Our music teacher is has a new evaluation process which includes a lengthy portfolio process. Since she only sees our students once every rotation, there is not time for her to have them practice holiday songs. Also, it is frowned upon for us to miss "teaching time" for anything at all. Award programs were cut this year, too.

This isn't right... even jails have fairly elaborate Christmas programs for the inmates! We are becoming more of an institution than actual institutions. We are taking all of the fun out of learning, out of life. Everything we do has to be tied to a "tested objective." I am really becoming ashamed to be a part of teaching. We used to have freedom to make learning fun, now we don't. We are strictly limited to what we can and cannot do.

Since there are so many components that have to be completed by a certain deadline, our music teacher can't stop to practice holiday songs. Basically, it sounds like what has happened with classroom teachers. If we can't tie the activity to an actual tested objective, we can't do it.
 
For example, this week my students are participating in short plays for reading. There is a wealth of research showing that practicing the scripts over and over through repetition helps build reading fluency and comprehension. However, to fully put on one of these short plays, technically called "readers' theaters," I have to give the students a small amount of time to decorate their scenes, work on simple props etc. Since drawing the background for the play is not assessing a tested objective, we aren't supposed to do it at school. It doesn't fit into our evaluation model. However, I cheated today and gave my students about 30 minutes to create their props for their performances tomorrow. Everything we do, and now our music and art teachers do, must be tied to an assessed skill. Since there isn't a music portion on TCAP, yet, our teacher has to turn in portfolios showing the different skills she is teaching the students. Apparently it is extremely rigorous, and she can't miss a single day of teaching what the state deems important to stop and actually sing in class.  
 
We have CC standards that guide our instruction. Supposedly the PARCC test will test these standards. We have always had some sort of standards to guide our instruction. The actual standards are not the main problem. It's all the strings that come with them. I wouldn't focus only on them. It's some of the ways the skills are taught and questionable materials used to teach them. Right now we have tight schedules that squelch teachable moments and creativity.

At this point, they have developed portfolio evaluations along with the regular ones for art and Music teachers. PE teachers are next. I just wish they would leave us all alone to teach.
 
(This was posted anonymously, with permission, to protect the employment of these teachers in TN.  This teacher does not have the freedom to reveal her school district without the possibility of retribution.)

I teach high school English II in Davidson County.  I would love to teach literature that is exciting and meaningful to students.  My whole school's AYP depends upon me and 4-5 other English teachers, plus Algebra teachers. There are approximately 100 teachers at my school, but AYP depends upon a handful of us. Yes, every teacher is supposed to teach reading and writing, but it really comes down to English teachers, specifically English II.  We pre-test, test, re-teach, post-test all of the time.

(This was posted anonymously to protect the job of this English teacher in Davidson County)

Tennessee parents realize the burden that high-stakes testing puts on our children and their teachers.  Testing is robbing MONEY and TIME from our children's education.  

Westwood Elementary is a strong neighborhood school.  It has a proud history, has strong support from local church congregations, and is a hub in its community.  In 2012, Memphis residents voted to give up their Memphis City School charter to merge with the successful Shelby County School district.  Westwood parents were eager to be a part of this new merged system. But only 4 months into the newly merged district, Westwood Elementary parents and staff are being told they have no choice:  Their public neighborhood elementary school will be given to an out-of-state charter chain next year against their wishes and despite their protests.

Parents and leaders in the Westwood community know their school's test scores were improving.  Their students were making great gains.  They saw how hard their teachers and students were working.  

They've been researching the other ASD schools that have already been taken over by the state.  They notice that the ASD test scores are dismally low, especially in reading.  They see the crazy new grading scale that the ASD implemented to inflate children's grades.  They question the data and find glaring discrepancies.  

