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HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 # 64 65 Comment My name is Tiah Frankish and I am the Teacher Librarian, Literacy Coach and School Assessment Coordinator at Prairie View Middle School in School District 27J. This is my 18th year in SD27J. I been a Teacher Librarian since our school opened in August of 2008, earning my Masters in Library and Information Science in 2010. I have been acting as the Literacy Coach and School Assessment Coordinator since August of 2010. I am in charge of administering the district progress monitoring assessment, NWEA MAPS, and all of the diagnostic tools for students who qualify for intervention but are currently enrolled in general education classes. These diagnostic tools include: RGR Beginning Decoding Survey, Advanced Decoding Survey, Oral Reading Fluency, and CORE Maze and CORE Vocab. I assist our special education/intervention staff when needed to administer the College in Colorado Interest Surveys for IEP purposes and any progress monitoring tests they cannot administer themselves. I am also in charge of coordinating and scheduling the TCAP, CMAS, CoALT, ACCESS and NAEP (occasionally) Testing that occurs in our building. I currently sit on the building Problem Solving Team (RTI) to help find ways to meet the needs of struggling students in order to better identify students in need of intervention and /or special education services. Meanwhile, I work with teachers to better instruct students in the ethical uses of information and incite a desire to read for pleasure whenever I have the chance. Our population is just over 850 students in 6th, 7th and 8th grade. We have approximately 1/8 of our students that are considered English Language Learners. Our school services students who speak Spanish, Russian, Hmong, Polish, Vietnamese, French, Thai and Mandarin Chinese. We have 104 students currently on IEP’s and 30 students on Advanced Learning Plans. • What would an effective statewide assessment system include? Such a system should test the basics of what students should know and be able to do in a particular area. It should not attempt to test the entire school year. So often, the test makers go beyond the essential and test also things that may be "nice to know" but not essential. To test everything that may be addressed in a course is a disservice to both teachers and students. Teachers must have the time and freedom to engage students in other areas of interest. For example, if a teacher in a science course has a particular passion and expertise, then they should be permitted to allow students to explore this area. That is not to say that the essentials should be ignored. I do recognize that it is possible to meet many of the essentials of a course through a particular direction of study but, given the time constraints now placed on teachers, I think it is unrealistic to expect the teacher to design a new curriculum to address the essentials. However, a teacher that does take the time to do this would have even more time to engage students. • How could Colorado improve its assessment system? Please provide specific examples. 1 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 66 ◦ Place less emphasis on testing as an evaluation tool. It may be a part of the picture, but not the picture itself. ◦ Limit the impact of testing on instructional time. • Are you familiar with the local assessments that are administered to students according to requirements of your district? If so, do you believe these assessments are valuable? Why? ◦ Somewhat familiar. They have value if they are utilized to provide an additional reflective piece of the puzzle. In other words, if they are used to guide instruction and inform parents-‐ and communicated as only a part of the whole picture. However, to be an effective tool, teachers must be given time to reflect on the data. This also means that you must determine if the test is valid for all students and did the instructional strategies work. Too often in education we look at data and make instructional changes. Then we assume those changes worked. Ugh! What if they didn't work? What if you made it worse? These questions are usually not answered. Not because the teachers didn't ask them, but because they simply aren't given the time to truly analyze the data. I hesitate to suggest this because often the answer is just to require teachers to do this. That top-‐down approach simply leads to a compulsory method of simply completing the task. Dan Kloster Chemistry Teacher Head Girls Basketball Coach Silver Creek High School Longmont, Colorado First, I must challenge the premise that statewide testing is an accurate measure of readiness for college or career. As a software professional that interviews candidates for hire, I'm looking for the following skills from candidates: • Tenacity -‐ person is relentless in their pursuit of an elegant solution to challenges. • Leader -‐ successful at leading a team to achieve a common goal, including giving tasks to the right person with the right skills, supporting team members with whatever is needed, and resolving conflict. • Team member -‐ successful at being part of a team to achieve a common goal. Willing to do what it takes for success, whether or not the task is "their job". • Communication skills -‐ able to gather data, formulate a reasonable solution, communicate the solution effectively, and persuade others to support the solution. The above comes from experience and cannot be effectively measured on a test. Now of course, there are the raw skills that are needed to pursue any career that provides a living wage. I would include the 2 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 67 following topics: 1. Math 2. Reading comprehension 3. Science 4. Civics (high school graduates should match the understanding of the US that we require from new citizens) I will only support tests where the test results are used to the benefit of the student, and not as a punitive punishment for schools or teachers. What is the difference? A test that benefits students: • Results are provided shortly after the student takes the test, so teachers and parents can recognize strengths and weaknesses and quickly adjust how the student is being taught. • The entire test, with questions and student responses, are provided to the student, teacher and parent, so everyone can have an accurate understanding of student performance. As a parent, I have no interest in hearing my son/daughter is "partially proficient", unless I can see the questions my child got right and wrong on the test. A test that is punitive to the teacher and school: • Results are given months after the test is taken. Worst is when the results are only available after my son/daughter graduated from the school! • The test is the primary measure of the teacher/school: it is unreasonable to claim that a standardized test should be even a third of a teacher/school's evaluation. As I mentioned early in my email, the skills I look for as an employer cannot be reasonably measured on a test. Thank you for your consideration. Michael Kiley II An effective testing system would be one that occurs once a year at theEND of the school year when students have had a chance to actually learn all of the material they are being tested on. Currently, testing takes place in March, long before students have had a chance to learn everything. Let's not forget that by March, students have already missed much needed content time due to the over kill of District Assessments!! I counted 23 days of testing for middle school students last year!! That's nearly one month of testing and time away from content! Also, I feel very strongly that their must be student buy-‐in. Currently, students don't care about their scores, nor do they try because the testing is meaningless to them. The scores don't come out until students are well into the next grade level, and by then they have new teachers who don't know them well enough, and are trying to dissect the data of the test scores in order to help that student. 3 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 68 69 70 If students knew they might not advance to the next grade level or, in the case of middle school and high school, might have to re-‐take a course because they were not proficient, they probably would try harder on the tests and in class. I have witnessed time and time again, year after year, students making a joke out of these tests by making designs on the bubble sheets or typing song lyrics for answers on the computer generated tests. And I am held accountable on my evaluation for this??? What a joke! The current system is out of balance. Right now teachers are held accountable, but not the students. Until the scale becomes balanced, we won't get the results we want. My question is: Could the state put caps on the percent of instructional time that students are allowed to spend in district-‐ mandated testing? My question is could Colorado limit the amount of time students spent in test preparation through out the year? This could be done statutorily or through state board rule making. What would an effective statewide assessment system include? 1. A PR campaign that actively and persistently promote the idea that assessment systems are inherently flawed. That they cannot measure many significant educational goals. That our reliance on these systems causes administrators to make choices in favor of higher scores not more learning. This must come from the assessment system itself. 