Category: TCAP

TCAP Problems

5/7/2015

After turning in my booklets, AP says come here, I need you to sit with her while she finishes. Who, you say? Goes and gets little 3rd grader on the bed in the clinic because she had to leave her class to puke her guts out with fever and crying, puts us in a tiny closet-sized room, scoots a trash can over and says here in case you get sick again, tells her to finish up so she can go home. She wept all doubled over the whole time crying and snotting on everything. Poor baby.

- A public school teacher in Shelby County, TN 4/30/15

T came to my class after he had been kicked out of every other class in his grade. He told me that he used to love school in 3rd grade but then his teachers stopped doing history, his favorite subject, in favor of math and reading skills for TCAP. He told me he was acting out because "I'm a no-good piece of crud who can't pass TCAP". This is T now, who I have arranged to be my historian intern, doing independent research on primary sources on a segregation-era private park for African Americans that once occuppied the land where our school now stands. College and career ready DESPITE TCAP.

- from a teacher in Metro Nashville School District, 2015

When I think of the TCAP test I gave this week, it makes me angry all over again. I tested several ELL students, two of whom I either had to mime what to do or have another student translate directions for me. God bless them! Those two didn't have to do the reading/language arts portion, but they did have to do science and math and will have to do social studies online next week. I read aloud the science and math but not the ELA portion, because, you know, we want to make them feel totally inadequate (my opinion). If they can't read well enough to do ELA, what makes us think they can read enough to do math and science, even with a teacher reading aloud?

I had to report an irregularity because one boy, new to us from Myanmar, kept going to the next math section when he wasn't supposed to because he saw the other students checking over their work and thought he was supposed to keep working, too. At least that's what I think he must have thought.

Can you imagine sitting down to take a test on what you know, but the test is written in Russian? Then being told you scored very low and must work hard to catch up? You're not stupid, but you're not Russian, either.

My other ELL students in the room worked very hard, but they also had problems that I, of course, could do nothing about. I'll give you an example. One boy, from Kurdistan, called me over during the ELA portion and asked if there was a mistake on his test. I looked at it. The word was 's'mores.' What the heck? I'm pretty sure they don't have s'mores in Kurdistan. Plus, since he's been here, we've been telling him that we put apostrophe 's' AFTER a word. Of course he was confused. And I couldn't help him other than to say it wasn't a mistake. I'm still furious about it. This was the ELSA test, *designed* for ELL students. How out of touch are we?

Sorry for the rant. It just really works my last nerve that we, as teachers, work so hard all year to help our students, and then they are misled and made to feel inadequate after making so much real life progress simply because one test is unfair and unrealistic. It is wrong and it needs to be fixed.

When you consider our standardized test scores, it's important to remember that Nashville- with a thriving immigrant and refugee population- serves the largest percentage of English Language Learners in the state. What are we doing to these poor children?

- a teacher in Metro Nashville, 2015

If you haven't seen this, you should:

American students face a ridiculous amount of testing. John Oliver explains how standardized tests impact school funding, the achievement gap, how often kids are expected to throw up.

High-stakes tests have created high-stakes classrooms in Tennessee. Evaluating teachers using the high-stakes standardized testing of human children is a wrong that needs to be stopped. Please, speak up and stop this madness!

Invitation to the Testing Insanity

4/28/2015

TN Parents invite all lawmakers, those involved in making public school policy, and all supporters of public education to participate in the TCAP testing season by volunteering as testing proctors at their local schools.

You should participate in the education laws and policies put in place for the public school students in the state of Tennessee. TN Parents feel being in a classroom during testing can help you better understand how testing takes place and how children participate in the process. Come see your laws in action.

Right now your local schools are looking for TCAP proctors. Many parent and community volunteers are needed for our schools during TCAP assessments which will take place this week. During this time proctors are needed to help teachers monitor student test taking during the day. As a TCAP volunteer you will be asked to watch the children while they are being tested. A classroom teacher will also be in the room.

