PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At our school the middle school class schedule was reversed every other day for something like 2 weeks for the PARCC testing. It throws kids off. It can be hard for kids to learn at their best when the whole day is changed around (and they are not wasting time taking endless long tests). When I was a kid the state assessments took a day or may be 2 tops. Why less time? Because we weren't required to write essay after essay to demonstrate our knowledge.

Think about the other side. Some huge number of staff are actually going to read and score all of these essays. Staff at Pearson. Imagine the labor cost that we are paying for this.

This did not happen at my child's middle school.

And again, the PARCC/Smarter Balanced/whatever tests are a No Child Left Behind Act requirement. There is nothing in the Common Core standards that requires annual testing.

[Anonymous]

And again, the PARCC/Smarter Balanced/whatever tests are a No Child Left Behind Act requirement. There is nothing in the Common Core standards that requires annual testing.

Can you please tell me which standards are being tested with these tests?

[Anonymous]

Also, it sounds like you object to grade-level standards in general. Did you also fight the individual state standards that preceded the Common Core standards? If not, why not?

Not PP to whom you are responding. However, I have not seen any evidence that standards will improve education. Have you? If so, please post it. I have looked. I did find a Harvard professor who said there is NO evidence that standards improve achievement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our school the middle school class schedule was reversed every other day for something like 2 weeks for the PARCC testing. It throws kids off. It can be hard for kids to learn at their best when the whole day is changed around (and they are not wasting time taking endless long tests). When I was a kid the state assessments took a day or may be 2 tops. Why less time? Because we weren't required to write essay after essay to demonstrate our knowledge.

Think about the other side. Some huge number of staff are actually going to read and score all of these essays. Staff at Pearson. Imagine the labor cost that we are paying for this.

This did not happen at my child's middle school.

And again, the PARCC/Smarter Balanced/whatever tests are a No Child Left Behind Act requirement. There is nothing in the Common Core standards that requires annual testing.

I really don't get all the nonsense about what people claim as "endless long tests" - My DC's school spent a grand total of one study hall session going over test format and mechanics, and then a half day on English PARCC testing and a half day on Math PARCC testing. DC said both tests were a piece of cake. I really don't see testing as any major intrusion or time consumer taking away from DC's education. If schools are taking more time from kids than that, then they are likely doing a lot of other things wrong as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3.b
Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.

Developmentally inappropriate for Kindergarteners as a standard. And, yes, I know some K kids can do this. There are many things far more important for Kindergarteners.

What do I base my opinion on?

Education, training, and experience.

I think you need to talk to the 1st grade teachers who think your attitude and understanding about what kids should learn in K is inappropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It took nearly a month to test all of the students in my school. Teachers were pulled to proctor tests. Our technology sucks so some testing days were total losses b/c the servers were down, etc. We will then have MSA science tests the week we get back from Spring Break for 2 grades and then in early May, we will repeat the PARCC testing ALL OVER AGAIN. I was pulled for testing for 10 days (mostly mornings). Schedules were changed to accommodate the testing. Our reading specialist is also our testing coordinator so she hasn't pulled her remedial groups since mid February or so. This is just one of many tests our kids take. Benchmarks in math and reading, ESOL testing, Wireless testing, etc etc. The list goes on and the testing for kids who are below grade level in reading is every 2 weeks or so. Every 2 weeks, teachers stop teaching to sit one on one with kids below grade level to test their reading level. It is never ending.

This. Choreographing the testing in a school is an incredible endeavor. The resources that go into this are huge. An individual kid or parent might not see it, but behind the scenes work is enormous. People are pulled from teaching for training (this happens at my school) and substitutes are brought in. Specific tests require specific instructions for the proctors. There are make ups and retakes and varying instructions for each type of test. There are IEP instructions for testing and ELL instructions to consider. There are even instructions for how to pack the tests to send them out (with more forms to get signed, etc.). It's a very consuming process that costs a lot of labor hours (that take away from teaching). It costs a lot of money that is not reimbursed by the feds. The pro CC poster likes to crow about how much the feds give to the locals, blah, blah, blah. NO. The locals are paying for these tests and they are not cheap. Same goes for buying the new materials to support the CC. Class sizes are increased and teachers go without raises because money has to be directed to this stuff (by law). They are redirecting money to the testing companies and away from the real teaching and learning. So, so sad.

Sounds like your school is a disaster. But getting rid of testing won't make it any less of a disaster, it will just hide the fact that you're a disaster, and that's a problem.

[Anonymous]

Why are you people apologists for Pearson and CC? A lot of people have had problems and frustrations with this stuff. Just because you haven't doesn't mean their experiences aren't real. States that were originally on board with the PARCC (and I believe were on the committees to draft some of it? I might have read that) have dropped it because there were too many problems and it was not demonstrating kids' actual knowledge and abilities well. Many feel there is too much testing going on. You don't think so, so good for you. I prefer more time spent on lessons that testing but maybe you see some merit in this. None of these complaints mean you aren't having a good experience. Glad you are. Time for everyone to settle down.

[Anonymous]

I really don't get all the nonsense about what people claim as "endless long tests" - My DC's school spent a grand total of one study hall session going over test format and mechanics, and then a half day on English PARCC testing and a half day on Math PARCC testing. DC said both tests were a piece of cake. I really don't see testing as any major intrusion or time consumer taking away from DC's education. If schools are taking more time from kids than that, then they are likely doing a lot of other things wrong as well.

