Test Prep! Watch and Weep!

"Worksheets don't grow dendrites" ~ Marcia Tate

Watch and share this video by Kaydonna Wolfcale,  a teacher who quit because of the rigid education reforms, and weep for all kids in public schools today!



Texas STAAR test prep

If this example is not enough reason to sign the White House petition to stop standardized testing in America's public schools, I don't know what will be persuasive.

Direct the Department of Education & Congress to Remove Annual Standardized Testing Mandates of NCLB and RttT

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/direct-department-education-congress-remove-annual-standardized-testing-mandates-nclb-and-rttt/1lSSvnYK

Also see: Do You Care about Kids or Data?

Schoolboards Utterly Useless Looking Out for Kids

"What happens when the Commissioner of Education comes to town? Does your local school board become more responsive to parent/teacher concerns, or LESS ? A Wappingers Falls NY mother is prohibited from giving a 20-minute Common Core speech, that she was initially granted by the schoolboard, after Commissioner King's appearance. One board member walked out of the meeting.-- Wappingers Falls, NY. October 15, 2013"

Here you have it; something I have long suspected, namely that it is useless to attend schoolboard meetings. Up until now I thought it was perhaps only my local  schoolboard's stance to ignore public input on important education issues, but it is likely true for most!

Wappinger schoolboard member John Lumia says:

"There are certain things that we cannot , as a schoolboard, change. There are certain things that are mandated to us...our function isn't exctly to evaluate the common core and pass judgment on it. Our job is to execute education and policy and government finances of the district, and we are kind of limited as to what we can do...we're very limited as to what we can do. So, hearing all these opinions is nice, it's great to see engaged members of the community, but there's not much we can actually do to influence the legislature from here. It's just a little far out of our reach here." Watch the segment here.

About his decision not to have a Common Core presentation by a parent he says,

"I wrestled with this issue for a while, and called fellow board members so I would have their opinion. I cannot vote to allow this presentation [because] we have..presentations given to the board, and they are done by administrators and staff, and they are done by experts, sometimes consultants that we hire for various projects, and we look to certain individuals for guidance, mainly experts like I say like consultants or administrators. Although I applaud a parent coming to the board, the appropriate method of addressing the board would be during the public comment session."

In case you missed his point; most schoolboard members do believe that it is the administrators, and consultants (working for the curriculum publishers) who are the experts. That is why they ignore research and statements by the real education and child development experts. It is the reason why schools have become so toxic for kids!

Lumia said:

 "As to whether someone is qualified to provide this information. I frankly think that...only qualified individuals should be given that liberty."

Board president Ved Shravah BOE asked the superintendent if he can stop teaching Common Core in schools, if the board had voted against it. His answer: "We cannot stop it." Watch the segment here.

Ved Shravah:

"It is inconsequential what we say here...You can have 24 hour presentations; it is not going to change the fact that our children will have to learn Common Core Standards, they will have to take the tests. Our teachers have to teach, no matter what their opinion is, no matter what they think. It is mandated, it has to be done, and I don't see why we're having an argument around this issue."  Watch the segment here.

Do You Care About Kids or Data?

Kaydonna Wolfe, a former teacher in Texas where the standardized testing fad began, says "We have let it happen", and by that she means teachers. She is right!

Because teachers are afraid of losing their jobs when they speak out against testing, most parents and community members remain in the dark about what's happening in their children's schools. Parents blindly trust that how their children are taught, must be good for their kids.

They do not expect that teachers condone child abuse and neglect, and yet...what do you call it when kids live in fear of scoring poorly on the test? What do you call it when kids in kindergarten are taught by script that does not allow the teacher to respond to a question or comment? What will it do to the child's psyche to be ignored? What do you call it when kids in kindergarten can no longer play?

Kaydonna says, "We are putting school data which leads to funding, over the needs of children, and this must stop...I'm begging our educators to take a stand....Did you become a teacher for data and funding, or did you become a teachers to do what's best for children? We've got to stop and think about what we're doing to children, and do what's right...The first thing you can do is to tell your story...What we have to do is tell the truth!"

