Two leaders who make judgments for our schools –two whose judgment I wish we were able to trust, each have made statements: that high-stakes tests and data mining are unrelated to Common Core standards.
This is a fact-checking post.
First, look at their statements:
Our governor’s education advisor, Tami Pyfer, was quoted in the Morgan News: “while not related to the Common Core, data mining and over-testing ‘will not be happening with Utah students.'” The Morgan News also wrote that Pyfer: “is concerned with high stakes testing and test results being used for purposes the tests were not originally designed for. ‘We do not support high stakes testing.‘”
Pyfer also wrote, at a blog called The Blue Hat Movement:
“I’m confused about how/why you are connecting assessment issues, like the one in this video, to the Common Core Standards.”
Really.
Meanwhile, Superintendent Martell Menlove has also said in many settings that he has concerns with high stakes testing and data mining –but says that he does not understand the relationship between high stakes testing and the Common Core. In emails to the public he has also written, “I am not aware of any additional data reporting requirements that are associated with Common Core.”
Oh, Dear. Tami and Martell!
Utah’s new school test is inseparable from the Common Core standards.
(FYI, readers, the test goes by many names: Computer Adaptive, AIR/SAGE, Utah Core, Common Core). And neither is the data-mining inseparable from Common Core, with its CEDS (common education data standards) and its SLDS (my nickname: longitudinal student stalking system).
Here are several hard-to-ignore reasons why:
1.) Utah’s 2012 house bill 15 makes Computer Adaptive Testing the law in this state, and it uses specific language that mandates that Common Core standards are used for the Common Core Computer Adaptive Tests for all Utahns.
2.) The four assurances or four key reforms for which the executive branch gave ARRA stimulus dollars (in exchange for Utah’s agreement to obey them) included common college and career-readiness standards, tests, and data collection. It was always a package deal.
http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/factsheet/stabilization-fund.html
“SFSF requires progress on four reforms ….
1.Making progress toward rigorous college- and career-ready standards and high-quality assessments that are valid and reliable for all students, including English language learners and students with disabilities;
2.Establishing pre-K-to college and career data systems that track progress and foster continuous improvement;
3.Making improvements in teacher effectiveness and in the equitable distribution of qualified teachers for all students, particularly students who are most in need;
4.Providing intensive support and effective interventions for the lowest-performing schools.”
3.) The federal government paid for the Common Core tests and mandated in its test grant contract that testing groups align to one another and to Common Data Collection standards and to Common Core Standards. The standards promoters use veiled language and most often refer to Common Core as “college and career ready standards” instead, but they have been specifically defined on the ed.gov official website in a way that can only be interpreted as the Common Core. Utah’s testing group, AIR, is officially partnered with SBAC, which is under mandate to align its tests with Common Core and with the other testing groups.
4. The lead sponsor of Common Core Standards, Bill Gates, spoke at at national Conference for State Legislatures. He said that “We’ll only know if this effort has succeeded when the curriculum and tests are aligned to these standards.” This alignment has been the point all along. (Wouldn’t the man who funded multimillions of dollars toward the creation, development, marketing, implementation, and curriculum development of Common Core know what the goal was to be?)
5. The Council of Chief State School Officers, to which Supt. Menlove belongs, co-created and copyrighted Common Core. The CCSSO officially partnered with the Department of Education toward a common goal to collect “data on the national level” (see below) and to “coordinate assessments” –and to use the Common Core standards which CCSSO co-wrote.
It is difficult for me to understand how Menlove, who belongs to the CCSSO, or how Pyfer, who works so intimately with both the NGA and CCSSO, can mentally separate the Common Core aligned, high-stakes tests from the goals of the Common Core standards creators themselves.
Take a closer look at the CCSSO/EIMAC website:
“Education Data & Information Systems Programs:
Common Education Data Standards (CEDS)
The Common Education Data Standards Initiative is a joint effort by CCSSO and the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) in partnership with the United States Department of Education. Educators and policy makers need clear, consistent data about students and schools in order to draw valid comparisons between key indicators of educational success and identify areas where we can improve classroom instruction and student support from early childhood through K-12 education to post secondary education and the workforce.
Education Information Management Advisory Consortium (EIMAC)
The Education Information Management Advisory Consortium (EIMAC) is CCSSO’s network of state education agency officials tasked with data collection and reporting; information system management and design; and assessment coordination. EIMAC advocates on behalf of states to reduce data collection burden and improve the overall quality of the data collected at the national level.”
—————————————————————————–
In light of these five points, can anybody honestly say that they cannot see a connection between the Common Core test and the Common Core high stakes AIR tests? Are we still to be called “conspiracy theorists” (my school board member Dixie Allen’s latest term of endearment for me) –for declaring that the tests and standards are one, are inseparable, and are equally harmful to our schools and to our liberties?
