This is an incredibly sad and moving story I felt I just had to share. If you think the testing world isn’t worth fighting, you’re wrong. Just look what it’s doing. These students, these teachers… they’re desperate. We, parents, need to opt out now to send a message.
Monthly Archives: November 2012
The Language of Art
As an artist myself, I have a deep interest in how art is being used and misused in our schools. I cringe whenever I see a wall full of 8×10″ printouts that were given to the children to color in. And I almost hemorrhage when someone comments “how good they did staying in the lines.”
ART IS NOT A COLORING BOOK! ART IS NOT COPYING SOMEONE ELSE’S ARTWORK!
Art is a critical mode of self-expression for young children. It is fun and emotive. It is a language that tells many stories. It is more than just pretty pictures; through art, children can communicate some scary emotions. Being able to communicate non-verbally is more important than a pocketful of vocabulary words. Art has been linked to brain development and to better academic success. It is a vital and valid method of learning, and has been acknowledged as a critical gateway for students less inclined to see the relevance in the core curriculum.
When faced with budgetary and time constraints, arts programs are traditionally the first to go. And with the increased push to focus on testing, they are in even more danger. But art–REAL ART–is relevant for children (and all human beings) across all disciplines.
Art is child-driven. It allows them to take control. Art is unique. Art is individual. Art provides beauty. Art provides a platform for critical thinking. Art provides creativity in a world that is being more and more reduced to the production of the same.
AT THE END OF THE DAY, IF A CHILD CAN’T RECOGNIZE HIS OWN PICTURE FROM THE REST, IT IS NOT ART!
Of all the people I know, regardless of their chosen field, the most successful are the ones with an appreciation for art.
Playing hooky
With my son home sick today, we had to figure out something to do to keep us busy.
First I fulfilled a long awaited rocket request. This is the second one of these I’ve made and it doesn’t look like my engineering skills have improved much. I was however successful this time in dressing up the rocket a bit so that it wasn’t just cardboard brown.
We sat together for quite some time, choosing the right colors, and confirming the size of the nose and the general shape of the fins. I was, however, informed that my fins were slightly too large.
Next we decided to do a few classic science experiments involving vinegar. With the first we hypothesized which solution would clean dirty pennies the best: 1)dish soap & water or 2)vinegar & salt. Yes, you all know the answer to this. 
But to my four-year-old it was like magic watching the pennies brighten up in the vinegar solution! He had to do his entire piggy bank. We even tried to polish up the plastic play money–the results on that are still up in the air.
And you probably guessed it, what other vinegar experiment would be considered classic? I asked my son if he wanted to make an explosion. He immediately said no, he did not. But when I explained what we were actually going to be doing, he was curious, if not a bit skeptical. He asked if we would have to evacuate the house and call the fire department.
(This would be tame compared to the chlorine and brake fluid reaction my father showed me.)
Anyway, I let him pick the color and measure out the baking soda and pour the vinegar. We tried “exploding” rainbow sprinkles in one experiment (see darker blue) but they were a bit too heavy and kept the mixture from rising up. The lighter blue trials were a success however! All in all we managed to use up a good portion of the box of baking soda and at least a quart of vinegar. Time and resources well spent!
We all need a personal day, a day off from our schedule. Why should children be any different? I really don’t have a problem keeping him home from school when I think he needs a break. No, he’ll probably never receive one of those meaningless awards for perfect attendance, but in the long run–it’s worth it!
Let’s let them play!
Let’s Let Them Play or Hypocrisy in Early Childhood Education.
Your choice of titles here 🙂
Why is the state forcing serious formal learning on its youngest students when attendance isn’t even compulsory? I’m talking about Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten. According to the Washington Post, “Kindergarten is the new first grade.” More work, less play–with bragging rights about the growing percentage of positive test results. Defending this shift in curriculum are those like School Superintendent Jerry D. Weast who states, “We were shooting way too low. Kindergartners are ‘natural learners.’ And if we don’t provide them with a natural learning environment, we are putting them behind.”
So let’s talk about a natural learning environment for 4-6 year olds. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, play is essential for healthy brain development by promoting “the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children.” They cite other important benefits of child-driven play such as increased creativity, dexterity, imagination, and being more engaged in the world around them. In fact, “Play is integral to the academic environment. It ensures that the school setting attends to the social and emotional development of children as well as their cognitive development. It has been shown to help children adjust to the school setting and even to enhance children’s learning readiness, learning behaviors, and problem-solving skills.”
Another great read on the importance of play in early childhood education is Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play (kindergarten_report) by the Alliance for Childhood. So why is play being reduced and sometimes eliminated in the classroom structure for these young children?
The new Common Core Learning Standards, according to EngageNY, “serve as a consistent set of expectations for what students should learn and be able to do, so that we can ensure that every student across New York is on track for college and career readiness.” These standards are being taught in all grade levels, starting with Pre-K. Exactly how EngageNY is affiliated with the New York State Education Department isn’t entirely clear to me yet, but it appears that it operates under NYSED to promote the Regents Reform Agenda and the changes it will inevitably entail in all levels of our children’s schooling. Basically, EngageNY is the happy face that NYSED puts on to promote this insanity. We are meant to see it as positive, more user-friendly, less governmental, less bureaucratic– so that we accept it more easily and without question.
The first half-day of my son’s Pre-K class was introductory and parents were allowed to be there. We talked about the new learning requirements handed down by the state and that Pre-K was essential the new Kindergarten. Developmentally some of those kids won’t have the hand-strength or dexterity to hold a pencil correctly, yet they are required to learn to write. I recall an aid saying, “I feel sorry for the kids that didn’t get into the Pre-K program. They are going to be so far behind in Kindergarten.” Meanwhile we parents were concerned that our four-year-olds were NOT yet able to wipe their own butts, and that the school staff was not allowed to help.
My son has a friend. She is only two months older, but she made the cutoff to enter school a year earlier. Developmentally they are the same age, but she is required to learn at a pace that far exceeds my son’s Pre-K class. The only play she gets is recess, which is at the end of the day. Daily, she is required to complete approximately half a dozen worksheets (all Pearson print-outs by the way). Often she is tired during class. My son still gets naptime. She does not. Remember… they are the SAME age. If she falls asleep at her table she is penalized by having recess taken away from her. Unconscionable!
And here’s the hypocrisy part. According to the Common Core Learning Standards, these children are required to start a curriculum of formal learning at age 4, upon which the entire structure of learning progression is dependent. Yet they aren’t even required to attend school until age 6. So back to the aid’s comment about kids being behind in Kindergarten if they missed Pre-K. And let me take this a step further. What happens to the poor child who doesn’t enter the game until 1st grade? Will (s)he be seen as undesirable in the classroom? How ever will this child catch up in a system of constantly moving forward and a system that does not allow mistakes? Will the teacher be annoyed at the student? At the parent? At the potential of poor test results with which the teacher is being evaluated?
It is the current emphasis on testing that has led to the downsizing of play and the insane push towards “higher standards” in our schools. NYSED relies on tests to defend this madness. Testing in children under age 8 can give skewed results, according to the Alliance for Childhood, with factors such as anxiety, hunger, or being tired contributing to test results. Furthermore there is growing evidence that testing in young children is actually undermining their development. This is part of the reason that we opted out of testing.
Let’s go back to that Washington Post article for a moment. Despite increased pass rates on the Kindergarten test, the article goes on to state, “That kind of success hasn’t yet translated to the higher grades.” So I ask, was there a point? Did forcing an early formal education help in the long run? NO!
I am NOT saying that schooling be made compulsory for these 4 & 5 year olds. I AM saying that this new focus on introducing formal learning earlier and earlier is ridiculous. Let’s let our kids be kids. Let’s let them play. Their learning won’t be compromised. In fact, I think they will be learning so much more. But I guess tests won’t be able to measure that as easily so it will be hard for NYSED to understand.
Am I food in-flexible?
Today I got a call from my son’s pre-K teacher about his behavior during lunch today. Lunch in Pre-K is served in the classroom and I’m pretty sure that my son is one of the few, or possible the only one that doesn’t participate. He brings his own lunch to school. I was worried he would feel left out and feel inadequate or something along those lines. But it turns out he was the aggressor today telling his classmates that their food was disgusting, that it was unhealthy, and that it would make them sick. I’ll admit, I was embarrassed.
