Standardized Tests and Tracking in the Public Education System

Analytic Narrative of Project KIPP Adelante is a charter school that serves primarily underrepresented and underserved students of Hispanic and African American ethnicity in downtown San Diego. According to the California Department of Education (CDE) School Accountability Report Card (SARC) for the year 2012, KIPP had a total of 363 students enrolled in grades 5 through 8; this is the most recent data available. Student demographics are as follows; 315 Hispanic, 28 African American, and the remaining 20 students are Filipino, White, or two or more ethnic groups. The average classroom size, according to (SARC 2012), is 31 students to every teacher. KIPP’s core curriculum according to (SARC 2012) includes English Language Arts, Health education, History-Social Science, Mathematics, Science, Visual and Performing Arts, and World Languages. Looking at the Academic Performance Index (API) for 2012 provided by the CDE, the data showed that 49% of students at KIPP are English Language Learners (ELL), students whose first language is not English. Also, according to (API 2012), 100% of students enrolled at KIPP qualified for Reduced-Price Lunch, more commonly called the free-lunch program. Parental education level, 86% of parents responded to this question posed by (API 2012), showed that 40% of the parents had no high school education and 32% had only a high school diploma. Thus, 72% of the parents who responded had an education level of high school diploma or lower. KIPP scored at or above the statewide performance target, target is produced by CDE, of 800 in 2012 according to (API 2012). The students I tutored for this project followed the demographics listed above very closely. The majority were Hispanic with African Americans making up the next largest cohort of ethnic groups. About half of the students that I tutored were ELL. I found out from my host teacher, Mr. Luecke, that some of the students actually live in Tijuana, Mexico and that these students usually commute with their parents, utilizing the public transportation system, to go to school while their parents went to work. Mr. Luecke informed me that these students leave from Tijuana in the early morning hours of 4:00 or 5:00 am and that they don’t get home until late in the evening because they are waiting for their parents to get done working. A rough estimate is that around 20% of the students that I tutored at KIPP fell into this category. KIPP is located in a peculiar location in San Diego. No more than a half block away is a family courthouse that serves the San Diego community and each morning, when I arrive to tutor at 8:15 am, a line was already formed of people waiting for the courthouse to open. I often pondered what questions the students would ask their parents or classmates in regards to all those people waiting in line. The line stretched half way to the school. Other immediate surroundings included no less than three bail bonds businesses, each advertising their services in full view of the school.
Part II: The project that I decided to complete was to create a 6th grade math solution manual. As a tutor for Mr. Luecke’s class I would tutor 3 students at a time outside of the class room for fifteen minutes each. While contemplating what I should attempt to do for my project I did some self-reflecting on my experience, up to that point, as a tutor and on what I could do better to help the students. I realized that a math solution manual focusing on some of the main mathematical concepts and equations introduced in the 6th grade school year could prove to be helpful. The rationale was that given the limited time I had to help tutor these 6th grade students and the limited time the teacher could spend on teaching individual students in a classroom of + 30 students a solution manual could help students when a teacher or tutor is unavailable. The final product was to be a collection of frequent mathematical equations and formulas encountered at the 6th grade math level coupled with step by step instructions to be written in English and Spanish. This was to be accomplished by the 6th grade students themselves so that they could explain in their own words the steps to take to solve the equation or formula. I hoped that this would allow for the next 6th grade class to be able to understand how to solve these math problems based on their peers explanation. The first step I took, once I decided on my project, was to ask Mr. Luecke if he could inform me on what the main math topics he covered throughout the year. Mr. Luecke provided me with an electronic file that outlined, per the CDE, state wide requirements for subject matter to be covered in 6th grade math. I used these state required guidelines to formulate math problems focused on geometry, algebra, order of operations, etc… Next I created a detailed plan of how much class time it would take, the steps are as follows: A) 5 to 10 minutes of instructions B) 15 minutes to find the answer to the math problems, C) 45 minutes to write step by step instructions in English and Spanish. I emailed Mr. Luecke a copy of the plan and waited for him to give me a specific date that we could attempt the project. The people involved in the project were Mr. Luecke, the students and my-self. Mr. Luecke and I would monitor the class and answer any questions as they came up and provided guidance as needed. The students were in charge within their own groups and could use any resource they had to help them with the project, i.e. text book, homework. Initially the project was to be completed in about 1 hour and 5 minutes. When we started the project we realized that the students