(Cross-posted at Huffington Post)
First, let me say that I’m not specifically picking on the teachers and kids at Emerson Elementary in Pennsylvania, who put together this 12-plus minute video of their Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) pep rally for the state standardized tests, and posted it to TeacherTube a couple of weeks ago. Do a search on YouTube and you can find dozens of similar efforts. I am, however, picking on a culture of schooling that feels the need to pump up students for test-taking with chanting and dancing that, on some level, makes me actually shudder as a parent. Take a look. (Skip to 3:07 if you want to get the gist of event.)
You have to wonder, is this really what we’ve come to in schools? That we have to remind kids that they are “bigger than the test” and show pictures of kids with captions like “6th Grade: Not Afraid” in an effort to steel their nerves? That showing what they’ve “learned” in schools is something they have to mentally prepare themselves for instead of just naturally exhibit? Really?
As I said, Emerson is not alone in this pep rally effort. But I wonder what the parents of those kids at Emerson think of this. Sad to say, most of them probably are just going along with the flow, missing the whole point of what their kids are really learning by going through this exercise — that the test is what we do school for, and that it’s something to be conquered.
It’s not the test that parents and kids should fear. It’s the loss of real learning that these kinds of assessments cost them. To summarize my ranting TEDxNYEd talk from last month: If all we want for our kids is to pass the test, we really don’t need schools any longer. Just load ’em up with a computer, an Internet connection and some test prep guides, and send them to Khan Academy or any number of other similar sites, and let them go crazy.
But here is why we don’t want to do that. In that type of interaction, we lose all the beauty of learning, the passion behind it, the motivation for it, the engagement that comes with the process of thinking deeply about things we care about, asking big questions and finding big answers together. And, most importantly, putting those answers to good use by applying them in ways that add to our collective knowledge, not just end up as filled-in bubbles on the test.
I know what those teachers at Emerson and other places are trying to do. They’re trying to help their kids be successful because this is how the politicians and businessmen and 100 years of tradition have defined success. But don’t miss the point: the tests have little to do with learning. The tests we give our kids aren’t assessing their learning; they are assessing their knowledge. At the end of the day, the PSSA won’t show one thing about what kids can actually do with any of the stuff they’ve spent countless hours of test prep getting ready for.
Ironically (or maybe not so ironically), some parents in Pennsylvania are saying “ENOUGH!” They’re going to their legislators and educating them on the reality of the current testing culture that is harming kids and leaving them worse off as learners. They’re pulling their kids out of the test to make a statement, one that is a personal statement for now but, if more people join in, could send a powerful message to the education “leaders” in this country that we have to think differently.
What’s most disconcerting, however, is the message all of this sends to our kids about learning — that it’s all about mastering content and skills that other people think are important, that all of the rewards are extrinsic, and that success is more about what we know than what we can do with what we know. None of this tells us anything about the qualities we most want from our children: a love of learning, a willingness and the patience to grapple with important, real problems, and the ability to make sense of the world as they experience it. And there’s no doubt that those things are getting lost in the process of prepping for the test.
And besides, we don’t need pep rallies for kids who love learning, do we?
That’s absolutely insane. I’m fighting the test culture here in my school district (and losing), but if I were facing this nonsense… I really don’t think I’d be able to show up for work on “prep” rally day. Perfect sick day.
One of my biggest pet peeves. We spend too many minutes on isolated “test prep” as it is, now we’re going to bring the whole school together to celebrate this? There’s a huge difference between encouraging children to put forth their best effort on a task and giving some kind of Hollywood-esque celebrity status to standardized testing week(s). Dislike.
Last week I had to hand out free movie passes to 2 students in my class that had perfect attendance at Saturday test prep classes.
Brian
So Will, what would you recommend that those in the trenches of Public Ed do?
Can you really blame them for giving their all in helping their students to pass the test(s!)? These schools behave as if their very lives depend upon how well their students perform relative to others because – without a doubt – they absolutely do. From charters to vouchers to let’s-all-stay-at-home school, the competition for dollars has never been so fierce.
Nevertheless, perhaps this post wasn’t written to those whose financial backing depend on governmental approval. Perhaps you were writing to the millions of voices out there who don’t read your blog, or maybe even to those voters who once thought they had a chance to actually make a difference.
From a 30,000-foot view, Will, I do believe you’re right! School should be about learning, it should be individualized, and should always feel more HUMAN. But as one on the ground, who’s not yet given up the fight, I’ll applaud those schools for trying to help their kids “succeed” and survive, in order to live yet another day.
Yes, what would you have us do?
Thanks Darren,
Respectfully…
First of all, if that’s what “success” looks like in schools right now, we’ve totally lost our way.
What would I have them do? In a word…lead.
When it comes to learning in our communities, who are the experts? I would hope the answer would be educators, not businessmen, not politicians, not even parents. We are the learning experts, charged with making the best decisions we can for the kids in our classrooms. If we look at the world as it is, full of tests, full of traditional expectations, I get that we can’t pull the rug out from under the kids currently in our classrooms and not pay attention to those outcomes. But I reject the fact that pep rallies and are an effective way to do that. In fact, I find them borderline insulting. Millions and millions of kids are taking these tests without adults “helping” them in this way. In fact, as I argue in the post, this doesn’t help them in the long run because of the really harmful message it sends about what we value in schools.
So, in short, lead. Speak out against a policy that pits kids against one another and in some cases makes them physically ill. Advocate with parents and school board members to think differently about the whole testing issue and the motivations behind it. But more importantly, instead of pouring in hours to create and attend these types of functions, use that time to think about how get kids excited about learning, not test taking, about how to be passionate and engaged in the world around them, not figuring out what they need to know to “pass the test” which, at the end of the day, says more about us than it does about them.
Hard? Sure. But that is a choice, and since you asked…that’s what I would want the teachers of my kids to do.
In the fall (when Michigan gives their test), my son and daughter’s school had a similar “pep rally.” The entire school was required to attend. My son’s kindergarten class (won’t be tested until 3rd grade) was involved…as cheerleaders…leading the crowd in a “Beat the MEAP!” chant. My daughter, a third grader taking the test for the first time, came home in tears, afraid that she wouldn’t do well.
I was livid. And after a long conversation with the principal (in her first year at the school) about how I felt, I was kind of left believing that I was the one being illogical and misguided. Thank you for posting this so that I know I’m not alone.
I wish more people would speak up. As a teacher and parent, it really seems that morale in the education world is at an all-time low. And it’s just depressing in a way, waiting for change and reform and trying to do my best to drive that change. I know I’m not on an island, but when you hear about pep rallies like this…and when you’re affected by it personally like my family was…it’s hard to stomach.
Again, thanks for posting this, Will. And thanks for all you do. I am a fan, follower, and fellow change agent.
In my state (Michigan) we have watched over the years as control over education shifted from the local, to the state, and now almost all the way to the national level. The result of this shift has created a test culture because that is what the politicians and bureaucrats have turned education into. Everything is measured by the test. While your observation is correct – why are we doing this? – you are ignoring the fact that it has to be done. It has to be done because a schools very survival depends on it. Gotta make AYP…going to have MEAP scores published in the paper, so they have to look better this year than last. Until we realize that national and state testing shouldn’t be used to punish schools, this is what we will get.
Is this really any different than when a sales manager holds rah rah meetings to get his salespeople to sell more so that they keep their job?
Chad,
While there’s no way I can argue with the fact that the “test culture” exists…I still respectfully disagree when you say “it has to be done.” If schools have to do something…leave my kids out of it.
Ben
First let me say that I do not believe the PSSA or any state test should be exclusive measuring stick for an effective school. I detest test prep and all that it entails because it moves our focus our to last minute cramming rather than ensuring our students have authentic learning opportunties to master the content to begin with. That said… I am not convinced an academic pep rally is inherently evil. Is there anything wrong with asking students to set a collective goal and to encourage everyone to do their best? One school I know has does an academic bowl with student teams using a student response system. They tell the students they are smart and capable in multiple ways. They make it fun and engaging and kids leave happy and invigorated… ready to tackle the state test challenge. The event is not about the test, but about making kids feel capable, celebrating past and future success, goal setting… this what we make it.
Dear Mr. Richardson,
I personally agree with you on the fact that pumping students up for test taking is wrong. However I think the pep rallies are used to distract kids from the pressure of state standardized testing. For example in my old Middle School we would have pep rallies before finals, CSAP and MAPS, ( MAPS and CSAP are Colorado’s State Standardized Testing). During these pep rallies they would make the student body laugh and have fun. Then the days before the test would pass by so fast students would go into a Test not prepared, which can’t really happen on a final. However, my current High School has them seasonally so they’re not related to testing at all. Do bad it takes 8 years for schools to stop using pep rallies as a instrument to distract or pump up the students body for test.
Dear Mr. Richardson
After reading your article “What We Need is a “Prep†Rally†I agree with you, its schools shouldn’t have to pump kids up for taking a standardized test. Standardized tests are designed to test the knowledge that students are responsible for acquiring over a years curriculum, if its things they have already been taught why we so concerned that are we have to pump up the students to do well. In my opinion it’s because at most schools they are nervous that if their students get bad test scores they might not have a job next year. I also think that during the test the students are not the only ones that are nervous, the teachers are also because with budget cuts around the county, teachers who students have bad test scores may not be needed in the future. Ultimately I think that standardized tests have transformed from a way to test student’s knowledge to a way to test teachers teaching ability.