Teacher says: "We are abusing children.."

"..I am here to report we are abusing children in the state of New York. There is now a common core syndrome."

From the moment I posted this short, very inspiring video on various Facebook  education  groups, the number of views went from 301 to 1,332 in just 15 minutes! Help make this video go viral, so that most anyone in the country will have heard what this teacher so unequivocally dared to say!

And remember, it is not just kids in New York  State who are abused. This unhealthy focus on student 'performance' on standardized tests  is happening in schools everywhere.



Check out United Opt Out National and their Facebook group: Opt Out of the State Test: The National Movement with 5,541 members!

Schools Complicit in Child Abuse and Neglect

So, there! I said it. What is it based on? Well, when you hear a parent of a kindergartner say that he hates going to school, you know something is dreadfully wrong. No, kids are not beaten (I trust!), but I heard of a teacher who did not allow a child in third grade to go to the bathroom, or get cleaned up after she peed her pants, all because there's a  strict lock-step schedule to be followed. Every school in my district is on the same page at every hour.

Stories like this do not make it into the news, so parents still think school is a good place for their kids, never mind that kids are now deprived of recess which, research bears out, enhances learning capability. Never mind that kids in  kindergarten no longer get to play (at all!) with dolls, cars, blocks,  and jigsaws, or do quality crafts that help develop fine motor skills. Those learning activities are now deemed unnecessary as kids "need to be prepared early to 'succeed' and 'compete' in a global economy".

Someone on the Facebook group Opt Out of the State Test, discussing Diane Ravitch' latest book " Reign of Error" wrote,

"..in my small town, I don't think parents see the connection with test scores. If parents routinely are measuring their kids against others by asking all their friends what their kids scored, then we have an uphill battle to educate them. As I read, I am constantly trying to decide where to start educating my community.

Our parents need to feel assured that the "answers" are not necessarily in homeschooling, post secondary (dual enrollment) online schooling and open enrollment. Charters are 50 miles away. Instead of taking a complacent role that are school is here, I see us pro-actively promoting and advocating for our district so that fewer parents feel the need to look elsewhere."

In response I shared that in our district, young kids' needs are neglected in all regular schools, so any parent who can seek out more appropriate education (in my opinion only one of the three charters here qualifies), or who can homeschool, absolutely owes it their child to do so!

My heart still aches for all the kids, year after year, who enter kindergarten and are trained like dogs, not just with learning how to read by scripted Reading First curriculum, but also by means of the PBIS program. Plus, no recess, and no play in kindergarten.

Sadly, parents have been brainwashed to believe that school is a, "safe and nurturing place where all kids will have a chance to learn and reach their fullest potential", as written in many a school's mission and vision statement.

As a young parent I trusted those 'good' intentions, and back then in the early nineties, school was still a relatively good place for kids. I say relatively because, seriously...how many kids do you know of who will say they love school? But now, schools have become toxic, here in Greeley, Colorado especially, and their toxic overhaul in 2006 was used as a shining example for other failing districts to follow!

And now parents buy into the propaganda that all these reforms and tests, to track their kids' performance,  are needed so their kids can 'succeed' and 'compete' in the 'global economy', never mind what the experts say whose findings are never even presented to parents, because school administrations are complicit in keeping the reforms going. And how do they do that?

By insidious coercion and threats. A parent shared this letter (click on the photo to enlarge) she received from the superintendent when she chose to opt out her child from testing, and to her credit, DIBELS testing as well.

[caption id="attachment_1760" align="aligncenter" width="300"] An Opt Out threat[/caption]

PTA's and PTO's should step up to the plate, but they too believe the propaganda. See what the New York State PTA shares on the issue: Testing Opt-Out, Just the Facts




 

"ADHD is not an illness"

"ADHD is not an illness", says Dr. Laura Batstra, researcher at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands.  She quit her job as a treating psychologist at an institution for child and youth psychiatry when she found that more and more schoolkids were referred for diagnoses of ADHD.

