Dave Chandler

Protesting the Texas Version of CSAP

Below is a newspaper report from Texas about a brave, freedom-loving, student taking a stand against that state's version of CSAP.

What is most outrageous about the case, as reported, is the heavy-handed manner in which the school administration unloads on the conscientious student. Note the arrogant attitude that only 'they' know what is best for him ... not he, not his parents, only the government bureaucrats. Note at the bottom of the report what the school district superintendent says about the student:

Teel said Williams' real punishment is denying himself "the opportunity to be successful."

Perhaps the truth is that it is the entire political high-stakes, standardized testing theory that is denying the opportunity for success to millions of children and thousands of teachers across this nation. In the decade this process has been in place, there has been no notable improvement in education; drop-out rates are at all time highs.

It is time for the federal and state legislatures to end this learning-killing testing mania.

Teenager Wants Suspension Erased | The Eagle/Bryan College Station - Texas

A Navasota High School student who refused to take a state-mandated test said last week that he hoped school officials would take the suspension he received as punishment off his record.

In place of the essay portion of the 10th-grade English section of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills on Tuesday, 16-year-old Kyle Williams wrote a letter of protest to a state agency.

Williams said last week that he hoped his protest would improve the quality of English education at Navasota High, but school and state officials said his actions only caused harm to himself and the school.

"Yes, it looks bad for the school, but what's worse is it's not giving [Williams] the opportunity to succeed," Navasota schools Superintendent Jennings Teel said.

State and federal laws require standardized testing at certain grade levels in specific subjects. In some grades -- including third, fifth, eighth and 11th -- failure of the TAKS test keeps a student from graduating or advancing to the next grade level.

But 10th-grade TAKS test are not required for graduation or promotion.

All TAKS test scores, however, affect a school's accountability ratings, which are compiled annually by the Texas Education Agency based on the percentage of students who pass state tests.

TEA spokeswoman Suzanne Marchman said students are required to take the tests, but neither TEA nor their school can force them to do so.

If a student doesn't take the TAKS, Marchman said, that student could face consequences.

"In those types of situations, refusing to take the test oftentimes hurts the student and hurts the school," she said. "The best means for change would be to contact their elected representatives."

The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires school districts and campuses to meet annual improvement standards based on graduation rates for high schools and districts and attendance rates for elementary schools, along with participation and passing rates on the reading and math TAKS.

Marchman said just one student's refusal to take the tests could make a difference in the school's ratings.

Navasota schools have received mixed reviews from the TEA in recent years. In 2008, four schools were rated academically acceptable, and an elementary school was rated recognized.

But in 2007, two schools -- including Navasota High -- were rated academically unacceptable. In both 2006 and 2005, two schools were rated recognized and three, including the high school, were rated academically acceptable.

But Williams said he wasn't thinking about that when he decided to not take the test.

It was a decision he had mulled over and even talked to his parents about for two weeks before the test was administered Tuesday.

Williams, who is an A student and was home-schooled until this year, said he was confident that he could have passed the TAKS.

"I think passing the test with flying colors would be like saying I received a great English education, which I didn't," Williams said. "I was hoping it would bring attention to the fact that the teacher wasn't doing her job. I was hoping they would just apologize and change [the way English class is taught], but that's not really going to happen."

When contacted by phone Friday, Williams' English teacher declined to comment without permission from Navasota High interim Principal Amy Jarvis. Jarvis could not be reached by phone Friday.

But Teel said Cornelia Wilson, who has been teaching for many years, is good at her job.

"He's probably got one of the best English teachers in the district," Teel said. "I feel very confident in that teacher's ability to prepare the student to take that test."

Williams was suspended for the day after refusing several times to complete the test.

Marchman said school districts are allowed to tie completion of the test to a grade for a class and to punish students who refuse to cooperate according to school policy.

But Williams said his punishment was unfair because there is no written policy that states whether a student can be punished for not completing the TAKS.

Teel said Williams' real punishment is denying himself "the opportunity to be successful."

"You want to put your children in the position to succeed. When you go out into the real world, it's competitive, and there are certain guidelines you have to follow," Teel said. "This is just sort of setting the stage for challenges he will be meeting in the future."