I always feel like I have to defend our decision to send lunch in. In my family, we talk openly (even with our 4 year old) about the importance of eating healthy, natural foods, and about some of the negative consequences of eating unhealthy foods and highly processed foods. That being said, we never put down the school lunch… they actually do a better job than most schools in providing a healthy well-balanced meal. But here at home, we keep chickens and have fresh eggs. I bake my own bread and make my own yogurt. I buy fresh milk from a local dairy, and we always cook from scratch. So why wouldn’t I send lunch in with my child?
But for some reason, I always feel like I’m going against the grain. I was the only parent at Pre-K orientation who questioned the rumor that participation in the lunch program was mandatory. It turned out it wasn’t, but everybody just participated anyway. She didn’t say it in so many words, but the lunch lady seemed irritated that I was making things complicated… that nobody’s ever done this before… “we had one child once who brought in his own lunch…” One child? EVER?
And it’s not only lunch. I’m not even sure what my son does for the first half hour each day while all the other students are served breakfast. Again, I feel like I’m the difficult parent, constantly going against the grain here. But I LOVE breakfast together as a family each morning. It’s my right, isn’t it to feed my children before we all start our day? It’s my responsibility. And you know what? It’s MY privilege!
I sense that people think that just because we don’t participate in the school meal program, we must be some sort of food nazi family–super-strict on every dietary intake. But we’re not! He gets all the normal childhood indulgences–all in moderation of course! My son gets candy. He drinks soda. Sometimes we order pizza. (He even gets school pizza every Wednesday). In fact, my son LOVES pizza! Homemade pizza, pizzeria pizza, frozen pizza, good pizza, bad pizza, round pizza, square pizza… he doesn’t care! If he asks for something new, we don’t automatically say no.
But I do feel terrible about his behavior at school today. He is channeling what I teach him about food, but I do not condone his negative comments towards his classmates. We do tell him that we believe our homemade food is healthy and natural, but we never explicitly say anything negative about the school’s lunches. (I will however put down Burger King in a heartbeat!) I’m glad the meal program is there for those who need it and for the convenience of those who want it. And I did have the talk with my son about his inappropriate behavior. One day when he’s older, he can eat the school lunch if he wants, but for now I just feel like I am responsible for the food he puts in his little, young, growing body.
I’ve written about education, how we are losing it to legislation and market-based reform. But we lost food a long time ago. I won’t get into that now, but I do want my children to grow up with a natural connection to and understanding of the food they put in their bodies.
Parents, we have the power!
The Geneva gathering was empowering. Yesterday in Geneva, NY a group of concerned parents, educators, and students came together for an amazing exchange of ideas concerning the excessive testing permeating our schools.
Everyone had something important to say, like the parent who had serious concerns about the 7th grade math curriculum being forced on every school in her district. The same lesson comes to all the teachers at the same time, and they must teach it without much say in the matter. Her son, who excels at math, does not receive the challenge he needs. When this parent inquired she was told that there was nothing the teacher could do… she had to stick to the curriculum.
A teacher of 27 years described how the entire classroom day must be scheduled and approved, and that it was 4 weeks before her 1st graders got any play time! She added that the STAR assessments that her school chose to use cost more than her district gets from the RTTT grant.
We heard from 2 undergraduate students who are one day hoping to enter the profession of teacher and they both had serious concerns about what that profession would be like when they got there.
Parents across the state are concerned about the classroom time spent for test preparation and test taking. And we are concerned about the government keeping a database with our children’s information.
Another teacher described a colleague who has always been an extraordinary teacher. But since the implementation of teacher evaluations being tied to tests, he has noticed her lesson plans changing; she is spending more time focusing on the test.
There were a number of teachers in attendance. And they talked about the fear they all felt. Many were instructed (from the top down) NOT to attend this gathering. Talk about demoralizing! Some of what they said was this:
“…stress…”
“Teaching is not fun.”
“We’ve lost the freedom to be creative.”
“I don’t know why anyone would want to go into teaching anymore.”
“… a feeling of hopelessness never before seen.”
“We feel powerless.”
“The policy pendulum has always swung and we’ve always adapted, but right now we just can’t figure it out.”
“Teachers are waiting for someone to do something. No one listens to teachers.”
But what we all agreed on was this:
“Parents are the key!!!”
