Teachers fear focus on testing will lead to superficial learning
Marchel Bragg worries that her students may leave Tomas Rivera Middle School in Moreno Valley with knowledge that's a mile wide, but only an inch deep. They might be able to tell you when the Holocaust occurred, but have no clue as to the extent of human suffering that took place.
Due to tremendous emphasis on standardized testing, she says, "teachers are not being allowed to teach beyond what is necessary to pass the test."
"Kids are being shortchanged," says Bragg, a member of the Val Verde Teachers Association who teaches sixth-grade language arts, reading and social studies. Many students are getting only a superficial education as a result of the so-called reform movement.
Marchel Bragg leads a discussion of Greek mythology among her students at Tomas Rivera Middle School in Moreno Valley.
"It sends them the wrong message. For example, there has been a lot of emphasis taken away from social science, so today's students are losing the ability to understand the significance of past events. If students don't make a connection between their lives and the civil rights movement, it means nothing to them. The Holocaust means nothing to them. I think it's sad."
Teachers say that the accountability movement has caused them to focus primarily on teaching test-taking skills rather than improving instruction. "The horror is that we will train them to fill in bubbles instead of explore ideas," says Alfie Kohn, a critic of high-stakes testing who spoke at CTA's Urban Issues Conference in April.
"Standardized tests only test your ability to take a test. They don't test whether you really know information," says Bragg. "If you ask students who perform well on standardized tests to discuss information in a non-testing format, oftentimes they can't do it.
They haven't learned it. They have only learned how to take a test."
"To me, it seems the national political movement toward increased testing and accountability causes teachers to lose their focus on teaching and learning."
Teachers credit standardized testing with inflicting the death sentence on the "teachable moment," where real life occurrences spark impromptu discussions that energize students and give teachers a chance to bring lessons to life.
It would be nice if teachers could turn students' questions about SAT-9 tests into teachable moments. But students are always surprised to find out teachers can't talk to them about the test, even after they take it. It would be considered teaching to the test.
Teachers aren't supposed to teach to the test. State law forbids it. Tests are treated like classified documents and kept under lock and key. But with so much - state money, jobs, reputations, real estate prices and promotions to the next grade - riding on a single test, many say it should come as no surprise that preparing students adequately for the test sometimes becomes a fuzzy area. Tests used to reflect what was taught in class; now, tests dictate what's taught.
'The emphasis on testing and test prep is killing teacher creativity. People are leaving the profession, even though we need them more than ever, because the level of pressure is increasing.' - Bill Hedrick, president of the Rialto Teachers Association
At one school in Moreno Valley under tremendous pressure to improve test scores, the staff is being investigated for cheating.
"They didn't cheat," says Val Verde Teachers Association President Kennette Babb. She maintains that teachers were given faulty instructions during test time by higher-ups. "Marginal things were done. They thought they were doing right."
"But with tremendous pressure to get scores up, schools lose focus on what education is all about," she says. "Education is not just about test scores. It's not just about teaching kids facts. It's about teaching kids what they need to know for the future. It's teaching them how to think, ask questions and live their lives."
"Teachers are frustrated because we feel like we can't get it all done. We don't feel like we're properly teaching kids. We spend so much time on test preparation instead of actually teaching. But it's hard to figure out how not to drill-and-kill when you have limited time and resources."
Even she spends time on test preparation in her PE class, "going over it again and again and again."
It takes a toll on students, says Babb. "The fun is being taken out of education for kids. I loved school. It was fun and a great place to be. I don't think that's true anymore."
To make more time for testing and test prep, schools are cutting back on electives such as art, music and drama. Dennis Wright, a middle school music teacher and member of the Monterey Bay Teachers Association, wonders whether yanking electives frustrates students even more.
Anthony Kastel keeps his eyes on the ball during physical education class.
"When at-risk students have the things they enjoy taken away from them, they become even more frustrated - and they act out in class." The risk is they'll drop out of school.
"Some kids live to be in the orchestra or play basketball. These things teach self-discipline, teamwork, life lessons and aesthetic enrichment. If you take that away to improve their API scores a couple of points, what have you really gained? Is it really in the best interest of the child? Instead of sitting in a class with a frustrating subject for 45 minutes, they are now there for 90 minutes. But their needs aren't being met."
Part of the problem with putting so much emphasis on test scores is that students are looked at as numbers rather than human beings, says Paul August, an advanced placement English teacher at Oakland High School.
"We have difficult conditions here in the inner city," says the Oakland Education Association member. "We lose kids in shootings and drug overdoses. But we are also saving lives here in inner-city schools. Step into my classroom and see what goes on here. Let me introduce you to the kid whose mother left her at grandma's house and never picked her up. Or the sisters whose mother died, leaving them to take care of their baby twin brothers. All this reform stuff misses the point - that it can be life or death here in Oakland schools. We are trying to save the lives of children while bureaucrats are pissing around with the API and accountability.
