CRCT covers up state’s educational shortcomings

This week is CRCT testing week in our schools. The CRCT stands for the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests. If you have a child in the elementary or middle school you know all about CRCT. It is has taken on a life of its own. It seems that the entire school year is geared towards this test and then the world is turned upside down during the test week(s). Little league games are canceled, extracurricular activities are curtailed, there are no homework assignments and we get daily messages to feed the children a good breakfast so they will all be prepared for the all important CRCT. Pardon me, but this is a bunch of horse-hockey.

Let me be clear. This is not our teachers fault. This test is the single measure used by the State and Federal government to determine how a school and its teachers are performing. There are serious ramifications for failing this series of tests. Teachers can lose their jobs and school systems can be labeled failing which will impact the entire community. They call it Adequate Yearly Progress.

Let me digress for a minute. What genius at the Department of Education came up with phrase “Adequate Yearly Progress”? As a parent there is nothing even remotely approaching adequate I want for my child when it comes to their education. I want exemplary or superior. No wonder parents lack confidence in the school system. Does the superintendent not realize how ludicrous it is to a parent to see schools celebrate the fact they are “adequate”? Could you imagine going to you boss and asking for a raise because your work over the last year was adequate? Come on! Doesn’t anyone in the Department of Education have a marketing degree? At the very least you could give it a name that instills confidence rather than disdain. Unfortunately, all of this is a distraction form my real concern.

The CRCT is nothing more than an intentional, misleading political tool. The Georgia Department of Education determines the curriculum, creates the test, administers the test and then grades the test. It does this without publishing the grading criteria prior to commencing the test. It is a closed loop system managed entirely by the State Department of Education. After the tests are graded the scores are released. The net result is that the scores almost inevitably show modest improvement. Each year the scores tend to be a point or two better. Not too much better because that would blow the sham. We all know things have not improved that much. One thing for certain is the scores won’t be too low because that might alert the voters to the real problem. The test is designed and scored to keep the Georgia citizenry lulled into a false sense of adequacy.

In 2006, the Washington DC based Education Trust issued a report that confirmed what parents and teachers already knew. It compared the CRCT to the National Assessment of Educational Progress test (NAEP). The NAEP is often referred to as "the Nation's Report Card". It is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subjects. The study concluded that the CRCT is far too easy and a poor measure of how our Georgia students are stacking up nationally. How else do you explain the fact that the 4th grade students scored 75% proficient and above on Georgia’s CRCT while only 30% of the students were considered proficient on the unbiased NAEP test. For the eighth grade, the Georgia managed and graded CRCT test scores showed 69% of students were proficient on the CRCT, while a dismal 23% scored at that level on the NAEP. Proficiency scores in the 20-30% range are a disgrace. These scores are further validated by Georgia’s near bottom scoring on the SAT, another unbiased national standard.

These discrepancies are too wide to be anything short of indicting. The Georgia education establishment manages the CRCT scoring system to make the parents feel like the public education provided is sufficient, or dare I say, adequate. The reality is that by any fair, unbiased measure the quality of our current education is nothing short of abysmal.

The real crime of the CRCT system is that the inflated scores cover-up the scope of the problem. If Georgia parents really understood the depth of the crisis they would rise up and demand improvement. Hiding a problem never solves the problem. Then and only then, can the educators harness this energy to drive meaningful education reform. The education establishment and the political leaders must deal honestly with the citizens of this state.

As I write this, it is getting late. I have to put my kids to bed. We will follow the CRCT checklist. We will make sure they get at least 8 to 10 hours of sleep. We will get them up early so they can have a hearty breakfast. We will say all kinds of encouraging words as we load them on the school bus. We will turn them over to the state to educate them. All of this in the audacious hope that we can celebrate their ADEQUATE yearly progress.

Kirk is a member of the Lagrange Writers Group. He can be reached at jkirkhancock@yahoo.com

Published 4/24/08 LaGrange Daily News