Donna Perry: Passing the Bullying Test

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Donna Perry, MINDSETTER™

There’s been more interest in the test results of Rhode Island’s public high school students by some statewide figures and certain legislators in recent days than has been seen around here in some time. The parade of legislators eager to join forces with a student group that’s been propped up—and some consider are merely props---of the harshest critics of state Education Commissioner Deb Gist, is going to grow apparently in coming days.

NECAP Publicity Stunt

Three more legislators will take part in the “NECAP Publicity Stunt: Part 2”, as they sit this weekend for a mock test taking of the highly controversial standardized exam. The growing clamor around what Board of Education Chairperson Eva-Marie Mancuso has correctly called “a publicity stunt” took on new twitter related twists over the past few days that revealed the challenge to the test has more to do with the desire by forces in some quarters to undermine the Commissioner at all costs in her unwavering determination to raise the standard for earning a RI high school diploma.

No one is disputing the wider education community has a right to varying views on the choice of the NECAP, as it’s presently designed, to be a large determining factor for a student’s eligibility to receive a diploma. It’s true other states have resorted to the use of other standardized tests rather than the NECAP, but it’s also important to note that many assistance provisions are offered to all students, second chances at the test are given, and only partial proficiency is required to meet the threshold for a diploma. That the test is in dispute is clear.

Engaging in a respectful, fact driven public debate over a testing policy is fine and appropriate. But what has occurred in this state over the past week is quite something else. What is very disturbing is that the larger lesson being taught certain groups of the state’s high school students, particularly a pair from Warwick’s Veterans Memorial High School, is that not only is it ok to tweet out profanity laced comments and criticism against a high ranking education official, but you will gain the support and encouragement of certain other adults by doing so.

ACLU getting in on the action

ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown’s arguments against standardized testing generally and the NECAP particularly, may hold some merit but they would be viewed with more credibility if he had not been such a willing participant in the test charade now underway. Furthermore, his rush to chastise Warwick school officials when they declared that the students engaged in the twitter bullying against Gist violated the school’s code of conduct and issued suspensions, only re-enforced the perception that student respect for high ranking school officials is unimportant to certain circles of adults. A troubling lesson plan indeed.

Perhaps it would be useful in the days ahead to not lose sight of a separate news story that has been dueling for coverage recently. Incorporated into the findings of fraud and waste in the now released Fraud and Waste Report compiled by Ken Block, was the striking data on the fast growing percentages of Rhode Islanders needing to rely on the SNAP program (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) or food stamps.

The federal government provided Rhode Island with some $25 million for food stamps just last month alone—to be distributed to over 180,000 of the state’s residents, stretching from Woonsocket to Warwick.

SNAP program to nearly 20% of the population

Households representing one in five Rhode Islanders are now receiving the assistance, and the data showed the program has grown significantly over the past six years since the start of the recession. But while other states clearly have moved into recovery, as personal income growth for residents in others states slowly bounces back, the data for our state reflects a more troubling trend: Overall, Rhode Island is a state where poverty is growing—not prosperity. Despite the claims by some that the growth in the SNAP program is tied more to the recession, a discomforting article by the Washington Post seemed to capture Rhode Island’s looming larger problem, as it depicted the food stamp cottage industry economy of Woonsocket that jolts into high gear at the first of every month as the estimated one third of city residents receives their SNAP benefits.

What often is lost in the continuing coverage and discussions about the state’s unemployment problem is that a weak job supply market is only one part of the story. The root causes of our high unemployment has a lot to do with what Deb Gist has championed since arriving in Rhode Island – despite the determination by some of the most powerful forces in the wider educational establishment to reject her mantra.

There is indisputable evidence that there’s a widening gap between the opportunities of today’s job market (being seized by other states)—and Rhode Island’s ability to turn out the type of highly skilled and properly educated workforce to meet them. A certain proficiency level in math, which seems to be at the center of the NECAP test firestorm, is one component of the “STEM” academic equation, and it’s indisputably an important one. The ongoing campaign against the test and the Commissioner will not change the reality that, as the Board of Education’s Ms. Mancuso asserted, the state’s students need adults who are preparing them to be successful in college and the workplace beyond. Merely passing a bullying test against education authorities just won’t be enough out in the real world.

Donna Perry is Executive Director of RI Taxpayers
www.ritaxpayers.com

Enjoy this post? Share it with others.

Email to a friend Permalink

Comments:

Malachi Constant

7:40am on Thursday, March 21, 2013

Did that even make sense? Wow...I've read some weird things on this web site before...but wow. Talk about someone in need of remediation.....

Drew M

11:01am on Thursday, March 21, 2013

Malachi, what are you seeing that I am not? I thought that was an excellent column. This sort of summed it up for me:

"The root causes of our high unemployment has a lot to do with what Deb Gist has championed since arriving in Rhode Island – despite the determination by some of the most powerful forces in the wider educational establishment to reject her mantra."

Monique Chartier

1:25pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013

One of the many factors that contributes to Rhode Island's bad business climate (and its poor economy and corresponding high unemployment rate) is an undereducated work force.