"I know I speak for many teachers when I say leave me alone and let me teach. Get these damn harebrained bureaucrats out of my way. Get all these tests off my back. Get all these phony reforms away from me. Respect me as a professional teacher. Leave me alone and let me teach."
Students as well as teachers are angry about so much testing, says San Lorenzo High School math teacher Carlos Cabana. "My students tell me that they are angry about being judged on one test - the SAT-9," he says. "Just wait until the high school exit exam."
"No learning happens as of the first day of SAT-9 testing," says Cabana, a member of the San Lorenzo Teachers Association. "The kids are demoralized, exhausted and angry. They don't realize that the norm-referenced test is designed so that half the kids will get wrong questions. Or that the test purposely includes large numbers of items outside of what is normally taught. Kids don't realize they are being tested on things they were not taught - on purpose - because 50 percent of students are supposed to fail. They assume a test is supposed to be fair. So, of course, they are demoralized and frustrated."
He feels overwhelmed by what he considers a moral obligation to shelter kids from political whims and keep them from being victimized. "I have to prepare them to pass the high school exit exam, regardless of my beliefs. I have to deal with the consequences of kids seeing their entire future based on one test. I have to do it in a way that doesn't discourage them. I don't want them to drop out."
Many students for whom English is not their first language feel angry or depressed because they're having to take tests in a language they don't understand. "Even accelerated math students are doomed to fail tests if they are tested in a language they don't understand," says CTA Board member Angela Marese Boyle. "If we are testing something other than reading or language, it should be in a student's native language. Or at least we should put the test directions in their native language. The state needs to come to grips with that."
Teachers working at Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program (II/ USP) sites, which must improve test scores or face a state takeover, are under tremendous pressure, says Carole Bailey, president of the Desert Sands Teachers Association.
"This type of reform leaves teachers emotional wrecks. It stresses them to the limit. Teachers here have taken more sick leave this year than in the past two years combined. Reform is supposed to support teachers and students. Instead, it's just tearing them down."
At many sites, says Bailey, external evaluators blamed the low scores on teachers. "They slammed teachers at many of our sites, saying it was all their fault. Teacher morale is so low because they feel rejected, not supported. Test scores control everything. At the rate we're going, teacher evaluations will be based on test scores, and teachers' jobs will be on the line if they don't get certain scores. It's a nightmare that's gotten out of control."
Low teacher morale is not the desired result of true reform, notes the Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) report Crucial Issues in California Education 2000: Are the Reform Pieces Fitting Together? True reform, notes the report, motivates teachers "to innovate and implement more effective teaching practices. Policies emanating from Sacramento should energize teachers in the school down the street."
If anything positive has come out of the reform movement, says CTA Board member Dayton Crummey, "it's that there is now a lot more reflection on student work. We're looking at what students actually do and how they perform in the classroom. There is a more coordinated effort on the part of teachers to do that, and I think this kind of reflection has been missing. Unfortunately, though, schools have had to spend an inordinate amount of time on testing and test preparation."
The emphasis on testing and test prep is killing teacher creativity, says Bill Hedrick, president of the Rialto Education Association.
"We have to let teachers exercise professional judgment. I think this has contributed to turnover in our staff. People are leaving the profession, even though we need them more than ever, because the level of pressure is increasing. We're trapped in a downward spiral."
He maintains that teaching is an art, and teachers need to be free to apply their individual talents. "When someone is monitoring their every instructional minute, it kills their creativity and ability to excel. There has to be some time left for spontaneity."
At some II/USP sites in his district, Hedrick says, "fear is the predominant feature. Once you get past the fear, it becomes resignation. What I'm hearing is that half the plans (by external evaluators) are helpful and half are less than helpful. All of the plans have induced such stress and apprehension that you have to question the productiveness of it."
API scores have gone up, which has some lawmakers jubilant. But many teachers say that the API doesn't measure true learning. Typically, whenever a standardized test is adopted, test scores go up and then hit a plateau.
And when new, standards-based tests figure into API scores, some schools that have received cash awards for improvement may discover that success is fleeting - especially those schools that have geared instruction around the SAT-9.
Some schools may simply stay the course because they have been focused on meeting higher standards rather than trying to ace a single test, predicts EdSource's Aligning California's Education Reforms report. "At the other end of the spectrum, some schools may find they are chasing a moving target because they have neglected the larger standards goals in a single-minded pursuit of higher Stanford-9 scores and the state incentives currently attached to them."
The report suggests that reforms be evaluated on an ongoing basis to judge their effectiveness.
"At the end of the day, the most important question will be whether or not the vast majority of California's students are in fact receiving a better education and emerging from their school years better prepared for success in the 21st century. Test scores alone cannot answer that question."
Marchel Bragg leads a discussion of Greek mythology among her students at Tomas Rivera Middle School in Moreno Valley.
'The emphasis on testing and test prep is killing teacher creativity. People are leaving the profession, even though we need them more than ever, because the level of pressure is increasing.' - Bill Hedrick, president of the Rialto Teachers Association
Anthony Kastel keeps his eyes on the ball during physical education class.
