Students who want education are punished

[Moses]

STUDENTS STAGE T-SHIRT TAKS PROTEST

(Ft. Worth Texas) Star-Telegram -- February 22, 2005
by Kelly Melhart

Haltom City --Maeghan Gibson is fed up with the state's standardized test.

Focus on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills is encroaching on classroom learning, Gibson said. Instead of having high-level discussions, the Haltom High School junior honors student said she spends too much time taking practice tests and filling out work sheets.

So she and a few friends waged a silent protest Monday morning outside the school by handing out pre-sold green T-shirts with slogans including "Walking standardized test score," "I am not in the equation of my education" and "Total Annihilation of Knowledge and Skills."

More than 60 students planned to wear the T-shirts today and Wednesday, during TAKS testing. But the T-shirts, deemed disruptive by Principal Allen Roberts, were confiscated until the end of the day, and the students were told not to wear them to school.

The students' efforts earned Gibson a trip to the principal's office, where she was anything but quiet.

"We are losing out on discussion and activities that would promote higher learning," Gibson said.

The shirts, she said, were intended to get the attention of legislators. A test may be needed, but perhaps it should be given once when students enter high school and again when they graduate "to see what kind of improvements they made," Gibson said.

"Instead of measuring how they fail, measure how they improve. That's a great way to do a test," she said.

During the hourlong discussion in his office, Roberts told Gibson that he would help the students write a letter to state Rep. Bob Griggs, the former Birdville superintendent, outlining their concerns about the test.

The students said they were pleased with Roberts' offer to help.
Roberts, who did not return a telephone call Monday, will also try to set up a meeting with Griggs, R-North Richland Hills, said Mark Thomas, Birdville spokesman.

The students are not in trouble, but the test will go on.

"The state mandates that we are going to give this test," Thomas said. "The students may not be happy under the pressure that they are feeling at this point. [bastard denigrates their interest in their own education and the students-- this is our suffocating educational "leadership"] We've got to follow the law."

The exit-level TAKS test, which students must pass to graduate from high school, is first given in the students' junior year.

The students say their protest was not aimed at Haltom High School, teachers or the Birdville district, but rather at state and national policies that require the standardized test.

"It's turned into a real 'Grab a work sheet, go sit down and you have to know this or you will fail' kind of thing. That's not good for long-term learning, in my opinion," junior Chase Robinson said. "We want our teachers to advance our knowledge, not a test."


www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/states/texas/northeast/10960662.htm

[Moses]

A SCHOOL EXAM'S CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR

New York Times -- February 24, 2005
by Ralph Blumenthal

Edinburg, Tex., Feb. 23-Macario Guajardo was one child left behind
Wednesday when his classmates took the all-important Texas statewide reading test for promotion to the sixth grade.

Actually, 11-year-old Macario, an unlikely crusader at 4-foot-11 and 93 pounds, wearing a Spider-Man T-shirt, left himself behind. He stayed out of school in protest against what he called "the big deal" of the testing program, which he said "keeps kids from expressing their imagination."

"I don't think I'm brave," Macario said at his home here in the Rio
Grande Valley. "Any kid could do this. It does take a little bit of guts."

Amid sharp critiques of the Texas-inspired federal education law called No Child Left Behind and its mandatory annual testing to measure school success or failure, a handful of students like Macario have taken the risky step of boycotting their tests. Some students say that the state tests, some of which predate the federal program, focus the learning process on test preparation.

"The protests are very significant; I just think they're nearing the breaking point," said Angela Valenzuela, an associate professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Texas and the editor of a collection of critical essays, "Leaving Children Behind," published recently by the State University of New York Press.

In San Antonio on Tuesday, a 14-year-old high school freshman, Mia Kang, refused to take the required reading test, known as the TAKS, for Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. Two years ago, another San Antonio freshman, Kimberly Marciniak, 15, made headlines when she boycotted the same reading test in its debut year.

Also in 2003, two Washington State high school sophomores refused to take that state's mandatory exams. In 2002, parents in Scarsdale, N.Y., organized a boycott of the eighth-grade test.

And in Stewart, Ohio, a high school senior, John Wood, 17, who has refused to take any statewide test since the seventh grade, has lost out on graduating this spring. That poses a quandary for his father, George, who is co-editor of "Many Children Left Behind," a 2004 book critical of the federal law, but is also principal of John's school and must keep him from graduating. George Wood said he supported his son, who has been accepted by two private colleges.

