Across Connecticut this month, tens of thousands of 8th and 10th graders took standardized tests. Classroom instruction halted; bubbles were filled in; formulaic essays were churned out.
In Westport, most students sailed through. They finished early, and twiddled their thumbs. The vast majority of kids in our town pass the tests — easily.
At the same time, an “education reform” bill is headed to the state legislature’s Education Committee. It would substantially change the way teachers teach.
Nina Sankovitch — a Westporter for over 10 years, and the mother of 4 boys — is not a fan. Below, she explains why:
Did your kids enjoy preparing for and taking the CMT and CAPT tests during March? Tell them to get used to it. If Governor Malloy gets his way, our kids will be subjected to more statewide standardized testing. A lot more.
And student test scores on these standardized tests will be used to determine teacher compensation and advancement. The curriculum and teaching will be geared toward test taking.
Westport’s school system is a good one. By so-called “objective measures,” we are one of highest performing systems in the state, with kids doing well across the board on CMTs and CAPTs, as well as on SATs and ACTs. Our teachers are committed, smart and motivated, and our administrators are dedicated. The standing-room only “Back to School” nights attest to the commitment Westport parents have to their children’s education. It takes a village, and our village is doing its job.
Standardized tests often test how to take a standardized test.
So why are State Senator Toni Boucher and Governor Dan Malloy pushing an Education Reform Bill that will change the way Westport school administrators and teachers do their jobs? The cited reason is the achievement gap between lowest and highest performing schools in Connecticut. Numerous years of data are pulled out to show how poor-performing schools are failing.
The same data show that in many school districts, students are succeeding. For example, virtually all Westport 8th graders are proficient in reading, writing, math and science. Approximately 95% of Westport 8th graders meet or exceed the Connecticut goal scores on the Connecticut Mastery Test (2011). Statewide, about 2/3 of 8th grade students attain that level of competence.
Many other school districts achieve far better results than the state average, and several others have results close to Westport’s. In other words, many school districts in the state do not need to “reform” their education systems.
Last Saturday, 10 teams of 5 Staples students each voluntarily spent from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the high school. They participated in the Spectacular Student Challenge -- a collaborative attempt to solve a real-world problem. They used 21st-century skills -- and they loved it. Here's one of those teams.
Students in some Connecticut school systems, however, are not meeting state mandated goals. In Bridgeport and Hartford, 2 of the worst performing districts, only 1 in 3 students meet the goal level.
What should Connecticut do to help struggling students? Governor Malloy and Toni Boucher apparently believe that imposing more testing and a wide array of associated requirements on all Connecticut students is the solution. But the needs of Bridgeport and Hartford students are far different from the needs of Westport students.
If you had a group of 50 people and 10 were overweight, would you put all 50 on a diet? Of course not. Fix what is broken, and let the rest of the schools in the state do the great job they are doing.
A numbing photo of a numbing way of learning.
We don’t know if testing students in troubled schools more than they are tested now will help one bit. But we do know that more state standardized testing of students in Westport and in other achieving schools in the state will do nothing to enhance the quality of learning for students in the non-achieving school districts. Malloy’s proposed policy is simply wrong for Westport students and teachers, and for similarly situated well-performing school districts.
For Westport students, expanding statewide testing beyond the CMTs and CAPT testing is a waste of time and resources. The costs of administering the tests are substantial. When we allocate a portion of the school budget to the days spent testing and preparing for such tests, the burden of such unnecessary testing on Westport taxpayers could be in the millions of dollars.
Governor Malloy believes that teacher compensation should be linked to student test scores. Malloy thinks this will “weed out” bad teachers. Based on our experience of a cumulative total of over 30 years of Westport education of our 4 children, our local schools do not suffer from bad teachers.
Standardized tests are not what a Westport education is about.
But forcing our teachers to spend more time teaching to the test will sap their energy and diminish their morale while doing nothing to reward their enthusiasm for genuine teaching. Teachers come to Westport because they seek to engage students in a profound way – they do not wish to adhere to a narrow and shallow curriculum geared toward test taking, the results of which are aimed at enhancing the resume of politicians rather than improving the learning of students.
