Wise Words About Stupid Standardized Testing

“I asked the district at that point to give me the closest thing they could legally to the FCAT reading and math test, and I took it. That test labelled me as a poor reader, and I have a couple of masters’ degrees, and I’ve been re-elected four times and I teach 39 graduate courses at six universities in this country.” ~John Oliver segment

As we get to back to school time I feel more has to be said about the problems with standardized testing for all students who may be bright that don’t test well on standardized tests.

These same tests are also given to special needs students who made their way into the mainstream to become honors students after years of struggling to overcome their impairment. Why are standardized tests “still a thing”, as John Oliver who I love says.

Quotes From John Oliver Segment On Standardized Tests

“Teachers have reported kids throwing up, kids crying, especially the younger ones. And, it’s the pressure. That’s true. In fact, this happens so much that official instructions for test administrators

specify what to do if a student ‘vomits on his or her test booklet’. Something is wrong with our system when we just assume a certain number of kids will vomit.”

Wise Words About Stupid Standardized Testing

“A Florida school board member was concerned and a little suspicious when he learned that only 39% of his state’s tenth graders had performed at or above grade level in reading. So, he had an idea:

“I asked the district at that point to give me the closest thing they could legally to the FCAT reading and math test, and I took it. That test labelled me as a poor reader, and I have a couple of masters’ degrees, and I’ve been re-elected four times and I teach 39 graduate courses at six universities in this country.”

John Oliver Segment On Standardized Tests

Entire Futures Hang In The Balance

“During the past couple of weeks, I personally watched the struggle of a family whose honor-roll student did not graduate from high school, and they are not sure why.

This family learned – too late – that their hard-working child, who has maintained a strong GPA and has been an active leader in his community and church, will not walk with his graduating class. Not only is this devastating news to all of them, his plans for college are now in jeopardy as well. Indeed, his entire future hangs in the balance.

Why? They are not sure.

It appears that he did not pass the FCAT, after multiple tries – but they have no faith that this is the truth. Further, nobody can honestly explain to them or demonstrate to them how or why he “failed.” ~ Loranne Ausley, a former state legislator from the Ocala Banner

Also from the John Oliver segment

Human Consequences

“If a test fails to reflect ability, there are human

consequences; because, one shy Florida eighth grader who had a near perfect score in her advanced Language Arts class was asked to leave it last year due to her inexplicably low scores on the FCAT. And, last fall she told a school board meeting exactly how that felt. “Every year I do good in school, but I get low test scores on the FCAT, and it feels like a punch in the stomach. It’s just unfair and I don’t want to lose my opportunity to take my advanced classes or get a better education just because of one test.”

My Son Tanner’s Nightmare With Standardized Testing

Tanner has apraxia which flares when he’s sick, stressed, or tired. Even though Tanner was fine in day to day school testing, even though he could be tested with the same information and pass with flying colors, even in honors placement, he couldn’t pass the FCAT at first. He knew that if he didn’t pass this test he wouldn’t graduate. Tanner didn’t pass the Florida standardized test (FCAT) the first few times he took it. This is in spite of maintaining a 3.5 GPA in honors classes with no IEP or 504 plan. In spite of being referred to by his teachers as a “top student” I was told by the HS principal at the time, “Even if Tanner has a 4.0 in all honors classes, if he doesn’t pass the FCAT, he will not graduate” I was both outraged and furious. I was on the phone with the school, the state, and every advocacy group I could find.

I did advocate to keep Tanner in his advanced placement, because that’s another thing they don’t tell you -that your child can be pulled from their advanced placement even if doing well there if they don’t pass this one stupid standardized test. All the teachers at his school agreed a student who is getting As in honors English shouldn’t be placed into remedial reading classes as the stupid FCAT would recommend, but there were other negative consequences. Not passing the FCAT early enough, also prevented Tanner from doing duel enrollment to work on his associates degree in HS like his brother Dakota did.

But beyond that, imagine a student like my son who struggled to find his voice, where I had to advocate for him to be in the mainstream when early on the school system didn’t believe he’d “make it in the mainstream” A student that not many but me believed in early on but who not only rose up to “make it” but to become an honors student. I’ll never forget when he said to me, “Mom, can you believe I’m in honors English getting an A? I mean me with my apraxia?” (sniff) We all were so proud of him that he was in honors, and his grades continued to rise to where he averaged a 3.5 GPA and his last semester he averaged a 3.8 GPA. Due to his goals to become a special education attorney to advocate for children like himself he was on the HS debate team and advanced sign language, and he also volunteered as a cashier at the Humane Society. After rising through so much struggle I literally could not wrap my head around the fact that my son wouldn’t be able to graduate if he didn’t pass this one stupid standardized test.

I know a few tricks when it comes to apraxia…take off the stress. So -I lied to Tanner and told him he would graduate regardless of whether he passed the FCAT or not. I figured if I took the stress off he’d excel as he had been doing for years. And it worked. Tanner passed the FCAT and graduated with the rest of his class. But what if that didn’t work?

