Today I got to experience the coordinator side of state testing in a full day of training, and I have to say it makes my heart hurt for our kids and teachers.
I always new that our state testing was serious business, and even joked many times that I was in the wrong profession given how much money our state spends on it to these private companies that write them, print them, distribute them, grade them, etc. But today, wow...
It's my first year as a testing coordinator for my campus, so I've been in many trainings lately preparing for TELPAS, STAAR, STAAR Alt 2, and will continue to have trainings and dealings with these assessments as the springs goes on.
What makes my heart hurt is the knowledge that these systems, while they have their merits, cause so much undue stress on our students, teachers, and even administrators. I am fortunate that in my district, testing hasn't been linked to your yearly appraisal and your pay is not tied to it, and as far as I can tell, we have leadership in place that have no plans to make this a reality, but there is a sort of unwritten code that if you can't cut the mustard in those testing grades, then you get moved somewhere else. And let's not even start with the written codes that tell us we can't smile, give a pat on the back, talk to our students, sometimes not even be in the same room to support them while they take this high stakes, timed test each year. It seems no matter how much we prepare our students that this is coming, reassure them to not worry, encourage them with pep rallies, songs, etc, you can still see the stress on them, like a backpack full of bricks they are carrying around. And then let's add on the stress of SSI. So now if you don't pass your tests in 5th or 8th grade, you have to attend remediation classes and take this again, or even go to summer school to try a 3rd time with the possibility of repeating your grade if you don't pass. It just makes my heart hurt for our kiddos.
For our teachers who give to our students their best every day, work tirelessly before, during, and after school tutoring small groups, overcoming student apathy or learning issues to reach that high mark, only to receive results that are less than they expected. It's crushing as a teacher. It makes you wonder what else you could have possibly done to help more students be successful on that dreaded test. It makes my heart hurt for them.
For our administrators who have to give an account to higher up folks of how they plan to fill in the gaps of certain groups of students, or for a certain subject, not really caring that there was a teacher on long term disability that year due to cancer, and a long term sub had to be brought in, or that a teacher resigned at mid year due to the amount of stress, or that you didn't have adequate funding to host enough after school tutoring. They only care about the bottom line it seems, because their jobs depend on it too. It makes my heart hurt for them too.
Now don't get me wrong, I think there should be some form of standardized test on a state level, not national like Common Core is doing, but state levels, but it shouldn't be done the way we currently have it on 1 day, in 4 hours or less, nor the old way of taking as long as you need where we would have kids staying after school, sometimes till 6, 7, or even 8 pm. Neither of these is effective or an accurate measure. I want someone with more skill, time, and talents than me to create a system that takes into account that child that started the year 3 years behind in reading, and now is only 1/2 a year behind, or the kid who improved in math from 20's to now 60's. A system that is longitudinal in nature, and not a singular day. A system that takes all aspects of a kid into account, not a number on a page on a single day, in a single setting. It all just makes my heart hurt for our kids, our teachers, and our administrators, and I don't have a solid solution.
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