Volunteers will be asked to be available for monitoring over a 2 1/2 hour period which will include a required power point online training prior to the testing. Monitors are asked to be there when the schools open. The opening time for each school varies. Please feel free to volunteer for one day or several days. Your commitment and support is greatly appreciated! This week is what is known as crunch time for teachers and students. After at least a month of test prep, and an entire school year of practice tests, it is time for students to take the real test.

We would appreciate your participation.

Words from a Metro Nashville School Mom who volunteers in her children's schools:

I just proctored an English-Language Arts TCAP test for some special education, middle school students. A teacher read the test to the children. The test was almost 3 1/2 hours long--with a short 10 minute break. I saw children who were panicked, confused, detached, exhausted, and disheartened. I can guarantee that these children were not able to demonstrate their knowledge on this test. Those who support the use of TCAP to assess student learning and teacher effectiveness are either unaware or lacking in human emotion. There is nothing I can do to change those who lack empathy. But I can work on changing the opinions of those who are naive. I am Facebook friends with several elected officials. I want to ask each of you to go to one of your neighborhood schools tomorrow or Thursday and proctor the TCAP for special education or EL students. Please take a bit of your time to witness what our state is inflicting on our most vulnerable children.

Actual image from TCAP proctor training:

One teacher, who wishes to remain anonymous to protect her job, wrote this on a state survey and posted it to a closed website of teachers. With her permission, we are sharing it with our readers because this message needs to be heard:

Standardized testing prep has monopolized the majority of my classroom instructional time.This has not just been in the past couple of months. This is since August. Whether it be Discovery Assessments or state end of the year testing, we are constantly looking at some sort of test data, preparing for the next test, or actually taking the test. The students are over tested and by the time the "real" state test comes they are simply too tired, they don't care anymore, or they're too terrified to perform.

We as educators are cramming information into our students' little heads because test scores are our livelihood and now will be our PAYCHECK. Teachers are beginning not to care whether or not the children retain the information, as long as they know it for the test. This is not what school is. This is not what learning is supposed to be. We have lost our way in education and we are not performing with the rest of the world. However, if you look at the rest of the world in comparison with what we are doing; they are POLAR OPPOSITE. The over-testing has got to stop.

Come to a school and ask students the last time they had recess, painted a picture, made a sculpture, created a diorama, did a silly dance, or giggled with their friends while socializing in the cafeteria. Our children are growing up to become violent criminals who don't care about society or its consequences. Perhaps if we transform school back to what it used to be (a caring, loving environment that encourages students to dream and think and love school), these kids will think before they act. They will have learned something from their teachers other than how to bubble in an answer choice and use process of elimination. Please, help! It's not too late to fix this. Thank you.

Why TN Parents think it is important that you Proctor:

Desperate for higher scores, some schools are offering bribes for students to do well on the TCAP... The top scoring students can win bicycles, DVD players, ipods, ice cream, and fast food lunches. At least one school in TN is giving away $200 cash to the top score in the school. A charter school in the state even shames students by making them wear different colored shirts based on their test scores.

This is sad. This is wrong. Please, stop this testing insanity!

TDOE says only 100 students are "perfect"

3/18/2015

Have you heard of a student in your district that was one of the 100 students who scored a perfect score on the 2013-14 TCAP Writing Assessment? Local papers have covered the feel-good stories of these perfect-scoring children. Click HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE to see some of the publicity.

Not to discredit the 100 students, but why are there only 100?

Why not 99? or 101? or 297? or 5,999?

Out of the thousands and thousands of students across the state that took this test, only 100 were rated "perfect."

Only 100. That number is just too "perfect" to be an accident.

There is a rubric for scoring these tests (which are scored by people found on Craigslist, which is a whole different problem that needs to be addressed). Nowhere in this document does it say there will only be 100 perfect scores.

By thinking critically, one might think the TDOE intentionally manipulated the scores on the TCAP Writing Test so that a nice, round 100 would receive the top rating. Could it be?

