In the name of open discussion and the free exchange of ideas, we, the members of the Providence Student Union, respectfully request that you participate with us in a public debate regarding Rhode Island’s new high-stakes standardized testing graduation requirement. We suggest the following terms:
- We agree on a neutral setting
- We agree on a neutral moderator.
- We agree on a neutral format (our suggestion is to copy the debate done by Leadership Rhode Island for and against the resolution, “The Rhode Island Department of Education should reverse its decision to make NECAP scores a high school graduation requirement,” using some variation of the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues’ public debate format).

We believe this will be a great opportunity for the people of Rhode Island to hear both sides of this important issue. We would like to propose June 8th as a possible date for the debate, although we are very willing to be flexible as we know you are busy. We sincerely hope you will take us up on this offer. Thank you.

Sincerely,

The Providence Student Union

They go on to mention that:

The fundamental problem, though, is that the test wasn’t originally designed to be a graduation requirement and isn’t suited for that purpose. Schools need more high standards and accountability, and the NECAP was designed not to evaluate individual students’ proficiency, but to rank the quality of the schools they attend.      

This statement is in full compliance with what we, the PSU, have been trying to get across to the Board of Education and other NECAP supporters. We have been “preaching” this for so long and it’s great to know that some people listen to students.

They also mention how the NECAP is a test that expects a certain amount of students to score a 1. The NECAP is the wrong test doing the wrong job. With such a movement starting across the whole nation, it makes you wonder why Rhode Island would implement this policy. 

A lot of the ProNECAP side has been saying that RI students graduate and have to take remedial courses. How would this policy help people learn math? The Providence Student Union understands that students need high standards but we are trying to get across that the NECAP will not help us reach those high standards and will only make the gap larger.

This is a link to the editorial titled “Flunking the Test”

http://bostonglobe.com/editorials/2013/04/11/rhode-island-should-reassess-its-use-necap-test-graduation-requirement/9qyGuAVv2tWWs0pzmr1lyK/story.html

At the Take the Test event, we read the instructions that all students are read the day of the NECAP test. Let it be known that it is illegal to give out the NECAP test that students take.  We used questions from the released sample questions that have been on past NECAP tests. We did not invent questions. We strove for the same proportion of questions as the NECAP test, with 50% multiple choice, 40% short answers and 10% critical response. We also had a calculator and no calculator section of the test. Tamargejae Paris did the Introduction, Monique Taylor was Proctor 1 and Steven Kendrick was Proctor 2. Cauldierre McKay did the Final Presentation. A lot of the adults said that they were stressed out and kept drawing blanks. With only 40% scoring high enough to graduate, then according to the graduation requirements, only those 40% are ready for life afterwards. But all 100% of them were ready for life after high school, suggesting this NECAP test doesn’t effectively score a person’s value or worth.

The Rhode Island Commissioner of Education, Deborah Gist, said that this event was “an outrageous act of irresponsibility.” How is it irresponsible or outrageous that adults are getting involved with a student’s education? How is it outrageous that adults experience firsthand what students go through? How is it irresponsible for adults to try a test similar to the one students have to take to graduate? How is it outrageous that adults try to learn why we are fighting against this unjust policy? It’s not. The Commissioner should instead be inviting all adults in to support us and to become more engaged in the education process.

“They’re sending a message that it can’t be done or that it doesn’t matter.” We believe that they are sending a message that it does matter. If these successful adults found the need to take the NECAP test then that means it matters enough to put it in their schedules. It matters enough to stop part of your weekend to take a test. Most people I know wouldn’t do this on a weekend but these adults did. They should be honored for taking this test and for trying to experience what students go through. These adults, some ProNECAP, some AntiNECAP, and some unbiased, took the test and tried to understand the students. They should be commended for getting engaged, whether they agree with us or not. We think the Chair of the Board of Education Eva Mancuso is very intelligent and would agree with us on this. We hope to meet with her soon.

Here’s a list of the test takers and their occupations:

Gregg Amore – State Representative (East Providence)

Luis Aponte – Providence City Council member

Dr. Wendy Becker – Professor, Rhode Island College

David Bennett – State Representative (Warwick)

Deborah Brayton – Former chief of staff, Mayor Cicilline and Senator Chafee

Steven Brown – Executive Director, RI ACLU

Maria Cimini – State Representative (Providence)

Abel Collins – Program Director, Sierra Club

Umberto Crenca – Artistic Director, AS220

Gonzalo Cuervo – Deputy Chief of Staff, City of Providence

Dr. Jorge Elorza – Providence Housing Court Judge

Gayle Goldin – State Senator (Providence)

Frank Ferri – State Representative (Warwick)

Ken Fish – Former Director of Middle and High School Reform, RIDE

David Fisher – Reporter, ecoRI

Art Handy – State Representative (Cranston)

