April 2014

Dear_______________________

As you are profoundly aware, there has been much controversy surrounding not only the Common Core Learning Standards, but more specifically the testing of students in grades three through eight.    As an elementary principal I have had many conversations with parents regarding their concerns about testing.  I have also had many meetings with teachers who express their concerns about when the test is given, how it is administered and what the content of the test is.  I have received many letters from parents “opting out” of testing, which are clearly an expression of frustration with the chaos rather than a disapproval of our schools.    

You do not need to go much further than the local newspapers, or for that matter the soccer fields, to hear the buzz about the current state of chaos that is whirling around how poorly the CCLS was rolled out and of course, how counterproductive and even counterintuitive it is to test students in grades three through eight using the current format.    I have read letters, signed letters, read newspaper and professional journal articles, watched webinars, had conversations and attended conferences to discuss these challenges.     In each of those forums/mediums I have heard what others believe is wrong with both the CCLS and testing, but I have heard little to no solutions.  It appears certain that within this chaos there are many unintended consequences that will occur and I would implore all adult stakeholders to remember “When the elephants begin to fight, only the ants get trampled”  as they move forward in this seemingly endless parade of posturing.  Our students are too vital to our future as a society and as a country.  It is essential that we move forward with the good work that has been going on in our schools for long before those who have sought to change things were born.  There is no denying that high standards are essential and that shifting paradigms in any field are inevitable. However, what is disputable is creating a single measure that defines a complex system, aka a child, especially when it is meaningless to that child and to their teachers in terms of future learning. More importantly and very sadly, this measure, in its current form, supports students' beliefs that school is not a safe place to learn.  The opinions and attitudes that are formed in elementary school become the fabric woven into the high School and college learner.  How sad that only the highest of achieving students will garner anything remotely positive from this experience.

 For the purposes of this letter and more importantly for moving forward in our collective endeavor to provide the highest quality education that will help shape productive citizens for the future of our country, I would like to propose a few solutions to consider.   With students at the heart of this proposal, I would like to name it the TLC Approach to education, since our collective goals should be Teaching, Learning, and Checking In, and since Tender Loving Care, TLC is what our schools have provided and will continue to provide to our students while we go through these very turbulent times.   I chose these three words to focus on since teaching is what we as educators do, learning is what students do, and checking in is what all stakeholders should to do ensure that our teachers are aware of where they need to focus or develop and our learners are aware of their strengths and weaknesses.  

THE TLC APPROACH TO EDUCATION PHILOSOPHY

Teaching  -  According to Howard Gardner “The biggest mistake of past centuries in teaching has been to treat all children as if they were variants of the same individual, and this to feel justified in teaching them the same subjects in the same ways.”   Interestingly enough, our current format of tests, do exactly what Howard Gardner cautioned against.     Teaching as it exists in the 21^st century requires teachers to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of individual and diverse learners.  Teaching with rigor should be the focus of the 21^st century teacher.  One element that I do believe that we can all agree upon is that focused, rigorous, differentiated instruction with a stable set of developmentally appropriate learning standards remains essential to impact student achievement for the 21^st century learner.

Learning -   Studies show that motivation in learning is what promotes mastery.   In her book Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery (2010), Kathleen Cushman discusses eight central conditions that support powerful learning:  

• I feel OK.
• It matters.
• It’s active
• It stretches me.
• I have a coach.
• I have to use it.
• I think back on it.
• I plan my next steps.

The Common Core Learning Standards, with some revisions can help to support the conditions mentioned above.  It is the assessments as they stand now that interface little with the factors that are needed to forge a strong, motivational environment for all students; not just good test takers. “People who are generally highly motivated to learn, generally do learn; those who are not motivated seldom do…Without effective student motivation, nothing else matters much.” G.L. Bach

Checking In-   Choosing to use “checking in” as opposed to “accountability” changes the focus from “gotcha” to “we did it.”  This short little phrase best describes what all stakeholders need to do in an effort to ensure that students know and are able to do certain grade/age specific skills by the end of that school year (summative) and during checkpoints in the school year (formative).   Both formative and summative data need to be meaningful in order to inform instruction targeted to individual learners.  Being given data that is flat and meaningless to the learner and the teacher has little impact on supporting instruction or student achievement.  

