Re: [ARN-state] NYC Parents Boycott Standardized Exam "Field Tests"

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

You go, Jane! You may know that were organzing Operation Opt Out here 
in CA this spring. Its happening.
Susan

On Wednesday, January 23, 2008, at 05:34 AM, Bob Schaeffer wrote:

>   CITY PARENTS BOYCOTTING ADDED TESTS AT TWO SCHOOLS
>
> New York Times - January 23, 2008
> by Elissa Gootman
>
> New York City public school students have taken English tests for 
> years.
> Math tests, too. This year, 10 “diagnostic” tests have been added to 
> the
> menu in the hope that they will improve results on the real thing.
>
> But when parents at two Manhattan elementary schools discovered that
> their children had been selected to participate in “field tests,” or
> tests to help the state’s testing company try out questions for future
> tests, they decided to draw the line.
>
> At a news conference in front of City Hall on Tuesday, the parents said
> they were organizing a boycott of the field tests to be given at their
> children’s schools — Public Schools 40 and 116 — later this week.
>
> “We’re using tests to figure out how kids will test on tests,” said 
> Jane
> Hirschmann, the founder and co-chairwoman of Time Out From Testing, an
> anti-testing group that sponsored the news conference.
>
> Jonathan Burman, a spokesman for the State Education Department, said
> that there was nothing new about this year’s field tests, and that the
> state, working with its testing companies — CTB/McGraw-Hill in this 
> case
> — has conducted field tests in the same manner since 2000.
>
> “We have explained for years that we field test to ensure the accurate
> development of test questions,” he added.
>
> But because of requirements under the federal No Child Left Behind law
> coupled with the City Education Department’s decision to raise the
> number of diagnostic tests given to third through eighth graders — last
> year there as many as six — New York City’s public school students are
> taking more standardized tests than ever. And so the boycotters seized
> on the field tests, saying the testing company should figure out 
> another
> way to conduct its research.
>
> “I don’t think it’s going to be a strain on any particular child, but 
> it
> replaces classroom teaching, and it’s a waste of everybody’s time,” 
> said
> Anne Daniel, who has two daughters at P.S. 40 on East 19th Street and
> who said she was circulating a petition for a boycott of the field 
> tests
> there.
>
> Laurie Posimato, co-president of the P.T.A. at P.S. 116 on East 33rd
> Street, selected as a fourth-grade field test site, said parents of 50
> of the school’s 115 or so fourth graders had either signed a petition 
> or
> written letters to the principal announcing that they would not let
> their children take part in the field test.
>
> Ms. Posimato said she did not know about the field test until she
> overheard a conversation among teachers late last week. “Everything
> seems so secretive,” she said.
>
> In an e-mail message, Mr. Burman said the field tests were necessary 
> “to
> determine the exact level of difficulty of each question,” and which
> should ultimately be used. Statewide, he said, roughly 200,000 students
> in third through eighth grade are selected to take part in either
> English or math field tests. Most schools are selected in only one 
> grade
> and in one subject. A CTB/McGraw-Hill spokeswoman described the field
> testing as “a large undertaking that ensures the accuracy of these
> results.”
>
> Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, on his way into City Hall during the news
> conference, defended the testing, saying, “I’m sure the teachers will
> use the information to figure out how they can improve education.”
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/nyregion/23boycott.html
>
>
>
>
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