This is the week of the fourth grade state standardized tests (the ASK test) in New Jersey. Every kid in the state sits for four days of tests, as mandated by NCLB.
I’m not a big hater of NCLB and its standardized testing requirements. I think that those tests have done a good job of pointing out which school districts and areas need more attention. It can be useful politically to show quantitatively that kids in Newark and Camden are not at the same educational level as the kids in the fancier suburbs. It creates a rationale for sending more resources to those areas.
However, as part of the requirements of NCLB, all kids, including severely disabled kids, have to take those tests. Kids that have been classified as having severe cognitive delays or other learning differences have to take those exams.
Frankly, it’s a little cruel.
Talking with a special ed teacher this week, she was in tears about that requirement. None of her students tested even closely to grade level. The poor kids had to stare at an exam for hours every day and feel stupid. The kids felt bad about themselves. This teacher gave them gummy bears after the test to boost their spirits.
I’m poking around through the literature this morning, trying to figure out the rationale behind this nasty edge to the NCLB.
Apt. 11d 
It’s not a good reason, but I thought at least part of the reason was so schools couldn’t effectively dump kids they weren’t teaching into special ed classes to avoid the mandate for yearly increases in test scores. In other words, it’s hard to distinguish between the “real” SE kids and the ones who could be/ought to be measured against statewide benchmarks.
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Yeah, I was wondering the same thing, Tasha. Seems like should some way of protecting the kid with a 60 IQ and preventing school district shenanigans.
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I don’t know. In my kid’s school there were kids who couldn’t read being READ the yearly statewide reading comprehension exam. I’m not exactly sure what that proved. The accomodation was that someone else could read them the test, but the results sure didn’t tell us anything about whether the district was helping them to learn to read; whether they could in fact read at all; or whether they or anyone else was being served by the present system. It just struck me as silly.
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“Seems like should some way of protecting the kid with a 60 IQ and preventing school district shenanigans.”
Yes, and also the poor teacher, who is crying because she’s being forced to hurt the kids under her care.
I do think that Tasha’s right that the goal was to make sure that the difficult to teach kids (poverty/behavior/SES issues) weren’t shunted to special ed just to avoid meeting the standards of the testing. But, it would be good if there was somewhere else to draw the line.
In theory for the severely affected kids, they are supposed to be coming up with assessments that test their areas of competency (i.e. do they understand the reading material, even if they can’t read it, in Louisa’s example).
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What are opt-out laws like in NJ? I have considered opting my kids out of MCAS (not sure it’s possible, but I’d find some way of doing something).
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At the extremes, it doesn’t make sense. However, if the school system gets to define who gets to take the test, games will be played.
I saw the value in the test (for families) in that it gave a reality check for some of my friends as to how well their children were functioning *when compared to grade level peers* by an authority which was outside of the control of the school district. Really, the question did come up, “uh, why is my kid making As when she scores on NI (needs improvement) on reading comprehension?” (The answer, in that particular case, in my opinion as another parent, in hindsight? Well, that district made a practice at that time of NOT identifying possible learning challenges. If a kid was functioning just well enough that it wasn’t obvious to the parents that there was a problem, the school would go out of its way to hide the issue. Outright hide it. To the point of delegating a staff specialist to work with that kid in class–“don’t tell your parents!” Which of course would have set the kid up to fail in later grades, had he not told his parents about what the school was doing, once the results came back. )
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In our state they have the same deal with accommodations, where a teacher reads some kids the test. One of my friends who is a full-time teacher does this – I’m not sure if it’s her choice or if it’s required that a full-timer does this – and her classes have to have a substitute for several days. It seems like a crazy system, and, as you say, really mean to the kids who everyone knows will fail.
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The requirement was inserted because school districts used to dump all the kids who struggled into special ed rather than teaching them. Forcing the special ed kids to take the test is cruel, but it prevents this kind of gaming.
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