Letter to the Editor from SUNY New Paltz Professor Nancy Schiedewind
New Paltz Times, August 22nd, 2013
Last week the NYS Education Department released the results of the
recent Common Core tests for grades 3-8, highlighting the decreased passing
rates. However, rather than interpreting the scores to mean that student
learning has suddenly plummeted, I see it as part of the continued manipulation
of test scores by educational leaders in Albany. Or, if after 15 years of
“reform-through-testing” most of our students are indeed failing, hasn’t the
testing movement itself failed?
Education Commissioner John King is leading
us down the wrong path, harming children, their families, and teachers. Instead
of more testing, the Commissioner and Board of Regents should follow the
examples of more successful countries, such as Finland, and as recommended by
educational research.
More and harder tests do not work. In fact,
results from the more reliable National Assessment for Educational Progress
exams reveal that New York State has made little progress over the last 15
years. Instead of more standardized curriculum and tests, teachers need support
to create challenging curriculum designed to build on students’ abilities and
interests.
Students need to learn the skills
necessary to become responsible workers and active citizens. This includes
complex skills like critical thinking, writing and speaking, problem solving,
and how to apply these skills to the real world. Recent research shows that
skills that develop students’ social and emotional learning better prepare
students for careers than success on high stakes tests.
Rather than losing valuable instructional
time to excessive test preparation, schools should assess student growth
through regular assessment of each student’s work. Such a sensible approach to
assessment could save school districts millions of dollars. Race to the Top
funding has not provided schools districts with adequate funding for these
tests. The millions of dollars for testing paid to corporations like Pearson
could rather be used to restore cuts to educational and after-school programs
that our school districts want and deserve.
To learn more about how the tests are
failing our children go to the home page of rethinkingtestingblogsopot.com.
Nancy Schniedewind
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