Good Afternoon. Thank you for coming. I also want to thank Nick for the introduction and
pointing out that I've been teaching for a long time. In fact about forty years. And
throughout that whole time I have been working both locally and across the state and across
the nation and other countries to improve our public schools and also private schools.
And yet, I think I think I may say a few things that are a little bit contentious. I am very,
if I was the kind of person that got discouraged, I would be getting discouraged now about the
state of our education system. Because I am very concerned about our obsession with standardized
tests and standardized test scores. And I run into teachers every day, just yesterday
afternoon in my office whose saying, now we're getting scripted lessons and they my as well
hire a robot to teach my class. And so teachers are, people are not going into the profession
to the degree they were before and a lot of people are thinking of diving out of the profession.
And so I'm I'm very very concerned about that particularly because people think that the
test scores are objective. And what I want to do is argue that in fact the test scores
are misleading and erroneous and they should not be believed. In fact, I would say it would
be great if I could tell you don't believe anything the State Education, ah, I should
say that don't believe anything the State Education Department tells you, maybe some
things. But um we should not be elated when test scores go up or dismayed when they go
down because we really have no idea what they mean. So let me give you just a few examples.
I can go on for days but I won't. Um, but many of you know, if you're from New York,
you may know that in ah 1990's New York State. Actually that is not the example that I wanted
to give you first. The example I want to give you first is we just had the common core state
exams based on the common core state standards that were in the spring and one of the things
that happened is the the exams were based on um the common core curriculum but unfortunately
most schools did not have the curriculum and it also makes the assumption that like on
math if you taken the math 8 test on the common core, you had taken the last seven years which
of course you couldn't. And so in New York state, 31% of the students who took the exam
passed or were proficient. In some urban schools, like Rochester City School District, only
five percent of the students passed the exam. So this might sound like a very bad thing.
So I was curious, um, what to make of this. And so I looked to see what Chancellor, Commissioner
King, he is the commissioner of Education said and in response to these test scores
and he said 31% chance 30% passing was a good thing. Now, it doesn't sound good but he said
it is a good thing. And then he said well it provides us with a baseline. Now if you
are familiar with New York State we've been giving standardized tests for decades and
decades and we've been using them to assess students and determine whether they graduate
etc for for four decades, for several decades. And it is like what can't we use those tests
for a baseline. Why is this test that comes now a a baseline? Secondly, it seem to me
that, um, if only 30% of the students are passing the test, and this is after 20 years
of school reform in New York State focusing on standards and tests. Isn't this really
an indictment of this last 20 years of school reform in New York State and should we be
doing something different that engages students in in their community as more interdisciplinary,
etc. So, I have questions for, um, Commissioner King . I also have questions for um Mayor
Bloomburg in New York City. So over the last twenty years, Mayor Bloomburg , he hasn't
been Mayor for twenty years, it feels like it. But you know he has run on re-election
this male control of schools in New York City. So he runs the schools, he appoints the board
members, he can get rid of them on a whim and he is taking credit over the years for
any increase in test scores. Uh, and that says I should be re-elected. Look, my policies
are working, re-elect me. So, I was curious. So what does he say about in New York City,
they didn't have a 20, 31% passing rate they had 26% on literacy and 30% on math. So what's
his response to um those scores? And he says, he says, it's wonderful news. Now how is 26%
passing wonderful news. This seems to me like the ultimate spin. So when the test scores
go up, the Mayor says my policies are working. When the test scores go down, he says, this
is wonderful news. It makes me wonder what what world we live in and is he looking at
the same figures I am. So let me talk about why we should question the scores and give
you some examples. Which is an example I was going to give you a minute ago is um some
of you who in New York State may know that ah in the 1990's you started requiring that
students pass five regents exams in order to graduate from high school. And one of those
exams had to be in Science. And so that exam most students took was the living environments
exam and Commissioner Mills, I am going to pick on all of the Commissioners before I
am done, no. So Commissioner Mills ah thought um he he wanted to set that that the cut score
Now, like when I was a kid 65 was passing and that meant you had to get 65% of the questions
right. But in fact, it isn't the way the scoring works for the tests in New York State and
so they changed the cut score up and down and they made it so that you only had to get