In Texas, students like Macario who do not pass a state assessment test can be promoted only if a panel of the child's parents, teachers and principal all agree to make an exception.

"The children are really hurting themselves," said Debbie Graves
Ratcliff, a spokeswoman in Austin for the Texas Education Agency, which oversees the state's school system. Ms. Ratcliff said that each year three million students from grades 3 to 11 took the assessment tests in, depending on their grade, math, reading, writing, English language arts, science and social studies. Boycotts are "a rarity," she said.

She defended the current tests as "harder, covering more grades and more subjects."

The current statewide testing system in Texas grew out of an
accountability movement fostered by Ross Perot in the 1980's. Jose Luis Salinas, superintendent of Macario's district, acknowledged that "a lot of critics feel we are teaching to the test and not to the child," adding, "As an individual I think a lot of that is true." But Mr. Salinas, with 32 years as an educator, said that "as the individual in charge, I must follow the law. This district stands behind the Legislature, regardless of what some of us may feel."

Alfie Kohn, a Boston speaker and writer on education and the author of "The Schools Our Children Deserve," said, "People are scared to death in Texas to speak out." He added, "The use of fear and coercion to raise test scores has teachers despondent."

Macario's parents, both educators, said they supported his action
without trying to influence him either way although, they said, he had been under such stress over the past two years from a succession of substitute teachers and previous assessment tests that he had developed a nervous tic.

His father, Francisco, 40, a former high school teacher, is a professor of education at the University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg. His mother, Yvonne, 40, teaches computer skills at Edinburg North High School and runs a local dance studio where Macario, his brother Daniel, 15, and sister Andrea, 13, study ballet. Daniel and Andrea are taking the assessment tests but say they applaud Macario's stance.

A year ago, to take to an educational conference, Mr. Guajardo made a videotape of Macario giving a critique of the school system. It seems to have planted a seed with Macario.

Last October, his father said, Macario, a student at Robert E. Lee
Elementary School, which has earned an "Exemplary" rating for its test scores, "sat me down and said: 'Dad, we need to talk. This is serious. I want to protest the TAKS test.' "

Mr. Guajardo said he told Macario to "let it rest for a month, to see if he would get over it."

But he did not, telling his father, as the boy recalled: "I think we should be doing other creative things that helps kids express their imagination. We don't do any art. We don't get enough recess."

Mr. Guajardo suggested that Macario poll his classmates. Macario, who had earlier been elected class representative, said that he asked his teacher if he could speak to them, and that "she was very supportive."

He made several speeches to the class. "I mentioned the stuff and why I disagreed with this law and how it keeps kids from expressing their imagination," he said.

Father and son also met with the principal, who, Macario said, tried to change his mind. But Macario said he insisted: "I'm still not going to take it. I had better stick to my beliefs."

[n]As word circulated last week with an article in the Spanish-language newspaper Rumbo and two reports on local television, supporters came forward. Frank M. Gonzales, a neighbor of the Guajardos and a former high school principal, said his son, a lawyer, would be ready to help with a lawsuit.[/b]

"I'm not against testing," Mr. Gonzales said, "I'm against how they're using it."

Macario said he wanted to be careful how he spent his day of protest. "I didn't want to do something that makes me look like I'm wasting time," he said. He ended up going with his father to visit his grandparents at their nearby farm in Elsa to play with their goats and sheep and try out some chili recipes - he is a pepper devotee. And he read about the abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Thursday was set aside for make-up tests for those who missed Wednesday and Macario said he would skip those, too, although he would attend school.

He had another idea, too. He asked his father if he could go to Austin, the state capital. "I want to talk to the government," he said.


Brad Doherty for The New York Times
Macario Guajardo, 11, helped his grandmother, Julia, with lunch Wednesday while boycotting a statewide test.

[Moses]

Daily Kos takes up cause of Texas Resistors

Does this mean Mia will never graduate?

It's a shame that more teachers don't or feel they can't act on what they know is a flawed and dangerous movement toward destroying public education in the eyes of the very public it serves.  <br>
...And it's simply a crime that there are lawmakers who had their hand in this knowing FULL WELL what was to come.  But their children are most likely tucked safely away at some private school while the rest of those who are less fortunate to have such resources on their side, are left behind in schools tagged as "failing" regardless of the exceptional staff and the extraordinary effort being made on their part (much of it, subversive!).

In reference to this news, a colleague of mine quoted Charles Beard, a 20th Century American historian, who, when asked to name the lessons of history, ended with "When it is dark
enough, you can see the stars."  <br>
These are dark times, and Mia Kang is a bright star.

