Council members back anti-standardized testing revolt
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
"If we have an activist teacher in the school trying to get parents to sign this, that's very troublesome."
Heidey Contrera (left) signs a letter opting her daughter, Feltonville student Natalie Contrera, out of testing.
Philadelphia City Council members María Quiñones-Sánchez, Mark Squilla and Jannie Blackwell issued a statement this afternoon backing the parents at the Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences who are opting their children out of standardized tests.
"Until we put some limits on this obsession with testing students, we will see protests like that at Feltonville," said Councilwoman Quiñones-Sánchez in the statement. "We stand with families who are making the choice they believe is best for their children."
Parent and teacher activists this week announced that Feltonville parents had signed letters opting 17-percent of the middle school's students out of taking the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) and other assessments, City Paper reported on Wednesday. School District of Philadelphia spokesperson Fernando Gallard told City Paper that Feltonville's principal had not yet received any opt-out letters. But he did say that principal reported that a staff member may have been focusing opt-out efforts on English language learners and special education students. Gallard said that might be a problem.
"If we have an activist teacher in the school trying to get parents to sign this, that's very troublesome," Gallard said. "On the face of it, it would just be highly unusual and, I would say, inappropriate. What's driving this teacher ... beside his or her own belief that testing is bad? I'd be concerned that she's targeting ESOL [English for Speakers of Other Langauges] and special ed students, given that they are the most vulnerable of students."
Councilwoman Quiñones-Sánchez, in a pointed response, stated that "over-reliance on standardized testing disproportionately harms our most vulnerable students."
High-stakes standardized tests like the PSSAs have been become controversial in recent years because they are used not only to assess student learning but the success or failure of individual teachers and entire schools. As a result, a growing portion of the school year is dedicated to testing and test preparation.
Critics complain that non-tested subjects like social studies, art and music get squeezed from the curriculum, and that the tests cause students unnecessary stress. In addition, the tests' high stakes have contributed to cheating scandals in Philadelphia and other districts around the country.
And testing goes beyond the PSSAs.
Keystone Exams are slated to become a requirement for high school graduation statewide beginning with the class of 2017, prompting criticism that the state was imposing tougher requirements on students, teachers and schools at a time when Gov. Tom Corbett and Republican legislators had imposed massive funding cuts to education. In December, City Council passed a resolution calling on the School District of Philadelphia and School Reform Commission to analyze the impact of testing, minimize testing and to seek a waiver from the Keystone exams.
