Category: TNREADY

Where do Momma Bears come from? We'll tell you...

4/8/2016

Throughout time, there has been one awkward question that has the power to make people immediately stop and think, "oh, geez, how do I best answer this?" You know the question... THAT question. You naively think you have plenty of time, years perhaps, before your children ask it. Some of you plan ahead what you will say, some use metaphors like "birds and bees," while others go straight to the science of it using grammatically correct terms. It doesn't matter your strategy of explaining the mystery of life, because we all worry if we said the right thing. We all fear scarring our children for life with the awkwardness, right?

So, here's an awkward question we have been asked many times:

Where do Momma Bears come from?

We can't answer that. Well, we could, but we won't.

Why won't we? Because Momma Bears are private to protect our kids. We're not doing this blog for publicity or fame. We want what is best for all students in TN. The truth is we're just busy, informed Tennessee Moms who each noticed a problem with our children's public schools. Fate would have it that we met each other. Venting with each other was therapeutic, but it wasn't enough. So we started this free blog and website in July 2013 not knowing what on earth we were doing, hoping some other parents would read it and join us in the fight to support public education. And you did! Since then, we've had well over a million readers a year. Together, we Momma Bear bloggers are trying to help make the world a better place through our writing and advocacy. It isn't Rocket Science. Just plain common sense and motherly intuition.

It is especially encouraging and empowering when Momma Bears find their voices. Let us tell you about this Momma Bear in Tullahoma, TN...

This Momma Bear writes, "My own daughter took Part 1 of the TNReady test. It was an experience that caused her anxiety and lowered her confidence. She spent over 4 hours testing when she sat for Part 1, which is more time than the ACT or SAT. The second part of TNReady would require her to test for 7 more hours! So an eight year old Tennessee student is being asked to be focused, engaged, and silently seated for well over 11 hours, which is the equivalent of taking the SAT four times in a matter of a few weeks (especially for districts whose tests were delayed). Sadly, after all that invested time, TNReady will not provide Claire with any worthwhile data (since scores will be reported after she is already in her fourth grade year). Claire, along with the rest of the students of Tennessee, have spent more time on this test than it deserved."

And there you have it... the recipe for a Momma Bear:

She noticed her child was suffering.
She found out why.
She researched more on the subject.
She saw that the problem was preventable and fixable.
She wanted to fix it.
She talked to people in authority to see what she could do.
She knew the power of elected officials (because she served as one herself).
She knew the power of her own parent voice and in speaking up.
She did something about it!
She created an online petition!!!

The petition now has over 1000 signatures in just a few days. She knows she is doing the right thing because she says, "the amazing comments under the petition being made by parents, teachers, and even a student that demonstrates the need for the TN DOE to respond." Indeed, the comments from people who have signed the petition are powerful. Roar, Momma Bear, roar!!!

The petition clearly asks for Governor Haslam, Commissioner Candice McQueen, the 33 State Senators, and the 99 House of Representative Members to Stop Part 2 of TNReady. She knows they have the power to stop it, and she gives valid reasons why TNReady should not proceed this year. She even followed up with a message to her signors about Alaska cancelling their state tests last week. This Momma Bear is doing her homework!

We Momma Bear bloggers are proud to share her petition with our readers. Please, help this fellow Momma Bear out by signing and sharing it. She isn't really on social media. She writes, "I have a limited social media presence. I am just a concerned mother. I am reaching out to any and all that can help spread the word. I understand that this petition is just a “statement move”, but thousands of signatures and comments will make a powerful statement. I have to know that I did everything I could possibly do to help my daughter."

Well done, Momma Bear from Tullahoma, Tennessee! Well, done! We have heard your roar across the state, and undoubtedly the elected officials who are getting your petition will hear it, too, since that online petition service sends an email to the "target" each and every time someone signs it. Thank you for your courage and advocacy!

More beans... #TrashTNReady

3/15/2016

Our blog last week about "Spilling the Beans" caused what some might call a "bean explosion." Teachers and parents have been contacting us all weekend confirming what we had written about TNReady and also telling us even more horrible stuff about TNReady. In keeping with the bean theme, we shall serve up another helping of anonymous spilled beans. Please read, share with your friends, get tootin' mad, and then do something about it!

from a teacher who gave the test:

Momma bears, I just read your post which highlighted anonymous teacher and parent comments, and I felt relieved. Please find a way to add this complaint to your great list:

We are not supposed to look at the test (LOL since we constantly circulate and are told to ensure students are taking it correctly), and this is extremely ridiculous: on the ELA part 1 essay, the students had several pages of texts to read before they saw the prompt. The wording was so vague at the beginning that several had no idea what they were doing. They asked what they were supposed to do, and I couldn't even tell them that the prompt was at the very end. In my opinion, this is intellectual bullying. A 4th or 5th or 6th grade student should not have to read so much before they have a clue what to do with it. Simply stating the prompt at the beginning would give them a needed purpose for the arduous reading, and it would allow them to write to the prompt. Many, I think, wrote about each text before they ever knew the actual "writing task", which is a big shift in terminology. If we want to see how well our students can WRITE, why not put the "task" at the beginning? Why not set them up for success while still getting an accurate picture of their ability to write about the texts? Test taking savvyness shouldn't be a measure. RIDICULOUS. INTELLECTUAL BULLYING!

from a teacher who followed what the state told them to teach:

I have 5th grade and we took the ELA tests. There were THREE passages for the kids to read for their first essay. The TN Blueprint, once again, has it wrong. It clearly states that kids in grades 3-5 will only read TWO passages. We never practiced with 3.

from a middle school teacher:

Sorry but out of fear for our jobs, we (the teachers) cannot disclose our names. We've been threatened not to speak or post anything on FB. The middle school test did NOT match what we were instructed to teach our kids. They were to write an argumentative essay & that was NOT even given on either of the Part 1 or Part 2 test. How can our students trust us when we tell them that this is what we're preparing them for then they're tested on a narrative? Really, a narrative??? We're told that we must teach rigor. Making up a story is rigorous?

from a high school teacher:

The high school Algebra II test was ridiculous. My students said the majority of the test was constructed response and they had no idea where to begin or what the questions were asking. I would love to show my classes your "For Students" page, but I'm afraid I'd really get in trouble.

from an observant teacher:

1. ELA computer tests showed the reading selections simultaneously on the same screen as the writing prompt. On the written test, the writing prompt came after the reading selections so that students, who have been trained to read questions and prompts first (as deemed best teaching practices by various research-based professional development sessions offered by local and state entities), were confused on what was being asked of them. Having proctored more than one grade-level, I was asked by nearly every student tested, "What do they want me to do?" I had to flip to the page containing the prompt, and tell then to read it first.

2. Because there were so many questions concerning the prompts, I was able to notice that one test asked kids to "write a magazine article" in response to the reading. Every single practice question on the MICA and MIST sites asked students to write an essay.

3. Rather than read literature and analyze it, our kids are being asked to analyze concepts that they may have, or may not have, been exposed to in life. They are given anywhere from one to three pieces of writing related to the concept, and they are having to draw from those pieces. Students from certain backgrounds, who have not been exposed to these concepts, would have to basically write the entirety of their essays by paraphrasing the articles. Sure, some may be able to "bs" their way through it, but most would not do well with formulating an essay that required some outside knowledge of a concept coupled with the reading selections to compose a well-written, well-thought out essay. What 7th grader is going to know or understand the "Value of Cooperative Play" unless he/she has been reading parenting magazines in his/her spare time? The reason I am even aware that this was part of a prompt is because most testers asked me the meaning of it. Even with the reading selections given for this prompt, some prior knowledge of the concept would have to have been given for a child to create well-thought out responses

from a Veteran teacher:

I am a 35 year veteran teacher. I have been a level 5 teacher for years, and will now see my level and the level of my students possibly plummet. I urge you to go on the site for state standards and look at the massive amount of standards we must cover by February. The social studies standards are pages and pages of info that must be taught by testing dates in February. I do not know many parents, legislators, or teachers that could master a test over these standards.

from a middle-school librarian:

I'm a middle school librarian. Our ELA teachers said that they were told repeatedly during summer trainings by the state that there would be no narrative essays, so they didn't practice those with their students. In two separate testing settings, students asked out loud, what's a narrative? The teachers DID NOT look at the test. They only way they knew was because the students were distraught and were panicking.

from a scared, broken-hearted teacher who was surprised to see a SURVEY on the test:

I am a teacher whose district started testing this past week. After the group of students I tested where through with Math, I administered the survey. I was very upset by the last question. It basically stated:

How did you find this test?
A. Harder than the math tests I take at my school.
B. Easier than the math tests I take at school.
C. About the same as the math tests I take at my school.
D. It is difficult for me to answer because it was harder than the math tests at my school.

