Standardized Tests – Your Rights, Opting Out, and the Impact on Your Child
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After I read What Happened to Recess and Why Are our Children Struggling in Kindergarten? by Susan Ohanian, I knew I wanted her to share with you exactly what you as a parent need to know about the national obsession with standardized tests. Here’s my (devil’s advocate) interview with Susan Ohanian, an experienced teacher, education advocate against NCLB and high stakes testing, and a prolific writer of books and articles.
Melissa: Say I’m just an ordinary parent (or my child isn’t even school-aged,) why should I care about the standardized tests he/she will take at school?
Ohanian: The standardized tests are taking over more and more of every child’s day. Some districts have pre-K screening–so parents can know if their children are “on track” for the rigors of the kindergarten curriculum. Kindergarten, which means “children’s garden,” was intended as a place for children to engage in creative play, learning important social and developmental skills, a place where they learn to care about one another and help one another. Now it is a place of worksheets, homework, and curriculum rigor. Look that word up in the dictionary and ask yourself if you want that for your child at any age.
Research shows that test scores are a much better measure of family income than of student ability. Family matters. A family’s ability to provide many cultural experiences, including books in the home, matters enormously.
Melissa: In Colorado, the school gets a grade based on the tests in my state – that’s good, right? Aren’t tests the best way for us to see if the school is teaching what they’re supposed to teach?
Ohanian: We don’t need grades based on standardized tests to determine how schools are doing on those standardized tests. We can look at the zip codes of the students and predict the rating by the poverty index of the community. Research has shown again and again that children of affluence score higher on standardized test than children of poverty. It’s not hard to see why. When families suffer from economic woes, that suffering is reflected in students’ school performance. Several years ago, a 12-year-old homeless boy in Prince George’s County died of complications from an abscessed tooth. It is hard to imagine the agony he suffered in school. Research shows that about 1/3 of the nation’s school children suffer dental caries at any given moment. Can the school be held responsible for the resulting inattention?
In an effort to boost test scores, teachers often feel pressured to devote more time to test prep, thus narrowing the curriculum. When curriculum is reduced to subjects that are tested, children are deprived of the varied experiences that allow them to find new interests and talents. The most important thing a parent can ask about her child’s school is not its test score ratings but “Is this a place filled with joy?”
Yes, ask for evidence of joy.
Melissa: Why did / do policy makers believe that testing ensures that all children got/get a quality, equal-opportunity education? Or was that not the goal?
Ohanian: Education policy is no longer made at the local level. Starting in the late 1980ies, members of the Business Roundtable met with governors, pushing their agenda for changing education. Standardized testing and a national curriculum were high on their list. The result today is the Common Core Curriculum, which was financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the accompanying standardized tests that promise continual testing of our children. Of interest: The PTA received a grant of one million dollars from the Gates Foundation to promote this Common Core Curriculum.
Melissa: Does more testing mean schools improve every year?
Ohanian: More testing means more testing. It means that a child’s opportunity to experience a rich and varied school experience is reduced to the narrow range of items that can be tested. Even worse, when a child is coached for a test, he is being coached in a bizarre way of reading. This is a critical consideration for parents. Every day a child spends in test prep reinforces a wrongheaded notion of what reading is all about.
Research shows that the way to improve student test scores is to increase the amount of time spent on free reading of their own choosing. Libraries staffed by professional librarians are critical in making a wide variety of books available to children.
Melissa: Should parents advocate against their children taking the tests? Won’t this penalize the school and teacher instead of getting the lawmakers attention?
Ohanian: When no child shows up to take the test, then lawmakers will pay close attention, very close attention. Parents should consider this: The federal government, which has forced all this testing on the schools, pays only about 8% of the total school bill. It is long past time for parents to take back their schools, the schools that they are paying for.
Melissa: I think everyone should read What Happened to Recess, but in case they haven’t yet, can you talk about the money and secrecy just a bit?
Ohanian: One thing parents need to realize is that the attack on public schools is part of the larger squashing of the middle class. The Business Roundtable, assorted state governors, member of Congress, and newspaper editorialists across America seem to think that their repeated denunciation of teachers will distract the public from noticing where the real culprits of our economic troubles sit. Hiding behind a smokescreen of “preparing workers for tomorrow’s global economy,” these so-called education reformers treat children as commodities and teachers as mere functionaries in an accounting system. Rather than serve up our children to corporate interests that have bankrupted the middle class, we need to remember that a child is only eight (or nine or ten. . . ) years old once. Youth passes all too quickly. We need to protect our children, and this means asking for schools that nurture curiosity, imagination, independence, laughter, joy.