Here's what you can do to support Mia and those who stand with her (i.e., those noted in the article):

  Write to Mia Kang at her school:
   MacArthur High School
   2923 E Bitters Rd.
   San Antonio, TX 78217

Write a letter to the editor of the San Antonio Express-News:

   Letters
   c/o Express-News
   P.O. Box 2171
   San Antonio, TX 78297-2171

Or fax to: [phone]   Include your daytime phone number for verification purposes only.

Email her principals, her teachers, the superintendent in support of Mia.  <br>
You can find all those connection on the school website:
www.neisd.net/mac/

Education is a civil rights issue.
Mia Kang is a hero in this movement.

[Moses]

They aren't going to take it anymore

Web Posted: 02/19/2005 12:00 AM CST

Jenny LaCoste-Caputo
Express-News Staff Writer

Mia Kang stared at the test sheet on her desk.

It only was practice. Teachers call it a "field test" to give them an idea of how students will perform on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.

But instead of filling in the bubbles and making her teacher happy, Mia, a freshman at MacArthur High School, used her answer sheet to write an essay that challenged standardized testing and using test scores to judge children and rank schools.

"I wrote about how standardized tests are hurting and not helping schools and kids," said Mia, who looks and acts older than her 14 years. "I just couldn't participate in something that I'm completely opposed to."

Mia isn't boycotting just the practice tests. The straight-A student said she'll refuse to take the state- and federally-mandated tests Texas teachers begin administrating next week.

The decision isn't a popular one. When Mia refused to take the practice test, two school guidance counselors came to the classroom to try to change her mind.

"They warned me that it would be a black mark on my record and that I should choose my battles wisely," Mia said.

Mia is the latest in a growing number of students nationwide who are showing their opposition to high-stakes testing by putting down their pencils.

These young people say the "drill and kill" mentality of test preparation is destroying their thirst for knowledge and creating a generation of students who are missing crucial lessons in critical thinking, creativity and discovery.

Frustration also grips teachers, but at least in Texas, it's students who are making their voices heard.

A fifth-grader in Edinburg also is refusing to take the test this year. And two years ago, Kimberly Marciniak, then a freshman at the North East School of Arts at Lee High School, received national attention for her decision to boycott. Students in Massachusetts and New York also have participated in organized boycotts.

Kimberly, now 17 and studying in New Zealand, said she has no regrets.

"I am definitely not an attention seeker and I was kind of unprepared for the attention it received," Kimberly said. "It really was a bit overwhelming, but I accomplished my goal of creating awareness and attention."

Texas has been gauging student progress with high-stakes standardized tests for the past decade. The state's accountability program, which ranks schools based on student progress, became the blueprint for President Bush's sweeping education reform law, labeled No Child Left Behind.

Under the federal mandate, schools must show progress in the overall student population, as well as in subgroups based on race, ethnicity, disability and economic status. The stakes are high, with some schools standing to lose students, money and autonomy if they fail to meet federal standards because too few students pass the tests.

There is risk for individual students, too. In Texas, third- and fifth-graders must pass the test to be promoted to the next grade, and high school students must pass all four sections of the test — English, math, social studies and science — to earn a diploma, regardless of what their report card says.

Kimberly said she won't take the test when she returns to the state next year even though it could cost her a diploma. She said wagering a child's future on the outcome of one test is unconscionable.

"Each year our country wastes billions of dollars producing and distributing these tests when we could spend that time and money finally giving teachers a salary they deserve or helping schools build classrooms and libraries," she said. "We have third-graders in our state that are being called failures. You call any child a failure and they are bound to feel like a failure."

Macario Guajardo, a fifth-grader at Robert E. Lee Elementary in Edinburg, said the test puts too much pressure on youngsters. For the first time this year, fifth-graders in Texas must pass the reading and math portions of the test or be held back a grade, with very few exceptions.

"I'm doing this for myself, and all kids too, so they won't have to be going through pressure from the TAKS," Macario said.

Macario's father, Frank Guajardo, encouraged his son to boycott the test.

"Mac was physically sick for a long time," he said of his son's test anxiety.

Guajardo, an assistant professor at the University of Texas Pan American in the department of education leadership, said one test should not determine whether a child can move ahead in school.

"Personally, I don't think we need to get rid of the tests, but it would be very useful to me if we were to follow something like the Rhode Island or Maine state law," he said. "In Rhode Island, they don't allow the test to count more than 10 percent of the criteria of how a child should be passed to the next grade."

