OEA Encouraged by Improved Student Outcomes for 2023-2024, but Notes More Work is Needed to Make State Report Cards a Useful Tool for Parents
“The dedication of Ohio’s educators to support our state’s students is evident in the progress shown during the past year,” OEA President Scott DiMauro said. “The growth in math and reading scores among English Learners and Economically Disadvantaged students—two groups that were hardest hit by learning disruptions during the pandemic—and improved reading scores for elementary students are a testament to the hard work of Ohio educators.”
DiMauro also noted the improvement in student attendance, with chronic absenteeism rates declining from 26.8% to 25.6%, saying, “Students need to be present to learn, and the positive trend in attendance is directly related to the increases we are seeing in academic outcomes, including overall graduation rates. It is crucial that Ohio continues to properly fund wraparound services and promote academic programs that address the needs of the whole child.”
At the same time, the OEA says significant work is needed to make the state report cards a useful tool for parents, including changes to improve accountability standards for Ohio’s charter schools and the private schools that take taxpayer-funded vouchers.
“Parents cannot make apples-to-apples comparisons between their local public schools and the private schools taking public taxpayer-funded vouchers because private schools are still not held to the same accountability and transparency standards as public schools in our state,” DiMauro said.
“Public tax dollars belong in the public schools that serve nearly 90 percent of the students in our state. If the state is going to continue to take critical resources from our public schools to fund private school tuition for the mostly wealthy families who have overwhelmingly taken the near universal vouchers since that became available to them, we must make sure Ohio’s taxpayers are getting a good return on their investment for what they’re spending on private schools,” DiMauro said. “With our state’s current report card system, it is impossible to say, and that is by design.”
The General Assembly has failed to require the accountability and transparency standards for private schools that would enable Ohioans to make any true comparisons. While the State Report Cards released this week for public schools continue to rely heavily on data from high-stakes standardized tests public school students are required to take every year, private schools continue to be able to pick and choose assessments for their students, often not even on the same subjects for which their public school peers are tested. Private schools should be included in the State Report Cards, but the data about private school performance—limited as it may be—is released separately, much later in the year.
“Ohio is constitutionally required to maintain a ‘thorough and efficient system of common schools’ but Ohio lawmakers have intentionally created two very different systems of evaluating and sharing
information about the quality of our state’s private and public schools,” DiMauro said. “Ohio parents, students, and taxpayers deserve better.”
When Anxiety Over Takes a Test
Guest Blog by a member of the OEA/Eastern Local CTA | The actual name has been withheld to protect the identity of the student.
I recently read the article in the February edition of “Ohio Schools” and it brought to mind not one of my students but that of my own son’s testing anxiety when he was in the 6th grade.
“…what his teacher who was proctoring the test told me left me heartbroken for him.”
It was the first year the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) was given.
My son is an excellent student who is high achiever, so I can’t put all the blame on the test or even his teachers. I do know that he verbally and physically showed signs of severe stress in the weeks up to taking the tests that spring, which is a good sign that he valued the importance of it, but what his teacher who was proctoring the test told me left me heartbroken for him. She said that at the end of one test session he was so overcome with anxiety that he started stabbing himself in the forearm with his own pencil.
Upon hearing this, I had a long talk with him about the importance of standardized testing for students at his grade level. I told him that the only one’s held accountable for the scores were his teachers and his district.
He’s now a freshman in high school who has already taken the ACT, has straight A’s, and will be dual-enrolled in classes at a local university next year through College Credit Plus. He still has anxiety about testing, but at least knows that he will be held accountable for his performance to not only graduate but eventually earn a degree. | #OverTestedOH #RedForEd
The author is an English Language Arts educator and a member of Eastern Local CTA
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Computerized Testing — A Revolution That Wasn’t
By Kim Snyder of the OEA/Wadsworth Education Association
I am writing after reading the recent article in the February 2019 issue of “Ohio Schools”. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I despise the state-mandated tests we must administer.
We have lived through the Ohio Achievement Test (OAT), the Ohio Achievement Assessment (OAA), the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) — and now, the worst of them all — the American Institute of Research (AIR)1 tests.
