You see, in my high school, we already have a pretty rigorous curriculum. We have always (at least in the 7 years I've been there) expected our kids at all levels to work harder than they thought they could. It has always been our motto that any student who asked, could take an Advanced Placement course. The idea, as I saw it, was that just being exposed to college level teaching and materials, was worth the difficulties and (admittedly) the frustrations that may occur if his/her brain was stretched a bit past its limits. My department head, therefore, never harped on scores when it came to the A.P. Exams, because he understood that you can't have it both ways. You can not ask students to work past their ability, and then also expect everyone to average a 4 or a 5 on the exam. It just doesn't work. Some of those kids will get 2s and 3s, and that might be awesome for them. It might mean that they came in unable to understand the complex writing in front of them at all, and by the end of the course could, with time, parse at least one reading out of 4. For that student, that might be a remarkable achievement and therefore, prove the worthiness of the course for him/her. This is what we call open enrollment, and for the most part I support it wholeheartedly. I have always challenged my students and this gels well with my style of teaching. However, with Common Core, came the national test. Also with common core came stricter teacher evaluations. Part of these new evaluations enable the district to evaluate me based on my students' success (or lack thereof) on this national test and/or A.P. Test scores. So, as we are asking students to challenge themselves, and to push past their limits, we are also grading our teachers. As you read further, you will understand why this is a monumental mistake.
There are currently two tests that are being piloted: The Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). I can only speak to SBAC, as that is the test for which we, in Connecticut, are responsible. SBAC, currently, is almost impossible to pass. The questions are incredibly difficult, and far transcend the type of thinking our students have been asked to do in the past. This is true in my school, and will be true for most schools around the country. The test is also all online. In theory, this is a great idea: Catch up with the times! Tests to get into graduate school have been online for years! What's the problem? The problem is that, even in a suburb with relatively high property taxes, our computers are woefully outdated. I can only imagine that this is the case in other districts as well. Our nation is not ready to have every Junior take this test online. It will fail. These are serious issues, however the real problem is much larger than either of these issues.
The real problem, as I see it, is the roll out of this new test and this new curriculum. It seems that when government decides on a solution to "solve the American Education crisis," that solution needs to be put into place RIGHT NOW! The intelligent way to have rolled this out, would have been to do it incrementally. Let's start in kindergarten and work our way up. So that by the time this test and new curriculum reached the high school, those students would have been prepared for it. However, this was not the chosen path, and millions of upper level elementary school students, middle school students, and high school students will pay the price. They will pay with a loss of confidence. The tax for them will be mostly emotional; They will feel, no matter what we tell them, that they are not smart enough, not good enough. They will feel like failures. And that is the most unfortunate part of this whole thing.
Because government, in its infinite wisdom, wants to make sure their new solution is working, they have decided to test the kids as much as possible. This is true as early on as kindergarten.
Up until now, I have been speaking as a teacher, but for a moment, I must speak as a mother. I want my daughter to continue to be curious about every bug she sees. I want her to follow the path of an ant until he has found a way out of her sight. I want her to be as desperate to read always as she is right now, because there is no better way to obtain knowledge about human nature and the ways of the world than through written work. I want her to question every assumption she hears, until she has an answer that works for her, even if it means questioning the teacher, or an adult or another child. Questioning everything is the only way to true understanding. In kindergarten, she will be timed as she identifies letters and numbers. She will be 4 1/2 and will be forced to prove herself.
Each year elementary school teachers complain (rightly so) that more and more time is taken away from play, and put into testing and evaluation. But if we are trying to be more like Finland (always at the top in regards to education) then perhaps we need to think differently about getting rid of play. According to How Finland Keeps Kids Focused Through Free Play, Tim Walker's recent article in The Atlantic, free play is hugely important to the development of the student mind. Yet here we are, getting rid of it in favor of testing. Decade after decade, we make the wrong choices. Our students, our children, need time to play in order to understand how to be social human beings, and without these skills, all of the math and reading skills will be useless. One mother recently told me that her second grader was coming home on a regular basis feeling dejected and sad. He does not want to go to school. Ever. It is a constant battle. This is not what elementary school teachers signed on for, and it should not be what we, as parents, want for our children. Children should not dread school. They should not enter their elementary schools with fear or dread in their hearts. Save that for high school. Sadly, we are used to it there.
While I try to instill humor into every lesson, I know that my students are anxious and stressed out. I see it in their faces every day. It is especially a problem in my advanced classes, as they internalize so much. However, in my standard level classes, what I see is even more disheartening. I see a shut down. I see dejection, and I see hopelessness. They hear every day how important school is, and yet they see challenges in front of them that they are not sure they can overcome. Instead of helping and supporting them, we continue to put more obstacles in their paths. Now we are doing this even earlier. We are teaching our babies, our 5 year olds, that they may not be up to par. They may already be behind. This is what testing does. And this can not be the answer.
While I try to instill humor into every lesson, I know that my students are anxious and stressed out. I see it in their faces every day. It is especially a problem in my advanced classes, as they internalize so much. However, in my standard level classes, what I see is even more disheartening. I see a shut down. I see dejection, and I see hopelessness. They hear every day how important school is, and yet they see challenges in front of them that they are not sure they can overcome. Instead of helping and supporting them, we continue to put more obstacles in their paths. Now we are doing this even earlier. We are teaching our babies, our 5 year olds, that they may not be up to par. They may already be behind. This is what testing does. And this can not be the answer.
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