It’s testing season. Each year I administer whatever Language Arts assessment is currently required by law. I glance over the Pearson booklet at the rows of earnest faces nervously listening to the directions of their state assessment. They know results will be used to determine whether or not their receive a diploma. Their eyes communicate “we will do you proud” while their scrunched up noses say, “you’d better have taught us what we need to be successful on this thing.”
Walking the rows, I think about how 78.6% of the students in my building qualify for free and reduced lunch. At least 8% are ELL and 13.4% are in Special Education programs. More than anything, my students need education opportunities that will set them on a trajectory out of poverty and in pursuit of their version of the “American Dream”. Yet we know that this dream is guarded by a variety of gatekeepers, most vital of which is access to quality post-secondary education. One such gatekeeper is the ominous standardized test.
I understand the urge of parents and teachers to want to resist this system and opt out. Yet, every time the topic of standardized testing is brought up I can’t help but wonder….Does the opt-out movement actually widen the opportunity gap???
I’m hard pressed to find research on this topic and I have no time for a PhD. Yet, the continued presence of a culture of low expectations for low-income students and students of color leads me to believe there is a relationship between low expectations, low performance results, and opting out of testing.
One of the primary arguments for standardized testing is that it produces data teachers can use. Standardized testing provides apples to apples comparisons for conversations about learning and growth. At the high school level, it is a key– opening doors to post secondary options. In contrast, crusaders against testing declare that it is racist, irrelevant, a waste of time and money, a ploy by the corporate education reformers, etc. The bifurcated debate tends to be simplistic and I’m glad some are writing that the issue is more complex than for/against language we use.
Meanwhile, the result of this debate is a solo message that to fight over-testing we just need to “opt out”. Although I I am critical of many things about our culture of over-testing, I discern three major problems with opt-out rhetoric. First, it gives only one solution to the issues of over-testing. Second, the language of opting out is inaccessible to low-income communities, especially those of color. The third and most poignant reason opt out language is disconcerting to me is that it doesn’t address the implied privilege of opt-outers (yes, I made up that word!).
Time and again the people who are most outspoken about opting out of testing look the same. They are white. They sit in a middle/upper class income bracket. They know how to make noise and not be punished for it. They can get the information, fill out the paperwork and navigate bureaucracy in their primary language. Take Nathan Hale for example. It’s striking to me that OSPI reports they are predominantly white, middle class, and English-speaking. Would a browner, poorer, more linguistically diverse school be able to do the same thing? Perhaps.
The parents and communities that can and do opt-out are advantaged in another way. They can choose when it is and isn’t convenient to opt out. They can enroll their kids in AP classes and take the corresponding test. They can take college entrance exams. They can provide their students with tutoring to be successful on any test they want. Again, these families choose.
Theoretically, anyone can join with the Nathan Hale families, the Obamas, and Tom Cruise. But I’m skeptical. Those families are even more elite than we are lead to believe. Even if student test scores were poor, these parents they buy admission into a four-year university through measures (generational wealth and networking) not available to families in impoverished communities.
Opting out does not impact all students equally. It especially does not positively benefit the students at my school. I postulate, it is actually widening the opportunity gap for them. It widens the gap because in our current system a high score on a standardized test results in essential financial resources to pay for college. This gap exacerbates the system of have and have-nots giving, what one writer refers to, an “edge” to the wealthy.
Rather than an opt-out form, I’d argue that my students benefit more from the rigorous instruction that sets them up for passing any AP, SAT, ACT or SBA, and equips them to beat the legacy of low scores associated with their socio-economic status or skin color. They blossom from the positive attitude of teachers who believe they are and will be successful in Honors and AP courses. They are empowered by a narrative that says they are more than a test score but recognizes they need a strong academic foundation to overcome certain academic hurdles. Finally, if all the other elements are in place, students will one day grasp their version of the “American Dream” because of the scholarships and grants they earned and the access they now have to higher ed.
“Teach More, Test Less”. Yes. But let’s develop a more comprehensive approach to over-testing. More than opt out paperwork distributed in multiple languages, I’d like to see solutions that maintain high standards yet transform the system for all students. Here are a few ideas tossed around in the lunch room:
- Stop penalizing the highest need schools for low test scores.
- Give us fewer, more meaningful tests.
- Focus on well-written assessments that produce data points for immediate use.
- Use assessments as ONE of many measures of achievement and growth for schools.
- Remove the punitive, high stakes label from summative tests.
- Provide high-needs schools with more resources to mediate student learning gaps so they can perform at the level of wealthier counterparts.
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Very odd. First this:
“The people who are shouting about how they opted out are a particular type of individual.”
As if any one person or teacher could actually know every single parent or student who opts out.
And yet:
“I actually disagree that this movement transcends race and socieconomic status. In theory it does, but I’ve seen little evidence of this.”