Schools in Holland too test kids yearly on their progress. If students do not show growth, a reason will/must be found why, and often the verdict is ADHD even though the child's behavior is normal.

In a dutch tv show I watched on the subject of labeling of school children, a child development expert who has studied descriptions of boys' behavior through the ages said that boys have not changed, but society's expectations of them have. They are now forced to sit still in school even though boys especially have an innate drive/need to be active and to work with their hands. Sadly, vocational schools have been phased out in Holland too.

Because of the focus on the importance of test scores, many parents with children who struggle, are eager to have their child tested, in hopes of getting a diagnosis for which there is treatment or a medication so that the child will perform up to expectation. Another advantage of some labels is that kids get extra time do do their tests.

All these labels are listed as disorders in the DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual). This year a new version will be published, the DSM V with in it a new disorder, the so called DMDD: Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder. Dr. Batstra worries that it will further inflate "the diagnostic Bubble", and that a number of kids will be seen as overly temperamental and disruptive. She says that rather than putting high expectations on kids in schools, we should tone those down.

I am all for that. No kid in school should be subjected to stress and worry, the very conditions that can lead to a label!

 

Rigorous Standards Stifle Children

"..Recent critiques of the Common Core Standards by Marion Brady and John T. Spencer have noted that the process for creating the new K-12 standards involved too little research, public dialogue, or input from educators...It appears that early childhood teachers and child development experts were excluded from the K-3 standards-writing process."  (From: A Tough Critique of the Common Core on Early Childhood Education)

Indeed, that is what I discovered also! In March of 2010, when the public could comment on the standards, I  asked some questions of Morgan Saxby, Research Associate at Achieve, Inc.

Here is our revealing back and forth. The links provided to 

me by Saxby are no longer valid.

Conny: How can I find out who the experts were who helped draft the core standards?

Morgan: This is a list of the people most directly involved with drafting the core standards: http://www.corestandards.org/Files/K-12DevelopmentTeam.pdf

Here is a list of statements of support for the K-12 standards, and the CCSSI more generally. Note that many of these organizations played specific roles in the drafting of the standards: http://corestandards.org/Statements.htm

There is also an FAQ available here: http://corestandards.org/Files/CoreFAQ.pdf

Please let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback on the standards, and for your email.

Conny: Thank you so much for your swift response. It has been very useful as I wanted to find out if any early childhood development experts had participated but I can find none. Is it possible for you to find out why that is?

The people who helped draft the standards, distinguished in their fields as they may be, may know what children are capable of learning, but they lack the knowledge on how and when such things are learned best, hence many standards are age inappropriate. Subjecting children to too much too soon could prove unhealthy.

Below some interesting key concerns from a report  by the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child and the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Of course there are several other expert organizations and individuals who could have been invited to participate. Dr. Bruce Perry immediately comes to mind, but also others like Dr. Harry Chugani who practices Neurology and Pediatric Neurology, and Eric Jensen who wrote "Teaching with the brain in mind".

Please also read Effects of Maltreatment on Brain Development and share if you can. It shows that any standard in school is useless unless children get a healthy start in life! Neglect early in life will make it impossible for children to become excellent learners later on as the brain will not have laid the groundwork for complex thinking.

Morgan: Thanks for your email.  I believe there were several early childhood teachers and cognitive development experts involved, and I’ll try to figure out who those were.  I should note that there were a number of individuals/groups who got involved at varying levels of formality, so they might not have been one of the “team” roster lists (or they might be; I will need to check). 

Second, there are certainly many important things, including the ones you mention, that are vital for learning and achievement, some or many of which can’t be captured in a document of academic standards.  I do see you are also making point about considering the academic load placed on the youngest students, and I hope you have had a chance to leave these comments in the survey so that they can be included with other responses about the early standards.