So, having made this point, now let me share what Principal Bob Schaeffer of Colorado shared with me today: a compilation of how bad the national Common Core high-stakes testing is waxing.
Enjoy.
NEWS UPDATE: NATIONAL PROBLEMS WITH HIGH-STAKES TESTS
Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich Blasts “Obsessive Focus on Standardized Tests” http://dianeravitch.net/2014/02/19/robert-reich-on-standardized-testing/
Test Score Pressure May Lead to More ADHD Drug Prescriptions http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304275304579392932032900744
NCLB Waivers Reinforce Flawed Accountability Measures http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2014/02/waivers_missed_opportunities.html
Testing Resistance & Reform Spring Alliance Formed to Bring Sanity to Education Policy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/02/21/anti-testing-groups-form-alliance-to-bring-sanity-to-education-policy/
Timely Statement by Former U.S. Labor Sec. Robert Reich on Eve of Testing Resistance & Reform Spring Launch
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2014/02/coalition_launches_testing_res.html
Campaigns Against Test Misuse, Overuse Explode Across Nation
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/20/1279029/-Testing-Resistance-Reform-Spring-Launched?detail=hide
New National Alliance Aims to Unite Grassroots Opposition to Testing Overkill
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/parentsandthepublic/2014/02/new_alliance_aims_to_unite_grassroots_testing_opposition.html
High School Grades Are Better Predictors of College Performance Than Test Scores Are
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/confirmed-high-school-gpas-predict-college-success/
New Report: Test-Optional Admissions Promotes Equity and Excellence
http://fairtest.org/new-report-shows-testoptional-admissions-helps-div
The Failure of Test-Based School “Reform” — By the Numbers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/02/23/why-test-based-school-reform-isnt-working-by-the-numbers/
Test-Based “Accountability” Does Not Work
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/top_performers/2014/02/nclb_california_and_accountability_in_all_its_guises.html
No High-Stakes Testing Moratorium, No Common Core
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-thompson/no-moratorium-no-common-c_b_4843791.html
Common Core Testing Costs Strain Rural Schools
http://www.wbir.com/story/news/2014/02/18/common-core-testing-costs-strain-rural-tennessee-schools/5575073/
Washington State Senate Revolts Against Teaching to the Test
http://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2014/02/state-senate-revolts-against-teaching-to-the-test.html
Feds Threaten Washington State With Return to NCLB Testing Rules
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/21/washington-no-child-left-behind_n_4828183.html
Chicago Parents Organize Opt-Out Campaign
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-isat-testing-boycott-met-20140225,0,1746622.story
Left and Right in Colorado Agree on Testing Cutback
http://coloradostatesman.com/content/994657-left-right-agreement-state-testing
Colorado Students Take a Stand Against One-Size-Fits-All Test-Driven Education
N.Y. Gov. Cuomo Continues to Support Common Core Test-Based Evaluation
http://www.lohud.com/article/20140223/NEWS/302230033/Educators-say-evaluation-system-broken-Cuomo-isn-t-convinced
Computerizing a Poor Standardized Exam Does Not Magically Make it Better (or Stop Test Score-Misuse)
http://udreview.com/2014/02/24/delaware-explores-new-testing-options/
Common Core Assessments: Myths and Realities
http://fairtest.org/fairtest-infographic-common-core-more-tests-not-be
Teacher Apologizes to Third Grades for Being Forced to Label Them with Test Scores
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/02/18/teacher-to-3rd-graders-i-apologize-for-having-to-quantify-you-with-a-number/
Mom of Severely Disabled Boy Asks Florida School Board to Let All Kids Experiencing “Pain and Suffering” Opt Out of High-Stakes Testing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/02/19/mom-to-officials-stop-forcing-severely-disabled-kids-to-take-high-stakes-tests/
Washington, D.C. Mayoral Candidate Says Test-Driven Schooling is a Failure
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/shallal-criticizes-dc-school-reform-efforts-saying-he-would-chart-a-different-course/2014/02/18/4ba4b45a-97f7-11e3-9616-d367fa6ea99b_story.html
Important New Book: “50 Myths & Lies That Threaten America’s Public Schools” by David Berliner, Gene Glass and Associates
http://store.tcpress.com/0807755249.shtml
COMMON CORE 
Really? I give up.
Our school board and district superintendent claim Common/Utah Core is now the law in Utah and ‘their hands are tied’. Why did we elect/hire anyone local, then? Our senator from our legislative district claims the legislature did not vote to implement the Core but it was mandated to school districts through the State Office of Education. Whatever happened, how do we get rid of it?
Go, Christel. I also will cite the memorandums of agreement governors and superintendents signed to kick off the Common Core project. They describe Common Core as “standards plus assessments.”
Chimney Sweep