This leads me to believe that the state is preparing to blame the schools for not preparing the students properly, which is inaccurate.

The look of defeat on the students faces broke my heart and almost made me cry (I had to look away several times so I wouldn't cry). I was doing my best to reassure them, but I could tell it didn't work. The fact that we have two more days of testing left and then another testing period in April is disheartening. The fact that the State said part 1 counts 20% and part 2 counts 80% of the students grade is just wrong, especially after saying it wouldn't count.
When is enough enough?

***Please do not use my name, I do love to teach and work with my students, but I fear using my name could affect me negatively.

from another observant teacher who also wondered about surveys on the tests:

I was surprised to see survey questions on these tests. I thought parents had to be notified before students could be given surveys? The questions asked students about their writing habits, their opinions about the TNReady test, and about their school. Don't parents have to give permission before students are given surveys? Where is all that information going?

Response from Momma Bears: Yes, dear teacher, you are correct. Tenn. Code Annotated 49-2-211 says this:

This law is pretty clear: parents or legal guardians shall have access to review all surveys PRIOR to being administered to the child. AND parents have the right to opt their student out of participating in a survey. AND section (c) says the district should disclose the purpose of the survey and who gets the data. Is your district breaking the law? Or is the Tennessee Department of Education breaking the law??? Hmmm... Might be worth a persuing legal action?

from a 3rd grade teacher willing to lose her job:

The TNReady test is so far from acceptable that I may just have to lose my job. My class took the TNReady test on Monday before the computers crashed. The computers were working fine, but the test was awful. My students were having meltdowns. One of my straight-A students was hitting himself in the head, pulling his hair, crying, and saying "this is too hard!" I couldn't help but look at the test. I am horrified. I am broken-hearted.

There was only 1 question on this third grade Social Studies TNReady test, and it was to write an essay. They had to tab between two different reading passages, and write an essay (with their little fingers hunting and pecking for letters on the keyboard because they don't know how to type yet, nor are their hands big enough to type properly), and they had to be sure to cite evidence from the text (that means "copy" to third graders). But the material was about the Oregon Trail, which is a fourth grade standard!!! Third grade Social Studies standards cover world geography, not the settlement of America! The Westward Expansion isn't covered until 4th grade (TN Social Studies Standard 4.48). You can look at the standards yourself and see:
Third grade standards: https://tn.gov/assets/entities/education/attachments/std_ss_gr_3.pdf
Fourth grade standards: https://tn.gov/assets/entities/education/attachments/std_ss_gr_4.pdf

My students had no idea what the Oregon Trail was. They had no clue what old-fashioned words like "lo" meant, especially the students who speak English as a second language. Even worse, the standard to read and compare a primary and secondary source is a SIXTH grade standard, not a third grade one! This was the very first question on the TNReady Part I Social Studies test and my students all felt like failures.

Even worse, the system apparently crashed, but we weren't notified about it until after our testing time was completed. So, my broken-hearted students had to take the same test AGAIN this week! It was on paper and pencil, this time, but it was the exact same passages and essay question they had on the first computer test. How fair is that to other students?

from a silenced, bullied teacher:

On my personal Facebook page, I posted a link about Representative Stewart opting his child out of the test. My principal told me I should not state my opinion on social media.

from a grateful teacher:

Thank you for speaking the truth about this awful testing. I am an elementary school teacher and your blog is talked about frequently in my school. You are saying so many things that teachers are afraid to say for fear of losing their jobs. Please keep up the good fight. I am willing to speak anonymously.

Momma Bears, here, again...

Readers, you should realize that teachers are risking their jobs telling us all this. Before they administered the test, teachers and proctors had to sign an agreement saying they wouldn't look at the test or talk about it. There's even a law about it:

Tennessee Code Annotated (T.C.A.) 49-1-607 states: Any person found to have not followed security guidelines for administration of the TCAP test, or successor test, including making or distributing unauthorized copies of the test, altering a grade or answer sheet, providing copies of answers or test questions, or otherwise compromising the integrity of the testing process, shall be placed on immediate suspension, and such actions will be grounds for dismissal, including dismissal of tenured employees. Such actions shall be grounds for revocation of state license. [Acts 1992, ch. 535, 4.]

Are teachers "compromising the integrity of the test"? Well, Momma Bears question if the test has any "integrity" to compromise in the first place!!! This test is full of flaws, makes children cry, and has no value in helping our children or schools. Results, which are projected to be much lower than past TCAP tests, aren't even supposed to be back until the fall when students are well into the next grade level!

Honestly, these teachers should be called heroes!
These courageous teachers are whistle-blowers, speaking truth about an injustice affecting innocent children who are powerless to do anything about it.

We are grateful to a news station in Nashville for covering TNReady Opt-Outs. And we're ecstatic about this news coverage of a school in Chattanooga that had 41% of parents opt their kids out of TNReady! Parents are coming to realize that these tests are far too secretive, and far too powerful. Parents must do something about it because teachers can't.

We Momma Bears never signed any confidentiality agreement, and you can't take away our parenting licenses, so we will continue to expose this harmful, abusive testing for the monster that it is. We will keep informing and empowering people to do something about it:

Want to refuse the tests for your children?
  Click HERE for step-by-step instructions.

Want to do something about it?
Contact Governor Haslam.
Twitter: @BillHaslam
    Email: bill.haslam@tn.gov
Phone: (615) 741-2001
(And click HERE to find your legislators to contact them, too!)

Be sure to follow Momma Bears on Facebook and Twitter:

Ready to revolt: #TrashTNReady

3/9/2016

What happens when there are more test questions than there are blanks to fill in on the answer sheet? Nobody told teachers that the first test question on TNReady was a SAMPLE question for students to solve but not write in an answer to. As you can probably guess, students answered the sample question on the test booklet, and then proceeded to finish the rest of the test, realizing at the end that there was not a spot left to answer the last test question. Meaning, the students answered all those questions on the wrong lines.

Teachers didn't know. They aren't allowed to look at the test.

The vague teacher instructions to this never-before given test didn't clearly say for teachers to tell students not to write an answer in the first sample question. It isn't the fault of the teachers or the students.

After the sample question error was caught, the TDOE sent out an email telling test administrators not to have students put an answer for the sample test question. But who knows what happens to the tests that the students already took... Will they have to take it again? Will someone mark their answer sheets fresh? Will those answers all be counted wrong and make their teachers look like they didn't teach their students anything this year? Who knows. That's what you get when you build a plane while it is in the air.

Teachers aren't allowed to look at the test, but some are. They tell us what they are seeing on the TNReady test is infuriating!

The Part I of TNReady was supposed to only cover concepts that had been taught on the TN Curriculum Map/TNReadyBlueprints/Pacing Guide before Part I was administered. Part II of TNReady, which is given in April-May, is supposed to cover the remaining concepts and standards, according to the TDOE's plan. But teachers have confided to us that there are questions on Part I covering concepts that students have not been taught yet. These concepts are clearly questions that would be appropriate for Part II.

Thus, students are baffled and frustrated to be tested on concepts they haven't learned yet. Teachers are worried these will make scores lower and will affect their own evaluation scores and possibly risk their jobs. Teachers, especially the ones who faithfully followed the TDOE's plan, are feeling tricked and sick.

But that's not the only problems we've heard of...