In ELA specifically: The AFT and NEA brought teachers together, including early education teachers.  Most states involved in the process had work teams that included early childhood experts.  Marilyn Adams and Louisa Moats worked on the Foundational Skills, specifically.  Some people from Core Knowledge (including, I think, a cognitive psychologist) weighed in on the K-5 standards.  NCTE also commented on the standards, and their group included early childhood educators.  Lastly, one of the lead writers, Sue Pimentel, has a degree in early childhood education.

I may have more for you later, but a number of early education experts and teachers were involved in the process.  Doug Clements and Karen Fuson are both experts in early childhood math education, and were involved in the Early Mathematics Panel.  Doug also wrote much of the early-grades material for the NCTM focal points.  The AFT also brought together teams of early childhood expert teachers and gave significant input in both the math and ELA standards.  I’m still waiting to hear from someone about any experts specifically involved with the development of the ELA standards.

Conny: Thank you for all your help to find out more. I looked up Karen Fuson and nothing shows she's an early childhood expert, but Doug Clements is. There's a lot of sensible info on his page that I can agree with, but I am afraid it will be overshadowed by the focus on reaching the standards. Yet, Doug himself states: "There is a substantial and critical difference between standards as a vision of excellence and standards as rigid requirements for mastery. Only the former is appropriate for early childhood mathematics education."

And yes, I have shared my concerns on the survey. How might I make additional comments?

Morgan: Briefly on Karen Fuson – students using her curriculum Math Expressions were found by IES to have significantly higher levels of achievement than two other curricula.  This was part of a study of early mathematics curricula.

As for additional comments, the survey is the best way for us to capture the many comments that are coming in.

Conny: You wrote,

Briefly on Karen Fuson – students using her curriculum Math Expressions were found by IES to have significantly higher levels of achievement than two other curricula.  This was part of a study of early mathematics curricula.

I am almost afraid to ask if that may have been the reason she was invited to help write the standards? It is of course wonderful if a certain curriculum delivers better comprehension than another, but the fact remains that she is not a child development expert.

You mentioned:

The AFT and NEA brought teachers together, including early education teachers.  Most states involved in the process had work teams that included early childhood experts.  Marilyn Adams and Louisa Moats worked on the Foundational Skills, specifically.  Some people from Core Knowledge (including, I think, a cognitive psychologist) weighed in on the K-5 standards.  NCTE also commented on the standards, and their group included early childhood educators.  Lastly, one of the lead writers, Sue Pimentel, has a degree in early childhood education.

Of Louisa Moats too it can be argued she has a vested interest in these standards as she is an employee of Sopris West, a for-profit publishing company that publishes her LETRS training program as well as DIBELS, the horrible time testing procedure to see how quickly kids can read.

Unfortunately Sue Pimentel as far as I could determine, is also not an early childhood expert, but an education analyst and standards consultant. I find it therefore safe to conclude that not enough weight was given to the needs of the young child. I wanted to substantiate this before sharing with others as I do have a concern about the under representation of true child development experts who more than anyone else consider the complete needs, and well-being of young children first and foremost. Thanks for your time.

Morgan: As you still have concerns about the standards as written, I encourage you to submit those with as much specificity as you can, so as to best inform the revision process. 

Also, I believe Karen was invited because she was respected as someone who has written and thought a great deal about math at the early grades.

Conny: I will do that, but am concerned that with so many large organizations in support of  the standards, my and other smaller voices will remain "unheard". It boggles my mind that those concerns, backed by many nationally renowned early childhood experts and specialists such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, are totally ignored.

Here for your own information, and please share if you think it has merit, read this by the Alliance for Childhood. I find it most disturbing and it breaks my heart that little children no longer even know how to play and be creative!

Call to Action Background and References   
Regards,
Conny Jensen

---------------------------
Also see: Toxic Stress Damages Developing Brain

 

 

If Ten Percent Refuse the Test it's Over!

This was written by Pennsylvania parent Michele Gray. Be sure to check out her blog .

If we can just help parents overcome their fear of saying No to testing, their fear of what will happen if their school doesn't make AYP, we can end this all now. Only 10% of parents and/or kids have to decline testing and it's over. The 10% isn't some mystical 100-monkeys number.