Poorly performing schools certainly need help, and a bill should be crafted that helps them. But don’t come up with a bill that has my kids and other Westport kids taking more standardized tests, that forces teachers to teach more and more to the test (if your salary could go down if your students’ test scores go down, what would you do?), and that will inevitably lead to a more narrow and shallow curriculum.
Malloy’s one-size-fits-all approach is wrong for Westport and wrong for Connecticut. For Westport and other excellent school systems, it will lead to greater boredom in the classroom for students and teachers alike.
That is a burden we would bear if it meant greater opportunities for all the children of the state, but no such benefit is promised. Burdening our school system with more statewide standardized testing does not help students in failing school districts, and will only hurt our students.
(To find out more about the Education Reform Bill, SB 24, visit “Connecticut Parents Need to Know More About SB 24” on Facebook.
Our representatives are Toni Boucher (http://ctsenaterepublicans.com/contact-boucher/) and Jonathan Steinberg (Jonathan.Steinberg@cga.ct.gov).
Governor Malloy can be contacted at http://www.governor.ct.gov/malloy/cwp/view.asp?a=3998&q=479082.)
Another team in the Staples Spectacular Student Challenge.
I agree. Watched Toni Boucher last night at Weston BOE meeting. She’s a train wreck for Connecticut education.
She’s also a vocal opponent of medical marijuana.
She wants us to live in a world of straight test takers. F’ dat!
i COULDN’T agree more!!! spend the $$$ on family reform programs…the homes are where the problems originate, not the schools!!
You took the words out of my mouth. These poor teachers are already forced to teach to some tests, don’t give them anymore.
Those who object to the current testing regime should come up with a better way to measure output.
Please, all of you, speak up to Malloy, Steinberg, and Boucher and do it soon. As a teacher and parent I could not be more offended by the ignorance behind this bill. Our opposition is the only way to get this under control. Please, it takes only a few minutes to email one or better yet, all of them. If this bill is passed, the stellar education and quality of teachers standing in front of your kids every day is going to go downhill quickly!
Ten years a go I left my teaching job here in Westport, largely because of the fact that my passion for real education became eclipsed by the shifting curriculum, which began catering to standardized tests.Since then, as a parent, I have watched as “teaching up” has become “teaching down to the test.” I am appalled by Malloy’s bill and plan on writing to everyone today. I hope my emails are wedged between many many more!
I agree with Darcy and the others here. If schools already surpass the minimum standards they should be exempt from ‘one size fits all’ testing.
Don’t fix what isn’t broken.
Now let’s all work to get classroom size down, that is a much more effective way to teach to make better students (and less stressed teachers). It’s a win-win!
Totally agree with you John. No one wants increased standardized testing, but class-size is also a huge issue, and that is completely dependent on our town’s budget. (we can’t control the standardized testing). If you feel strongly about class size issues, please remember to speak to your BOF members who are about to vote on March 29th on next year’s budget. These budget cuts in the last several years, among many other important issues, have silently been increasing class size. If they take more from the BOE approved budget, class-sizes and programs are most likely to be affected.
Nina! Thank you for so eloquently describing what the bill means for Westport. Underperforming districts do need attention but a one-size fits all approach rarely does anybody much good. I am sending a link to this posting by Dan to everyone I know who is interested in education. People need to get into the conversation! To Emma who asked for a better way to measure output, remember, our kids in CT already take standardized tests. CMT and CAPT produce a large amount of output to review. But more of that, no thanks. Westport’s results are excellent and there are other districts in CT with similar results. Agree with Nina, no one is even sure if more testing helps students in underperforming districts. What’s happening at home? Lets look at early intervention and early education and support. I don’t believe teachers teaching to more standardized tests is the way to go about anything very reformative!
One thing you can do right now to voice your opposition to this most problematic bill that increases segregation, wastes money on testing better spent on education, ignores best practice as defined by research, and basically sucks the life out of learning in school is read and hopefully sign this petition:
http://signon.org/sign/connecticut-legislators?source=s.em.mt&r_by=1826127
So encouraging to read all these posts. Teachers at Staples, at least, are waiting for the Education Committee to vote later this week on some kind of revised bill; in addition to Senator Boucher, Representative Gail Lavielle from Westport serves on the committee.
