Add the Advancement Project, a national civil rights group, to the list of organizations pushing back against the expansion of high-stakes testing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. The Washington, D.C.-based project, which bills itself as a civil rights "action tank," has been in Charlotte this week interviewing parents at the local NAACP office. Jasmine Harris, a staff attorney with the project, said the group believes high-stakes tests like North Carolina's end-of-grade and end-of-course exams are narrowing the curriculum, squeezing out creativity and frustrating minority students.
Harris said the new 50-plus local tests CMS rolled out this spring to help evaluate teacher performance won't help matters. She said parents from all backgrounds and colors told the project about their frustrations with the new testing regime, which sparked protests from teachers and parents who called the new exams too ill-prepared, costly, time-consuming and unnecessary. Harris said the Advancement Project plans to produce a report by year's end summarizing its findings, and hopes to help push for alternative ways of judging student and teacher performance. She mentioned portfolio-style assessments as one. Asked if the Advancement Project might file some sort of lawsuit against CMS, she suggested that was unlikely, or at least a last resort. She voiced hopes that Superior Court Judge Howard Manning, who presides over the long-running Leandro school-quality lawsuit, will hold a hearing on high-stakes testing and allow the group to present its findings.
The group's presence comes as the NAACP plans what it calls a "March Against Educational Genocide" on Saturday Aug. 13 at Marshall Park. The NAACP says it is calling the march to bring attention to the "grave inequities" in CMS concerning effective teachers, fair discipline, equitable resources and challenging curriculum. N.C. NAACP President William Barber will speak. CMS has won praise nationally in recent years for narrowing the achievement gap, but judging from the title of the march, the civil rights group isn't impressed.
Showing posts with label CMS performance pay; CMS performance pay; CMS testing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CMS performance pay; CMS performance pay; CMS testing. Show all posts
Friday, August 5, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
CMS testing: Shhh ....
A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teacher passes along this story about administering one of the new CMS exams to a first-grader. The new tests require the teachers to read questions aloud and record the children's answers.
Teacher: "Name a place where you might find ... (type of landform)."
Student: "Name a place?"
Teacher: "Yes. Name a place where you might find...."
Student: "Name it?"
Teacher: "Yes."
Student: "Uh...I would name it...Brianna."
It's a cute story, and you might wonder why I'm not naming the teacher who shared it -- or for that matter, why the question itself is related in such a vague manner.
If you're a teacher or parent who's been involved in the new testing, you know the answer: Testing security.
And it's no laughing matter. "The team of teachers and assistants who are administrating the test were informed that any information that is leaked to the outside would result in the loss of our teaching licenses," one teacher wrote.
Here's the dilemma: CMS has created 52 new tests (with more to come next year) as part of its quest to size up teacher effectiveness. With the stakes so high, officials don't want the questions circulating, for fear some teachers could prep kids on specific items.
But a significant number of educators and parents say the tests are deeply flawed, if not worthless. It's important for the public -- and the taxpayers footing the bill for new exams -- to know if they're right. So ... how do we have a good discussion about the validity of the tests if the tests are secret? And how do teachers weigh in if they're afraid they'll be accused of unethical conduct and potentially lose their jobs?
If you have first-hand knowledge of how this is playing out in schools, let me know. And I'll try to find out more about how CMS plans to rebuild confidence and answer questions as the district moves ahead with a testing/performance pay plan that even the biggest boosters say has hit a rocky stretch.
Teacher: "Name a place where you might find ... (type of landform)."
Student: "Name a place?"
Teacher: "Yes. Name a place where you might find...."
Student: "Name it?"
Teacher: "Yes."
Student: "Uh...I would name it...Brianna."
It's a cute story, and you might wonder why I'm not naming the teacher who shared it -- or for that matter, why the question itself is related in such a vague manner.
If you're a teacher or parent who's been involved in the new testing, you know the answer: Testing security.
And it's no laughing matter. "The team of teachers and assistants who are administrating the test were informed that any information that is leaked to the outside would result in the loss of our teaching licenses," one teacher wrote.
Here's the dilemma: CMS has created 52 new tests (with more to come next year) as part of its quest to size up teacher effectiveness. With the stakes so high, officials don't want the questions circulating, for fear some teachers could prep kids on specific items.
But a significant number of educators and parents say the tests are deeply flawed, if not worthless. It's important for the public -- and the taxpayers footing the bill for new exams -- to know if they're right. So ... how do we have a good discussion about the validity of the tests if the tests are secret? And how do teachers weigh in if they're afraid they'll be accused of unethical conduct and potentially lose their jobs?
If you have first-hand knowledge of how this is playing out in schools, let me know. And I'll try to find out more about how CMS plans to rebuild confidence and answer questions as the district moves ahead with a testing/performance pay plan that even the biggest boosters say has hit a rocky stretch.
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