President Barack Obama

October [day], 2012

Dear President Obama:

I have a [child’s grade and age]  in public school in New York City. Here is how Race to the Top (RTTT) and it’s endless amount of high stakes testing has affected my family. I have seen that [my child (or) children at our school], [his or her] classmates, their teachers and the school administrators are demotivated and unduly stressed.  This is a time in which New York state has cut the budget for the arts, for libraries, for class size reduction and Secretary Duncan has not spoken out against state laws that strip teachers of any job protections. My [child (or) children] is fortunate to attend a wonderful school, yet to me, this is a dark time in public education.

I want for my child and for all public schoolchildren what students at Sidwell Friends and Chicago Lab School have–a rich curriculum and teacher-made tests, small classes, and good facilities for teaching and learning. Involved parents and school administrations  are striving for this, but testing is standing in our way.

[My child (or) Elementary school children across NY State] endured through the spring 2012 ELA and math standardized tests for grades 3-8. I am asking you, as you run for reelection, to rethink the need for the dramatic increase in the length of the tests and the over reliance on them for high-stakes decisions affecting students, teachers, and schools. The tests are can only be used as a snapshot of the kids are doing on those particular days; not to measure teacher effectiveness, nor student growth. But they are being misused for those very goals.

The children felt intense pressure to do well on the tests, knowing that their teachers’ and schools’ evaluations rely on them. The fourth graders in our district knew that their scores affect 6th grade placement in a district with a shortage of middle-school seats. The April tests were too long: ninety minutes a day over six days…a total of nine hours. For some grades, the tests are twice as long as two years ago because of embedded field-test questions. For the first time, they were included statewide.  Our children had to endure confusing questions, many of which did not “count.” We are raising kids to be informed citizens, not unpaid, unknowing labor for Pearson, Inc. Some children could not sleep, some vomited, some were anxious, knowing that “my teacher could be fired if I don’t do well on this test.” This is too much pressure to put on children as young as eight and nine.  It is very difficult to opt out because school and teacher ratings are based upon a high percentage of tests being taken.

Pearson has a $32 million contract with New York State to provide tests over five years. Not included in that price is scoring the essays, which is done by working NYC teachers who get pulled away from their classrooms for multiple days. On top of test prep and the two weeks of testing, there is further disruption to learning when teachers are pulled out of class. Schools that cannot somehow cover the loss of their teachers with in-house staff must either pay for substitutes or pay a “buyout” fee, which is usually too high for strapped school budgets.  For example, a large D3 elementary school will lose 6 teachers for 2 days and 9 teachers for 3 days. To keep them at school would have cost $31,500; instead the school is spending about $7,000 on substitutes. New York State should cover these costs, not our schools. Our school budgets have been cut, yet we, not the state of NY, are paying to implement Race to the Top!

Now it is fall. [I have my child’s scores (or) Test scores have been released], but one cannot read the questions and cannot find out which answers children answered wrong in order to help them. The test has not benefited the children, parents or teachers. Then why did he have to take it?

It is reasonable to expect that there will be student assessments and teacher evaluations, HOWEVER making 20-40 percent of the teacher evaluations based on the test scores, as done in New York State, is unreasonable. The National Academy of Sciences committee, commissioned by Congress in 2009, concluded that tests “have not increased student achievement….There are little to no positive effects of these systems overall on student learning.”

Why is the US DOE not taking the advice of this illustrious committee, instead having Race to the Top force these high-stakes tests on so many students?  RTTT deadlines should be rolled back.  These tests are especially damaging for children who are underprivileged or have special needs, our most vulnerable students. More experienced teachers will not want to teach testing grades, and will request to teach younger grades, to avoid being evaluated in this manner.  In addition, tests with such high stakes cause a dumbing-down of the curriculum and are an obstacle to talented individuals choosing teaching as a career and staying in the profession. As a local example, an eighth grade math teacher at The Anderson School, one of the top public schools in New York City, was ranked as the WORST eighth grade math teacher in NYC, because of last year’s standardized tests, and yet her students passed high-school level state Regents exams!  This excellent educator left teaching.

I want tax dollars to go toward strengthening pre-K programs, anti-poverty programs, class-size reduction and implementation of rich curriculum, NOT to for-profit companies such as Pearson. A pilot program for the “value-added” model  for evaluating teachers via testing should take place over a few years’ time; not get rushed through, as is taking place in New York state to meet RTTT deadlines. Next year’s New York state testing schedule has to be cut back.

You have my support for the upcoming election. My hope is that once you are reelected, that you will listen to the concerns of parents and educators across the country, and see that using high-stakes tests for “accountability” has unintended negative consequences for our children. I am truly fearful for my child’s future and our future as a nation if RTTT is allowed to continue.

Sincerely,

[name]
[mailing address]
[email address]