Former U.S. Education official backs test refusals
PLATTSBURGH — When Diane Ravitch was a child, her teacher could determine her reading level by administering a 45-minute assessment.
"Sometimes, she didn't even need a test because she saw my written work," the former U.S. assistant secretary of education told the audience gathered at SUNY Plattsburgh for a recent public forum to discuss education reform.
The event, at which Ravitch appeared via Skype, was hosted by the North Country Alliance for Public Education and attended by numerous local parents, educators and community members.
There, the education historian, policy analyst and author called on attendees to defend their schools and children by opting them out of the state's third-through-eighth-grade exams.
Based on the Common Core Curriculum, the tests cover English-language arts and math, as well as science, beginning in fourth grade.
The results are used to determine the effectiveness of both teachers and schools.
'CURRICULUM NARROWED'
“Children are spending anywhere from eight to 11 hours (taking tests) and even more hours on test prep," she said.
And educators are now teaching to the tests, Ravitch noted, "which used to be considered unprofessional but is now considered routine and necessary."
That devotion to standardized exams, she continued, has resulted in a narrowing of curriculum in schools with less time for the arts, recess and physical education.
"Tests do not close the achievement gap," Ravitch said. "If you have a high fever and you take your temperature every 10 minutes, it will not lower your temperature; if you want to gain weight or lose weight, it will not help if you weigh yourself more frequently.”
Testing has a place in education, she noted, "but it should be solely to diagnose children’s strengths and weaknesses so that they can get additional help if they need it."
'NO VALUE AT ALL'
The state's exams, however, are given in the spring, and results are made available in August, after the school year ends.
Teachers are unable to determine where students had difficulty, Ravitch said, as they are not permitted to see their answers.
“They have no diagnostic value, which means they have no value at all," she said.
And there's a good reason testing companies don't want people to see the exams even after they're completed, added Ravitch, who served on the Governing Board of the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
"I saw test questions that had two right answers," she said. "I saw test questions that had no right answer; I saw test questions that were ambiguously worded."While the multiple-choice portions of the exams are scored by computer, according to Ravitch, the testing companies "are hiring anyone with a bachelor’s degree" to score answers to the constructed-response questions.
“These are tests for determining the future of the child and his teacher and they (the scorers) can have no educational experience,” she said.
'CAN'T PUNISH EVERYBODY'
The best way for parents to express opposition to the exams, Ravitch continued, is to opt their children out.
"Refuse the test," she said, eliciting cheers and applause from the crowd.
While there is concern that the state may label or withhold aid from schools that don't test 95 percent of test-age students, Ravitch noted, the more people who refuse the exams, the fewer the consequences will be.
"In fact, the more people who opt out, the more certain it is that there will be no consequences at all," she said.
If just 10 percent of a school's student body refrains from taking the assessments, she added, the school's results become invalid. Former U.S. Education official backs test refusals - Press-Republican: Local News:
