Real shame of APS cheating: “We have let testing corporations make mockery of education.”
I have written a lot about APS in the last two weeks, so I am delighted to offer other perspectives on the cheating scandal, including this strong piece by Stephanie Jones, associate professor and graduate coordinator Department of Elementary and Social Studies Education at the University of Georgia and co-director of the CLASSroom Project at UGA.
Enjoy.
By Stephanie Jones
The Multi-Billion Dollar Testing Industry has done it again. The industry continues to usurp precious resources out of local schools when districts are forced to lay off teachers, discontinue programs for children, and eliminate field trips. But beyond the fiscal crimes inflicted on schools that restrict children’s opportunities, the industry makes a mockery out of the whole education enterprise.
And they’re laughing all the way to the bank.
The latest, but certainly not the last, scorned school district is right here in our back yard.
The Atlanta Public Schools “cheating scandal” is scandalous, but not necessarily for the reasons spewed from mouths of people not looking beyond their noses. The embarrassment and shame comes from the fact that multinational private testing corporations are determining the fate of our children, youth, educators, and future.
It is widely known in educational research that the tests are poorly written, often scored incorrectly and by non-educators, and often evaluate pre-existing knowledge rather than content learned in school. It is also well documented that textbooks and other materials written to prepare students to take the tests are low in educational quality and experience but very high in price, often costing millions of dollars for a school district to adopt a new textbook.
I am not talking about any kind of test you may have taken as a student prior to the year 2002 when the No Child Left Behind legislation was implemented. Many of you may have taken an annual standardized test in school that was used at the state and national level to document trends in achievement, not your individual fate as a student, the fate of the teacher, or the school. I recall being told the night before my annual Iowa Test of Basic Skills to “get a good night’s rest,” and “eat a good breakfast.” The morning of the test we would receive two brand new No. 2 pencils and get to work. No pressure. No anxiety. No life-altering consequences for the performance on one test on one day.
George W. Bush’s bipartisan legislation ended all that and the only ones who have benefited are those in the testing industry.
Now Georgia kindergarteners know about the CRCT and students take practice tests all year long. Children vomit. Parents cry. Teachers vomit and cry. Some youth and educators have even taken their own lives as a result.
The stakes are unbearable, and the tests are not a good measure of the best teaching and learning. But states keep sending millions and billions to the testing industry, giving the industry carte blanche in determining the academic and psychological fate of our children and schools.
What can be done?
–Opt-out of testing: Parents have started opting-out of state testing all over the country, sending the message that they disagree with the high-stakes nature of the tests and how the tests have distorted teaching and learning. I could not locate an opt-out procedure for Georgia, but if hundreds or thousands of parents kept their children out of school during state testing, surely someone would pay attention.
–Talk to other parents and caretakers in your school and neighborhood: Most people are suffering in silence – handling anxious and depressed children at home on their own without talking to others who are likely experiencing the same thing. Families know the damage done to their children and grandchildren by the testing environments at school. Organize yourselves and make your voices heard.
–Tell your legislators merit pay for teachers based on test scores will only make things worse. This is important if you are in a Race to the Top District that will begin using some version of merit pay this year.
–If you are a teacher or administrator, consider organizing other educators (and families) to end high-stakes testing. Without union protection this can be risky, but folks in other countries have done so successfully.
–Join the Save Our Schools grassroots organization of parents, educators, and concerned citizens. SOS will be marching on Washington D.C. on July 30 demanding four fundamental changes to education, including the end of high-stakes testing.
The APS cheating scandal is being touted as the largest one in the country, but let’s not fool ourselves into thinking Atlanta (or Georgia for that matter) is the only place facing serious accusations of cheating on high-stakes tests and abusive behavior towards teachers and children. Cheating on tests has increased significantly over the past several years. This was an entirely predictable trend since test scores started being used to evaluate schools, teachers, and students with unbearable consequences.
In 2002 the multi-billion dollar testing industry gained control over our schools, educators, and youth. We may be witnessing the education equivalent to the foreclosure crisis, where high profits and compensation in private multinational corporations take priority over the children filing into public schools every day. But we can stop the madness before another generation suffers.
–from Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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107 comments Add your comment
Teacher-Mom in Cobb
July 14th, 2011
10:03 am
I absolutely agree that the tests are poorly written and not an accurate reflection of the standards. The only ones who benefit from the CRCT are the companies who write/sell the prep books and the test itself. I’ve told my students about parents in other school systems who boycott standardized testing and keep their children at home during testing days, but so far none of my kids have tried it.
Incredulous
July 14th, 2011
10:08 am
I’ll jump in. I suggest the AJC do a comprehensive and thorough investigation of the testing corporations. Leave no stone unturned, New Yorker magazine style. Who are these companies? What are their names? In what communities do they reside? Qualify and quantify these people with the people in the state goverment. Am I wrong to advocate for transparency in government?
David Sims
July 14th, 2011
10:10 am
No, the testing companies are NOT making a mockery of education. The cheaters are.
Testing is necessary to provide teachers and students with feedback regarding students’ shortcomings in learning the curriculum. With the feedback that only testing (in some form) can provide, those shortcomings can be targeted with remedial instruction. Without it, the kid stays stupid.
Testing can sometimes lead a principal to suspect that some of the teachers might not be as skilled as they should be, although testing alone isn’t sufficient for reaching that conclusion, since the IQs of the students are also a factor in how well the students learn.
A standardized test is necessary so that state education policy-makers can have a level assessment of the performance of schools. They need feedback, too, so that they can better identify schools that are having problems and, possibly, if it would do any good, allocate whatever extra resources are needed to remedy that problem.
Eliminating testing because teachers might cheat is like outlawing stores because thieves might steal. Bad idea. Instead, increase the penalties given to cheaters until the cheating stops. Yes, hang them, if necessary. Break them upon the wheel, like the Catholic church used to do to heretics, and then hang them or burn them at the stake. Whatever it takes.
Dunwoody Mom
July 14th, 2011
10:10 am
Ms. Jones is spot-on with her assertions. I have had more than a couple of teachers over my children’s school-life indicate that the CRCT tests are a joke and have no basis of educational reality. I think the scores back those teacher assertions. In fact, my oldest child, a rising senior called the high school graduation tests just that ‘a joke’.
Scott
July 14th, 2011
10:11 am
Great, another ivory tower view blaming everything on testing. Ms. Jones completely ignores the fact that because of a mass failure of school systems to hold students accountable for their grades, learning, and knowledge, we need consistent feedback on student achievement from *somewhere*. If someone has better tests than CRCT, EOCT, GHSGT… please step forward and offer them. Or, if you really want to make testing unnecessary, how about not only giving legitimate grades but holding students back and providing them extra assistance until they actually learn the curriculum… instead of putting them on a high-speed train to high school regardless of whether they can read, write, and do math.
And please, no more wimpy comments about “kids have too much pressure.” It’s adults who get worked up over these tests. The kids know by 6th grade that they won’t be held back. If they really were worried about doing well on the tests, we’d be making progress and perhaps getting our money’s worth out of these tests. Then maybe kids would take learning seriously and spend less time on their game system and cell phone.
Oh, and don’t blame cheating on the testing companies. Blame cheating on passing kids with huge skill gaps year after year and expecting the next teacher to suddenly get them up to grade level, when the *student* has *never* been held accountable to learn anything and has no motivation to catch up to the curriculum standards. Not excusing any cheating, just acknowledging that the teachers made poor choices in a no-win situation caused by administrators (and yes, also by NCLB, though at least it provided some goals for accountability and brought the failures of the system to light).
Sharon Pitts must Go
July 14th, 2011
10:14 am
Teachers need to take back control of their profession.
Obfuscation
July 14th, 2011
10:15 am
Magicians move one hand so you do not see what they are doing with the other.
Similar to what this writer attempts to do, blame a test for the moral failure of schools teachers, principals and other administrators who violated the public trust and successfully cheated children and taxpayers for a decade.
Chris Murphy, Atlanta, GA
July 14th, 2011
10:15 am
They still administer the ITBS- why isn’t that used instead of the CRCT?
justbrowsing
July 14th, 2011
10:23 am
Grade illegitimacy is a problem across the state- teachers are able to take certain courses of actioin because policy supports them- but many principals are afraid of being frank with parents.
justbrowsing
July 14th, 2011
10:24 am
Action
usually lurking
July 14th, 2011
10:34 am
My boys love EOCTs. The EOCT counts for such a large portion of their grade, they can slack off all semester, then ace the EOCT – maybe even bring their grade up a whole letter grade. Remember a few years ago when they threw out the 8th grade Social Studies CRCT because supposedly the content hadn’t been covered since 5th grade? My 8th grader aced that one. These tests are a joke. We really need to just use the nationally normed ITBS and COGAT and quit spending money on bogus tests.
iamshel
July 14th, 2011
10:35 am
AMEN!! Teachers DO need to take back their profession and WE need to support them. I would love to see all the CRCT prep worksheets disappear and replaced with better classroom methods of teaching.
Gwinnett Teacher
July 14th, 2011
10:37 am
The sad thing in a lot of this is that as a teacher, I no longer am able to teach things to students because they are important to know. At no point in a Gwinnett student’s education k-12, are they required to know the names of the 50 states and there capitals. While this may not seem like a big deal to many of you, this is one of the many basic facts or skills our students lack. Why? Because it is not on a standardized test. So how is it possible to argue at all that we don’t teach to the test? I would like to think that I enrich my students beyond the set standards and test preparation but with all that has to be taught according to the standards, there is time for little else.
Mr Charlie
July 14th, 2011
10:37 am
Yes, lets blame the test makers for the cheaters.
Mr Charlie
July 14th, 2011
10:38 am
Did’nt the USA lead the work in education? What happened?
Gwinnett Teacher
July 14th, 2011
10:41 am
By the way, Gwinnett, the holy grail of education in Georgia, is currently changing the way their benchmark exams are worded and appear so that they will be more like the CRCT. Why does this one test have so much influence on the fate of our students? Thanks to APS, they have just proven it is easy to manipulate to a favorable outcome.
Just A Teacher
July 14th, 2011
10:48 am
I don’t blame this scandal on anybody but those people who cheated while giving these tests, but I do agree that the emphasis on standardized testing has had a bad effect on public schools. I have been required to administer these tests and have done so without incident. Since I don’t really care what scores my students make on the tests, which were written by some faceless corporate toadies who have no idea what goes in my classroom, I hand it out, time it, take it back up, and then get on with the real reason I was hired: teaching my students. The real tragedy is all the lost instructional time spent on this bull crap.
I have read many posts on here saying that “Schools can’t be run like businesses.” Why doesn’t big business follow what schools are required to do: shut down all operations and have everyone on the job take a test and pass it? Can you imagine what it would be like if everyone who worked for Delta Airlines was forced to quit working for several days so that management could administer a test to each employee? Then, to top it off, management would be held responsible for those employees who did not pass AND for the time and money lost while giving the test.
Mr Charlie
July 14th, 2011
10:50 am
Why do I think Cheney sits on top of all these testing companies?
JW
July 14th, 2011
10:54 am
“Tell your legislators merit pay for teachers based on test scores will only make things worse. This is important if you are in a Race to the Top District that will begin using some version of merit pay this year.”
It is simply unbelievable to me that those districts participating in “Race to the Top” will be implementing new teacher evaluation systems this upcoming school year and no one can say exactly what this will look like.
Will there be a mysterious formula used for “value-added” measures?
How would the formula work? Can it be explained so that teachers and parents can understand it?
Will there be a pretest/post-test growth model? Who will make these assessments? Will the CRCT to used as post-test?
We are talking about teachers’ careers and livelihoods, and yet no information seems to be available on exactly how teachers will be evaluated this school year. It is absolutely disgraceful.
science teacher
July 14th, 2011
10:55 am
Every one here realizes that the tests are not even used for the reason they were created, right? They were designed to let us know who did not have the most basic grasp of the material, and should be held back so that they could learn it. If you know that the kindergartener did not learn his alphabet, why put him in first grade?
The law that said the students must pass the test included the option for the Principals to socially promote, which they do, en masse. You start out planning for 150 ninth graders and by the end of the summer have 400, 250 of which did not pass the test even on the second attempt.
If you want to keep the test, make them mean something other than the teacher gets hassled. Make them mean that the student stays back until they learn the material. Make the tests actually reflective of grade level attainment. Then let the teachers teach.
There are tests that were created a long time ago which will tell you the grade level a student is reading on at any given time. Use those. If the student is not at 3rd grade nine months, keep them in third grade until they are. There are math tests that diagnose the same way for math. Use those. If they can read and do math on level, the rest is easy.
WE lost our way
July 14th, 2011
11:11 am
Yes,their making money.I would also like to add publishing companies to the list.They are making a killing on books in both secondary and college education. Follow the money and it will lead you to the root cause of a majority of problems or corruption.
Cindy Lutenbacher
July 14th, 2011
11:19 am
David, Scott, and others: until you have done your homework and truly studied the mountains of independent research about the standardized tests and their lack of usefulness, your opinions ring hollow.
No one on this blog or in any way associated with true education is advocating for no assessment. Many of us simply advocate for meaningful assessment, and there are plenty of ways to do this. Relying on a useless standardized test simply pretends to fill that need, while serving the interests of corporate theft and those who wish to destroy public education.
Please try to remember that EVEN IF one believes in standardized testing, U.S. kids do pretty well on international comparisons, once we factor in poverty and the fact that the U.S. has the highest rate of child poverty in the industrialized world. Check out Krashen, Berliner, and others for the facts.
I’m weary of folks twisting the truth here.
NTLB
July 14th, 2011
11:19 am
In order to compete globally and locally (outsourcing, immigration, etc.) our students need to be well equipped with 21st century skills: critical thinking,problem solving, communication, collaboration, creativity and innovation. The CRCT, the EOCT, nor any of these standardized tests DO NOT require, measure, or assess these skills.
catlady
July 14th, 2011
11:20 am
Ms. Jones knows, doesn’t she, that holding your kids out of testing doesn’t work very well. The testing window is several weeks; if your child is out they will get the test when they come back, as long as it is still in the testing window. You would have to be willing to hold your child out up to 3 weeks (and thus get the attendance officer on your tail) if you decide to opt out this way.
We know the only thing the CRCT does is add to the amount of money in the testing companies’ pockets. It gives us little data on our kids, makes no predictions, has little or no value. I echo Incredulous for the AJC to do a complete investigation on it. Find out how much, to whom, what the tie-in is with our own state DOE (who benefits there). That we have wasted years and billions on this test is incredible with no oversight at all, thanks to our gullible legislators!
Tina Trent
July 14th, 2011
11:23 am
I’m willing to believe that the testing companies produce wildly over-priced and poorly designed materials; I haven’t seen a children’s textbook that doesn’t fit that definition in a long time, CRCT-oriented or not.
I’m sure (bipartisan) politically connected publishers and test companies get a leg up in the bidding process. Charting donations to state pols from ALL educational suppliers — and the unions, and other organizations and businesses receiving money from the schools — is a great idea.
However, I’m surprised by Ms. Jones’ tone and recommendations. This is a professor in charge of a teacher’s training program? Complaining of words “spewed from mouths of people not looking beyond their noses,” is not an argument to counter those who are appalled by the cheating scandal. Suggesting that parents keep their children out of school, rather than encouraging them to use appropriate channels to participate in decision-making, is just the sort of activism-inflected acting out that gives Ed. school faculty a bad name.
If the tests really “are poorly written, often scored incorrectly and by non-educators, and often evaluate pre-existing knowledge rather than content learned in school,” then these things should be part of the public debate. Scored by non-educators? That seems like a non-issue for a multiple choice test. Scored incorrectly? If there were not checks in place, the APS cheaters would not have been caught. “Evaluate[s] pre-existing knowledge”? What does that even mean? The test is suppose to check competency. That sounds like sour grapes, particularly when the other complaint teachers make is that they’re being forced to teach material only on the test.
If the state is wasting my money with this test when better alternatives exist, make a real argument, rather than breathless declarations that the sky is falling. Lots of people make lots of money in education by providing dubious materials, which is why the charter school movement is beginning to smell like a chum bucket.
APS children in my neighborhood used to advance grades despite illiteracy. I will not forget the tragic “self-esteem” homework assignments involving ‘choosing the type of car they would buy and the outfits they would wear when they became lawyers and doctors’ — this for kids who couldn’t do basic math, and apparently weren’t spending classroom hours learning it. The education professionals were the ones shilling that junk.
Any test — even one with flaws — is better than letting that type of behavior fester in the shadows. There’s a reason why none of my educated neighbors would dream of sending their children to the non-charter neighborhood schools ten years ago. Now all schools are being asked to abide by an open standard. That’s a first step to not throwing those kids away. Getting histrionic about George Bush and crying for marching in the streets is a distraction, Dr. Jones.
Dr. John Trotter
July 14th, 2011
11:26 am
Maureen, I am glad that you ran this piece about testing. Standardized tests have become the curricula of American Public Education (APE). It is a billion dollar industry. How many, many times have I said even on this blog, “Follow the money”?
I wrote a piece recently on the narrow, restrictive, and shallow nature of the curriculum which results from making the tests the total focus in any school system. Creativity is jettisoned.
The Stupidity of Standardized Testing & The Cruciality of Creative Learning! >>>
http://www.georgiateachersspeakout.com
catlady
July 14th, 2011
11:31 am
Chris Murphy: most systems don’t give the ITBS anymore. Why? They SAY it is because we want to test what kids should learn in Georgia, but don’t be fooled. The ITBS tests stuff like punctuation (How is that different in GA from NY?) and math concepts and computation (How is that different from one state to another?) The real reason is, we don’t wan to see how poorly our kids are doing vs the rest of the country.
thomas
July 14th, 2011
11:41 am
Doesn’t this sound so much like blaming gun companies for all crimes in which guns are used? Or blaming car makers for trafic accidents?
Why are there people who criticize standardized tests but seem to hold the ITBS as something from God?
Patricia
July 14th, 2011
11:42 am
@Scott and others who support his viewpoint: “because of a mass failure of school systems to hold students accountable for their grades, learning, and knowledge, we need consistent feedback on student achievement from *somewhere*.”
I and many others have already said those who cheated should lose their jobs and their teaching certificates. This article is right on the spot regarding those who are making a profit off of our students. How many of you who constantly lamblast our schools and students have actually read our standards and the lack of depth as well as ambiguous language that is rampant throughout? We do NOT need a state test. It cannot be compared to the progress of any other student in any other state. So, who is to say whether our students are at the bottom, middle, or top of the educational heap? Do you have any idea how much money is spent on COACH books or computer programs designed to determine how many students do not know the answer to this or that hypothetical question on the CRCT? Teachers are no longer engaged in professional development focused on student learning, but sit in meetings with PowerPoint presentations and graphs about the strengths and weaknesses of student performance on these tests. Some districts are currently using funding to pay for the first and second grade CRCT tests rather than using that money to support student learning. I mean really how many of you really think six and seven year old children should be sitting in a classroom listening to their teacher READ most of the test to them while they decide which bubble they should fill in? Most of these school districts where student performance is below the par are in high poverty areas within large cities or smaller rural districts with little or no tax base to support their school districts. I have no problem with our students taking the IOWA at various grade levels (which I have given throughout my 35 year plus teaching career) or the NAEP. Of course I have YET to ever teach in a school district where the NAEP test was even given to our fourth or eighth graders as of course it seems to be an optional test, BUT is used to view the country as a whole.
There are people in society who make choices to cheat in one form or another…teachers are an aspect of that society; once discovered are sent on their way. Some folks will have sympathy for them and some will not. Some folks will understand why weak people make poor choices. I can understand why they did it, but their choice can never be excused because the losers in this were not the teachers and administrators who participated, but the students who were lied to and filled with false pride in an accomplishment they did not achieve.
We cannot use these teachers as an excuse to NOT accept the reality of the current focus on testing at EVERY grade level. I gave individual assessments to my PREK students last year to determine which ones of them would need interventions in KINDERGARTEN all with the goal of CRCT future performance. Now, think about that…FOUR year olds being judged in such a fashion.
www.honeyfern.org
July 14th, 2011
11:42 am
@Cindy – right on. I agree. No one legitimate is saying no testing – just better testing, and more holistic testing (and no, I don’t mean self-esteem based testing, just more rounded so that a child who freaks out when they see bubbles gets a chance to prove they know what they know in a different way).
My school will use a standardized test at the beginning of the year to get a basic skills baseline. This will be part of their overall portfolio of work for the year, which will also include actual work and EOCTs as well as video or other appropriate work samples. They get more than one chance to be brilliant, and they get to say how they will show me. That’s how it should be.
we r b ing n fected
July 14th, 2011
11:45 am
Kathy Augustine, Joyce Mcloud, Demaris Perryman-Garrett come back and clean up your mess. Don’t infect other school systems.
oldtimer
July 14th, 2011
11:49 am
The county I used to teach in…gave pre and post ITBS tests. They were good. Our curriculum followed most of the country. The gave a decent indication of what children learned. I learned I was a better SS/LA teacher than math and science.
MrLiberty
July 14th, 2011
11:54 am
You give the government all the money. You give the government all the power. You give the government all the control. You encourage top-down control from the Federal Level and SCREAM if anyone even attempts to eliminate the federal DOE. You force everyone in society to pay the government to educate a portion of the population. You allow minimal competition and put massive restrictions on alternatives and innovators. You do everything to deliver all the power to those who keep the government happy. Then you ignorantly wonder how this ever could have happened.
The testing companies are parasites who feed off the ignorance of your government masters and the gullibility of the citizens. Thanks to the central control you have demanded and applauded, they no longer have to please everyone, they only have to please those limited few in control of the process.
The text book companies are the same. Central control how enabled and even encouraged both the dumbing down of american children but also the perpetuation of historical lies, economic lies, political lies and the like based on the bias of those in control when books are purchased. Mandatory curricula from on high, mandatory books from on high and the like all only make the situation worse.
As for teachers being allowed to be teachers – that mechanism exists right now. It exists in private schools where teachers are encouraged to be successful because the business MUST be successful. The root cause as always is central government control. The solution as always is the elimination of all government involvement in education.
Instead of encouraging parents to opt out of testing, they should be encouraging parents to opt out of government schooling. The real question is just how much more failure will parents be willing to take before they actually start caring about their children’s future and do the right thing for them. Homeschool, private school, un-school, whatever. The beast won’t die if you continue to feed it.
NewMinority
July 14th, 2011
11:59 am
@ Incredulous
I completely agree with you. The CRCT is an “assessment” not a “test”. Look up the definition of assessment and you might be surprised at its original meaning: “The process of placing a value on an asset for the purpose of taxation.” Testing advocates began using the term in the late ’80’s. At that time, THIS WAS THE WORD’S ONLY MEANING! Its original use was NEVER associated with testing! Think about why they would choose to use that word. There are those in power that view your child as “property” of the State. They want to measure the “value” of your child to the state! There were many active in the “80’s and ’90’s exposing this political power grab over the public schools, using newly designed “assessments” as a tool. What was done in Pennsylvania is well documented in EDUCATING FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER by Beverly Eakman. This is a must read to understand the roots of the CRCT. I know someone who documented that all that was done in Pennsylvania to bring in the assessments, was also done in Georgia for the CRCT’s. This was done in the early ’90’s. This same methodology was used to bring in ALL the state assessments. Federal money in GOALS 2000 (predecessor to No Child Left Behind) was the bait. I will give you a big hint. CRCT’s don’t just measure academic knowledge. They also measure HOTS, higher order thinking skills. The original assessments were based on Bloom’s Taxonomy, which defines HOTS. What many don’t know is that the TAXONOMY has two volumes, “Cognitive Domain” (academic skills) and “Affective Domain” (attitudes, values, and beliefs). Higher order thinking skills are defined in BOTH volumes. The assessments can contain test items containing BOTH. The heart of assessments are the “item specifications”. An item is a test question. The assessments must contain certain percentages of questions from the different levels and domains from BLOOM’S TAXONOMY OF EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES. This was the case in the original assessments. If this is no longer the case, this would be the place to investigate. The state originally put out RFP’s for testing companies to write the item specifications, which guide all test question writers. The testing companies retain copyright for these. That is why a testing company can sue if someone releases the test questions. I believe that a particular testing company not only wrote the item specifications, but also the actual items for some of the HOTS strands. Strands are embedded mini- tests. Another tip; the people who wrote the item specifications were not the test publishing company. Another good resource, mostly actual government documents, is DELIBERATELY DUMBED DOWN, by Charlotte Iserbyt. It’s available on the internet. It traced much of the education reform (including assessments) back to the U.N. and beyond. This is not a “local” issue. And yes, big bucks are involved.
Ashley
July 14th, 2011
12:01 pm
Enough with the excuses @science teacher and Scott you are absolutely right. Why are APS so determined to promote students when they haven’t done the require work? If a student can’t comprehend material at their grade level an intervention needs to be made before the CRCT is even administered. I am 52 years-old and it galls me that the education system in Georgia is so cavalier when it comes to social promotion, this wink and a nod mentality is killing the learning process. Rules as to how many times a student can repeat a grade is ridiculous! Passing the problem on to the next teacher or instuctor is inexcusable. These grade level achievement test have been given for years. The achievement test we took as a child (ITBS) was just that….an achievement test it measured a student academic ability in that grade-level. Other important factors were assessed also, with emphasis on reading , writing and math. The basic-core subjects were a must…if you fail you don’t move to the next grade level. Simply put; it’s summer school or repeating a grade. Students today seem to understand if they get 50% of the work they will be promoted or be able to retake the test (which I’ve never heard of). Schools are doing the children a disservice when teachers corrupt and pass them on to the next grade without learning the material. As a person who deeply cares about education in this country. I’m appalled that the public-school education I got in 60s-70s is letting children down in the 21st century.
Incredulous
July 14th, 2011
12:04 pm
@Thomas. I haven’t seen any postings on this blog that make a connection to product liability. Rather, the consensus I see indicates there are people that feel we need to sharply refocus public education. I want stricter accountability, from the top down. I think the standards are lacking and need to be ratcheted up. I think we need a reintroduction of ” they have the right to fail.” As consumers, and we all are, I demand to see some ingrediant labels and a prospectus on my tax dollar investment. I am tired of seeing students that are 3 to 4 years behind in ability be passed on with the implicit threat ” they have to pass.” As long as we continue to muddy the waters with arguments of racism and “sour grapes”, we will continue failing to produce meaningful dialogue and solutions. If you have any ideas on how we can solve our problems, please contribute. Lead, follow, or get the h@^& out of the way.
1911A1
July 14th, 2011
12:08 pm
Dr. T is right: Follow the money.
Incredulous
July 14th, 2011
12:12 pm
@Thomas. On the second thought; product liability may be a partial solution to breaking the grip of these companies. Since the assessments aren’t accomplishing what they were supposed to ( not working as advertised), should’nt we be able to claim a default and demand a refund? I’m not an attorney, but I bet those companies and the state will listen if their wallets are subject to a recall.
Incredulous
July 14th, 2011
12:15 pm
@new minority. Thanks for the insight. That is useful knowledge. I’ll have to add you to the ranks of Jerry Eads, Kathy II, and Catlady. I apologize if I left anyone out.
