February 2019 Ohio Schools Magazine
February 2019 Ohio Schools Magazine
- Cover Story: Driving Literacy, Princeton A.C.E. Find Success With Mobile Book Center
- Feature Story: OEA members on using power to create change at 2019 Advocacy and Organizing Institute
- Political Action: The power and potential of our stories to stop the testing insanity
- Legislative Update: OEA Priorities for the 133rd General Assembly
Moved recently? Contact the OEA Member Hotline to update the address on file at 1-844-OEA-Info (1-844-632-4636) or email, membership@ohea.org. Representatives are available Monday-Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. | OhioSchools — Past Issues
The Hook of Standardization
Guest Blog | By Matt Jablonski, Elyria EA/OEA
I have spent all but a few of my 20 years in education teaching a tested subject on which a student’s graduation is dependent. To say that this has had a negative impact on my career and the lives of my students is as obvious to me as the correlation between median income and standardized test scores.
I am an American History teacher at Elyria High School, in one of Ohio’s urban districts. When the state planned its switch to the OGT, we were proactive. What we understood, what most educators understand, is that scores on standardized tests best correlate to economic status.
In a district with high rates of economically disadvantaged students, there would likely be high rates of students unable to graduate due to the tests. In an otherwise meaningless system, seemingly designed to see us fail, it was our job to get students to pass the assessment. Under the end–of-year assessments the same is true.
While some districts may not even need to think twice about their student’s success on state assessments, many of us need to place every ounce of our effort into strategies that point directly to an end game that has little to do with student college and career readiness, nothing to do with the joy of learning, and everything to do with an arbitrary score on a standardized test.
“An educational system driven by standardized assessments has run its course.”
In the interest of success in an urban district, educators like myself have tried to stay ahead of the curve. We have adopted new standards and adapted curriculum, written common assessments and analyzed the data. We used the language of assessments even though it’s not the vernacular of our students, found source material and written questions that look and sound like a standardized test. We taught the methods of responding to short answer and extended response questions even though their usefulness was restricted to state tests, and is utterly removed from any relevant academic writing outside of this environment. Despite the natural course of student interest, we paced ourselves to cram the content into the space and time prior to the spring assessment window.
Predictably, we saw few victories, all relative to the level of poverty in a given district. And while the state of Ohio continues to insist that standardized tests are an accurate measure and the recipe for increased achievement, generations worth of data prove otherwise.
The Ohio Department of Education, in fits of madness only it understands, riddles its social media accounts with adept performances from the state superintendent celebrating students and teachers, as if we are too dimwitted to notice that they back assessment and evaluation systems designed to label us as failures.
Believe me, I remember the kids I’ve taught who didn’t pass their American History assessment. I remember their faces, the level of concern and anxiety. As teachers, we internalize these things. It is a part of sound compassionate practice. I’ve spent hundreds of hours developing and teaching remediation courses, so these students might have a shot to get the appropriate score on the second, or third, or fourth try.
The fundamental problem is, even when a student ultimately earns the required score, there is relief, but it’s not as if there is a great sense of accomplishment.
“Where is the meaning in being deemed successful in a meaningless system?”
No college or trade school is looking at the performance as a component for acceptance. No employer is interested either. The greatest predictor of college success is still Grade-Point Average, not standardized test scores.
What did we accomplish exactly?
Grinding out success in a system that expects you to fail can only carry you so far, and for teachers, there is always the next group of kids to deliver through the same awful system.
In a profession that is at its best when relationships and curiosity are nurtured, individuality and interest are paramount, and collaboration and creativity should be celebrated; all of us have been squeezed into an educational experience that celebrates standardization.
My career has been devoted to the necessary, but misguided task of trying to bring humor and joy to an education system that seems hell-bent on eliminating it, to introduce content steeped in relevance within a system that asks questions outside of any relevant context, to help students find meaning in a world where a major component of their education is utterly meaningless.
An educational system driven by standardized assessments has run its course. It is time for a change. #OverTestedOH
Matt Jablonski teaches American history teacher at Elyria High School in Lorain county.
You can follow Elyria EA on Facebook or visit their website: www.EyriaEA.ohea.us.
Click here for more #OverTestedOH & #RedForEd Stories. |
Vote for Arthur Lard for STRS Board
OEA’s recommended candidate is dedicated to the financial security of our pensions and acting in the best interest of all STRS members.
All educators deserve the ability to retire with financial security. Strong pensions provide a predictable, guaranteed benefit for educators when they retire.
That is why OEA continues to advocate for policies and support board members on the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) Board who have the best interest of members in mind and that ensure the financial security of the system.
The STRS Board makes critical decisions that affect both active and retired teachers. That’s why a panel of active and retired OEA members interview prospective candidates for the STRS Board based on their knowledge and experience on retirement issues. The screening committee makes recommendations to the educators who serve on the OEA Board of Directors who then vote on these recommendations.
In 2023, OEA members have the opportunity to elect an active seat representative to the STRS Board. For the active seat on the STRS ballot this year, OEA has recommended Arthur Lard for re-election.
Lard is a business education teacher in Portsmouth City Schools with 30 years of experience and has served as treasurer of his local association for more than 20 years. This background has served him well as an OEA representative on the STRS Board since 2019.
As an OEA member, Lard knows what retirement security means. It means having a retirement system that is stable and well-funded so that members can afford to retire comfortably knowing their benefits will last the rest of their lives. Now that he is completing his first term on the STRS Board, Lard wants to continue to be a voice for all teachers.
Like many teachers, Lard wanted to be sure that the people making decisions about his retirement money had the best interests of educators at heart. To ensure this, he ran for the STRS Board. As a member of the STRS Board—which now includes only two OEA members—Lard has advocated for the best interests of OEA members and educators across the state. He has fought for and supported policies that have kept STRS financially secure, worked to return benefits to members, and opposed initiatives that would put the pension at risk.
As a member of the Board, he helped remove an age 60 requirement so many teachers can retire earlier and secured a three percent cost-of-living increase for retirees. Today, the STRS pension and healthcare plans are stronger.
“It has been my honor to represent you on the STRS Pension Board and to work to protect our STRS pension—the cornerstone of our financial security in retirement as educators,” Lard said.
“Beginning in 2019, when I started on the Board, the plan’s funding status improved from 75.5% to 80.9%, with an estimation at being 100% funded by 2044. This improvement ensures that all Ohio educators’ pensions will be there for them in the future.
“Under my watch, the retiree health care benefit’s solvency improved enough that we could lower health care premiums and provide hundreds of dollars in rebates to each retiree on their medical premiums. This fiscal year, we were able to pay a 3% cost of living (COL) increase to current retirees and eliminate the age-60 retirement eligibility requirement for future retirees allowing educators to retire earlier.”
Lard’s opponent, and his supporters on the STRS Board, continue to make empty promises for policies that would put our pension at risk. OEA members need to re-elect Lard to the STRS Board because he is dedicated to keeping our pension financially secure long into the future.
For Ohio’s teachers, the benefits provided by STRS are crucial to our economic security in retirement. It is important that we ensure that the members elected to the STRS Board are prepared, dedicated, and will protect our interests.
Lard is dedicated to ensuring all OEA members have secure, reliable pensions and access to health care benefits in retirement. What drives me to seek reelection as an STRS Board member is to ensure that all educators, and those who have yet to enter the profession, have a safe, reliable pension that they cannot outlive,” Lard said. “That’s something that all Ohio educators deserve and need.”
Ballots for the STRS Board election will be mailed in early April to eligible voters at their home address. When your ballot arrives, vote right away to re-elect Arthur Lard to the STRS Board so we can continue to build a strong pension for all Ohio educators. Votes can be cast by mail, phone, or online. The deadline for voting is May 1, 2023.
Why should you vote for Arthur Lard for the STRS Board?
- He believes that all educators deserve the ability to retire with financial security. He will make sure that our STRS pension will continue to remain strong and secure for all Ohio teachers, including retirees, active teachers, and those just entering the profession.
- He believes pension security should be a top priority. He will fight against unproven investment schemes targeting our pension dollars.
- He believes transparency should be a top priority. He will fight to make sure members are aware of investment decisions that affect their retirement.
- Last year, the STRS Board approved a measure to eliminate the requirement that members be 60 years old or older to retire and approved a one-time 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for eligible retirees. Arthur abstained on this vote, not because he opposed the measure, but because he wanted the Board to do more to benefit ALL members by also reducing contributions for active teachers. Arthur supports continuing to return benefits to ALL STRS members when it is fiscally responsible to do so.
- He has been on the STRS Board for over 3 years and is a proven leader. In that time, the solvency of the health care plan has improved greatly, so it will be there for current and future retirees, and we have lowered health care premiums and provided rebates to retirees.
- Unlike his opponent, Arthur will never make empty promises, that would put your pension at risk, just to get elected. Arthur is dedicated to keeping STRS solvent long into the future.
- He is one of only two OEA members on the STRS board. He will continue to honestly serve and represent the best interests of educators and be a voice for OEA members.
Silent Tears
#OvertestedOH #RedForEd
OEA Guest Blog | By Tina Allen, ColumbusEA/OEA
I am a fourth-grade teacher in Columbus City Schools.
One of the most devastating and heartbreaking days of my teaching occurred when one day, unexpectedly, one of my students silently put her head down on her desk. Upset with her score on a state-mandated middle-of-the-year test, she began to cry.
She had begun the new school year on the heels of attending summer school because she was unsuccessful in passing the high-stakes Third-Grade Reading Guarantee the year before.
Traumatized By Testing
She had been traumatized by testing. I had seen that expression before. I’ve discussed it with other educators as well as have seen it in other students equally traumatized by the testing process.
As the tears ran down her face, I was speechless and felt disgusted inside.
“I joined this profession to change lives, to educate, motivate and inspire. High-stakes testing almost took that away from me”
Had Testing Traumatized Me Too?
“What had I done?” I asked of myself.
Recognizing she had at least two more standardized tests on the horizon as well as I-Ready assessments, reading assessments, and progress monitoring, I then asked myself, “How can I help her through this? “
It made me realize that unknowingly, I, too, had been traumatized. I was becoming to concerned about “what they needed to know to pass the test” versus “what are they are learning.” Yes, I am advocating for a reduction in high-stakes testing and the creation of alternative pathways for promoting students onward to the next grade.
I joined this profession to change lives, to educate, motivate and inspire. High-stakes testing almost took that away from me.
The tears of a fourth grader reminded me what’s important.
Tina Allen is a member of the ColumbusEA/OEA and a fourth-grade educator at Columbus Cassady Elementary School
Click here for more #OverTestedOH & #RedForEd Voices and How to Make a Stand
Our Stories — #OvertestedOH #RedForEd
Guest Blog | By Courtney Johnson, ColumbusEA
I am a high school English teacher turned school librarian at Columbus Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School. Literacy is my life’s work. I’m a National Board-Certified English teacher with a reading endorsement and a Master’s in Library Science.
I spend my days working with students and teachers, helping them find books, conduct research, and write essays. I help run a free school store in the library’s auxiliary space for students in need.
During the fall 2018-19 administration of state-mandated tests, I spent three weeks — 15 instructional days — away from the job that I love. Instead, I administered nearly 900 end-of-course test retakes. This meant that for three weeks our students did not have access to the resources of the school library or librarian.
“…I love my Job! Yet, I felt complicit in a crime.”
DIFFICULT THREE WEEKS FOR EVERYONE
Unfortunately, I was not the only one negatively impacted during those three weeks.
These assessments also tied up our two school counselors, who should be able to spend their days supporting students in crisis and helping them plan for their futures. Educators across our school were pulled away from instructional time to help meet the need for test administrators.
Intervention Specialists, who are required to serve all students with an Individual Education Plan (IEP), lost a combined 22 hours of traditional instruction time in providing necessary extended-time and small-groupings for students, some needing to retake all seven tests.
We all lost no less than three weeks of valuable instructional time.
AN EMPTY SEAT
Shakespeare once wrote, “Grief fills up the room of my absent child.” We all suffer when students are absent from classes. During this three-week period, that grief took on many forms.
One Senior tried coming to school late to avoid the test, and then refused to leave her English class. Our school safety officer was able to convince her to come to the library to take the test. She wasn’t alone.
- Students enrolled in our carpentry program refused to miss their morning trade classes to take the state-mandated tests. (One student told me he has been working with his dad as a carpenter since he was 10. He believes he will never pass the state-mandated tests, and why does he need to? He has straight A’s in carpentry class, and a solid plan for his future.)
- Another anxious student went home vomiting.
- A student who lost her home overnight begged not to take the test. She just couldn’t handle it. We couldn’t make her.
- Another student confided in me that he used drugs and alcohol to de-stress from the anxiety caused by the test.
Day after day, I watched as Seniors dragged themselves to our school library for the tests. Our library is a place normally vibrant and alive — just ask any of the 270 student participants of my school’s book club. However, as a designated testing area, the library had become a place filled sleepy-eyed students with defeated spirits. I would hug them, and say, “You’re almost finished. Hang in there.” I did the only thing I knew to do: be kind.
“It is wrong to subject young people to this much testing…. I called my union.”
Yet, I felt complicit in a crime. I knew I needed to stand up for them. So, I called my union.
OEA CONVENING ON OVER-TESTING
My local president, John Coneglio, and OEA Vice President Scott DiMauro, listened to my concerns, and we went to work to fight back against this over-testing of students.
The first outcome was the Convening on Over-Testing, January 26, 2019, in Columbus. More than 80 educators from across the state convened to examine further the issue. We began by asking participants to talk about why they came and to record their feelings about testing as they discussed with one another. We collected these words to create the image below.
Federal minimum testing guidelines require only one English, one math, and one science assessment during high school. In Ohio, we ask high school students to take more than double that amount, and we attach high stakes to them – for our students and our schools.
These tests are at the heart of so many education policies in Ohio from the State Report Card to HB 70 (the State Takeover Bill) to Value-Added teacher evaluations. We do not have to do this to children. Only 11 states in our nation continue to subject students to high stakes testing.
I don’t know a single educator who isn’t feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, or heartbroken by this soul-crushing, over-testing of students.
A colleague of mine described our state of standardized testing as feeling like “both prisoner and warden.” Educators feel hopeless, and yet we must do all we can to get kids through a faulty measure, or else our value-added scores determine that we need the state to take over our schools.
Even the written answers are scored by computers. There is no humanity left in this policy. Kids are reduced to numbers on a spreadsheet.
SHARING OUR STORIES
We all have stories to tell about the effects of high stakes standardized testing on our students, their families, and our schools – stories like I mentioned above, and stories like these we heard on Saturday:
- An Intervention Specialist has to tell parents that their children with Multiple Disabilities are not on track to pass the Third Grade Reading Guarantee (3GRG).
- A second-grade teacher’s student hid under a desk and cried rather than take the MAP test.
- A high school career education teacher said, “I want my kids to be smarter than the robots they’ll work alongside of and preparing them to take tests is not how we do that.”
- A middle-school gifted-cohort teacher’s high-achieving students asked why their hands-on projects had to be interrupted to take a practice test.
And my own family’s story: my son, Brady, was in the first group of students under the 3GRG law. Literacy is my life’s work. I read to my son every day of his life. He had high-quality preschool. Our home is a literacy-rich environment. He loved books and stories. And then the 3GRG made his first-grade teacher hyper-focus on his reading level, and it made him HATE reading. He entered into an endless cycle of test and remediate. This vicious cycle continues to happen across our state.
WE ARE TESTING LESS TEACHING AND LEARNING
At this point, I wonder what are we even testing? With more testing comes LESS teaching and LESS learning. We need time to teach, and our students need time to learn. They do not deserve this toxic testing environment that our state legislators have created.
In 2011, I became a union activist. When the Governor and our state legislature attacked our collective bargaining rights, we found a way to say, “This is wrong. Let me tell you why.” We need to find our voices again.
Here is where you can help. Write your story. Ask your students to write their stories. Ask families you know to write their stories.
TIME TO TEACH, TIME TO LEARN
We need time to teach, and our students need time to learn. It is time our state legislators — the folks with the power to change these laws — hear our stories. Our voices must be louder than the testing lobby. Here’s how:
#OverTestedOH | #RedForEd — Call To Action
- Invite legislators to your school as well as events
- Attend an upcoming OEA Educator Lobby Day to share your story
- Send your story to your state legislators and to Governor DeWine
- Ask your local school board to pass the Time to Teach, Time to Learn resolution
- Click here for a sample resolution (Please check back Tues. Feb 12th)
- Share your insights in the comments section of OEA’s Voices of Change blog
- Submit your story as a formal OEA blog (300-500 words) entry to: webmaster@ohea.org
- When posting to social media use the hashtags #OverTestedOH & #RedForEd
Courtney Johnson is a member of the @ColumbusEA/OEA, and an English teacher turned school librarian at Fort Hayes Arts & Academic High School.
Click here for more #OverTestedOH & #RedForEd Stories. |