Anyone else's kids refusing state tests?

[blingbowsparkles]

These tests are only "high stakes" if the school and/or the parents or the kids make it so. I see it similar to a parent or child thinking they have to win in every game they play. Should we eliminate sports because some folks put "high stakes" on things that really aren't that important?

Standardized testing is nothing new. I remember taking state tests in middle & high school 25+ years ago. If you want to eliminate (or at least) cut down on the pressure people (school & family) are putting on these kids for these tests, I can get behind that.

There will be legitimate "high stakes" tests throughout school. The finals & mid terms kids have to take to show they've learned the required subject matter in order to pass the class. The ACT/SATs that will have a direct correlation to their colleges of choice.

Has your child's teacher put pressure on them to do well on a test? If so, have you talked to the teacher about it? Have you talked to the principal? The school board? THAT'S the issue to me. Not the testing, but the pressure. But at the same time, not every teacher or school system is putting this pressure on.

Many years ago, teachers weren't really held accountable for what they were teaching. Kids were graduating HS without the ability to read or write. These tests are a good way (IMO) to ensure students (as a body, not an individual) ARE learning what they need.
And yes, I do compare what I'm reading in this thread to "required" duties at work that I think are silly and unnecessary.

Exactly!! I remember my first experience with just that many years ago when I would go into school to evaluate a child who would have an A in Reading on their report card but couldn't read on grade level. It was getting out of control in our district and that was about the time they implemented DRA testing and a weekly comprehension test/grade on unforeseen material. So even if you weren't reading on grade level you weren't being promoted to the next grade.

 

[indimom]

My 14yo son (8th grade) just finished his ISTEP test this week.
Total test time about 4 hours. It's the only test they took this year.
Total time spent "studying" for the test was two days a week during their advisory (home room) period which is only 20 minutes long and only after announcements, etc. So, maybe 30 minutes a week?

Total novels my son has read this year: 7 (three chosen by the teacher, four chosen by the student from a list of options).

I'm fine with that.

Honestly, if my school didn't encourage reading novels, if all they studied were bike manuals and reading excerpts for test prep, I'd have a huge problem with that and we'd move to another district.

I don't see what good skipping the test will do? It doesn't really challenge the true issue of how my child is being educated. Go to a school board meeting, write your state legislators or board of ed, or move. That seems like a more direct response to the problem.

 

[3DisneyBuggs]

I want to opt my kids out but in NYC it is a criteria for promotion. If a child refuses the test they have to do a portfolio assessment. I've heard from a couple of parents that had to fight all summer due to opting out. Both my kids are honor students so I'm not worried about their promotion being a problem just all the bureacracy BS we would go through.

 

[aprilgail2]

I am a teacher and have the luxury of teaching in a small, rural school district. Most of my students enter the school year reading between the 6th-10th grade level. (I teach 8th grade ELA-R). Because my students generally do very well on the test, I am under very little scrutiny from district administration. I write much of my own curriculum and we read a variety of novels during the year. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Wonder, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Tom Sawyer, and Treasure Island (hopefully) are all on my novel list this year. We have a wonderful time and the students really grow as readers. I do need to acknowledge my district allows me to have a two class block, so I get double time with my students each day, which allows us to read more and still fit in all the other standards. However, when I was in graduate school, a friend from the city district asked me what novel we read. I rattled off my list and she told me she wasn't allowed to read a novel before the test (in April!) but they squeeze one in after the test. I asked what they read all year and she said test passages as dictated by curriculum director. I wanted to die. Her district is low performing and her students come in reading below grade level and that's how they catch them up. I can't imagine. One of our testing review booklets was looking at expository texts and my class had to read three pages of an exercise bike manual. It was awful, and we wonder why our kids don't have a love of reading. My daughter attends a private school we can just barely afford, in some part due to testing. Not so much the actual test, but the time spent reading things like exercise bike manuals to prepare! I don't blame the teachers, as I'm in the same boat, but it's nice to have her in a private school setting where testing doesn't rule everything.