Did the testing help you or your child in any way, shape or form? Was it worth the expense of the test and the time (however little it was) for him to take it? Did you learn something that you didn't already know from the test? Did you learn something you didn't know about his school and his teachers? Do you feel that he is taking it to help those in the "other" schools to get up to speed with him or his school? In sum, do the benefits outweigh the disadvantages?

Everyone is asking themselves these questions and everyone may not be coming up with the same answers. However, I would wager that your child will not be affected one way or another by these tests. So why pay for them?

[Anonymous]

Sounds like your school is a disaster. But getting rid of testing won't make it any less of a disaster, it will just hide the fact that you're a disaster, and that's a problem.

And nobody knew there was a problem before all the testing???? Riiiiiighht. It was all hidden. Yep.

The big question is: Now that we know what we already knew before, what are we going to do about it besides having more testing? Oh, yes, we are going to have standards that are tested. Even though standards were not proven to be the problem. Even though we know that the biggest problems are not standards. Even though we know that testing does not improve education. Waste of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you people apologists for Pearson and CC? A lot of people have had problems and frustrations with this stuff. Just because you haven't doesn't mean their experiences aren't real. States that were originally on board with the PARCC (and I believe were on the committees to draft some of it? I might have read that) have dropped it because there were too many problems and it was not demonstrating kids' actual knowledge and abilities well. Many feel there is too much testing going on. You don't think so, so good for you. I prefer more time spent on lessons that testing but maybe you see some merit in this. None of these complaints mean you aren't having a good experience. Glad you are. Time for everyone to settle down.

Um, excuse me, but nobody here is doing any apologizing. They are attacking the anti-CCers for their demonstrated lack of substantive evidence and data over the course of 100+ pages to back up CC being the cause of their issues, along with their repeated demonstrated confusions around CC vs. testing, which indicates they aren't actually even real teachers or involved in education, despite their claims that they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Sounds like your school is a disaster. But getting rid of testing won't make it any less of a disaster, it will just hide the fact that you're a disaster, and that's a problem.

And nobody knew there was a problem before all the testing???? Riiiiiighht. It was all hidden. Yep.

The big question is: Now that we know what we already knew before, what are we going to do about it besides having more testing? Oh, yes, we are going to have standards that are tested. Even though standards were not proven to be the problem. Even though we know that the biggest problems are not standards. Even though we know that testing does not improve education. Waste of money.

Testing has been around for longer than you have, so I really don't think you have any basis whatsoever for making any claims. Classroom teachers know on one level that there were problems on an individualized, non-quantified level but without testing they did not actually know holistically how, on a quantifiable level, their entire classroom was doing, as compared to other classrooms in their district, versus across the state, versus other states, which is an entirely different thing that was not knowable by classroom teachers without standardized testing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you people apologists for Pearson and CC? A lot of people have had problems and frustrations with this stuff. Just because you haven't doesn't mean their experiences aren't real. States that were originally on board with the PARCC (and I believe were on the committees to draft some of it? I might have read that) have dropped it because there were too many problems and it was not demonstrating kids' actual knowledge and abilities well. Many feel there is too much testing going on. You don't think so, so good for you. I prefer more time spent on lessons that testing but maybe you see some merit in this. None of these complaints mean you aren't having a good experience. Glad you are. Time for everyone to settle down.

Apologists for Pearson and CC? One could flip that silly question on its head and ask why are anti-CCers shilling for the Koch brothers?

And don't they realize that there are also actual, real people with genuine problems and frustrations with the anti-CC agenda?

[Anonymous]

While you may not be apologists for this Pearson, CC, and NCLB, you *sound* like you are apologists (not apologizing--different word). No evidence is needed except to see with one's own eyes how children are being treated and how learning time is being wasted. I believe many of us are parents, not necessarily teachers, though some are teachers. I am ultimately responsible for my child's education, not the school. So that's why I am a card carrying liberal who is against PARCC, CC, and NCLB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Also, it sounds like you object to grade-level standards in general. Did you also fight the individual state standards that preceded the Common Core standards? If not, why not?

Not PP to whom you are responding. However, I have not seen any evidence that standards will improve education. Have you? If so, please post it. I have looked. I did find a Harvard professor who said there is NO evidence that standards improve achievement.

That was non-responsive to the question.

[Anonymous]

Testing has been around for longer than you have, so I really don't think you have any basis whatsoever for making any claims. Classroom teachers know on one level that there were problems on an individualized, non-quantified level but without testing they did not actually know holistically how, on a quantifiable level, their entire classroom was doing, as compared to other classrooms in their district, versus across the state, versus other states, which is an entirely different thing that was not knowable by classroom teachers without standardized testing.

Testing has been around forever, but it is now high stakes. It has been used by the feds to force schools to offer choice and to force them to pay for tutoring among other things.

Now that classroom teachers have all that broad quantifiable knowledge, how does this help them? They can compare their classroom to others with the same demographic profiles I suppose and then they can see that they are at about the same level. I suppose they can see where to try to get a new job if they think they will be fired due to their low socioeconomic demographics making them look bad. That is helpful (although I think most of them already know where to apply).