Would you rather see your students in an English class read Romeo and Juliet, modernizing the balcony scene or writing lyrics to a duet for the two lovers — or taking practice tests for editing and revising that revisit capitalization rules taught in elementary school? Would you rather they write their fifth persuasive essay of the year, arguing whether exotic pets should be allowed in town — or explore different writing genres that allow for creativity and deeper thinking? Should they read short stories aimed at 9- to 12-year-olds or Lord of the Flies, by Nobel laureate William Golding?
The bill links tenure, certification, and salary with standardized testing. As much as a good teacher will deplore teaching to the test, as much as a good teacher will love her students, as much as a good teacher will work tirelessly for meaningful lessons and student engagement, she must love her family more. She must keep her job, and to do that, she must teach to the test.
My kids went through the Westport schools better or ill prepared whatever… one is a successful textile designer who completed a degree at RISD, the other is a beginning entrepreneur/mechanic with a BA from College of the Atlantic. i don’t know what relevance standardized testing has to do with their or their friends’ successes. But the personalities and the personal impact of their teachers has much to do with whatever they achieve.
The Malloy initiative seems to me to scapegoat teachers and open the door to deprecating public schools at the expense of private/charter schools. Will it create a situation where teaching is a transitory profession? I can see that this bill could cause a great decline in the quality of education in the public schools in Westport, and I wonder at the paucity of comments on this topic on this blog.
All public schools suck. The big scam is Westport is somewhat different.
I am very disappointed with the PTA Council’s statement sent out to all parents in the Westport School System. How many parents and teachers had input into this statement? And why is one of the documents referenced as a “resource” actually a sheet prepared by an advocacy group pushing for enactment of SB 24?
> What the PTA Council should be doing is advising parents to talk to their stare representatives to raise concerns over possible increases in testing and teaching to the test, and voicing support for the excellent teachers we do have in Westport. As a concerned parent who has tried to make sense of this sprawling and at times very vague bill, what is very clear is that SB 24 will change the way teachers are compensated and incorporates by reference the language of the Performance Evaluation Advisory Council which states that one of the measures for evaluating teachers is testing: “based on the state test for those teaching tested grades and subjects or another standardized measure for other grades and subjects.” What does “another standardized measure” mean other than more tests?
> Furthermore, for all those grades for which testing is currently in place, in elementary school, middle school, and high school, SB 24 and the associated PEAC document do require that teacher salaries be tied to testing, incentivizing teachers to teach to the test, and wholly to the test. What will become of the great education system Westport is famous for?
> Some members of the Board of Education are telling you SB 24 won’t lead to more testing. Where is the language guaranteeing that? If everyone is in agreement that there should be no additional standardized testing to evaluate students or teachers, then let’s do away with the bill’s and the Performance Evaluation Advisory Council’s language and clearly state in the proposed law that no Connecticut student shall be subject to additional standardized testing for the purpose of evaluating teacher performance. Connecticut parents know what is good for their children. Our kids don’t need more “standardized measures” to climb over.
> I am also shocked that the PTA Council would attach a “fact” sheet prepared by an advocacy group promoting SB 24 for purposes of establishing for-profit charter schools. This so-called “fact” sheet includes at least one glaring inaccuracy, which is that teachers were involved in drafting the PEAC guidelines and SB 24. The former is true, as teachers will readily agree, but the latter is utterly false. Teachers had no knowledge of — much less involvement in — SB 24, which links the PEAC guidelines to pay and tenure.
> Again, if you want to do a service to the parents of Westport, don’t offer them false assurances; instead direct them to ask tough questions of their representatives about testing, teachers, and the future of Westport schools.
>
The role of the PTA is not to express opinion rather to inform our parent base of the issues that concern their children’s education. It is clear that our members all have their own opinions. PTA Council requested our BOE members to help make clearer to the parents the issues in this large and complex bill. Neither the PTA Council, teachers, parents, or administration wrote this statement. The state PEAC committee has 6 BOE members from across the state. We are extremely fortunate as a district to actually have 2 of the members serving on this committee and participating daily in Hartford. Although there are many stakeholders involved on this committee, I feel assured that BOE members elected by our town are acting in the best interests for our children and their education. I sincerely doubt there is one parent that wants increased mandatory standardized testing in our district, and that is why we are so fortunate to have our own BOE members helping to work out the details of the implementation of the bill. In addition, we are also extremely lucky to have both Gail Lavielle and Toni Boucher, also representing people from Westport, sitting on the Education Committee. So yes, please do contact your representatives and tell them your concerns. That is why all the representatives are listed at the bottom of the document.
