Teachers at Park Slope’s P.S. 321 protest ‘horrendous’ Common Core English tests
Teachers and parents marched outside a Park Slope elementary school Friday morning to protest what they call a “horrendous” English Language Arts (ELA) exam given to third, fourth and fifth-graders over three days last week. The test is part of the new Common Core curriculum, but teachers say it’s so poorly designed that it will actually harm students.
“We’re very upset by the tests, and the teachers are very angry,” said Lori Chajet, parent of two kids at the sought-after P.S. 321 on Seventh Avenue. Chajet said test questions were ambiguous, and multiple-choice questions could have several correct answers.
Alex Messer, a fourth-grade teacher at P.S. 321, told the Brooklyn Eagle that without being allowed to describe the details, it’s hard to get across just how bad the test is. “But it’s just awful. It’s not actually testing reading comprehension, and some of the content – such as the moral of the story — is inappropriate for third- and fourth-graders.”