John Oliver: Standardized Testing Enriches Companies, Gets Teachers Fired and Makes Students Sick

[kpete]

John Oliver: Standardized Testing Enriches Companies, Gets Teachers Fired and Makes Students Sick

Posted on May 4, 2015

The “Last Week Tonight” host dedicated the longest section of his HBO show Sunday to discussing the one thing teachers, students and parents all despise: standardized testing.

[daleanime]

1. K&R.....

[madfloridian]

2. Love it! We used to have test rallies with real live cheerleaders...yes, it's true.

We had to go to the auditorium to rally for the FCAT tests. They sent over the middle school cheerleaders to pump up our students.

It was sickening.

So good to hear this called out like that.

[chervilant]

8. In the only year

I was able to teach math (to 7th graders and AP 7th graders), our esteemed (in her own mind) administrator hired a motivational speaker to pump up our students for the "big test." This motivational speaker was my age (mid-50s), and completely out of touch with our younglings. They found him boring and pedantic--big surprise. Though he tried very hard, this motivational guy was unable to elicit any responses from the students.

Furthermore, the male teacher who was required to "mentor" me (I went through an accelerated certification program) told my students that the practice test was unimportant, so that my students--almost to a one--treated the practice test as a waste of time, and their scores reflected their disinterest. (This "man" resented having to mentor me, and was verbally abusive to me throughout the time he was my mentor.)

As a consequence of my students' low scores, the aforementioned administrator told me I was "the worst first year teacher" she'd ever met. Oh, and it didn't help that I used a word during the Rah-Rah session that she didn't understand. That word (uber) was being used by my students as a slang term, and it wasn't even on my radar screen to avoid saying such a simple word (I've learned to 'dumb down' my vocabulary for those with self-esteem issues). When I used it in front of the administrator, she looked at me like I was something she scraped off the bottom of her shoe, and turned her back on me, despite being a part of the very small group the rah-rah guy had asked to work together.

So, I have zero confidence in standardized tests, both because our students hate them, and suffer all kinds of stress and anxiety about them, and because school administrators can and do use test results to eliminate any teachers they dislike.

[They_Live]

3. K & R

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

4. Thank you John Oliver.

The expanding boycotts are heartening.

[appalachiablue]

5. K & R

[allan01]

6. i never cared for standardized testing

as our kids are just studying for the test and test anxiety is real. we scare the heck out of some kids and set them up for fail. there are other ways of measuring comprehension , progress and retention . Pox on this horrid system.

[Half-Century Man]

7. How about this:

The management for each testing company must take their company's standardized test for the eleventh or twelfth grade (via flip of a coin); The amount of yearly salary kept is equal to overall grade.

Example: Salary at $250,000.00; test scores a) mathematics score of 67, b) language arts 70, c) science 45, d) social studies 51, e) history 69, f) overall score of 60.4. Percentage of yearly salary retained $151,000.00/ Amount returned $99,000.00

[MyOwnPeace]

9. More "data"

From another site: (http://badassteachers.blogspot.com/)

REAL Student Data:
1. 40% of children living in poverty are not ready for primary school
2. 46 million Americans live in poverty
3. Dropout rates of children living in poverty are more than 7 times higher than their more affluent peers.
4. Low income students are four years behind grade level by the time they reach the 12th grade.

[Starry Messenger]

10. Boom.

Easier to bust the teachers union than actually fix problems though.

[McKim]

11. Testing, No Child Left Behind, and the Bush-McGraw Hill Friendship

The testing mania is an excellent way of getting public money into private hands. It is about this, not evaluating students. The Bushes and the McGraws of McGraw-Hill and Princeton Testing Services live side by side at their summer homes in Kennebunkport. They are very old friends.

School Districts pay a lot for these test and for their scoring reports. This is their real purpose in pushing testing, not to mention the punitive aspect to make teachers and students "know their place" in the economic system, that is intimidated and easily led.

[MrMickeysMom]

12. I pledge allegiance to the John Oliver...

… cause he's so fucking ON!

[midnight]

13. And yet it is so profitable, we continue to erode the safety of our children's health.

[progressoid]

14. Here comes the monkey!