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
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