2. The use of multiple measures that encourage quality instruction not high test scores. How could Colorado improve its assessment system? Please provide specific examples. 1. Use classroom based performance assessments that teachers find worthy of teaching to. 2. Provide ongoing instruction on testing and assessment to the public, school and teachers. We must be able to recognize what tests do well and what they do not. Too often tests are treated as gods of devils with very little in-‐between. Are you familiar with the local assessments that are administered to students according to requirements of your district? If so, do you believe these assessments are valuable? Why? Many of these are the most valuable. If they provide information the teachers find valuable to informing instruction. Others are canned assessments provided by companies interested in $$ not improving education. These kind are easier to use, but provide information that is not useful. They do however, encourage administrators to make curricular decisions that run counter to best teaching practices. Thanks for asking, Kent Willman 4 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 71 As a retired public educator with 35 years of experience as a teacher, principal, and superintendent in public schools in Colorado and Arizona who is now serving as an adjunct professor in the Educational Leadership program at Adams State University and teaching classes in School Law and Managing Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, I would like to share the following insights with the committee: I. Timeline for Receiving Assessment Results Presently CSAP/TCAP results are received by the districts in late August when many districts have already begun their instructional programs for the instructional year. This prevents this assessment data from being effectively used for curriculum review and adjustments on a building-‐ or district-‐wide level. Since the data received is based on the previous year’s assessment results this data is not useful in the student achievement portion of a teacher’s evaluation as required by SB 191. An ineffective teacher may still be in the classroom because of this time lag. The only reliable and valid use of this data is the use of the data by the individual teacher, who is often so busy with getting the school year off to a successful start when the data is received, is the teacher’s adjustment of instruction to meet the needs of individual students based on the previous year’s achievement and growth data. Many of the district chosen assessments have return time for results of 72 hours rather than five months. This quick data retrieval is much more useful to districts as they plan for major curriculum or instructional methodology changes II. Time Consumed In Assessment Administration There are far too many mandated assessments given in addition to the assessments given and used as other bodies of evidence. When teaching the Managing Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment class I hear an overwhelming number of comments from students, who are practicing teachers, about the amount of time consumed in assessment administration. One student, from a Denver suburban district, said that in their district some form of a mandated assessment was given every day of the school year. Another, from a smaller district, estimated that 30% of their classroom time was taken up by the administration of assessments. Not long ago I had a teacher offer the following statement regarding standardized assessments, “We spend an awful lot of time weighing the pig, but we never seem to get enough time to feed the pig.” So much emphasis has been placed on standardized assessment that we no longer have time to provide our students with the instruction to fully meet the requirements of the assessment. III. Legality of the Mandated Assessment Program When asked, “is assessment a part of instruction”, teachers and administrators all seem to agree the answer is yes. Article 5 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 IX, section 15 of the Constitution of the State of Colorado, which states, “Said directors shall have control of instruction in the public schools in their respective districts”, gives control of instruction to the local boards of education. To many it would seem state-‐mandated assessment is unconstitutional since there is no local control in the design of the assessment, the timeline for administration of the assessment, nor release of the assessment results. IV. Philosophy and Vision What is the state’s philosophy regarding assessments and vision for the use of these assessments? Does the legislature and CDE have a purpose for the administration of standardized assessment other than to meet federal NCLB mandates (which some consider unconstitutional under the 10th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America)? Will CDE use assessment results as a resource agency to help districts improve instruction or as a punitive regulatory agency using the data to identify schools for state take-‐over (for which, by their own admission, CDE has no plan, only the threat). It would seem that if the question, “is this good for kids”, can’t be answered with a well explained yes, then the cause for the question needs to be assessed. Is the present amount of assessment good for kids? How is labeling a student “unsatisfactory” or “partially proficient” good for that student? Effective teachers and administrators will continue to use data this is readily accessible and easily understandable to help them design educational programs for their students while recognizing that all students don’t learn at the same rate, in the same way, or have the same educational background in the home. Effective teachers and administrators will continue to treat students as individual people rather than to the numbers to which they have been reduced by standardized assessment. V. Accountability Concerns Presently the legislature and CDE have established accountability for student achievement by using the results of standardized assessments in 50% of teacher and principal evaluations. This has created some discomfort for both of the aforementioned groups and created a vacuum of teachers willing to teach in schools and districts on priority improvement and turn around status. The question remains concerning the accountability for students and parents. There is no impact on students for their effort. One district saw a tremendous improvement in their student growth score when the district developed a rubric for student participation and effort on the TCAP which was shared with students and assessment proctors. If the students received the highest rating on the rubric their names went into the hat for a daily prize drawing. All of those who had the highest rubric ranking during the entire testing period had their name placed in a hat for an end of test “big” prize drawing. What is the lesson to be learned from this? Do students need to be bribed to do their best? Do their parents need to be 6 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 72 bribed to help them do their best? To answer the questions asked by the Taskforce: • What would an effective statewide assessment system include? 1. An effective statewide assessment system would include an assessment that would have pre-‐test and post-‐test assessments that would provide the necessary information to measure individual student longitudinal growth. 2. This assessment data would be available no later than 96 hours after the conclusion of testing so that data would be of immediate use in curriculum and/or instructional methodology change. 3. This assessment would relate directly to state standards. 4. This assessment would provide for some example of authentic assessment of the individual student. • How could Colorado improve its assessment system? Please provide specific examples. 1. The disaggregation of the assessment needs to be more timely so the data is more useful to the districts. (NWEA MAPs and Galileo have 72 hour turn-‐around times for assessment disaggregation. 2. The number of assessments needs to be decreased greatly so teachers have time to teach. 