39% of the questions right to pass the exam. And this was good news for the Commissioner
because then he would get students who passed, students would graduate and nobody would he
wouldn't have a large drop- out rate and nobody would blame the Commissioner for having a
large drop-out rate. So that worked except that people said this is really um misleading
because in fact we are making the test so easy, it's so easy to pass. And so then physics
exam he said well I am going to take the physics exam and I am going to make that hard. And
so what he did, is he got eight people together and he said set the cut score really high
so we get a high failure rate. This is all in the New York Times so you I can I can find
evidence for this. So he thr but they didn't didn't set set it high enough to and so he
threw them out of the room and got four people back and he said set the cut score high so
we have a high failure rate. They didn't set it high enough so then he got one person in
the room and said set the cut score high so we have a high failure rate. And that person
did and in fact that year we had 39% of students taking the physics exam failed. Now it didn't
bother him but and he thought well nobody would mind because they didn't need it to
graduate from high school but they these were students who were taking physics in order
to go on to university. And so they said it may not. It is not really a really good thing
when you are applying to an Ivy League School say and that you got a 70 on the physics exam
or that you failed. And in fact students scored more had lower results on the State exam then
on the advance placement exam. So, they criticized the Commissioner and he said no no this is
objective objective but there was enough enough people protesting that finally he um reneged
and changed the score and all of a sudden students passed. Now I find this just remarkable
so you know. Well, what happened is the same thing happens in the primary grades. So we
have a annual test around math and literacy and for years the the scores have been going
up and um Mayor Bloomberg is pleased with it but when I talk to Superintendents they
say we didn't do anything different and our scores keep on getting better. You know we're
not getting better kids so how do we explain this. Well you the way you explained it is
in fact is the State keeps on increasing, lowering the cut score, making more students
do well and everybody looks good. Um, finally, um, chan Chancellor, Meryl Tish, and this
was just last year, said that the scores are ridiculously inflated and nobody should believe
them. So I told you earlier you shouldn't believe the scores. The Chancellor says don't
believe the scores and what she did is she re-scaled them down and cut them them by about
a third and kids go to bed at night saying I passed the test and then they get up in
the morning and find out they failed the test because the Commissioner changed the whole
scoring system. Uh I don't know about you but this strikes me as insane, just to be
blunt. And so what I am concerned about is what the effect this has on our schools. Um,
I am running out of time. So you know we we just had, um, I need to talk about Governor
Cuomo just for a minute. Because so we had these poor test results, five percent passing
in Rochester and Governor Cuomo says um there um there um going to have to suffer the death
penalty. I love the way we talk about schools. They're going to suffer the death penalty.
What does that mean? Well, he is going to close the schools, he is going to close the
School Boards and let New York State Education Department run the schools. Now I know enough
about Albany not to think that Albany could run schools any better than we can locally.
Um, but that's his plan and in fact Commissioner, um, um, I am forgetting the current Commissioners
name but said he's he's pushing a bill through the legislature to get that to happen and
the Chancellor ah is working with him on that, but, the Chancellor and the Commissioner both
promise that next year the test results will be better. Now, how can they promise the test
results will be better? They can change the cut score. So, I can give you, I will bet
you a hundred to one next year the test results will be better because they are going to jigger
them to be whatever they want. Last ten seconds. There are really great things going around
in education. I have worked with performance consorium schools here in Rochester, also
in New York City. We have great models of what to do. They don't give standardized tests.
In Finland, the country that has, scores the highest anything national comparisons, we
know, um, they only give a test when the students graduate, like our college boards or SAT and
they give one a test, a sample of a test to students over time just to see how the country
is doing over time but nobody gets an individual score and it is no implications for schools
or teachers or students. We are a test mat country and I just, I am over time. And I
just heard today there was a meeting with um Commissioner King, the name comes back
came back for the PTA or the PTA and they are raising questions and the Commissioner
said I will no longer meet with PTA's about standardized testing. And that just came out
this morning. So my last minute is that we need good schools. I need people to look at
what is going on to realize that the tests scores aren't objective and they are being
misused and harming students and teachers and families and thank you very much.