Wk 1 Response to Deborah Cowden's post

Deborah Cowden: Wk 1: Blog 5, Free ChoiceStandardized Testing

Same season, different perspective. It’s that time of year when schools across the country are administrating standardized tests. The hallway discussions are not that different from previous years. I continue to be amazed by the differences in values, understandings, experiences, between the government, administrators, teachers, students andparents. Same situation, different perspectives. All might say similar words like engaging students to learn best, but not all hold the same perspectives.

For example, if engaging student’s is the problem or topic, then why are we being forced to discuss and prepare students to pass the test? Staff development at the site where I teach is being forced onto the staff and will be on “three of the six standards” for engaging ELL’s. Sounds good. Perspective: pass a standardized test with a score of 350+. What I’d love to see staff develop are ways to integrate using technology to engage their 21st century learners. Perspective: The research points toward engaged students doing well on standardized tests, too! Plus, it’s important to be teaching students music and art as mainstreamed courses because we know how it further develops the brain! (But, it’s not on the test...)

I have decided that the nine-dot puzzle presented in this week’s reading is a perfect analogy for where the possibilities of teaching occur: outside of the framework of “Passing the Test.” Cynically, I can’t help but believe that when our students do well on the test, though, that the “test demanders” will take the credit!

Never-the-less, with or without the pressures of being categorized as a PI-school, the need to engage our students outside of the framework of needing to pass the test is exactly where students will build the skills and knowledge to pass those standardized tests.

@Deborah, I could not agree more. I have come to the decision, after thinking long and hard about the disconnect between students, teachers, parents, admin, and the government. Students do not feel that learning for a test does not help them and so is not relevant. Teachers feel unappreciated, too many things added to our list of get it done and we still struggle with respect and money. Parents who think their children are blameless, or it is the teacher's fault, or the all the other kids who are preventing their child from that grade. Admin who flit in and out and every time there is a shakedown and the teachers adapt to new rules.

Finally the government, grand ideas not based in reality. Lets issue merit pay, give incentives for it, but not have a systematic and realistic way to measure it. Lets demand our students all get the best education possible, so if a school is struggling, lets pull funding and give it to someone else, compare different groups of students test results to each other to see if they make AYP.

I realized that most of this is due to the fact that people have lost the ability to understand each other. They no longer (if they ever did) try to walk a mile in someone else's shoes, see what they are really going through before adding or changing how things are done, or thinking about how it is going to affect people.

As I have been saying all week, it is what it is...not much we can do, except think about how every second of the day we are affecting our students and try to teach them life lessons along with the dreaded TEST.

Saturday, May 8, 2010 - 06:24 PM