Some public school students and teachers saystate-mandated testing is demanding too much classroom time and pushing meaningful learning out of the curriculum. But a Las Cruces charter school isdoing away with test constrained learningwhile still performing well above average.
Earlierthis year we interviewed Mayfield High School senior Jacqueline Sanchez about state-mandated testing in her Las Cruces school.
"It's is not to be taken lightly, these tests and we understand that so we just freak out mostly just crying I guess, which is horrible” Sanchez says.
This is Amber Hernandez a 6th grader at J. Paul Taylor Academy, a charter school in Las Cruces.
“Testing, I like testing.I am weird I love it” Hernandez says.
True, Sanchez and Hernandez are at different stages in their education. But there is a major, striking difference in their perceptions of standardized tests.
What is a source of anxiety for Sanchez, for Hernandez, is a novelty, an occasional part of her classroom routine.
Cynthia Risner is the principal of the J. Paul Taylor Academy where Hernandez is attending. When she was co-writing the school’s charter she wanted to side step the stress and anxiety attached to state-mandated testing.So they don’t teach any test instruction and purposefully play down the high-stakes nature of the tests.
“We just tell them to do their best and their test are for us to know where we need to teach them better we minimize it as much as possible.” Risner says.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inTsByVqb1w&feature=youtu.be
Risner and her co-founder at J. Paul Taylor Academy started applying for the charter in 2009. But not before Risner spent 30 years working in public schools where she says standards and state-mandated testing hurt student engagement.
“It was so heartbreaking to see children losing the love of learning and teachers – some of our most creative teachers we tied their hands tighter and tighter." she says.
So while students at regularpublic schools are taking test instruction, learning to standards handed down by the state, students at J. Paul Taylor Academy are immersed in project based learning, a hands on,pliable approach directed by student interests and lead by their teachers. Tamara Alexander teaches the third grade.
“I have been here three years and I think I am recovering test-o-maniac – I am getting really close to being a survivor of that system." Alexander says.
Alexander started at J. Paul Taylorafter 16 years working in traditional public schools. She says she was completely burned outtrying to engage disgruntled kids frustrated by testing and uninspired by rote learning controlled by state standards.
“To teach at this school is like a golden ticket, I am teaching away that kids learn, I am teaching the way that kids taught when I first started" Alexander says.
Educators like Alexander may have the freedom to teach the best way they know how, but like any charter school J. Paul Taylor academy is still accountable to the state. The school receives an A through F grade and teachers are evaluated on how well their students perform on tests. So how are they doing compared to other schools in the district?
J. Paul Taylor received a B from the state.
According 2013-2014 results the number of students rated “proficient and above” in reading was 14.1 percent higher than the district average. Inmath…17.8 percent higherthan the district average.
Alexander says the scores reflect the more meaningful learning at J. Paul Taylor Academy. Though they don’t teach to the test - Alexander says she and colleagues have to spend hours weaving what the tests are measuring into what their students are interested in learning.
Alexander says last school year … the state-mandated concepts came alive in a study of the middle ages.
“The castles that they were building wound up being studies in area and perimeter. We looked at volume. We figured out distances between different countries." she says. "We took math and expanded it to suit all of the common core standards”.
Risner says all the paperwork, accountability measures and pressure from administrators make taking this teaching approach impossible in a traditional public school .
But with J. Paul Taylor Academy only going up to the 8th grade, Risner says most of her students are likely to end up in public schools.
“I do have concerns because they have learned to lead and love learning and they will be going to an environment where I am afraid sometimes that might not be accepted" she says.
And that is not Risner’s only concern. She says there’s a push by some legislators to make charters like J. Paul Taylor Academy more in line with traditional public schools.