They see these huge red flags:

• An observant Westwood Dad notices that the ASD is fudging the numbers for some strange reason. The rollup TVAAS Composite averages for the ASD are crazy inflated!  Looking at the 6 ASD schools individual scores  6 schools currently in the ASD on the TN Report Card for 2013 (Cornerstone Prep - Lester Campus, Frayser Achievement Elementary, Corning Achievement Elementary, Brick Church College Prep (Nashville), Humes Preparatory Academy, And Westside Achievement Academy), it is plain to see that those individual school's numbers don't add up to the ASD District's glowing Composite score.  Why???

Their neighborhood may be low-income, but they know they are being forced to do something that isn't right for their children and community.  Their public neighborhood school is being handed, on a silver platter, to an out-of-state charter chain.  This is not their choice.  Their choice would be smaller class sizes for their children.  Their choice would be support in their school building from counselors, a full-time school nurse, and assistants.  Their choice would be fixing the leaking windows from the 1950s.  

Their citizens voted to be represented through an ELECTED school board, not a charter chain looking to make money from their children.  The Westwood community isn't fooled.
 
(This was posted anonymously, with permission, to protect the privacy of these parents in Memphis, TN)

Is the ASD targeting the "top of the bottom" schools to try and "cream" the best for their score portfolio???

A teacher speaks out against Tripod: I hope that my letter informs every public education school parent in the state of Tennessee about the abuse educators are facing from day to day.  

I received my TRIPOD scores from the 2012-13 school year on Sunday evening, November 3rd, 2013--- one day before my 2013-14 students were to take the TRIPOD.  As I began to look at my scores, I chuckled. I called my husband in the room and he immediately said, "What's this?" "My 2012-13 TRIPOD scores," I told him. "What a joke," he said.  

And he was right. My scores were incredibly low. You see, I am an ESL teacher in Metro Nashville Public Schools. My students are early childhood age, and have little to no developed vocabulary. As I sat at my home computer, looking at the scores I was incredibly horrified, but more so, insulted. One of my lowest areas was a 22/60--- how I CHALLENGE my students. The state average was 50. This didn't make sense. I was a "4" teacher in 2012-13. These scores did not correlate.  

As I went on a tangent, trying to figure out why my scores were so low not just in this one area, but all the way across; I remembered a question my students answering a question on TRIPOD. The question was, "Does your teacher push you to do your best?" I chuckled, remembering my ESL students asking after the survey if it meant that I physically pushed them. Perhaps my students all answered no to this; I would NEVER put my hands on a child.  

This year, the TRIPOD survey is 5% of my TEAM evaluation, and quite frankly--- I don't think it is fair. I did not go to school for over 20 years to be evaluated by 6 and 7 year old children. I did not pay nearly $50,000 of my hard earned money (much of it which I am still paying on) to have a CHILD much less a CHILD WHO DOES NOT SPEAK ENGLISH evaluate my effectiveness as a teacher.

It is my hope and prayer that the state of Tennessee will WAKE UP and realize they are running off the best and the brightest teachers by treating them like dirt. I will be totally honest here--- I have been in this profession less than 5 years and I am not sure how much longer I care to be in it. I am already exploring other career options. Oh, yeah... and remember I am a "4" teacher--- above and beyond what Tennessee likes to call "rock solid."  

Commissioner Huffman and other Tennessee lawmakers must know that to keep the best and the brightest teachers in Tennessee, it is not about paying them more--- it's about treating them with dignity and respect. They have degrees. They went to school. They know what they are doing. Wake up, and remember that. Let's keep our GOOD teachers, not run them out. 

(This was posted anonymously, with permission, to protect the privacy of this teacher in Metro Nashville School District)

In June of this year,  it was announced that 10% of TN public school students will be involved in field testing of the Common Core test (PARCC) during the 2013-2014 school year. This field testing helps the for-profit creator of the test–Pearson–fine tune the test for the planned administration to all TN public school students during the 2014-2015 school year. Sadly, it also essentially turns our students and teachers into unpaid research and development subjects for a company that is worth approximately 1.5 BILLION dollars.
 