3. The assessment needs to be written by Colorado teachers who understand Colorado culture and language. • Are you familiar with the local assessments that are administered to students according to requirements of your district? If so, do you believe these assessments are valuable? Why? Harrison School District #2 has an assessment system based on Curriculum Based Measurements with periodic assessment relating to the district’s curriculum and instruction protocols. The assessments related directly to the established curriculum, provide immediate feedback, and provide data on both achievement and growth of the individual student. Thank you for your time in serving on this Taskforce. While it may at times seem a thankless job, it is a necessary service to the academic well-‐being of our students. Donald E. Davis 1115 W. Broken Bow Drive Pueblo, Colorado 81007 I have some thoughts about testing here in Colorado. I am from New York originally, and they use a Regents testing program. This is done at the end of every grade and students must pass the test or they do not move on to the next grade. The results of the test are known within days of it being given, so both students and teachers know immediately their successes, or failures. Anyway, our current testing is so poor with time many students don't see any value in trying their best. Just some feedback. Take care. 7 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 73 74 Scott Parsons English Teacher Gateway High School I am sending this e-‐mail to express in the strongest possible terms, that there is too much Standardized Testing in our schools. As a member of the Thompson School District R2J -‐ Board of Education, I have been trying for months to get our school administration officials to answer the following questions: (a) How much standardized testing, at each grade level, do our students face each year? (b) What are the purposes of such testing? (c) Does any of this testing help to educate our children? (d) Can any of it be eliminated? (e) What are the legal ramifications of school districts simply cutting out some of this testing? The TSD administration has been stone-‐walling me on these issues. I believe our BOE should have the authority to determine the level of standardized testing within our district. It appears that some grade levels spend up to 40 hours per year taking ST's, and that perhaps ten or twelve weeks of teacher and student time are consumed in preparing for these tests. It seems obvious to me that eliminating most ST's would benefit both teachers and students, enabling them to spend more of their precious time in actual teaching and learning. Common sense suggests that one ST at the end of each year, would be sufficient to assess what the children have learned during that school year. This ST, of course, would be in addition to the ordinary quizzes, administered every week or twI am particularly incensed over the new PARCC testing that is being forced upon our schools at this time. Among the most frightening aspects of the PARCC tests are: (a) putting the federal government instead of local citizens in charge of our schools' curricula; (b) the requirement that all such tests be administered on-‐line, thus providing a convenient secret conduit for harmful socialist and pseudo-‐scientific propaganda, and also making it difficult for small rural school districts to afford these tests; and (c) extensive data mining of all students and their parents, to be used for various nefarious purposes by bureaucrats in both federal and state governments -‐ shades of Huxley's Brave New World! This intrusive and harmful piece of garbage needs to be expunged from all schools across America. Yours very truly, Carl G. Langner Member of Board of Education Thompson School District R2J I have two children in the BVSD school system. I think the the amount of testing that the children are preparing for and testing on is getting to be a bit too much. Both of my children stress about these tests and worry about how they have done, and if they will do well. This stress is not 8 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 75 necessary, as the testing doesn't truly show how and what my child has learned. Both of my children are accommodated for testing and the result on the test is not reflective of what they know. The teachers have to spend so much time preparing, reading, testing, etc. just to give the tests that they have had to take time out of their schedules of teaching. Our kids don't know their math facts because there is not enough time in the day, they don't learn cursive any longer because it had to be taken out of the curriculum so that we have more time for testing. I am tired of it and I believe that it's time that the parents are heard. Please limit and decrease the amount of testing that our children have to do so they can get back to learning. Tracy Hobbs, Please reduce the testing. It is insane. My first grade son is already being taught typing skills which I know is test prep for 3rd gI am writing both as a teacher and as a concerned taxpayer about the disruptive effect of the PARCC / EOY testing. I have been teaching since 1975, and currently am teaching high school English at The Classical Academy in Colorado Springs, one of Colorado's consistently top-‐performing school systems. I have just completed an 8 hour training day at D-‐20's headquarters, primarily focused on mentoring teachers in my department (I am the department head) through the PARCC / EOY testing process. D-‐20 did an excellent job, but what we were left with at the end of the day was the basic message, "Your lives and classrooms are going to be disrupted from March through the end of April." I raised my hand, and asked, "In what universe is raising the academic bar while diminishing instruction time a good idea for students? I want the name of someone-‐-‐" and was told to write to you gentlemen, so here I am. I have no complaints with the Common Core. TCA already exceeds those standards, as evidenced by our consistently outstanding students and results. However, I am concerned about how we will be able to continue to produces those students and results when so much time will be frittered away with tests. And -‐-‐ tests that are counterproductive to obtaining actual results. None of our students currently test on computers: if they score poorly, how will you know if you are testing their knowledge or their computer competency? Further, the English test is 130 minutes long. As an adult, I have difficulty sitting at a screen for that length of time; how do you expect a 14 year old boy is going to do? In addition, the base-‐line PARCC test is in March; the EOY test is in April. How much improvement do you expect to see in one month, when classes are going to be disrupted with students popping in and out to take English and math tests, plus they will be gone for a week of spring break? As an educator and a taxpayer I have grave doubts about the validity of this process, and I would be very curious to know how many educators planned this series of testing? Are you aware that the EOY tests will be followed immediately by AP 9 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 76 77 tests, that many sophomores and juniors also take? After two weeks of EOY testing (which will count for very little in their future), many of these students at TCA will then have to also undergo a week of rigorous tests which will have a very significant impact on their future: their college courses, whether they will be exempted from future classes, or have to borrow more money because they didn't perform well. Did anyone take into consideration that the AP review sessions are going to be impacted by the EOY tests? Or that the students will be fatigued after a week of EOY testing? I would very much appreciate your thoughts on these questions. I have sent this on my private email as we have very strict instructions about using school accounts for political purposes. Not wanting to cross any lines in that arena, I have used my private account. However, so that you may know that my educational claims are genuine, I also enclose the address from TCA. I look forward to hearing from you on either account. I am pleading for the my students; give us back this time. Don't force us to teach to tests, or to lose valuable instructional time for tests of questionable value. Yours for the students, Cynthia Storrs English Department Lead Teacher American Studies, Honors American Literature, Literary Magazine As a parent and an educator I ask that you put a stop to the testing frenzy going on in our state (and our country.) Children should be in school to learn....learn about literacy, math, science, etc. for sure. But they should also be learning social/emotional strategies in order to help them be happy and productive members of society. They should NOT be spending time on how to take a test. Both teachers and students spend far too much time and energy in this area and it is detrimental to both. Please put the emphasis back onto learning and stop the teaching to the test!! Sincerely, Stacey Gurr Parent of a 4th grader and elementary school teacher Cindee Will, Principal of James Irwin Charter Academy, presented it very well and I agree with all of her points. As others have stated, I'm concerned with: • the amount of time students spend in testing • the time students lose receiving classroom instruction • the financial and facilities burden computerized testing places on our school • third and fourth graders will now have to received computer instruction 10 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 78 79 I would like to see a paper-‐test option offered and a quick turn-‐around on the results would be most beneficial to teachers and students. At this point I don't see how Common Core is of any value to our students or our schools. Chris and Lori Curl, Concerned TCA Parents I'm writing to let you know that I strongly disagree with the amount and manner of testing taking place via the state's standardized testing requirements. Holding kids and teachers accountable for their respective responsibilities is far more effective when the tests are given less frequently using hand-‐written responses, and, in a format that is conducive to local delivery and scoring. That doesn't mean we can't enforce standards of learning, but if you don't trust the local folks to enforce those standards we might as well terminate the whole school faculty! We need to increase our efficiency, people! Teachers and local school administrators are already trained and set up to teach, test, score, and administer our kids in a public school setting. It's been this way for over 65 years. This new method of standardized testing kills at least 5-‐10% of the school year on teaching the kids "how" to take the test! It has nothing to do with learning curriculum...it's about teaching them to get used to a GUI interfaces, applying certain keyboard inputs and countless other minutiae surrounding same. But