Active in Cherokee
July 14th, 2011
12:18 pm
@ David Sims and anyone else that will listen – One of the biggest complaints I hear from teachers is that they get no ‘feedback’ from the testing reports. All they see is a pass/fail/exceed – which ultimately does not help them. What the teachers in the school desire from the testing reports is a breakdown of the type of question and material covered with the students results. This would help them find weakness and see the strengths to build on. Right now with the current reports what they basically get is a “you need to work harder” or “good job”, neither of which help the teacher or the student. With the amount of data-crunching and reporting teachers are required to do now, surely we can hold these billion dollar companies to similar standards. If we’re going to be ‘data-driven’ lets get good thorough data. If this were happening, perhaps the tests wouldn’t seem so pointless and overwhelming and our teachers would have a real chance at helping the students improve and learn from them.
Just A Teacher
July 14th, 2011
12:19 pm
Standardized tests are stupid! They only teach students to fill in scantron sheets which is not a very marketable skill in today’s economy. We are all better served if teachers focus on critical thinking skills. If all this testing is so good for education, why did the cashier at a local store (who looked to be about 21 years old) get confused when I gave him 8 dimes and 2 quarters to pay for my $1.29 purchase?
PS. For those of you who graduated from an Atlanta high school, I gave him $1.30.
NWGA Teacher
July 14th, 2011
12:20 pm
I would like pre- and post-assessments on whatever we actually TEACH during the school year.
Teach2Learn
July 14th, 2011
12:26 pm
While Ms. Jones specifically calls out George W. Bush she neglects to specifically call out Barrack Obama and Arne Duncan for not only continuing the described testing but escalating its impact by attaching results to job security. Be fair in comments.
carla roqs
July 14th, 2011
12:34 pm
i find it interesting that sooo many people can read the same article and come away with…dozens of different views regarding what they read–but no, then again…it is not suprising. the article is not excusing cheating. this is just information from the other side of the aisle to show that testing can be bothersome on many fronts. and imho– jones is correct. for years we have had to tell students that the SAT is not a test if intellect. it is simply a test of how well you take that particular test. no one is tagging hall not anyonge guilyt =========
Scott
July 14th, 2011
12:42 pm
@Cindy Lutenbacher
Excuse me, but as an educator of 10 years I am not “twisting the truth.”
Fact: Any competent student can pass the CRCT, EOCT, GHSGT. They are basic competency tests and not passing any one of these reveals an embarrassing lack of ability. I have never seen an exception to this claim, not with my own children or any of my students.
Fact: Our public schools do a lousy job of holding themselves and their students accountable to actually learn something, consistently choosing to pass the buck instead of admitting they have students who are not ready for the next grade.
Fact: Pretending education would improve if we simply removed all standardized testing is a fantasy. That’s like saying speeding would go away if we just removed the GA State Patrol. Why not just give all students free 3.0’s so that even illiterate students qualify for Hope? Well, some schools basically did that already. No need to reinvent the wheel, where grade inflation is concerned. But of course it’s the testing that’s evil. Sure it is.
carla roqs
July 14th, 2011
12:54 pm
just ignore that one. it was not even to have been sent. sleepy and writing do not match.
Leading education group comments on Atlanta cheating scandal, stays quiet on … – The Washington Independent | News Feed Today
July 14th, 2011
12:56 pm
[...] state Department of Education by at least 85 percent. When the AJC questioned the incomplete …Real shame of APS cheating: “We have let testing corporations make mockery of …Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)all 441 news [...]
Dunwoody Mom
July 14th, 2011
1:08 pm
@Scott – no one is saying to eliminate standardized testing. But, these tests should not be the sole determination of anything, much less “success” or “failure”.
www.honeyfern.org
July 14th, 2011
1:16 pm
@MrLiberty – well said.
As an educator, I never wanted central control of anything. Private school teachers teach creatively (not all – this is a generalization) because they must (to keep students and stay afloat) and they can (they get to focus on areas that they identify, not areas that someone somewhere else told them to identify).
@newminority – critical thinking skills may have been a part of the initial CRCT, but I guarantee you that Bloom’s higher levels of thinking are not well represented on the test any longer. There are possibly a few questions which require analysis and synthesis, but most can be completed using process of elimination.
Me
July 14th, 2011
1:20 pm
What we need is for the Georgia DOE to take a stand like Montana’s, Idaho’s and South Dakota’s DOEs have and refuse to follow the federal dictates.