Upset parents in New York state recently created an “invoice” to highlight the costs of the Pearson Common Core field tests to the districts and students. (You can see it at this link.)  Many parents refused the field testing for their children and some openly expressed their anger at Pearson and the NY Department of Education: “If Pearson wants to use my daughter to ‘field test’ during the school day,” opined Brooklyn parent Johanna Henry, “they will have to pay us...  I will use the money to provide my child an enjoyable and relevant learning experience.’”
 
Our students will not only be denied payment for taking the PARCC field test, they will be denied valuable instruction time–time that is arguably more necessary than “helping” a testing company that could easily afford to pay children to take (and teachers to administer) this test outside of school hours.  Instructional time is extremely precious, especially considering that teachers across the state estimate that 30-45 days of instruction are lost each school year due to test preparation and administration. This works out to 2-3 years of lost instruction between kindergarten and 12th grade. The PARCC field test will also create additional stress for our children, especially since the PARCC is supposed to be very different from tests our children have taken in the past.  And finally, this pilot testing will increase the already ridiculous workload for our teachers and could result in pushing even more highly qualified educators out of the profession.  

In addition to the educational and emotional costs of this test, TN will lose out on an untold amount of tax revenue because Pearson does not pay teachers and students to administer/take these pilot tests.
 
The Tennessee Department of Education has not published a list of the schools that will undergo field testing in Tennessee.  Attempts to find out this information have been unsuccessful.  
 
(This was reposted with permission from www.stoptntesting.com, a website, blog, and facebook group with a strong and rapidly growing social media presence in TN)

I talked last night to a friend who teaches kindergarten. I would not have thought that she would feel stress. I was surprised when she talked about the pushing of 1st grade curriculum into kindergarten, of her small students who would cry from frustration feeling under pressure, her "babies" she called them. She is 58, had originally planned to teach on to age 65 ... But after discussions with her husband, they are rearranging their finances so that she can exit in two more years, at age 60 instead. Her husband recently told her that perhaps they need to move that date up.

Today, I learned that three of the best teachers we have at our school are planning their exit strategies before they had originally planned.

A 22 year veteran teacher in a hard to fill position is about to finish her EDS. Her plan involves moving out of Nashville into a county system and into admin.

Another phenomenal teacher is retired military. This is his second year teaching. He is amazing and the students often respond to him because of his background. He is a strong, confident man who is a great role model for our students.....but he has decided that the insanity of our system is not for him. He doesn't HAVE to work ... He had expected to make a 2nd career of teaching but the past two years have disillusioned him.

Another 20+ yr, after much thinking and planning, and exploring of options...has found another job.

I am more and more concerned with teachers in mid career who looking for a way out.

I did meet with my financial advisor over fall break. I am going to try to go through spring 2015...but I know now that I can afford to leave spring 2014 if I need to.

All three of the colleagues I talked to today surprised me. I wonder how many others are looking at their options...

(This was posted anonymously, with permission, to protect this veteran teacher in Nashville)

Many excellent, irreplaceable teachers are quitting across TN.  The media across the State has even reported about it...  Click HERE, HERE, and HERE to read more.  

The Constructed Response Assessment (CRA) is a state-mandated test made up of math word problems given to grades 3-12 in “preparation” for Common Core testing that will begin in 2015. The first (of three) CRA administrations for this school year occurred in October. (http://stoptntesting.com/2013/11/05/the-cra-test/)

Little-Known CRA Facts:

• Most students had not yet been taught the material covered on the recent CRA because the standards they were tested on had not yet been addressed in the Common Core Pacing Guide.  Teachers must follow the standards timeline set forth in the Common Core Pacing Guides that are provided by the TN Department of Education (DOE).

• Because the TN DOE distributes the Common Core standards Pacing Guides, it seems logical that they should have known that students would most likely not have a clue how to answer the questions.

