Teachers at PS 321 To Stage Protest Against "Terrible" Tests

Man, it sucks to be a breeder this week. For those lucky enough not to know what the hell this is all about, the New York State tests for grades 3-8 started this week, with three days of the English Laguage Arts exams up first. The Math tests come later this month. There has been great controversy over the tests in the past few years, ever since a company was paid $32 million to revamp the tests to align with the new Common Core standards, and it was decided that teacher evaluations would hinge on how their students perform from year to year.

An excellent rundown of all the reasons why parents and teachers have been protesting the tests can be found here. One of the major problems with the test is the lack of transparency, probably due to the fact that there are questions on the tests that are so ambiguous, even the teachers can't agree what they would choose as the right answer. Of course, they can't give us any specific examples, because they are sworn to secrecy, but you may remember the story about the pineapple and the hare that got leaked two years ago. Apparently, things have only gotten worse.

Shortly after dismissal yesterday afteroon, all parents of students at PS321 received the above notice in a email from Principal Liz Phillips. Parents of students in grades 3-8 also received emails from their individual teachers that read in part:

I wouldn't reach out to you all about something like this if it didn't feel as important - and concerning to me - as it does. The three days of ELA testing this week have been very demanding on both the students in our class and on me. I am so proud of the students for putting in tremendous effort and focus.  However, I am upset about the content, kinds of questions, reading level, and length of the tests over the past 3 days. I feel they neither reflect fourth grade Common Core goals, our curriculum and our values, nor do they feel developmentally appropriate. If you have any questions, please email me.  Otherwise I hope to see you tomorrow. 

It's a big deal for Liz Phillips to speak out so strongly on this. Last fall, the school received a visit from then Deputy Chancellor Marc Sternberg, for being one of the top-performing schools on last year's state tests. It will be interesting to see if and how Mayor de Blasio and new schools Chancellor, Carmen Farina, respond to this groundswell of protest.