The Sounds of the Season - Testivus Carols

It's Testivus time again.  Or for those of you who are more politically correct, Happy Show What You Know.  For me, I prefer to stay the time honored and more sacred name of Testivus.

As we regale in the splendor of this season, enjoy these meager attempts to touch on the true spirit of Testivus as  we share Testivus Carols together.


Deck the Halls


Deck the halls with lots of tests
Fa La La La La, La La La La
See the students and teachers stress
Fa La La La La, La La La La
Mul-ti-ple Cho-ice Que-stions
Fa La La, La La La, La La La
Cheat our students of educations
Fa La La La La, La La La La


When the scores come back we'll see
Fa La La La La, La La La La
That no one is better than me
Fa La La La La, La La La La
As we Race to the Top
Fa La La, La La La, La La La
When will the madness stop?
Fa La La La La, La La La La


Here Comes Testivus
(to the tune of Here Comes Santa Claus)


Here comes Testivus! Here comes Testivus!
Right down Testivus Lane
Score based reform and teacher blame
are pulling on the reins
Cash registers ringing, test companies singing
for them it's merry and bright
Why are we so happy to do this
'cause none of this just ain't right


Here comes Testivus! Here comes Testivus!
Right down Testivus Lane
It's got a bag that's filled with tests
for boys and girls again
Critical thinking, creativity
all of that has been nixed
So join your voices and say your prayers
'cause all of this must be fixed


O Wondrous Test
(to the tune of O Holy Night)


O Wondrous Test, whose questions are so probing
You are the one who will show how well I've taught
All of my students, will be marked for life
As either bright or the ones who'll hold us back
A feel of dread the weary teacher has
For yonder breaks the same old failed methods


Fall on your knees
Plead for reform to come
O test designed to show us nothing
O test, o test so badly designed


Long lay the school in test prep centered instruction
because no one wants to seem inadequate
Gone are the days of relevant curriculum
As we strive for the magic number of gold
Students will learn all the factoids that we choose
Instead of real concepts of what they should


Fall on your knees
Plead for reform to come
O test designed to show us nothing
O test, o test so badly designed


Truly we know that there's a better way
To assess what our children really know
We all hate you Test, yet we still bow down
Because we want the government's money
Are we really helping out our country
or are we merely holding ourselves back?


Fall on your knees
Plead for reform to come
O test designed to show us nothing
O test, o test so badly designed

Really? I mean , really?!

Join me in singing . . . "It's the most wonderful time of the year".  Yes, that's right boys and girls, it's high stakes testing time so that all our legislators, talking heads, and other people looking for a false sense of security or superiority can feel better about how things are going.  It's the festival of Testivus.  To properly celebrate this festive ritual, we, your hard working test taking guides, I mean teachers, are being thoroughly trained so that we don't mess up.  One of my favorite rituals associated with this time of the year is going through the testing code of ethics.  It's a wonderful piece of holiday folklore that gets retold every year during Testivus.  You can read the entire myth here.  I would like to highlight my favorite parts.

This part of the myth explains why we celebrate Testivus:

In North Carolina, standardized testing is an integral part of the educational experience of all students. When properly administered and interpreted, test results provide an independent, uniform source of reliable and valid information, which enables:

• students to know the extent to which they have mastered expected knowledge and skills and how they compare to others;

• parents to know if their children are acquiring the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in a highly competitive job market;

• teachers to know if their students have mastered grade-level knowledge and skills in the curriculum and, if not, what weaknesses need to be addressed;

• community leaders and lawmakers to know if students in North Carolina schools are improving their performance over time and how the students compare with students from other states or the nation; and

• citizens to assess the performance of the public schools.

I'm so glad that Testivus enables us to know whether or not our students are acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills.  Unfortunately, with the secularization of Testivus, the real meaning has been lost.  Our shallow celebrations of Testivus in today's modern era have been reduced to regurgitation of factoids, what some call "content".  Real skill assessment has been totally removed from Testivus, as evidenced by legislative actions that have mandated the removal of these "religious" aspects of the holiday.

As part of the ritualistic preparation for Testivus, we, the test-taking guides, must meet all the following ethical guidelines:

Teachers shall provide instruction that meets or exceeds the standard course of study to meet the needs of the specific students in the class. Teachers may help students improve test-taking skills by:

(A) helping students become familiar with test formats using curricular content;

(B) teaching students test-taking strategies and providing practice sessions;

(C) helping students learn ways of preparing to take tests; and

(D) using resource materials such as test questions from test item banks, testlets and linking documents in instruction and test preparation.