At any rate, the TDOE is using these 100 "perfect" students as their living advertisements to convince the public that these tests are worthwhile. Each "perfect" student receives a special certificate signed by Governor Haslam and Commissioner Candice McQueen (who was not Commissioner when these children actually took the test in February 2014).

It is brilliant marketing... Creating an elite 100 encourages local newspapers and school districts to proudly show their "perfect" student they produced. It gives power to this test, too.

Not only that, those 100 students are now using their perfect writing skills to write essays for TDOE to be used on the TDOE Classroom Chronicles blog (Click HERE and HERE to read some of those perfect students' blogs.)

This manipulation is wrong on many levels.

First, if there are only to be 100 perfect scores, then it really doesn't matter if every student in the state writes an essay worthy of a Nobel Laureate award because only 100 will get the top score.

Second, is it acceptable for the state to use children to promote a test created by a private company?

The TDOE website says, "The rubrics used to score the 2015 test will remain the same as the 2014 TCAP Writing Assessment." Does that mean there will be 100 perfect scores next year, too?

How can we possibly be "fastest improving state in the nation" if only 100 can make it to the top?

Teachers and parents are realizing this TCAP writing test has major problems, including:

technology glitches, slow internet, lost essays, etc.
a confusing MIST platform students must use to write an essay in a tiny little text box the size of a cell phone screen while tabbing between two different articles they must read
a significant amount of time must be spent training students on how to use this cumbersome MIST format that they will never use for any other purpose. It is not like Microsoft Word for PCs, Pages for Apple, or Open Office word processing.
the amount of money wasted on this test that could be spent on other needed things for schools.
Last year, this test was called the "PARCC Writing Assessment". This year it is called the "TCAP Writing Assessment". Very little has changed except for the name. Wait, didn't the TN Legislature vote to get out of PARCC last year? Then why are our children still taking this test?
This test was administered over the entire month of February. This tied up computer labs that should be used for technology classes, as well as disrupted class schedules for students.
Children are required to type to complete the test. There is little, if any, formal typing instruction in elementary or middle school. How are test results not going to be skewed based on typing skills? How is it really a measure of academic ability?
Kids in homes without internet access or computers do not get the exposure to technology to be able to practice typing. How does this writing (typing) test not add to the performance gap due to lack of access to technology for those students in poverty?

TN Parents question the validity of this test and all state tests. We wonder if the scores are intentionally manipulated like this for the other tests, too? Since last year's TCAP results were delayed because the TDOE manipulated the cut scores and aligned test questions, we have reason to believe that the scores set up a predetermined number of students to be advanced, proficient, and failures.

We may not have millions of dollars like the Chamber of Commerce to issue a fancy report from a biased think tank, but TN Parents give the TDOE a big fat F for "Truth in Advertising."

Education Politics and the Law

7/22/2014

The article below was sent to us. The TN Parents collaborators agreed it needs to be heard state-wide. The authors kindly gave us permission to share it with our audience:

Education Politics and the Law
By Kyle Mallory & Samantha Bates

Public schools can be extremely political places, especially when combined with the weight of the legal system. In fact, when combined, politics and the law can take an ideological turn that may even thwart the will of its own citizens. This can both be positive and negative, depending upon your view the particular issue. Nonetheless, placing the responsibility of political decisions upon the representation of another person or group is indeed uncertain, and perhaps dangerous.

This is a major reason we must pay close attention to our elections, and must ensure the people we trust hold elected offices. This is also why our US and Tennessee Constitution include numerous checks and balances. If a person is elected or appointed that did not represent the public, other officials could and are able to impede various actions.

Recently, our General Assembly has begun to identify that Tennessee is lacking some checks and balances. Apparently, Tennessee is the only state where the attorney general is appointed by the Supreme Court. This is further complicated by the fact that the Supreme Court is appointed by the Governor. In forty-three states, the attorney general is elected, and the remaining six states have some combination of legislative, executive, and judicial input. Normally, this may have little bearing on public education, if any. However, Tennessee again is an anomaly.

Recently, Attorney General Robert Cooper released a statement upholding the actions of Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman, (also appointed by the Governor) about whether he had the legal authority to waive regulatory or statutory requirements related to federal and state student assessment and accountability. Cooper cites TCA 49-1-201(d)(1), which states that the commissioner of education may waive some state laws that impede the department’s goals or missions if districts request a waiver. There were also specific prohibitions that were mentioned.

Many legislators, analysts, and citizens questioned the Attorney General’s ruling. Cooper uses the very language in the Federal “No Child Left Behind” law and calls them “terms of art” in order to reach the conclusion that the waiver by Huffman does not affect or involve evaluations at the State and Federal levels. The use of the words “terms of art” by the Attorney General in his ruling was interesting, as was failure to mention that Tennessee has been issued a waiver of many of the No Child Left Behind requirements. Tennessee is among 34 states that were granted exemptions from punitive measures of that law.

This is a subject that is expected to continue to be scrutinized and perhaps further debated. If the Tennessee General Assembly feels the Cooper ruling is in error, as do many people that work within education law, and realize the contradiction by the Attorney General in his ruling, expect state legislators to recognize the necessity for tweaks to existing state law for clarification.

Essentially, the AG Ruling and his legal opinion allowed appointed - not elected - officials the opportunity to bypass legislation - created by elected officials - if the commissioner deems it more efficient to do so. In this case, the cost for efficiency is public input, and legislative intent is muted. Little consideration was apparently given to the fact that the delay in receiving TCAP scores by districts impacted individual schools and district closing operations and interrupted the decision-making process they utilized in planning for the upcoming school year. There is a danger that by silencing the public through the legal hammer at the disposal of the state and utilization of appointed officials becomes a much more progressive force than the will of parents, educators and even legislators in shaping public education policy in Tennessee.

The remedy of course, is to change the method of selecting the Attorney General, and or the Commissioner of Education. This of course will require much more debate and discussion, and perhaps legislative action. We expect this matter will continue to be questioned among educators and policymakers. Cooper’s ruling raised more questions than it answered.

##

Kyle Mallory is a classroom teacher in Stewart County. She was VFW Middle School Teacher of the Year.
Samantha Bates is Director of Member Services for Professional Educators of Tennessee.

Why did Commissioner Huffman embargo TCAP results?

7/17/2014

TCAP scores in TN have been embargoed by order of Commissioner Kevin Huffman. Superintendents, principals, and administrators are forbidden to release or discuss this information with the public or the media.

Why?

Could it be:

The results show that their reforms and Common Core aren't working?
The results show that charter schools are performing worse than public schools?
The results show that the Achievement School District won't be moving test scores from the bottom 5% to the top 25% of the state, as they promised to do?
They need more time for their fancy new PR firm (that the TNDOE just hired with our public tax dollars) to put a polished, positive spin on the bad scores?
They don't want parents upset that their children's report cards were negatively impacted from the TCAP delay and Huffman's illegal waivers?
They don't want local school boards to see the real results of charter schools in their district to be able to vote on their futures before the new school year starts?
They are protecting certain charter schools that have ties to politicians and their friends? (like Tony Bennett did in Indiana)
It is an election year for Governor Haslam and he's already had so much negative publicity?
They didn't want the negative news to be announced when all the Governors met in Nashville last week?
They don't want the negative news to cloud the big Koch brothers reform party next week in Nashville?
They're waiting for Huffman to get back from Las Vegas, NV where is is currently at the Teach For America Conference and the extravagant TFA Awards ceremony. Huffman is being honored for the lucrative $6.7 million no-bid contract he signed for TN with Teach For America using our tax dollars. (By the way, Tennessee spends more money per Teach for America recruit than any other state, but we cannot even afford to give our qualified, experienced teachers a 2% raise as Governor Haslam promised was his top budget priority last fall.)

Tennessee deserves testing TRANSPARENCY.

We, as parents, should be able to see the test questions our children are forced to answer.

Teachers should be able to see the questions that their evaluations and jobs are so heavily based upon.

