It's important to know:
* It's a state law, not a district decision, for administering the assessments.
* The state mandates the testing window.
* The state mandates the framework of the assessments (content, time, administration of tests, requirements, etc.)
* The state was mandating that if a student is present in the building during the hours of 9-11 a.m. and 1:30-3:30 (testing window), they must be tested. The state is now leaving that decision up to schools to decide. At Renaissance, it's taking every bit of our resources (space, people, technology) to administer the assessments. Therefore, we are asking students who are opting out to remain at home during testing hours as we are not able to provide an alternate option during testing.
* Not all tests have the same duration, but for the sake of providing band width for the on-line assessments, the testing window is two hours per assessment. Most of the assessments are 70 minutes in length and that includes 15 minutes built-in extra time. In the past, we had an accommodation to provide extra time for students who needed it, and it is now given to all students.
* Testing is not every day. We will be testing on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday's.
Why the new tests?
In past years we administered the CSAP assessment that evolved into the TCAP and now has evolved into the PARCC (assessing reading, writing and math). One of the biggest shifts in this assessment now is that it is completely on-line and has two parts rather than one. The first part of the assessment is to assess student achievement on the Colorado State Standards. The second part is to assess growth from year to year. This first year, the second part of the assessment will be creating the baseline for future years.
The other assessment is the CMAS and it is given to fourth and fifth grade students. This is not new, we gave it last year. This assessment targets science and social studies.
What is done with the results of this assessment and how does it impact the school directly?
* The school is given the results, as in the past, and the school is also evaluated by the state on how well they are doing educating students. Poor rated schools go on an improvement plan dictated by the state and lose local decision making.
* School results are one way that parents select schools and one way that some parents evaluate schools. Would we care if we had a much lower 'grade'?
* Results are skewed if we are only testing a portion of our population. We have such a small sample size, in the first place.
*While this state body of assessments is not necessarily an accurate picture of how we are doing, it is one way of measuring how things are going and provide us with some data to ask questions and plan for improvement. While these assessments are not authentic, students are going to face assessments in their future and having strategies and experience with formal, standardized testing is helpful.
* Half of a teacher's evaluation is determined on the results - achievement and growth. This is not a district decision - this is mandated by the state.
* Douglas County School District has been pushing back and trying to work with the state to see if other assessment measures can be included in this assessment of teachers. Our district would like to see teachers be able to use their personal authentic assessment measures of students along with the state assessments - a picture of student growth and learning that measures outcomes aligned with 21st Century learning.
Some things to ponder...
* We have a manufactured crisis in public education. The message to the public is that schools are failing. I think that is far from the truth. In my opinion, schools have never done a better job than they are doing now. Here in our district, we are transforming education - looking toward the future and aligning the outcomes for students on the future, not the past. It's messy - but we are making it happen.
* As a result of this manufactured crisis, measures (such as state assessments) are put into place to 'hold schools accountable' for student learning. The public is all over the place in their values and interpretation of what 'accountable' would/should be. The public influences the decisions made by our state - or so one hopes!
* Do we all understand that our own school district (and others in our state) questions the value of these mandatory assessments and is actively working with the Department of Education to modify and/or change the direction of assessing students?
* I wonder if what we do locally, affects state decision making? I wonder what could?
* Could we stay in compliance and still affect change?
* In what ways might students be impacted by the attitudes of our community?
New information from the State Board of Education
On Wednesday, February 18, the State Board of Education voted to hold schools and districts harmless (in terms of accreditation and accountability) for parent refusals of state-mandated assessments. While this is a shift in the state board's stance on refusals, we are still obligated to administer the assessments in accordance with the law. We need to have a record of all parent refusals to present to the state if our school would drop below the federally required 95-percent participation rate.
If you decide you do not want your child to take an assessment, we must collect evidence of your refusal. Documentation of a parent refusal may include:
* An email from parent
* A signed parent refusal form
* A phone call from the parent that we note on a refusal form
It is impossible for me to communicate through the written word and meet the needs of each of you. If you want more information, want to grapple philosophically, want to have a shared conversation to make meaning...just come visit with me!
Warmly,
Deborah