We have the power! Parents, it’s time to be in control. Be involved and ask questions. The government does NOT have control of us. They can NOT force an agenda on us. We CAN say no. Voice your concerns with your PTA or your BOE. Talk to the administration. Talk to your child’s teacher. Write letters to NYSED or to your representatives.
I know that opting out of everything is a heavy proposition, but I urge you to consider opting out of the field tests. Perhaps you read the NY Times article about parents who were sick and tired of their children being used as guinea pigs, who stood up and opted out. But field tests aren’t just being administered in NYC. Field tests are being administered in different grades at most schools across New York State. Demand to know a test schedule. There is little risk by opting out of field tests. These tests are meaningless for students, meaningless for teachers, meaningless for the schools. They only serve the for-profit testing companies that create them. We have the right to know how companies are using our children, and we have the right to say “NO WAY!”
The grant money our schools are receiving is minimal and short-term. And who do you think will end up picking up the bill? The benefits of opting out are long-term!
What is RTTT?
Last night I attended the first of four informational meetings hosted by our school’s principal. The topic: What is RTTT and how does it affect our school?
I had to chuckle when I arrived because the first screen on the smart board was a cartoon titled “Alphabet Soup”. Depicted was an aerial view into a bowl of letters wherein the word ‘content’ could be read, and floating all around the bowl were a lot of acronyms.
All jokes aside, it was hardly funny to see that only 8 people, two of which were myself and my husband, showed up to hear what our principal had to say. Was this apathy? A feeling of disconnect? Or just being unaware of how big this really is?
The meeting was largely factual and I must say that our principal did a great job explaining the whole mess. I applaud her for taking the time to organize these meetings and open a dialogue with parents. And I hope that more parents will be attending the next meeting.
I didn’t know that New York State was turned down for the federal grant the first time it applied. Apparently because our teacher & principal evaluation plan wasn’t up to par. But lucky for us we succeeded in securing our funds once we beefed up methods of evaluation. Hoop #1 for a mere $32,ooo to my district–that’s only $8000 each year for the next 4 years! Naturally you ask, Why bother? Apparently because changes were inevitable according to the Regents Reform Agenda, so we might as well get some extra money out of the deal.
One of the major components of RTTT is “Implementing Common Core standards and developing curriculum and assessments aligned to these standards to prepare students for success in college and the workplace” (NYSED). Who doesn’t want high standards and prepared students in our schools? But I stand by my opinion that Common Core standards work to homogenize education by forcing teachers to (largely) teach the same things in the same way, thus forcing students to follow identical learning paths that supposedly end with college degrees and stable high-paying jobs. It is a monoculture where the benefits of diversity in both student and teacher are ignored–dare I say discouraged? That was one point that I brought up during the discussion. I feel that education is greatly enriched by teachers who use a variety of approaches. I think we all fondly remember certain teachers from childhood or from college, perhaps, that we felt really reached us, connected with us, and inspired us? The Common Core method might work for a particular student if and only if that student happens to respond to that particular method. But what about the many students for whom learning would be better accomplished in a different way, or with a variety of ways? We need diversity in our education to support the diversity in the world. The Core says “workplace” but they really mean “college.” Not everybody is destined for four years of college. And what is the Common Core really doing to prepare the next skilled carpenter? And why don’t we celebrate our agricultural heritage and the (used to be) wonderful existence of the family farm, for example? The Common Core ignores culture and ultimately says, “we don’t consider that to be a worthy achievement.”
Another component of RTTT is Data-Driven Instruction, or “building instructional data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practice in real time” (NYSED). Sounds a bit cold and inhuman, doesn’t it? Our school uses STAR assessments where teachers get real data about where students are failing and why. This, we are told, is so they can target these struggling students and rectify any shortcomings. I’m all for teachers being able to assess their students and tests are certainly one way to do so. But I’m not convinced that schools should be so data-driven. To me it’s like going on vacation somewhere absolutely stunning, but spending the entire trip behind the lens of a camera, clicking away at all the hotspots and tourist attractions. Sure you come home and look at your pictures and exclaim to your friends that you saw the Grand Canyon or that famous building in that famous city. But you were so busy capturing each moment that you never took the time to just look, experience and think about all the nuances that are contained in that moment. The Mona Lisa hangs in the Louvre in Paris and is constantly surrounded by a horde of tourists vying for a clear shot at it with their cameras. I know, I took that picture myself years ago. But what did my husband photograph while he was there on a high school trip? The horde itself! Does he have a picture of Da Vinci’s most famous painting? No, but his experience of the moment is just as rich if not more so. Anyway, back to data-driven… considering the amount of time and work the implementation of the Common Core has placed on teachers, I doubt if they’ll even have time to use that important data to address individual student needs. Our principal said that it would indeed be a challenge as teachers learn to adopt different methods or adapt their own… that it was an experiment. I like what my husband said: “Experiments are great, but a child is in a grade-level only once and what if that turns out to be a failed experiment?”