Part of the joy in helping students celebrate Testivus is doing all the above.  At least it is supposed to be.  Unfortunately, I feel like I am violating the sacredness of Testivus when I practice the secular, meaningless, aspects above.  In the past I felt like I needed a month of ritual purification after doing such.

Fortunately, the Testivus fun does not have to end when the last test is administered and the last bubble filled in.  Christmas has Boxing Day and Testivus has Remediation!  In NC, we are required to provide 5 hours of remediation to every student who fails, oops, I mean, only scores a 1 or 2, on the test, then allow them to retake the test.  So for those lucky select few, they get to endure 5 hours of intense test taking practice in one shot, not long after finishing one celebration and right before taking part in another.  Those who are REALLY lucky get 2 DAYS of remediation if they don't score high enough on both parts (reading AND math).

So, in this most sacred time of the school year, my prayer for you is that your classroom is filled with the joy of Testivus.  And for those of you, like me, who find reasonable doubt in the myth of Testivus, join me in saying, "Really?  I mean, really?!"

To Grade or Not to Grade - An Open Letter to My Colleagues

If you were to take of poll of the hot button issues in education, grading practices would easily rank in the top five.  If not the top 5 it would definitely make the top ten.  We are currently debating grading practices at my school.  Among the issues on the table are the zero policy, how to handle retakes, and whether or not we will record a grade on our regular common assessments that are also used to identify students with remediation needs.  For the record, I would never give another grade of any type if it were completely up to me.  I advocate for an either "you learned it" or "you are in progress" system.

For the last twelve months, I have been soul-searching, researching, and people searching to help me find another way.  I have been looking for creative ways to satisfy both sides of the debate (even though there are probably more than two!).  Along the way I have read the works of Alfie Kohn, perhaps the most popular anti-grade activist on the planet today.  I have read the summary of Black and Wiliam's study Inside the Black Box. I have come across a host of other resources.  They all say the same thing - grading inhibits performance, motivation, and quite possibly learning itself.

I have to be honest in my thinking though.  Grades in themselves are not bad things.  They do provide a measurement of our learning.  You can't drive a car if you don't pass the test.  You can't perform surgery if you don't pass the test.  You can't even coach intercollegiate sports if you don't pass the test.  What has created this mess we have today if the way grades have been used.  Instead of providing a measurement of learning, grades have become competitive measures, reward (and punishment) systems, and proof that I have memorized a set of facts.  This shift is a result of the way behaviorism and "accountability" has permeated our culture.

As I write that last sentence, I am struck with an internal inconsistency that is forcing me to deal with an incomputable dilemma, ala HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey.  I am a staunch cognitive behaviorist.  At least I used to be.  Perhaps I am slipping into some other primary mode of thinking.  Even so, I do believe that we learn certain patterns of behavior based on the negative or positive responses we receive for that behavior.  I still believe that such an approach to the classroom has merit, even when it comes to learning.

What if we set our expectations on the basis of whether you have learned or mastered a set of material instead of centering the the approach on the grade you receive?  I could provide several anecdotal accounts of where that is working.  Given a short amount of time, I can provide research to back it as well.  From a behaviorist perspective, you can then condition the student to value learning and maybe even become intrinsically motivated.

The bottom line in this debate is what is best for the kids?  We must take an honest look at that answer, considering everything we know to be true about how students learn, how their brains work, and what the data tells us about all of it.

At-Risk: The teacher trying to reach at-risk students

Tonight on #edchat we will probably be talking about how to reach at-risk students.  I'm looking forward to the chat because it is an issue near and dear to me.  Reaching at-risk individuals in any arena or context has driven every vocational choice I've ever made.  It's especially timely for me personally as I survey my class rosters and identify those five-percent-ers.  What I mean by that are those five percent of my students that I just have not been able to connect with or impact in a positve way.

I do a pretty good job forming relationships with my students, always have.  It's one of those things that has been integral in getting me hired at the schools where I've taught.  When I walk through the lunch room or down the hall, students from all grade levels shout out a hello, even those I've never taught or whose name I don't even know.  I'm not trying to paint myself as Mr. Popularity here.  I'm just saying I work really hard at building positive relationships because I think they are integral to the learning process.

