Hannah Emmanuele
After careful thought, we exercised our legal right to opt our children out of the ISAT tests being given next week to all 3rd through 8th graders. Why? The state is phasing out the ISAT at the same time it is making it more rigorous and the resulting scores will have no instructional or administrative value. Since our children will derive no benefit, there is no reason for them to take the test.
More importantly, we want to draw attention to new high-stakes accountability measures the federal and state governments are imposing on our schools–mandates that lack intellectual credibility and impede our children getting the kind of education they need today.
Government policies shaping our schools are sharply focused on preparing children for yesterday. As parents, we want our four children to graduate prepared to thrive in a world increasingly defined by technological advances, complexity, and constant, accelerating change. No matter what profession our children choose, they will need entrepreneurial abilities and a wide range of new competencies that are not taught in schools today:
- the skill and ingenuity to reinvent themselves through multiple careers,
- to build and enlist loose networks across disciplines, cultures and globally to collaborate in solving complex problems,
- wade through and evaluate massive amounts of continuous, multiple streams of raw information to learn and find answers, and
- design, communicate and share in digital multimedia formats for a variety of purposes and audiences.
No standardized test can tell us anything about any of these abilities or our children’s preparedness to thrive in that world. And when we spend time worshiping the almighty test score, essential skills like these get squeezed out of the curriculum and our classrooms.
We have spoken to many parents and teachers who are equally concerned about the unhealthy testing culture that has escalated since the film “Race to Nowhere” a few years back. Some teachers foresee the government’s new accountability measures in stark terms: “a train wreck waiting to happen” and a “looming disaster.” As parents we are inclined to trust teachers and their experience over politicians and the $2.4 billion test prep industry when it comes to deciding what’s best for our children.
The ISATs
As for the ISAT tests coming next week, since they have no value for teachers or children, the scores will not discern anything meaningful about learning and there is no other use for them, we feel our children have nothing to gain by participating in them.
Our decision is not a reflection on our children’s wonderful and caring teachers, the administrators or school board. In fact, we have full trust in our schools and teachers to keep us well informed of our children’s academic progress and advise us as needed. In addition, our administrators have confirmed with the State that no school will be penalized in any way by any parent opting their children out.
It turns out that opting out is simple. We discussed the situation with our children and made sure they were comfortable. Then we notified the school principal and sent her a letter explaining we do not want our children to take the test or any make-ups. Our children will respectfully decline the test at school and instead read quietly while the others fill in bubbles. We could not be more pleased with the school’s response to our request and their plan to accommodate our children.
Note: the State strictly prohibits school staff from advising parents about opting out, but they can answer your questions.
Next Year’s PARCC Tests
To show just how far the national obsession with standardized testing has progressed, the new PARCC tests beginning next year for all 3rd through 11th grade students will add a minimum of at least 50 hours to each student’s cumulative testing regimen, more than double their current experience. (PARCC will replace the ISATs, PLAN and PSAE)
- Fourth grade tests will be 8 hours instead of 4 hours, the time increases each year to at least 10 hours for High School juniors.
- Our 9th graders who in the past did not take standardized tests will now sit for 10 hours of PARCC tests.
- High School juniors who used to spend 2 days in April taking the PSAE will spend 6 to 10 days taking PARRC tests in March and June, on top of sitting for AP exams in May.
- The ACT college entrance exam will no longer be part of routine school testing.
Those hours will pale in comparison to the amount of time teachers will spend prepping children for the new more rigorous tests as poor test results now could impact a teacher’s job. PARCC also will roll out even more tests called ‘formative assessments’ for students to take early winter to help teachers better prepare students for the tests at the end of the year. This testing is on top of the NWEA MAP tests and at least eight other assessments already part of the mix.
PARCC tests are supposed to ensure children are “college ready.” We already know our community’s children are well prepared for college to the extent any standardized test can determine because of the scores our juniors get on the ACT—and the fact they all go to college.
PARCC tests are supposed to measure critical thinking and creativity. Despite the rhetoric, standardized tests can only measure what kids know. They cannot evaluate what and how much children learned or measure complex thought or anything of consequence.
Finally, PARCC scores will be used to evaluate and in some instances fire teachers. Not only have experts deemed this mandate fundamentally flawed and unreliable, it provides a powerful incentive for teachers to teach to the test and narrow the curriculum. In an era calling for innovation and collaboration, the incentive is just the opposite for teachers to compete and withhold their best work from others, stick to the tried and true, and even to avoid getting children in their classroom who do not test well or are challenged.
None of this is good for classrooms or teachers and it will lead to stifling a rich and meaningful educational experience.
