School Board Advocacy Network urges legislators to reduce high-stakes testing in grades 3-8 - pass HB 2836

Reduce Emphasis on High-Stakes Testing in Grades 3-8
 

"With just over 24 hours left for legislators to pass bills, those not heard before midnight on Sunday will die. House Bill 2836 by Rep. Bennett Ratliff (R-Coppell) is currently in conference committee and will go before the full Senate and House for passage on Sunday.

House Bill 2836 focuses solely on testing in grades 3-8. Call your legislator and urge them to support the bill with the following provisions:

• Reduce the length of tests to 120 minutes in grades 3-5, 180 minutes in grades 5-8,with no time limit for struggling learners;
• Refine tests to include readiness standards only for accountability purposes, supporting standards for diagnostic purposes only;
• Include revisions for STARR-Alt tests to be provided by the State and not teachers; and
• Require the length, scope and assessment of TEKS be studied.

Contact Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and the following conference committee members to urge their support for HB 2836."

Senate Conferees:

Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston), 512-463-0107

Sen. Robert Duncan (R-Lubbock), 512-463-0128

Sen. Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands), 512-463-0104                        

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio), 512-463-0126

Sen. Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo), 512-463-0131

House:

Rep. Dan Huberty (R-Houston), 512-463-0520

Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Houston), 512-463-0554

Rep. John Kuempel (R-Seguin), 512-463-0602

Rep. Marsha Farney (R-Georgetown), 512-463-0309"

High-Stakes testing and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have roots in Dallas ISD

The story of high-stakes testing and the  test and punish requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) includes a role played many years ago at Dallas ISD.  

The early role played by Dallas ISD in the development of the test and punish "accountability" movement started with a Commission For Educational Excellence (1990-91) appointed by Dallas ISD Trustees and headed by Sandy Kress - an attorney who moved to Austin,Texas and later became "the principal architect of Texas’s accountability system."

I served on that Dallas ISD Commission For Educational Excellence (1990-91) and supported a minority report dissenting from certain recommendations made in the full Commission report to the Board of Trustees.
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Rewarding Effective Schools -Theory and Practice in an Outstanding Schools Awards Program (March 1997)

William J. Webster Robert Mendro Donna K. Bearden Karen L. Bembry Heather R.Jordan

Dallas Public Schools Introduction

In 1990, the Board of Education of the Dallas Public Schools established a Commission for Educational Excellence to examine the instructional aspects of the District and to make any necessary recommendations to help improve the education of the District's students. Among the Commission's recommendations was to establish a method to identify effective schools and teachers relative to their students' outcomes. Further, the Commission recommended that the most effective schools be rewarded and the least effective schools be helped to assist them in improving their students' outcomes (Commission, 1991). Adopting the Commission's recommendations, the Board directed the administration to develop a system for a) identifying effective and ineffective schools in an equitable fashion and b) rewarding effective schools for their achievements. The system was to be based primarily on student achievement but to include and allow for non-achievement variables. Awards were to be sufficiently substantial to have meaning to the participants. The system was developed and put into place in the 1991-92 school year. Effective and ineffective schools have been identified each year and, in the 5 years of the program, approximately 11 million dollars have been awarded to staff members.

Click Here
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A large part of the high-stakes testing and No Child Left Behind story was recently told in a January 13, 2013 article written by Tom Paulken in the publication - The American Conservative. 

• Texas vs No Child Left Behind - The state where it all began turns against the Cult of Educational Testing--and the interests behind it.

meckert75 / Flickr

By Tom Pauken • January 23, 2013 - The American Conservative

"Seventeen months from now, every American student will be proficient in reading, and mathematics. On what basis do I make such a bold claim? It’s the law.

When the No Child Left Behind Legislation was signed by President George W. Bush 11 years ago, it required that by the end of 2013-2014 school year, “all students… will meet or exceed the State’s proficient level of academic achievement on the State assessments.”

If you find it absurd that we can make all our students above average with the stroke of the presidential pen, you’re not alone. The 100 percent proficiency goal of NCLB is now widely acknowledged to be a pipe dream. Recent trends indicate that schools are not even headed in the right direction; and, in much of the press, the 100 percent proficiency goal has become something of the punch line of a joke. Meanwhile, in a move that tacitly acknowledges the unworkability of the current law, the Department of Education is granting NCLB waivers to states which will make it easier for them to skirt the requirements."

More Here

"Texas is where the failed policies of NCLB, along with an almost pathological obsession with testing, had their start.

