The month of March signals the beginning of testing season for Maryland elementary schools. It’s an annual rite of passage that takes time away from instruction, disrupts the regular schedule, brings children to tears, and produces a general fog of stress to schools across the state. The schedule for testing in our school looks like this:
Test Grade Dates
MSA Reading & Math 3rd-5th Grade March 4-18
MSA Science 5th Grade March 24-April 4
PARCC Field Test (PBA) One 4th grade class March 24-April 11
PARCC Field Test (EOY) One 4th grade class May 5-June 6
As you can see, testing will impact our school from the first week in March through the first week in June. That’s thirteen weeks of testing. Luckily, spring break gives our students and teachers a brief respite from the madness.
Maryland, like many other states, is in the transition from using state testing measures to using the PARCC assessment (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers). This means that while students in third through fifth grade have been taught using the Common Core State Standards this year, they will be assessed on the defunct Maryland State Curriculum.
The relevance of the data that will be collected is questionable. We’re giving the test anyway. I don’t think anyone can tell me why. Well, maybe that’s not true. We’re giving the test because Maryland accepted Race to the Top funds and the feds have threatened to withhold or ask for states to return funds if they don’t administer the tests. No one has the courage to stop an assessment train that is careening its way down a track to nowhere.
Teachers know that assessment is important. They use informal assessments every day to make instructional decisions about their students. Assessments help teachers understand where their students are on the learning continuum. State and federal tests have never provided teachers with that information. State and federal tests have been used to judge schools, school districts, and states. State and federal tests have been used to praise affluent schools and their communities while degrading high-poverty schools.
The late Donald Graves wrote the book Testing Is Not Teaching over 12 years ago. It would be nice if politicians, superintendents, school leaders, teachers, and parents read it. There is a better way for American schools to improve. It is a way that does not value testing over people. It is a way that includes teacher expertise in gathering relevant assessment data. I could go on, but I have to get ready for testing. I’m sure I have a box of tissues around here somewhere.