Instead of looking at what corporate leaders and newspaper editorialists say about the schools, parents should ask their children, “Did you enjoy school today?” Longtime New York teacher and Pulitzer Prize winner Frank McCourt said that only once in his 18 years of teaching at a renown city school did a parent ever ask him, “Is my child enjoying school?” McCourt answered in the affirmative. The parent said, “Thank you,” and left. That’s all she wanted to know.
It’s definitely a question we need to ask more often.
Melissa: Thank you so much, Susan. You’re opening up eyes with your advocacy work.
Readers, to opt out of testing, go to the Opt-Out website to get information on your state.
* top photo is of a Colorado billboard.
I’m neither a parent, nor a teacher (though I am on the fence about becoming an English teacher versus a registered dietitian), but I 100% agree with all the points made in this interview. I just recently graduated college, and I can tell you that college, while tedious, was the most “fun” I had in school. I am currently a non-degree student working towards the grad school nutrition pre-reqs, and while I do not enjoy memorization and the stress from tests, I am having fun learning about the human body… who would have thought? There were/are not standardized tests I had to stress over passing (except the GRE, ugh), no restrictions when it came/comes to writing papers or forming arguments. I got/get to be creative.
I don’t remember much of elementary school, and I know that middle school had a couple of standardized tests, but I still got to enjoy my childhood. My mom always asked how my day at school was. High school? I felt suffocated, which in turn, made me feel depressed as a number of issues distracted me from my schoolwork, such as friends, family, adjusting to the public school system, and just navigating through my teenage years. I remember that my first three years taking high school English were the worst; I HATED English because we had to practice writing papers for the English Regents in NY. History was the same way… DBQs, writing essays… there was no room to form a creative argument. I had to write my papers as x, y, and z, and if I did not, I did not get a good grade.
During my first semester in college, however, I was forced to take an English gen ed. My professor was this hippie kind of nature guy, and while he was the type of person who would leave you feeling more confused after discussing an idea with him (he was just THAT intelligent, very humbling), I fell in love with writing papers and English Lit because he let me think.
I also did horribly on my SATs. I have no doubt that I will score “average” on my GREs; I’m just not a good standardized test taker, and yet, I graduated college with a 3.8 GPA, so it’s not like I’m bad at tests, or anything. Anywho, this comment is getting way too long. I agree that the standardized tests, and molding the curriculum around these tests, is detrimental to children everywhere. There’s no more room for creativity and thinking independently now.
I wasn’t aware of opting out either. We are in TN and have homeschooled since Aug of 2010. I have 4 children that don’t test well and had their test scores weigh heavily on whether they were advanced to higher classes. Our son did 2 years in 1 year and was testing in the 10th grade as a 6th grader. And our daughter made the comment last year at the end of her 5th trade spring break that she was dreading to go back to school. I asked why and she said because all they will do is get drilled over the upcoming tcap tests.
What an eye-opener, thank you. I’m armed with many questions for our next parent-teacher conference. I’ve often felt the standardized tests take up far too much time in prep and execution for our teachers and students, and for what? Funding for our schools? The notion of opting out has never occurred to me. But I always ask how was your day at school, tell me the highlights. Now I’ll be sure to ask if their imagination was stretched, if they laughed, asked questions and had fun!
I didn’t realize that parents could opt of the standardized testing. Our school has make up testing days. My son in only in third grade, but is terrible at these tests. We’re in Ohio and in second grade you take the Terra Nova and he did terrible. However, he was doing really good in class and had good grades. His teacher had no reason to keep him back a year even though his test scores reflected he wasn’t were he should be. He has some attention issues, so for him to sit still for hours and take a test is really, really challenging. His mind wonders and he needs someone to tap him on the shoulder and make sure he’s focusing and on track. He doesn’t always read the questions correctly so he needs someone to say, “not did you read that question correctly. Try and reread the question to find your answer.” He doesn’t need someone to give him the answer, he needs help focuing so he can find the answer. In thrid grade they take the OAA’s. He took his in the fall and once again did terrible. they take them again in the Spring and I have no idea how he will bring up his below average score. His just got his second report card for this year and has 5 A’s and 2 B’s, yet according to the OAA test he’s below average for his grade level. During testing the teacher legally is not able to answer any of his questions or even tap him on the shoulder to make sure he’s focusing. I’m not sure how he’s going to make it through all the grades with all this standardized testing they have to do. Just like everything in life, I think it works well for some kids, but not for all. Kids all learn in different ways. We are all different and there should be different ways to tests kids. I need to keep researching and see what else I can find out. Thanks for this article Melissa!