We talked briefly about “Turning around the lowest-achieving schools” (NYSED), and the problems that larger, mostly urban, districts face with affluent districts attracting the best teachers, while struggling schools become a starting point for new inexperienced teachers destined to leave once they land a better job. Let me briefly address this by saying that RTTT does not close the disparity gap between schools. In fact I see more evidence that it perpetuates it. From what I understand, struggling schools are more likely to be given a Teach for America teacher who is inherently inexperienced and temporary. Also, the lowest-achieving schools are usually the ones struggling financially and will now be burdened trying to provide the infrastructure needed to accomplish the Common Core. With many of the state assessments being computer-based, only the richest schools will be able to hit the ground running with the technology needed. Most importantly, as with much public policy, RTTT and the Common Core does not address the real cause of much of the problem. It is nothing more than a band-aid on greater social issues such as poverty & domestic instability.
And of course, there is the growing testing culture that is created by RTTT and the Common Core. Our students are facing more tests in school than at any point in our nation’s history, with baseline assessments, progress assessments, gross assessments, field tests, high-stakes state mandated tests, regents, college entrance exams, etc. One parent asked if the school felt pressure to teach to the test. Our principal said she didn’t think so as they haven’t seen many of the news tests and don’t know what’s on them, thus making it difficult to “teach to the test.” But with many of these tests tied to teacher, principal, and school performance evaluations I find it hard to believe that the idea of the upcoming test doesn’t inevitably play a large role in classroom instruction.
I know I am just scratching the surface on many of these issues and it’s probably time for an overdue disclaimer 🙂 As I try to describe these issues, please know that I am often sorting through them myself for the first time, trying to check facts, trying not to just regurgitate information, trying to add my voice as a concerned parent. My oldest child is 4. He’s in Pre-K. This is my crash course with the educational system. Anyone out there with a more seasoned voice, please feel free to add it in a comment!
A plainly satisfying day
Today was a day of family. It was a day of freshly baked bread and a birthday apple pie. It was a day of poached eggs and time off of work. It was a tea party day and a day for a T-rex conversation. Simple pleasures, nothing extraordinary. I couldn’t ask for a better day.
Starting the conversation
The dismay over the increasing use of standardized testing in our schools is growing! I am the first parent to opt out in my district and it has been scary and isolating at times. I am often cautious about how to open the dialogue with other parents and there have been many times when I’ve gotten the look like I have three heads! I’m sure there are some that think I’m just making trouble. There are many who are just unaware of the facts. And there are even more who might to be too scared to speak up. This I understand.
But I don’t need to start the conversation with “I’m opting out” to realize that parents are concerned about something. There have been many conversations about school that started as mundane and became an outlet where the parent mentions things like how stressed out their kids are, or the pressure their children feel to do well on tests, or how utterly disappointed these children are if they miss one point on a test, or how their young child isn’t allowed to be a kid anymore. Parents DO notice something is wrong with the system. So this is when I mention the opt-out movement and the growing advocacy for change in the educational system. And I’m starting to hear curiosity in their voices. They want to know more!
On Saturday, November 3, 2012 I will be attending a gathering of concerned parents from across New York state who oppose the massive increases in state-required standardized tests in their children’s schools. This will take place in Geneva, NY from 1-4 at the Geneva Neighborhood Resource Center at 105 Seneca Street. This event is the first of its kind outside of New York City. Please join us if you can, or check back in a few days when I blog about this event. To read more about this event and the group’s stance, download the press release in PDF.
The Plain Satisfactions 