My daughter is so frustrated with her English class-they read a lot of novels but they only read PARTS of them! They may read the first 12 chapters of one and then move on to six chapters of another. School says it's due to the common core crap-she wants to finish reading them all but with the amount of homework she really has no time for pleasure reading at home.

 

[mom2rtk]

My daughter is so frustrated with her English class-they read a lot of novels but they only read PARTS of them! They may read the first 12 chapters of one and then move on to six chapters of another. School says it's due to the common core crap-she wants to finish reading them all but with the amount of homework she really has no time for pleasure reading at home.

That's awful! My daughter is in 7th grade and isn't in a reading class, but at least she has plenty of time for reading at home. (She is still responsible for a large number of AR points every quarter.) But partial novels? YUCK!

 

[Tinijocaro]

My daughter is so frustrated with her English class-they read a lot of novels but they only read PARTS of them! They may read the first 12 chapters of one and then move on to six chapters of another. School says it's due to the common core crap-she wants to finish reading them all but with the amount of homework she really has no time for pleasure reading at home.

My niece is an 8th grade ELA teacher in the Western NY area and she is also required to only read parts of novels. Very frustrating and it is all because of Common Core. Can you imagine only reading part of a book?

I'm sure many of you don't realize that this Common core stuff has never even been field tested to prove that it will actually improve education. We are all the guinea pigs right now! Commissioner King want 10 years to see how it works out. This is an experiment. On our kids. Ten years is huge in the life of a student. And if it's a miserable failure? Think of the thousands of students who have been failed by CommonCore. What will happen to them? Of course the goal of Common Core is to make the students college and career ready. And if it doesn't? Oops. Sorry. We forgot to be sure this will actually work, before we had AN ENTIRE NATION jump on board.

 

[shortbun]

Strange since our kids are required to have a 21 or higher on the ACT as part of graduation requirements. Just don't see the issue with taking the tests.

Wow! That's an unusual graduation requirement since ACT is totally optional and only students going to college need it-maybe. Also, it's not unusual for smart kids to score low on the ACT test.

Anyway, in Ohio, students can refuse anything except the Ohio Graduation Test(OGT) and even that test can be waived for certain IEPs. Lots of parents opt their children out of early 'testing' because it's so stressful. My son always loved testing because he went to an 'Informal' school and there was very little testing. He enjoyed it so much, he'd come home all chatty and tell me about the questions on the test. He especially liked the questions he deemed trick questions.

 

[pigletgirl]

School is children's first experience with work. When they are young, their "work" is play. But, gradually, they must transition to the world of reality. School helps prepare them for that. I make no excuses for making my kids do what is required by the school. It might be silly, inane, stupid, mindless....whatever. An accredited teacher determined it was appropriate. If it's a standardized test, the local school district determined it was appropriate. I think a HUGE problem in our culture is parents deciding to substitute their judgment for everything pertaining to their snowflakes. We're raising a generation which thinks it can opt out of anything they want. It doesn't work that way in the real world, and the sooner they accept that reality, the better.

I agree!!

 

[Hannathy]

My niece is an 8th grade ELA teacher in the Western NY area and she is also required to only read parts of novels. Very frustrating and it is all because of Common Core. Can you imagine only reading part of a book?

I'm sure many of you don't realize that this Common core stuff has never even been field tested to prove that it will actually improve education. We are all the guinea pigs right now! Commissioner King want 10 years to see how it works out. This is an experiment. On our kids. Ten years is huge in the life of a student. And if it's a miserable failure? Think of the thousands of students who have been failed by CommonCore. What will happen to them? Of course the goal of Common Core is to make the students college and career ready. And if it doesn't? Oops. Sorry. We forgot to be sure this will actually work, before we had AN ENTIRE NATION jump on board.

Bull!! English Classes have often only read parts of novels. My DD did it in elementary school and she was in a Gifted Charter class, and in middle school and in high school and this was before Common Core!

I remember reading parts of novels in English class back when we were the Common Core that most of today's common core is based on! In other words decades ago.