According to psychometricians, if the tests fail to test the same percentage each year, all the stats are invalid. That's why there is extreme pressure on schools to test 100% and why there is the threat of failing if the percentage for the whole school OR for any measurable subgroup falls below 95%. In fact, for small rural schools, their scores are statistically meaningless anyway, but they still have to take the test, or else we could all sue under the equal protection clause.

[U.S. Education Secretary] Arne Duncan said earlier this week that the Dept of Ed predicts 82% of schools will fail this year no matter what we do. So why not force the schools to fail because parents and kids say NO to testing rather than putting the burden and the blame on kids with special needs, living in poverty, struggling with English, and so on. That's just wrong. In fact, it's evil.

I also highly recommend the book "Making the Grades" by Todd Farley. It's been recommend by Alfie Kohn and Jonathan Kozol. It's very readable, very funny and after reading it no parent in their right mind will ever let their child be subjected to these tests ever again.

It's insane that we are allowing our children to be subjected to a full two weeks or more of these pointless tests that only enrich the private for-profit testing industry. I remember taking the SATs or GREs took a couple of hours on a Saturday morning, back when it was just ETS [Educational Testing Services]. Now it's multi-national companies like Pearson (in which Qaddafi is major investor; Qadaffi and NCLB Testing ) or McGraw-Hill or DRC that are draining millions of education dollars into the pockets of CEOs while our kids tests are scored by temps. [Read: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Test Scorer ] Farley recently sent this to me:

"Last summer, before she lost her job, [D.C. Chancellor of schools, Michelle] Rhee was arguing for even MORE standardized tests in the DC schools. As a parent, she said, she "wanted to know how her kids are doing...." To me, that is the fundamental problem with standardized testing: In my opinion, we don't know anything about the kids at all. We score their open-ended responses in sweatshop like conditions, bored out of our skulls, item by item. We never, in other words, get a feel for a whole human being, just random words on a page.

The multiple choice questions are either too simplistic or pretend they are too complex, as if you could get some understanding of a child's understanding about literary characterization (or whatever) in multiple choice format. As far as I'm concerned this whole thing is a great deal for big business, but that's it.

If Michelle Rhee really wanted to know "how her kids are doing," all she needs do is ask the friggin' human being standing at the front of their classroom, the person who hears her kids' answers (and thought processes) every day, who knows how hard those kids work or how they play together, etc etc."

Michele also has a blog called: Leaving Behind the PSSA Here's an excerpt from a recent letter to Michael Hardy,  superintendent of State College Area School District.

"We are told that private for-profit companies can do a better job than you and others who are committed to public education because of the free market. The free market resulted in scandals ranging from Halliburton and Blackwater in Iraq, to the Enron debacle, to the recent outrage in our own backyard with private for-profit prisons for kids.

When our tax dollars are involved, greed and corruption run rampant in the “free market.” Please think about your role in this and if there is anything you can do to take a stand against the Big Lie that is NCLB and high-stakes standardized testing which threatens the future of the kids you serve."

Visit her Facebook page: NCLB Testing: Stop the Madness Know the Truth

Who is in control of public education?

In his State of the Union address, president president Obama implied it was the National Governors' Association that had come up with the school reforms such as the national common core standards .

Was that an attempt to have us believe the states still have sovereignty regarding education decisions? What about the fact that states have to compete for federal Race to the Top monies and fulfill many criteria set by the federal government?

The real concern is that the government is not taking action against the influence on education from wealthy billionaires such as Bill Gates, the Walton family and Eli and Edythe Broad. Below is an example. Note the part in bold and then think again of what Obama said about the governors making education decisions. Ask yourself if education reforms should even be determined by a group of governors without input from their states' legislators, and even more importantly, from "Us, the People"?

"..In its “advocacy and public policy” work, the [Bill and Melinda] Gates Foundation also funnels money to elected officials through their national associations. They have given grants to the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, National Conference of State Legislatures, United States Conference of Mayors, National Association of Latino Elected Officials Education Fund, and National Association of State Boards of Education. They’ve also funded associations of high nonelected officials, such as the Council of Chief State School Officers."