where really taking ownership for their parts and that answering the math problem was fairly easy for them but coming up with the written instructions was quite challenging. Mr. Luecke decided to have them work on the project throughout the week and instituted this project with other 6th grade math classes he taught. I would improve this project by allowing a longer time for completion and creating a defined 3 stage process for its implementation. Stage one would consist of answering the math problems and showing all relevant steps. Stage two would be to create the step by step instructions in English and Spanish. Stage three is to transfer the computed solutions and step by step instructions on to construction paper. The outcome of the project was a student made 6th grade math solution manual that new students will be able to pick up and use as a reference tool and have some of their questions answered when a teacher or tutor is not available. I was surprised at how enthusiastic the students took to this project. I was unsure of how Mr. Luecke was going to create the groups but he told me that he, and the school, use tracking and ability grouping so he was very aware of the ability of his students and this allowed Mr. Luecke to form both homogenous and non-homogenous groups, of academic ability, so that we could better study the effects of tracking. The project exceeded my expectations in a great fashion. I was humbled and excited to hear that Mr. Luecke was going to use the project for all his other classes and that he was going to run it for the week. Through this project we were able to empower each student in the class by having everyone participate, making all of them authors of their first book, using the classroom to encourage helping students who are less fluent in subject matter through non-homogenous grouping, promote a culture of helping others and reinforcing to students that their ability to speak and write more than one language is an asset to them and the community. I hope that this project will have helped students forge new friendships or strengthen already existing friendships, build a sense of community within their own classroom, and reinforce solidarity with their class mates regardless of their current academic level or mastery of the English language. The artifact that resulted from this project is a solution manual that has about 25 pages of worked out step by step solutions to the most common mathematical problems faced in the 6th grade along with written step by step instructions in English and Spanish on how to solve the equations. The pages are made up of white construction paper, sized 8.5 inches by 14 inches, and are held together using a three hole punch metallic sleeve insert. The project dealt with issues of inclusion by creating a space for students of any mathematical ability or level of English language fluency to participate fully. It also promoted inclusion by having the requirement that all instructions be written in Spanish as well as English. The project dealt with issues of diversity by having groups that were both homogenous and non-homogenous in regards to levels of mathematical ability. The project dealt with equity by giving students the same amount of time, access to resources; mainly Mr. Luecke and myself, and the math problems were handed out at randomly thus avoiding any bias towards a student who is perceived as either advanced or otherwise.
Part III: During my time tutoring at KIPP Adelante I found two factors that impact equitable opportunities to learn for underrepresented minorities and underserved students. The two factors are standardized testing and student tracking. I want to discuss these two factors in greater detail because standardized tests are perceived by many as being the divine answer to systematically judging students’ academic ability and evaluating individual school performance based on the relative scores their students achieve. Tracking, some believe, is appropriate so that students are placed in classes that are homogenous and so that struggling students will not get in the way of their more successful peers. I believe it is essential for us to understand the true impact of these assumptions, high standardized test scores equal more learning and tracking helps to cultivate learning by separating the disruptive or underperforming students from the most successful students. Standardized tests force students who take them to be fluent in the English language without regard for those students who have a different mother, or first language; if you prefer language. In the article by Darling-Hammond, L. (2010) the author states “Standardized tests do not take into account that a majority of underperforming schools are located in communities where English is taught as a second language or poverty is rampant” (68). Standardized tests help limit the spectrum of what a teacher can cover during the school year because there is a specific curriculum, a cookie cutter curriculum that is used for each grade across the state and country, that sacrifices learning of materials not included in the curriculum for the teaching of specific subjects that have been deemed most important by some authoritative body, or in some cases ill guided individuals; think of Intelligent Design. For students who are English language learners standardized test have a built in bias that negatively affects their scores. Students at KIPP, where some 49% or so are English language learners, begin each testing cycle at a disadvantage compared to their peers who are not English language learners. This fact creates disequilibrium in the public education systems goal of an equitable education for all