We have approximately one-third of the school year left.  The tension in the relationships with my five-percent-ers is growing.  They are becoming more disengaged each day, and not just in my class.  They came into the school year as at-risk students and they will leave the same.  They have worked hard to maintain that status quo.  And it breaks my heart.  It wears me out emotionally.  It's the kind of thing that causes me to ponder my own effectiveness in the classroom.  Yeah, I know.  I made a tremendous impact on the other 95% and I shouldn't be dismayed.  But I can't forget those other five because I fear no one will care next year.

Hmm. . . . what CAN we do?

I brand myself as a visionary and a dreamer.  It's because I'm an idealist.  I like to believe that we can actually do the things the way we should and that the results will be what we hope.  That's one of the reasons I am always looking for ways around the system that blocks innovation.  That's why I look for ways to see what we CAN do in the face of restrictions.  Maybe we cannot adopt all the changes we'd like, but what ones can we implement?

This "what if. . ." post by Jessica Luallen Horton energized to think about my philosophy above even more.  I love her post.  My comment to her was where do I sign up?  This energy fed into other thinking prompted by Joe Bower and this post about grades.  So now, one of the things I have to find time for this weekend is finding a way to implement some of these crazy ideas.

Now, what CAN we do?

Building Student PLN's

Tonight's #edchat was about how social media can/is changing education.  Social media's influence has greatly benefitted me.  My PLN, built primarily around Twitter, has enabled me to change so much about how I teach.  My personal growth over the last year has been exponentially greater than my previous eight years as teacher.  Part of my learning has resulted from the sharing I do as well.

What if my students' could build PLN's?  How would their learning change?  What would be the impact on their education?  After tonight's chat, I'm determined to begin that process tomorrow, even if there are only 12 weeks left in the school year.

So how do I get this started?  There are some important logistical and legal issues that must be considered.  Some I have thought of.  Others I need your help on.

• Find a service permissible and properly secure for your age group that is accessible on your school network.  This includes getting them email addresses.
• Find an avatar creation site so kids won't have to use their real pics.
• Teach them proper digital citizenship.
• Model and demonstrate how a PLN can be used.
• Create an IMMEDIATE use for them.

What am I missing?  What services would you suggest?

Assessment Gone out of Control

About a week and half ago I received the following email from a former student:

I have a second grader who came home today with a notice that he is below grade level in math and needs to go to after school tutoring. He is really bright and is already in AIG because he reads on a 5th grade level. Based on what I have seen, he can do math just fine, he is just really slow. 

When I told him he was going to have to go to after school help, he cried because he doesn't want to do extra homework. We have friends whose son goes to Kumon for math work, should I look into it? What questions do I need to ask the teacher so that we understand how to help him? Flash cards? I know second grade isn't your thing but do you have some advice?

In short, my recommendations to her were to get more details on this tutoring and how his need was determined.  Specifically I advised her to ask to see multiple work samples and ensure that this determination was not based on a singular assessment.  Today I received a follow up.

Just thought I would update you.  I have spoken with both "L's" teacher and the program coordinator at "L's" school.  He is actually doing really well in math with the exception of this one test that they are using to determine the need for intervention.  It is a two minute timed test that is scored on how many digits (1 and 2 digit addition and subtraction) they get correct in the time allotted.  On all of the other assessments that the teacher has given including word problems, graphing, three digit addition, small fractions, etc he is above the rest of the class. 

The school has yet to be able to tell me exactly what they will be covering in the after school tutoring and the teacher informed me that most of the children who were targeted are declining because they are all in similar situations of good math skills but slower than the target on this particular test.  

We have picked up flash cards to speed up his addition and subtraction of numbers that he should know right off the bat.  I won't know until May if it is paying off but it can't hurt and I can see where he is getting faster as we practice.  I think if we work on that he will be fine by 3rd grade.  I also can't help but think how I had such a mental block during pre-cal my senior year that I almost failed and then made an A in calculus in college.  Sometimes your brain just can't process with everything else going on.

I really appreciate your thoughts both as a teacher and a parent.  I'll let you know how he does after the next test in May.

I was appalled at this practice.  NCLB, RttT, and all other accountability measures have really driven common sense out of our schools.  I asked if I could share this story because I feel it is important for us to discuss.  Her response was, "Yes, please share. I think this also should highlight the need for administrators to communicate better with teachers about which students should be identified as needing help before notifying parents so that teachers are prepared for questions. "

So many things to discuss with this one.  Where do we start?