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Say a cheer for our teachers.

Quietly and tactfully they are doing the right thing for our children.  Acting as a buffer between the children in their classrooms and the demands of our administration to act on standardized test results, they are ameliorating many of the negative effects of our Terra Nova and InView testing.  They are undercutting the stated purpose of the testing to the benefit of our children.

Some parents who have taken the suggestion of this website to inquire in specific ways about their child's standardized test results have been surprised by the response of their child's teacher.  The reply from the teacher in many cases is that he or she does not use the scores, or does not care about the scores, or has barely even looked at the scores!  Despite members of our administration harping on the utility of the scores and the opportunity to make remarkable curriculum changes and to amend student labels based on the scores, a large number of our teachers prefer to shelve the test results and move on with what they know to be right. Of course, for the reasons described elsewhere on this site, our teachers are not making waves about their negative opinions of the extra testing.

In fact, teachers who are publicly asked about their opinion of this non state-mandated testing generally offer a weak smile and mumble something about it being nice to have an independent confirmation of their children's abilities. The real meaning of that statement appears to be: "I got the results, I glanced at them briefly, and then I stuck them in a drawer and moved on with my own original plans."  Our experienced teachers are doing their best for our children, and that means ignoring test results and continuing to use their own professional judgment to assess children in their classrooms.  Our teachers are not alone.

Other teachers across the nation have remarkably similar thoughts about this kind of standardized testing. For example, an August 2004 study titled Voices from the Frontlines: Teachers' Perceptions of High Stakes Testing by Jones and Egley of the University of South Florida surveyed 708 Florida third through fifth grade school teachers.  The study found that 79.9% of those teachers did not believe their state's testing program was taking them in the right direction.  Teachers cited "negative effects on the curriculum, teaching and learning, and student and teacher motivation."   Our teachers evidently feel the same way.

In another example, a February 2004 policy brief by Lisa Abrams of Boston College titled Teacher' Views On High Stakes Testing: Implications for the Classroom covered surveys of teachers in Florida, Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, Texas and other states.  The author notes that, in all: "roughly 80 percent [of teachers] disagreed with the statement that the state test is as accurate a measure of student achievement as a teachers' judgment."  This is despite feeling great pressure to raise test scores and spend time teaching test preparation.  Our teachers, like many others across our nation, trust their own professional judgment over the results of a single bubble test.

Then there is the report issued by Joseph Pedulla and The Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation and Educational Policy at Boston College in 2003.  Based on a two-year national study of 12,000 teachers and their opinions on state testing, it is the broadest survey conducted to date.  The standardized state tests in question are similar and in some cases identical to the non state-required Terra Nova tests given in Readington.  In a statement on the report, the Center noted:

"…a substantial majority of teachers at each grade level, but particularly elementary teachers, indicated that the state testing programs have led them to teach in ways that contradict their ideas of sound instructional practices.  Across all stakes and grade levels, about 4 in 10 respondents indicated that teachers in their school could raise test scores without really improving learning.  Roughly, three-quarters of all teachers, again regardless of stakes or grade level, found that the benefits of the testing program were not worth the time and money involved."

Terrific. Our teachers, fortunately, are taking their own private measures to deal with the onslaught of pressure to make curricular and student judgments based on a bubble test.  Unfortunately, that means increased stress on the very professionals who we must rely on to stand between an ill-conceived assessment policy and the authentic learning in our classrooms.  Whether our teachers will be able to hold the line for any period of time is anyone's guess. 

Let us cheer the good efforts of our teachers who silently undermine the dumb idea to add more standardized testing to an already over-tested student body.  Let us also ask our board members to introduce a policy to discontinue all non state-required testing below third grade, or perhaps a policy to officially permit parents to withdraw their children from the non state-required testing under a teacher-principal reviewed process.  It is the least we can do to support our teachers and make authentic learning safe in our classrooms.