Reader Comment: This is unbelieveable!! The very people who were elected to support, protect, and provide the best for our children want to test them to death. What 8 year-old child wants to sit for hours demonstrating critical thinking by looking into a computer screen? Probably after the first few of those tests he will just give up and want to get up and move around and talk to others as normal kids do. Instead he will become a trouble maker who bother others and it will all lead to problems as they take test after test.



What happened to real teaching??? Engaging hands-on learning? Problem solving by trial and error?



Who wouldn't begin to just hate school if they had to look forward to test after test, year after year........



And what about the cost for all those computers for all those students across Oklahoma?? This is just outrageous!



Get more information: Read the testing guidance information sent to schools. [This appeared at the top of the story]




by Kim Archer

Oklahoma schools and students will be in a "perpetual state of testing" when new K-12 standardized testing begins in 2014-15, educators say.

Through written guidance sent to schools last week, school administrators learned that all third- to 11th-grade students will take nine online tests - each around an hour in length - for English and math under the new testing system.

Five of the nine will be in English, and four will be in math. Those tests will replace the Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests in the two subjects. Students now take one test in English and one in math.

"Not only are the technology demands difficult to meet, the actual testing requirements are excessive," said Jenks Middle School Principal Rob Miller. The additional tests are on top of those students must take in other subjects.

At his school alone, Miller estimates, 20,000 tests will be administered in the first year of the new assessments and will require around 400 test monitors.

The new tests, called Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers - or PARCC - tests, will be implemented in 2014-15 in conjunction with Oklahoma's implementation of new statewide curriculum standards called Common Core State Standards.

According to the PARCC guidance information, third-graders will take nine tests that will take around 50 minutes each in reading and math. Fourth- through 11th-graders will take nine assessments on the two subjects, adding up to more than nine hours of testing.

"Can we really envision an average 8-year-old sitting for eight hours of online testing, especially with the added stress of possible retention?" Miller asked, referring to a new Oklahoma law requiring schools to retain third-graders beginning in 2013-14 if they don't pass a specific reading test.

Sand Springs Superintendent Lloyd Snow said that "we don't need more tests. We should be focused on robust teaching and learning."

Jenni White, a former teacher and president of Restore Oklahoma Public Education, said the addition of these new assessments will further chip away at the time teachers have to actually teach students.

"It's crazy. You can't teach a child to learn by giving them a test," she said.

"Is this truly the future of schools in Oklahoma?" Miller asked. "If yes, our biggest challenge in the next five to 10 years will be retention of teachers and administrators."

Oklahoma State Department of Education Communications Director Sherry Fair said the new tests are being brought in to align with the more rigorous English and math curriculum standards that kick in that year.

The tests require more time because they will assess students' ability to apply knowledge through critical thinking skills, she said.

"We're not going to ask (students) to fill in bubbles," Fair said.

For instance, students in English will be given a narrative to read and be asked to draw conclusions and compose an answer, she said. In math, they will be asked to solve a complex problem, show their work and, in some cases, defend their work.

"There are longer times; however, they are not one great big, long session," Fair said. "We're giving them time to think. That allows them time to be more successful on the tests and for us to assess what they've learned."

Still, many educators aren't convinced that additional testing is the way to successfully educate children.

"The time needed to prepare for and administer these tests will destroy the culture of schools and have a devastating effect on morale, student engagement and creativity," Miller said.

About PARCC and Common Core

Oklahoma is a member of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC. Through this alliance, 22 states and one U.S. territory are working together to develop a new set of K-12 standardized tests in English, language arts, literacy and math.

PARCC received a $186 million grant through the U.S. Department of Education's Race to the Top competition to support the development and design of this "next-generation" assessment system.

The PARCC tests will be ready for states to administer during the 2014-15 school year. That will coincide with Oklahoma's implementation of new statewide curriculum standards, called the Common Core State Standards.

The Common Core State Standards initiative is a states-led effort to provide curriculum standards that are consistent throughout the country, beginning with English and math. Oklahoma is among 45 states and three U.S. territories that adopted the standards.

--Kim Archer
Tulsa World
March 16, 2013
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20130316_19_A1_Oklaho507655&allcom=1#3374050