P.S. 321 lphilli@schools.nyc.gov
180 Seventh Avenue • Brooklyn, New York 11215 • 718-499-2412 • FAX:
718-965-9605
•
Elizabeth Phillips, Principal • Beth Handman, Assistant Principal
•
Elizabeth Garraway, Assistant Principal • Ryan Bourke, Assistant Principal
April
19, 2012
Dr.
John B. King Jr.
New
York State Education Commissioner
New
York State Education Department
89
Washington Avenue
Albany,
New York 12234
Dear
Commissioner King:
I
urge you to carefully review this year’s state ELA exams. I have been principal for 13 years and have
read the tests each year. Although there
are always issues with selected questions, generally it is only one or two per
test that the assistant principals and I can’t quite agree on. I am genuinely shocked that with the
increased importance of state testing, there are so many more flawed questions than
ever before. I wish I could go into
detail here, but it violates test security for me to discuss the content of the
tests or the questions, which is why I feel so strongly that it is important
that you see these tests for yourselves.
In
particular, I would recommend that you carefully read through day one of the
fifth grade ELA. The reading passages
themselves are not too challenging—surprising since the passages in the 4th
grade test were not particularly easy and the Common Core Standards call for
more rigor. However, the questions were
nothing short of ridiculous. Several of
them were ambiguous and seemed designed only to trick children (and adults….the
answers were not clear to many of us).
Overall, the questions did not serve to determine whether or not
children had good reading comprehension skills. You could have excellent comprehension
skills and miss many questions. Although
to me the fifth grade was the most outrageous of the elementary school exams,
there were problems with the other exams too.
It is puzzling to me that in 2012 in New York State, a testing company
that won the lucrative contract to develop these exams did not think it was
important, on day one (the most heavily weighted day) of the 4th
grade exam, to include any selections that were in urban settings. Children who spend a lot of time outdoors and
in rural or suburban settings definitely will find “friendlier” texts, both
fiction and nonfiction. Take a look so
you can see what I mean. Fortunately,
day two is better in this regard.
I
would also urge you to actually do the listening section of grade 3 (first part
of day 2). Have someone read aloud this
incredibly thin, brief passage two times as required and then see if you can
answer the questions, including the short and extended responses, without
looking at the text (since kids are not permitted to look at this text). The questions are not really ones that you
can answer well from the text, even if it is sitting in front of you and you
can refer back.
Because
I am an elementary school principal, I do not see the middle school exams. However, a middle school principal from
outside of New York City wrote this to me after day one: “As I reviewed the exams
for the sixth through eighth grade yesterday, I was appalled. I felt that sixth
grade was the most difficult of the three exams, followed by eighth, with the
most fair exam being the seventh grade. There were so many questions that
contained answer choices where the ELA teachers could not decide which answer
would be 'best'. I felt terrible for my children, especially for my English
Language Learners and my special education students.” And 8th graders, who really can’t
be controlled in terms of not talking about the test, are having a field day on
the internet mocking what appears to be one of the most ridiculous selections ever
included on a test!
These
exams are so deeply flawed, and now so incredibly high stakes. The idea that teachers may lose their jobs
and schools (at least in New York City) may be closed based on how children do
on these problematic exams is incredibly upsetting and demoralizing to
educators. The fact that the state has
decided that these exams can never be made public just exacerbates the problem,
as the general public will never know how silly the exams are. And, to use an “added value” measure on
tests that are not consistently more difficult from year to year is another
serious problem.
I
understand that you are very busy, but given the importance of the state tests
at this time, it is absolutely critical that you analyze them carefully. If you agree with my assessment, I hope that
you will consider recommending to the State Legislature that given the flaws in
the tests, we are not yet ready to use them for high stakes decision making. I also hope you will consider making these exams
public after the test scoring is completed.
It is ironic that teachers’ individual ratings are made public while the
actual test that determines those ratings is not. I know that the state already has a long-term
contract with Pearson, but there is something seriously wrong with a testing
company that has such inappropriate questions and passages on such a high
stakes test.
Thank
you for considering all this. Please
feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Phillips
Principal