The public is entitled to know the results of these tests that we paid for.

Commissioner Huffman is hiding something. What is it? Will anyone find out? or will the test results be quietly released the Friday before the next holiday weekend?

One thing is for certain: This secrecy undermines public trust.

TVAAS Quandary: What's an excellent teacher to do?

7/3/2014

from a TN teacher:

Some TVAAS information I feel compelled to share follows. But first, repeat after me: "I love my students, I love teaching, and I'm good at it." We have to keep focused on the important things during these crazy times in education!

Last summer I did quite a bit of research about TVAAS, & here's what I learned:

I teach 4th & 5th pull-out ESL, so I share Reading instructional time when TVAAS matching rolls around in the Spring. Students are pulled out of their regular classes to attend ESL for about an hour a day. Since my students are pulled out at various times, the percentage of instructional time I claim for each student varies. For example, if a student attends one hour of daily Reading time in his/her classroom and one hour Reading time with me, the classroom teacher and I split instructional percentage & we each claim 50%.

In order for a teacher to have an individual TVAAS score (I'm talking about 4th & 5th grade now) the teacher must have the equivalent of 6 full-time students in the subject they teach in the same grade for a minimum of 150 instructional days. So if I have 20 4th graders and I claim 50% of their Reading instructional time I multiply 20 students times 50% which equals 10 students. I met the minimum of 6 students in the same grade, same subject, so now I have an individual TVAAS score. But remember, only if I claim at least 150 instructional days. I found this out because I claimed this wrong when I was on maternity leave, which is what led me to my research.

Here's where it gets interesting: If you have a student who performs significantly better than the state predicted, that student could be considered a "statistical outlier" & that student's score could be removed. I have had this happen more than once. I spoke to someone in testing who confirmed this. So basically, if a student does much better than expected, the state thinks something fishy was going on. In theory, students who perform significantly lower than expected could have their scores tossed out as well, although ironically, I've never seen this happen on my report. If you teach 120 students, tossing out a couple of scores probably won't make a big impact, but if you only have 20 students or less, it could definitely impact your growth score.

And the most interesting part of all...the state can and will throw out a score from the previous school year. So if Johnny does well in my class and terrible next year, Johnny's score could be thrown out from my previous year's score. And no one will tell you it's been thrown out.

Print your reports more than once a semester, and pay attention to the list of students whose scores were included.

And remember, you love your students, you love teaching, and you're good at it!

Tennessee parents do not want our children's teachers evaluated based on our children's test scores. This system is unfair to both the teacher and the student.

Tennessee parents demand testing transparency.

Testing Inconsistencies

6/25/2014

This is not so much of a testing story but it does tell of inconsistencies...I attended the ELA common core training last summer. We were told not use "base" word and "root" word interchangeably. All year long I made a point to use "base" word instead of "root" word and my students knew to say "base" word. On the online tcap practice test, one of the questions asked for the "root" word of flies. Fly is the "base" word, not a "root" word. Makes you wonder how many other inconsistencies/mistakes there are on the real test.
- A third grade teacher in Tennessee

Do we know if this happened for sure on the TCAP? Do we know if students truly mastered the base/root word concept? Do we know how many students got base/root word questions wrong on the real TCAP because of this inconsistency? We will never know. The TCAP test is top-secret. Teachers can't see it. Parents can't see it. Administrators can't see it. Taxpayers can't see it, even though we paid the Pearson corporation handsomely for it.

Our children deserve better than this. Tennessee needs testing transparency.

Huffman Breaks the Law

6/4/2014

This is the law:

(Links to the Law are HERE and HERE)

The above law was violated by a person appointed to a position of authority over our public schools, Commissioner Kevin Huffman. The law is clear: he did not have the power to grant TCAP waivers to over 100 school districts.

Teachers are being unfairly held accountable for test scores on tests they are not allowed to see and whose cut scores are admittedly manipulated.... Students are being held accountable for grades on tests that their parents are not allowed to ever see.... but....