Read aloud accommodations for students with disabilities and IEPs: According to the testing manual, the teachers are only allowed to read the digits to students. So, the number "34" would be pronounced, "three four" instead of "thirty-four". How confusing would this word problem sound to your child with an accommodation?
There were four eight bananas. The monkeys ate three two of them. How many are left?
Calculators: They were supposed to be embedded in the online TNReady test, but now that the test had to be switched to paper tests, districts are scrambling to purchase thousands of dollars worth of TNReady approved calculators. Not just any calculator will do. So, districts are spending yet more scarce money on technology specifically for this dumb test. Dickson County School District spent over $12,000 on calculators. That's $12,000 they didn't have budgeted, that will have to come from somewhere.
Classroom Walls: The TNReady testing manual says things can stay on the walls of the classrooms where tests are given. However, some districts are making teachers remove or cover all classroom decorations and posters, while others are not. So, some students may have helpful info on the walls during the test, and others may have rooms that look as bare as prison cells.
Inappropriate test questions: Teachers are quietly telling us that there are questions on the test that shouldn't be. The questions are on subject material and standards that are not included until future grade levels for students. Children are frustrated, and some are even in tears (especially the "Advanced" students who get all A's on report cards) because they don't know answers to things they haven't been taught yet. Clearly, this test is not aligned with the grade-level standards (which we all know are really the Common Core standards rebranded to be called TNCore).
Disparity in testing administration: Some students in some schools and districts are allowed to read or do alternate activities if they refuse to take the test or when they are finished testing. Other schools are saying absolutely positively NO, even though the TDOE testing manual clearly states on p.14 that students may do so. Are schools/districts in violation for not following the policy?
Errors on the test: Teachers are afraid to say it aloud and risk their jobs, but we've heard teachers say they saw grammar mistakes on the ELA tests. There are confusing questions and vague answer choices. Who knows if this will ever be exposed because nobody is allowed to see the tests.
Tests still haven't arrived to some districts: Some districts are still waiting to get the blasted TNReady paper tests. And, once they receive them, they'll have boxes and boxes of mixed up grade level tests to sort through. Then, teachers and administrators will have to find time to attach student barcodes to the bubble sheets and bubble in demographic information before students ever take the test. Guess who is stuck staying after-school to do this? Yes, our over-worked, stressed-out teachers and principals. Guess which students won't get Art, Music, PE, Library this week because those teachers are pulled to sort and prepare paper test booklets? Yes, our children.

This is a mess
Governor Haslam needs to own this disaster. He appointed the people who got our children into this mess. Haslam needs to take the 8th grade TNReady test, and then he should make his scores public for all to see this test is worthless and a complete waste of taxpayer money. Heck, all legislators need to take the test and see what a mess it is and what an utter waste of time it is for children!

Representative Stewart and his wife held a meeting this week for parents about opting out. (Remember the blog we wrote about them opting their child out?) If legislators and school board members are willing to opt their own children out of the mess, Governor Haslam needs to listen closely and take heed.

The opt-out movement is growing. Many parents have already opted their kids out of this testing flight to nowhere. We literally can't keep up with all the people contacting us wanting to know how. If you want to know how to get your kids off this plane before it falls apart, there is information on our website (look under the "Choose To Refuse" tab). You won't be the first to refuse, and you won't be the last.

There are predictions that this mess is only the beginning of a massive state-wide opt-out movement like other states have experienced. With Round 2 of TNReady in April-May, it may very well happen this spring. Yes, that's right, your child has another week of TNReady testing to endure next month.

If your child tells you about their testing problems, or if you are a teacher/proctor and are willing to speak anonymously, please let us know at our website. You can also put it on social media and use the hashtag #TrashTNReady and be sure to tag legislators with #tnleg

With special thanks to a Papa Bear for this terrific graphic!

The testing is a mess, Governor Haslam needs to hear from you, parents and teachers! Here's how to contact him:
Twitter: @BillHaslam
Email: bill.haslam@tn.gov
Phone: (615) 741-2001
(And click HERE to find your legislators to contact them, too!)

Be sure to follow Momma Bears on Facebook and Twitter:

UPDATE 3/11/16: After this blog posted, teachers contacted us confirming what we wrote and also sharing other major problems they experienced in giving the test to their students. Click HERE to hear what they had to say.

ALARMING: A mom and her friend do the math on state testing

3/7/2016

A couple of smart TN moms did the math to calculate how much time standardized testing is really taking from their children's time at school. The reality is eye-opening. One of the moms was outraged enough to write TN Commissioner of Education Candice McQueen this powerful letter:

Dear Commissioner McQueen,

Amanda Miller and I put together an estimate of standardized testing time for our elementary-age kids this year. We both have 4th graders in public schools in Hamilton County.

As you know, the federal government recommends that no more than 2% of school time be spent on testing. If there are 180 days of school, times 6 hours of instructional time per day (excludes lunch, recess, related arts, PE) this equals 1,080 hours of instructional time in a school year. 2% of those hours = 21.6 hours per year to spend on testing and test prep.

As of Monday, here is where we are at our school:

Actual TN Ready Test Time - 18.9 hours (for grades 3 through 5, the TN Ready test itself is 11.9 hours of testing – that’s just the actual test. In reality, we must factor in 30 minutes on either end of each test for transition, to set up, pass out, get ready and shut down testing. Add an hour per test for activities that must occur before and after a test. This adds 7 hours + the original 11.9 = 18.9, and assumes no problems during testing).
Break the Mist required testing - 6 hours
Universal Screening Testing - 6 hours
30 minutes per week of test prep time since school started, 180 schools days X 6 hours (excludes recess etc.). We think this is an extremely conservative estimate.

The total: 41.9 hours, nearly double the recommended amount... so far.

I am a licensed attorney. I took two standardized tests to become an attorney (LSAT and TN Bar Exam) and those tests totaled about 20 hours.
The larger point: my fourth grader will complete more than DOUBLE the amount of standardized testing hours to finish fourth grade than I did to become a lawyer.

I hope we can have a conversation about how to change this. I would like your response before I speak with our elected and appointed officials about it. Thank you for your time.

Thank you,
Heather DeGaetano

These smart moms were also upset about a local reporter at the Times Free Press who inaccurately reported that testing time has not increased over the last several years. So, Heather DeGaetano didn't stop with just a letter to Commissioner McQueen. She wrote the Times Free Press to set the facts straight, going into further detail about their calculations, the tests, and how the TDOE manipulated "average" test times by not counting high school EOC testing days. This is what the moms told Momma Bears:

We also put this response together to send to a local reporter with the Times Free Press who has been reporting that testing time has NOT gone up over the last several years.

Again, I don't think people understand that the parent guide to TN Ready is misleading (if not actually false).

I wanted to respond to your most recent email sent in regards to the new TN Ready Test. I am passionate about the subject because I believe too much instructional time is being taken away from children.

I contacted my daughter’s Principal and she kindly agreed to meet with me to answer questions about the upcoming TN Ready Test. Other parents in Hamilton County aren’t getting the same response from their school administrators. Most administrative staff and many teachers are fearful of losing their jobs and fearful of informing parents of anything different than what is stated in the TN Ready Parent Guide. The TN Ready Parent guide is full of information about the test; however, the information and numbers in reality are very deceiving.

Let me lay out some numbers and information that my daughter’s Principal shared with me. The Federal Government suggests that total testing time and total test prep time not exceed 2% of a school’s instructional time. If there are 180 days of school times 6 hours of instructional time per day (excludes lunch, recess, related arts, PE) this equals 1,080 hours of instructional time in a school year. 2% of those hours = 21.6 hours a year to spend on testing and test prep.

For grades 3 through 5, the TN Ready test itself is 11.9 hours of testing – that’s just the actual test. In reality schools must factor in 30 minutes on either end of each test for transition, to set up, pass out, get ready and shut down testing. Add an hour per test for activities that must occur before and after a test. This adds 7 hours. This means that total hours spent on testing and test related activities take up 18.9 hours of the school year.

The state also required schools to perform 3 mandated “Break the Mist” days. Students were supposed to test the computer system to see if the platform would perform. All those days proved that the system was not ready, however the state kept moving forward. These test the system days took away roughly 6 hours of classroom time. This makes 24.9 hours of test related time away from educational instruction. This number is conservative. If you add in test prep time, the number would be even higher.

The state requests that schools administer a Universal Screener test 3 times a year in Math and Language Arts. The math portion is roughly 30 minutes per test. Language Arts is 1 hour per test. Total time, before TN Ready, is 4.5 hours of just testing. Add the transition time for each test, which makes a total of 6 hours a year of testing before TN Ready. With all the added test prep, transition times and universal screening tests, roughly 30.9 hours of testing will occur this school year.

21.6 hours would be 2% of the school year. Tennessee is far beyond the federal government suggestion. The TN Ready Parent Handbook is very misleading in its attempt to tell parents that only 1% of the school year is spent on the TN Ready test. In reality, in a classroom setting with transitions and set up, the TN Ready test for 3rd through 5th grades would take 18.9 hours away from classroom instructional time. This is over 1%. They are wrong.

