Schools have become like ‘testing mills’ — says Chancellor Banks

In a recent radio interview, Chancellor David Banks expressed worry that some schools have become “testing mills” and that student engagement has suffered as a result

An annual rite of passage for New York’s third through eighth graders is back — state testing season.

As the English exam is administered Tuesday and Wednesday in its usual form for the first time in two years, the test prep culture that has taken over some schools has a new high-profile critic: New York City Chancellor David Banks.

“Under this chancellorship, I am going to use this bully pulpit to talk about the fact that tests are important, but that we are really doing our kids a disservice,” Banks said on WBAI’s “Driving Forces last month.

“There’s a reason why so many of our kids disengage and drop out because we’ve just made our schools like testing mills.”

Because educators and principals are concerned about being measured by how well their students perform on the exams, they often let subjects that aren’t on the tests — such as art, music, theater and other enrichment that children enjoy — fall by the wayside, Banks said.

“I think we have given up making sure that our kids have a fully comprehensive learning experience because we’ve been so focused on standardized tests,” he said.

Instead of focusing on test prep and standardized testing, Banks said he is interested in expanding the use of performance-based assessments in which students do portfolios or hands-on projects to demonstrate mastery of certain concepts and skills.

Some New York City schools already embrace this model, including about three dozen “consortium” schools.

Banks also believes that the test-prep focus takes time away from other important work that schools should be doing with students in terms of “developing empathy towards one another.”

Some school leaders posit that test prep and the other subjects such as the arts can go hand-in-hand.

Perhaps because of concerns about children’s academics and social emotional state, a growing number of parents opted their children out of this year’s test, said a school principal.

Previously all of the school’s children sat for the test. This year several families requested their children skip it.

The state tests were canceled in the spring of 2020 when schools first closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Last school year, the tests were given, but only if families signed up their children. This differed from the typical default in which students take them unless their families opted out.

Last spring’s tests were only offered on-campus, and with more than half of New York City children learning from home full time, just one in five students across the five boroughs sat for them.

Not only will it be the first time third graders to take state tests, but due to the pandemic issues, it also may be the first time for many of the city’s fourth and fifth graders.

The lack of historical testing data for student performance could make it challenging for the tests to measure how schools are doing.

Grades 3-8 math tests will be given in late April. Fourth- and eighth-grade science exams will be administered in late May through early June. Though Regents exams were canceled in January due to the omicron surge, they are expected to be administered in June and August.