Sunday, January 9, 2011
Movie/Documentary "Race To Nowhere"
Wow! This documentary is well done. My husband and I watched it today in Charlotte, NC, at the Epicentre Theatre uptown. I would highly recommend parents, teachers, administrators, and anyone who works with children, adolescents, or adults, to watch this movie. Lots of food for thought. I welcome what is on your mind. If you have seen it or read about it, please share your thoughts with me. I will respond.
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4 comments:
Kaye,
Let me say first, thank you for advocating for the movie the way you did at the board meeting and questioning the testing misunderstanding. I have 2 children who go to public CMS schools. One at Park Road Montessori and one at Community House Middle school. I also am a teacher assistant at Park Road Montessori. I was there at that viewing of Race to Nowhere and was very moved. I think it is like plowing concrete. We know that homework is given to help children accomplish what they are unable to do in school. And we know that standardized tests are given to measure children based on an artificial standard set somewhere unknown. What I did not realize was how immensely this affects our youth. I have a 7th grader who even though is not stressed yet, could be very soon by these demands. It definitely opened my eyes. I want to take my daughter to see it now.
Thank you for brining up the cost of testing at tonight's CMS budget meeting.
Please continue to investigate the "opt out" of the testing. I'm sure you can have your people find out that CMS does in fact pay for testing. Our kids are tested about 6x per year! And rumor has it, MORE standardized testing is coming starting at grade K. (Not Dibels either, a fill-in-the bubble test)
What is costing money and students education is teachers who have to give these "formatives" or "quarterlies" or "in-house" testing multiple times in a school year. Dibels testing takes the teacher out of the classroom too many times a year to admin the test, then log the test, go over the results with parents/admins.
The movie RTN was fabulous! I saw it 2x! My children are very creative, and I will not have that squashed by performance based learning! I want my kids to be critical thinkers and problem solvers.
During the 1st 4 weeks of school, my 2nd grader had to take a "baseline" test. It was exhausting for her. The font size for an 8 yr old is not 11pt. It was too small. An 8 yr old reading level is usually reading with font size of 18 or larger! Developmentally, the test was completely administered wrong! It was set up for failure! And, my daughter did fail it. It was a 6 full-page typed test. Now imagine all of this for a teacher to do WITHOUT AN ASSISTANT! That's insanity!
Lastly, this new Pay for Performance is going to be a huge budget buster nevermind and educational one too. More paperwork for teachers to get their kids to perform well on a TEST!
Thanks again for attending our Epicentre showing of, "Race To Nowhere," and offering up your feedback and continuing the dialogue.
And to your question posted regarding educational reform, I would say we are in dire need of reformation. And there are numerous examples of successful programs that are focused on the child's natural ability to learn.
sirkenrobinson.com
theblueschool.org
..."we worry about what a child will become, yet we forget that he is someone today..."
Thanks, Tom, Jen, and Oakridge on commenting on the movie/documentary "Race To Nowhere." There is so much in the film that can be an "eye opener" for parents, students, teachers and anyone who works with families. I highly recommend this film. A dialogue could continue for quite some time. But, tonight I will focus on the "testing" issue in general. A parent stated during the dialogue after the film that a student could "opt out" of taking EOG's or EOC's (end of grade/end of course tests). I was told that these tests were a requirement in the State of North Carolina and that there is no "opt out" option. I have asked for a point of reference. When I get that, I can post it on this blog.
Many times I hear parents and teachers talk about "teaching to the test." That is unfortunate. It does create stress and undue lack of learning on the part of the students. Ideally, teachers should be so familiar with the curriculum that they must be focused on the curriculum and teaching it. Then, when tests come, students should do well if the material was taught. However, it seems we need a shift in attitude - teachers are told they must be accountable and the testing we now have seems to be where teachers are told they must get results. Is this the best venue to determine if and when a child has comprehended the material? Are we spending too much instructional time administering tests? Yes, there is a financial cost to this as well as an emotional one as we have seen. I do believe we need some type of testing; however, which is the best type of testing? We must assure that our children attain the skill sets to be critical thinkers and problem solvers.
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