PLACE THE BLAME WHERE IT BELONGS

Testing season is just about upon us here in New York State. And it's all become more than a little confusing for everyone involved.  It's easy to want to find someone to blame, particularly if you're a school administrator and your district has failed to make AYP for the first time, due purely to large test refusal numbers.  It's easy to turn to parents and blame them for permissive parenting when they enable their kids to opt out of something "just because it's hard"  It's a bit simplistic to turn to the parents as the bad guys because they just don't seem to understand that change is here and their concerns have been heard.  

But change isn't here.  Not yet.  Because saying we need to change and saying what needs to be changed, are a far cry from real and substantive change.

So if you feel the need to place blame for all this confusion - either because you're an administrator who can't see past a bogus designation (failure to make AYP due to testing refusals,) or you're a parent who wants your child to take the tests but it's become more challenging when their friends aren't taking the tests, or you're a teacher who feels challenged to support all your student's decisions when some will take the tests and others won't - then PLEASE be sure you lay blame where it belongs.

There is no blame in this debacle to lay at the feet of parents nor teachers.  

The problems we're facing with testing and test refusals belong squarely on the backs of education policy makers and politicians who absolutely refuse(d) to listen to educators when we/they spoke out about the harmful impacts of their attempts to "reform" education and teaching. They alone have the complete power to return us all to some normalcy and sanity.  They alone can stop the spread of an unintended message that students may now think they can refuse to do something that is hard or confusing.  

It just isn't enough for Albany policy makers to say they hear what the problems are, and can articulate the problems. Until real and substantive change is actually implemented in response to the recognized problems, then Albany policy makers cannot honestly expect people to accept that their concerns have been heard. So it is they alone - the Albany policy makers - that are responsible for the large numbers of students who don't take state tests, and for all the regrettable side effects of that action.

And let us all be clear - legislators are not now deciding to consider a change of course because they woke up one morning and decided to rethink their plan or question their own motives, "just because."  They're only speaking about any kind of change because parents joined together in a unified voice, embracing their democratic rights and responsibilities, and said "You must listen to us.  Things have gone terribly wrong.  We must change the direction of education policy decisions so that all children can have access to their American right to a free and appropriate education."

Hooray for the parents! 

We teach our students about events in American history when people have joined together to speak with one voice about injustice and the need for change.  (Ending slavery, fighting for workers rights and civil rights, etc.)  It is always a difficult process.  There are always unintended consequences. But the ultimate goal of righting a wrong has often prevailed above the voices of those who say it's best not to rock the boat, best to stay the course, best to trust the leaders to make the right decisions. It's not easy.  It gets messy.  But the alternative is not a choice. 

Injustice must be confronted.

For those that believe we have to force parents into having their kids sit for the tests in order not to create a message that it's okay to refuse life's hard choices, I also think we have the power to easily rewrite the message. We don't have to abide by the narrative that it's parents who are causing the problem.  We don't have to perpetuate the story that we're teaching children the wrong message about obeying authority, following directions, or even about the value of testing.  We can just as easily, if we choose to, describe what is happening as what happens in a democracy when people feel their government has overstepped its authority.  This is a real-life application of lessons learned in Social Studies classes across the state and across the country. 

We could teach our students that this is the lesson learned - "In a democratic society, people have to speak up to injustice - and actually have an obligation to speak up." Just as we teach our students what to do in bullying situations. Bystanders have a role and an obligation to help the bullied.  Victims need strategies and advocates, etc. This current response to testing is really that comparable.

I feel deeply and passionately that we have to be careful not to blame the victims.  Blame needs to be laid squarely on the shoulders of the bullies - the policy makers who have the power to enact real change, right now. Today.