Battles on the CSAP Front

The second week of non-learning started today -- CSAP testing ... testing ... testing ... continues.

In Colorado Springs yet another group of parents have figured out that boycotting the CSAP is a great way to make a point. More power to those parents! And, those children will be grateful for at least one year's reprieve from the learning-killing CSAP.

There is still time, parents, to show your student that you value learning and education more than making the politicians and bureaucrats happy. Opt out of CSAP this week and re-enforce the importance of the joy of learning to your children.

Da Vinci Parents Opt Kids Out of CSAP to Make a Statement | Colorado Springs Gazette

At least 12 students at The da Vinci Academy have been sitting out CSAP tests this week as their parents protest changes they say are steering the school away from its mission of arts-integrated learning.

Another parent pulled her son out of the school and is home-schooling him because of changes at the Academy School District 20 elementary school.

In recent months, the parent group has complained repeatedly to the D-20 school board and administration about the erosion of the school's mission to "educate and enrich all learners through the integration of the arts and sciences."

Parent Kevin Kimble noted that at one time, for example, third-graders learned the parts of speech in a play in which they took on roles such as a noun or comma. Now, he said, they do worksheets and focus on CSAPs.

He said the parents aren't opposed to standardized testing in general but believe that the school has emphasized test preparation to the detriment of its students.

"There's nothing wrong with traditional curriculum, but this school was created to do something different," he said. "It allows a choice for parents. That's why it was so wildly successful. Nationally, we're leaving so many of our children behind because we're not teaching them in the way that they learn best."

Throughout February, parents sent letters to the school and D-20 administrators to opt their children out of CSAPs. Several of the parents said they would provide their children with alternative education activities on test days; others said they expected the school to provide alternative activities.

It is legal for parents to pull their children from specific activities, including state standardized tests. This week, parents of 67 kids in an Adams County school opted out of CSAP because of changes to the calendar and programs, and removal of the principal.

"It does happen," D-20 spokeswoman Nanette Anderson said when asked if other of the district's parents have opted their children out of CSAPs. "Sometimes it's philosophical disagreement with the test, or it could be a parent's decision that it's not good for their child. In all cases, it's respected."

Da Vinci's annual accountability report will take a hit, she said, but it will not count against the school in another state measurement known as Adequate Yearly Progress. The school, which has about 450 students, has scored "high" on the last two School Accountability Reports.

Anderson disagreed, however, with the da Vinci parents' allegation that the school has strayed from its mission of arts-integrated learning.

She said the school formed a partnership this year with a similar school in Pueblo, and D-20 added an academic arts academy at Eagleview Middle School this year to accommodate da Vinci students as they move into sixth grade.

Principal Kathy Griego declined an interview until after spring break because of the CSAP testing schedule.

Kimble said many of the parents have had disagreements with Griego, who is in her first year as principal at the school, and that has led to the perception that some parents simply don't like her.

But the changes, he said, started under the previous principal, and he believes the district wants more emphasis on standard curriculum and testing.

The parents and administrators had a couple of meetings in the fall, but no more are planned.

Kimble said the situation is at a stalemate, and he believes the district is simply waiting for the parents to "go away."

"A story about disgruntled parents is not that interesting," he said. "What is interesting is why we're disgruntled, and that's because of this emphasis on standardized testing. This district is all about its test scores, all about the prestige of having excellent scores. Why are we so manic over improving that?"

Denver Post on CSAP

I'm somewhat gratified by two opinion pieces in today's Denver Post.

The Post editorial and the column by Tina Griego go part of the way to understanding that CSAP isn't doing what it was originally intended to do ... and furthermore that it has a perverse effect on students, teachers and schools.

Neither article can get all the way towards calling for throwing out CSAP and starting all over again with using GRADES to measure progress and communicate 'accountability' to taxpayers.

And isn't that really what makes CSAP so pointless -- we already have a tried and true system for a grading students, teachers and schools: A, B, C, D, and F.

The appeal of CSAP to politicians and education bureaucrats is that it provides lots of data, lots of numbers, lots of charts and graphs and tables that can be massaged and manipulated to say, well, almost anything.