Here are a few other notes to consider when analyzing the TN Ready testing numbers. The state says that “overall testing time” hasn’t changed since 2014, but anyone with a child in school can tell you that testing time has increased. The state has reduced the number of hours allowed for end of course exams in high school from all day to an allotted amount of time. At the same time, they have increased the time the younger students are testing, but this is not really reflected in their numbers. These two scenarios wash to some extent causing the numbers to be skewed. On page 13 of the TN Ready Handbook the state says, (in reference to their 1% calculation) “This calculation is based on an average of hours scheduled for testing among the three grade groups: Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, and High School.” Please see my attached graph that shows the increase in testing from 2013/14 school year to 2015/16 school year.

Page 12 of TN Ready Handbook also states that the TN Ready tests will be given approximately 12 weeks apart. The paper and pencil test for my daughter’s school begins the week of March 7th, after many delays. The 2nd half of the TN Ready test will be given the week of April 25th. This leaves only 6 weeks between tests. One of those weeks is Hamilton Counties’ Spring Break, leaving 5 instructional weeks between testing. Is there really any reason to measure learning gains over 5 weeks?

If you would like to hear the real story from educators and parents, the boots on the ground, trying to comply with the states every whim, I know that many of our parents and our principal would be happy to speak with you. This is a numbers story that has not yet been told. This is a new perspective on the massive increase in testing that is creating more work for educators and less valuable instruction time for our students who are already behind.

I’d love to see you dig into the reality of how much time testing takes.

Momma Bears salute this mom and her friend for their research and advocacy!

Know your testing rights, parents

2/16/2016

Parents in some districts who are refusing the TNReady test for their child are being told that their child must sit and stare at the test during the entire testing time. That's a very long time to expect students to sit quietly, and it is also wrong. Your district is violating what the TN Department of Education (TDOE) has declared in its own testing documentation.

The TDOE clearly states that students may read a book or do an alternate activity not related to the subject being tested. Here, we'll copy that part for you:

If you are being told that your child must sit and stare, click HERE to download the official document from the TDOE (specifically see p.3 #10). Send that document to your child's teacher, principal, district testing coordinator, school board members, Superintendent, etc. Tell them you expect your child to be able to "read or do other quiet activities not related to the content area being tested."

This method has worked like a charm for parents so far. In fact, we are reading social media posts from parents in Hamilton County who report that one school has over 140 students opting-out! Students at that school whose parents refused the testing will be moved to another room to do another activity instead of test.

Hamilton County has some strong principals who are opposed to the TNReady testing use. In fact, the Hamilton County Principals's Association passed a Resolution stating that Part I of TNReady should be eliminated this school year and also that the scores from this year's testing should not be used for student grades, teacher evaluations, or accountability purposes. Go, Hamilton County Principals! We hope other districts read this and take action, too!

Failure to launch. Parents blast off!

2/10/2016

After Monday's failure to launch the much-publicized, miracle, magical, almighty TNReady test, the TDOE is desperately back-pedaling and kicking the can o' blame to the testing company.

My, oh, my!
Since Monday's failure, we've never seen so many irate parents and teachers on social media! Our blog was late posting to the cyber world that night, but hit nearly 2,000 views before midnight. A teacher in East TN who has a lovely blog called, "Bringing Back Mayberry," wrote about the testing mess she experienced yesterday and we can see there are already over 3,000 facebook likes on it! We Momma Bears are seeing people who normally don't post on social media posting rants and sharing articles about it. A journalist in Chattanooga even wrote a nice article about the testing mess and shared our Momma Bears website and blog. It is a hot topic, and everyone seems to be upset and want out of this mess!

One mom wrote, "Our teachers, coaches, administrators and staff will ultimately have to do the impossible and make this work and will most likely be asked to do so without question or complaint. They are held accountable while our leaders get a free pass. It's time for someone to step up and hold our leaders accountable for their actions and lack of support for our schools and repeated mismanagement of our tax dollars."

One clever Dad came up with this funny picture below and wrote, "First and foremost I know ‪#‎TNReady‬ is a fiasco for all involved and I do understand the seriousness of it. I also know a lot of teachers and admins in MNPS personally and they will achieve the impossible when it comes to their students. Let's face it they will be the ones who will have to adapt on the fly as always to these changes. As a father of MNPS students I will always be thankful for that. But with that said, I also believe you have to find humor in situations or you will go mad. ‪#‎TNAintReady‬"

A Craigslist advertisement searching for test scorers for Measurement, Inc. has gone viral, too. Basically anyone with a Bachelors degree in anything can earn $11.70 per hour for grading student tests. So, the livelihood of teachers jobs, and the status of students being labeled failures or qualifying for remedial/gifted programs, and the fate of schools who could become one of the deathly bottom 5% and be given to charter operators... their fate lies in the hands of people who found some part-time, seasonal work on Craigslist. Job perk: If they have a "secure work station" at home, they can even grade our children's high-stakes tests in their pajamas. Parents are not amused.

Legislators are upset, too. Rep. Bo Mitchell of Nashville was quoted in the news for wisely saying, "If they would take those dollars and fully fund our schools instead of trying all of these schemes to put a middle man, to put more money in their pockets, we may improve education in this state.”

So it is funny when we hear that Commissioner Candice McQueen says that she's only really hearing from frustrated people in Hamilton County, Tennessee:

Because we see fires all over the state!!! You know what that means, Momma Bears! Time to roar! Especially if you live in an area other than Hamilton County, you should contact Commissioner McQueen (be sure to contact your legislators, school board members, and superintendent, too!).

It is also funny to read that Commissioner McQueen "has lost confidence" in the TNReady test vendor. Because we've lost confidence in her, and we have serious doubts. Some irate parents even started an online petition to demand her resignation. Parents want their voices to be heard! {and more than just the 15 hand-picked parents on McQueen's Parent Council that STILL hasn't been revealed, even though the TDOE spokesperson told parents last week in Johnson City, TN at a town hall meeting sponsored by the PTA that the list of Parent Council names were on the TDOE website along with the press release. Nope, they're not there. Someone is fibbing.}

So, Momma Bears, you have some polite pestering to do...

Here's Commissioner Candice McQueen's contact info:
Candice.McQueen@tn.gov
(You should also cc: Governor Bill.Haslam@tn.gov since he gave her the job)
(615) 741-5158
Go ahead, give her an earful (and be sure to tell her where you're from in TN!)

Two points to make to your elected officials:

The high-stakes testing is out-of-control! We want it drastically reduced and transparent. We do not want teacher evaluations to be connected to our children's test scores. (Okay, sorry, that's more than 1 point.)
We sure don't want vouchers! The TDOE royally screwed up this testing contracting job, and they screwed up last year's TCAP test results, and they are screwing up the state-run ASD schools... why on Earth would legislators trust them with millions of dollars in voucher dollars flowing to private interests which are unaccountable and nontransparent?!? Learn from others mistakes: In other states, the logistics of vouchers have led to mismanagement, fraud, segregation, students falling through cracks, and overall worse student outcomes for students (especially poor kids). TN doesn't need vouchers; we need fully funded public schools!

Sorry, that's like a gazillion points. We Momma Bears cannot help but get on a soapbox once we get started. It makes us so mad! Go get on your own soapbox and politely pester your elected officials. Your voice is important! Blast off, parents!

READY to do something about TNReady?!? For Frustrated Parents and Students:

12/6/2015

The anxiety in Tennessee is reaching a feverous pitch. The undercurrents are sweltering at the dinner table as our children tell us about yet another day of standardized testing or practice testing at school. When talking to other parents, we find out they are upset over all the excessive standardized testing, too. When will this testing madness stop?

The fact is, everyone in TN knows at least one child, if not more, that has been negatively affected by the testing:
…a child who used to love school, but now dreads it because of testing,
…a child who complains of headaches and/or stomach aches because of testing,
…a child who vomited because of the standardized testing.
It is incredibly sad and totally unnecessary.