"For the past two decades, excessive emphasis on high-stakes standardized testing and a one-size-fits-all focus on preparing all students for college came to dominate education policy in Texas and later, in Washington, D.C. with the passage of the Bush-Kennedy “No Child Left Behind” legislation. In addition, vocational education came to be neglected—even denigrated—in this massive push to make all students “college-ready.” Meanwhile, the principle of local control over education (which historically had been a deeply-held belief of Goldwater-Reagan Conservatives) was abandoned by Republican politicians in Texas and Washington, D.C., in their rush to be known as “educational reformers.”

"The principal architect of Texas’s accountability system was a lawyer from Dallas named Sandy Kress. The most thorough analysis of Kress’s role in pushing Texas’s education policy in the direction of a high-stakes testing system was one written by Mark Donald for the October 19, 2000 issue in the Dallas Observer right before George W. Bush’s election to the presidency. Entitled “The Resurrection of Sandy Kress,” Donald’s article described how Democrat Kress and Republican Bush came to be close allies in pushing Kress’s vision of “educational accountability.”

"Moreover, Sandy had not exactly distinguished himself in the early 1990s when he chaired the board of the Dallas Independent School District (DISD), during one of the most tumultuous periods in DISD history.

"Many students get frustrated with the current one-size-fits-all test-based system with its emphasis on pushing everyone towards college; and they drop out because they don’t see education as relevant to them.

"Texas policy-makers are coming to the realization that the high-stakes accountability system is fundamentally flawed.

"Even longtime proponents of high-stakes, standardized testing are starting to question the wisdom of the current system of school accountability. As reported by Paul Burka in Texas Monthly, the former commissioner of the Texas Education Agency, Robert Scott, made this startling admission in a speech to the Texas Association of School Administrators: “I believe that testing is good for some things, but the system that we have created has become a perversion of its original intent, the intent to improve teaching and learning. The intent to improve teaching and learning has gone too far afield, and I look forward to reeling it back in.”

Alexander "Sandy" Kress
Partner, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld, L.L.P.
Alexander "Sandy" Kress is an attorney at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer Feld & LLP in Austin, Texas, focusing on public law and policy at the state and national levels. He formerly served as an education advisor to President George W. Bush. Prior to that, he served as president of the board of trustees of the Dallas Independent School District.

Texas House of Representives votes to reduce high-stakes testing - House Bill 5

A good thing happened for Texas education yesterday.

The Texas House of Representatives voted 145-2 to reduce the number of high-stakes tests required for Texas high school graduation from 15 tests to 5 tests.  

The five exams that students would have to pass before graduation are English II reading and writing, algebra I, biology and U.S. history. 

House committee Chairman Jimmie Don Aycock asked members of the House four questions:

• Are we over-testing students?
• Is it ok for a child to find a path outside of a four-year degree?
• Does every student in every situation need Algebra II?
• Do you think our accountability system should be based on more than testing?   

The House committee Chair stated: "We are, in fact, over-testing." He said 15 end-of-course tests are just too many. 

This is a positive move in the right direction away from excessive high-stakes testing. High-stakes tests remain, but the testing is reduced.

It is also a good thing that House Bill 5 provides alternative paths to graduation and allows students and parents to select the path to high school graduation. 


Students will be able to select one of five paths — or “endorsements” — to graduation. Those paths include:

• arts and humanities
• business and industry
• multi-discipline studies
• public services
• science and math

House Bill 5 also broadens school accountability ratings to include academic performance (test results), financial performance and community engagement - not just tests alone.

Community engagement is especially good to add to the accountability system since our public schools are there to serve their local neighborhoods and communities. 

Yesterday was a good day for public education in Texas. Not all was done but the legislature moved in the right direction.

Randi Weingarten of AFT takes on high-stakes testing

From Crooks and Liars - Click Here

March 20, 2012 08:00 AM

By Kenneth Quinnell

"American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten attended the International Summit on the Teaching Profession and came away with a renewed sense that high-stakes standardized tests are hurting the U.S. education system and its students.

I think the first thing we have to do is move off the test fixaton. Top-down, test-driven accountability as a salvation has not proven to work. People will say, “Oh, she’s anti-accountability.” But I’m for making sure teachers can really teach and for multiple measures to assess teachers, like peer review, self-reflection, administrative review and assessment of student learning. But right now there are a disproportionate number of points [in many teacher evaluation systems] allocated to test scores.