However, may I add, that another real immediate concern for our parents in this town, is the potential risk of a significant cut to the already passed BOE budget by the BOF on March 29th. If this should happen, it is very clear that services will need to be cut, class sizes may go up, and teachers’ jobs may be in jeopardy, and needed maintenance will be further delayed. I sincerely hope that concerned parents will contact their BOF members and their RTM representatives as to those concerns as well.
It is all about money.
In case you hadn’t heard acquiring money to educate all children in America is a competitive sport called Race to the Top. The testing of children and teachers and administrators is all in an effort to get a hold of the race to the top money and avoid the onerous no child left behind mandates. Our elected officials have been bought and black mailed. Now they are making a pact in order to get money even though the strategies they will implement will do nothing good for most children. They might say that they need to put these plans into effect in order to get the money. I say, there must be a better way. The cost of this money is way too high for all of us: children, teachers, parents, and the broader community.
In speaking with the SDE today it was made clear that your children will be tested in every grade in every subject starting in 2015. The art teacher will be assessed (22.5% of his/her performance) on effectiveness with your kindergartner as well as the science teacher will be assessed concerning high school bio. Every teacher every grade, every subject. The difference is that teachers in CMT /CAPT grades will be evaluated based on their students performance on those tests whereas the teachers of other subjects and grades will be assessed based on a district or school designed assessment that meets state frameworks (could be a rubric or portfolio).
This means that when you ask the question of BOE members or PTA members they can genuinely say there will not be additional testing because it will not be specified at the state level. However, If you ask the question a different way, if they know what they are talking about, then they must tell you that every teacher will be assessed based on our children’s performance. ABSURD.
Moreover, there is also a statute that has been in existence for that past several years, not part of the SB24, that makes it law that as of 2020 all students will be assessed in every subject.
Lastly, there are many other problems. Do we understand that there is great profit to be had if you are running charter schools or if you are test design consortium?
All around the country states or school districts have agreed to using one of only two test design groups: PASCC or Smarter Balance Consortium. These test making groups will be designing and scoring all the tests of all the children all around the country (CT will be using the latter). You can imagine where this will lead us. Do we want the same test as the folks in Texas or Florida? Also the next generation of tests will be administered on computers which means a school may be in “test mode” for many weeks as all students in every grade need a chance at the computer. I cannot begin to explain to you what test mode does to the morale of a school community.
And do you think that the children who are currently receiving inferior education will benefit from the charter schools and additional assessment? If well designed research informs your thinking you can see the answer is NO. Charter schools generally do no better than their neighborhood counterparts, when all segments of the population are included in the school. But schools such as those in New Haven are exclusive. There are so few special education students and students for whom English is a second language that they do not need to report those student’s results on tests, resulting in inflated scores. The school is heavily funded with private money out spending the local school many times over. And Charter schools increase segregation, racial, financial, educational. Such schools often, but not always, have rigid instructional practices that do not encourage independent thinking, inquiry skills, and creativity but rather encourage strong test performance. It is just another way to train a factory worker.
Schools that teach to tests do not teach thinking they teach children to identify the correct answer.
what do you want for our children?
It is important whether you have children in school or not, to stand up and make it known that you object to all this testing, rating teachers using tools that were never intended to measure teacher skills, and pressuring teachers to trade in good teaching for instructional strategies that are focused on saving their jobs. One designer of tests is quoted as saying that using state mandated testing to assess teachers is like using a spoon to take your child’s temperature.
I know you have all heard that we trail behind the high performing Asian and European schools. It is not because we test our children less than they do. We do not need more testing. Those school systems have highly educated well trained, well paid teachers who have considerable planning time everyday. Their students take many FEWER tests than ours. Children living in poverty in those communities are well fed, have strong health care coverage, have access to pre-school. And children of all strata of society are integrated to prevent the social isolation and pockets of segregation that fuel the achievement gap we have in CT.
so what are our elected officials doing demanding more testing and more anxiety provoking assessments when the answers to resolving the achievement gap while maintaining strong education for all lie elsewhere?
