Public Education Matters

"These tests are just a snapshot of one day, of one way, of how they're doing on a certain test... The tests did not do what the tests were supposed to do."

• Jane Mitchell, retired teacher
  • After a 40 year career, Jane Mitchell retired as an intervention specialist from Dublin City Schools in 2013. She got her Bachelor's degree in Social Studies and English Education from the University of Illinois in 1973, then pursued her first Master's from the University of Iowa in K-12 Developmental Reading, but since she was already working with so many children with special needs at that point, she went for another Master's in Learning and Emotional Disabilities from the University of Iowa. In the years since, she has earned over a hundred credits from various universities to further her professional development. Mitchell has taught all grades from preschool through college in five different states, almost exclusively serving students with special needs. She spent the last 25 years of her career in Dublin Schools, serving as the testing coordinator at two different elementary schools in that time. She is a proud grandmother to five and mother to three. Two of her daughters are teachers; the third is the host of this podcast. 
    
    

"Twice, I had kids get bloody noses on the tests and once, I had a kid throw up on the test. And when that happens, you have to stop testing because no one is going to be a good job while somebody is cleaning up barf, so the kids all have to take their break at that time while you clean up, but then the teacher, or in my case the testing coordinator because the teachers were so grossed out… would have to wear gloves and rewrite everything into a new test booklet, including all of the mistakes with spelling, grammar, and punctuation, and have it exactly the same—the only thing that’s better is the handwriting—and bag [the soiled test] up and mark it as hazardous waste and send it in along with the test that’s getting scored."

• 1:30 - From childhood dreams of becoming a nun to four decades in the public school classroom teaching students with special needs
• 3:25 - The duties of a testing coordinator and how she got roped into the responsibilities
• 5:00 - Lost tests, bloody noses, and barf, oh my!
• 6:20 - Dealing with a pants wetting incident, leaked test prompts, and language barriers
• 9:20 - Saving the tests from a plumbing disaster
• 10:45 - The evolution of standardized testing over the years and the move to punitive measures
• 13:40 - The failure to effectively define achievement in school or to level out the playing field for all children
• 15:10 - Thoughts on standardized testing during the pandemic
• 16:30 - Formative vs. summative assessments summed up in a Great British Baking Show explanation (Credit for this metaphor goes to OEA Education Reform Consultant Ellen Adornetto)
• 17:35 - Trusting educators as professionals to meet their students academic, social, and emotional needs... and voting for the other guy
• 18:10 - "Why do we pray to Cheez-its?"
• 19:00 - Trying to teach a previously non-verbal student to stop using a certain word

"It was so obvious that whoever came up with the stupid laws about testing had no idea what the tests do. The purpose was supposed to show us where the kids were lacking and needed help and needed more instruction, but you never even got that information until the kids had already gone onto the next grade and that information rarely followed them, other than their scores. The parents would get a score but wouldn't tell them 'he's having difficulty in algebraic thinking' or 'he's having difficulty with using a lot of adjectives in his writing' or whatever. It would never give you that kind of information. It would say proficient, not proficient, advanced; and so you suffered." 

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• The Ohio Education Association represents more than 120,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals who work in Ohio’s schools, colleges, and universities to help improve public education and the lives of Ohio’s children. OEA members provide professional services to benefit students, schools, and the public in virtually every position needed to run Ohio’s schools.
• Education Matters host Katie Olmsted serves as Media Relations Consultant for the Ohio Education Association. She joined OEA in May, 2020, after a ten-year career as a television reporter, anchor, and producer. Katie comes from a family of educators and is passionate about telling educators' stories and advocating for Ohio's students. She thinks her mom, Jane Mitchell, is the most amazing person in the world.