School Reform and Standardized Tests: Parents Have Much Power
By Dr. James D. Kirylo
February 18, 2013
Guest Column - 850 words
Recently an important education forum was held at
First United Methodist Church in Hammond.
I had the privilege of sitting on the panel that comprised of other educators,
state legislators, and proactive community members, and was particularly
impressed with the over 200 plus people that attended the spirited forum. Naturally a variety of critical issues were
discussed relative to school reform, and here I am following up on some further
reflections.
It is worth pointing out that especially by opportunistic
politicians the concept of school reform has been proclaimed ad nauseam
particularly in the last near 30 years. One would think that we would have
nailed it down by now in “fixing” our schools or we would at some point realize
that we are actually living out the insanity that is popularly defined as doing
the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This is no more apparent in our obsession
with standardized tests, and to help contextualize the point, a brief peek back
in recent history is in order.
The
interpretation of how school reform should be filtered has its contemporary
foundation dating back to A Nation at Risk (Reagan Administration),
which influenced the direction of subsequent reform initiatives such as America
2000 (Bush I), Goals 2000 (Clinton), No Child Left Behind Act
(NCLB) (Bush II), and now the Race to the Top program (Obama). As one examines each of these reform packages,
it becomes apparent that the emphasis on assessment increasingly rises in
importance. And with NCLB and even Race
to the Top, the culmination of that importance takes center stage.
No longer simply
labeled as testing, but now referred to as “high-stakes” testing, our present
conversations of what is critical in school reform has morphed into what can be
characterized as corporate speak. In
other words, we have become so enamored with the convenience of explaining
school reform with detached terminology—such as outcomes, results, performance,
monetary rewards, takeover, failing schools, competition, A, B, C, D, F labels
for schools, and comparing and contrasting—that we have created a system that
is analogous to describing a-for-profit corporation, which ultimately results
in the creation of “winners” and “losers.”
In the end, this type of system fosters the objectification of
school-aged children, possesses an extraordinarily constricted view of what is
educationally important, and largely blames teachers for anything that ails
education.
As a
consequence, it is now terribly obvious to many that the emphasis on
standardized tests, which has cost billions, has harmed children, has chased
excellent teachers out of the profession, and has created an overall toxic
environment in our schools. It is,
therefore, no surprise that teachers in Seattle, WA have taken a step in
boycotting the irrational use of tests, that a Pencils Down Campaign has been
launched in Chicago, IL, that a group of high school students in Providence, RI
held a protest in order to halt this testing madness, that over 1000 professors
in New York alone have publically declared their opposition to standardized
tests, citing that these tests have failed to improve schools, and that every
credible professional education organization has denounced the extraordinary
emphasis on testing.
And so, to shift
from doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting different results with respect to viewing standardized tests as the
almighty arbitrator of insidiously judging our school-aged youngsters and
teachers, we need to begin by reframing the discussion with concepts that
explore schooling as a place where we authentically tap into the multiple
intelligences of naturally curious children, where we discuss the meaning of
engaged teaching and meaningful learning, and where we consider assessment that
is holistic.
In short, the task of the educator is to inculcate in a developmentally appropriate and culturally sensitive way and the task of policy makers, political types, and others is to seek a deep understanding as to what all that means.
In short, the task of the educator is to inculcate in a developmentally appropriate and culturally sensitive way and the task of policy makers, political types, and others is to seek a deep understanding as to what all that means.
And
particularly for parents who possess an incredible amount of power to impact
change, their task—obviously parenting being the most important—is to pay close
attention to the conversations, practices, and policies on how high-stakes
testing is having an overall negative impact on our schools, on their
children. As a matter of fact, if Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, or Thomas
Edison were especially attending school in the contemporary way we assess,
evaluate, and judge our students and schools, those three would have been the
poster boys of what is wrong with our public schools because of their lack of
“performance.”
In the final analysis, standardized tests have
terribly curbed creativity, critical thinking, the arts, and have disturbingly
narrowed the curriculum. In other words,
they have set extraordinary limits as to what is deemed important to
learn.
As a consequence, children have robotically learned that schooling is about passing a test instead of learning to fall in love with learning.
As a consequence, children have robotically learned that schooling is about passing a test instead of learning to fall in love with learning.
To that end, I strongly encourage parents (and
other concerned citizens) to consider some push-back regarding these testing
factories we call schools. I welcome
your emails of interest to generate that movement. Moreover, below I offer a few websites to
provide more critical information (http://www.fairtest.org/;
http://www.acei.org/images/stories/global-action-center/testingpospap.pdf;
http://12most.com/2012/04/09/unconventional-reasons-to-opt-out-standardized-testing/;
http://www.alfiekohn.org/stdtest.htm).
James
D. Kirylo is the author of the book PauloFreire: The Man from Recife, and can be reached at jkirylo@yahoo.com
Reprinted with permission.
Reprinted with permission.
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