please, don't take my word on the inefficiency of the state system. Use classroom video to track the hours...in doing so you too will find out how tedious and overly frequent these state tests have become. Where we observe the proven system of public school pedagogy failing, which, for the record, is not at my kids' school, is in cases where the dollars spent per pupil are lower than the median and, most importantly, where the median family income is lower than $40K per household. I abhor the fact that millions of our dollars have already been spent planning, deploying, and operating a state run facility for testing everyone when we really need to focus intensely on the minority of schools who don't perform at the desired level. Instead we should use that money at high-‐risk schools to increase teacher salaries, reduce student:teacher ratios, bring in counseling and tutoring, and subsequently, terminate the employment (and pensions) of all the state administrators who came up with this awful idea. Nick Jacobs All, I know it's tough to gauge teacher effectiveness without standardized testing but of course there's a lot of other factors that play into results on these, especially for elementary kids. I think teacher and school effectiveness needs to be 11 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 80 81 82 determined more by the parents and or institutions into which our kids enter and less by tests -‐ to me it's a little more of a free-‐market method, i.e. the best "products" get the most "buyers" -‐ enrolled students. Next, these tests take so much time to prepare for (School and Teachers), let alone take (students) that I am afraid something is being lost in the class-‐room -‐ either energy, zeal and or actual content that is NOT covered by these test. Lastly, no person from an entity with a financial interest in administering tests should be part of decisions on whether they are worthy and effective to our kids and society -‐ that's bias! Thank You, John Shaw, father of Shouta 11 and Kouta 9, both in public school I think these testing days are fine, but should be included as part of the daily routine and should not need any special teaching or preparing of the kids. They should be test administered at the end of the day for example and the kids should go into these tests with the current knowledge that they have from the year long curriculum -‐ I don't agree that they need some a special class or teaching outside of the regular curriculum that they currently have. (ex. taking them out of regular scheduled classes to teach something that is in the test and not in the year long curriculum is counter productive for the kids and the schools yearly planning). I am writing a letter in support of finding a way to reduce the amount of days dedicated to testing in the classroom. I understand that testing is important, but fewer tests, scheduled in a more compact way, would not impact learning/teaching as dramatically. Planning and accommodating for these State tests takes a tremendous amount of direct instruction time away from children. Planning and accommodating these tests takes huge amounts of time for administrators, office staff, and teachers. Please consider these views when reviewing current policies, Thank you for your time, Lisa Zucker Mother of Louisville Elementary student I am happy to have the opportunity to express my views on current Colorado assessment practices, as a teacher with 15 years in this state, but primarily as a mother. One of my sons, Max, is currently in the fourth grade at one of BVSD's elementary schools, and he has always performed right at grade level. Over the summer, Max began expressing his anxiety to my husband and me about entering the fourth 12 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 grade. He made it very clear that he had no problem with being in the fourth grade classroom, but that he was terrified about the assessments, which he already knew would be timed, computerized, and would require a fourth grader to type accurately under pressure. We reassured him all summer long and did not say anything to his teacher, hoping this would blow over. On the day of the I-‐ Ready test, we got an email from his teacher saying that Max had not been able to complete the assessment, and that he had burst into tears, saying that he "just couldn't do it." Max later described how the screens would randomly change, and that the exam started at a reading level higher than he could read fluently, causing him to panic. It broke my heart to hear him talk about it. Luckily, our son's teacher, who is lovely, did not pressure him into continuing immediately; rather they waited a couple of days, and he was able to finish. During these couple of days I talked to other teachers and learned more about how the test worked. I shared this information with Max, which helped him to understand that some of what he was being asked to do was above his reading level, and that if he kept at it, it would come down to an appropriate level, his "just right" level that we are always instructed to help our kids find. Now Max is extremely anxious about TCAP, even though it is months away. He is currently undergoing therapy to help him work through this anxiety. When I mentioned this to my neighbor, who has a 5th grader, she told me that her daughter had had a similar experience with last year's PARCC test. Her daughter had been literally in tears that she had not finished the exam. This is a precocious, academically confident child who is constantly in the middle of some thick book. I can tell you that standardized tests are drastically and without question changing the way our children experience elementary school. I strongly believe, as a teacher and as a mother, that the most crucial gifts our kids should acquire during the primary years is a love of learning and sense of community. I'm afraid that Max's love of school will never be fully regained, and this makes my heart hurt. It also makes me very angry. These tests have not given me any new or useful information about my son's academic progress. Max spent the year working at grade level; his assessments show that Max works at grade level. It's also hard for me to justify shelling out more than $50 for basics such as paper and Kleenex for the classroom, and then being asked to donate another $175 for the year, on a teacher's salary, when millions of dollars are being spent on standardized tests that make my son want to stay home. My greatest stake in these tests is through my own children, but I also would like to share with you what I have seen in the schools in which I teach. One of the schools in which I teach is bilingual. I am always stunned at how many days I come into my multi-‐use room and find someone administering a one-‐on-‐one assessment to a kindergartner. Is this really the best use of time for our human resources, let alone the tiny people parked in front of a computer screen? I also received the all-‐ 13 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 83 84 school email informing teachers that actually the resulting I-‐Ready data did not line up with our district's reading levels. Even if it did line up, there are less stressful, more interactive, and more holistic methods of obtaining this data. I have enormous faith in this state's truly excellent teachers and believe that they know best, through INTERACTING with these kids each and every day, how to find out what they know. I have been amazed each year at the quality and commitment level of my children's teachers. But for every hour my child and his teacher is stuck in a standardized test, that is an hour taken away from my child's learning and his teacher having the opportunity to discover what he really knows. It's also a handful of dollars taken away from buying resources to help my child learn. I appreciate the time and energy you are spending in reading this and helping sort out how to best assess our kids. In my opinion, my district's excellent teachers have it covered, and unless THEY see a need for more testing, please let this glut of standardized testing go by the wayside. I expect innovative and creative teaching and assessment from this my son's teacher's, and they have not disappointed, except when they are forced to administer these tests. No one's "best practices" in this day and age include standardized testing. Respectfully, Tina Dozauer-‐Ray BVSD mother and teacher Thank you for undertaking this important work in looking at the amount of testing that occurs in the K-‐12 public school system. As a parent, and as a public school educator, I feel this is an important topic. Some testing that occurs in the schools is very helpful. At the elementary level, we especially find the Dibels tests informative for literacy instruction. However, one test that is particularly time consuming is the TS GOLD that is used for kindergarten readiness testing. This test is not helpful in informing instruction and it is incredibly time consuming to administer. Please take a look at removing the requirements for kindergarten readiness plans and testing. In the past we have used the Speed Dial for kindergarten readiness, and this gave us all the needed information. It is not helpful to be required to write a plan for every student. Thank you for your work, Amy L. Nelson The question posed is "What would an effective statewide assessment system look like?" I believe the core purpose of statewide testing must be rethought and redeveloped to continue to have any relevance in the eyes of local communities and public education systems. Many educators