It appears that all stakeholders agree that assessing student learning is essential in creating strong, differentiated lessons that support all learners.  Unfortunately, it would appear that the current format and timing of the State assessments has more to do with teacher and principal evaluations than it does with checking in to determine if students have learned what they need to learn in a particular grade level.

Students, teachers and parents should view the NYS Assessments as a valuable tool in assessing learning and driving instruction in an orderly and respectful fashion.  Our current testing format places these high stakes tests, in a low stakes environment.  The demands on the school to be quiet, the schedule to be altered and all personnel who administered these tests are great.   We would not expect the Regents exams to be administered while High Schools were in full session, so why should our youngest students be put in this position? 

TESTING PROPOSAL

Working from the premise that assessing student learning and using that data to inform instruction, not just to evaluate educators is the reason that we administer State created summative assessments, and whereas I believe that all stakeholders’ interests are in shaping well educated citizens, I would like to propose that our New York State Assessments be delivered as follows (the dates below are based on the typical Long Island Public School Calendar and times and would need to be adjusted accordingly).

Testing delivery 

• Grades 3 – 8 ELA and Math Assessments should be administered during the designated Regents Week.  For example this year’s Regents week in many districts begins on June 17^th and ends on June 26^th.  
• The last full day of class at the elementary and MS would be Tuesday, June 17^th.  
• June 18^th, 19^th, 20^th or thereabout could be used for ELA.
• June 23^rd, 24^th, 25^th could be used for Math.
• All grades would attend school for the last day to receive report cards, etc. on June 26^th 
• June 18^th until June 25^th – k, 1, 2 grade students would report to school at 12:30 – 3:05 pm.
• June 18^th until June 25^th – 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th grade students would come at the regular time and would all begin testing at 9:15 and be dismissed at 11:30.  
• This would allow for extended time if needed for 504 – IEP students as the test format stands currently. 
• Lower grade teachers would be available to proctor, supervise hallways for bathroom breaks and relieve classroom teachers if necessary.  
• All classroom teachers, specials and support staff would be available for proctoring and accommodations.  
• All rooms would be available for students to use for accommodations.
• There would be no distractions with non-testing grades in the building, just as the Regents tests have.
• All classrooms would already have charts, bulletin boards, etc. removed/covered as per testing regulations.

In collaboration with all stakeholders:

• The State should provide authentic data from these assessments in a timely fashion, including the questions from these tests so that educators could use the data to inform instruction and support student achievement. 
• Students should have access to their completed tests to assess their learning, their strengths, their weaknesses and their mistakes so that they can be active participants in moving forward in learning.  Best practice in assessments tells us that involving students in monitoring their learning supports student achievement, so why should the most powerful assessment in their lives be a secret?
• The State should re-evaluate the test format and questions and create tests that reflect best practices in education with educators, not publishing companies, creating the tests.
• The State should consider the fact that the value of time has no place in assessing student learning and remove time restrictions from the 3-8 Math and ELA assessments.  It is developmentally inappropriate to time thinking and it is contrary to the mission of authentically assessing learning. 

In conclusion, it should be clear that I believe that while there is chaos surrounding the implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards and the NYS Assessments, the stakeholders that I have listened to consider high standards to be essential for our students’ futures and that assessing student learning is valuable when done correctly to help us inform future instruction.  Therefore, testing students in grades three through eight in April or May is inconsistent with designing instruction that has the end in mind and is extremely confusing and interruptive to students both emotionally and instructionally.  

With the TLC Approach students, parents and teachers would come to understand that at the end of the year there is a summative assessment to determine what the learners have learned and what they may need to continue to focus on.  It would also serve to focus on our mission which is TEACHING AND LEARNING and ultimately inspire students to have an authentic thirst for learning, excitement for rigor in their coursework and the tools that they will need to become the leaders of the future.

I respectfully request that you consider the proposal stated in this document.  It is only possible to have a positive impact on the lives of our youth if as adult stakeholders we work together to ensure that our approaches to creating standards and assessments are developmentally appropriate with the student at the center of all decisions.  

Mrs. Carol Muscarella, Principal