Thread by @sonalirajan

This is not just an unpopular opinion, this is actually a deeply problematic take that is emblematic of the many inequities that persist in K-12 schools around the U.S. So let's talk about that, shall we? (1/n)

https://twitter.com/ehutt1/status/1364217324908253184

First, I've seen this pro-testing take appear in various forms this week, so my thoughts here are really in response to all those collectively pushing for standardized testing right now. (2/n)

Second, this piece by my wonderful colleague @AMPallas (who I admire so much) is so well-done and captures both the purpose of standardized testing and concerns around the Biden Administration's call for testing.

hechingerreport.org/opinion-resumi…

I'd like to build briefly on Aaron's thoughtful piece by talking about the connections between health, well-being, and learning -- connections that have a problematic history of not being discussed when it comes to testing and other forms of education policy. (3/n)

Over half a million Americans have died from COVID -- which translates to thousands of children, teachers, and school communities who are reeling from the grief associated with losing loved ones. Black and brown communities are tragically and disproportionately impacted. (4/n)

We have no idea about the many ways in which the trauma associated with COVID (and all that this pandemic has brought forth) will impact children and schools for months and years to come. (5/n)

But we *do* know that the health and well-being of children (which includes having a history of traumatic experiences) are inextricably tied to learning outcomes. (6/n)

So why aren't we pushing for education policies that account for these connections??  And, more importantly, why aren't we redirecting resources away from testing to instead better support our students in the aftermath of this traumatic year? (7/n)

The faulty assumption here is that this sort of testing will tell us something meaningful about "where we stand".  But the fact of the matter is that testing won't do that. (8/n)

We know that students who have experienced less trauma during this past year (and who have had greater and consistent access to resources/parenting support/etc) will likely do better on these tests. (9/n)

So why go through this trouble of adding more stress to our students, teachers, and schools if all testing is going to do is highlight the very clear inequities we already know exist?  (10/n)

We are choosing to test children right now because it is all we seem to know how to do. And because there is this simultaneous call for "more data". We are not testing because it's in the best interest of students. (11/n)

As someone who relies on data to do my research, I understand the need/desire to quantify phenomena. But the onus must not be on children to provide these data because we can't come up with better ways of collecting meaningful information. (12/n)

It's also worth noting that the grief associated with COVID is not the only source of trauma that children (and their teachers) have experienced this year. We have seen trauma from increased gun violence, from racism, and other serious public health crises. (13/n)

The intersection of these multiple crises on the well-being of millions of K-12 students is profound and must be taken into consideration before pushing for testing in the spirit of "data collection." (14/n)

As my colleagues and I (and many others) have written about before, there are clear connections between these types of adverse childhood experiences and poor learning outcomes. This 2018 paper is one I come back to all the time in my work: psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-14…. (15/n)

What I would love is for education researchers and policymakers to advocate for policies that consider the whole child. (There is an entire body of literature in the school health field that discusses this, for example: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26440815/)  (16/n)

And, for what it's worth, all of this goes well beyond testing. We have a unique opportunity now to reimagine all sorts of education practices. (17/n)

(My colleagues and I recently wrote about this in the context of school gun violence prevention, but that premise -- of thinking out of the box -- and not just applying performative band-aids -- remains the same):

hechingerreport.org/as-we-reimagin… (18/n)

The Biden Administration has an opportunity to reimagine and implement education policies in a way that recognizes the links between child health, well-being, and learning outcomes. Let's start doing that now. (/end)