Is Kenston BOE Interested in Protecting Our Children?
It has come to my attention that some board members feel that the blind adoption of CCSS and PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) testing is only the problem of ONE community member. This mantra "Well, you are the only one" comes all too often from this board.
Dear Kenston Board of Education,
I am writing this to you a bit begrudgingly. It has come to my attention that some board members feel that the blind adoption of CCSS and PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) testing is only the problem of ONE community member. This mantra “Well, you are the only one” comes all too often from this board.
You must not remember my concerns brought to your attention in the fall, both in written form and at the board meeting. There were several parents speaking against CCSS at that meeting.
There are several concerns that I have with CCSS and PARCCs, and I will list them in bullet point here:
1. The high stakes attached to teacher evaluations. I trust that our BOE has hired the best teachers for our children. Let our teachers teach and assess according to best practices. Extended research shows standardized testing does not lead to better teaching.
2. The high stakes attached to student performance. These tests have lexile levels (called a lexile stretch) beyond students reading level. They are set up to fail. Does anyone on our BOE wonder why? Why are parents doing the research here for you? Are you concerned for the best interests of our children?
3. The arbitrary and purposeful confusion of school rankings. It is your job to educate the community why we rank where we do. We receive an “F” in AP because there is not enough room to grow. That is an excellent in my book. What about yours? Instead of penalizing teachers, why not inform community members how the ranking system works.
4. The amount of time testing. While some in our district will deceive parents and say that the PARCC tests are less time than OAA. This is untrue.
PARCCs are given twice in the spring, for three rounds for most subjects (90 minutes + 75 minutes + 60 minutes ). OAA was once, for a LIMIT of 2.5 hours.
Most students do not need all of that time.
5. Teaching to the test. As teacher evaluations are tied to passage rates, time for practice tests, and teaching how to answer questions correctly dominates the classroom. You will not get an honest answer from your employee for fear of retribution.
6. Why are teachers claiming to differentiate in the classroom, only to make all students conform to common standards and the exact same test. Students who struggle in math and reading will take the very same test as those students who excel.
7. The new curriculum required by school districts to match the new standards and PARCC tests. While you can say that we have control over what we buy, we need to have high test scores (tied to financial gains ) so we buy curriculum that matches the test.
Most curriculum is being written by Pearson, who, strangely, has a multi-million dollar contract with the State of Ohio to administer and grade the tests.
Who is grading our students’ tests? Do you know? There are ads on craigslist, $12 an hour for graders. Minimum requirements. Are they qualified to say whether my child’s responses are correct?
The Ohio Department of Education is issuing statements like, “There is no law allowing parents to opt out. (Guess what? There is no law requiring parents to ALLOW students to take the test.) “There could be penalties,” “There may be consequences,” but ultimately it seems like it’s up to the local BOE to implement any consequences.
Any consequences given to a student for opting out of the test will be seen as purely punitive and not educationally based.
Why is the ODE concerned? Do you know? Perhaps you could look in to it for us. I think they are concerned that test results will not be valid if less than 95 percent take the test. They also stand to lose some money.
I appreciate BOE member Bill Timmons admitting at the last meeting I attended that your hands are tied. However, other districts are actively looking for options to opt out, other alternatives, and helping their teachers take back control of their learning environment. After all, most teachers in our district have masters degrees and are experts in teaching.
The impression I get from some BOE is that you are not interested protecting our children from data mining, poorly designed tests and curriculum, because it is easier not to look in to it. You will have more respect and confidence from our community if we see you looking out for our children.
Jennifer Skladany
Bainbridge Township
