Donald Williams, CEA’s director of Policy, Research, and Reform, and Marcia Ferreira, a Windsor literacy coach, are CEA’s representatives on a new statewide committee examining testing. They are attending meetings around the state to hear from educators.
Representatives on the new state committee examining annual statewide tests need to hear your personal stories about SBAC’s effect on your students. CEA leaders have raised strong concerns about the reliability and validity of SBAC and want to share educators’ concerns, challenges, and suggestions with state education officials and others.
Educator Marcia Ferreira, a Windsor literacy coach, and Donald Williams, CEA’s director of Policy, Research, and Reform, are CEA’s representatives on the new Mastery Examination Committee created by the legislature to examine annual mastery assessments. This month they are attending CEA County Forums around the state to hear your suggestions about ways to fix Connecticut’s flawed testing system, and will bring your ideas back to the Mastery Examination Committee.
Ferreira and Williams began to collect stories from educators last night at the Hartford County Forum. One teacher told of proctoring 504 students taking SBAC over a six-week period. She said the students were frustrated, reduced to tears, and her heart broke.
A magnet school teacher described the testing as absurd, and wondered why the media is not doing more to inform parents of their right to opt their children out of testing. An elementary school teacher said she has not used any of the SBAC results because they don’t give her useful information to help her students learn.
Attend a County Forum and make your voice heard. Click here for a list of County Forums.
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