Alan Harlam – Director of Social Entrepreneurship, Brown University

David Heckman – Attorney

Thomas Hoffman – Education Technical Consultant

Kevin Jackson – Psychologist, Providence City Council member

Matthew Jerzyk – Deputy City Solicitor, City of Providence

David Karoff – Development Consultant; former VP of Grantmaking, RI Foundation

Brian Lalli – Former Providence School Board member

Jeff Levy – Attorney

Alex Lucini – Teacher, Providence Teachers Union Executive Board

Simon Moore – Executive Director, College Visions

Alex Morash – President, Young Democrats of Rhode Island

Barbara Morin – Environmental Scientist

Anne Mulready – Attorney

Laura Pisaturo – Attorney

Bryan Principe – Providence City Council member

Shery Principe – Human resources delivery consultant

Bill Rappleye – Reporter, NBC10

Rick Richards – Retired employee in RIDE’s Office of Testing

Adam Satchell – State Senator (West Warwick)

Tom Sgouros – Engineer and Policy Analyst

Carla Shalaby – Director of Elementary Education, Wellesley College

Frank Shea – Executive Director, Olneyville Housing Corporation

Earl N. Smith III – Assistant Dean, University of Rhode Island

Susan Smulyan – Professor, Brown University

Dulari Tahbilder – Executive Director, Breakthrough Providence

Teresa Tanzi – State Representative (Wakefield)

Jim Tull – Professor, Community College of Rhode Island and Providence College

Larry Valencia – State Representative (Charlestown, Exeter, Richmond)

Miriam Weizenbaum – Attorney

Cliff Wood – Providence Foundation; former Providence City Council member

Jennifer Wood – Attorney

Karina Wood – Director, RI Tobacco Control Network

Myrth York – Community leader, former Democratic gubernatorial nominee

“Hello, I am Cauldierre McKay and this is the Providence Student Union. We came here today to bring attention to a policy whose impact on the youth of Rhode Island is deadly serious.

We are here to protest the use of the NECAP as a high-stakes test, and to demonstrate how this policy is unfairly putting thousands of students in danger of not graduating. We all know that without a high school diploma a person has drastically reduced life opportunities and a severely limited future. To take away the diploma we’ve worked for is to take away our life—to make us undead. That’s why we’re here today, in front of the Rhode Island Department of Education, dressed as the zombies that this policy will turn so many of us into. We’re here to say:

NO EDUCATION, NO LIFE

As we have said before, we at the Providence Student Union believe we need high expectations, and we know that with the proper support, resources, and improved teaching and learning, students in Providence and across Rhode Island will be able to reach those high standards.

But the fact is, we have not gotten the proper resources and the proper support from the state. For the state to punish so many individual students for its own systemic failure to deliver a high-quality education is an injustice on a massive scale.

And while the Commissioner keeps assuring us that all the students currently in danger of not graduating will be given the resources they need to pass the NECAP next year, she is offering zero support to allow districts like Providence to fulfill this commitment.

Even worse, RIDE’s claim that this policy will help increase achievement is factually broken. A comprehensive 2011 study by the National Research Council concluded that, “high school exit exam programs, as currently implemented in the United States, decrease the rate of high school graduation without increasing achievement.” In other words, the research is clear that this policy will do nothing to improve our education while denying many students a diploma—the diploma they need to make it through life.

How many students are we talking about here? On Friday, the state released the NECAP scores for this year, and we learned that 40% of juniors in Rhode Island are in danger of not graduating. And here in Providence, a terrifying 60% of the Class of 2014 is at risk of not receiving a diploma. Let me repeat that—60 percent! 60 percent of my peers are in danger of not being allowed to take the next step in life, to continue with their education, to get a good job, to have a real future.

Since the effects of such a horrifying ratio are hard to imagine, we thought we’d give RIDE a visual aid to help them understand the extent of the damage their policy is causing.

Here’s the future of Providence:

NO EDUCATION, NO LIFE. *Zombies die, one at a time.*

RIDE, this is the future. This is what this policy could do. Forget the zombie apocalypse, this is the NECAP apocalypse, and we won’t stand for it!”

FULL TEXT:

Hello, my name is Kelvis Hernandez. I am an 11th grade student at Hope High School, and a member of the Providence Student Union. I’m here to say a few words about the discriminatory effects of the new NECAP graduation requirement, which will disproportionately hurt English Language Learners, students with disabilities, students of color and low-income students.

Last year, 44 percent of all students across the state did not score high enough on the NECAP to have graduated under this policy, so the effects of this are widespread. But it gets worse. 71 percent of black students in Rhode Island, and 70 percent of Latino students did not score high enough last year to have graduated. And in Providence, 86 percent of students with disabilities in Individualized Education and 94 percent of students with limited English proficiency wouldn’t have graduated.

We know, then, that a lot of students are in danger of not receiving a diploma, which will cripple their ability to continue their education, get a good job and succeed in life. This is wrong because by and large it is not the fault of individual students—it is the fault of these students’ whole school systems for not providing them with an adequate education. This policy is punishing us, the students, for the failures of generations of adults who have been in charge of funding and running our schools!

Let me be clear. We believe in high expectations. We believe that we should graduate with a high-quality education. And we believe in the improvement of our schools. But this policy is not the right way. Punishing students—particularly those who haven’t had the opportunity to receive the great education we deserve—is neither effective nor just. It is ineffective because we have spent 10, 11, or 12 years in schools that are underfunded, under-resourced, and unable to give us the support we need to do well on the NECAP. And it is unjust because the students who have received this inadequate education are the ones being put on trial.

Governor Chafee, in just one week, the results of this year’s NECAP test will be released. It’s our sincere hope that everyone in Rhode Island passes. But it’s more likely that thousands of students will not score high enough to pass this graduation requirement, particularly among the state’s most vulnerable populations—English Language Learners, students with disabilities, students of color, and low-income students. Will you support this policy that takes away so many of our futures? Or will you join us in calling on the Board of Education—whose members you nominate—to end this discriminatory and misguided graduation requirement? We hope you’ll make the right decision. Thank you.

STUDENTS PROTEST ‘HIGH-STAKES’ TESTS

Say requirement that students pass one such test to graduate hurts those it was designed to help

PROVIDENCE — More than 45 Providence high school students Wednesday joined the growing national outcry against using standardized tests as a criterion for high school graduation.

Gathering in the State House rotunda, students from four high schools offered detailed critiques of one of the state’s graduation requirements, which says that high school students must score partially proficient on the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) in order to graduate. That requirement, which has been debated in Rhode Island for nearly a decade, takes effect with the class of 2014.

The students, part of an activist group called the Providence Student Union, urged Governor Chafee to oppose the use of so-called “high-stakes” testing on the grounds that it will hurt the very people it was designed to help.

“Making the NECAP a high school graduation requirement does not, like magic, make students learn the material,” said Priscilla Rivera from Hope High School. “It does not improve the quality of teaching … strengthen social services … or make our curriculum more relevant and engaging. It does not give us more electives or guidance counselors or college advising or smaller class sizes … .”

Supporters of the regulation, championed by state Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist, say it will pressure schools to offer more rigorous courses and help those who struggle.

Gist, who was available for media questions Wednesday, said it is unfair to issue a diploma when the student has not mastered 10th-grade material. She also said that the regulations provide students with the opportunity to retake the NECAP, adding that they only have to show that they’ve made progress on the test to be able to graduate.

More than 25 states now use high-stakes testing as a graduation requirement. In many states, the pass rate is under 50 percent, according to Monty Neill, executive director of Fair Test, a national advocacy group.

A Seattle school made headlines last week when its teachers announced that they would refuse to give the test. In several school districts, such as Portland, Ore., and Chicago, parents are opting out of having their children take the test, Neill said.

Critics of high-stakes testing say it hurts disadvantaged students the most because they have suffered for years from an impoverished education.

“Punishing students, particularly those who haven’t had the opportunity to receive the great education they deserve, is neither effective nor just,” said Kelvis Hernandez, another Hope student. “It is ineffective because we have spent 10, 11, 12 years in schools that are underfunded, under-resourced and unable to give us the support we need to do well on the NECAP.”

Several educators also spoke out against linking standardized tests to graduation, including Rick Richards, who worked in the office of testing and school improvement at the state Department of Education.

Richards said that the National Research Council wrote a letter to the Obama administration warning it against using such tests in its Race to the Top reform agenda because “the research does not support the practice.”

“The standardized test is not refined or sophisticated,” Richards said. “How refined and sophisticated can a measure be that asks between 50 and 60 multiple and short-response questions?”

Tammy Paris, a junior at Hope High School, worries that the intense focus on the NECAP will narrow the curriculum because teachers will focus on teaching to the test. Classrooms, she said, have already become “test prep rooms.”

But Gist said it does students a huge disservice when they graduate only to discover that they are not prepared to enter the military or take college classes: “Giving students a diploma when they’re not ready is misguided.”

TESTING TRAUMA

By KAITLYN KELLEY, LUZGELY CONTRERAS and CHEYENNE JONES

Rhode Island is currently implementing a new high-stakes testing graduation requirement that will have a profound impact on the lives of thousands of young people in our state. That is why we – public high school students in Providence and members of the youth-advocacy organization the Providence Student Union – feel it is so important to explain why we believe this graduation requirement will do nothing to improve the quality of our schools or our education, while causing real harm to the lives of many students.

Starting with the class of 2014 (this year’s juniors), Rhode Island’s new policy requires students to score a certain level on the state’s main standardized test – the NECAP – in order to graduate from high school, regardless of their success in completing each of our other graduation requirements. (NECAP stands for the New England Comprehensive Assessment Program.)

Supporters of this policy rightly point out that many of our public schools are graduating students without having provided them with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in their post-high school careers. This is absolutely true, and we care about this – the reason we are willing to commit so much of our time to working with the Providence Student Union to improve our schools is because we have high expectations for ourselves and we want to make sure we are getting the education we need and deserve.

But simply sticking a high-stakes test onto the end of our 12-year school career will do nothing to achieve this goal. Making the NECAP a graduation requirement does not improve the quality of the teaching we receive. It does not strengthen social services so we get the support we need. It does not make our curriculum more relevant and engaging. It does not provide us adequate supplies and textbooks. It does not give us more electives or guidance councilors or college advising or extracurriculars or smaller class sizes or affordable transportation to school. In other words, this policy does not, in any way, actually support our schools to help us succeed.

There is a great deal of research supporting this position. A comprehensive 2011 study by the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academies for Science, concluded that, “high school exit exam programs, as currently implemented in the United States, decrease the rate of high school graduation without increasing achievement.”

Many states that have graduation tests, such as Mississippi and Alabama, have poor education results. And Massachusetts, which is held up as an example by supporters of this policy, was near the top of the country in achievement before it had a high-stakes exam, and its gains have been primarily the result of major increases in funding, while its graduation rate saw a significant drop following its adoption of this policy.

In short, supporters of Rhode Island’s high-stakes testing graduation requirement have diagnosed a real problem in our schools, but have prescribed a “solution” that does nothing to solve this problem. In fact, their solution will make things worse.

Research shows that high-stakes testing graduation requirements disproportionately hurt students of color, low-income students, English Language Learners (ELLs), and students in Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). In Providence last year, 86 percent of students in IEPs and 94 percent of students with limited English proficiencies did not score high enough to have graduated. Statewide, 71 percent of African American and 70 percent of Latino students statewide did not score high enough to have graduated.

It is terrible that so many youth are scoring below proficient on this test, and this is certainly an issue we need to address, but applying high stakes to the NECAP will not help students learn the skills that we need to succeed. Instead, this policy serves only to punish individual students for our school systems’ failure to provide us with an adequate education.

Even worse, this policy will actually weaken the quality of our teaching and learning by intensifying the negative effects of standardized testing. Attaching such high-stakes to Rhode Island’s main standardized test will increase “teaching to the test,” which is already a huge problem in our classrooms (or perhaps we should call them “test prep rooms,” as that is what many of them are becoming). We should also expect further narrowing of the curriculum.

These trends will force us to spend less time in school focusing on interesting projects or creative, higher-order thinking – the kinds of skills we will need to be successful in college or advanced careers – which in turn will decrease student motivation. School becomes depressing. Why, students will wonder, should we even come to class if all we’re doing is boring, drill-and-kill test prep?

If we want to ensure students like us graduate ready for college, then let’s improve our schools. And if we want to improve our schools, then let’s do things that will improve our schools. A high-stakes testing graduation requirement will do nothing to better our education, while doing a great deal of harm to our state’s most vulnerable students who need to be better supported, not more severely punished. This policy is not the answer, and it is time we abandon it so that we can begin focusing on real solutions.

Kaitlyn Kelley, Luzgely Contreras and Cheyenne Jones are students at Central High School, Providence.

By ELISABETH HARRISON

A group calling itself the Providence Student Union will ask for an end to high stakes testing this week. Starting with the class of 2014, Rhode Island students will not be allowed to graduate unless they get a score of “partially procficent” on the standardized test known as the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP).

Critics of the new policy say it is unfair to students and warn that diplomas will be denied in massive numbers if the rule is not changed. The testing requirement will hit hardest for low-income and minority students and students in urban public schools.

Supporters of the testing policy, including State Education Commissioner Deborah Gist, say the goal is to make sure students achieve a minimum level of proficiency in Math and English before they graduate from high school.

The required test score is a two, which represents only partial proficiency. The state is planning to let students re-take the test if they fail to pass the first time, and students will be able to graduate if they show significant improvement. Under this scenario, it would be possible to earn a diploma without achieving the minimum test score.

Organizers from the Providence Student Union say they will bring students, parents and other opponents of the testing policy to the statehouse Wednesday to ask Governor Lincoln Chafee to remove testing as a graduation requirement.

In the past, protests against the testing policy resulted in a delay, allowing schools more time to consider how they will help students in danger of not graduating.