students at KIPP and across the entire country. Darling-Hammond states “holding schools accountable has decreased equality of our public school system by further penalizing schools and school districts whom are underperforming by cutting budgets to the schools and creating a vacuum of experienced and well certified teachers” (71). Students who are not English language learners are expected to master English, to at least a proficient level, by the time they graduate from high school. During the time students are enrolled in elementary, middle and high school they are required to take English classes almost every year and sometimes a few times a year. Imagine English is not your first language and each year your school is forcing you to be evaluated using tests that are only written in English. The students at KIPP face this battle every single year, which means that in grade 5, 6, 7, and 8 the students will probably be judged more based on their lower than average performance on these tests then be acknowledged for the gains they have actually made during the school year. Let me reiterate; half the students enrolled at KIPP are placed at a systematic disadvantage by way of forcing them to take standardized tests in English. This conundrum of a failing policy, self-inflicted, plays a role in lowering the confidence of English language learners each year they attend school which further increases the disequilibrium of an equitable education for students at KIPP. Tracking is widely used by many schools throughout the country. What is tracking? According to the article by Loveless, T. (1998) titled “Making sense of the tracking and ability grouping debate” it describes tracking as:
Tracking referred to a practice in which high schools tested students, typically with both achievement and IQ tests, and used these scores to place students into separate curricular tracks, or "streams," as they are called in Europe. The tracks covered distinctly different curricula, were binding across all academic subjects, and led to different destinations upon graduation. Three tracks were common: (1) a high track, made up of college-preparatory or honors courses that readied students for admission to top colleges and universities; (2) a general track that served as a catch-all for the huge group of students in the middle, those neither gifted nor deficient in their studies or those simply unsure of what they would do after high school, and (3) a low track, consisting of vocational courses and a smattering of low-level academic offerings, such as consumer math, and serving mainly low functioning and indifferent students. After graduation, general track students matriculated to second-tier colleges, community colleges, or the workforce. Low track students frequently dropped out, found work, or suffered periods of unemployment.” (3).
Using this type of tracking system would cause 49% of the students of KIPP to automatically qualify for the low track. When students are placed into low tracks many barriers and obstacles are raised in an effort to disallow a low track student to move up to a middle or high track. So the use of tracking at KIPP is causing English Language Learning students to receive a less equitable education compared to their peers then they otherwise would receive. Through my experience tutoring at KIPP, course readings and discussions in class I learned that the debate on how to best reform our public education system is in full swing. I learned that having large size classrooms, +30 students per teacher at KIPP, has a real impact on the quantity of material that can be covered in a school year. When you include the curriculum that must be followed by teachers to ensure relatively better standardized test scores in specific areas of study you begin to understand how restricted our teachers actually are. Teachers exert large amounts of effort in teaching their students and low test scores cannot, and should not, be explained by equating them to bad teachers. The students taught me that I must treat each one of them as an individual person first and by listening to their comments one can better relate the material to be studied in a more effective way. Using this approach allows for students to achieve a better more in depth understanding of the material being presented. The students also taught me that individually they are at different levels of understanding the material. So I cannot use the same approach to teach all the students; I must understand their thought process to the best of my ability before I can show them how to think in new or different ways. The course taught me about what a charter school is and is not. I learned that charter schools are designed to test new or different approaches to student learning and then if an approach is found to be more successful than what is being used in the regular public school system the new approach should be implemented in the larger public education system. I also learned that at KIPP teachers are required to work from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm and that their salaries are a bit lower than the public school system. I learned that my teacher is practicing social justice teaching in his classroom. He does this by validating the idea that speaking more than one language is something positive. The school has a policy where each classroom has designated students that will introduce themselves when a visitor appears in their classroom. These students are called ambassadors and the students that speak with a light voice are usually chosen for these positions as a way to boost their confidence with speaking to others. I learned that when educational equity is in place