Too much emphasis on standardized tests

The number of Pennsylvania students who scored "proficient" or "advanced" on state standardized tests in 2014-15 dropped like a rock compared with the previous year's results. This makes the fourth straight year of test score declines. And educators, parents and students are seething about it.

The proficiency rates in grades three through eight dropped on average by 35½ percentage points in math and 9½ percentage points in English language arts on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exam.

Education Department officials say the declines occurred because the tests were harder than in the past. The officials also said that these results should not be compared with the previous year's results because of the more difficult tests.

A representative for the Pennsylvania State Education Association said teachers are being attacked because of the low scores.

"You have essentially moved the target for teachers to get their students to, and then you raised the bar with these cut scores, all in combination with funding cuts," said Chris Clayton, assistant director for education services at PSEA.

"It's almost like a perfect recipe to attack teachers," Clayton said.

The truth is that too much emphasis is being placed on standardized testing. In the resulting chaos of the past few years, virtually everyone in the system feels frustrated, almost helpless, as the rules change almost annually to muddy the waters further.

Even President Barack Obama, once a fierce supporter of standardized testing, has said that testing has gone too far.

Faced with mounting opposition on both sides of the political aisle, Obama last month urged schools to step back and make the tests "less onerous and more purposeful."

He said the testing was "consuming too much instructional time and creating undue stress for educators and students."

Obama said that learning is "so much more than filling in the right bubble." He called for tests to be of high quality, a limited part of the curriculum (no more than 2 percent) and just one measure of a student's progress.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said it's important that we all be honest with ourselves.

"At the federal, state and local levels, we have all supported policies that have contributed to the problem," Duncan said. "We can and will work with states, districts and educators to help solve it."

I wish I had a dime for every time I have had heard those same optimistic words since 2009.

Virtually every year, a new set of directives and standards has been set in motion.

Locally, administrators share the frustration of their colleagues across the commonwealth.

Karen Nicholas, assistant superintendent in the Northern Lehigh district, said at a recent school board meeting that entirely too much time is being spent on testing. She was critical of the year-after-year changes, as was the district's superintendent, Michael Michaels.

"I don't agree with all this testing," Michaels told the Northern Lehigh School Board.

"I don't want them to be great test-takers; I want them to be great, productive adults," he said.

Teachers unions, which led the opposition to the amount of testing, cheered Obama's reversal and claimed victory.

"Parents, students, educators, your voice matters and was heard," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the other major teachers' union in the commonwealth, along with the PSEA.

We're not quite as celebratory, at least not yet, but it is a key first step to cleaning up the standardized testing mess.

Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com