Who is holding Kevin Huffman accountable? Certainly not Governor Haslam who appointed him.

Legislators: All of the laws you pass are worthless if they can be blatantly ignored without any penalty by those at the top. Not a single legislator voted against this law in the House or Senate. Beth Harwell, Ron Ramsey, & Bill Haslam all signed it. Is it okay for the Commissioner of Education to break the laws you pass?

Superintendents & School Board members: This is a case of "Do as I say, not as I do" by Commissioner Huffman. Speak up for your districts and demand an end to all of this excessive testing and top-down control. Talk to your legislators. Your voices are important. Do what you know is best for your students.

Media: Publish facts, not what they want you to believe and print.

Sick teachers

5/31/2014

To me it's a little suspect when the reason behind the delay is to remove items not aligned to common core. Weren't we supposed to be teaching the SPIs? Because those were what was to be tested, not the common core state standards. My scores were down quite a bit this year...is that the reason?
I hate that so much hinges on this test. I have been sick since I found out how bad the scores were this year.- a middle school teacher from a small school district in West TN

A colleague of mine was a finalist for state-wide Teacher Of The Year a few years ago. While proctoring an EOC for a class which he didn't even teach, he happened to notice a test question while walking around. At lunch he made a comment about how terrible the question was. Later that week he was removed from consideration for TOTY, and he was ultimately suspended for the first three months of the following year. I genuinely believe all the secrecy is designed to keep people from seeing exactly how bad the tests are.- a teacher in a large high school near Nashville, TN

Conversation in a private TN teacher's forum:

Question from a teacher in Lebanon, TN:  Cut scores seemed really high this year. Can anyone enlighten me on the process? When does the state announce the scores? Our district had been using the wrong cut scores for benchmarks and everyone was just shocked at the cut scores.

A: That is the beauty of the whole scheme. IF the scores are better than anticipated they just raise them and still say that the schools are failing. Then after a few years, they will lower them and say that their reform is working great. That is why they don't release them until the tests are in and calculated.

Q:  So, basically it would be like giving the kids a test in my classroom but announcing the grade scale after I took them up and graded them?

A:  I am not sure about it personally but I do know that the passing score in Algebra (I think) was 83 for a proficient first semester but basic for second and that is only three months apart for those tests.

A:  Cut scores are high... our admins mentioned that when I said I was surprised at results of a few kids. Moving targets are a challenge to hit. Continual engineering of the data to make us look bad... 'ineffective.'

A:  That's because they changed them from the fall, so since we're on block schedule, the kids who took their EOCs in the fall have different cut scores than the kids who took them in the spring. I found the new Spring EOC cut scores posted by purely by accident.

A:  A high school principal told me the cut score was raised for second semester. Her data team figured it out without help from TDOE.

A:  My Reading/ELA scores were dramatically lower (as in 20% or more) than any other area. However, my end of the year reading benchmark testing (F&P running records) showed my class being 93% on or above grade level in reading. This is a HUGE discrepancy that showed up not only in my classroom but in those of my colleagues as well.

A:  Yes, my benchmarks indicated far better scores than my TCAPs. I guess the benchmark assessments can no longer be deemed reliable as indicators of TCAP results, huh? This whole situation is such a mess, so ridiculously inept.

A:  The testing cut scores are arbitrary. TN state dept of ed has no valid formula for determining appropriate cut scores. In NY state the cut scores have been manipulated for political reasons. Would you EVER suspect Huffman of manipulating scores? Seems like thousands of parents & teachers don't trust him: https://www.facebook.com/RemoveKevinHuffman

BIG Q:  Why does Haslam unconditionally support an edu-commissioner with NO education background?

Big A:  That's the million-dollar question.

Q: *Do you think the media will pick up a story about it? I am so tired of all this manipulation and deceit and abuse! I am beyond defeated over the whole insane system.

