Less Testing For Now, But Worse Testing Situations? Arne Duncan's "WTF" Week

Hot off news support for the Common Core State Standards is plummeting across multiple demographics, but especially among teachers, Arne Duncan has suggested maybe the assessments -- money-makers planned from the beginning as part of the CCSS/ed reform package -- associated with CCSS are causing too much stress for students and need to be delayed for a while. As well, they're stressing teachers. 

According to The New York Times' Motoko Rich, "Duncan announced on Thursday that states could delay the use of test results in teacher-performance ratings by another year, an acknowledgment, in effect, of the enormous pressures mounting on the nation’s teachers because of new academic standards and more rigorous standardized testing."

"Well, maybe not just yet. But eventually. By which I mean 'now' for many of you and your students."

While he's quoted as saying, "too much testing can rob school buildings of joy, and cause unnecessary stress," there is no evidence Duncan seeks to disentangle dubious, unfield-tested standards with no research base behind them from Value Added Models of assessment tying teachers' job security to students' scores on standardized tests, also of which have dubious (and conflicting) research. 

So, my guess what we're seeing here is a time grab. But not for teachers. Not for children. 

Perhaps within the next year or two some Gates-funded studies on Value Added Models of teacher assessment will yield results amenable to Duncan's long-term goal of exactly more of the same.

What's more, today, a single news cycle after Duncan's not-so-reconsideration, The Washington Post's Valerie Strauss reports not only are developmentally-inappropriate standards being implemented this year, but many will see such testing integrated into Kindergarten.

"Bill Gates, Arne Duncan, and President Obama say I'm not 'college-ready!'"

Even among those who think the CCSS are acceptable, there is great concern CCSS early childhood standards and expectations are especially poorly-conceived and even harmful. But, just as Duncan is saying it might be time to hold off on so many tests, some 5 and 6 year old's will be subjected to end-of-grade style final assessments.

And in at least one state, those scores will be part of teachers' own assessment scores (VAM). 

As terrible as it is to test students this young, imagine having your salary and job security based on how well a class of Kindergartners does on tests based on curricula known to be beyond their developmental abilities. 

Rest assured, Duncan's "reprieve" isn't a chance for teachers and students to catch their breath.

 More than likely, if an intermittent break from VAM and high-stakes tests comes, once the break is over, teachers and students and research money will have been used to reinforce their utility based on the definitions of "success" and "failure" the ed reformers continue to control and manipulate.