Richard Middleton, superintendent for North East School District, which is home to both Mia and Kimberly's schools, said he's not surprised by the backlash against testing, but he hopes students weigh the consequences carefully.

"In both cases, it's not a matter of whether these students could pass or not. They're very, very capable students," Middleton said. "I just hope they don't restrict opportunities in the future by doing this."

But even Middleton understands the frustration.

"There is a real punitive flavor to all of this," he said. "If you're testing to be diagnostic, to identify weaknesses and work on them, that's one thing. But all we hear about is dropping the hammer on schools."

Test preparation dominates classes, Mia says, squeezing out time for meaningful discussion or creative projects.

"These tests don't measure what kids really need to know, they measure what's easy to measure," she said. "We should be learning concepts and skills, not just memorizing. It's sad for kids and it's sad for teachers too.

Mia's mother, Jennifer Radlet, said she supports her daughter.

"She has educated us on the whole issue for years now. I admire her for following through with this," Radlet said.

Radlet, in the midst of a career switch after being a stay-at-home mom for the past several years, is earning her teaching certification. She hopes she can be the kind of teacher who engages students, but she's not sure she can in the test-frenzy environment that dominates America's public schools.

"Children learn when they are allowed to discover things and grasp concepts," she said. "Teachers today have to motivate kids to learn and pass standardized tests at the same time. I don't know if that's possible."

The stakes are likely to get higher for Texas schools. House leaders are proposing sweeping changes to the state's accountability plan. The plan includes allowing the state to close or take over schools with consistently low test scores.

Alfie Kohn, a Boston-based education commentator and author of "The Case Against Standardized Testing," said the accountability movement that has permeated every corner of the nation is riddled with flaws. Chief among them, according to Kohn, are culturally biased tests that are a better measure of a child's wealth than his or her academic potential.

"Standardized tests are exquisite standards of measure of the size of the houses near your school. They're purporting to tell you about school quality and it really tells you about affluence," he said. "Tell me how many kids you have on free and reduced lunch, if their families have a car and if they do, what kind, and I will predict their test scores with frightening accuracy."

A MacArthur High teacher said Mia is showing courage by standing up for what she believes.

"We are constantly being told that character education is an important component of teaching a child," said the teacher, who asked not to be identified. "Clearly this child has learned her values. She's developing her character — a strong, honest character — and she's following through with it.

"Mia threatens people because Mia actually is evaluating what she believes in and is applying an intelligent response to an irrational situation."

Mia doesn't plan to take the TAKS test ever. Like Kimberly, she doesn't intend to participate even though it means her diploma is on the line. Both girls have stellar academic records and hope colleges see beyond one test.

"If my high school diploma means I passed one test in the 11th grade, then that's pretty meaningless," Mia said.

---

[e-mail]

Staff Writer Macarena Hernandez contributed to this report.

[Moses]

11-Year-Old Boy Refuses to Take the Test
by Kathryn Walson

EDINBURG - A local boy's protest of the state assessment tests has drawn national media attention.

Saying too much emphasis is placed on the Texas Assessment for Knowledge and Skills exams, fifth-grader Macario Guajardo is refusing to take this year's TAKS reading, math and science tests.

"In fourth grade, I was under a lot of pressure for the TAKS, and I decided I wanted to something about it," he said. "Teachers focused on TAKS, and it wasn't fun for us anymore. Sometimes we had to stay in from recess to prepare for it. It was a lot of worksheets."

With his parents' permission, the student who makes As and Bs skipped school Wednesday to miss the reading test. He declined to take a makeup exam Thursday.

State law says students must pass TAKS tests to pass each grade level. In cases of TAKS failures, a committee of parents, teachers and a principal must decide whether the student can advance.

Macario, 11, has already appeared in articles in The New York Times. Network TV news stations including NBC and Telemundo have also contacted his parents and school officials.

Macario said he hasn't received any bad vibes from teachers or students and that many seem to support him.

Although he grew up hearing his father's complaints about TAKS, the protest idea was entirely Macario's, he said.

"I decided I want to protest it. I'll pulled my dad aside and said I wanted to something," he said.

Macario's parents are behind him 100 percent, said Francisco Guajardo, assistant professor in the University of Texas-Pan American's educational leadership program.

"He stopped having fun at school. For me, it just broke my heart to see my son frustrated, upset, even angry," he said.

Guajardo previously taught at the Edcouch-Elsa school district, where he continues to direct the Llano Grande Center for Research and Development. Macario's mother, Yvonne, teaches computer skills at Edinburg North High School.