Read about the billionaires' influence in this long, but enlightening excerpt of the article "Got Dough? How Billionaires Rule Our Schools". Click here - It clearly shows that public education has been hi-jacked by the wealthy and we should wonder to what end? What is in it for them?

Also read this insightful response to the president's address by Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post: "Obama's faulty logic: What he said and failed to say" .

Parent mis-information night

So tonight I went to a CSAP parent information night at an elementary school in D6.  This school receives Title 1 funding and so a state sponsored "parent facilitator" was on hand to give basic information on CSAP, collect parent signatures(why??), and then turned the presentation over to a teacher at the school.   I have to say, I was concerned by what this teacher was telling parents.  Some highlights:

• the tests are timed, so parents may want to time their children at home doing homework or chores to get used to CSAP


• techniques to help your child "de-stress" at school and home as a result of the testing


• CSAP scores stay with your child through high school and may determine their placement in classes


• the importance of a high protein breakfast to sustain your child through the grueling testing process.  No breaks, they're going to need it!


• If a child completes the test and has even as much as 30 minutes to spare, she must put her head on the desk.  No using the bathroom, even in an emergency.


• CSAP scores hold principals, teachers, and students(!) accountable.

First of all, if "de-stressing" techniques must be employed, that might be a red flag that something is not quite right.  These are elementary students!

If students really are being placed in ability groups based on CSAP scores, that is plain wrong.  I hope that this is not accurate, but who knows?

On the accountability...maybe, possibly, if I thought CSAP was a good thing, I could see holding teachers and principals accountable for scores.  I absolutely do not, by the way.  But the kids?  Come on!  How is this one, apparently very stressful test(see de-stressing above), going to give an accurate picture of what a student knows?  Please.

What's even more distressing is this:   It was held at a Title 1 school.  Half of the parents attending did not speak English.  A Title 1 school has a higher population of students living in poverty.  The parents attending, English speakers or not, are not the parents who know how the school system works.  They do not have the experience, time, or ability to delve into the inner workings of education.  They don't know how to work the system, so to speak.  They trust that schools are doing the best thing for their kids.  And I feel like they were intentionally mislead.  I wonder how many walked away thinking CSAP is more important than it actually is.  That it will mean something to their kids or help them later in life.  It won't.  The state and our district has taken advantage of these parents.  If there was a presentation like this at one of the higher income schools, you can bet that parents attending would have some serious questions about CSAP.   As far as I know, the higher income schools don't have CSAP information nights, not like this anyway.  I wonder why?

Also noteworthy:  the teacher did not let parents know that CSAP scores dictate how much recess their kids get or the way it shapes the curriculum.

But all hope is not lost!  I, and devoted children's advocate, Conny Jensen, were there to hand out flyers about an upcoming CSAP presentation by Angela Engel.  Hopefully, they will come.  You should, too!   From the flyer:

What’s the big deal about CSAP?  It’s just a test, right?  Well, there may be more to the story…

Where do the tests go to be graded and by whom?   Where does the CSAP come from and how much does it cost to administer these tests?    What information do the tests actually reveal?   How do CSAP scores shape education and instruction in schools?  Does the emphasis on standardized testing really help our schools improve?

Please join us to find out more about CSAP and why it may not be the best way to evaluate our schools.  Denver author Angela Engel, Seeds of Tomorrow, Solutions for Improving Our Children’s Education, will give a presentation on these questions and more.  Mark your calendars for Sunday, February 13^th from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm at Centennial Park library.  There is no cost to attend and all are welcome.

Angela Engel is a parent and advocate for children, families, and public education.  She was a teacher and administrator for Douglas County Schools.  Her work with state legislators has led to policies that improve learning and opportunities for Colorado children.  She recently co-founded Uniting 4 Kids, a national organization whose mission it is to unite the capabilities of teachers, parents, and students.