• Because most students did not know the material tested, many of them suffered undue anxiety and stress as a result of taking this test. For example, one parent said that her 3rd grade daughter came home crying after taking it.  Another parent said that her middle-school son had an anxiety-induced asthma attack and ended up in the ER in reaction to the test. A fourth-grader who tested "advanced" on all sections of the TCAP last school year also suffered anxiety attacks after taking the CRA a few weeks ago  (http://stoptntesting.com/2013/11/05/the-cra-test/). And a 4th grade Metro Nashville teacher recently said the following about the CRA: "I just finished grading CRA and one student's final remarks on the test are: "I tried my best but I think I failed." Breaks my heart! The thing is that this isn't the best student in the world, but he really did try and he didn't leave anything blank. This kid doesn't have the best self-esteem and this just validates his opinion of himself instead of building his self-worth. In my opinion, this is not how to best encourage learning for 9-year olds. He will eventually learn the skills that were tested on the CRA, but he needs to have enough success going forward to build back up his self esteem."

***Parents & teachers call the CRA tests the "CRY" tests!***
This should not be happening to our children.  This is wrong.

• At least one teacher at each school in TN attended training to learn how to score the CRAs (How much money + time did that cost taxpayers?). The trained teachers then taught the other teachers at their schools how to score these tests. And then our children’s teachers were forced to grade these CRAs. On their own time. Without pay.

 
It is clear that the CRA test is an incredible waste of time and money, but, worst of all, it is cruel to our teachers and students. Which leaves us pondering these questions:

• Why does the DOE demand such things from our teachers?
• Why does the DOE purposely set our children up for failure?
• Why does the state legislature allow this to continue?

Please stand up for our children and put an end to this abusive test.Tennessee parents & children are counting on you!  Thank you. 

Ethan Young is a high school senior in Knox County.  Ethan courageously spoke at the Knox County Board of Education meeting on November 6, 2013.  Since his video was posted on Youtube just 4 days ago, it has gone viral with over 89,000 views.  His 5 minute speech has gained attention across the nation.

What does Ethan say?  Watch it for yourself.  His understanding, knowledge, and poise will amaze you.  He is the future of TN.  Here is the link:  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PprP5TCZBRI

Here are some highlights:

• He knows more about common core than most grown-ups do.  He is absolutely correct when he says that Congress, the Department of Education, State, or Local Governments never voted on the Common Core standards.  He realizes the $4.35 billion of our tax dollars were used as a bribe to coerce states into participating, and that TN received $500 million. 
• Ethan is smart enough to know that these new standards won't fix our academic deficit.  He knows that there is not even any research even showing common core might work.  Furthermore, he says it shows a mistrust of teachers since they were not consulted in the process.
• Ethan's respect for his teachers is obvious.  As a student, he has been in the classrooms when his teachers have been evaluated.  He sees firsthand how teachers are impacted.  He says it is like "watching your teacher jump through flaming hoops to earn a score."  Students see what administrators, parents, and legislators don't see:  the stress and anxiety teachers are experiencing. Students notice.  So, listen closely to what he is saying.
• "Standards-based education is ruining the way we teach and learn."  He asks WHY we are doing it this way?  Ethan knows the answer, saying it is "Bureaucratic Convenience.  It works with nuclear reactors. It works with business models.  Why can't it work with students?"  However, Ethan is smart enough to realize that "Education is unlike every other bureaucratic institute in our government. The task of teaching is never quantifiable."
• "If everything I learn in high school is a measurable objective, I haven't learned anything."  Wow.  This kid is way more than a test score!!!
• He gets it: "Creativity, appreciation, inquisitiveness - these are impossible to scale, but they're the purpose of education."  
• Yes, yes, yes:  "We teach to free minds.  We teach to inspire.  We teach to equip.  The careers will come naturally... Haven't we gone too far with data?"

Listen to this wise student.  Please.