SILENT PROTESTS
I am in my 15th year of teaching and during this time, just like every other teacher, I have seen children panic, cry, vomit, etc. I’ve had students refuse to write/type the required essays in defiance of the tests. Moreover, as if in silent protests of frustration, I’ve had students finish these state-required tests in record time because they no longer cared to try. I can’t say or do anything or risk losing my teaching license. I spend the entire school year building my students’ confidence and gaining their trust; I can see by the look in their eyes that both have been eroded when they take those tests.
“I just think of all of the other things I could do if I didn’t have the ever-changing state mandated tests constantly hanging over my head.”
I have students who fear they won’t be promoted to the next grade if they don’t pass their current AIR tests. I know it’s a residual fear from the Third-Grade Reading Guarantee. I reassure them that the AIR tests do not determine their advancement. What I don’t tell them is that the only one held accountable here is me [and the school, and overall, the district]. Last year, I earned a 100% grade-level passage rate last year, so I am not writing with sour grapes in mind.
Because the standardized tests are online, there is so much pressure to get everyone logged in properly and not have a technology crash. Research shows that children are better assessed from paper and pencil, but here we are. As Julie Holderbaum said, the icing on the cake is that the computer is going to grade the essays. How is it even possible for a computer alone to determine true student learning?
[ Related Blog: Power and Potential of Our Stories By Julie Holderbaum, Minerva EA/OEA ]
Since we aren’t allowed to see the test in advance or during its administration, we educators are aiming at a moving target. If I didn’t have to teach to a test, I could teach poetry. My fifth-grade English Language Arts classes have not had a poetry unit in three years. Why? Because there isn’t time. As a passionate ELA teacher, it breaks my heart not to share the beauty that poetry holds, but cuts need to be made somewhere.
Instead, I have to spend far too much time teaching my students to answer bizarre “Part A/Part B” questions and how to write a five-paragraph essay. I know adults who can’t write a five-paragraph essay; but, my ten- and eleven-year-old students need to know how to do this.
I don’t think Swiss Psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) would say this is appropriate for my students’ stage of cognitive development. Additionally, I’m expected to differentiate in the classroom; however, all of the children take the same test. How is that fair?
TRUST US: WE’RE PROFESSIONAL EDUCATORS
The state has a Third-Grade Reading Guarantee; it should support it. That would help to ensure that the students in my fifth-grade class would be at the appropriate reading level. State educator leaders (and legislators) should trust that the 600+ school districts of Ohio, have hired honest, responsible teachers who take pride in their craft and in their desire to teach the next generations.
Trust us to do our jobs and we will prepare our children in the best way possible. Imagine what we could do with at least a month added back to our teaching plans.
- The PARCC and AIR assessments replaced the Ohio Achievement Assessment (OAA) and will replace the OGT (Ohio Graduation Test) starting with the class of 2019. The Ohio Department of Education worked with volunteer educators and the American Institute of Research (AIR) to develop the Third-Grade English Language Arts test. This test uses the same testing platform as state-mandated standardized tests.
Kim Snyder is a 5th-grade regular-education as well as a Gifted English Language Arts educator with
Wadsworth City Schools and member of the OEA/Wadsworth E.A.
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
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Power and Potential of Our Stories
By Julie Holderbaum, Minerva EA/OEA
A teacher walks into a bar.
No, this is not the beginning of a joke, or the beginning of a commentary on the challenges of public education driving teachers to drink (well, not really).
It’s the beginning of a testing story.
I was the teacher, and it was a holiday weekend in my small town a few years ago.
I felt a bit like Norm on Cheers when I walked in. “Miss Moffett!” the kids nearest the door yelled. (I hadn’t been Miss Moffett for years, but just as these young adults would always be “kids” to me, I would always be Miss Moffett to them).
There were hugs and smiles, and a few offered to buy me a beer. As we caught up, the conversation turned to the days when they had been students in my class. They had lots of good memories.
(Fill in the upcoming blanks with fun and meaningful, but time-consuming activities).
“Do you remember when we ______?”
“Do you still do that activity where we _______?”
“Do you still teach _________?”
My answer was always, and sadly, that I don’t do any of those activities anymore. Why? Because I have slowly but surely allowed testing to dictate what and how I teach.
The lessons I teach now are not what I enjoy teaching and they are not what their kids enjoy learning and frankly, it makes me sick.
My former students were happy to see their old teacher Miss Moffett. But I’m afraid that now, if they see their children’s teacher Mrs. Holderbaum out at a bar, instead of offering to buy me a beer, they might throw one in my face.
The lessons I teach now are not what I enjoy teaching and they are not what their kids enjoy learning and frankly, it makes me sick.
And I’m Not Alone
On January 26, 2019, over 100 Ohio public school teachers met to share stories about how testing has impacted our classrooms.
There were stories of kids of all ages puking and crying on test days.
There were stories of teachers basically “bird-boxing” as they helped students with technical issues during an AIR test, so great was the fear of breaking security protocol by looking at the actual test. There were stories of teachers considering leaving the profession because of the pressure of these high-stakes tests, and stories of teachers telling their own children that they would not pay for their college education if they went into teaching.
In one activity, we listed words that expressed our feelings regarding the overabundance of testing and what it has done to our students and to us. Want to hear a few just from the six people at my table? Sad. Anxious. Angry. Overwhelmed. Exhausted. Defeated.
Is that how we want to feel about our jobs? Is that how we want our students to feel about school?
We Have Two Choices
Of course not. We have two choices. Keep feeling that way while we continue to adapt to testing madness, or start pushing back and standing up for ourselves, our profession, and our students, and saying ENOUGH.
I’ve written about testing several times previously. After that encounter at the bar, I wrote an open letter to my former students apologizing in advance for the experience their kids would have in my classroom now that testing has taken over. I’ve written about the irrelevant and inappropriate test questions and the challenge of preparing my students to address those questions, and last spring,
I wrote about the absolutely insane fact that computers, not people, are now grading our children’s essay answers on the test. These pieces share my stories and voice my feelings about the impact of testing on my classroom.
But we need more voices. We need a chorus of voices so loud that we cannot be ignored. We need YOUR voice.
Share your story with other teachers; send your story to OEA at webmaster@ohea.org to add to the discussion of how real teachers and students are being adversely affected by testing insanity.
There is power in sharing our stories with each other; anyone who attended the meeting last weekend can attest to that. But that power turns into potential to change the situation when we share our stories with those outside the profession. We need to saturate the internet and bombard our legislators with our stories. We need our communities and our leaders to know that we will no longer be complicit by silently going along with the changes in education that are hurtful to our students.
Power of Social Media
Write your stories, and share them on your social media platforms, using the hashtags #OvertestedOH and #RedForEd.
Power of Legislative Contact
Then, write to your legislators, or better yet, visit them in Columbus or lobby them when they are at home in-district. Let them know how you feel, tell them how the testing affects your students; share your stories.
We need our legislators to hear our chorus of voices. We need them to hear what it’s like to have our careers and our classrooms commandeered by the demands and pressure of the tests. We need them to hear that Ohio’s children, instead of feeling excitement at the idea of going to school, are feeling dread. We need them to hear that because of the tests, we are developing anxiety in our students instead of curiosity, fear of failure instead of freedom to flourish.
Don’t be afraid of reaching out to your legislators because you don’t consider yourself a political person.
We are turning out test-takers instead of lifelong learners. Instead of being trusted as college-educated professionals who can factor in our students’ varying situations, challenges, strengths, and growth to determine whether or not they have succeeded at a level needed to pass our classes, we are being treated as assembly-line workers who must produce a uniform product that meets the same standards as every other product in the factory in the exact same way. This system might work well when producing products, but it’s no way to produce people.
But I am Not Political….
Don’t be afraid of reaching out to your legislators because you don’t consider yourself a political person. This is not a political issue. Children of both Republicans and Democrats are negatively affected by the over-testing in Ohio.
Ohio is one of only 11 states in the nation to require more tests of our children than the federal government mandates; it is our state legislators who have the power to change that.
And it is Ohio’s teachers who have the power to influence them to do so with our stories.
— Julie Holderbaum is an English Instructor and an Academic Challenge Advisor at Minerva High School, Minerva, Ohio.
Related Resource Links
- OEA 2019 Educator Lobby Days
- Find Your Ohio Legislators
- OEA Legislative Scorecard
- 08.16.2016 — A Teacher’s Open Letter to Ohio’s New State Superintendent
- 08.09.2016 —The 8 Olympic Events of Teaching
- 04.25.2016 — To All the Ones I’ve Taught Before
- 04.13.2015 — What to do about too much testing — Fight, Flee, or Fake It?
- 02.29.2016 — Who Really Deserves the F?
- 01.19.2016 — Tests With More Questions Than Answers
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The School Report Card Sham
By Kevin Griffin of the @DublinEA/OEA
The state report cards have been around for several years. Their erroneous grades and convoluted metrics have been so well documented, that educationally, they are about as relevant as Kardashian reruns. It’s unfortunate that districts now need to deal with the annual damage control when they are released.
The real victims are our students.
It’s important for us to remember why these report cards were conceived. It was, quite simply, to make us look bad. The corporate reformers, with help from ALEC, created standardized testing, value-added, and then the report cards, as a way to convince the public their schools were failing. The public didn’t buy it.
But don’t count on the vultures to fly away when there’s money to be made. Despite the fact the legislature knows the report cards are full of problems and half-truths, they are still being used to shut districts down, a thought inconceivable not too long ago.
“But don’t count on the vultures to fly away when there’s money to be made.”
HB 70 uses the report card data to dismantle the school board and replace administrators with a CEO who can basically do whatever he wants. Youngstown and Lorain Schools have already been taken over, East Cleveland is in the process, and Dayton Schools is next in line. The slow, but steady process to turn every school in these areas into a charter school has begun.
The real victims are our students. The one thing the report card does show is an undeniable link between test scores and poverty. In fact, Ohio’s lowest performing districts, those with a performance score under 70, have eight times the number of low-income students as districts with a performance score of 100.
So now these students, the ones who need more support, stability, and love than all the others, will be transported to for-profit charter schools. And we all know how well that works out.
Kevin Griffin is a member of the @DublinEA and the Central OEA Vice President
This post originally appeared in the in Winter 2019 issue of the Communique, a publication of the Central OEA/NEA
Click here for more #OverTestedOH & #RedForEd Voices and How to Make a Stand
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OEA Locals Establishing Measurable Goals
The OEA Organizing Department has developed a Local Self-Assessment Tool that can aide your local in targeting crucial areas of growth. Many locals have already begun to use this tool in order to assist them in strategic planning and goal setting. An active and strong local is always assessing their members’ needs and looking for ways in which to grow collective power. The OEA Local Assessment Tool looks at several key indicators that a well-rounded local should take into consideration for increased growth and strength. These are the following: Advocacy, contract negotiations, organizing and strategic planning, community organizing and engagement, communication, political action and lobbying, leadership development and governance structure/finances.
The tool is very useful for locals and provides them with an accurate reading on their overall organizational effectiveness and readiness. The process walks the self-assessment team through a number of steps to target areas of growth. Once this is achieved, the findings are discussed, and a consensus is reached, the real work begins.
Once the areas of growth are identified the local should develop a plan that sets up short term and long term (measurable or S.M.A.R.T.) goals. What should be achieved right now? What should we attempt to tackle in the long term? Resources and finances? Responsibility and accountability for the established outcomes? These are all questions to think about as locals plan for the future. You need to know where you are going before you figure out how to get there. One step at a time and strategic planning is the key.
This is also a great opportunity to engage and involve your members to participate and take ownership of the locals’ direction and vision. It provides them with a stronger voice and by doing so, they build a stronger local and union alongside their leaders.
I suggest that smaller locals take “smaller” steps so that the tool does not become cumbersome or overwhelming for them. The Organizing Dept. is now developing a shorter “field version” of the original tool. The Local Assessment Tool can be requested by sending us an e-mail or a hard copy can be obtained from your LRC.
Thank you for all you do and remember to keep ORGANIZING!
Ryan Dunn
OEA Director of Organizing & Member Engagement
dunnr@ohea.org
Is Revised RESA a Reason to Rejoice?
Part II of II: Teacher Perspectives on the Resident Educator Summative Assessment
Read Part I: My Marathon Swim Through RESA
by Dan Greenberg, Sylvania Education Association
I’m getting to a place where I can look back nostalgically on twenty years in the classroom — back to the days when I was 22, teaching in Adelanto, California, and couldn’t get used to people calling me “Mr. Greenberg,” — a time when I rushed through my lunch in the teacher’s lounge, so I could go play pick-up basketball with the kids.
I don’t gloss over those early years of my career. There were plenty of challenges that made me wonder if I would be able to make it as a teacher.
However, I think the challenges facing today’s early career educators make mine seem laughable. And of all of today’s challenges that I am grateful I avoided, RESA (Resident Educator Summative Assessment) is at the top of the list.
When I graduated from Kent State in 1997, I took two Praxis tests to get my teaching license. That was it. I was official! As for additional requirements from the state, there was nothing more for me to do. As long as my principal was happy with my performance, I could continue teaching.
Compare that to today: a four year Resident Educator program with rules, and meetings, and videotaping, and student work samples, and on and on, all while young teachers are trying to get a handle on day-to-day lesson delivery. Wouldn’t it be better for kids if their teachers didn’t have to worry about the redundant RESA process?
I say redundant because these early career educators had plenty of tasks like RESA to complete during their student teaching experience. If they completed them satisfactorily then, why are they having to prove themselves to a testing company and the state once again?
Now I know that RESA went through an overhaul over the summer. For a while, some first and second year teachers were checking with me every day, hoping the whole program would be eliminated. But somehow — through a process that might best be communicated by a “School House Rock” cartoon — we ended up with a revised form of RESA that, among other changes, significantly cuts down on the tasks a third year RESA teacher must submit to the state.
Are my young colleagues and I jumping for joy? No. Not really.
Sure, we are glad to see a reduction in required tasks. Sure, we are glad that more of the RESA program is controlled at the local district level. We know it is a step in the right direction. However, it’s still a program that we see as mostly redundant and unnecessary.
For me, I see RESA changes like standardized testing changes. I’m glad the state has reduced the number of tests students must take, but do I think the state has fixed the problem of over-testing students? Absolutely not.
RESA is still a burden on local school districts. The cost to my district, just to facilitate year 3 of the Resident Educator Program, will be $15,000 this year. That may not be a huge percentage of our budget, but it is one more thing to pay for instead of other programs.
RESA will continue to frustrate educators, whether for its lack of timely, detailed feedback on assessments, or its illogical requirements for teachers shifting between old and new RESA requirements.
For example: Last year a teacher failed one section of her third year RESA tasks. She failed the section because the student work she submitted was deemed illegible by the evaluator. By Ohio law, she could not resubmit a clearer copy. This year, according to the revised RESA process, instead of having to redo the task, she’ll get mentoring at the local level to help her in that area. However, the only reason she didn’t pass had nothing to do with her competency as a teacher. What kind of mentoring can she possibly receive to address this issue?
On the subject of mentoring, I realize that keeping the RESA requirement for local school districts to provide mentors is a positive thing. I can’t imagine what I would have done without a veteran teacher working with me almost every day, helping me with curriculum and lesson delivery.
My hope for new teachers is that the Resident Educator program continues to evolve into something that truly helps them grow as professionals, instead of something cumbersome and frustrating. I want them to be able to look back in 20 years, with a sense of nostalgia for the beginning of their career, not with a shudder and shiver down their spine, as they recall the hoops they jumped through to complete the Resident Educator program.
Learn more about changes to Ohio’s Resident Educator Program
My Marathon Swim through RESA
Part I of II: Teacher Perspectives on the Resident Educator Summative Assessment
Read Part II: Is Revised RESA a Reason to Rejoice?
by Kate Gladieux, Spanish teacher of 5 years, Sylvania Education Association
The why… Teaching sailing
I got into the teaching profession because I grew up as a sailing instructor. I spent many days helping children overcome their fear of water and wind. I liked seeing the students conquer their fears. I decided to be a Spanish teacher for that same reason. Speaking in another language can often be very scary and seeing students break out of their shell and view the world in a whole new light was appealing to me. I’m very passionate about seeing my students succeed. As we all know, teaching is a marathon and not a sprint. This is my experience with required assessment for new teachers to move on to their professional license. It was like a marathon swim.
The before… The lifeboat is nearby!
It started out pretty grand. My first year as a Junior High Spanish teacher began just like any other — I’M JUST TRYING TO SURVIVE! Thankfully, I was assigned a mentor through the RESA (Resident Educator Summative Assessment) program. Yes, “resident” is meant to sound like pre-med students going through med school.
It was great! My mentor and I met regularly to discuss school issues. She helped me get through tough times, brainstorm about interesting situations with students, parents, and administration, and checked to make sure I knew my way around staff meetings. She was even there for me when my personal life got hard. We observed each other and learned things from each other. I felt I was growing AND helping someone else to grow. The first two years were about survival, but I had support and felt at least somewhat successful. The kids had learned something from me. And at least I had her as a lifeboat nearby.
The during… Plan. Re-plan. Teach. Grade. Reflect. Re-reflect. Eat? Sleep? Cry? Repeat!
Things quickly took a turn as I was no longer allowed to consult with my mentor during year 3 of RESA. I felt prepared and extremely confident, but I was treading water on my own. No life boat nearby this time. The support was gone and I must navigate myself to dry land by swimming what felt like a long, long distance. I could barely see land! The final assessment (marathon) had arrived. The days with lack of sleep, food, and exercise were taken over by the preparation of lessons, assessments, professional development, parent contact, among others that result in four long tasks to complete. I feel as though I could write a book on the time I spent attempting to present my best self to the Ohio Department of Education and some strange company called Educopia.
The long story short version includes these thoughts:
- I work hard on my lessons out of my passion to see my students succeed and often create my own. Now it seemed there was not a lot of room for error. We were to record two video clips of lesson cycles (one in the fall and the other before Feb. 15).
- The assessors (who were supposedly teachers from the Ohio Department of Education) use TWELVE rubrics to grade EACH lesson cycle. With each lesson we were asked an overwhelming amount of prompts to explain our reasoning for everything we did. We were not told what a passing grade was, but we were provided the 12 rubrics to base our responses.
- For each question, our responses had to be fewer than 200 words. I found it extremely difficult to get in everything they required on the rubrics with so few words. It started to feel like I needed to be a veteran, perfect performing teacher in order to pass. I am always up for a challenge and I like to better myself in my career, however the additional workload of RESA made day-to-day life a lot more stressful than the ordinary stress I was used to experiencing.
- There were four tasks in total. The other two include “Communication and Professional Development”, “Formative and Summative Assessment” and just as many rubrics. The time to 1) plan, 2) replan, 3) incorporate, 4) reflect, and 5) respond to the prompts took away countless days, weeks, and months from my actual unit planning — and of course that “life” I was trying to have. Trying to type responses with about 30 rubrics in mind during each of the steps for each task was like trying to swim the butterfly in four foot waves while being chased by piranhas. I came up with a great performance! But it was stressful, exhausting, and I never want to do it again. My “free time” thoughts throughout the evenings and weekends were consumed with “how can I make all of these rubrics fit together,” a jigsaw puzzle with 1000 pieces.
- I also spent countless hours double checking my documents and videotapes that I uploaded as evidence. There are many ways to be disqualified with these types of evidence co-decided upon by Educopia and the Ohio Department of Education. I studied every crevice of every piece of evidence, photo scanned and re-photo scanned, and whited out all Personal Identifiable Information from every parent, teacher, and student from every piece until oops I missed dinner again.
- As I approached the final submission date, I wondered if I would feel a sense of relief after hitting that “turn in” button on my computer. I swam really hard to reach the shore for the first six months of school. When I finally hit “submit” I did not feel relief. I did not make it safely to shore. In fact I was trapped just outside the surf with another four months to wait for my results. I would tread water until June 1st.
The after… The piranhas are still there.
School was ending and as you know it’s a busy time of year. I spent the first weekend finishing up my exam grades. I tried to relax and see the friends that I had neglected throughout the year because of RESA once school was finally over. I was even distracted enough that I almost forget about my RESA score, until I realized at 1:00 am on the day they would be posted, that they might already be online. In a panic I grabbed my phone to check the results. There they were! It wasn’t the result I was hoping for. The waves quickly drowned me, as I felt like the biggest failure on the planet. I called my old mentor along with some new ones to try to figure out what had happened and what I could do.
I did not fail the task because of my ability, but because the upload of a document appeared a little fuzzy to the assessor. I had been disqualified because one out of my 40 some pages of evidence had some light student handwriting that the assessor deemed “illegible” and therefore ungradable. The hours, days, and weeks I had spent on that particular task did not even get a second look because of a few lines. This became confusing to me because I had uploaded a TON of other evidence along with my responses to the many prompts and rubrics to showcase that I could accomplish that task. Couldn’t this be rectified with a resubmit? This did not ease my sense of failure as I thought to myself, “this is the biggest humiliation”. I now seem like an incompetent teacher because of a disqualification due to a software issue. This would mean I would need to retake this entire task the following year — and everyone would know! There were still a few piranhas chasing me and I could not relax.
Months later… Did I ever make it to shore?
It’s about 4 months after I first looked at my results. The first two months I could not shake the feeling of devastation. I kept having flashbacks of my evenings and weekends of stress and uncertainty. I relived the dread I had felt toward my profession, not the joy I felt with my mentor. In the last month, the RESA program was changed due to a large push of educators asking for the RESA program to be revoked. Unfortunately, many other new teachers experienced the same results that I had and they pushed for a change to be made.
Did this assessment truly prepare new teachers? Or did it discourage most from entering the already struggling occupation to begin with? The shame that I still feel must be clear from what I have shared here. I am still wading in the water, as the changes that were made put me in a sort of limbo for this school year. I have yet to be informed of what I must complete to obtain my next license. I am proud of the changes that have been made for upcoming teachers. Our voices were heard. I can only hope that this program gives new teachers the confidence and tiny bit of recognition that we so crave (am I doing a good job?).
The four tasks I was asked to complete have been spread out over four years and only one task will be the final assessment, while the others are able to be worked on together with a mentor. At least that’s the last I’ve heard. Even though I’m still wading through the water I am trying to be even more present with my students, friends, family, coworkers, bosses, and myself. After all, it will be me at the finish line everyone remembers, not my scanned PDFs, lessons, and 15 minute video clip.
Learn more about changes to Ohio’s Resident Educator Program
There’s still too much testing
Testing has long been misused to the point where it has lost any potential usefulness in the education of our nation’s children. Questions have been raised by parents and educators not only about the amount of testing that takes place, but also the developmental appropriateness. Then there’s the extent to which test results have created a very lucrative and profitable business market. See The Testing Industry’s Big Four and Pearson Rakes in the Profit.
Since at least 2011, there have been clear indications, cited by Dr. Linda Darling Hammond* in Getting Teacher Evaluation Right of significant errors in the use of Value Added Models in teacher evaluations. See http://bit.ly/getting-teacher-evaluation-right.
We do not need tests to tell us that poverty, inequitably funded schools, lack of access to technology, unaccountable charter schools, trauma, poor professional development, large class sizes and too much time on tests all negatively affect students.
More needs to be done to roll back mandatory assessments to a minimum federal level. That requires that we all advocate clearly and consistently with our elected officials using research and our personal experiences. The opportunity is here. Ask your local to conduct a testing audit. Adopt a resolution to limit vendor testing at the local level. Use all the tools at your disposal — phone calls, letters, emails, etc. — to persuade legislators, state board members and/or local board members on the issue. It’s going to take all of us.