Guajardo said he probably influenced Macario's opinions.

"We've been talking about this since Mac was a little baby. Mac grew up with this," he said. "I like the TAKS. . I'm not in support of the way it's done. The whole school is organized around . the test. Teaching to the objective on the test - that's pervasive (in the area)."

TAKS scores don't improve graduation rates or SAT scores, Guajardo said.

Robert E. Lee Elementary has an exemplary designation - the state's highest rating. But the achievement comes at a cost, Guajardo said.

Teachers have little time to encourage students in imaginative, creative work. Macario hasn't once had an art class in his elementary years, he said.

Although the protest is unprecedented in the area, Edinburg school district officials will treat it step-by-step according to the Texas Education Code, said Superintendent J.L. Salinas.

They're considering Macario's Thursday test skip a failure. If he declines to take future tests and retests, officials will treat them as failures, as well, Salinas said.

A grade placement committee of his parents, teachers and principal would decide whether he can advance to middle school.

Macario said he's confident the committee will pass him.

He said he'd like to see commitees - not TAKS scores - determine whether all students pass, based on success in areas other than state tasting. And he hopes the national media attention will help him achieve his goal.

"If I'm able to change people's minds around the Valley, think of how many people's minds I could change across the nation," he said.

Salinas said he's in communication with Macario's parents and isn't worried about the way failing scores could affect the school district's reports.

"I support that the child has done a lot of this on his own. That speaks well of the child," he said.

"We always take pride in the development of individual thinkers. . I respect individuals that take a stand for something."

Macario said his fifth-grade teachers are doing a better job of making class interesting this year than last, but he has other Valley students on his mind.

"I'm doing this for all kids, so kids will be happy when they go to school, so kids will want to go to school," he said.

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- Kathryn Walson
Valley Morning Star & Center for Rural Strategies
2005-03-05
www.valleystar.com/localnews_more.php?id=56929_0_19_0_M

[Moses]

Student Anxiety Over TAKS Concerns Parents


As students hunkered down for the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills this week, a small group of parents busied themselves lobbying the Legislature to reduce testing in public schools because they say the exams are causing students too much grief.

"The way it is now, they're tested and tested and tested," says Chantelle Heiskell, mother of an Amarillo fifth grader who formed the Organization of Proud Parents Opposing State Enforced TAKS, or OPPOSE TAKS.

After switching her 10-year-old son from private to public schools last year, Heiskell was shocked by the anxiety the promotion-based test caused him this spring and its importance in the classroom.

"The test teaches them good things," she said, "but the pressure surrounding the test is so much that children are not able to think."

Heiskell's cause appears unlikely to win favor this session as leading state lawmakers propose greater accountability measures in both House and Senate school finance plans.

Yet even the group's ally on the House public education committee, state Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Rosenberg, disagrees with their name. As the author of two plans that would eliminate the second and third TAKS attempts and make it easier for schools to promote students who fail the tests, Olivo supports the exams but wants the test to be used as one measure of promotion, not the major factor.

Because many children fret over the high-stakes nature of the test, some members of the Waco chapter of Parents for Public Schools are concerned about the testing this week, said Kris Olson, the group's executive director.

"My sense is that parents understand the need for testing as a way of monitoring what students are learning and where they need extra help," Olson said. "The anxiety and the concern from parents comes from students being so worked up about a test."

Noting that the Legislature is unlikely to pass plans offering any relief to students, some parents want to see schools try to lower the anxiety level associated with the TAKS without new laws, Olson said.

"We understand the need for testing as a monitoring and focusing tool to help our students learn. We wish that everybody didn't get so worked up over it," Olson said, referring to the sentiments she's hearing from parents.

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[e-mail]

— Dan Genz
Waco Tribune-Herald
2005-04-23
tinyurl.com/aezd9

[Moses]

Texas Fined for Defying No Child Left Behind Provision


Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has fined Texas about $444,000 for defying a provision of the No Child Left Behind Law.

For two years, Texas has exceeded the federal cap on how many students can be given an easier exam instead of the rigorous Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.

In a stern letter released last evening, Spellings said the Texas Education Agency has not shown why she should not withhold the money from the agency's 2004 federal grant. TEA officials could not be reached for comment on the fine.

Texas Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley has said progress by special education students cannot be accurately measured unless the tests they take are tailored to their abilities.

But critics say the state is trying to inflate test scores by exempting students who otherwise might perform poorly on the TAKS.

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— Associated Press
News8Austin.com
2005-04-23
www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=135825