This document is setup to make it easy for you to have your voice heard with regard to High Stakes
Testing in our school.
THIS DOCUMENT INCLUDES:
 A sample letter that you can print out, sign and send (or email).
 Tips / key point for writing your own letter, if you prefer
TIPS WHEN WRITING YOUR OWN LETTER:
 Mention your child’s school is PS 87
 Make sure your name and address are on the letter. An elected official wants to make sure
you’re a constituent
 Either email, mail or bring the letter in person to your local officials
KEY POINTS TO INCLUDE IN LETTER:
 Testing is much longer this year; nine hours over six days is overly long for kids.
 Prep time takes away from classroom instruction time.
 The included field tests for all students (new this year) made the tests too long and stretched
the kids’ stamina. Field testing is for the benefit of Pearson, not for the children.
 Overall the tests were confusing and problematic so it added to the stress on the children.
 It is unfair that schools have to cover the cost of scoring the essays, and teachers are taken
away from their classes to score them.
 The testing as it is done now has little positive effect on student achievement.
 Share your personal story--if your child was stressed out and sick, let them know.
<insert date>
<Elected Official’s Name>
<Elected Official’s Address>
Dear <insert name>,
Read the following passage. Then, answer the question below.
Once upon a time, educating our youth was top priority. The focus of education was to prepare children to
navigate the challenging currents of life. lt was about fostering the spark of knowledge and creativity;
stoking the fires of curiosity and critical thinking; and above all creating a respectful environment in which
the diverse population of children and those who educate them could be encouraged to share their talents.
Then, along came a misguided king, who, in an effort to avoid addressing serious issues in the kingdom,
decided that all children should be stripped of their individuality. With the help of a monster named
Pearson, a standardized test was created. "Education is not about fostering a love of learning," the king
declared, "it will be about standardizing all children so that they are evaluated not on who they are and
what they can offer, but how well they do on their test!" "And," the king exclaimed, "the test scores will be
used to judge the worthiness of our schools and teachers, and will be the markers to determine the future
educational success of these children!" The king and his court were so happy about this plan that they
celebrated by eating pineapple shaped as trapezoids, one of the Pearson monster's favorite treats.
According to the passage, what is the main point?
A. High-stakes standardized testing forces our school, with its already depleted budget, to spend growing
amounts of time, money and energy on overly long tests of questionable quality.
B. High-stakes standardized testing does not foster a love of learning, creativity, collaboration,
communication, critical thinking and deep subject-matter knowledge.
C. High-stakes standardized testing disempowers our children and our teachers by creating an
atmosphere of exhaustion and demotivation, and should not be used as an indicator of future success.
D. All of the above.
As concerned parents at PS 87, located in Upper Manhattan (District 3), we are writing to express our
dissatisfaction with the use of standardized testing based on D: All of the above. As parents, taxpayers and
voters in New York State, we have just lived through the recent ELA and math standardized tests for grades 38. We want the Governor, the Board of Regents, and the State Education Department to rethink the need for
the dramatic increase in the length of the tests and the overreliance on them for assessing students, teachers,
and schools. The tests measure student learning, not teacher effectiveness, nor student growth.
The children felt intense pressure to do well on the tests, some knowing that their teachers' and schools'
evaluations rely on them, and ALL District 3 fourth graders knowing 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. As one NY principal has said, that's longer than some adult exams:
the LSAT is eight hours long. The Series 7 exam is six hours. The American Board of Dermatology certification
exam comes close: it is eight hours long. 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 do not "count." We are raising kids to be informed citizens, not
unpaid, unknowing labor for Pearson, Inc.
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. 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. In District 3, for
example, one middle school will lose 4 teachers for 5 days each; the cost to buy them out would have been
$16,800. Another D3 middle school will send 14 teachers to grade tests for 5 days each. 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.
The tests were rushed out to the entire state too quickly. Evidence of this is growing. Thrown-out questions had
no correct answer, or two correct answers, or made no sense. A recent example is the fifth grade math
question about the trapezoid. The answer provided by Pearson was incorrect. According to a math professor,
the answer the State Education Department provided is also incorrect and the question is mathematically
impossible to answer. Need we mention the Hare and the Pineapple story for eighth graders, which made
headlines? It was easy for the State Education Department to toss out the questions, but our kids had to deal
with the confusion and still finish their tests.
Scores for students, teachers, and schools should not depend on such tests. It is reasonable to expect that
there will be student assessments and teacher evaluations, but 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, concluded that tests "have not increased student
achievement....There are little to no positive effects of these systems overall on student learning."
We call upon the Governor, the Board of Regents and the New York State Education Department to take
responsibility for its role in subjecting our children, teachers and school administrations to overly stressful,
high-stakes tests. Tax dollars that could be used for instruction are going to Pearson. A pilot program for
testing should take place over a few years' time. And next year's testing schedule has already been planned:
the same ninety minutes a day for six days for 8- to l3-year-old children. Again, this includes field testing
statewide. This has to be cut back. Students and taxpayers deserve better.
Signed,
<insert name>
<insert address>