Voices from the Trenches; Teachers Respond to the Impact of NY State Tests on Their Students

From a Teacher in a Bronx Middle School

"The children were expected to sit in absolute silence for three hours! The older special emotionally disturbed children in the school started a riot in the cafeteria !! Direct result of over testing and frustration due to expectations that are outrageously unrealistic and necessary !! Excuse my vocabulary ,but this is absolute bull shit!!!"

From a Manhattan  Middle School/ High School Teacher

Tests at our middle school for students with emotional disturbance have led to major fights and aggressive behaviors. Yesterday, a student was taken to hospital on stretcher and another taken out of the school in handcuffs- middle school! This is an outrage. The tests are purposely impossible so next year, when tests are easier, the government can show 'progress.' They are using our children as pawns in their political schemes with zero concern for their actual educations or their overall well being

From a Brooklyn Teacher and Parent

The biggest hypocrisy of all is the DoE's descrbing its mission as "Children First." No, it's testing first, It's Data First. It's bidding by publishers first. Children come last in this equation. It's disgusting. And... as I've mentioned before, THE CHILDREN NEVER GET TO SEE THE RESULTS OF THEIR TESTS. They will not know which answers they got right or wrong, or if all the instruction on using graphic organizers and chunking text and all that made a difference. The tests will be shredded before kids (or teachers) ever get to see them. So they can not even be used as instgructional tools. Where's the "Children First" in all of this?