When I started teaching at Andrew Jackson Middle School in Suitland, MD in 1991, I had visions of Jaime Escalante, featured in the 1988 movie Stand and Deliver, as my inspiration at that time. He had taught his Latino students in Los Angeles to excel on the Advanced Placement Calculus exam. I wanted to be like him! I was full of enthusiasm and confidence about offering my students an interesting and meaningful experience. I knew that inspiring students to care about the material was part of my job, and that perhaps I could spark of them some to choose AP coursework in high school. At that time, state-mandated standardized tests were not yet on my radar. If I thought about them at all, I figured I would help all of my students mange them smoothly.
My blissful ignorance and visions of Hollywood ended that first month, as I realized that I did not want to be judged by my students’ performance on tests and quizzes. I’m talking about simple in-class quizzes matching a list of states of the United States to a blank map with a number in each state. After going over the map and having kids fill them in and discussions about cities and events associated with each state, I figured we were on our way to a more interesting exploration of U.S. History. When I tested students on what they retained, I was shocked by the abysmal results. Less than half correct was common. I just didn’t understand it – these were reasonably alert human beings who had participated in the classwork. There was something about testing which short-circuited things. I could blame the kids for not trying, or myself for being incompetent or blind to reality. I could blame the school or the culture. As you may know, I ended up teaching for six years in two different settings: Prince George’s County, MD with mostly African-American students and Amherst, MA with a majority of white students. In each setting I frequently had in-class test results much lower than I expected. Ultimately I have concluded these terrible test results are more about schooling than race or class, but that is a discussion for another moment. (I’m certainly not minimizing test bias – I’m just elevating my negative evaluation of testing and schooling.)
Here’s what I learned, and I believe I speak for many of my teacher colleagues in all schools: I do not want to be judged based on the test scores of my students! This is simple, this is obvious, this has been stated by many others. It remains infuriating, angering, and insulting! I left the profession before these testing systems really landed on me and my co-teachers, but I still become incensed every time I see the state testing results published in the newspaper.
What great brain thought up measuring teachers and schools by publicizing the standardized test results of state-mandated tests? I know the answer includes politicians of both parties and the general mainstream education establishment. I will express my outrage again here! In no other profession do we judge professional performance based on the outcomes of others who may not be trying. This idea is so simple that it is stupefying. When I was a little league baseball coach, I wasn’t judged by whether a kid who didn’t want to be there struck out without trying. My piano teacher friends are not judged by how well a resistant student practices and performs at a required recital. My doctor’s effectiveness is not based on my personal health issues if I ignore or reject his recommendations.
I accept the goal of identifying strengths and weaknesses among students, particularly around literacy and numeracy. Many other critics of testing have already explained that such investigations needs to be done with consent and with sincere effort by the student; feedback needs to be private and immediate; and activities established based on these results needs to be mutually valued by teachers and students. To take it a step further, maybe “testing” isn’t the best way to get the information we are seeking.
The modern regime of state standardized testing is currently being used to judge teachers and schools, not students. You want to judge teachers? Fine, it seems reasonable to want to know who is a ‘good teacher.’ How do we go about doing that in real life, without looking at the standardized test scores of previous students? We ask previous students if they felt the teacher was helpful and interesting. We look at whether students sign up for electives or after-school activities voluntarily with that person. We notice whether the teacher reaches out to parents and families to communicate about what is happening in school. We ask other teachers and administrators to observe the classes of the teacher and look for engagement. We look over the adjustments to the standardized curriculum for creativity, independence, and relevance to the local community. It’s not that hard. We do it all the time.
Measuring and labeling teachers and schools based on the standardized test scores of students is a recipe for disaster. It puts the focus on scores rather than progress. It encourages teaching to the test. The concept of using test scores to reward teachers with “Merit Pay” creates sickening competition among colleagues.
Further, publicizing the scores sets communities against each other, and may affect real estate prices and other civic values. Using test scores as a method to demonstrate “good schools” and “strong community” reinforces class and race bias in our wider culture.
For more than two decades, many others have led the critique and the resistance to standardized testing. I have been a distant bystander to this situation, having removed myself from this world in 1996. I have chosen to create a model where I can be judged based on the short- and long-term outcomes of teens, in which self-evaluation is first consideration. I walked away from being judged based on the efforts and whims of students who may or may not have been trying, and I continue to see any system based on such a process as arbitrary, mis-oriented, and morally vapid.
I chose a four-part series to give me space to share my evolution in thinking from a test- taking junkie to a resister, evader, and critic. I wanted to have one essay here to vent my anger about the impact of these tests on my profession, and on behalf of my colleagues who have chosen to remain in public schools for many important reasons. In the final installment of this series, I will offer a more focused argument about our goals and how we can assess progress towards those goals in a meaningful way.
Ken, age 22 (Educational Idealist)
Featured photo: Ken, age 31 (Educational Critic)