Not every educator believes in standardized testing because not every educator believes students can be standardized.
Carl Perino, the principal of the Carl W. Goetz Middle School in Jackson, performed his spoken word poem “Children Are Not Standardized” at a recent TEDxAsbury Park event with the hope of changing how people view standardized tests in schools.
Perino starts his poem by acknowledging each child and coming to the realization that children do not come “standardized.”
“To be a good teacher, where did I begin? As well as to teach her, I learned to teach him. I learned early on to stare into their eyes. From where I was standing they weren’t standardized,” Perino said.
Within a poem that can be performed in under five minutes, Perino takes the listener to China, South Korea and Finland before returning home.
“We say No Child can be Left Behind/ So we put them in the front lines/ A war between states and teachers/ To earn money or avoid fines/ If No Child was Left Behind/ Doesn’t that mean they should all be ahead/ But instead we continued the game and just changed the name/ now our kids cannot stop/ As they Race to the Top.
“Just another competitive initiative using students’ test scores as a derivative/ A test does not signify if you can or if you can’t … A test does not make you significant.
“You want to give kids a grade? An F? an A? a C? Add an E and now they have a face. Standardize that grade so they can take their place.
“See, Our kids are drowning in anxiety’s rising tide, giving them no place to run and hide. Maybe that’s why the second leading cause of death for teens is suicide.”
Perino said these views are his and not those of the Jackson School District. He said he has seen a growing level of stress on children in the last five to 10 years.
“Especially the last five years, I see a lot of stress factors on these kids that I do not think they should have,” the educator said.
He said middle school is a time that is “awkward enough” for students without ideas of anxiety about how they are going to do and if they are going to be able to get into a good college.
“(The stress) is really not something I think they should be going through,” Perino said.
The principal said his spoken word poem and his views are not necessarily against standardized testing or against testing evaluations because as an educator he believes people need to have some sort of benchmark or evaluation to ensure that children are learning.
“I do not think it is a matter of the methods that are being used are incorrect. I think as educators we should always be looking for what is the best way to evaluate kids, what is the best way to see how they are learning. I do not think that is a process that should ever stop,” Perino said.
The principal said standardized tests such as the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) may work in the present, but that does not necessarily mean they will work in the future.
“If PARCC is working now it does not mean it is going to work three years from now, so we should always be looking at what is the best way to see how kids are learning because, especially in this technological world, kids change how they learn and how they grasp information.
“What I think we need to do as a society is take a step back and realize there is a lot more involved in what makes a child successful than just how they do on these standardized tests,” Perino said.
Much of his TED talk is geared toward parents.
“Whether it is intentional or not, they are placing a value on their child of A’s and high test scores, as opposed to other factors that are probably more important for success in life.
“Interpersonal skills and being able to handle stress, these are things that are holding back kids who are extremely intelligent because the anxiety they are facing is making it hard for them to be successful outside of the classroom,” Perino said.