Why Oregon teachers have concerns about standardized testing (OPINION)
By Hanna Vaandering
Recently, The Oregonian/OregonLive ran a story with the headline: "Oregon teachers despise the Smarter Balanced tests, survey says." The story was referring to the 164 pages of thoughtful, reasoned responses we — the Oregon Education Association — collected when we asked educators about their experiences with the assessment.
Comments like: "We are narrowing the focus of education to teaching to a test and test results. We want an increase in graduation rate, but are taking out the projects, getting rid of the high-interest, hands-on classes that keep kids focused and motivated."
"Due to the test my students lost a week and a half of instruction time in U.S. history. We lost a whole unit on WW2. I think this is an unacceptable loss for students."
"This caused students stress to the point of cruelty. There is no way their scores accurately reflect their mathematical skills."
There may be some educators who actually do despise the Smarter Balanced assessment. That's likely because they are outraged by the way the assessment exacerbates inequities, frustrated by the technical failures and heartbroken when they have to stand by, unable to offer clarity, and watch as their students struggle and lose confidence and hope.
However, these comments offer much more than a critique of a single assessment—they expose deep truths about our schools and what our students are experiencing in their daily lives. The comments offer a realistic view of the ways in which larger classes, limited resources, and, yes, Smarter Balanced assessments are impacting our children.
Reading these responses, you'll learn that our special education students and students who are learning English do not have the resources they need to be successful. You'll find that our schools are in desperate need of more up-to-date technology. You'll understand that all of our students are not getting the individual attention they deserve, or that is essential to their success. You'll discover that Advanced Placement students are falling behind in their classes because of the time spent taking the Smarter Balanced assessment. And, you'll notice that counselors are spending so much time administering the test that they can't focus on advising or counseling their students.
These deep truths — truths our educators and students navigate every day — should alarm parents and everyone else who cares about Oregon's future. As I read the responses to our survey, I could not help but get emotional. In fact, I think it would be pretty difficult to take in the hundreds of comments without feeling a powerful urgency to improve our students' academic experience. Educators — teachers, education support professionals and administrators alike — have so many good and proven ways to do this. Our students need more time to learn; more opportunities to ignite their curiosity, imagination and passion for learning; more occasions for individual, one-on-one attention and, importantly, more attention to existing and persistent opportunity gaps.
As educators, we have a responsibility to push forward, and, sometimes, that Why Oregon teachers have concerns about standardized testing (OPINION) | OregonLive.com: