Parents enraged over controversial standardized test question
Parents enraged over controversial standardized test question
New Jersey parents are up in arms after their third-graders were asked, on a standardized test, to reveal a secret about their lives and explain why it's hard to keep.
About 4,000 students found the question on their version of the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge test earlier this week, The Asbury Park Press reports.
"That is an outrageous question and totally inappropriate to ask schoolchildren," said Richard Goldberg, 41, whose twin 9-year-old boys told him about "the secret question" after school Tuesday. "I guarantee you some children will be writing things family members and parents would have rather not revealed to the state. They want to answer a question; they don't want to fail. I think somebody should be held accountable for putting children in a difficult position in the middle of a test."
Goldberg said the boys mentioned the question after he'd asked them what the hardest part of the test had been, the Press reports.
"If my children had said, 'It's none of your darn business,' (on the test) I would have been perfectly OK with it," Goldberg said.
New Jersey Department of Education spokesman Justin Barra confirmed that some version of the question had appeared on the language arts portion of the standardized test. Barra said the question is being field tested and won't count toward the students' scores, the Press reports.
The exam tests third- through eighth-graders on their proficiency in math and language arts. Third-graders took the test for the first time this week from Monday to Thursday.
Test scores could help determine whether a student ends up in basic skills classes and also are expected to be included in teacher evaluations planned by the state.
Teachers and tests asking children inappropriate questions is nothing new. In the late 60s it seems that the first writing assignment a new teacher gave at the beginning of the new school year was to write about your summer vacation. I turned a few papers in with the following: "It is none of your business what I did on my summer vacation." I was given an alternate assignment.
Sure it's entirely legal to take my family to a family friendly clothing optional resort. There's nothing at all wrong with our vacation choice, morally, ethically, or otherwise. But to poll CM is to get the impression that such a vacation is either leading my child down the fast track to hell or just begging for someone (who? me, daddy?) to molest him or her. So I can see how, if my son were to answer that type of question with the type of answer posited, that "someone" could get "concerned" and have an investigation opened. Ultimately, it would be a "report unfounded" but sheesh, CPS in my life for 3 months, 6 months, or longer just to make sure? No, not something I want to even open the door to.
Quoting radioheid:If the practice is entirely legal, there is no need for concern.
Quoting eema.gray:My concern would be outside judgement of parenting that works for that family but others may not like. For example, what if a child wrote about how he and his parents don't wear clothes inside their home or that the resort they go to every summer is clothing optional? As a parent, I would fear that this "secret" being revealed would open us up to a CPS inquiry simply because some random person reading the test question/answer felt it was entirely inappropriate parenting.
Quoting radioheid:Interesting. I can't imagine why parents would be up in arms over this, unless their children are being neglected or abused. One would imagine there should be far more answers about feeding one's unwanted dinner bits to the family dog or snooping for Christmas presents than anything else.
Write in Jon Huntsman for President
"People no longer trust that their government is working for them. They see the revolving door between Capitol Hill and K Street, the influence-peddling, the backroom deals, and the crony capitalism.
The answer to the question is not going to be graded or exposed but how the student answers the question is the objective. When I was in 6th grade a D.A.R.E. officer came to our school and asked us if we knew anyone that used any of the drugs they had gone over with us. I felt like puking, my dad drank beer, my uncle smoked pot and my mom took pills (not to get high but out of need). I was so scared to answer the question, here was this police officer, in uniform wanting us to write on a piece of paper all the people we knew who did drugs. At that age the lines between drugs are not as clear as they are when we are adults. All I knew was I had seen people I loved and loved me do "bad things" as defined by the D.A.R.E program.
I did not answer the question and I went home that day; told my mom what happened and she raised hell the next door in the school office. To me the question on the standarized test is not an invasion of a child's privacy but a learning tool to see how well the child can express and comprehend. BUT, the D.A.R.E. officer's question was outrageous and yet nobody (but my mom) seemed slightly concerned. Drugs are bad, we know that but a child should never be faced with the daunting task of ratting out their pot smoking uncle or their lush mother.
So families have no expectation of privacy? One could take it that direction. Get a child used to answering questions about home life in an entirely innocent context and it becomes much easier to convince the same child that it's okay to "inform" on their parents. It's not about hiding a closet full of monsters. It's about expecting privacy regarding life at home. True, it's possible that MAYBE one or two abusive parents will be ferreted out because of questions about "secrets" and other such topics but really, is it good for our society as a whole to lose our right to privacy?
Quoting Della529:Wonder what those parents have in their closet.
Write in Jon Huntsman for President
"People no longer trust that their government is working for them. They see the revolving door between Capitol Hill and K Street, the influence-peddling, the backroom deals, and the crony capitalism.
What every happened to "What do you want to be when you grow up?" or asking a child to write about a favorite family vacation? When I had to write and essay in elementary school these were usually the topics that we were asked to write about. Another favorite topic, was to select a person from history and write about why you admire that person.
I agree but all I could think about when I read it was that there are some families, like my own that do have important secrets, that keep the country safe, that maybe the child found out and is supposed to keep but in the context of this question they might be compelled to tell even when they shouldn't because they believe it's safe to tell. I 'm a military brat and there are some things that other people shouldn't know. Sometimes kids find out things they shouldn't know and they may tell because it's their teacher and they think it's okay but it's not. I just think the question was inappropriate. What if the child's family was in witness protection or something? Who knows, it was inappropriate.
Quoting WesternNYmom:What every happened to "What do you want to be when you grow up?" or asking a child to write about a favorite family vacation? When had to write and essay in elementary school these were usually the topics that we were asked to write about. Another favorite topic, was to select a person from history and write about why you admire that person.
This actually would be one of my concerns as well. For reasons I absolutely cannot discuss, there is a literal price on my husband's head, both in certain parts of the middle east and certain parts of Central and South America. If one of our children was to write anything about their father's work in the military or his work as a contractor to the US Government, their father's life could be in jeapordy, not to mention blow the lid off secrets the governments of this country and several others would like to keep in the black. At the 3rd grade level, many children don't yet have the filters to know what is appropriate to talk about in a public context and what is not. :-(
Quoting Jaha:I agree but all I could think about when I read it was that there are some families, like my own that do have important secrets, that keep the country safe, that maybe the child found out and is supposed to keep but in the context of this question they might be compelled to tell even when they shouldn't because they believe it's safe to tell. I come from a military intelligence family and there are some things that other people shouldn't know. Sometimes kids find out things they shouldn't know and they may tell because it's their teacher and they think it's okay but it's not. I just think the question was inappropriate. What if the child's family was in witness protection or something? Who knows, it was inappropriate.
Quoting WesternNYmom:What every happened to "What do you want to be when you grow up?" or asking a child to write about a favorite family vacation? When had to write and essay in elementary school these were usually the topics that we were asked to write about. Another favorite topic, was to select a person from history and write about why you admire that person.
Write in Jon Huntsman for President
"People no longer trust that their government is working for them. They see the revolving door between Capitol Hill and K Street, the influence-peddling, the backroom deals, and the crony capitalism.
Yeah, they could have picked a better writing prompt. Now I'm curious. I'm going to ask my daughter what her writing prompt was.
There are things, other than abuse & neglect, that a family might want to keep private.
Quoting radioheid:
From an adult's point of view, it seems unethical. If someone required me to tell a secret now, I'd be raising hell. But these are 8-9 year old kids. They are probably giggling and jumping in their seats over it.
Quoting GLWerth:
This was my thought as well.
Quoting radioheid:
Interesting. I can't imagine why parents would be up in arms over this, unless their children are being neglected or abused. One would imagine there should be far more answers about feeding one's unwanted dinner bits to the family dog or snooping for Christmas presents than anything else.
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on May. 23, 2012 at 11:51 AM