Want to know more?
_
Kids here already have too many standardized tests. CAPTs, CMTs, ACTs, SATs, APs….. Most teaching at Staples is aimed at one test or another. Kids get sick of it. Little else in less you get one of the better teachers. (And the #1 rating of the HS is mainly based on test results – what a surprise!)
It’s too bad that the PTA Council of Westport put out that one-sided email to Westport Parents last night. I say “Westport parents” and not “PTA members” because they did not include Westport teachers when addressing this email. Funny, I thought the “T” in PTA stood for TEACHERS. There was no teacher input used in drafting that email or gathering information to attach to it. No one asked for ANY feedback from Westport teachers. If you talk to us, you will learn that we know this bill and know it well. It’s unfortunate that once again, teacher’s professional and personal input is ignored in the push for SB 24. I am surprised that Westport is not making more of an effort to back its teachers since we are such a high performing district. I would think that the PTA and BOE would be in support of the work that we do and would not want to see our standard of teaching lowered in order for us to teach to the test or put us or our families at risk. I have attended Town Hall meetings in several other towns and cities across the state and have heard superintendents, principals, BOE members, PTA presidents and members speaking out on behalf of their teachers- but here we are thrown under the bus, and the parents who might have come to our aid are fed propaganda.
Upon reading the email, that was sent to me by a friend with children in the district, I was absolutely floored to see that they included a “fact sheet” of myths about SB 24 which was no more than propaganda from CONNCAN, an advocacy group for Charter schools that support SB 24. It is riddled with inaccuracies and the one that jumps out at me the most was the idea that we were included in creating this new evaluation process. True, the Connecticut Education Association had a seat at the table when the evaluation process linking pay to evaluations was suggested, but our union objected to it and the process forged ahead with the CEA watching powerless on the sidelines. I have talked to teachers across the state and none of us were aware that the PEAC guidelines were being drafted, so we certainly weren’t “included” in the process.
Many aspects of the email make SB 24 sound much better than it does in the 163 page document. I encourage Westport parents to explore the actual document and express your concerns (if you have any) to your legislators, PTA members and the Board of Education.
There are other parts of the bill that I am not opposed to, but the intense focus on testing and linking teacher pay and certification to test scores is unfair. As teachers, we will have to put our families first and we will be forced to teach to the test, which will take away from some of the high quality instruction that Westport teachers are known for… The same sort of instruction that made us want to be teachers.
Yes Jill, I want to know more.
I want to know more, too, Jill. And while the PTA rep has good intentions, clearly, how can we be sure the state commissioner of education does? He has never taught, and he has background in charters, not public education. From what Jill says, there may be some misleading stuff and obfuscatory stuff coming out of Hartford.
Another Ed Committee member from Fairfield told her constituents this week that the committee has been told nothing, that decisions are being made behind closed doors.
How about a forum, sponsored by PTA Council, as was discussed previously, with interested stakeholders (that’s all of us) just to talk and discuss impacts, etc once the bill is published next week, but before its voted on? Right now there is so much competing info that I quite honestly don’t feel confident about anyone (even those working on the committees, as others on the committees say they see lots of back room deals) truly knowing what is happening until the bill is published. But once it is published….it could be HUGE. Lets get knowledgeable!ra
PTA Council is definitely not to take sides, but they are charged with providing info and access to info so we can better understand the landscape. I’d say an opportunity to get together, off the blogs and off the e-mails, to discuss, reasonably, what this all may mean is very important! Parents teachers, students, citizens, PTA reps, board members if they are interested, etc…we are in this together and need to understand it fully.
That is definitely the plan and has been all along. The major players in this bill have been working non-stop on its drafting. When we are able to get the proper state representatives, and have it organized, we will announce, where and when, and please invite all to attend. Thank you.