The fact is, everyone in TN knows at least one teacher, if not more:
…a teacher who quit due to the toxic testing, common core, and not being able to do what she knows is best for students,
...a teacher who is evaluated on Math and English test scores even though they teach subjects like Music, Art, PE, Library, Sports, Science, Social Studies, Mechanics, etc.,
...a teacher who has taught gifted students at the top of the spectrum, but there is little or no room to show growth from last year's perfect or very high scores, so their teacher's evaluation score is low,
...a teacher who teaches SPED students who are meeting milestones and learning life skills, but will likely never reach the impossible proficient benchmarks, so the teacher receives a low evaluation score,
...a teacher of ESL students that don't yet understand our language but are forced to take the same tests as everyone else,
… a teacher whose evaluation score plummeted from 5 to 1, even though she hasn't changed the way she's devotedly taught her students between the years
...every teacher who is forbidden from ever seeing the test questions or answers,
…for the teachers who couldn't help but peek at some of the standardized test questions and had serious doubts about the appropriateness and the correct answers but couldn’t say anything without losing their jobs.

The fact is, everyone knows of at least one family, if not more, in Tennessee:
… who is now homeschooling due to testing and common core,
… who is sacrificing to pay for private school to escape the testing and common core,
… who is seriously considering the above 2 options.

This madness is absurd, and it must stop.

Bless the ones who will step up and say, "No more!!!"

Bless the Knoxville school board members who adopted a Resolution against using TNReady data on teacher evaluations and are asking the state to remove TNReady data from teacher evaluations. They know it is wrong. Bless the other districts who are also adopting the Resolution, too. (Click HERE to see the original Resolution and share it with your school board members).

Bless the teachers who are speaking to parents and elected officials (while praying they aren’t committing career suicide by speaking up) about the harmful policies, excessive tests, and common core. Speaking up is certainly not how one advances on the career ladder or gains job security. So, bless them for risking their careers.

Bless the parents who are saying "not with my children" and refusing to allow their child to take the tests. They do it to protect their children, but also in quiet defiance of a testing system they know is toxic for every child.

Something must be done.

We Momma Bears really don’t want to be the ringleaders. We don’t. We’re not in this for fame or glory, we’re in it for our kids. We’re anonymous for a reason to protect our kids and our sources. Maybe someday you’ll know who we are. Maybe you have already met us and didn’t know it. Maybe you’ll never know who we are. Honestly, if you ever met one of us, we are some of the meekest, mildest, helpful, servant-hearted people who volunteer in our schools and communities. You’d probably never guess that we are rabble rousers. We don’t want to be famous, and we aren’t making a penny at this advocacy, but something is compelling us to keep fighting these injustices. So we research, we blog, we share information. Because something must be done. So, we’re doing it.

As Dr. Seuss so eloquently wrote, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, its not.”

Which brings us to this... Because we are being bombarded, literally, with messages from parents and teachers like this one from a parent:

"So how do we opt out? I'm certain that I want my children to NOT take this test. Now I need to know how I can do it."

and this one from a school board member in TN:

"Good morning momma bears! I am so HAPPY that I found your blog. I am a mother of three daughters that attend a wonderful public elementary school in XXXXXX, TN. I taught for five years before starting my family. Then I decided two years ago to use my classroom experience as a guiding voice on my local school board.
I have become enraged with TNReady! The developmentally inappropriate standards and the resulting high stakes testing that is purposefully setting my daughter up for failure is abusive. I couldn't agree with your most recent post more!
I have asked my superintendent to procure a meeting with Commissioner McQueen. Crickets. No contact from her office. I have made passionate pleas to the other members of my school board to consider further action. My superintendent is appealing to elected officials to have teacher tenure returned to the local decision process (for the teachers in my district this would eliminate the pressure of the test scores impacting their tenure-we could honestly tell them to not worry about test scores).
While I knew this was an important step, I am actually more focused on putting a stop to the TNReady test. The MIST practice test was awful enough for my daughter, and I do not want the (public school) students of Tennessee to suffer anymore!
My superintendent is a fighter and luckily is remarkable supportive in these efforts. Our school system would like to ask the state to grant us a waiver to take another test (preferably the Aspire tests which are aligned with the ACT, because we view the ACT as a fixed test that actually provides real results for our students).
If Comissioner McQueen's own children are not subjected to TNReady, how dare she push this on my child! I could rant for days. I want to simply say that your post made my day. I have been asked to attend a meeting for our district where state education officials are soliciting feedback and I plan on letting it rip. I just wrote a teacher in our system last week, and described my passion in terms of a "momma grizzly bear". I had no idea that you other momma bears had formed a league. I truly see this as one of the most important issues I have ever battled, but I am willingly ready to fight!"

and this alarming message from a Mom who knows this test is set up to fail students, and her child isn't dumb:

"My child is in honors algebra. They took they practice TNReady. They said there were perhaps 4-5 questions out of 30 on TNReady that they felt okay about. The highest scorer in their honors class got less than 1/2 the test items correct."

and quite a few messages from SPED teachers concerned about the TNReady and the new SPED testing mandates. {NOTE: We’re working on a blog about that, too. Just hold your horses, though. That stuff is confusing, and every district is handling it differently, so we’re trying our best to get accurate info so we can publish it for our eager readers.}

Everyone wants to know:

“WHAT CAN WE DO TO STOP THIS???”

We have the answer, but it isn’t easy.

You’ll have to visit our brand new website pages to find out.

We put it all there for you, in black and white with neat graphics. If you’re a list-lover, you’ll like the step-by-step bulleted lists. If you have a student who wants to be a leader, there’s a page for them. We know you have questions, and we've tried to provide answers.

Go to our website and learn. Take action.

You have more power than you realize, parents and teachers. Be a Momma Bear. Ready, Set, GO!!! Get TN out of TNReady already!!!!!!

Click HERE to visit our website and find out

TNReady for IEP & 504 Accommodations?????

11/24/2015

In our last blog, we told you all about quirky new online TNReady testing platform. So, did you take the sample test? Better hurry if you didn't, links have a way of disappearing. But if you did take it, then you know what we mean about quirks.

Now, imagine a child with learning disabilities taking TN Ready.

Remember how common core requires kids to ground everything in evidence and provide multiple supports for every contention? Well, apparently that line of thought has now made its way into providing accommodations for SPED students while taking TNReady.

Students who are below reading level must now prove that they need "text-to-speech" (aka read-aloud) accommodation. And get this... An IEP or 504 plan may not be considered as sufficient proof. And that concerns Momma Bears!!!

An IEP team is made up of the students, their general education teacher, their special education teacher, a school administrator and their parents. The people who know this student and are in the best position to make decisions about this child's education. But now the state has told the schools that they better have a darn good reason to be giving this accommodation or else!! Or else what????

Or else the TN DOE can take the accommodation away or worse, invalidate the child's test score. This is very upsetting since these kids usually have a lot of test anxiety anyway. It would be a crying shame to put a child through this test for nothing.

So, what's a parent to do?

We reached out to some of the most voracious momma bears ever—the SPED advocates. And this is what they told us.

Parents need to prepare for IEP meetings by learning what criteria must be met in order to get the text-to-speech accommodation. And remember, you don't have to wait until your annual meeting. An IEP meeting can be called anytime. So what is the criteria for text-to-speech accommodation?

Take a look at what's in a TNDOE memo dated October 14, 2015 and let's break down each question.

Does the student have a documented decoding or fluency deficit which precludes access to printed text? If your child has an SLD in reading then the answer is yes.
Does the student have a goal to address deficit listed in the present level of educational performance? Again, if your child has an SLD in reading the answer better be yes. The IEP team should have addressed a goal for fluency and or decoding based on the Present Levels of Performance.
Is the student engaged in intense intervention to address specific deficit? Once again, if your child has an IEP then there should be goals for the reading deficit and in order to reach those goals your child should be in an intense intervention in a special education setting.
Is inability to access printed text included in the impact statement? Now, this one might be the one you need to address but it is easy to do. Check your child’s IEP, does the impact statement say your child struggles with reading but comprehension is high when content is read aloud? You need a statement similar to that.
Does the student need supported reading in core academic instruction? Does your child have read aloud for all of his/her classroom work and tests? Then this would also be a yes.

Got that? Text-to-speech requires a "yes" answer to all the above questions!! As long as the IEP passes the “stranger test” which means anyone can pick up the IEP and know exactly what the IEP is for and has passed all the criteria from above, the school should be good but we as parents need to make sure everything is covered.

Don't let schools say no to the text-to-speech accommodation without actually analyzing the situation. This could have a dramatic impact on your child's grades especially if your child is in high school. We do not want a situation where students reading below grade level are forced to read at grade level, or above on a test that will count up to 25% of their final grade.

