It's May, and for most public schools, that means it's EOG (End of Grade) Test season. I'm currently volunteering at a great little elementary school about thirty minutes from my hometown, helping fifth- and third-graders get ready for their reading EOGs. I'm also helping a kindergartner with his phonics and letter recognition, but since he's not taking EOGs, I won't be talking as much about him in this post.
My question is, what are educational administrators thinking by insisting on standardized tests? Okay, so I understand the rationale behind them. Teachers need to know that their students have learned enough to be ready for the next grade level. Arguably, the best way to do this is to create curriculum objectives that all kids need to know. However, in my humble opinion, these tests are doing more harm than good. I even brought along a few examples to support my case.
First, you've got the teachers. I know a ton of great teachers from all levels (including college professors), and I also consider myself a teacher. I love being creative when I teach, and coming up with ways to make sure my students actually learn something new that will stick with them once they are out of my class. I'm also lucky, because my teaching experience has mostly been in college, which means I have some leeway to do this. But poor public school teachers...they have to teach directly to one test, and if the kids aren't learning anything, so what?
Then you have kids who learn differently from the "standard." I'm talking about smart kids who happen to have learning disabilities. I'm talking about kids with different learning styles than the norm. And I am talking about me. You see, I was a gifted kid, but I also had a physical disability that completely obliterated my depth perception. Therefore, math was a nightmare because of columns, coordinate graphs, algebraic formulas, and Heaven help me, geometric drawings. So if I failed an EOG or EOC (End of Course) exam, the idea that I was just dumb was considered. Hell-oooo?
And then you have the regular kids who are just trying to get through a school year in one piece. Prime example. I work one-on-one with an incredibly sweet third-grader. She's a good kid and a good student. But recently, when her teacher sent home a practice reading test, she didn't answer any questions on it, even though her work with me is wonderful. After probing, it was discovered that seeing a whole bunch of passages in a row like that just made her shut down.
The truth is that not even our first-graders and kindergartners are safe. I was in a beauty supply shop yesterday, looking for lip balm, and the clerk and I started chatting. I learned that her six-year-old first-grader is being subjected to pre-EOG testing four times a year. Part of these tests is a section called "Nonsense Words." The idea is that the child is given a nonsense word (such as "zet") and asked to sound it out so he can prove he knows the different sounds. Plus, it's timed. So this little boy is sitting there, trying to make a real word out of a nonsense word, while his teacher stands over him with a timer. Can we say "trauma?"
Honestly, I am completely disgusted about this. Is anybody else out there with me?
As we discussed, yes... No Child Left Behind has really messed with my child's education. Teachers that I know don't like it either but we don't have the power to change it. Bev Purdue was elected on a platform of being an educator. But really? What has she done except go along with the ridiculous testing standards and take the education lottery and do other things with the proceeds in direct violation of the law enacted to allow it?
ReplyDeleteOh, now, I wouldn't say we have no power to change it. You remember the Civil Rights Movement? The American Revolution? They, my dear, started at the grassroots. If all these people are willing to get behind their children and their educators and share the opinions that so far have only made their way here, we very well could see some useful CHANGE.
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