It's harder now that it's over

The fight for Friday Fun at Meeker has officially been lost.   Students, teachers and parents have been overruled in their efforts to retain a 30 minute a week non-academic enrichment program.  After months of meetings, collecting signatures in support of the program(343!), talking with other parents, and finally, formally appealing to the school board, the answer is no.    Dr. Ranelle Lang, superintendent, and Dr. Dana Selzer, chief academic officer for D6, met with another parent and I to inform us of their decision.

Honestly, this meeting was good.  Dr. Lang and Dr. Selzer were friendly, respectful and very straightforward in explaining to us the reasons for the denial.  Some of the reasons were expected; CSAP scores, no time for it in the schedule, etc.  Others included factors I had not considered; can't add the time on Mondays because of the contract with the Greeley Education Association and the actual number of instructional hours in each day after lunch, recess, specials, transition periods, etc., is only 5 1/2 to devote to the core subjects.

Dr. Lang made clear that her job is the academic success of the students in the district.  This is her focus.  It's obvious to me that we have a superintendent who cares deeply about making that happen.  The path she has chosen to take the district in is one that she believes will bring that success; success as defined by our state and federal government and even within the perceptions of the general population.  She told us that almost every minute of the school day needs to be used for academic instruction.  Dr. Lang did not mince words when she acknowledged she is responsible to the community, the school board, and the state for our CSAP scores.  Indeed, that is a heavy weight.

I was able to put myself in her shoes as a result of the conversation.  Even the most powerful administrator in the district is held captive by CSAP, for better or worse.  Obviously, in my opinion, it's  for the worse.   Although I understand the reasons given for denying Friday Fun, the fact remains that we're talking about 30 minutes a week.  I still don't believe it's too much to ask.  I absolutely believe there is a place for non academic, free form enrichment in a school setting and that it's really essential to academic success.

Imagine how valuable that time might be for a struggling student who has had all the literacy and math he can stomach for the week.  It's a chance to try something new, think in a different way, find something else he's good at, latch on to something that he can find value in right now!  How might that affect his future schooling?  If he has been given the opportunity to explore content areas that aren't measurable on any test and he excels at those things, it might really give him a sense of belonging in school and boost his confidence.

I'm beginning to understand, in a way I didn't before, that Friday Fun was never going to happen.  The stakes are too high, the path too narrow, the consequenses too dire(especially with the inevitable advent of teachers being evaluated on their students' CSAP scores).   While it is within Dr. Lang's power to give us Friday Fun, I can see from her point of view why she wouldn't.  I disagree, but I feel like I understand her better.

This is public education.  This is the machine.  And I'm worried that it won't get any better in terms of educating children in ways that honor them as creative, inquisitive people, no matter what the test scores are.  When I say it's harder now that the fight for Friday Fun is over, it's because I realize that it will take so many people to change the system.   We are all responsible for what's happening.  We've elected the politicians that have started this ball rolling.  We parents and community members rely far too much on standardized tests to tell us if schools are good or not.  We've all demanded accountability.    This, right here, is the result.  30 minutes a week of engaging, exciting learning for kids, gone.   It's the definition of unintended consequences.

What if??

I came across this article about what might happen if whole communities refused to let their kids take the state standardized tests.  In our case, CSAP.

It's interesting to think about.  As a parent, I'm coming to realize that most of the things I dislike about our public schools are a direct result of the emphasis of this test.  And that's not a knock against our school board, not really.  I understand they are under extreme pressure from the federal and state government to tailor our school system to get "results".   That is, increasing test scores.

A narrow curriculum, limited recess and hands on learning time, no time for teachers to grab hold of teachable moments and elaborate on what may perk students' interest, one size fits all lesson plans that teachers have no control over, kids learning to read but not learning to love reading...these are all consequences of teaching to the test.  So what do we do?  Children could be getting a better education if the government just backed off.    Private schools are not held hostage to government mandates and can teach their students in meaningful ways.  Why should that type of education be a privilege?