at all levels have been arguing that a one-‐size-‐fits-‐all assessment system creates more problems than it 14 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 85 solves. Schools and districts need the ability to make the instructional decisions that are best for the children in their care, but continually worrying about yearly scores interfere with that effort. They force us to take short cuts, misrepresent genuine learning to the public, and create tension between professionals that is unnecessary. There is a better way. There is a growing voice for districts to create their own assessment systems that are tied to their goals. Local control matters. We presently can make curricular decisions at the local level, but our assessment systems must target achievement on the state system first and foremost. This isn't always in the best interest of children. Here is what I would rather see -‐ Assessment and evaluation needs to be returned to local control. I would rather see the state develop and offer an assessment that districts can have a SAMPLE of their children take each year. The purpose of this assessment would be as a calibration tool for districts to use to align their own assessment and accountability systems. Each year, a representative sample could take the state test (not every student) which a district would then use to make adjustments to their own system. We need to stop worrying about rankings or questionable statistics determining school ratings or teacher achievement. If the state offered this assessment, then districts without the resources to develop their own could opt to use this as their district accountability piece. Their choice. Let us make our own instructional decisions at the local level, but support us by offering an assessment that could be a tool, not a weapon. Ryan Howard Mary Blair Elementary School Thank you for taking the time to read my comments. I am a mother of four boys, two of which, I admit, test very poorly. These two boys are very creative and artistic souls, they write and draw beautifully, they are deeply sensitive to others and extremely caring individuals. These children also tend to be easily distracted, lose focus under tense circumstances and duress, feel an inordinate amount of pressure by the pace of others during testing and the fear of how they will perform or fail. These are all things we work on within our family and with administrators and teachers of our children. I understand that assessments are part of life that they must at times face. However, to say that an assessment will EVER accurately describe the wonderful character and strengths of my children is a falsehood. These types of children are not ever given a fair shake by assessments. To add even MORE assessments to that burden for them, to ask them to carry more pressure and stress, to take away the parts of school they enjoy and thrive in and replace it with simply more tests is a horror to me. Please -‐ listen to the voice of reasonableness and the voices of the children everywhere who are overwhelmed and drowning in assessments and revamp this system before it shuts off little hearts to learning and becomes an even deeper 15 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 86 morass in our culture. Tracie Schultz, Parent in Colorado Springs “What would an effective statewide assessment system include?” First, I propose postponing the requirement for the PARCC testing, and elimination of any duplicative testing, until the Task Force completes its work and can determine appropriate implementation of any new assessments found to be important for greater educational achievement by Colorado students. It is very important to make sure you “do no harm.” Standards: The Colorado Education Department needs to understand where State standards are failing many students, and it is impossible for every school to have the same focus and mission as other schools; therefore, districts/schools need the flexibility to have different standards. Not all students are college bound. As an example, the requirement for algebra should not apply to someone wanting to be skilled as a cosmetologist or barber, both of which require licensing; and, there are many other such trades where our students can be successfully employed without mastery in some core subjects. General consumer math, as well as consumer financial skills, are desperately needed by students; however, the beginning prerequisite for algebra is a discouragement for those who only need to take consumer level classes, which could include very basic algebra and/or geometry concepts without requiring mastery. Would it be possible to allow all districts/individual schools to set their own standards, or to have separate college bound versus vocational standards to meet the need of different school missions and for different student populations? Is it meaningful for school test results to show they are either slightly above or slightly below a State “standard?” Is it more meaningful to simply show comparative data with other schools, so all choose to improve their standing? I believe the Task Force must look at requirements which impede the districts’ ability to truly educate our children. It should be quick and easy for the Task Force to find out what the top five schools for Elementary, Middle School and High School have in common, and how they are achieving exemplary results. The Task Force should know what curriculums are used and how often any one subject area curriculum is changed. Constant curriculum change can be devastating to students and impedes their overall progress. We need a way to express college entrance expectations to challenge the college bound students, but also a solid education for the trade school bound students. Assessments: I believe the Task Force is only focused on summative assessments. Those assessments should cover a wide breadth and depth of knowledge in the core subject areas. Assessments must not be based on any particular curriculum for any subject area, and we should never have anyone teaching to the test. If students have a basic educational framework for achieving knowledge, they will be better skilled at reaching the correct answer in many different subject areas and with a 16 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 variety of measuring methods. However, the Task Force should know that children with some disabilities such as dysgraphia have extreme difficulty completing “show us your work” type test questions in a timely manner, even though they may be adept at verbally explaining the steps. Bigger Issues: Frankly, if you truly wish to improve Colorado’s educational system – not just assess for assessment sake – then many of the legislative requirements must be changed to allow districts and schools to do what they know they need to do in order to educate their students in conjunction with their school mission and expectations. Take a look at the school structure where there is the superintendent and/or principal(s), the educators and the students. Parents/students need to be able to choose what type of school their students will attend, or to home school. Technology is making it easier to have very differing models of educational systems. The general current structure in school districts provide for a superintendent who then is in charge of hiring the principals, and teachers are hired by the administration and are moved around at will without consideration for specific skill hiring needs. A better system would be to hold the superintendent and principals accountable for student achievement, because hiring employees to fit the mission of each individual school with different student populations is extremely important. I do not believe the recently implemented teacher evaluation process based on student test scores is the proper way to evaluate educators. Educators report to the principal, so the principal should be responsible for the evaluation of his/her employees. Hiring Educators: Some ideas I’ve learned from my research is that we need educators, not just “teachers.” A “sage on the stage” rather than a “guide on the side.” Colorado should not require licenses for highly educated and skilled individuals who are known experts in their field, and who are interested in educating students. Principals should be at liberty to hire the best, brightest or most experienced for every position they have in accordance with their school mission. Principals must also have control of the firing process should they make a mistake in hiring, to be able to correct the mistake as soon as possible and to know all students have the best possible educators all the time. This means that principals must also have control of the salaries their employees receive, as well as the educator evaluation process, so these activities are all coordinated and are in alignment. Principals may want to have a committee or board to assist with these most important tasks to ensure decisions are not based on personalities. Any evaluation process must not be separated from the school mission and expectations, and accountability of the person who controls hiring and firing. It must be remembered that the educators are the most important, and most expensive, resource for student achievement. The advent of charter schools shows how different models can be successful. Where there are successful schools with waiting lists to enter, Colorado needs proven ways for replicating those schools and provide greater opportunity for superior education to more children. We need competition to have the best educated students, and I believe the best way 17 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 87 to foster competition is to provide funding for all students through a transfer of State dollars to wherever the student is educated. I believe this idea was suggested by former Governor Roemer and State Senate Majority Leader, Peter Groff, several years’ back, and should be implemented sooner rather than later. I also recommend that prerequisites for classes be removed unless needed for student safety, so all students have greater freedom to accept the challenge and success in classes they may not otherwise be able to take? Students are gifted in very different ways. Class planning and scheduling may be more difficult, but we must always choose what is best for the students. Questions for the Task Force: 1. What do you expect to improve by establishing standards and/or assessments? How will they be measured? 