation. What good does this serve?

The latest data indicate that 66 percent of Providence’s public high school students graduate within four years. What will happen when we add an arbitrary restriction such as the NECAPs other than complicating an already difficult situation? The effect on our economy as a whole, as well of the welfare of thousands of individual students, will be disastrous.

Students should graduate from high school when they have demonstrated that they have met high standards. The argument for incorporating the NECAP into the Rhode Island high school graduation requirements--which include successful completion of class requirements, comprehensive course assessments, and a Senior Exhibition project--is that NECAP proficiency indicates minimum levels of literacy and numeracy. Indeed, high school graduation should be meaningful. But it should get that meaning from what matters: classes, course, assessments, and rigorous projects. There’s no evidence that the addition of the NECAP requirement adds meaning to a high school education.

The current dominance of high-stakes standardized tests is having a chilling effect on students’ ability to pursue knowledge in any real depth. Approaches such as interdisciplinary project-based learning, which we know effectively prepares students for success as lifelong learners, are limited or nonexistent. Excessive focus on the tests has caused the curriculum to narrow, inquiry to be stilted, and opportunities for struggling students to gain proficiency in the skills they will need throughout their lives to be squandered. While systemic, lasting school improvement demands much more than reducing the emphasis on high-stakes standardized tests, we’re unlikely to get to where we need to go unless we commit to stop limiting the future of our young people, who are so much more than a test score.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

No Education, No Life - Zombie March against the NECAP('s use in high school graduation), 2/13 @ 4pm

I am delighted to be associated, however tangentially, with the Providence Student Union (am on their advisory board) and to share info about their Zombie March tomorrow, as follows:
Rhode Island's NECAP graduation requirement is taking away students' futures and chances at a good life. And our obsession with standardized testing is turning us into brainless zombies! 
So grab your fake blood and ripped pants and join the Providence Student Union on Wednesday, Feb. 13th to show the Department of Education what this policy will do to us. Meet at 4pm at Burnside Park (by Kennedy Plaza), and we will zombie-walk to RIDE by 4:30. It's ZOMBIE TIME!
To clarify, in case it's necessary, PSU is organizing to protest the use of the high-stakes standardized NECAP test as a factor for graduation for Rhode Island high school students - this is slated to start for the class of 2014. Bad idea - misuse of the NECAP and unfair way to measure meaningful learning and achievement. Hit me up here tomorrow for more about why the using NECAPs as a way to determine readiness for high school graduation is a deeply flawed prospect for our young people.

Full details and discussion on the Zombie March are here on Facebook. Spread the word and join if you can. You'll be in good company (Diane Ravitch!) and if you are able to attend tomorrow, that is great. Join the zombie ranks so students in the future don't have to.

So what's happening today? Nemo, NECAP, Arne, Randi

So what's happening out there?

  • There is a metric sludgeload of snow and ice, melting and still intact, out there. PPSD schools are back in session after days off on Friday and yesterday due to the storm known as Nemo. I know that people all over the city are still digging out, and that the streets are now hazardous not only for cars but also for the many people, kids included, who have to walk in them to get places due to unshoveled sidewalks. I am glad school is back in business today and hope that everyone on the roads is extra careful as the city continues to clean up.
  • NECAP scores came out on Friday, 2/8. I don't want to dwell on them because I don't want to give them undue attention, but it's worth noting. Overall, the state as a whole went up, and Providence as a district did not. If this were being used purely as a diagnostic measure to tune up teaching and learning, I'd be more inclined to spend time and attention analyzing. As it is, feel free to do so yourself: http://www.ride.ri.gov/Assessment/NECAP.aspx
  • United States Education Secretary Arne Duncan didn't come to Providence last night to discuss school safety.
  • He didn't come here today either to participate in the kick-off event for United Providence (which I believe is supposed to be United Providence! with a ! I note that, but decline to reproduce it).  American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten did, though. UP (and please, can we just call it that? Without its decorative exclamation point?) is collaboration between the Providence Teachers Union and the district that is managing some of Providence's persistently low-performing schools.
Other happenings I'll get to in near-future posts (until work and life overtake me again, at least).

Yeah, yeah, it's been a while

Been a while since I posted here, not for lack of happenings in and around the Providence education scene but for lack of my time for and attention to writing about them here. Onward.