So how do you “know” the first statement and yet don’t know the second? Just because you haven’t done the research doesn’t make you right. (And I have seen opt-out forms translated.) FYI, the students who didn’t take the SBAC in Seattle? Garfield High is diverse and so is Nathan Hale.
And to compare the SBAC with the ACT or SAT is trying to compare apples and oranges but it makes a good story.
If you don’t know something – for certain – it is far better to write “I believe it may be…” or “it could be” because otherwise you do your readers a disservice.
I don’t believe any issue is of worth is easily explained in a blog post or two.
Since the CCSS are new and the SBA is even newer, I don’t know that we have enough information to say that it is a worthless test. At least at the HS level, there are many compelling reasons that data will be useful and the test a relevant assessment.
I appreciate all the critical dialogue and will continue to pursue “truth”.
Here’s an article that questions civil rights groups again opting out (Thanks Spencer for finding it!).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/05/09/just-whose-rights-do-these-civil-rights-groups-think-they-are-protecting/
I don’t understand why you think it’s a problem for people to only opt out of the tests that do them no good. The point everyone agrees on is that there are too many tests. But many of the tests are absolutely unavoidable if you want to go to college – so students have no choice but to struggle through them. Other tests, like the SBA, on the other hand, do the student no good, and take them away from valuable learning and time for things that do count. With all the state requirements put on students for graduation, PE, extracurricular, health, community service (the list goes on and on) any obligation that further exhausts students and chews up 12-16 hours of their precious time had better have a compelling justification. Many reasonable people have concluded that it does not.
I also don’t understand your automatic suspicion of the motives of those who have made this calculus with their children’s best interests in mind. The color or socio-economic status of some opt-outers doesn’t nullify their concerns. They are not saying “we get to opt out, but no one else should.” They are saying that submitting to the standardized tests, on top of all the other testing their children are subjected to, undermines their children’s goals, and even hurts them. The color of anyone’s skin who comes to this conclusion is irrelevant. It is a personal choice, and one from which you cannot generalize broader social motives or agendas.
It almost feels like you are saying that “my kids don’t have resources, so nobody else should advocate for changing a bankrupt system.” The women’s movement was criticized for exactly the same thing, demonized as a movement of “entitled white women.” Yet indisputably it lead to the advancement of women’s rights world-wide that has benefited all women, regardless of color.
Whether or not any individual decides to opt out or not, the fact that many across the country are making that choice calls the whole testing complex into doubt and is forcing some much needed re-evaluation. Probably none of the water-cooler ideas you mentioned as potential remedies to the testing problem would have seen the light of day had this movement not gained enough steam that it could no longer be ignored. Anybody who has helped open up this dialog has helped not only their own child, but students of all races across this country.
Check out this article from this morning.
It adds another layer to the discussion.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/why-civil-rights-groups-say-parents-who-opt-out-of-tests-are-hurting-kids/2015/05/05/59884b9a-f32c-11e4-bcc4-e8141e5eb0c9_story.html
My apologies Hope. It was not my intention to insult you.
Sometimes people’s strongest vote is abstention – it is unexpected to refuse to go along with the status quo. It’s certainly not the only solution, but it is a strong and visible vote for change. Personally I’m a little confused at the inaccessibility you refer to among low-income communities. I understand your idea of privilege, but I also understand that this movement transcends race and socioeconomic status. The Montgomery bus boycott was an opt-out.
Thanks Spencer! I agree that abstention can be very powerful. However, opting out is selectively a public act. The people who are shouting about how they opted out are a particular type of individual.
Let’s see if I can be clearer about inaccessibility to low income schools. First, the opt out info isn’t publicized in these communities because of the tie of scores to funding for the schools so I think staff is fearful and does everything possible to make sure kids show up and test. Add to that the weird grey line being debated about whether or not teachers should be vocal and pro-active about handing out the paperwork. Second, low-income communities often are communities of color and many, many languages. I haven’t seen any opt-out paperwork translated. Does this exist? If the opt-outers really want a movement, I’d start by giving families access to the docs in their home language.
I actually disagree that this movement transcends race and socieconomic status. In theory it does, but I’ve seen little evidence of this. What are you reading that shows this? I’d like to take a look.
Mainly I tune into the opt-out movement through Diane Ravitch and connections I have made through Twitter.
The opt-out movement is huge in New York.
http://www.nysape.org/refusing-the-test-resources.html
Here you will find refusal letters in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Polish, and Haitian.
From Rethinking Schools: “The high-stakes standardized testing attack has always exacted the highest toll on communities of color. And activists of color are playing leading roles in the movement to curb these abuses.” (http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/28_03/edit2283.shtml)
I don’t really know, but my sense was just that the movement was broader. This past Monday, Cornel West spoke at The Evergreen State College. After his talk someone asked a similar question about how we could engage more people of color in various movements (ecological, patriarchal, racial, etc.). She said that her encounters were mostly with whites. Dr. West replied that maybe it was just the circumstances that she found herself in – and that it was certainly the case that people of color were engaged in those movements.
