rant engaged/
(Remember, you asked. I am in the middle of the PBA -- spring test period for PARCC. I've worked with 60+ schools in the last two weeks, helping them to administer and deliver testing. No, I don't work for a testing company.)
This year? They are learning how to take tests.
The
"Smarter Balanced" consortium claims 22 member states/territories, with 17 testing students this year.
"PARCC" - the Pearson consortium claims 13 states testing this year.
And there are dozens of other tests -- SAT, ACT, DLM,
How much time are kids spending testing?
That's a good question. And the answers are being spun as fast as they are being asked.
AND, it's only half of the correct question.
Actual time taking tests varies, but it is nothing compared to the time (hours that can equal days and weeks depending on school size) spent by the schools preparing to administer the tests, learning to administer the test, and teaching the students the mechanics of taking the tests (not the content-- the buttons, scrollbars, order of entering required data -- it's like learning a new game system or a brand new cell phone.)
That is educational time lost for students, teachers and communities.
There are outlier schools and outlier teachers within school systems who are still engaging with critical thinking skills and project based learning whenever they can, but the systems are...systemic.
The "why's" are abundant. It's not just one reason. Some of it is greed (in the forms that fail to care of our fellow man or are more interested in selling products for profit rather than usefulness), some of it is fear of change (in some cases fear of becoming irrelevant or being just plain tired,) and there are no one knows how many other reasons in that hand basket.
Blame? Pick two, pick four, there's plenty to go around. We can blame the "greatest generation" or their parents, or their kids, or "kids these days". We can point fingers at the political party of your choice. Or corporations, unions, lobbyists.
Blame is easy. Easier than taking responsibility and working to find the solutions that might last awhile -- solutions that help people beyond ourselves, beyond the folks we know and like, beyond the current generation.
Blame is easy, but it isn't cheap. Good thing is, when the bill comes due, it is usually far enough down the pike that we can blame it on someone else.
/endrant
OH, and btw? Both consortiums [ETA:
Link Link*]are monitoring media for any mentions of their names, products, and more specifically people posting up test questions and answers
(That last one MIGHT be justifiable. Snapchatting or tweeting a test question or answer is today's equivalent of letting your neighbor cheat off your test.)
So, "Hi Pearson."
*please, be careful with the links inside the last provided link. There is a blog cited that doxes a NJ DOE administrator. [ETA:It doesn't anymore.]