2. Who will be held accountable for improvement and do they have sufficient control of the overall situation to actually implement their improvement plan? 3. Can the person held accountable hire, fire, evaluate and provide guidance, incentives and financial rewards so that continued improvement can occur? October 6, 2014 Durango School District 9-‐R Attn: Dan Snowberger, HB 14-‐1202 Committee Chair 201 East 12th Street Durango, CO 81301 Dear Mr. Snowberger, In June of 2014, over 40 Superintendents convened in Edwards, Colorado for a two-‐day meeting on establishing common education policy priorities. One of the matters discussed was the state’s summative accountability assessment system. The meeting identified several key policy statements, or positions. As a next step from the Edwards meeting, an electronic survey was designed to test the level of support for these policy statements across a larger group of Colorado’s Superintendents. The survey instrument collected responses from 7/31/14 through 8/27/14. Ultimately, 149 of Colorado’s Superintendents responded, representing 84% of the state’s 178 districts. Several of the questions posed on this survey relate directly to the work of the HB 14-‐1202 Committee. As such, I am providing the results to you as a resource and support for your work with the Committee. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of service to you in this important work. Thank you for your consideration of this information and for your continuing efforts to improve Colorado’s schools. Jason E. Glass, Ed.D. Superintendent & Chief Learner 18 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 88 89 I am a public school teacher and parent of two elementary age children in Colorado public schools and am responding to the questions you recently sent out to the public. I believe an effective statewide assessment needs to assess students on the standards they are being taught. It needs to be consistent year to year in order to show student growth and not continually changing. It needs to take into account different learning styles and rates to be truly effective. Teachers are constantly differentiating in their rooms to be sure that all students are learning. If the test is going to be on computers, something has to be done to insure that studenst are computer savy. Children come to school with different technology experiences and schools vary in the technology available to their students. To be effective the test must also take into consideration socio-‐economic and cultural backgrounds of all the students taking it. For the test to be effective all schools in Colorado should have equal access to the resources necessary for students to do their best. Colorado could improve the assessment system by slowing down and getting their ducks in a row. The cart is before the horse. A standardized test needs to be chosen and used for a reasonable amount of time for the results to truly show student knowledge and growth. Students should be taught the standards before they are tested on them. Tests need to be streamlined so less time is used preping and administering them. Schools need more computers so more students can test at the same time. I have seen schedules greatly effected and learning impacted at both of the schools I have taught at during the testing months. Even grades K-‐2 are impacted as lunch and specials' times change. Teachers and Paras are taken away from reading and intervention groups in order to adminsister the tests, and the children they were teaching miss out on valuable small group learning time for weeks at a time. Administrators are bogged down figuring out testing schedules,reassigning people for the testing time, finding spaces for the students that needing accomodations during testing, and scheduling testing in tech rooms. Being a first grade teacher, I find our district assessements for reading, writing and math valuable since my students do not take the standardized tests. I do believe there is too much testing and too much time taken up with testing for the upper grades. I belive there needs to be some streamlining so that sudents are not taking several tests for the same subject that are basically all gving the same information. I feel strongly that a lot of learing time is being wasted on standardized testing that is not as valuable as it could be because it has not been thought out enough. There are not enough experts in the field of education and teachers in the classroom being used as resources for determing what the testing should look like, how it should be administered, and what information about student learning the tests should show us. Adrienne McCleskey As you know you have an important mission. Assessment activity affects over 900,000 students in K-‐12 here in Colorado. 19 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 The cost of education is going up, however no significant change in performance. For over 20 years Colorado has supported "standards based education" for K-‐12 students. After 20 years of Standards and Assessment activity, a lot of people are making money off of this model, but it does not benefit the students and the best teachers are leaving. About your mission Set your objectives HIGH -‐ Colorado's standards and assessment policy is more appropriate to the "industrial age" than the "information age". Note that "single accountability system" and "uniform statewide system" imply a monolithic environment... wrong ... support choices! Please watch this presentation by Bill Whittle .. in less than 10 minutes he describes the problems and proposes some interesting solutions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx5qSJ37lk0#t=15 "There is abundant evidence that less than one hundred hours is sufficient for a person to become totally literate and a self-‐teacher." John Taylor Gatto About words, define -‐ what do you mean Recommend you expand the APA "definition list" to clarify what is meant by: Achievement gap, Growth, Effective, Valid, Proficiency, etc. What is the purpose of education? What is a "quality education"? What is the definition of a "excellent" school? About perspective -‐ avoid the problem of "can't see the forest for the trees" Avoid jumping briskly into the details of what we are doing, who is doing it, cost measured in time/$, stay with the big picture Are standards and assessment "effective"? What facilitates excellent schools/successful students? Do current assessments capture "achievement level"? About transparency Questions asked on TCAP are closely held ... no options for the public to evaluate tests/student responses ... this is wrong. When I repeatedly tried to gain access to the 3rd grade TCAP booklets last spring, I was referred to the Colorado Attorney General's office. I was informed that "the contents of TCAP booklets and/or ability to view student answers are confidential under state and federal law"! With PARCC, who says these tests measure "Proficiency"?, would the public concur? About technology Instruction in technology should be secondary to developing basic literacy and math skills especially in K-‐5 20 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 (example: time using an iPad or learning to use a keyboard in 3rd grade in order to take a test is less valuable than building vocabulary) About numbers and data mining Minimize summative assessment activity -‐ it distorts instruction (it does not "inform" instruction) Who has access to answers to summative assessments? how are we protecting the data? What is the value vs. the problems with longitudinal data systems (student records from PreK to "workforce")? Does this info "improve student learning"? To quote Albert Einstein "not everything that can be counted COUNTS, not everything that COUNTS can be counted" what are you measuring?, who says the TCAP scores are meaningful? I recommend you all read Darrell Huff's book "How to Lie with Statistics" "Is education measurable, and if it is measurable does it make sense that the same measures would apply to everyone? " Peter Gray This article in psychology today is worth reading About national standards and Colorado Academic Standards Quantity does not equal quality -‐ for example: the CAS are lacking an overview, way too much detail, lack balance (the Arts include 4 separate documents that total over 500 pages, while Social Science is about 100 pages, etc. see this article posted at SchoolReform.CO http://www.schoolreform.co/blog/post/3580692 About Task Force resources APA (Augenblick Palaich & Associates, Inc) and WestEd -‐ are these resources unbiased or is there conflict of interest issues? What I support Call for clarification of goals and assumptions