"If you know it’s wrong but remain silent, you’re complicit in educational malpractice"

In a very moving and determined move, this Massachusetts parent tells his district what he thinks about ALL high stakes testing. This comes via The Answer Sheet at the Washington Post.

Rosa is an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth who specializes in curriculum and instruction, language policies, Literacy and social studies education. In his letter, he refers to the 2013 Massachusetts Statement Against High-Stakes Testing, which was signed by more than 130 Massachusetts professors and researchers from some 20 schools —  including Harvard, Tufts, Boston and Brandeis universities —urging state officials to stop overusing high-stakes standardized tests to assess students, teachers and schools.

Boy, I'd guess he'd be one of the ultimate parent experts given his profession.   And 130 academics all agreeing on something?  Not bad.

What did he have to say?  (Emphasis mine).

Last academic year, during the day MCAS was to be administered, my son was visibly sick. He insisted that he wanted to attend school to take the test. He opened the test booklet and proceeded to answer test items when his teacher noticed that something was wrong. She sent him to the nurse. I received a call.

 The nurse stated: “He is clearly not well, but he opened the test booklet and risks having his test invalidated if he is sent home. We’ll have him sit for a-little then send him back to the classroom to take the test. After the test we’ll send him home.” I was appalled. Ultimately, my son returned to take the MCAS, despite the early onset of the flu, and my resistance. 

Although he did not support the test, he felt compelled given the pressures. I don’t mean to impress upon readers that nurses in our school system are incompetent. I think they perform quite well and would perform stellar if our educational system was adequately funded. What I do mean to say is that the regime of high-stakes testing in our schools is not only deeply disturbing, but inhumane!

My intent to opt my children out of high-stakes testing, whether the test be MCAS, PARCC, or any other hip acronym that comes along in the shape of a high-stakes test designed to oppress, standardize, anaesthetize, and ultimately suffocate students.
I make this letter public because it’s not only my children that concern me. My children usually do well. High scores on high-stakes tests do not prove that true learning is occurring. Countless educational research have concluded that the use of high-stakes testing narrows the curriculum and encourages test preparation as a substitute for engaged learning.

High-stakes testing are also deviance-producing mechanisms. A number of school systems across the country have been exposed for cheating and unethical practices due to the pressures of high-stakes testing. They are, in short, becoming Enron.

Furthermore, our continuous focus on scoring well evades more important public dialogue about funding inequities and the root cause of educational disengagement – poverty. Allowing testing corporations to continue reaping billions of dollars in profit off public education only exacerbates the problem. Any administrator, school committee member, or school functionary still standing before students, teachers, and families touting the virtues of high-stakes testing should be ashamed. And, if you know it’s wrong but remain silent, you’re complicit in educational malpractice.

I encourage readers to read the ‘Massachusetts Statement Against High-Stakes Testing’ endorsed by countless professors in the state, including myself. As MCAS is imposed on our schools next week and the rest of the school year, I encourage parents to write letters opting students out and requesting an in-school alternative to high-stakes testing. If we’re truly interested in ending bullying in schools, let’s end the bullying of high stakes testing. If families really have a “choice,” they must be allowed to exercise the choice to opt-out.

Food for thought with the coming SPS testing window.