As another poster just said and I said last post, if teachers and schools hadn't done so much pass on good behavior or just because they were in the grade long enough , or to make themselves look good. If they had failed the students who deserved it it wouldn't have come to this. I don't get the big deal, if a child is at grade level they should be able to do the test. And to the teachers , guess what many, many jobs have "tests" that determine how much you get paid or keep your job.

 

[luvsJack]

Bull!! English Classes have often only read parts of novels. My DD did it in elementary school and she was in a Gifted Charter class, and in middle school and in high school and this was before Common Core!

I remember reading parts of novels in English class back when we were the Common Core that most of today's common core is based on! In other words decades ago.

As another poster just said and I said last post, if teachers and schools hadn't done so much pass on good behavior or just because they were in the grade long enough , or to make themselves look good. If they had failed the students who deserved it it wouldn't have come to this. I don't get the big deal, if a child is at grade level they should be able to do the test. And to the teachers , guess what many, many jobs have "tests" that determine how much you get paid or keep your job.

I can remember reading parts of novels too. And dd has done the same thing and then completed the reading on her own. Her teacher gives them time in the 90 minute class to read on their own and most of them do complete the novels in that time.

And in doing that, she has encouraged many of these kids to read much more on their own. So, its not such a bad thing.

 

[PlutoPony]

High stakes testing isn't limited to elementary school. My son is a freshman in college and for most of his classes tests make up a majority of his grade. In several cases they only have mid-term and final.

Now THAT'S high stakes testing! And you can put a $ amount on the performance either by needing to retake a class because of the grade or lower/higher GPA and job prospects.

 

[bittybabygrower]

Ohio is going to be going to ACT testing for graduation in the next few years, or so it is rumored.

 

[bittybabygrower]

Wow! That's an unusual graduation requirement since ACT is totally optional and only students going to college need it-maybe. Also, it's not unusual for smart kids to score low on the ACT test. Anyway, in Ohio, students can refuse anything except the Ohio Graduation Test(OGT) and even that test can be waived for certain IEPs. Lots of parents opt their children out of early 'testing' because it's so stressful. My son always loved testing because he went to an 'Informal' school and there was very little testing. He enjoyed it so much, he'd come home all chatty and tell me about the questions on the test. He especially liked the questions he deemed trick questions.

Eventually Ohio is going to ACT testing as a graduation requirement also.

 

[Hannathy]

Eventually Ohio is going to ACT testing as a graduation requirement also.

What score will they need? Do you know?

 

[leebee]

Tying school funding to grades on standardized tests has doomed education, IMO. Get a "good grade" and you get your funding; get "bad grades" and you don't deserve the money as you aren't providing the education. Seems bass-ackwards to me; poorer schools, schools without resources, schools without funds to pay teachers, etc., are the schools that usually perform lowest but also are the schools that need the money the most. Schools have to get high grades, so kids have to do well on the tests, or the school district loses money; hence the issue of "teaching the test."

Test preparation is also a misnomer. I thought that in math, preparing to take standardized tests would mean reviewing the basic skills necessary to do a math problem; reviewing how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions, review how fractions, decimals, and percents are related, reviewing how to "deal with" exponents, etc. Nope. Test review means reading problems from prior tests and memorizing the steps to solving them. I bet 80% of the kids were totally lost in this test prep, because it assumes that the kids have basic math skills that they remember how to use. Spiraling math programs don't teach memorization of basic skills; they teach how to apply things in specific situations, and then move on, so only about 20% of the kids are truly prepared to do a math problem, much less pass a math standardized test. Our test scores show it: Admin is psyched that 8th grade earned a 62% for meeting or exceeding the standard, but what this means is that 4 out of 10 kids aren't prepared to figure out how much to tip the waitress. It's pathetic that 40% of our kids can't do basic math in their heads. (We won't talk about the 32% writing proficiency in 8th grade…)