for K-‐12 public education Recommend legislation to get Colorado out of "Consortiums", ie. PARCC Recommend at least a 2 year moratorium on State Level Assessment activity (PARCC, CMAS, TSGold) (compile best options for district level and share ... allow districts 3-‐4 choices, use district # to compile state #) Keep summative assessment activity to a minimum (NAEP and limited district level should be adequate) Recommend simplification/review of Colorado Academic Standards, address criticism of CCSS ELA and MATH standards Recommend legislation to uncouple assessments with teacher evaluation Encourage innovation, reward excellence (collect info on what is working and distribute info via webinars, forums, etc) 21 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 90 91 Protest Federal mandates regarding public education (reference: our 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution) Thank you for recognizing the Importance of public comment Carol Kirkstadt, Loveland, Colorado, a concerned senior SchoolReform.CO State standardized assessments are important for a quality education. It is a very helpful tool for parents to find quality public schools, since we have open enrollment. Quality is what I want for myself and my children. That includes the value of making do with what we have I have still been reflecting on our experiences already with Pearson developed tests, and I was hoping that the team could address the length of the tests by looking at how to develop statistically accurate averages by asking the best and fewest number of questions per standard. For example, there are 8 Eighth Grade Science Standards. With 3 well written questions to address each standard, the test could be cut in half but still be statistically valid. The students who took the 8th grade science test last year (and the 7th grade social studies test, incidentally) felt that there were too many questions per standard. For example, students articulated that there were 6 punnett square questions. They knew how to do these from 7th grade science at our school so they found them easy, but as educators, we know that they didn't need 6 for statistically relevant data. I'm sure that you are already having these conversations, but Pearson is a for profit company who is contracted to provide a test for PARCC and for CMAS-‐-‐I would like to see the State advocate for its students by asking the company (Pearson) to work harder and smarter for our kids. Thanks for listening, Shelly Russell Principal, Littleton Academy I was informed that you are looking for input regarding the use of assessment and high stakes testing. As an educator I can say that I have seen no result for the positive with the amount of testing done on students. There are so many assessments that take place that students are being tested every month of the school year and sometimes twice. Teachers are losing instructional time to be able to actually teach the students anything. As an art teacher, I was often kicked out of my space to be used for testing for months on end, how effective can I be if I can’t even teach in my own space. I was also a gifted and talent representative for several years and had to do testing in-‐between the other testing, last year there were so many new tests that I had to give it to the students during one of the other testing windows. In the spring students have been tested so much that there is no longer an effort to even try. Teachers and schools are the only ones effected by the results of the assessments, students are not held accountable for 22 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 their efforts on them. That is a huge mistake as well. If the mentality of the students are that they do not care about the test (because that is all they ever do any more) then of course that is evident in the results, but the students do not feel the brunt of their lack of success we do. That is something else that needs to change. I have seen it in other countries that when students don’t pass they do not move on to the next level, and we used to not pass students on till they got it either, it is truly a disservice as it stands now. Why test them to see what they have learned if it is not going to result in a change for what happens with the student in their academic success; only the teacher that tried to educate them that year but couldn’t because every three weeks there is another test, district, state, ELA, teacher.. I mean really, we have not become educators we are test centers. Results are not given quickly enough to teachers to be able to use them in supporting student achievement. You get spring results the following fall when you do not have the students anymore. Yes of course teachers take the results and create groups, interventions, differentiated instructions to help meet the needs of everyone. But again with the interruption of tests every month, how truly effective is that hard work and effort to improve the students’ academic success, especially if the school setting is the only place the students are getting the support. Things we can’t control which is a huge factor is the students’ study habits at home and getting work done, and parent support. The student that truly succeed are the ones whose parents are actively participating in their students learning. The ones that go home and don’t do anything when they get there of course all that information that was shoved into their skulls during the day will not stick. I attribute this thought to when I was in high school taking French. I struggled to maintain a C in that class, same with math, because I had it first thing in the morning and then went about my day not speaking it any other time with anyone and so to maintain that grade because it was not something that I was using or practicing anywhere else, till I went to France and was forced to use it. But reading I loved to do and still read to keep my young daughters in the habit of doing as well to help them with their learning development. But this is a side not to assessment. So I continue… Growing up I remember taking the Iowa testing every other year. I felt that was more effective. Classrooms had their own unit tests in math, spelling tests, essays, plenty of other tools of assessments to help gage the student’s abilities. I understand the importance of assessing the students’ knowledge, but we have gone too far, and need to take a step back. I would think the collection of student body evidence and one test a year or even every other starting in 1st grade, would help in gaging our students’ growth. But what we are doing now is working harder not smarter. Throwing more tests at the students are not teaching them anything, because there is not time to teach it, let alone for students to understand it and apply it in an assessment. 23 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 92 93 Jennifer Andrews Please refer to the assessment calendar and K-‐5 assessment timeline in Thompson School District. You tell me; when do educators have time to directly teach a continuous fluid unit of instruction? And, this is only my research and feedback from K-‐5 educators. HELP! Let them teach, so our students can learn, and not be testing machines. Surely there is a yearly cycle with a fall pre-‐test of skill, a mid-‐term test, and a spring post-‐test of skill growth available to truly guide instruction and monitor student progress for literacy and math. Beyond that, additional formal testing is not useful to inform educators about their instructional practices, and they are very time consuming, as you can see from the calendar. Educators already provide informal assessments to guide instruction and re-‐teaching of skills for those that struggle in their daily lessons. Student performance and understanding of daily objectives guides an educator as to the scope, sequence, and pacing of student learning within a curriculum. Educators observe their students daily progress and plan accordingly to meet diversity of instructional needs of students. They know when to push on, slow down, reteach, or scrap a lesson and plan again, because they monitor the pulse of learning in their classroom. Unit assessments that cover the content taught is another avenue to gage student achievement and progress. Please pull back on the mandates and excessive testing and allow for educators to perform their craft. They are professionals, so let them be professionals and TEACH. Michele Conroy Big Thompson UniServ Unit Director I appreciated your participating in the panel discussion on Monday about standardized testing. I have been overjoyed to have the opportunity to help start a charter school, and have been very impressed with the Colorado League of Charter School’s seminars and support. Sadly, I fear that families are precipitously losing their freedom to oversee the education of their children. I believe that the most recent federal intrusion into education, including the Common Core mandate and testing requirements, is forcing everyone to involved in education to be little more than cogs in a large bureaucratic machine. Yes, education is a messy and very challenging endeavor, and is riddled with problems – but the type of top down, bureaucratic approach from the U.S. Department of Education that we are now facing runs contrary to our great American experiment in freedom. If the PARCC tests are great for our children, why can’t they be one of many options adopted voluntarily by schools and districts? What does it say about public education (and freedom in education) when non-‐compliance around a single