Click and post: CST security breach
What won't they put on Facebook and Twitter?
The Age of Instagram is creating headaches for the state Department of Education and ETS, the contractor for the state’s standardized tests. At least 100 students from 34 school districts had posted images on social media of materials from various state tests they took, according to Paul Hefner, spokesman for Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torakson.
For students, the photos may have reflected just another mundane moment in a running record of their daily lives. For the Department, they were a breach that prompted Torlakson to send out a bulletin Friday to remind districts to follow security protocols, which include prohibiting access to cell phones. (They might also ask where the proctors were when students whipped out their cell phones and snapped photos.)
A Department press release said that most of the photos were of students posing with a closed test booklet and blank answer pages. There were also some messages that students created, by inventively bubbling in their answer sheets, to show their enthusiasm about the California Standardized Tests (CST).
Art in lieu of answers. "You only live once."
See the photo “YOLO” which I took from Twitter; my daughter tells me it means “You Only Live Once” (but take standardized tests forever).
However, the Department acknowledged there were also some images of test questions or completed answer sheets from CST and high school exit exams. Indeed, a quick search on Twitter using the search symbol or hashtag #cst turned up a photo of questions that appeared to be from the Algebra II test, and completed answer sheets from an unidentified test. Of course, images that may not have been posted but possibly shared no doubt are giving ETS heartburn.
The press release said that the Department will ask social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, and Webstagram, to take down the images of test material, on the grounds that it is an unauthorized use of copyrighted material. Hefner said he didn’t know how quickly that could occur. The Department will work with districts to identify the students who posted images (that won’t be hard, since many identify themselves), and ETS will determine whether any test questions have been compromised. A few years ago, to save money, the state stopped funding random security inspections and electronic analysis of test results for irregularities. Under a deal reached with the State Board of Education in March, ETS is to resume these next year. However, districts remain obligated to report any problems with test-taking they spot.
Beside turning up images, a Twitter search for #cst offered insights into the minds of high school students during test week. At least most of those with accounts on Twitter are, to the say the least, not too enthusiastic about taking their subject tests. Many of the 140-character Tweets are unprintable in a family policy blog (not that anyone under 15 would be caught dead reading TOP-Ed), but I will share some of my favorites. My conclusions after reading them:
- Don’t give high school subject tests unless they count for something for the students, such as part of their grade (the results would have to be in sooner than summer, however)
- Don’t evaluate high school teachers on the subject test scores of their students; a significant minority isn’t taking them seriously. (Has anyone seen studies estimating this?)
I have placed replaced dashes in a few predictable places and left off surnames to protect the semi-innocent. Some memorable Tweets:
Lando: just went to the bathroom and stood and the hand drier for like 10 min.
Jordan: I would like to take this time to thank all non-seniors for allowing me to wake late as fuuu for the past week and a half (don’t ask what fuuu means)
Arnie: Sometimes education in schools comes to a complete and utter stop.
Mitchell: You know ur f—ed when u get the sample question wrong … hahaha
Tammy: oh what? Daddy’s feeling generous just made me egg&cheese omelet with bacon and sausage and a side of #OrangeJuice for #CST woooot!
Caleb #CST = No Homework!:D
Jazmine: Yah! Tomorrow is the last #CST test! Stupid ass Science -.-
Stephanie: Does watching #TheBigBangTheory count as studying for my chemistry #CST I have tomorrow???
Nazaneen: “During a test; people look up for inspiration, down in desperation and left and right for information.”
New School: I hate the nerds that cover up their answers … Like come on, let’s work together bro
Willie: I feel like giving my bio teacher, Ms. Senegar a hug! This test was actually easy!
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- The Educated Guess: Click and post – California Standards Test security breach : SCOE News Reader
- Pineapples Don't Have Sleeves: Lessons from Standardized Tests | Sine of the Times
Regarding the question about test seriousness, the recent Gates teacher survey indicated that 55% of teacher believe their students dont take the tests seriously. This is not research, and its not the same thing as the number of students who dont. But maybe its at least one data point.