Accordingly, it is the height of irony, not to say counter-productivity, to criticize and fight the ed commissioner's attempts to raise the quality of education that our children receive. All the more so when the student gets four tries at it and help along the way.

http://www.anchorrising.com/barnacles/015266.html

Gov- stench

1:49pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013

I have always had a bone to pick with these school districts, or as I call them “factories.” When a district has a dropout rate approaching over 20% of a class, there is something very wrong here. Where are the teachers and the guidance counselors, but better still, where the hell are the parents? They bring these young people into this world, they are not pets! They deserve a decent education so they won’t end up on the welfare rolls or worst yet, in prison.

I have seen first hand a sampling of the lower 1/3 of a graduating class in one of my tech classes. These young adults could not figure out the symbol of a fraction on the blackboard!! What does that tell you about our public school system? Reading and Math skills were NILL. The districts are complacent in just passing these students through the system and letting them fall through the cracks. The high school diploma is worthless today - it has no value other than getting you into a community college or four year college or university. The real crime is seeing close to 40% of a freshman class at CCRI bomb out in the first year indicates a real problem with the system.

Students are not being driven to learn the lessons. Where is the homework? Where is the parent involvement in helping their children with their lessons? Oh, their too busy working to make ends meet! So much for that liberal agenda......

Government is not answering the call by creating more commissions, merging more boards, executing more studies and so forth. They need to get into the trenches, visit these schools, monitor these classes and see first hand just what is going on with these factories of learning!

The NECAP tests, for what it is, only evaluates the student for that one day. It is a benchmark to see what the student has retained over the years. If the sponge is still dry, then perhaps there has been no guidance and who’s fault is that.

The publicity stunt with adults taking this test is a joke. Adults that are working have not retained most of what was taught in their high school years, unless you are a high school teacher. Even the college professors have acknowledged that. Quoting the President of Rodger Williams College, “ For students who are college-bound, failing to become proficient with the high-school math curriculum is a prelude to a very short college career!” He is absolutely correct. I ask the question “how long will private industry continue to provide remedial courses just to get these potential employees up to speed to hire them?

The product is defective and we can blame those in government for letting the bar hit the ground!

barry schiller

5:05pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013

I too thought Donna's comments on the Necap test were fair, balanced. We do need standards, accountability, assessments, and motivation for students, teachers, and education officials, but from what I have heard, NECAP is likely not be the appropriate measure.

I don't blame students and Necap opponents for doing a "publicity stunt" - how else could they get their views out? But that said, I don't see what it proves. Adults long out of achool and not using or studying math (or biology, chemistry, French etc) can hardly be expected to waltz in and score well.

The math community is somewhat divided about what algebra skills to expect from high school grads. I for one would stess "quantitative literacy" (percents, large numbers, using formulas, reading graphs and some descriptive staistics, rate of growth...) but not higher algebra (factoring, quadratic equations, algebraic fractions, trig...)

Jean Ann Guliano

10:33pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013

I have always found Donna’s pieces to be extremely well written and insightful. This one is no different.

As for the ‘Take the Test’ action by the Providence Student Union; of course it was for publicity. Sometimes, people feel the need to do something provocative in order to draw attention to their issue. This is particularly true if people feel frustrated and powerless due to the policies and actions of those in power.

Many of us who oppose utilizing the NECAP results as a requirement for graduation desperately want to see students achieve and be successful (especially those with socioeconomic challenges). Yet, there is a tremendous sense of frustration and outrage that this is the wrong way to do it. As testing companies, researchers and educators have stated, the NECAP, in and of itself, is not an accurate measurement of a student’s abilities. Working for months to achieve partial proficiency on the NECAP, while still not reading at grade level (or, in some cases 5 grades below grade level), doesn’t result in accountability. Do we really just want students to pass the NECAP or do we want students to know how to read, write and think critically?

As Donna points out, it certainly is frustrating to know that waste and fraud has been occurring for years in our state and nothing has been done. To his credit, Ken Block became so frustrated he decided to do something about it. It is equally frustrating to see something like the Master Lever being preserved even though it was created by political parties “as a means of imposing organization control over the selection of party candidates.” Or, how do we draw attention to the fact that our political leaders can arbitrarily nullify a vote taken in committee (on ethics no less) just because it doesn’t suit their priorities? These things seem to happen all the time in our state and it’s frustrating when we can’t do anything about it. As the saying goes, ‘desperate times call for desperate measures.’

In a way, the profanity laced tweets by the Warwick students, however inappropriate, could also be viewed as a desperate measure born out of frustration. Something that Commissioner Gist recognized as indicated in her admirable response.

The NECAP issue isn’t going away. Quite frankly, the ‘Take the Test’ action, aka ‘publicity stunt’ might seem mild in October if thousands of juniors and seniors decide to put down their pencils (as they have done in Seattle and other parts of the country) and ‘opt-out’ or refuse to take the NECAP. At that point, I’m certain someone will take notice.

Mike Govern

10:37am on Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Funny no one looks into how these schools are failing boys...