*Hint, hint... to the reporters and journalists that read our emails (Welcome to the journalists and reporters who have subscribed in the past few months!). We don't mind a bit if you use our stuff. Please help us to get the word out to a larger audience. You know this isn't right or fair for teachers and students. We wish we could publish the names of these teachers without fear of them losing their jobs. These teachers are sick over the top-down mandates, micromanaging, and turmoil in their profession. They just want to teach and help students. They may not have the freedom to speak up publicly, but we, as parents, sure do. Tennessee parents will continue to speak the truth and fight these injustices until things get better.

TCAP Investigation & TNDOE Audit

5/29/2014

Thank you, Legislators, for hearing the concerns of parents, teachers, & administrators in Tennessee!

Representative Bo Mitchell, Representative Gloria Johnson, and Representative Mike Stewart filed a detailed request under the Tennessee Open Records Act seeking records related to the suspicious TCAP delay, post-equating process, and strange results.

Representative Mitchell said, "I hope this information will shed light on the saga so that we can have some level of confidence in the results of this test for which our students, teachers, and administrators were forced to spend much of the year preparing."
Visit this link to see the request from the Representatives

Meanwhile...

Representative Billy Spivey and Senator Janice Bowling requested that Comptroller Justin Wilson investigate the expenditures and conduct of the Department of Education regarding last week’s delay in releasing TCAP scores. (as reported by Rocky Top Politics)

Check out what is going on in Louisiana... it is the same fishy scenario as TN!
Click HERE to read the strange situation in Louisiana

A TN Momma Bear writes:
"That is like deja vu with what is going on in Tennessee! Kevin Huffman (also a Chief fire Change) is putting pixie dust on TCAP scores here… messing with cut scores and aligning TCAP questions with Common Core supposedly. The test results were not ready from the state when they were supposed to be (everyone is wondering if the scores show that his reforms and Common Core aren’t working). Districts found out the day the quick scores were due to be released to them that there would be a 10 day delay (announced conveniently after a huge education conference in Nashville was finished and after Arne Duncan was gone) so districts couldn’t get final report cards out in time. So, Huffman said districts could apply for waivers to exempt them from including TCAP in student grades. Huffman granted over a hundred waivers to districts BUT he didn’t have the legal authority to do so. It will be interesting to see how he wiggles his way out of this hot mess! People are awful furious at him right now and with the Governor for appointing him. Even the news media isn’t painting a pretty picture of him like they usually do. Hopefully, Huffman will be fired or will resign soon."

Important Fact You Need to Know: Kevin Huffman & John White are both in an exclusive organization created by Jeb Bush called "Chiefs for Change". There are only 7 members in this organization, (Plus Tony Bennett who was given "Emeritus membership" after he was involved in a highly-embarrassing grade-tampering scandal in Indiana to protect a wealthy contributor of Governor Scott who owned a charter school that earned an embarrassingly bad score. Shortly after Bennett's damning and indisputable emails became public, Bennett resigned.)

"The sad fact is that testing no longer functions as a way to inform teachers and parents and to help children but as a blunt instrument to wear children down and demoralize their teachers."  - Diane Ravitch

Tennessee Teachers are stressed out to the max.

Some teachers were told by their administrators to teach the old TN standards (SPIs) this past school year in order to get TCAP scores higher both for their own personal evaluation and also for their school & district. Understandably, those administrators made this decision to not teach Common Core last year because of the abysmally low TCAP scores of the previous year when their students were taught Common Core. Their TCAP scores plummeted under Common Core, so who can blame them to returning to the old standards to boost this year's TCAP scores?

It was a punch to the gut last week for those administrators and teachers to learn that non-Common Core questions on TCAP were cut by the TDOE. The old SPI questions won't count. This means those districts who gambled on teaching the old SPIs will have even lower TCAP results.  Furthermore, if TCAP doesn't reflect what students have learned, how can it measure a teacher's effectiveness to teach?

It is sad that adults feel that they must "game the system" to protect their teachers, schools, and districts. Children are the pawns and are the real losers in this overemphasis on testing.

Legislators, please make this crazy testing merry-go-round stop!

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