Gilad Edelman Photo
Jesus Morales wishes he knew more American history. He got to study it freshman year — but then his history class spent a whole marking period on standardized test prep.
“Content-wise, we stopped at the Puritans, and we were supposed to get all the way to the Industrial Revolution,” said Morales (at right in photo), who is now a senior at Wilbur Cross High School. “We didn’t get to cover any of that material because we were preparing for CAPT,” the mandatory statewide Connecticut Academic Performance Test for tenth-graders.
Morales spoke about that Saturday at the Wilson Branch Library, at a meeting called “New Haven Youth Speak: High(er)-Stakes Testing & The Wellbeing of Youth.” About 50 parents, students and educators gathered there to discuss the shortcomings of state-mandated standardized testing.
The gathering, sponsored by Central Connecticut State University, was part of a statewide effort to organize community resistance to the adoption of tests under the new Common Core standards. The tests, which are being piloted in New Haven schools this spring, have been criticized for being too difficult, and praised by others as setting needed new rigorous standards for student achievement. (Read more about the Common Core tests here.)
During much of Saturday’s meeting, it was unclear whether the discussion was about resisting the new standards or getting rid of testing altogether. In any case, the kids are feeling standardized-test fatigue — and they’re not convinced they’re benefiting from it.
Jacob Werblow (at left in photo), a professor of education at CCSU, led the roundtable-style meeting. He encouraged parents to opt their children out of the new tests, which he called “illogical.”
“There’s such an intense focus on application of language and literacy that younger children who don’t have the foundation really struggle,” he said. “If you don’t have the foundation in literacy, how can you apply it? At higher grades, there are no connections to students’ own lives or to society, historical context. That doesn’t make any sense.”
There was widespread agreement that even the existing system of standardized tests is bad educational policy.
The students, all high achievers, said testing can be stressful and discouraging for their classmates.
“I have friends who can edit a video in 10 seconds, who can code an app, and they aren’t applying to colleges,” said Christine, a senior at Metropolitan Business Academy who asked that her last name not be used. “Because of their test scores, they don’t think they’re capable.”
Several kids complained about the class time spent on test prep.
“My classes would use four to six weeks a year preparing for standardized tests,” said Aneurin Canham-Clyne (pictured with Morales), a junior at Wilbur Cross. “They’re only on rote memorization, they’re not about applying it to yourself or how it applies to the real world.”
New Haven State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield was among the participants. He urged the other attendees to think about what exactly should replace high-stakes testing.
“We need an actual alternative,” he said. “We can’t just say, ‘This is bad, let’s stop it.’” Without an alternative vision, he said, it would be impossible to convince the state government to move away from testing.
According to Werblow, a viable alternative already exists in the form of Naylor/CCSU Leadership Academy in Hartford, where students develop “assessment portfolios” of their own projects and present the portfolios at parent-teacher conferences. Werblow pointed to the 90 percent parent attendance rate as evidence that the model is working.
Within the room, there was wide support for a shift to “project-based learning,” in which students work in groups on long-term projects addressing real-world (or “authentic,” in Werblow’s words) problems.
A table near the door had stacks of form letters for parents who want to opt their kids out of either the current tests or the Common Core tests being piloted this year. The letters argue that “neither state nor federal law imposes ‘…any sanction on parents/guardians who refuse to allow their children to take Connecticut State standardized tests, or on their children.’” (The source of the quoted language is unclear; it doesn’t appear in the state law governing testing.)
Werblow suggested that a mass opt-out movement might be what it takes to move the state away from high-stakes testing.
“I think that will be what brings about the next wave in educational change, starting at the community level” he said.