the students that are subjected to the lower track or viewed as disruptive or low performing have all that it takes to succeed above the low expectations set for them. Through my tutoring experience I gained a more in-depth perspective on just how important the issue of inclusion and access to an equitable education is to a student’s performance in an academic setting. When students are made to feel inadequate because they don’t currently have the ability to speak, read or write English as well as their peers; this causes students to draw back their participation in classroom activities and leads to self-isolation. In the article by Loveless he explains “In recent years, tracking and ability grouping have come under increased fire for (1) being inefficient, that is, for not promoting academic achievement, and for (2) being inequitable, i.e., for condemning low group and low track students, and especially poor students and students of color, to impoverished educational settings.” (15). From the starting point of speaking a language other than English, forcing students to take tests, that their teachers and parents evaluate critically, in a foreign language creates an injustice by applying the policy, or, if you prefer, a systematic way to punish students who are generally underrepresented and underserved in the public education system. I learned that students have different realities when it comes to their home lives and not all students have a place available to them to complete their homework away from school. This is why inclusion is such an important part of the educational system. We don’t know the students circumstances at home so as educators we must provide a space where each student is included in the classroom, where they don’t feel like something is wrong with them because they don’t have the necessary resources or an ability to communicate easily. Inclusion can be the substitute that students need to build their self-confidence. I learned this by understanding why Mr. Luecke shared with me the anecdote mentioned earlier in the essay. Diversity is a very misunderstood word in the public education system. I learned that many fail to make the connection between the greater gains in learning that can be achieved by teaching using different learning styles approaches. Not all students learn in the same way and showing students how they can learn the material using different venues for teaching it to them will help improve their critical thinking skills and allow for more cognitive learning then limiting their horizons on the possibilities of how they can learn.
Part IV: In conclusion, the job of a teacher is much more involved then standing in front of a classroom and lecturing to students. Restricting a teachers ability to choose what subjects may be covered in their classroom is counterintuitive. It is counterintuitive because students are not identical factors in some assembly line and the best way to teach a small group or an individual student cannot be replicated and then used for all other students. Tracking students, or grouping them by ability, creates a non-equitable learning environment and has real consequences for students placed into middle or low tracks. Tracking also denies students the chance to learn from their peers that are more advanced in the subject matter. It is well known that boxers preparing for a major fight will spar with the best opponent they can find to prepare for the upcoming fight; so why would we not give our students that fighting chance to learn from their peers that may have greater knowledge base then they do. The students who are English language learners are at a disadvantage with standardized tests. It does not take a lot of effort, money or any other resource to have standardized tests offered in different languages. The fact that these tests bias the results for English language learners negatively thus creating a situation where students can be placed in a low track because of the bias is wrong. I would suggest that we do away with tracking all together and offer standardized tests in different languages for those students who are English language learners. KIPP represents a school that suffers the most from the two factors of standardized tests and tracking. The teachers, students, and school are being required to climb hurdles that are larger and more frequent then a school that has a lower percentage of English language learners. The school, teacher and students I interacted with this quarter showed me that we should base our judgments of school performance on what is overcome inside the classroom and not what a biased standardized test shows.

Work Cited: United States of America. California Department of Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 June 2013. <http://www.sandi.net/cms/lib/CA01001235/Centricity/Domain/121/research/sarcs/2012- 13/SARC280.pdf>.

Darling-Hammond, L. "The Flat World and Education: How America 's Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future." (2010): 66-98. New York: Teachers College Press.Web. 1 June 2013.

Loveless, T. "Making Sense of the Tracking and Ability Grouping Debate." (1998): 1-42. Web. 31 May 2013.

Cited: United States of America. California Department of Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 June 2013. &lt;http://www.sandi.net/cms/lib/CA01001235/Centricity/Domain/121/research/sarcs/2012- 13/SARC280.pdf&gt;. Darling-Hammond, L. "The Flat World and Education: How America 's Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future." (2010): 66-98. New York: Teachers College Press.Web. 1 June 2013. Loveless, T. "Making Sense of the Tracking and Ability Grouping Debate." (1998): 1-42. Web. 31 May 2013.