Toxic Culture of Education Katz B: Missing the Mark in Education Reform

Now, how can we believe that a standardized test is the one that accurately measures student performance? How can we believe it measures student growth? that moment when the student's light bulb finally goes on, aha, that moment when a student says thank you for helping him graduate with a 2.0 GPA, how can we assign a number to that moment when a third grader grade finally has the ability to write his own name, who by the way has been labeled a failure to himself, his teacher and his school, but we long for the standardization of

education

, we believe we can need these high-stakes tests because we devour the misinformation provided by these companies and policies using false validity of their test results.

Our testing

culture

begins in elementary school. My colleagues work with third graders. Third graders suffering from anxiety due to high-stakes testing. A one-day, 4-hour, computer-based test sets a student's future path, establishes an academic identity, and delivers a message loud and clear, whether you can or can't do it, and it doesn't matter. Whatever the teacher tells the student about how good they are or what talents they have, if the student doesn't score well on that high-stakes test, third graders know exactly what it means and begin to define themselves and It's starting to happen now in kindergarten, so we continue with it. barrage of standardized tests and students continue to fail and districts have to continue with next initiatives that can solve the problems who is the one that makes these products who creates these Solutions our super villain private companies like Pearson and McGraw Hill that operate based on policies and legislation written by nonprofits and lobbying groups like Alec, American Legislative Exchange Council, buy the next textbook, buy the next workbook, buy the next digital software package, the next assessment system teacher.

I've read three Algebra 1 textbooks in seven years and we're still sticking to the Standardized Tests Guess Who Takes Them. In this

toxic

culture

we illogically try to compare

education

with business. We completely ignore the impact of poverty and hunger on student achievement and we do not pay attention to the non-cognitive factors such as personal habits and values ​​that are realistic measures and predictors of student achievement that way we can blame the schools. and teachers to continue the cycle and because we have a

toxic

educational culture, teachers and schools have accepted this responsibility for all students, including those students.

We take the blame for a student who can't concentrate in class because she hasn't eaten since lunch yesterday. We take the blame for a student who is always in trouble at school because she doesn't know the difference between right and wrong. blame it on a student who can't stay awake in class because she spends her nights on a different couch depending on which friend takes her in and when these students don't get good grades it's about to get worse, the Common Core will work even more damage because their emphasis on high-stakes testing combined with their short-sighted standards that are disguised as critical thinking.

I've seen my daughter's kindergarten and first grade homework. This is not critical thinking. This is an inappropriate development routine. Do you think they can fool me? These things, any educational

reform

that doesn't address high-stakes testing and the non-cognitive factors of true success, like character and integrity, is a complete waste of time and is killing our children.