Jill, my heart just broke reading about your son’s experience with the testing – poor baby, I want to give him a big hug!
I’m so glad to hear this information was helpful. Please email me if I can help you following up with anything about this. melissa@imaginationsoup.net
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Can we opt them out in Ohio? My daughter is in the gifted program, but I have a moral objection to her tests being used to grade schools and teachers. Her teacher, who teaches gifted students, will appear super because we parents have been able to provide enriching activities for our kids. The teacher who is working his heart out with the “at risk” students will be viewed as less. What are the rules for opting out here? I’ve tried to find out, but I don’t seem to be able to find that out.
Hi Colleen,
Go to http://optoutofstandardizedtests.wikispaces.com and then click on ‘Ohio’ in left-hand column.
My experience is that local school won’t want to tell you. Certainly, they don’t want to lose your daughter’s high scores. And on that issue I can sympathize with their position. they are under tremendous pressure from the state and the federal government. But someone has to say “No!” So my advice is that if you want more info than provided on the Out Out website, call the Ohio Department of Education. I looked on their website and found this:
paula.mahaley@ode.state.oh.us
614.466.0217
She’s the contact for info about the test grades 3-8.
As a longtime teacher of those ‘at risk’ students, I thank you for worrying about those teachers. Parents are such important factors in children’s achievement–for good and for bad.
I wish you well. . . and would like to hear about how you fare. I called here in VT and the fellow was reluctant to admit that a parent could opt a child out of the state test. He was very genial but gave me quite a ‘sell’ on why children should take the tests. . . before finally admitting that yes, opting out is permissible.
Thank you so much, Susan!
More information about opting out from tests is available at http://unitedoptout.com. Parents teachers and taxpayers should consider participating in Occupy the DOE in DC March 30-April 2. Information is available at http://unitedoptout.com.
In New York State, a petition is seeking the right for parents to have their children opt out of testing as they can in some other states. The petition is at http://signon.org/sign/give-new-york-state-parents?source=s.em.cr&r_by=472161&mailing_id=1705.
Parents should also be aware that the American Psychological Association’s policy is to oppose ever making a decision affecting a person’s life based on a single test. In addition, major educational researchers have issued a joint statement opposing the use of high stakes tests for evaluating teachers or schools, because the tests are not valid for that purpose.
thanks for this information, Rosalie!
You raise a very important point Jill. Experts (who may or may not be opposed to standardized testing) agree that third grade tests are not valid because the children are too young. I know plenty of adults who couldn’t “focus” for that length of times. It is extremely iffy for a 3rd grader and the results in no way reflect what he can do. Your son is lucky that you understand this.
And Rajean, I’m grinning broadly that this is what you took from the interview. Yes, indeed: ASK YOUR KIDS IF THEY LAUGHED AT SCHOOL TODAY. That sums it up nicely. I’m going to put that up on Twitter!
Jill, I know there are no easy answers and I have a son who is younger than yours, but his profile sounds really similar. I wonder if getting a 504 or IEP would help your son? Meaning, there may be things a teacher is allowed to do when testing if it is written into their 504 plan.
I am glad Melissa brought up opting-out options, but if you feel that is not possible, at least right now, it might be worth seeing about ways to get him the support he needs to bring his smarts to his work (as we say in our family). Each of my kids has such a unique learning profile that we have had to figure what that looks like for each one, and then go advocate for it with the schools. Not easy (at all!), but still worth it. I’d be happy to talk with you more about our journey sometime if you like: DrAnthony@littlegirlscanbemean.com.
To Gretchen and JoAnn,
I don’t know about your states, but in ours, the same standardized test is given three times each school year. Add to these two or three other standardized tests for math and language skills. I have needed scores for my kids for various purposes, but I only need one score, not three (or six) each year.
When you homeschool in my state (which I do now), you only have to turn in one passing standardized test score every other year; that satisfies the district and gives me scores I need to get my kids into score-dependent programs. Perhaps public school parents could opt out on this schedule – not opting out of them all, but I’d say opting out of five tests out of six could serve as a nice compromise.
Great post! Gretchen (from lifenut) makes a valid point that I hadn’t even thought about, though. If we want our daughter to be eligible for those programs, we have to jump through those hoops. It’s an interesting conundrum.