Perhaps the saddest comment is by the child who apparently doesnt get made a good breakfast unless the CST happens to be going on. The parent obviously cares to some extent given what was made in this case, but what if breakfast matters on other days… you know, for learning?
Nazaneen is going to be a poet or a rapper..
And thanks for ending on a good note. My child said virtually the same thing after week 1. Not on a cell phone or twitter, mind you.. too young for that.
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Don’t evaluate high school teachers on the basis of CST scores…. this is the flaw with all of them. Trust me, third grade is capable of something at subversive as “YOLO” or “FUUU” (yes, I know what it means) on their bubble sheet (and are less likely to erase it after they’ve taken a picture to make the point and go on with the test), but third graders have also also mastered “random” already, harder to spot. What difference would it make though, students can’t retake the test, schools have to turn those bubblesheets in AS IS, knowing what it’s going to do to them. The more frustrating the student finds the test, the more likely they’ll bubble anything rather than try their best on the next question at least. English language learners, those with learning disabilities, those who are more than a year behind despite hard work on the part of their schools to bring them up, and those who just never tried that hard in the 155 days of school that preceded the test, the moment they open that test booklet their self-esteem has just bottomed out. And don’t forget some of the other stresses that anyone who has ever taken some test that might have mattered…. stressed out friends, the test police walking around in circles, a whisper-quiet room, an air conditioner and other sounds that suddenly seems louder than ever before, a bell for recess postponed that goes off anyway, this is reality. Older students may “roll with it” when it comes to test conditions more but they don’t like any of it any more than others, and they are no more inclined to do their best when there is no accountability for themselves.
And yet in several cities, public shaming of individual teachers has occurred in newspapers lately over these test scores, where the tests may be flawed (bias, poorly written questions, etc. due to insufficient care or effort on ETS’ part), the student’s behavior during the test is assumed to be something teachers can control, and the calculations of value-added “assign” some score to a teacher that may very well not be mathematically accurate, or accurate in the assumption that the teacher even had the student in their class vs. just on their roster, or had the student all year, etc. etc, that list goes on and on. A suicide in Los Angeles could be ascribed to this shaming 2 years ago, and another teacher in NY was harassed at home- and her parents harassed at their home- as a result of this flawed system. Unions aren’t fighting reform to protect teachers from accountability, they are fighting back against valuing arrangements that assign blame for a multitude of problems that are beyond teachers’ ability to influence, let alone control, and leaving them with the hot potato. The newspapers’ behavior from posting flawed math, asking teachers to defend themselves to add to the media circus, and personally harassing teachers at their homes is like bad sportsmanship in the hot potato game.
I had a student in one class who could not read who left the day after Halloween, went to Mexico, did not return to school there, and returned to my class 2 days before CST testing was to begin. Because that students was enrolled in my class in September, according to the rules,that student counted in my overall performance. What control did I have over that situation, how could I have done my job better?
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And yet some keep insisting on the sacredness of the CST scores.
“Pineapples do not have sleeves.”
(I went looking for a link for that and Google returned 56,200! Ah, but this is a great primary source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coavD_aPZRo)
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Sorry, forgot to add that you should read the comments posted below the video. Great stuff for someone interested in looking at kids’ perceptions on standardized testing.
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It would be interesting if students’ derision were what actually put an end to the testing insanity that has been promoted by the “education reform” sector and our political leadership for so many years now. @John, I agree with your conclusions.
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Our local high school created a policy last year where students could get a positive bump by one extra letter grade in their subjects by scoring proficient or advanced in the subject matter tests. I like this approach because it means nothing bad can happen from the test results to an individual student, only good. It made the exercise feel much more productive for everyone, and kids were actually interested in even studying for these tests on their own. It created much more of a “we are all in this together” kind of atmosphere, without the gimmicks of phony rallies or rewarding kids for practice exams with fast food coupons that I remember from my high school experience.
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Yep, exactly that. Let’s hinge our belief on student success and teacher “effectiveness” on why animals in a nonsensical story would eat a pineapple, and which one of the animals who talked to a fruit was “wise”.
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