Sleepless in TN / Parents left in the Dark

It's 12:44 a.m., and I'm lying here stressing about giving my third grade EL students a 2.5 hour writing assessment. My heart is beating fast, and I feel a little shaky. I can't seem to sleep because my brain can't come to a solution on how I can help them succeed. We have spent weeks worth of class time trying to prepare them for TCAP, which is a multiple choice style test. This takes a very different kind of thought process for kids than does a completely constructed response to literature. Now I'm faced with the fact that on Wednesday I will lose 2.5 hours of TCAP prep time. So not only will my kids fail at essay writing, they will more than likely fail their "focus skill" test as well. And seeing how I also have to watch a coach teach my kids a model CRA lesson in math for an hour, they probably won't be able to do TCAP questions on the associative property of multiplication. The way the state of Tennessee is jerking kids and teachers around is making me sick. No really....my stomach hurts. And it just gets worse when I add in the fact that they are also supposed to be doing a research project on ecosystems, and a project based learning unit in our school garden. Ugh. And next week doesn't look much better because I'll be giving the ELDA for a total of 3 hours to the whole class on Mon. - Wed, and have a sub on Thursday to do speaking testing for a whole day. By then, we should have our DEA scores back, so we'll be able to start doing SPI small groups. And then it will be time to do Running Records to see how much progress they've made in reading real stories in the last 9 weeks. Wonder how that will go? Yeah, don't think I'll be sleeping tonight.
- A teacher at a Title 1 school in Shelby County

My older son took the one for 5th grade last week. He said he was unable to finish it. When he went back to modify an answer much of what he had typed would disappear. He had to retype several sections. My third grader is taking it this week. I am so happy teachers are speaking up about this!
- from a parent regarding the TCAP/PARCC Writing Assessment

I am concerned that there is not a parent guide for the writing assessment and no one can answer simple questions about scoring. I even contacted the TN Commission on Education and was told a parent guide would not be available until May and my questions on scoring went unanswered. Don't you think the state should be able to answer basic questions on how the writing assessment will be scored BEFORE it is administered to my child? This is craziness.
- from another parent regarding the TCAP/PARCC Writing Assessment


Why parents don't realize our children are being given so many tests and surveys now in public schools:

• we are not informed about the tests
• we are not informed of demographic questions or surveys asked without our knowledge or permission
• we never see the questions or the results because these tests & surveys are given on computers
• we trust our children's teachers and principals to teach them using appropriate materials and tests, so we didn't know we should ask
• some test assessments have fun names like Discovery, Voyager, and Thinklink, so parents were fooled into believing they were educational enrichment, not assessments used to discriminate and pigeonhole our children, in some cases trumping their teacher's judgement.  

Unfortunately, in some cases teachers are scared to tell parents that these tests are inappropriate and excessive.  Teachers are realizing that Common Core isn't what they were told it would be.  Not only are teachers now expected to teach developmentally inappropriate confusing math methods and/or cut beloved literature from their course to teach magazine articles, they are required to spend precious instruction time on excessive tests with inappropriate demographic questions attached.  

Things are changing, though.  
Teachers ARE bravely speaking out and telling parents the truth because they want what is best for children, and they know these tests and Common Core are not it.

The TN Momma Bears published a blog called "A Teacher Sends a Loud Message. Parents Hear It."  In less than 48 hours, their article has been read by over 165,000 people and it has over 18,000 Facebook "likes."  The Momma Bears say they can't keep up with all the parents and teachers responding to them through their website.  Parents are waking up and are alarmed and concerned.  Read the Momma Bear blog to find out why parents are worried and what some parents are doing about it.   (Click HERE to read the Momma Bear blog)

Do not believe what the TN Department of Education PR staff is spinning, because it is not an accurate view of what is truly going on in our children's classrooms.  Parents are being excluded from the equation, and that is a huge mistake.