Teacher explains how standardized testing is hurting her first graders

[midnight]

"When I started teaching oh so many years ago, we focused on thematic instruction and integrating all subject areas so that our students had opportunities to make connections. We taught in ways that honored many learning styles, student’s individual differences and developmental stages, along with their individual needs. We understood (and still do) that each child has different intelligences and learning styles. My walls and windows of my classroom were covered with songs and poems, student artwork and artifacts of student learning. My little ones sang and read and played. We taught using literature with rich language and focused on building background knowledge. Children were encouraged to synthesize knowledge and draw conclusions using what they knew and what they were learning. We used a tremendous amount of glitter and paper and encouraged children to express themselves in ways that played to their strengths. We did projects and had lots of hands-on learning with manipulatives. I assessed through observation and working directly with students. [...]
My walls are no longer covered with songs and poems and artwork. That has been replaced with “anchor charts”, “I can statements” and “Learning targets”. We barely use construction paper and I have not purchased glitter in 3 years. There is no time for art projects or creative expression. Children can no longer choose their learning. They write to prompts and must write different genres at certain times. Math is done on paper and manipulatives are few and far between (except when I pull out the old stuff). Reading is “close reading” and answers to questions are to be solely based on the text, without synthesis of prior knowledge.

Assessment is daily and must be documented along with being scripted (because Big Brother is watching). Modules are scripted, teacher led and boring for little ones. We have to have 50% of text presented as informational text. Students have to write essays before they even have automaticity of letter formation. ALL THIS IS DONE SO THEY CAN PREP FOR THE TESTS. My students will take keyboarding in 3rd grade so they can take the tests online…BEFORE SOME OF THEM EVEN HAVE THE PHYSICAL HAND SPAN TO USE A KEYBOARD."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/25/1379800/-Teacher-explains-how-standardized-testing-is-hurting-her-first-graders

[daleanime]

1. Standards, yes. Goals, yes.

Last edited Sun Apr 26, 2015, 01:41 AM - Edit history (1)

but to use these as an excuse to cut resources is disgusting. And that's all this is.

[elleng]

2. Thanks, midnight.

Please x-post this in Education.

[Egnever]

3. Pretty horrible explanation

Would like to know where she teaches. My wife teaches, No one dictates what she can put on her walls. Maybe her district is different.

If she thinks keyboarding is being taught for the test rather than because in today's world it is a life skill, I start to question her mind frame when writing this "explanation".

There is definitely too much testing but I find the explanation in the OP lacking.

Class size in my opinion is our schools number one problem..

I could go on from there. But I will suffice it to say this "explanation" misses the mark completely IMHO.

[liberal_at_heart]

4. It is not just class size. It is the fact that schools must beg for funding and push their students

to get good scores on standardized tests just so they can get funding. That is the real problem. My son who is in special education and had a 3rd/4th grade math comprehension when he was in 5th grade was forced to take 6th grade math in 6th grade. When he didn't learn it, they simply passed him on to 7th grade and tried to force him to learn 7th grade math. When he didn't learn that they passed him on to 8th grade math. He never passed the state standardized tests so I'm not sure what simply passing him on to the next grade did for the school. When he was in 9th grade we moved to a new school district. They evaluated him and found out he still couldn't do multiplication or division, so they went back and taught him multiplication and division in 9th grade. I am so grateful to them for doing this. He is now in 10th grade and learning algebra and understanding it for the first time in his educational career.

[gvstn]

9. Math is hard but great for making you think in new ways.

I always hated math in school and did the least I could to get through. When in 10th grade I had trigonometry from a teacher that severely punished us for missing questions on his daily quiz (something like one letter grade for 3 failed daily quiz during 8 weeks), I actually paid attention and did my homework and figured out how to pass the quiz. I hated the guy but I learned the rules for that class and actually did the homework. Sometimes it takes someone who either threatens you or someone who goes back and explains what you missed prior.

My sister couldn't even do basic algebra but a good friend patiently explained all the basics to her so that she could pass basic math in college. I will never forget how patient he was and how he worked in real world examples to help her understand. Math teachers aren't usually great because they can't go back to the point where students don't understand the basic concepts of what they think is simple. But I will always remember these two guys. Completely different ways of getting people to learn math but both successful.

I'm glad your son is getting appropriate instruction. I know he will be successful thanks to your diligence.

Side note: The one math class that I just could not get was geometry. So many people that I talk to say that this was the easy one. Try as I might even these days I just can't visualize things the way that particular area of study demands. (I think I got a D or maybe even an F and could no better now.) Perhaps I had a bad teacher or perhaps my brain doesn't work that way. I never judge people on math skills beyond multiplication and division.

[DebJ]

5. Our local district had a supervisor who not only dictated what MUST be on the walls,

she would personally run through the schools and criticize teachers because the student papers were not affixed to the boards at the appropriate angle and with the particular type of affixing, staples or whatever, that was dictated. Along with 100 other rules that had teachers spending hours and hours running circles to follow, instead of focusing on students as a class and as individuals. Absolutely horrendous. This person had no comprehension of teaching or learning. It does happen. Because unfortunately, politics control the system, not educators.

