Thursday, March 8, 2012

High-Stakes Testing

I have to be very careful with this post.  I don't want to lose my job over it (those in the education field can empathize).  However, our school corporation has begun taking our state-mandated high-stakes test this week.  We'll have two sessions of it--one this week and one the beginning of May.


I haven't posted many teaching stories in my blog for a few reasons.  One being there are some parents who read my blog and I want them to know I enjoy teaching their children and I never want them to think I would tell stories about their children.  Another reason is that, this year, I'm pretty unhappy with my job and honestly don't feel like talking about it that much outside of school.  It's gotten better as the school year has progressed, but I am still longing for the day when I can get back to what I do best--teaching in the general education classroom.


That being said, I have a few things to say about the high-stakes test we're taking this week:


Number one: it's ridiculous to base student learning, teacher proficiency, and school growth on a stinkin' state-mandated test.  I'm sorry, but there are too many factors in the lives of the children, parents, educators, and administrators to base our pay, our yearly growth, and our children's successes (or failures) on one test.  For example, two of our elementary students and one of our middle school students lost their mother in a tragic accident last week.  Her funeral was today.  Although I am sure these kiddos will be taking the test next week, how well do you think they will be able to concentrate?  What about the student who was put into foster care for the first time?  The teacher who is trying to deal with personal loss?  The administrator who is unhappy with his/her job?  Everything factors into how well our school performs on this assessment. I can't believe so much is at stake with this test!


Number two: The vocabulary used in the tests is often unfamiliar to students.  As a special education teacher, I use "layman's" terms for my daily teaching.  High-stakes tests only offer technical vocabulary.  I was reading a question to one of my students (it's in his IEP that I do so), and he kept looking at me and saying, "What?"  I so badly wanted to say it in layman's terms so he could understand.  Instead, like a robot, I kept reading the prompt over and over.  He finally shrugged and started to write.  I moved away because I didn't want to see what he ended up putting down; I was afraid it'd break my heart because he didn't understand what was being asked of him.


Number three: As a special education teacher, my kiddos are not learning at grade-level.  Guess what?  The state doesn't care.  If they are enrolled in a fifth grade homeroom, then they are taking the fifth grade test.  My students that I pull out of the regular classroom for instruction are at least one grade level behind their peers, oftentimes two or three.  I've agonized this week over how frustrated they must've felt taking a test that they couldn't begin to answer correctly, even with the accommodations they have in their IEPs.  I can only hope they guessed right or maybe had picked up some information in their regular classroom that could've helped them.  I was fortunate enough to give the test to third, fourth, and fifth grade, so I saw the difficulty level of each test.  If my fifth graders could have taken the third grade test, I think they could've passed.


I'm not writing this to knock my students; they do the best they can with their abilities.  They've shown progress since the beginning of the year, and I'm proud to say one of my fifth grade girls needs to pass her x8 and x9 multiplication facts and she will have mastered them from 0-12.  They progress at their pace and on their level, it just happens to not be at grade-level.


With all the pressure on educators from the state level, I wish someone somewhere could stand up for these kiddos.  I'm fighting my own battle between the adults in my students' lives; we all want what's best, but we all have our own definitions of "best."  If my kiddos could take an assessment that is based on their ability level instead of their actual grade level, think of how successful they could be and how much frustration could be taken off their little shoulders!