The president gets a lot of credit for saying in his State of the Union, “Let’s not teach to the test.” NAEP [the National Assessment of Educational Progress] scores from the last decade had a better rate of growth than in this decade, and that says a lot about the effects of top-down, test-based accountability. We have to get away from that concept. I think if there’s a reset button where we get away from that, we can unleash creativity. We can unleash the Common Core, we can work on teacher quality through what we know works: cooperative environments. Then I think we’ll have a different conversation in America.

She noted that countries that do better in educating their students than the U.S. don't share our test obsession ..."


Why Education in Singapore Works - A School System Focused on Collaboration and Trust

Texas PTA sending resolution concerning high stakes testing to local groups

From Texas Association of School Administrators - TASA - Click Here

Submitted by arivas on May 1, 2012 

 

"The Texas PTA is appealing to local PTAs through an e-newsletter to encourage local PTAs to adopt a family-focused version of the Resolution Concerning High Stakes, Standardized Testing of Texas Public School Students. 

"Texas PTA seeks to communicate through this resolution PTA families' concerns about high stakes testing. Acknowledging the need for rigorous instruction and assessment, Texas PTA seeks to support a needed transformation in Texas public schools - one that fosters innovation, creativity and a thirst for learning with new, more meaningful, assessment and accountability measures. Texas PTA seeks a partnership between schools and families to achieve these goals," the newsletter reads in part.

Texas PTA's suggested timeline asks local PTAs to adopt the resolution by the end of this school year or at the beginning of the 2012-13 school year, and share the resolutions with Texas PTA, their local school board and state lawmakers."

Houston ISD resolution concerning high stakes, standardized testing of Texas public school students

As of May 16, 2012, 462 Texas school districts representing more than 2.6 million students have adopted the Resolution Concerning High Stakes, Standardized Testing of Texas Public School Students.

This is the text of the Houston ISD Resolution that was passed and approved by the Board of Trustees on last Thursday, May 10, 2012.

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES
HOUSTON INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
RESOLUTION CONCERNING HIGH STAKES, STANDARDIZED TESTING
OF TEXAS PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS

WHEREAS, we believe that the mission of our public schools is to ensure that all Texas children have access to a quality education that enables them to achieve their potential and fully participate now and in the future in the social, economic, and educational opportunities of our state and nation; and

WHEREAS, we support high standards and accountability for results for ourselves, our schools, our educators, and our students and their families; and

WHEREAS, the over reliance on standardized, high stakes testing as the only assessment of learning that really matters in the state and federal accountability systems is undermining the transformation of a traditional system of schooling into a broad range of learning experiences that better prepares our students to live successfully and be competitive in a global economy; and

WHEREAS, we commend Robert Scott, Commissioner of Education, for his concern about the overemphasis on high stakes testing that has become “a perversion of its original intent” and for his continuing support of high standards and local accountability; and

WHEREAS, State-mandated standardized tests may affect as many as forty-five instructional days during the school year on a high school campus, and even interfere with the normal instructional activities of students not taking such tests; and

WHEREAS, we believe our state’s future prosperity is dependent on a high-quality education system that prepares students for college and careers, and without such a system Texas’ economic competitiveness and ability and to attract new business will falter; and

WHEREAS, the real work of designing more engaging student learning experiences requires changes in the culture and structure of the systems in which teachers and students work; and

WHEREAS, what occurs in our classrooms every day should be student-centered and result in students learning at a deep and meaningful level, as opposed to the current overemphasis on that which can be easily tested by standardized tests; and

WHEREAS, We believe in the tenets set out in Creating a New Vision for Public Education in Texas (TASA, 2008) and our goal is to transform this district in accordance with those tenets; and

WHEREAS, Our vision is for all students to be engaged in more meaningful learning activities that cultivate their unique individual talents, to provide for students’ choice in work that is designed to respect how they learn best, and to embrace the concept that students can be both consumers and creators of knowledge; and

WHEREAS, only by developing new capacities and conditions in districts and schools, and the communities in which they are embedded, will we ensure that all learning spaces foster and celebrate innovation, creativity, problem solving, collaboration, communication and critical thinking; and

WHEREAS, these are the skills that business leaders desire in a workforce and the very attitudes that are essential to the survival of our democracy; and

WHEREAS, while we believe that standardized tests are integral to accountability in public schools and point with pride to the performance of our students, we concur that making these tests the sole measure of accountability causes preparation for these tests to dominate instructional time, impeding progress toward a world-class education system of student centered schools and future-ready students.

NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Houston Independent School district Board of Education calls on the Texas Legislature to reexamine the public school accountability system in Texas and to develop a system that encompasses multiple assessments, reflects greater validity, reduces the number of instructional days affected by State-mandated standardized tests, and more accurately reflects what students know and can do in terms of the rigorous standards essential to their success, enhances the role of teachers as designers, guides to instruction and leaders, and nurtures the sense of inquiry and love of learning in all students.

PASSED AND APPROVED on this 10th day of May, 2012.


By: ____________________ By: _____________________
Name: Name:
Title: Title:
By: ____________________ By: _____________________
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By: ____________________ By: _____________________
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Houston ISD approves resolution concerning high stakes testing

As of May 14, 2012, 447 Texas districts representing nearly 2.6 million students have adopted the resolution.

From KUHF-FM News - Click Here
Houston Public Radio

May 11, 2012

by: David Pitman

"The Houston Independent School District has joined hundreds of other districts calling on the state to quit relying so heavily on standardized tests. The group that got HISD on board believes high-stakes testing puts too much of a burden on students, teachers, and parents."

 

On Thursday, May 10, 2012 the Houston ISD Board of Trustees approved a Resolution concerning high stakes testing.  The Resolution includes language calling on the Texas Legislature to:

"reexamine the public school accountability system in Texas and to develop a system that encompasses multiple assessments, reflects greater validity, reduces the number of instructional days affected by state-mandated standardized tests, and uses more cost efficient sampling techniques and other external evaluation arrangements, and more accurately reflects what students know, appreciate and can do in terms of the rigorous standards essential to their success, enhances the role of teachers as designers, guides to instruction and leaders, and nurtures the sense of inquiry and love of learning in all students."

From HISD Connect - Click Here 

Houston ISD Board Meeting - Thursday - May 10, 2012
Speakers on Resolution Concerning High Stakes Testing

Would Texas school trustees pass the STARR test?

How many Texas school board Trustees would pass the high-stakes STARR test or a similar test?  

How many successful school superintendents, state board of education members, school administrators, politicians, Mayors, members of Congress, members of city councils, legislators would fail?  

It is an interesting thought.  Maybe there should be a test for politicians and public officials who impose such tests on children.

Those who label children and schools as failures because of one high-stakes test might fail the same test. Still, they consider themselves to be successful citizens.

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From The Answer Sheet - by Valerie Strauss - Washington Post - May 10, 2012 - Click Here

Student video: How high-stakes tests affect kids

"In the video seven students are featured who are outstanding achievers academically but who failed the FCAT on their first try. The students, who had excelled in honors and Advanced Placement courses, were placed in remedial reading classes, according to Stanley, because of their poor showing on the FCAT. Also in the video is Orange County School Board member Rick Roach, the man who decided to take a test similar to the FCAT last year to see why so many excellent students were flunking."

Assessment without high-stakes testing

What sometimes happens to students who do poorly on tests? It appears they are often pushed out of public schools.

Apparently, this is one of the fastest and most troubling ways to create the illusion of test score improvement.

"Assessment without High-Stakes Testing: Protecting Childhood and the Purpose of School"

In a study of 271,000 Texas public high school students, Rice University researchers found that the state’s accountability system, the model for NCLB, “has succeeded wildly… in producing more dropouts  disproportionately minority student dropouts.”

See
http://www.utexas.edu/news/2008/02/18/education_accountability/

The report states: 

"Each year Texas public high schools lose at least 135,000 youth prior to graduation, and a disproportionately large number of those students are African American, Latino and English Language Learners (ELL).

"High-stakes, test-based accountability doesn't lead to school improvement or equitable educational possibilities," said Linda McSpadden McNeil, director of the Center for Education at Rice University. "It leads to avoidable losses of students. Inherently the system creates a dilemma for principals: comply or educate. Unfortunately, we found that compliance means losing students."

"The study shows that as schools came under the accountability system, which uses student test scores to rate schools and reward or discipline principals, massive numbers of students left the school system. The exit of low-achieving students created the appearance of rising test scores and a narrowing of the achievement gap between white and minority students, thus increasing a school's ratings.

"According to researchers, this study has serious implications for the nation's schools under the NCLB law. It finds that the higher the stakes and the longer such an accountability system governs schools, the more likely it is that school personnel see students not as children to educate but as potential liabilities or assets for their school's performance indicators, their own careers or their school's funding."

MORE HERE