Alarming info about TNREADY testing bomb

11/22/2015

Tick-tick-tick... is your child READY? Because they are about to bomb a major high-stakes test called TNREADY. When we say, "bomb," we mean fail.

This year, the state of TN is spending more money than they've ever spent before on a brand new test. Well, it isn’t actually a new test, but more like a recycled test since TN leased the test questions from Utah’s old SAGE test. Anyway, they stuck these expensive questions from Utah in a confusing test platform created by a company in North Carolina, and are now rebranding it as homegrown in TN. This test is called TNREADY.

Teachers across Tennessee kept alerting Momma Bears to concerns about the new TNREADY test. They said TNREADY is intentionally confusing for students, way too advanced for each grade level by several years, they said their schools have been and will continue to be disrupted by the testing schedules and lack of adequate technology, the teachers worry that higher numbers of students are predicted to fail it, and they complained that TNREADY requires even more precious class time to prepare for and administer than previous tests.

So, some of our Momma Bears bloggers spent a precious Saturday taking the sample TNREADY tests and trying to get answers. Here is what we observed on the Sample TNREADY computerized tests:

Difficult to read passages: A tiny 4-inch scroll window to read long passages of text. This requires good mouse skills and eye tracking. (see pic below) Students with knowledge of how to expand the reading pane using the little tab in the middle, and collapse it again to get to the test questions, will fare better. This format isn't like any of the internet sites or reading apps that most children are accustomed to; they will need to be taught how to navigate those tools for the sole purpose of taking this test.
Tiny window for the test questions: It was barely large enough to show all the answer options, and not large enough to show the “RESET/UNDO” buttons at the bottom of the question unless the student scrolled lower. See the photo below to understand how students are supposed to write an entire essay response in a text box that is about 4" square. Typing, mind you, which elementary students aren't fluent in doing; their hands aren't even large enough to reach all the keys properly. So, they will be hunting and pecking letter keys to write an essay in a box the size of a cell phone screen.
Distracting numbers on ELA test: Bold paragraph numbers along the left margin of the text passages.
4 Quite distracting
5 if you're trying
6 to read something.
7 Isn't it?

Read 2 long passages on the left side. Then write a freaking essay in that tiny box on the right. Do your best!

Wasteful of time and mean: We wasted 5 whole minutes of our lives reading a long, dull passage, but there wasn't even a question about it. That was the little kid test too! Just plain mean to do that to elementary aged children. Will it be that way on the real test? We'll never know since the test questions are top-secret, even if we ask for them. Teachers aren't even allowed to see the tests, and if they do and talk about it, they could lose their jobs.
Technology issues: The mouse was jumpy and the cord got in the way. This was on a laptop computer that was 1-2 years old.

Cumbersome mouse gets in the way of the scratch paper

Slow internet: This was at a school that was fortunate to have more wireless routers and newer computers than other schools in the district. It took considerable time for each passage and question to load. Schools with lots of students testing are prone to overload the system and have slower test connections. As one principal rightly remarked, “It is wrong to hold teachers accountable for the little spinning wheel while students wait for the test to load.”

Waiting for the answer choices to load.

Number lock button: How many students know to unlock the number pad for the math test? It took one mom a few minutes to realize why her numbers weren’t working because her home laptop doesn't have a number keypad lock key like that laptop did. Some students might know this keyboard trick, but kids without this same type of computer in their homes or classrooms are at a disadvantage. Cross your fingers and hope the person before your child didn't push the button down.
Confusing format: The “Done” button doesn’t mean “done with the question”… it means done with the whole test, and it exits the entire test if you click it. You have to click “NEXT” to stay in the test and go to the next question. How many times did one tech-savvy Momma Bear accidentally exit this 6-question test? Three times. Three frustrating times. Grrrr... Now multiply that times a classroom of kids. We see why teachers are concerned.

What is that white circle icon?

Strange icon buttons at the top of the test: We never really did understand the purpose of the square button with the circle in it. It seemed to make portions of the screen black if you clicked it and then dragged on the arrows on the margins. One teacher told us it was to “isolate” text for students who had trouble focusing. But teachers aren’t allowed to do it for students, so the student, who has trouble focusing, must focus enough to click that icon, drag it himself to the passage, and must then know how to click the tiny little X at the top corner to exit that tool, otherwise, the child won’t be able to see the rest of the question. It sounds like more trouble than it is worth. How many kids will click that button accidentally or on purpose and struggle trying to figure out the test?

This is what happens when a student clicks the white circle. Teachers may not help students navigate or exit this feature.

"Highlight" instructions: (see pic below) The question clearly says “highlighted” but do you see any highlighted words in the picture below? Nope, they are underlined. True, the underlined parts turn yellow when you scroll over them, but semantics, people. Our kids deserve correctness on such an important test. Think literally like a child. Even worse, you HAD to scroll over it because in one text, the whole paragraph was underlined but when you scrolled over it, it was really three highlighted sections. How many 3rd-5th graders are going to count for all 5 spots to answer before clicking the "Next" button?

No "highlights" in this passage. They are underlined, not highlighted.

Couldn't pick the answers we wanted to: This question below was impossible to answer because of the screen size. It wouldn’t let you drag and drop this answer choice to the 2nd slot because it wasn’t on the visible part of the screen. Yes, we could have put it in the 5th slot and then scrolled up and moved it, but then again, we’re tech-savvy and all from years of playing Tetris and packing diaper bags. Could a 9 year-old child figure this out easily?

Students should drag choices from the box at the bottom and put them in number order. Except it won't work.

Couldn't drag and drop this last box's sentence up to the empty #2 slot because it was not shown on the screen. Savvy students might be able to figure out how to move #5 back down, then scroll up, and then re-arrange. But what a hassle!

What the heck did we do? Ever seen a three-tiered fraction? Well, we somehow made one on the 3rd-5th grade test. Not sure how that happened.

Not sure how we got our fraction answer to look like that on the 3rd-5th grade sample test.

Multiple Choice Fakes: So, the TDOE claims that TNREADY is way better than the A,B,C,D multiple choice TCAP tests were. But the whole test is filled with the same concept of pick one of 4 choices! (see pic below)

Multiple choice. Pick A, B, C, or D without actually using letters.

Questions for younger grades were way too difficult. Seriously, these multi-step word problems were like what we remember seeing on the high school ACT college entrance exams. Except, this was for 3rd-5th grade children!

WHY???
We question the real reason for this test. Is it to test what children learned in a grade level? Or could it be testing children’s grit, frustration levels, and perseverance? Are they trying to make kids cry? Will the student give up or keep testing? Are these online assessments collecting data points to assess character traits? That’s crazy to consider… but then you read this paper from the Federal Department of Education, and you get a sick feeling in your stomach. These are children, for goodness sake! OUR children. It is not okay to screw with their heads. It is not okay to frustrate them with a test that is too difficult for them. It is not okay to label them as failing due to a stinking test that nobody is allowed to see. Crushing their spirits with mind-numbing, developmentally inappropriate tests and robbing them of the joy of learning is abusive.

Even worse, the cut scores of these tests are set in secret AFTER the tests are administered. The cut scores are set so that a certain percentage of students will be in the bottom failing tier no matter what. No matter what, kids will fail, even if they all magically answer nearly all of the questions correctly. What is that percentage for Tennessee? We're willing to bet there's already a number in some ogliarch's head of how many advanced, proficient, and failing kids there will be on the TNREADY. Don't believe us? Tennessee did it last year with the TCAP writing test when they only allowed 100 students to have "perfect scores" on their tests. TN Commissioner of Education, Candice McQueen, is already predicting that scores for TNREADY will fall across the board.

You know which students will be in that bottom failing percentage category? Sadly, it is the poorest, most vulnerable students in the state... the ones that don't have parents who can afford tutors... whose parents don't understand this confusing Common Core math to help their children... students in communities with high crime, high poverty, and instability... students who speak little or no English... students with learning disabilities... students who are hungry because they didn't get breakfast that morning or dinner the night before... Those students will fail, their schools will be labeled as "failing," and will be handed over to charter school vultures to profit from. It is a vicious cycle of failure leading to the pocketbooks of those at the top of the food chain. These tests serve a purpose. Once you understand that, it makes you furious to see how students, teachers, principals, districts, and the media play right into their hands like pawns.