Spencer,
First, thanks for the multi-lingual resources. That is a great start but it assumes families will be able to access online resources and speak one of the 6 languages. Many of the families I work with do not have computer/internet access.
Second, I’m familiar with Ravitch. I’ve read about the NY movement. I am a Rethinking Schools evangelist. You state, “I don’t really know, but my sense was just that the movement was broader. ” My piece was focused on the opt-out movement here in WA, specifically Seattle and Tacoma. I still don’t see much evidence for this “movement” transcending race and socioeconomic status.
The comparison of me to the woman Cornel West addressed this week is a little insulting. I am the not the kind of white lady that walks around telling brown people what is best for them. I am not asking if there are people of color in the opt out movement–of course there are. I simply find it curious that in WA state we hear stories from schools that look the same time and again (the recent celebration of Nova HS–I can’t help notice they are 71% white and F&R lunch rate of 26.4%) .
At the same time I’m reading proud posts from teachers and students at Lincoln and Rainier Beach about AP enrollment and the challenge they are embracing.
I also find it curious that those same “opt out of standardized tests” folks are not opting out of AP, IB, SAT, or other access standardized tests.
I had recently connected opting out with privilege as well. We have been working hard to keep SPED kids from inadvertently receiving another hurtle to jump with the many state tests that is built in through accommodations. Many of the student need the tests read aloud and all need small test settings. In the past they have been pulled from gen ed classes in order to implement the accommodations. The result of course is they fall behind in their class work. With this many tests it is next to impossible to keep up. Scheduling is a nightmare but we’re keeping them in their classes this year and pulling them from SPED.
You articulate a feeling that I had not yet been able to form words around… Specifically, about the “voluntary” tests like AP and SAT. These kinds of tests are seldom ever used “against” a school in the way the current testing system is.
Decoupling assessment data from punishment/consequences/sanctions is the first, most important, step that ought to be taken around testing and Ed policy. It has never ever made sense to me that resources should be restricted when assessment data shows a school is struggling. Fear or threats are not motivators when we’re dealing with cognitive tasks and growth. It might make me run faster, but it won’t make me learn better.
In over 25 years teaching in Washington , I’ve never had a parent opt out on any state-mandated test. I’m actually surprised by that. My students generally score high on any test that’s thrown at them, and the test scores aren’t terribly informative for the parents. They could easily decide not to bother putting their child through the ordeal one year.
I do think my parents understand that the scores of the high kids help elevate the scores of the school and the district so there’s a sense of community spirit in having all the kids take the tests. And they may think of the tests as a rite of passage.
My kids say the tests aren’t hard, for the most part, just tedious and tiring. Once in a great while they are fun. (Fun!) Once in a while they make a student cry with frustration. (A perfectionist, say. Or a student in 7th grade math this year who still has to take a 5th grade math SBA and can’t remember a particular math task from two years ago.)
The tests just take so blessed LONG. At this point , we’ve finished four out of six testing days, and we’ve been in the lab for 12 hours so far. One girl has spent 16 hours testing! With two more days to go!
Testing exhausts the kids, leaving no energy for anything else. So for the rest of the day we play creative thinking games. We read poetry. We do art. I read aloud.
I may not have any kids opt out of tests. But we opt out of a ton of academics during the weeks of testing.
There are times when I dream all my parents DO opt out of testing and I get to buy back a whole month of teaching! But if we’re talking about making dreams come true, I’d want it to happen for everyone, not just my class.
Makes sense.
I appreciate your statement, “I may not have any kids opt out of tests. But we opt out of a ton of academics during the weeks of testing.”
This is a tension I struggle with as well. Do we keep pushing kids with the conventional academic homework tasks to keep on pace? I’m personally adverse to say a movie break. I was just thinking about what kind of tasks to do with my 10th graders when we take the new ELA test in a couple weeks. I want something that is meaningful yet I want to be sensitive to the whole child.
On point with your analysis of who opts out. And amen for removing the labels. I recently realized that students’ CSAP/PARCC scores show up on their official transcripts here in DPS… so that concerns me as far as its representation on their college admissions records. What do you think? I also believe very strongly in having alternative measures to assess learning. In our school, finals and midterms are high-stakes, “PARCC-aligned” (not really) tests that account for 40% of students’ final grades, which seems like an unfair way to assess a students’ overall demonstration of knowledge.
Remind me what the CSAP/PARCC is again?
I don’t know how i feel about score showing on transcripts. In Washington, we see only a “met” or “unmet” on state assessments on the transcripts. I think that is okay. SAT scores will sometimes show though.