April 20, 2010
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April 20, 2010
All tests and no play
By “Miss Nelson”,
Salem Elementary Teacher,
I have heard people complain that schools spend so much time on standardized tests that they don’t have time to teach, and I always thought that it was just another excuse. There are so many students who are not achieving the standards and we’ve all known a teacher or two who didn’t seem to give the profession their all, so it stands to reason that we’d want some accountability!
But today my poor little kiddos took tests all day long, minus a break for library, recess and lunch! They are one terrific class and they did it like good little troopers, but I felt so sorry for them! Every day they come in and ask, “Are we going to have a test?” Because usually we do.
If it’s not a test required by the state, then it’s one required by the school district, or a research team, or the curriculum, or it’s a formative assessment to see how they’re learning is progressing, or maybe even a practice test to help them get ready for the test.
Students spend most of the first month of school being assessed to determine what they are strong in and what they need to be taught. Then there’s a nice lull until the first grading period where they only have formative assessments and maybe a district test or two. Then after winter break the testing begins full throttle and it doesn’t slow down until the kids head off for summer vacation.
I try to make all of the testing as purposeful as I can, using copies of the students work to help them reflect on their strengths and goals, or using them to help guide my instruction, but I do hope that we get to a slightly more efficient place where all of the levels of bureaucracy don’t get to have their own tests–or at least I hope that exchanging valentines will be a well-deserved reprieve for them.
The more time it takes a teacher to prepare for someone else’s projects means less time to prepare for what she is paid to do. People say “Oh this shouldn’t take long” are usually people who do not have to do it or even worse have never taught a class and have been buried with such a work load. We all clamor for more individual time per student, now let us make good on that promise.
Kids do not like tests either!
Off to summer? maybe we should give them at least one test in July just to keep them focused when they are not in school.
Year round school would help. Long gone are the days when summer was a time to help with the harvest! With 4 vacation breaks a year,evenly spaced, teachers and children would have time to rest after each school term and prepare for the next school session. (Do the math so that there would be about 190 school days a year). Also the tests at the beginning of the year to see how much the students have forgotten during those long and sometimes boring summer months, would become redundant.
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You would think one test a year would make everyone happy.