Save Our Schools March. Now what? (updates)

Following last week's Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action, now what?

The bottom line. It's crystal clear that participants in last week's march are deeply concerned that high-stakes standardized testing is increasingly defining what, how, when, why and where we teach our children. And agree that it is NOT OK. So what do we do about it?

IMHO, we need a big tent of supporters and advocates. But, how do we build it? 

Connect to those who are concerned about the excessive emphasis on high-stakes standardized testing as a measure of "performance" of students and teachers. Teachers, administrators, school board members, parents, neighbors, friends, community leaders. Research institutions and foundations. Advocates for children, justice, equity, the arts and humanities, literacy and world-language fluency, pre-school, after-school and enrichment, outdoor play....the list goes on and on. Those who understand the need for fully nurturing the next generation for a healthy society, vibrant democracy and strong economy. Look for opportunities to bring it up in casual conversation. At the dinner table. During a night out with friends. Or parties with neighbors. In PTA meetings. Over lunch at work. At the gym. The coffeehouse. In the elevator. On the street.

Connect to high-school students who have lived with this testing regimen since elementary school. Their voices are critical in putting a face on the problem. Empower them to use their voices to pressure the policymakers, the politicians and the pundits to support teaching and learning, not drilling and testing.

Connect to student groups, professors, researchers and administrators at colleges and universities. Tell them that if they want creative, resourceful, independent thinkers in their classrooms then they need to get on the bandwagon to push back against standardized testing as the primary way to measure "success"  in our public elementary, middle and high schools.

Connect to the business community and chambers of commerce. Ask them: do they want dreamers and doers, thinkers and innovators, writers and scientists, designers and engineers, able leaders and agile teams? Then they must stop supporting this standardization and narrowing of the way our children are taught. They are wrong to think it will create the kind of dynamic workforce they need now or in the future.

Connect to high-profile individuals in the media, arts, entertainment and professional sports worlds. Encourage them to speak up like Matt Damon did at Saturday's march.

Connect to Save Our Schools participants and supporters on Facebook and Twitter. And other groups like Parents Across America. Teachers' unions are sort of on board, but coax them to stop leaving so much at the table when it comes to policies like test-based performance pay. Encourage the National PTA and National School Boards Association to join the cause and be more forceful in demanding local control and less focus on testing to serve the best interests of children.

Connect to public charter schools that provide whole-child education and ones that serve special-needs children. (Those built on the original idea of charters.) They are hurt by test-based "accountability" standards as much as traditional public schools are. (I hope I'm wrong, but for-profit charter school management companies are probably a lost cause. They are enthusiastic about testing because it allows them to operate exclusively around spreadsheets. The same goes for the many for-profit companies that feed the beast; those that create and score the tests, train the teachers to prepare students to take the tests, and provide management and other "educational services" when teachers, students and schools "fail" to "perform" on the tests. They shouldn't be dismissed, however. It is essential they be exposed when they focus mainly on profits or define children as mere data points.)

A long shot, but connect to Teach for America. Although the focus on standardized testing gives them a simple, economical way to train their short-term teachers, if they care about the long-term academic success of children as they say they do, they should be encouraged to join the cause. 

Become more informed about the hazards of high-stakes standardized testing and the importance of using them in a balanced way. As a start, go to the FairTest website and sign up for their newsletter http://fairtest.org/  Read or subscribe to Valerie Strauss's blog at the Washington Post, The Answer Sheet. She is tireless in gathering facts and perspectives that question current education reform. A recent post by John Thompson is also worth a read. He mentions an overlooked report from Brookings. In a response he writes to a comment, we're seeing public education policy move decisively from the rational "data informed" to the irrational "data driven." 

Here are a few more perspectives about the risks of placing too much emphasis on standardized testing-

John Merrow
Parenting
Alfie Kohn

Add to these is a recent debate between Diane Ravitch, education historian, and Wendy Kopp, founder and CEO of Teach for America. I have listened multiple times to both of these dedicated women. In the end, I find Diane's perspective crisp and well-rooted. It might have to do with her constant travel and many conversations over the past year or so with teachers in traditional public schools. Or her research and study that led her to shift gears from being supportive of current education reform to being one of its toughest critics. It's likely both.