battery of tests means non-‐existence for the school? Comply or die? 24 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 I came across the following article yesterday which articulates the dilemma: If 07 October 2014 by Peg Luksik In Walt Disney’s classic Cinderella, a letter arrives inviting every maiden in the kingdom to a ball at the palace. The stepsisters immediately begin planning for the event, and Cinderella quietly tells her stepmother that since she is a maiden, she is included in the invitation and she plans to attend. The stepsisters fly into a rage, but the stepmother calmly acknowledges that Cinderella does indeed have the right to attend the ball. She then informs Cinderella that she may exercise that right if she has completed all of the tasks assigned to her. Cinderella is joyful, and the stepsisters are outraged. They demand to know how the stepmother could ever tell Cinderella that she could attend the ball. The stepmother smiles and reminds her daughters that she did not exactly say that Cinderella could go. “I said IF,” she states. It’s such a tiny word. Yet the word “if” is incredibly powerful when the one saying it has the power to enforce whatever conditions follow its use. As parents, we have the right to direct the education of our own children. The government acknowledges that fact. And then it adds the word “if”. We may, for example, choose the school our little ones attend – ·∙ if they are all public schools, or ·∙ if they are willing to remove any religious symbols from their buildings and religious content from their curriculum, or ·∙ if they agree to administer the state assessments, or….. The particulars of the list of conditions are not as important as the fact that such conditions exist. We are told that this government control is necessary to ensure that our children learn. Is it? The sad fact is... that as government intrusion into our schools has grown, spending has gone up and achievement has gone down. One need not spend hours conducting mountains of research to prove this – although the research is certainly there. One need only compare the Federalist Papers to today’s newspaper editorials. Because the Federalist Papers WERE newspaper editorials – read, understood, and discussed by citizens who mostly did not go to college, or even complete 12 25 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 94 years of education at all. Who directed the education of those citizens? Their parents did; parents who were not laboring under a list of government conditions. They decided how they would exercise their right and honor their responsibility to teach their kids. And the general levels of literacy in the population were higher than they are today. Today, no newspaper would even consider printing editorials at the level of complexity evident in the Federalist Papers. We talk about school choice. But it is NOT choice when the government can dictate the range of choices available to parents, and impose its own list of requirements on schools so they can be eligible to be selected. In the story, Cinderella actually meets all the conditions imposed by the stepmother. She fulfills every IF – and the stepmother keeps her from exercising her right to go the ball anyway. It is only when she steps outside of the stepmother’s control that her life changes. If we truly want to ensure that we can exercise our right to direct the education of our children, we need to do the same. We need to begin any serious discussion about school choice by removing from Washington the ability to say “IF”. Paige Rodriguez Louisville, CO My name is Elizabeth Engelking; I have been an art teacher in Aurora Public Schools for eight years. I have been teaching at a Title one school, Paris Elementary, in Aurora Public Schools, for the last four years. We’re located off Peoria and Colfax across from Children’s Hospital. We are a school that is in Priority Improvement. Our assessment schedule is taxing, to say the least, and in the last few years the schedule has been exhausting for all that work in the school. Our students are assessed far too much and it is impossible for any of our classroom teachers to keep up with the deadlines and due dates of the assessment schedule. It is almost as if we need a testing task force, provided by the district, to administer part of our test load. From one test to another, there is very little break to actually teach class. Our staff is continuously turning over and brand new teachers are always just trying to hang on, with the work load; not only are they trying to learn to teach, they are trying to learn the assessments also. Even for veteran teachers the load and pressure don’t really seem worth it and often our very good veteran teachers choose to transfer within one to ten years. Our populous is ever changing and with the amount of transiency it makes one wonder exactly what our data from year to year is really saying. Though I am a Specialist in the school, I have had to administer many of the tests in the last four years I’ve been there. I have heard from almost every teacher that the test load is excessive and been asked by many students “Why do we have to do this?”, not out of disrespect, but honest interest and concern on why they have to take so many tests. With the pressures of the new 26 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 95 96 evaluation system and the possible outcome of standardized test scores being part of our evaluation, I don’t know how a district would expect to retain teachers in their lowest testing schools. I believe that you need to retain staff in order to make an impact in a community, but with the work load and standardized testing weighing so heavily on the outcome of one’s job, the struggling schools will be an ever revolving door of new people and this will foster little to no change in the community, in the life of the school and in the scores on standardized testing. -‐Beth Engelking APS Art Specialist Paris Elementary I am glad to give you feedback on the outrageous testing in our schools. I have given 2 writing assessments to kindergartners. One student in class is 4 years old!!! Some cannot hold a pencil and more have very poor fine motor skills. I have so many tests and deadlines that I have given up trying to do a good job. I have a huge class with many special needs. My job is a teacher, not a bookkeeper. I tried that as a teenager and know it is not a good career for me. I also have students who have vision issues and they will not do well on computer tests. When you are a child is the time for building social skills, making friends and building a solid pre reading base. I am sad that one of my thoughts each day is: Will this be on the test? Please, please eliminate some of these tests. Thanks, Sheryl McConnell I am the mother of a 7th grader and 4th grader in Boulder county. Both kids are very bright, however one is a natural test taker (linear thinker, left brained etc.) and the other is an extremely right brained, visual and kinetic learner. As you can imagine, the idea of sitting still for a period of time to take a standardized test not only does not appeal to my alternate learner, it gives her great anxiety. Under those circumstances, who can be expected to perform well? We all agree that some form of measurement of the content taught and knowledge retained is crucial, and we also know that standardized tests do not do the best job of measuring retained knowledge versus facts that happen to be memorized and they certainly do nothing to help out kids learn how to apply their knowledge to real work situations, which is really the point of learning. However, Since some form of testing is a necessary evil I strongly encourage this task force to: -‐ stop changing the format and types of tests we give our children, each time you make a change you lose whatever historical, trend data you had been gathering since you need to accommodate for the change. You also confuse the kids and those administering the tests! -‐strictly limit the number of tests give to our children, 27 HB14-1202 Standards and Assessments Task Force Public Input Received for the period September 25 – October 9, 2014 97 -‐test children with the simplest means possible. While everything is going to computer based, instead of paper, be cognizant of the fact that this move to computer testing will be testing a child's computer skills as much as their actual knowledge of the subject. Our children need to be formally taught computer usage at school so they can be prepared for computer based testing if this is the future. Please take these ideas and opinions into account as you debate the future of our children's testing. Best regards, Karen Kralios am a parent of two children in District 20 in Colorado Springs. I am familiar with the wide range of assessments that are now being administered to our children. I do NOT believe these assessments are effective, but rather serve as a disruption of valuable class time for the children and teachers. They create undue stress and anxiety, and they cripple the school's ability to truly teach their curriculum. My children's school is a charter school, and they have repeatedly exceeded any state requirements since the school's inception. And yet, the children are still subjected to this unnecessary testing and so-‐called beneficial Common Core requirements. Respectfully, I ask that you reconsider the Common Core implementation and stop with the layers upon layers of assessments that the children go through in addition to regular classroom tests and quizzes. Sincerely, S. Helus 28