I have an opinion on how education should happen, but it's not always popular (flame suit on ). I think we worry too much about making school fun, about not damaging self-esteem, about creating "lifelong learners." I think we need to raise the bar, not lower it… and I see lots of lowering (social promotion, "do-overs" connected to the concept that a kid can "fail" with a 70% instead of assigning the 42% they actually earned, etc.) and not too much demanding mastery. Honestly… I don't really care if DD is embarrassed because she got a 40% on her spelling test. Don't whine… study. Work. Meet the challenge. Learn. I'm tired of school being a love-fest. We keep saying that school is a kid's job, but we let them slide by year after year, praising them for what little they DO learn instead of demanding the meet a specific standard. Honestly, no 5th grader should be proud to have their story posted on the bulletin board in the hallway, when the text reads, "we whent to the store yestaday. Wile we where there we met some frends. There all comming to my house to swim tomorow." No good teacher should have let this slide through… but today's educational outlook is to focus on voice and self- or peer-editing, so there it is. As a parent, I would be deeply embarrassed to see this displayed with my kid's name on it, not proud because my kid's work is hanging on the wall. What happened to learning?

 

[pigletgirl]

In AZ, high school students are required to pass AIMS (Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards), and you must pass four areas (Math, Reading, Writing and Science) to get your high school diploma. If you "exceed" in all 3 areas you can get a full ride scholarship to any state university of your liking.

While its not a perfect way to test, it does give motivation to students who have potential that otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity to go to a university. This is the case with MANY kids in the state of AZ.

 

[disneydentist]

High stakes testing isn't limited to elementary school. My son is a freshman in college and for most of his classes tests make up a majority of his grade. In several cases they only have mid-term and final.

Now THAT'S high stakes testing! And you can put a $ amount on the performance either by needing to retake a class because of the grade or lower/higher GPA and job prospects.

I agree completely.

Those who think they're making a statement or sparing their children "stress" by opting out are lonely fooling themselves. Life is full of stressful situations. They better get used to it.

I'd also bet that quite a few of those who opt out are afraid that their little snowflake won't do well. That's life. Not everyone gets to be on top. Only one.

Now, I'll admit that the current system isn't perfect. But guess what, there is no perfect system. Welcome to reality.

 

[Poohforyou]

My daughter is so frustrated with her English class-they read a lot of novels but they only read PARTS of them! They may read the first 12 chapters of one and then move on to six chapters of another. School says it's due to the common core crap-she wants to finish reading them all but with the amount of homework she really has no time for pleasure reading at home.

That's bizarre. My dd is also a freshman and in honors English. They've read a lot of novels this year - cover to cover. How do they teach story plot, character development etc without reading the entire book?

I guess we're fortunate here in NJ because aside from a biology exam and high school proficiency exam no other standardized tests impact grades, class placement or graduation.

 

[Poohforyou]

High stakes testing isn't limited to elementary school. My son is a freshman in college and for most of his classes tests make up a majority of his grade. In several cases they only have mid-term and final.

Now THAT'S high stakes testing! And you can put a $ amount on the performance either by needing to retake a class because of the grade or lower/higher GPA and job prospects.

That's pretty typical of college classes. I had many that included a paper and exam and that was it.

 

[LisaInNc]

we can't in NC and it kind of pisses me off. I was so mad at her science teacher and her incompetence that I decided if she didn't have to take it she would not.

"Any exemptions from the annual nationally standardized testing requirement for enrollees in grades 3, 6, 9 or 11?

No. It is required of every conventional K-12 non-public school enrollee in grades 3, 6, 9 and 11. No exceptions for any reason. Conventional K-12 non-public schools are exempted from all Public Schools of North Carolina student testing requirements. See G.S. 115C-554 and 562.
A grade 12 student cannot legally be graduated from a conventional K-12 non-public school in North Carolina until he/she has achieved the school's required minimum competency score on the nationally standardized test administered the previous school year while the student was enrolled in grade 11. See G.S. 115C-550 and 558.
Also, see "North Carolina requires a specific academic competency."