As far as keyboarding.... 3rd grade? 3rd grade? Sure it is an important life skill. I type 130 wpm, and when I watch people hunt and peck it drives me crazy; I don't know how they can get by. But 3rd grade? Learning to drive a vehicle was an important skill for me too, but somehow waiting til I was 18 didn't put me behind in the world.

[Egnever]

7. Of course there will be anomalies

You could certainly pick out nutjobs here and there but I highly doubt dictating what is on the walls is common in anything other than areas such as decency.

I think there is a big difference between not learning something till later that is unnecessary (driving) and something you will use your entire life. My 3 year old already uses the computer and she hasn't even started school yet. My kindergartner constantly amazes me with his ability to get to stuff he wants to do on the computer.

This is an integral part of their world nothing like driving IMHO and ascribing teaching keyboarding to 3rd graders to being motivated by a wish for them to be able to take the test instead sounds like conspiracy theory to me, or perhaps the rant of someone uncomfortable with technology.

I marvel at how the internet will impact our children's lives daily. It quite literally brings the knowledge of the world to their fingertips. I can't even begin to imagine how it will impact them in the long run. Keyboarding in the age of the internet is an essential skill and not a difficult one to master but one that will pay off throughout their lives.

[DebJ]

12. Well perhaps she works in a district run by nutjobs....though there is more than 'nutjobs' at play

here. The real focus in the district I reference is to do everything you can to thwart experienced teachers in succeeding so that they will
leave and you can hire a new teacher for less money. A real house cleaning going on. Because money is all that matters, and experience
isn't worth a thing with teaching, anyone can do it.

[roody]

14. Testing for Common Core is all on computer.

Essays included.

[DebJ]

6. I find this to be the most destructive thing she mentions:

"Reading is “close reading” and answers to questions are to be solely based on the text, without synthesis of prior knowledge."

[Egnever]

8. But not representative of reality.

Especially if her beef is with common core standards. The whole gist of common core from my understanding is to promote deeper thinking. The exact opposite of what she is describing.

The Common Core asks students to read stories and literature, as well as more complex texts that provide facts and background knowledge in areas such as science and social studies. Students will be challenged and asked questions that push them to refer back to what they’ve read. This stresses critical-thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills that are required for success in college, career, and life.

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/


Key Ideas and Details:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.1
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.2
Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3
Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events

[DebJ]

11. I don't see any synthesis of prior knowledge in your reply, just saying what she said.

Read the book, look for the answers, spit it back out.

[Igel]

10. Remember, this is an anecdote.

"Close reading" is a great thing. Students need to be able to do this, but many find it hard. They read 20 pages of a novel for the gist so they can say if they like it. Any "Why do you say this?" has answers, but the answers can be all sorts of things. They don't have to notice every fact, every detail. They don't have to necessarily make good connections back to previous portions of the text or know every word, however important that word may be. There are hints in the text when something is really important. And there's a huge amount of redundancy.

Then they get to chemistry and are told to read two pages and they have no idea what any of it means. Because they read for gist. The text isn't redundant. They have to follow every link in the chain of logic. There are few hints in the text that something is really important: It's important because it's the end of a chain of reasoning, but the entire chain is important.

So I have kids in AP English that can't read and understand a page of college-level text that's written in a strictly informative style. Few, to be sure. I have a lot of kids in level English that can't read this kind of text.

But even at my school we're told to make sure we provide all the background so that students need to bring nothing to their science classes. Why? Because many, esp. low SES kids, bring nothing to their science classes. They see no point in it; it's hard; they have a mantra, "When am I going to need to know this?" that acts as a talisman to ward off unwanted knowledge or put them on the spot. The only way to bring them up to speed, even partially, is to back-fill constantly.

American education is aimed at helping the bottom 20% or so. It's got a messianic cast to it. While it's intended to educate--according to teachers, at least--for 80 years the architects have had the attitude that it's intended to remake society in a more perfect form. Whether that means mainstreaming the children of immigrants to make them middle class in outlook and able to work in an industrial country, raising the consciousness of students against war and racism, getting them good jobs because having that piece of paper that says "high school diploma" gets them better wages and if they can get that piece of paper for their bachelor's degree they get even better wages. Often the public school system is basically social work with misleading job description. (Notice how I put that: Often the emphasis isn't on learning, but on passing a test and getting a piece of paper. As the Spring ISD, Texas, administrators put it after catching falsifying standardized test results and giving course credit to students who never took the courses--hundreds of them--"The most important thing is for our students to graduate." Silly me, I thought the important thing was to get them to learn and be educated, with all the grades and test results following, for the most part, as the result of educational achievement. Now passing a test or a course, even if you learned nothing, is the achievement.)

That's what you're seeing in the anecdote in the OP. "I can statements" are good for focusing the attention of those who are easily distracted. You reduce confusion by limiting the task to something that's simple. The teachers are kept "on task", lest they get off track and include information not necessary for the real achievement, passing the test. The good students--typically higher SES students--will do this well enough however they're taught, the thinking is. (We shortchange them, the best and brightest, all too often, however. It's "No child left behind," not "Help those who can do all they can". Focus is always on stragglers.)

[DebJ]

13. Thanks for your answer. Can you clarify for me what 'close reading' means?

After reading your reply, I think I need to clear that up. Thanks!