Dave Chandler

End Colorado's High Stakes Testing? It Might Happen!

Maybe the world is coming to an end -- I have something good to say about the radical Republicans in Congress. Let's just hope that Colorado's delegation in Washington, Republicans and Democrats, get behind this new move to give our state the right to opt out of the pit of high stakes 'education' testing known here as CSAP, the Colorado Student Assessment Program.

The news item linked to first here is a report that Republicans in Congress are leading the effort to allow states to opt out of the 'No Child Left Behind' (NCLB) federal testing mandates. CSAP is Colorado's version of the NCLB centralized, top-down, one-size-fits-all testing that has done nothing to improve the quality of education here or across the nation.

Note also in the second news report I have linked to -- Democrats in the Minnesota state legislature are the prime movers there to reject NCLB's federal testing mandate. Where are the Colorado legislators? The Colorado teacher's union?

As far as I am concerned, whether it comes from Republicans or Democrats, any move to end this onerous testing is a move in a better direction.

As more details of the Hoekstra bill become available, I'll post them here. In the meantime, send a brief email to our Colorado Senators and Representatives urging them to support this effort.

Link: Dozens in GOP Turn Against Bush's Prized 'No Child' Act | Washington Post

More than 50 GOP members of the House and Senate -- including the House's second-ranking Republican -- will introduce legislation today that could severely undercut President Bush's signature domestic achievement, the No Child Left Behind Act, by allowing states to opt out of its testing mandates.

For a White House fighting off attacks on its war policy and dealing with a burgeoning scandal at the Justice Department, the GOP dissidents' move is a fresh blow on a new front. Among the co-sponsors of the legislation are House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a key supporter of the measure in 2001, and John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Bush's most reliable defender in the Senate. Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), the House GOP's chief deputy whip and a supporter in 2001, has also signed on.

Burson Snyder, a spokesman for Blunt, said that after several meetings with school administrators and teachers in southwest Missouri, the House Republican leader turned against the measure he helped pass. Blunt was convinced that the burdens and red tape of the No Child Left Behind Act are unacceptably onerous, Snyder said. ...

... Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), author of the new House bill, said the number of Republicans already backing the new measure exceeds the 41 House Republicans and Democrats who voted against the original legislation in 2001. Of the House bill's co-sponsors, at least eight voted for the president's plan six years ago. ...

... Under Hoekstra's bill, any state could essentially opt out of No Child Left Behind after one of two actions. A state could hold a referendum, or two of three elected entities -- the governor, the legislature and the state's highest elected education official -- could decide that the state would no longer abide by the strict rules on testing and the curriculum.

The Senate bill is slightly less permissive, but it would allow a state to negotiate a "charter" with the federal government to get away from the law's mandates.

In both cases, the states that opt out would still be eligible for federal funding, but those states could exempt any education program but special education from No Child Left Behind strictures. ...

Link: Minnesota Bill Would Opt Out of Federal No Child Left Behind Law | Winona Daily News

Just as they promised, Minnesota legislators are working to drop the No Child Left Behind Act and its limits on Minnesota education.

Winona Democrats Sen. Sharon Erickson Ropes and Rep. Gene Pelowski this week joined dozens of other state lawmakers who want to opt out of the federal mandate that aims to make all students proficient in reading and math by 2014.

While some believe the act has helped students make academic progress, others say the law narrows class options and encourages teachers to tailor their lessons to the test.

A bill introduced in the Legislature on Monday would direct Minnesota to stop implementing the act in June, though local legislators are doubtful the bill will pass.

Opting out could mean the loss of federal funds, but Pelowski said a legislative auditor’s report actually found that schools will — in the long-term — save money.

Fifteen states, including Minnesota, North Dakota and Illinois, have considered legislation to opt out.

But it’s not just money that matters. No Child Left Behind also lowers Minnesota education standards to other states’ standards, Pelowski said. The public high school teacher said the state is in the “ludicrous position” of taking away teaching time to make more time for tests — last year, Winona Middle School students took 18 tests in one month.

“We’re not helping students,” he said. “We’re only testing them.”

Test scores are not necessarily a measure of overall success. Under the law, a school can be deemed failing if even one subgroup — such as special education students — fails. The problem is that some of these students are, by definition, not reading or doing math at grade level. ...

Colorado School Testing

In today's Rocky Mountain News, is a letter-to-the-editor that I penned about the Colorado Student Assessment Program (letter and link below).

This is the third year that my wife and I have opted-out our daughter from taking these seemingly endless and grueling tests. Besides the points I stated in the letter, consider this: we have been CSAP testing for ten years now, we have spent tens of millions of dollars paying for these tests and the grading -- what has changed in our public school system for the better?

The only positive development that I perceive is for state and national politicians who can now bray about how they are doing something for educational 'accountablility'.

My position is that a 'president' from Texas, or a Senator from Alabama, or a state legislator from Grand Junction shouldn't be telling my school board in Jefferson County how we -- here -- should be teaching our children.

The thing is -- I am no 'bleeding heart' when it comes to education. I think 'core knowledge' should be the basis for teaching in all of our public schools; I think that public school students get way too many days and afternoons off; I'm for banning cell phones in the schools; there are too many administrators; public school teachers get paid a good salary and benefits in Jefferson County, and so on.

I also believe that most teachers are sincere, hardworking and will do almost anything they can to educate the children in their care. But I also believe that mandates and regulations from centralized authorities at the Colorado state capitol and from Washington, D.C., are tying teacher's hands and burdening them with unnecessary paperwork and reporting requirements.

CSAP is a perfect example of the kind of mandated, top-down, centralized, bureaucratic scheme that politicians and pandering elected officials come up with -- the actual education of the students is the least of their concerns (re-election and getting campaign contributions is their number one priority).

Finally, to the first couple of comments left at the Rocky Mountain News web site page for my letter, I have this observation: my hunch is that these two commentors are probably old enough that they never had to take a test like CSAP. Without all this high-stakes, mandated testing guiding their education, how did they ever get smart enough to put those sentences together at all? Like me, they were probably taught fairly well in public schools twenty and thirty years ago -- when there was no CSAP. There has been a decline in the quality of public education for sure, but I see that degradation occurring with the rise of state and national micromanagement of curriculum.

I hope that is what changes.

Link: Mandated Testing of Students is a Fraud | Dave Chandler/Letter to the Editor/Rocky Mountain News

CSAP testing is a fraud. The report in the March 5 Rocky Mountain News — “See-Sap! Schools begin their yearly sweepstakes run today/State-mandated tests put educators on funding spot” — proves the point.

The concept behind this one-size-fits-all testing was to provide an impartial survey of how schools are teaching our children.

Pep rallies, prizes for performance, special tutoring and heavy pressure from administrators have created an artificial testing environment. Under these conditions, the testing results become highly suspect.

Why do schools feel so compelled to go to these extreme measures to inflate Colorado Student Assessment Program results? Because the testing is solely about keeping and gaining money from the state and federal government. CSAP is a prime example of centralized education, and the usurpation of local school boards’ power to decide what is best for their own students.

I encourage parents to opt their children out of CSAP testing. More important than the funding schemes of national and state politicians is to instill the joy of learning in our children.

Dave Chandler, Arvada