POTTSTOWN >> The Pottstown School Board debated taking a bold step toward making a statement against an over-reliance on standardized testing.
But then it didn’t.Last month, the school board unanimously passed a resolution calling for a reduction in the amount of testing endured by Pennsylvania students.
But when school board member Thomas Hylton suggested creating a committee with teachers to consider an official change in policy de-emphasizing the tests in Pottstown schools, things were not so clear cut.
As the resolution had noted, the testing creates stress for students and demoralizes teachers, so Hylton suggested the board put its policy where its resolution is and study the idea of largely ignoring them.
“We’ll still give them, that’s a state requirement, but the curriculum is already aligned with the tests, so if we’re teaching the curriculum, the students should do fine,” said Hylton. “I’m in favor of giving the teachers maximum flexibility.”
“We all know what standardized tests will tell you, they tell you how poor your school district is,” Hylton said. “Most experts acknowledge that the level of poverty in your home is a better indicator of how well you will do on a standardized test than what kind of teacher you had.”
“Frankly,” said Hylton, “I would rather have them spend time on things we think are more important.”
Hylton’s comments came during a series of committee meetings held Thursday. Although he thought the discussion proper for the policy committee, which began at 6 p.m., it was ultimately decided the matter should be discussed in the curriculum and technology committee meeting, which is held at the end of the night.
During both discussions, board members and Interim Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez said they agreed with the theme, but worried about the specifics.
“Tom is on the right track here,” said School Board President Kim Stilwell.
Rodriguez first of all insisted the question could be taken up by the curriculum committee and no special ad hoc committee was needed. He rejected Hylton’s assertion that teachers might be intimidated from speaking openly in such a framework.
“Teachers in this school district have packed this room when they want to have their voice heard,” he said.
Rodriguez also pointed out that now fully 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation is tied to test scores.
“If we don’t pay any attention to it, it won’t be long before we have a whole lot of teachers on improvement plans,” Rodriguez said.
“It many not benefit our students or our teachers, but that’s the system we have,” Rodriguez said.
“Then the resolution we passed has no teeth,” complained board member Kurt Heidel.
“Yes it does,” Rodriguez replied. “If we just pass it and stop, then yes, then it’s just noise. But if all 500 school districts in Pennsylvania speak with one voice, that can bring change.”
And that’s where the change belongs, Rodriguez said, not in individual school districts.
He pointed out that on the federal level, years of complaints and protests about the strictures of the No Child Left Behind education law resulted in the changes seen in last year’s Every Student Succeeds Act, which gives states more flexibility on testing.
“That was changed because a lot of people raised their voices,” Rodriguez said.
Board member Katina Bearden said she worried that a swing too far in the other direction could cause a new set of problems.
“I remember when I was in school, the teachers used to tell us ‘don’t worry about it, just do your best,'” said Bearden. “And do you know what happened? The kids just made patterns in the bubbles,” she said.
Polly Weand, a former Pottsgrove teacher who heads the curriculum and technology committee, said the tests can give an indication of which teachers are doing their job and “help weed out the dead wood.”
“If you are a good teacher doing what you should be doing, the stress level should not be there,” Weand said.
“And at some point, the kids have to be held accountable for what they learn,” said Bearden. “There has to be some level of accountability on both sides.”
But she also acknowledged that “some kids are just bad at taking tests.”
She recalled that in college, although she knew the material in a biology class, she could never explain why she got it wrong on the test.
“So the professor said ‘talk to me,’ and I showed that I knew the material and from then on, I took my tests orally, but only in biology.”
“You mean a teacher changed the way they assessed a student’s knowledge of the material based on the needs of the student?” Hylton asked, pressing his point. “Why can’t we do that here?”
As it stands now, Pottstown schools leaves “a three-week window” in the school year to give the PSSA – which stands for Pennsylvania System of School Assessment – said Rodriguez, “two weeks to administer the tests and one week to catch up for delays or those who missed it.”
He was quick to note that not every minute of every day in those two weeks is testing.
And it doesn’t look like that is going to change any time soon.
As the discussion wandered off, board member and recent graduate Emanuel Wilkerson said he knows some things on which he was tested were never included in his instruction.
Soon enough, the committee members were agreeing to look at curriculum in areas where they suspect the some strengthening may be needed, specifically naming biology.