And while I don't question Ms. Kopp's sincerity or political acumen, her constant use of reform buzzwords leaves me skeptical and unsure of tangible solutions. I believe strongly in accountability and proof of effectiveness for any system that employs public dollars, but I am more and more skeptical of reformers who seem more enamored with simplistic rhetoric than the messy realities of teaching our complex, diverse children. I do believe there is common ground and sensible compromise, but I increasingly sense the current "reform club" (I don't know what else to call it at this point) is now guilty of what they accuse the "system" of doing. Digging in to protect their turf and their pocketbooks.

My thoughts always come back to: When is this genuinely going to be about what's best for the everyday learning experience of our children? And. What do we envision our children to be in adulthood and how do we get there?



Excerpt:


Diane Ravitch: The Problem with Standardized Tests by FORAtv

Plus a new CNN video. Nancy Carlsson-Paige, scholar of early childhood educator faces off with Bill Bennett, former Secretary of Education. Even he, one of the "fathers" of current education reform, admits there is too much testing in today's public schools.



And this good commentary about data-based decision-making from teacher, James Boutin, in his blog, An Urban Teacher's Education. He refers to a recent guest post by Columbia University professor of education and political science, Jeff Henig, on Rick Hess's blog. The last comments-

What if we didn't have a political system in love with high-stakes testing? What would a school that used data effectively in that environment look like? First and foremost, it would collaboratively create a clear mission statement appropriate for its student population. Second, it would decide on what indicators, when met, would authentically demonstrate progress toward that mission. Third, it would create a strategy for achieving those indicators. Lastly, and most importantly, it would constantly rethink the usefulness of its indicators and the data they create, its strategy for meeting those indicators, and, on occasion, the mission statement itself. Critical to this endeavor would be engaged professionals, parents, and community members. This is the kind of environment in which data-informed instruction could be incredibly useful.

Henig finishes his post:

"Both data and algorithms should be an important part of the process of making and implementing education policy, but they need to be employed as inputs into reasoned judgements that take other important factors into account. The last thing we need are accountability policies that undermine education as a profession or erode the elements of community and teamwork that mark and make good schools. But when law and policy outrun knowledge, the results are likely to be unanticipated, paradoxical, and occasionally perverse."

 I couldn't have said it better myself.

Ditto. 

There is a lot out there. Do your own search and find the many voices raising concerns. Share them with others. Spark debate. Seek allies.

We are in a struggle FOR OUR KIDS involving PUBLIC FUNDING, PUBLIC POLICY and POLITICS.

Let your school board or board of education members know it is okay to fight back against what may well be a "race to the bottom," not a "race to the top." Let them know you have their back.

Keep pressure on your state legislators, governors and members of Congress. AND OUR PRESIDENT. Remember, he sends his children to tony Sidwell Friends. I drove by it the other day. Unbelievable. Beautiful campus. Like an elite university. Here is their website- Why does he not advocate for the same kind of education for all children?

Tell him, tell all of our elected representatives, in no uncertain terms that we WANT and NEED:

Testing used mainly for diagnostic purposes, not high stakes. Testing in balance with rich, dynamic teaching. Robust local control. Equitable, adequate funding and resources. Effective strategies to combat poverty in the cities, suburbs and rural outreaches. Focus on growing jobs for parents and equitable, adequate access to good nutrition, high-quality health care, technology, books, decent housing, verdant parks and safe neighborhoods. Public schools built on community and democracy. Whole-child learning. The humanities and the sciences. Project-based, real-world, hands-on learning. Teamwork and interdisciplinary instruction. Well-educated, well-supported, well-respected, well-compensated teachers. Collaboration, not competition. For all children, not some. All schools, not some. All communities, not some.

Maintain the buzz. Turn up the volume. Find allies. And it's OK not to agree on everything. Link arms. Confront those who are either blindly convinced that education reform based on high-stakes standardized testing is the way to go or benefit from it financially (or socially). Challenge their assumptions. Ask them the hard questions. And don't stop. It may come to boycotting the tests until we attain a humane, sensible balance. I don't know. But I do know the forces pushing this education reform agenda are now deeply vested and have gone way out on a limb to defend themselves. And many are profiting handsomely from it. Don't forget it is our representatives in statehouses and Congress who are using our tax dollars to create what amounts to an "education-industrial complex" instead of maximizing public investments in the classroom and our children. I haven't seen the list yet, but undoubtedly many test-based reform organizations and companies are donating heavily to the political campaigns of the president and other elected officials. So the struggle won't be easy. But we must keep going.

For our kids. For our future.