All of this testing madness begs the question…

What are we gonna do about it?

The TDOE says parents can’t do anything. Every child (except their own that are in private schools) must take TNREADY. Districts that allow parents to opt-out/refuse are at risk of losing desperately needed funding from the state. The state sent out this official memo to districts to bully parents. It says parents may homeschool or choose private school if they don’t want their children taking state mandated tests. So, there are your options: homeschool or private school. Is that okay with you? A group of APPOINTED people are saying this, by the way… The TN Board of Education, all appointed by the Governor… The Commissioner of Education, Candice McQueen, appointed by Governor Haslam… even the Governor’s family won’t put their kids in public schools. Why is it okay for the rest of us "commoners" then?

Okay, so back to the million dollar question…

WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO ABOUT IT???

You can try refusing/opting-out. You will be told you can’t. Yes, that’s bull-poo-poo. They are your children and the Constitution is on your side. Even so, you'll be told you can't.

You can tell your child not to take the test. This method puts the burden on your child to refuse. Will they obey their parent... or obey their teacher? We don’t like this option, but it is better than nothing. This year, refusing the test shouldn’t hurt student report cards because the TDOE won’t even have the scores back to the districts in time for final report cards (NOTE: the test scores will still hurt teacher evaluation scores). The TNREADY scores are supposed to be sent to districts in October. That’s way into the next school year! How helpful is that to parents and teachers? Not at all.

Okay, so that’s one option. The other, for those of you that have the means, is to withdraw your child to homeschool during the testing windows. If you don’t want to go that extreme, you could schedule annual doctor appointments, dentist checkups, etc to get excused absences. The monstrous problem with that is that the TNREADY testing windows are ghastly long… Nearly 2 whole months of testing! We’re not kidding. Click HERE to see the testing windows for TNREADY set by the TDOE are:
February 8 - March 4 for Part I of TNREADY
April 18 - May 13 for Part II of TNREADY
April 25-May 6 for the Science TCAP (given on paper)

We don’t like that option, either. Missing school isn’t what is best for students. Parents in other states have the right to Opt-Out, but Tennessee does not (It's a long story involving expensive lobbyists paid for by the testing companies and generous campaign contributions to politicians...grrrr!). Other states have massive Opt-Out movements over tests just like the TNREADY. Other states are demanding change in testing by opting-out/refusing the tests. In fact, over half-a-million students opted out of state mandated tests last year in the U.S.A. So you can see that this high-stakes testing problem isn't isolated to Tennessee.

Alas, it looks like our hands are tied, parents. There's nothing we can do. Better just shut up and pretend this isn't happening, right? Sorry, Governor Haslam, today is not your lucky day. Even though our hands are tied, our voices are not. And parents, your voice is your strongest weapon to protect your child. You must use it. You need to call, email, visit, and royally bug the stew out of your elected officials until this mess goes away. Do the pestering politely, of course. But they need to know that voting parents are very concerned about this. Legislative session starts in January. The time to act is now.

Here’s a list of folks to contact:

school board members for your district
Superintendent for your district
Elected House Representative click HERE to find yours
Elected Senator click HERE to find yours
Governor Haslam! (gets most of the blame for this because he appointed the people who are making these awful mandates!)
TN State Board of Education (appointed by the Governor) click click HERE to contact them

Contact those important people

Lest you think this is an over-reacting Momma Bear rant, we give you this alarming fact:

We were told that 70 teachers in one district recently took the practice 3rd grade Social Studies test (you have to have a password to access that practice test). These were excellent teachers with over 50 of them being Level 5 teachers (the highest rating a teacher can get). Of these 70 excellent, college-educated teachers, how many of them PASSED the 3rd grade Social Studies practice test?

Take a wild guess.

ONE.

One single teacher passed the 3rd grade Social Studies practice test out of 70. One! If adults can't pass it, third grade children don’t stand a chance!

If that isn’t a huge red warning flag to you, then you must be squeezing your eyes shut and plugging your ears.

Still in doubt? Go to this link and see the sample TNREADY questions for yourself. Start with the 3rd-5th grade questions for English or Math. Or if you’re really fearless, attempt an older grade level’s test questions. There are only 6 sample questions for each, you have time to do six measly elementary questions, right? You’re smart enough to read this far in our blog, so you can surely answer half-a-dozen elementary standardized test questions...

Go on, try it. We’ll wait right here and hum the Jeopardy theme song while you do it. Take your time...

Brutal, huh? Did the test questions load quickly for you or did you get the spinny time wheel like we did? Were you baffled by the MIST testing layout and multi-step questions? Are you wondering how young children with little or no keyboard training, who have trouble opening a milk carton without spilling milk, are expected to navigate a keyboard and mouse just like a doctoral student? Remember, teachers’ jobs are on the line for this test. Your child’s test scores are a major part of their job evaluation scores. The stakes are high, and your children feel it. Better hope they are tnREADY.

We've heard from many teachers who said students were upset or cried during the practice tests in class. Teachers told us that their SPED students tended to lose hope and give up during the tests, so they just randomly click through the questions to get finished. Teachers confided to us that some of their brightest, most advanced students have tears running down their faces when they try to complete test questions covering material they haven't been taught yet. Students complain of stomachaches and headaches. Students have barfed on tests before. If that happens, don't fret, because there's a handy-dandy testing procedure to follow to save the test.

Parents, we must speak up. You know too much now. You know this is wrong. This testing obsession is harmful to children and wasteful of their time.

Share the sample test questions with your legislators and school board members. Show them this blog. Ask them to just try a few questions, and tell them to remember when they or their own children were 8 years old. Better yet, ask them to proctor a test or try to take the real test.

Okay, Momma Bears, Poppa Bears, GrannieBears, and GrampaBears, here is YOUR homework:

Contact that bright red list of important people we gave you up above in this blog. Make some noise! Be louder than the TNREADY radio advertisements that the Governor’s fake parent group is broadcasting in districts where citizens are speaking against the testing. Be bolder than their fancy billboards, more compassionate than their overpaid lobbyists, and more convincing than their slick colored pamphlets. We can do this!

TNREADY or NOT... HERE WE COME!!!

Update:

We heard from parents of SPED children who were extremely concerned about how the new TNReady test will affect them. So, we reached out to some of our most voracious Momma Bears, the SPED advocates and we have a new blog for you.

Update 11/24/15: Momma Bears wrote a blog for parents of SPED students with IEPs. Click HERE to read it.

Semantics: how tests are used to fool people

7/2/2015

Are you gullible enough to fall for it? Someone says one thing, but means another. Twisting words and their meanings...That's called semantics.

Definition of Semantics:

the study of meaning.
the study of linguistic development by classifying and examining changes in meaning and form.

example: Bill Clinton used semantics to wiggle out of hot water by pretending not to understand the meaning of "sexual relations" with an intern. Whether you hate him or love him, it worked.

another example: We bet your kids have tried it. Suuure their room is clean... just as long as you don't look under the bed or at all the stuff they crammed in their closet. Suuure they ate their vegetables... if you count one niblet of corn and half a green bean.

Is it lying? Well, ask yourself the opposite question: Is it truthful?

The Tennessee Department of Education, politicians, and reformers use semantics, too. They deliberately use words to convince people of something that is not truthful. Unfortunately, their scheme is working. How do they do it? They simply say that students aren't proficient. Proficient. That is the key word right there: Proficient.

What does that word, "proficient," mean to the average person? Well, most people think it means that a student has at least a basic level of understanding to pass a test, right? Most people assume that if a student is deemed proficient for a grade level, that student passed and is ready to be promoted to the next grade. This leads people to assume that if a student is not proficient or scores below proficient, then the child has failed and needs to be held back to repeat the grade. When it is applied to standardized testing, people naturally assume things.

For example, when you hear or see a scary statistic from a Tennessee politician or reformer like this:

"Only 43% of 3rd graders scored Proficient or above on the 2015 TCAP test!"

You automatically think: "Oh my goodness only 43% of them passed, which means means that 57% of third graders are failing! That means 57% of 3rd graders can't pass a Reading Test! That means those children can't read!!!" Thus, people are easily convinced that something drastic must be done like: (insert the reform that benefits the politicians or reformers like: Common Core, more standardized testing, computerized intervention replacing teachers, firing teachers, getting rid of teacher unions and teacher associations, giving public schools to private charter operators, legalizing vouchers so that kids can escape these scary low test scores, data mining student's personal information without parental consent to find out why they aren't passing the tests, etc.)

