Transparency as an idea seems to be very popular today. I’ve heard it cropping up on political shows for quite some time now. Media pundits are calling for all kinds of transparency in government, and it seems to be a very noble ideal, something to aspire to perhaps. What if it was the actual answer to some of our school problems with high stakes testing and we’re taking it for granted?
I recently spent time at a Texas middle school for my internship during my grad program in the MAT@USC. I was disgusted by the school climate in regards to high stakes testing, the blame that was placed on teachers and the lack of uniform accountability at all levels of the school, including parents.
The principal took on the attitude that the failing test scores were the fault of the teachers. The teachers decided that they were not receiving enough support from the parents and the students became angry as their needs were basically ignored while “Mom and Dad” were busy fighting. I was the “outside perspective” and I could see what the data was really telling us.
When I analyzed the test scores from the past year, then compared the scores to the current results that were just released, nothing has changed significantly. The English Language Learners (ELL) were still failing both the writing and the reading comprehension portions of the state test, the Special Education students were still failing either one or both sections as well, and all of the honors students passed without exception. Math and science was the same spread: honors students passed without question, the “regular kids” passed and failed along a bell curve and the ELL and Special Education students failed, as usual.
Why then the sudden uproar after this round of testing? Why all the blame, anger and resentment? As of next year, as a result of this round of state testing, this middle school will be labeled “unacceptable.” This blight will stay attached to this middle school for the next two years, even if their test scores improve next year.
Last year the state legislature decided to change the way student’s test scores were reported. In the past ELL and Special Education students were not counted in amongst the general student population. In other words, they did not matter. It was as if those students did not exist within the school. They showed up everyday, received instruction and were given report cards, but the school was not held accountable for the results of their “learning.”
Now schools must count the scores of all of their students in order to receive a grade of “acceptable” or “exemplary” and everyone is feeling the shockwaves of this quake of change.
How can transparency help? Since fear is the root cause of all problems, transparency, and therefore honesty, is the cure.
If teachers, parents, administrators and students are all able to talk freely and honestly about the problems they see in their school then everyone involved can begin to make effective changes. When teachers are too scared to talk to anyone outside of their school or when parents are shut out of the conversation about their own school, then the students lose. How can a school receive information about new techniques and approaches that can benefit ELL and Special Education students if no one is allowed to acknowledge there is a problem? The problem has existed for years, perhaps decades. It is only an obvious problem now due to high stakes testing being attached to accountability standards and people’s paychecks.
High stakes testing is a fact of school life in America at the moment. We can either complain and blame or we can use the data to solve the problems. In 2000, Jie-Qi Chen, Renee Salahuddin, Patricia Horsch and Suzanne L. Wagner published an article in Urban Education titled: Turning Standardized Test Scores into a Tool for Improving Teaching and Learning : An Assessment-Based Approach about using testing results to inform teaching practices and curricula choices in order to improve test scores. Their idea was based in a student-centered curriculum modified to respond to what the testing data revealed about the students.
When analyzing the testing data for this Texas middle school a few suggestions for improvement can be made immediately. First, implement a comprehensive, full-time bi-lingual program for ELL students and test results will improve. Second, de-track all core classes i.e. language arts, math and science and begin using a Socio-cultural learning theory to approach lesson design and delivery. Third, increase mentoring and tutoring support for struggling students, including Special Education students. And finally, bring back the PTO and expand the idea of parental involvement to include anything parents are willing or able to do for their children and their school.
Being transparent means being honest about what test scores mean for the school, the students, the teachers and how important the parents are for everyone’s success. Administrators need to use the test scores as a tool, not a goal. And teachers need to be brave enough to speak up, often and loudly, in order to engage their community and gain much needed support.
Transparency, like love, is an action word. It requires real people, dialoging honestly about real issues and finding real solutions through compromise and hard work. I personally witnessed the teachers at this middle school working as hard as they could to help their students succeed. Maybe someone should be transparent about how underappreciated teachers are in America and what can be done to support them. That would be a good beginning towards positive change.