Excellent. Thank you.
a forum is in the planning stage for early April. If you would like to hear what people around the state are working on that forum will be a good one to attend. But there is bad news on the near horizon. According to my colleagues:
The Education Cmte is due to JF this bill on Mon, March 26, and the House Dems have already scheduled their caucus on SB24 for noon next Wed. There’s a pretty good chance that it’s going to be e-certified, which means the bill is likely to be passed by both houses by this time next week.SB24 will be passed (though hopefully with at least a few modifications) soon after Wed’s House Dem caucus — that the bill is going to get emergency certification (fast tracked) on the trumped-up grounds that it’s necessary for bolstering the state’s ESEA waiver application that now awaits approval on Duncan’s desk. Ecert of the bill will mark a breathtaking and utterly appalling bypass of political processes. I will gladly meet with folks
I think a meeting of the minds is a fantastic idea! I just hope it’s not too late… This bill dropped on February 8th, gets voted on in days and is just starting to get attention of Westport parents. Since the PTA Council shared CONNCAN information- it would be nice to get the WEA or CEA analysis of SB24 and possibly the CEA proposal- “A View from the Classroom” out to parents so that they can see this bill from a teacher’s perspective and see what and how we would like changes made. Teachers are feeling extremely frustrated and unsupported at the moment. We were upset with the Governor and those feelings are now spreading to the BOE and PTA Council. I am relived to hear that this didn’t come directly from the PTA, but it looked/felt this way to us. I think teachers would be delighted to have a public forum where a few teacher representatives from elementary middle and high school could voice their concerns to the Westport community. I think it would truly be a moral booster- especially with more budget cuts on the horizon…
I don’t think this bill will pass. Too big a bill for a short legislative session and legislators are scared of it. Malloy can’t even get his Sunday liquor law passed. Considering CT legislators feel almost as strongly about education as they do about alcohol I’d say SB24 is DOA.
Fran White passed along this powerful piece about standardized testing. Definitely worth a read: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/23-8
There is a forum on offer this week in Weston to discuss SB 24…Tuesday 3/27 at 7:30 pm at the Weston Town Hall. Part of the forum will include our own State Rep, Toni Boucher R-26 who is the ranking member of CT’s Senate Education Committee.
Nothing scheduled in Westport yet with our own local participants but I know many stakeholders would appreciate that happening as soon as the bill comes out of committee…which is any day now.
Is the forum just a place where Senator Boucher and other legislators speak and answer questions? I hope not. There is such a need for honest information and candid statements when, as seems to be true with this bill, there is no definitive answer.
Info on the forum from The Westport News:
http://www.westport-news.com/news/article/Weston-forum-set-on-education-reform-3424247.php
Westport should have their own, and agree, a real conversation!
Having a forum to discuss SB24 would be as effective as having a forum to discuss the weather. If you have a point of view express it to your State elected representatives. It is typical Westport arrogance to assume that sitting around with like-minded people and whipping yourselves into a froth will change anything.
Disagree! There are so many “tales” coming out of Hartford right now that once the bill actually gets published (very soon) a face to face meeting (including a rep or 2) would be incredibly helpful so a) people who aren’t familiar with the process thus far can get up to speed, b) interested parties can become better informed, by sharing thoughts and listening to others and c) people involved in the voting (our reps) can actually hear from their constituency and they can hear from us!
BTW I have already written to all my state reps and the Governor too. See post above to click and do the same.
A forum to discuss the weather? Its a little different. It comes as it wishes, whether (weather!) you like it or not. Hope same isn’t to be said for SB 24. SB 24 needs “sunshine’ in the worst way!
It’s understandable that Nina Sankovitch (and many others, who have left comments) is/are quite Westport-centic, being Westport parents with a direct horse in the race, so to speak. But standardized testing is not only not good for Westport education, it’s no good for education, period. I’m afraid the commenter, Jill, has the right of it when she says it’s all about the $ these days.It’s quite sickening, the way we have publicly abandoned education in this country.And idiotically short-sighted, unless another friend of mine is right. She’s a retired teacher, one who retired very frustrated, and it is her serious opinion that the powers-that-be do not, repeat, not wanrt a truly educated citizenry—thry want people educated just enough to run the machines and show up to work on time, and be increasingly grateful to have jobs at all with increasingly Chinese-style working conditions.The only ones getting educated will be those who can afford the ncreasingly exorbitant costs of private schools and universities.Remember when most people could afford to go to UConn? Well, lapsing nostalgic hewre