Stop. Just hold your proficiency horses. Let's take a look at those Performance Levels on the TCAP test for grades 3-8. We found this info on the TDOE website, but it is also on the TCAP result sheets that parents are supposed to get in the fall when they eventually receive their child's test results (You can click on the image to see the entire document):

See how there are 4 different Achievement Levels? 4 different levels. That's important to know and something the politicians don't mention. Now the TDOE and testing company admit these performance levels do not correlate to the typical A,B,C,D,F grading scale for school report cards, but since the method of setting cut scores is not transparent, nobody in the public really knows. But let's just look at each level. Note: these descriptions and comparisons are our own:

ADVANCED: (what many would consider an A+) Generally, these are the above average students who are probably in advanced or gifted programs. They are super at taking standardized tests and picking the right answers. The percentage of students that fall into this Advanced category is small as you'll see in the chart below. Again, since the process of setting cut scores is not public, we can only suspect that this cut score is set high so that only a small percentage of students are classified as being in this category. Generally, most kids in this category are affluent and have a strong network of family support.
PROFICIENT: (what many would consider an A or B) Generally, these kids are natural learners, self-motivated, good at taking tests, smart, and/or have parents who make sure they do their homework? As you will see below on the chart, this category is a much larger percentage of students than the advanced category, if not the largest for some. Generally, most students in this Proficient category eat 3 meals a day, get enough sleep each night, and probably have not been chronically hungry or in need.
BASIC: (what many would consider a C) These kids passed. These kids passed! These kids passed!!! See that description in the image above? It clearly says these students are minimally prepared for the next level of study. They didn't fail! They didn't fail!! They didn't fail!!! Generally, students in this category are generally middle-class, borderline poverty, have special needs or disabilities, or are students who just generally don't test well. Generally. This is a large percentage of students compared to the other categories, as you'll see below. Again, these kids didn't fail the test and they are prepared enough, according to the state of Tennessee and the test manufacturer, to advance to the next grade. Sadly, some districts and teachers call these basic students the "bubble children" because they are the ones that need to bubble more correct answers to bump up to the Proficient category to make their district look better.
Below Basic: (what many would consider a D or F) Unfortunately, these students failed. They are not prepared for the next level of study. Notice that like the Advanced category, it is quite a small percentage of students, if not the smallest category on some of the tests. Sadly, generally students in this category may be homeless, may not speak English, may have parents that work multiple jobs or be unemployed, may not have parents and are raised by relatives or in foster care, may have disabilities or special needs, may be dyslexic (or un-diagnosed dyslexic because 1 in 5 are), are victims of violence or dysfunctional homes, or just don't care about the test so they randomly bubble in answers.

Disclaimer: Of course, not every student fits into those categories. We've all known kids, or are raising kids of our own, that somehow aced a test despite never paying attention in class or doing homework. And we've all known super-smart kids who bomb tests. So these descriptions certainly don't reflect any of that. Did you notice how many times we wrote, "generally," in our descriptions? Momma Bears have been preaching for a long time now that children are so much more than test scores, so please don't send us hate mail about how your child doesn't fit into those categories or how we're just bitter because our kids didn't score Advanced (because some of our kids did). Having said that, we will now return you to the original blog about the semantics shenanigans...

Politicians and the TDOE only mention 2 categories to the public (Proficient and Advanced). See this pretty bar graph on a poster they showed to the news media last week when they released TCAP scores?

See underneath the title at the top of the picture in smaller font where it says "Percentage of Students Proficient and Advanced by Subject"? Hmmm... Why didn't they include the Basic kids??? Basic is passing! Basic is okay. Maybe we need a bumper sticker that says, "My kid is Basic and that is ok!"

Why would they be dishonest?
You may be wondering why politicians and/or reformers would do this kind of untruthfulness? To find the answer, you need to follow the money, honey. The politicians and reformers are trying to convince you that our public schools are in "crisis." There is money to be made from a crisis, lots of money, and change happens when there is a crisis. So, they show misleading charts and say scary statistics. They compare our state to other states and claim we are failing and falling behind (but they don't ever mention that the other states have less poverty, they fund their schools better than ours, they don't test every student, and those high-scoring states have strong teachers unions).

That's how we got into the whole Race to the Top mess. Reformers fed politicians untruths using the old "Proficient" category on the national NAEP test where Tennessee ranks low compared to other states. (The NAEP test also has the same 4 categories of scoring as the TCAP). It worked. Legislators were convinced enough to vote that money must be thrown at consultants, Common Core, and even more standardized testing to improve Tennessee's ranking. And legislators were convinced that Tennessee needs drastic measures like charter schools and vouchers to fix this make-believe crisis.

Okay, I believe you, but the failing students category is still not good
Some of you may be thinking, "there are still kids failing and that is not good enough!" You're right. We can do better. Students need smaller class sizes, more support from guidance counselors and specialists actually working in the schools, fully funded public schools, and proven methods of helping students learn instead of experimental computer programs. You must realize, too, that some students may never pass those tests because of disabilities, or not speaking English, or just not caring about a test so they bubble in random answers. Setting a goal of 100% of students passing (like No Child Left Behind mandated) is noble, but it is impossible unless those low-scoring students are kicked out of schools (like charter schools and private schools are allowed to do to inflate their scores).

What if every student passed? Hallelujah!
But what if every student did amazingly well on the standardized test? You know what would happen??? The cut scores would discreetly be moved on the tests before the results were announced, that's what. Because the politicians and reformers can't have a test where every student passes (except in Lake Wobegon, of course.) After all, the tests would be deemed too easy if students were doing so well on them. Don't believe us? Then what happened to the Social Studies TCAP test last year where every student in Tennessee passed? (Click on this link to see the proof that every student in grades 3-8 passed) Did you know that the TCAP Social Studies test wasn't even given this year and that it is being completely changed for next year to make it much, much harder? (weird side question to ponder: How did every 3rd-8th grade student in Tennessee pass the Social Studies TCAP test, but not pass their TCAP Reading/English test???) And what is TN about to spend $108 million dollars on next year? Yep, a brand new harder and more rigorous tests that will have an even higher failure rate for English, Math, and Social Studies. Say "hello" to the all new TNReady test, children.

Kinda like Russian Roulette with tests instead of bullets...
Another thing worth pointing out about cut scores and percentages, if a student (or school or district) improves his/her score to move up a category, then that means another student (or school or district) somewhere in the state gets bumped down a category. These cut scores and percentages are determined in such a secret manner that nobody knows how or why. And nobody ever really questions it. Here is an excellent link to how this monkey-business of tinkering with cut scores really works. In that link, you'll see some eye-opening graphs that explain how these categories, percentages, and cut scores are moved and manipulated, so, you should definitely read it after you finish reading our blog.

Back to the question you're all asking...

So how many students in Tennessee actually passed?

See for yourself on this chart we downloaded from the TDOE and added red ink to:

See? The sky isn't falling! Those are some high numbers for passing rates! Why isn't this a headline on the front of newspapers? Why aren't politicians throwing flowers at teachers, bestowing raises upon them, and kissing teachers' feet for this great news? You know the answer to that... it doesn't fit their agenda.

The public has been duped into believing that a scary high percentage of students are failing, when that is clearly not the case. Even worse this year, the Tennessee Department of Education used fishy math to determine the quick scores for student report cards. The fishy math is called the cubed root formula, and it inflated the low scores big-time. It was a sneaky way to fool parents into thinking the test is great because their own child scored so highly on it, and it also tricks parents into thinking that Common Core must be magically working. It is not truthful.

So now what?
Well, parents, now that we know the truth, what are we gonna do about it? The answer is that we're gonna tell others. Spread the news! Share this blog! Talk to your legislators! Tell them to fix this broken system. Tell them to listen to and trust teachers and parents. Tell them we need Testing Transparency in Tennessee! These tests carry too much weight to be manipulated like this. These tests should never ever be used to evaluate teachers. Some parents may wish to opt their children out of the tests. Tell your legislator to pass a law that will parents the explicit right to refuse/opt-out of tests for their children. Oh, and be sure to sign and share this petition calling for Testing Transparency in Tennessee. The testing system is clearly rigged. We won't fall for their semantics baloney anymore. They have lost our trust!