[BHS etree] ADMIN: State Testing Period - Encourage Students to Take the Test

[bhs at idiom.com]

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY to the etree, contact Alan Miller [
mailto:alan_miller at berkeley.k12.ca.us ]

(etree note: the following is a message from teachers Matt Carton and
Alan Miller)


Dear Parents,

As you know, next week (Tuesday through Friday) students will be
engaged
in taking federal- and state-mandated testing in keeping with No Child
Left Behind legislation. For the last four years, many BHS students
have
cut school or come with letters from parents excusing them from the
process. I am writing to ask that you not only refrain from excusing
your
children from taking the test but that you actively encourage your
children to take the test. I say this, not as a proponent of
standardized
testing, but as one who cares enough about Berkeley High School and
its
students to have spent 16 years working here.

When this particular brand of testing started in California, it was
not
aligned with state standards; this meant that students would often be
tested on materials they had not learned. Fortunately, this is no
longer
true. That means that the test can indeed function in a useful manner:
teachers, students and parents can determine how effective Berkeley
teachers are in teaching to the standards. Since the data is
disaggregated, we can use it to see how well we are teaching each
subgroup
on campus. The data we gain can help us make decisions about what we
do
and how we do it. But there are other benefits as well: students can
gain valuable practice taking standardized tests. As you know, most
colleges require the SAT or ACT, most professional schools require the
GRE (the Graduate Record Exam), and many professions require
standardized
tests of some sort.

As always, one can accentuate the positive, as I have just done... or
consider the negatives... negatives which are considerable. If 95% of
BHS students do not take the test, we can be forced to spend valuable
resources (of time and money) on federally mandated "improvements"
which
will not make us a better school. We will lose the right to use our
resources and focus our energies on the priorities that we identify.
Instead of writing grants to provide field trips or teach newer texts,
teachers will be forced to fill out surveys and other forms of
mindless
busywork.

Help us help your children and help us help ourselves by sending your
children to school to take the tests! Of course, I will be offering a
student incentive: students who attend each day of testing may
eliminate a
grade on one major assignment this marking period.

Thanks in advance for your cooperation.

Alan Miller
Berkeley High School/English
alan_miller at berkeley.k12.ca.us