"Mother hopes others will opt out of standardized testing"
Levitt, Rose and Candiotti, Susan
Posted online on March 21, 2011
cnn.com
URL: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/20/pennsylvania.school.testing/index.html?iref=NS1
A mother in Pennsylvania has pulled her two sons from standardized testing. She used a religious exemption as the reason for pulling her children because that was the only choice given. The real reason she states is, "...the tests are not accurate measures of accomplishment, create undue anxiety for students and are used to punish schools." She has been joined by an an associate professor of education at Penn State Altoona, Dr. Timothy Slekar, who has also pulled his son from testing. This is an extremely rare occurrance, but both of the parents are frustrated by the quality of education their children are receiving and the constant teaching to just the tests.
This article continues the ongoing discussion about whether tests are the way to go in judging true learning and education in our public schools. I think we all know testing and teaching to the tests is not going to work, but somehow some assessment of the schools must be made. It is interesting to note the person who is quoted as being in favor of testing is the president of the NAACP, who I do not believe is in education. That is a continual frustration for me as it seems many of the people involved in this discussion do not have an education background. Maybe it truly is up to the parents as shown in this article to start a discussion about the standardized testing and not the talking heads from the top.
Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteI am not even sure how I feel about that. Mixed.
She used a religious exemption as the reason for pulling her children because that was the only choice given. The real reason she states is, "...the tests are not accurate measures of accomplishment, create undue anxiety for students and are used to punish schools." - That doesn't feel all that honest to me. Abuse of the religious exemption. I hear her and can appreciate her argument but am not sure I can fully agree. Tests are not my favorite but they are part of life -for better or worse.
That being said...
I do like to see parents advocating for their children. I like when they get involved in the conversations - after all it is about their children. They should have a voice in their childrens education. We want parents invested - we want their partnership. Just like Moses having meetings in the community for his algebra program - we need parents!
I empathize with the mother’s concerns, but I am also wary of her decision to pull her kids completely out of standardized testing. It seems she’s risking the advancement of her kids’ education to make a point, kind of like burning her bridges before she knows for sure she won’t need them. Working within the system gives you a better chance to change it than defying the system altogether. I didn’t know this at the time, but when my brother and I were in elementary school, my mom had single-handedly pushed for the development of a TAG program in our school district. It took some time to get going, but she didn’t pull us out of school, she just supplemented our lessons after school. I think Gray would have been a lot safer to keep her kids in testing while advocating for its abolishment.
ReplyDeleteThe religious exemption does not bother me as that was the only alternative open for the mom. Her main point was to just object to the testing which was the main point.
ReplyDeleteAs for pulling the kids, I do not think it affects their education at all as it is more of a measurement of the school than the individual student. Sometimes a protest works better if it is outside the system and sometimes within the system, but usually it is a combination of both. How much of one vs. the other is the question to me.