But students and teachers are people ... schools are amalgamations of -- PEOPLE. For real people living in the real messy, confusing, untidy world, there will never be ... ever trending upward yearly progress. CSAP is, consequently, in the long run, only a way to measure failure. It is that result that works for politicians of both ideological sides -- liberals will say that it proves the need for more and more money; conservatives will say it makes the case for privatization (or vouchers).

CSAP takes the joy of learning out of education, it takes the humanity out of teaching and tries to replace those qualities with cold, sterile statistics.

CSAP and No Child Left Behind and national standards are, in my opinion, an educational theory fad that has been around for about twenty years and will soon run its course. Soon, a new theory will be proposed to supplant it.

But, in the meantime, I still encourage others to take our lead and opt your child out of this charade -- there's no need to play this game for the sake of politicians and bureaucratic data addicts.

Growth Model for CSAP | EDITORIAL - Denver Post

CSAP Easy to Hate, But It's Done a Job | Tina Griego/Denver Post

The CSAP Joke: Graphically Illustrated

CSAP is a joke.

A thanks from me to the teachers and administrators at Goldrick Elementary School in Denver, Colorado, for the demonstration of my point.

The photograph to the right appeared in this morning's Denver Post (Photo by John Leyba, The Denver Post). (Condolences to teacher Peter Douglas for the display a "professional educator" must endure for the sake of these tests. How being "dressed in drag" is supposed to instill respect for teachers and learning is beyond me.) Along with the accompanying report, we get to see just how artificial is the CSAP testing environment. Clearly with rewards, bribes and teachers and principals being silly to cajole and pressure students just to show-up for CSAP, an accurate, snap shot observation of how a school is actually performing is not going to be ascertained.

(By the way, my daughter informs me that last week all of her math homework was CSAP prep questions ... that's 'teaching' for and to the test!)

Consider also that while the students are watching their teachers prance about acting like, well, school children, those children are NOT learning about the American Revolutionary War, they aren't learning about gravity, they aren't practicing their multiplication tables, they aren't reading any new books.

Then, there are the two weeks lost to testing.

Testing is not teaching ... learning how to take a standardized test is not learning and getting a grade.

Some schools have again shown by their pre-test high jinks -- despite their claims about how important CSAPs are -- that this educational experiment has gone completely awry.

Opt out, folks ... show your child that the joy of learning is more important than going along with a political scheme. Maybe someday what has literally become the CSAP song-and-dance will finally be ended.

Schools Offer CSAP Incentives | Denver Post

Boycotting CSAP - AGAIN!

It amounts to about two weeks of teaching time taken away by the pointless Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) testing in high school this year.

Last Friday, I delivered a letter to my daughter's high school principal informing him that she would not be participating in the CSAP charade. This will be the fifth year that she has not been suppressed by this learning-killing, bureaucratic, political exercise.

I encourage others who want to promote teaching and learning to visit the web site of the Coalition for Better Education and use the 'opt out' letter they have provided to empower yourselves and your children.

I note this year at Pomona High School just how much time is taken away from the classroom for these needless tests. (We already know what the test results will show: schools in lower socio-economic communities don't do a well as schools in high income neighborhoods.) After a morning of testing, the rest of the days in the first week get a grand total of about twenty minutes for student-teacher education. The second week of morning testing leaves classes with about forty minutes in a 'block' schedule (only three classes per day) -- which is less than the ordinary fifty-five minute classes.

In addition to loss of classroom time for the testing, there was the CSAP 'rally' last Friday, and the fact that juniors and seniors do not attend classes at all during the time periods when the rest of the school is being 'testing'.

Every year millions of dollars and hours and hours of valuable time that could be used to actually TEACH students is lost for what is in reality a ploy by politicians and educrats to try and prove to voters that they are being "accountable."

I certainly object to the top-down mandate of this high stakes standardized testing theory. We can thank "liberal" Governor Romer and "conservative" Governor Owens and "conservative" George W. Bush's 'No Child Left Behind' law for pushing this process on local school districts.

Finally, what have we received for the decade long CSAP experiment? Nothing -- as this report in the Denver Post just three months ago demonstrates: Third of Grads in State Trail in Basics.

So, instill a joy of learning in your student, show them that you care about the quantity and quality of their education -- boycott CSAP along with me this year!