Students Disrupt Standardized Test

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

WHAT IF STUDENTS TOOK A PASS ON STANDARDIZED TESTS

Half Moon Bay (CA) Review Editorial -- September 16, 2006

Last spring the very well-schooled students of Downtown College Prep in 
San Jose found a unique way to make a point - however unintended - about 
the foolishness of tying real-world monetary decisions to standardized 
test results.

They set out to purposely tank the charter school's annual Academic 
Performance Index, and their failure was a runaway success.

Angered over the loss of four popular teachers, students at Santa Clara 
County's first charter school staged a three-day walkout and paired that 
bit of civil disobedience with a coordinated effort to torpedo test 
scores. Many students just didn't take the thing. Others reportedly 
wrote happy faces and hearts on the answer sheet. The result was a 
203-point plummet from the mid-700 range. It was the second-largest drop 
in the state.

As student revolts go, it was a brilliant move that may, unfortunately, 
cost them dearly.

You need to know a thing or two about Downtown College Prep. Almost all 
of the school's 390 students are minorities and about 40 percent are 
still mastering English. Yet every one of 94 graduating seniors in last 
year's class was accepted by a four-year university, according to the 
school's Web site. These are smart, thoughtful kids for whom education 
is not merely a weekday necessity but rather a catapult to great things.

The kids knew that purposely botching the standardized test wouldn't 
hurt them in any obvious way. Scores don't follow students on their 
mythical "permanent record." They are only tabulated in the aggregate. 
They also knew a bad score can be devastating to the school's 
administration, which depends on glowing reports to wow donors.

Even the superintendent of the San Jose Unified School District was 
impressed, as well as chagrined. "We teach our kids about non-violent 
action, and during the protest the kids were peaceful, they were 
organized, they were articulate, and their actions were strategic and 
intentional," Don Iglesias told the San Jose Mercury-News. 
"Unfortunately, this hurts a school that the kids care deeply about.''

Which leads to the following disclaimer: Don't try this at home, kids. 
The potential penalties are just too great. Repeated poor performance on 
these tests can even lead to a state takeover of the school. Downtown 
College Prep students are a proud bunch, and they say they are now 
focused on improving their scores dramatically to prove they aren't 
simply academically challenged.

State and national educational leaders should use the students' example 
as a learning experience as well. The well-meaning, well-educated folks 
who dream up public education policy would do well to reconsider the 
wisdom of reducing a year's worth of learning to a single three-digit 
number.

Credit the fine students of Downtown College Prep for teaching us all a 
valuable lesson.

   http://www.hmbreview.com/articles/2006/09/16/news/editorial/story1.txt