TANNER’S BACKGROUND

From when he was 3

MORE RECENT UPDATES ABOUT TANNER

Letter To Me In 1999 From Me In 2015 from Jake’s Journey With Apraxia
Growing Up With Apraxia from Break the Parenting Mold
When My Son Was Diagnosed With Apraxia from Different Brains

Where Is The Evidence For Standardized Tests?

How many lives are the standardized tests destroying and who exactly are they helping? I mean other than those they are helping financially? Where is the evidence to support them? Outside of real life examples, here’s just some of the evidence and reasons against standardized tests.

Also what about the time taken away from arts and sciences and play which all have strong evidence based reasons to stay in education to devote more time to teaching for these stupid standardized tests?

Matt Damon On Standardized Tests

Here is the speech that actor Matt Damon gave today to thousands of teachers, parents and others who attended the Save Our Schools march on the Ellipse near the White House to protest the Obama administration’s education policies that are centered on standardized tests.

“I flew overnight from Vancouver to be with you today. I landed in New York a few hours ago and caught a flight down here because I needed to tell you all in person that I think you’re awesome.

I was raised by a teacher. My mother is a professor of early childhood education. And from the time I went to kindergarten through my senior year in high school, I went to public schools. I wouldn’t trade that education and experience for anything. I had incredible teachers.

As I look at my life today, the things I value most about myself — my imagination, my love of acting, my passion for writing, my love of learning, my curiosity — all come from how I was parented and taught.

And none of these qualities that I’ve just mentioned — none of these qualities that I prize so deeply, that have brought me so much joy, that have brought me so much professional success — none of these qualities that make me who I am … can be tested.

I said before that I had incredible teachers. And that’s true. But it’s more than that. My teachers were EMPOWERED to teach me. Their time wasn’t taken up with a bunch of test prep — this silly drill and kill nonsense that any serious person knows doesn’t promote real learning. No, my teachers were free to approach me and every other kid in that classroom like an individual puzzle. They took so much care in figuring out who we were and how to best make the lessons resonate with each of us. They were empowered to unlock our potential. They were allowed to be teachers.

Now don’t get me wrong. I did have a brush with standardized tests at one point. I remember because my mom went to the principal’s office and said, ‘My kid ain’t taking that. It’s stupid, it won’t tell you anything and it’ll just make him nervous.’ That was in the ’70s when you could talk like that.

I shudder to think that these tests are being used today to control where funding goes.

I don’t know where I would be today if my teachers’ job security was based on how I performed on some standardized test. If their very survival as teachers was based on whether I actually fell in love with the process of learning but rather if I could fill in the right bubble on a test. If they had to spend most of their time desperately drilling us and less time encouraging creativity and original ideas; less time knowing who we were, seeing our strengths and helping us realize our talents.

I honestly don’t know where I’d be today if that was the type of education I had. I sure as hell wouldn’t be here. I do know that.

This has been a horrible decade for teachers. I can’t imagine how demoralized you must feel. But I came here today to deliver an important message to you: As I get older, I appreciate more and more the teachers that I had growing up. And I’m not alone. There are millions of people just like me.

So the next time you’re feeling down, or exhausted, or unappreciated, or at the end of your rope; the next time you turn on the TV and see yourself called “overpaid;” the next time you encounter some simple-minded, punitive policy that’s been driven into your life by some corporate reformer who has literally never taught anyone anything. … Please know that there are millions of us behind you. You have an army of regular people standing right behind you, and our appreciation for what you do is so deeply felt. We love you, we thank you and we will always have your back.” ~ Matt Damon’s speech given to thousands of teachers, parents and others who attended the Save Our Schools march on the Ellipse near the White House to protest education policies that are centered on standardized tests

All I can say is enough is enough of stupidity. As a country we already are not following the evidence on kindergarten and letting kids be kids, whomever is elected this November, please let’s fix this for the sake of all the students, including those with special needs!

LISA GENG

Author and Executive Director at The Cherab Foundation

Lisa Geng is an accomplished author, mother, founder, and president of the CHERAB Foundation. She is a patented inventor and creator in the fashion, toy, and film industries. After the early diagnosis of her two young children with severe apraxia, hypotonia, sensory processing disorder, ADHD, and CAPD, she dedicated her life to nonprofit work and pilot studies. Lisa is the co-author of the highly acclaimed book “The Late Talker” (St Martin’s Press 2003). She has hosted numerous conferences, including one overseen by a medical director from the NIH for her protocol using fish oils as a therapeutic intervention. Lisa currently holds four patents and patents pending on a nutritional composition. She is a co-author of a study that used her proprietary nutritional composition published in a National Institute of Health-based, peer-reviewed medical journal.

Additionally, Lisa has been serving as an AAN Immunization Panel parent advocate since 2015 and is a member of CUE through Cochrane US. Currently working on her second book, “The Late Talker Grows Up,” she also serves as an executive producer of “Late Talkers Silent Voices.” Lisa Geng lives on the Treasure Coast of Florida.

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