Twas the Day of ELA Testing...

I am sitting here in a dead quiet elementary school building. Every sound is hushed and whispered. Even the most rambunctious of the children are sedated... It must be ELA day.

Bright pink signs are posted everywhere screaming (non-verbally, of course) "QUIET PLEASE! TESTING IN PROGRESS!" It makes me want to run up and down the halls shouting, "NO! I will not be silenced! These tests put undue pressure on my child and are not a true measure of their knowledge! Stop this insanity!"

I want to have a day of testing for the NYS Department of Education (perhaps David Abrams, Assistant Commissioner for Standards, Assessment and Reporting and Richard P. Mills, Commissioner of Education?) and the New York State Legislation geniuses who have decided that our chidren need to be tested to death. I want them to feel the burden placed on the students. Let's see if they can define unctious or ubiquitous. Perhaps they should be required to pronounce certain words correctly... "Guttenberg" or "naive". Maybe a little quiz about the electoral college would be in order or the science of levers. I would love to read their essays just to see how many can use "its" and "it's" properly, as well as the oft misused apostrophe.

But before we test them, let's subject them to grueling week upon week of test prep, test taking strategies, and more test prep. Let's tell them that this test is so important that the grade will follow them for at least 5 more years (yes, my 4th grade son was told that this would follow him through High School).

Those Administrators and Legislators and who do not test well will have to be placed in Academic Intervention and will be required to stay after school. No excuses! It doesn't matter if they normally do very well or if they have test anxiety or if they had a headache the day of the test. Suck it up, baby. This is the NEW YORK STATE TEST.

L

Winning the war on terror: How I learned to love No Child Left Behind

A friend recently shared her story of woe at the hands of the education system. Her son had always gotten solid grades, a dedicated and hard-working kid who worked well with others and colored within the lines. Parent-teacher conferences were a joy. Yet even while basking in the afterglow of the praise heaped on her son, Mrs. X had a niggling doubt that wouldn’t go away. Over the years she had voiced her concern over what she felt was a problem with little Johnny’s reading comprehension. She felt that concepts weren’t “clicking” for him. Shouldn’t such a strong student be capable of more than just the most basic, literal understanding of the text? Year after year her concerns were met with the same answer. Yes, little Johnny was very literal, but he would grow out of it. Not to worry!

The years passed and my friend continued to be reassured both by the teachers and by her son’s state test scores in language arts. Scoring low to mid-range threes on the exams, he was deemed to have “met the learning standards “set by New York State. Not wanting to seem to be a “helicopter parent”, (a term used by those in education circles to denote those parents who “hover” over their children) my friend backed off. Imagine her surprise when her son entered 8th grade and was placed in a service reserved for children with comprehension problems. Why? She was informed that little Johnny was comprehending at a fourth or fifth grade level… three to four grades below his own grade level! How could this happen?

As far as I can determine, there are two possibilities:

The learning standards set by New York State are set abysmally low.
The teachers are doing a spectacular job of teaching the test.

My bet is on the second option, although the first is well within the realm of possibility.

After a completely unscientific poll of neighboring school districts, approximately three months is spent preparing for the state tests in math and language arts. This does not include the time spent prepping for the science and social studies exam. In addition to the time spent in school, some schools even require that students attend 45 minute after-school “study sessions” two or three times a week for the eight weeks preceding the test. This is all done, by the way, while telling students that the tests are nothing to get stressed about. Yeah, okay.

Yet even with all this prepping, many district’s scores stay within the same few percentage points or they drop. Like a stone. I have to wonder, what might happen if the teachers were actually allowed more time to teach the children how to think instead of train them how to answer certain types of test questions.

Ultimately, it is the misguided and under-funded pet white elephant of our president, the No Child Left Behind Act, that is to blame. Determined that not one child will fall behind, our government has chosen to throw them ALL under the bus.

Now the question is how to make the proverbial lemonade from this lemon of an idea. I say we export it in “not-so-smart” bombs to the hostile forces intent on wreaking havoc and destruction in the world. Think about it… not only would they be buried under reams of paperwork and paralyzed by near constant test anxiety, but (after examining the apparent link between frequent testing and low reading and comprehending ability) they would quickly be rendered incapable of reading or comprehending any text that might instruct them in how to cause harm.

Who said no good could ever come from over-testing?

E

I think I have a fever. Is there a test for that?

Can I ask you a question? If you have a fever, what do you do? Do you continue to take your temperature hourly to make it go down? Or do you actually take some action, like administering an anti-inflammatory medication, to produce the desired result?

Common sense tells us that continuing to suck on the thermometer isn’t going to do anything but produce stress and concern as the fever continues, right? So maybe you can tell me why state departments of education feel that implementing more standardized testing is going to produce more favorable results from our children.

Did someone at the NYS Department of Education actually take a long hard look at our students mediocre English Language Arts (ELA) test results and say, “Hey, they can’t read. We had better do something. I know! Instead of testing them in 4th and 8th grade, we’ll test them every year from 2nd grade on!” Was this individual met with pats on the back and praise? Apparently so, based on the current ELA annual testing schedule.

My son was riddled with test anxiety in 3rd grade. It seemed that every teacher in the school must “teach to the test”, a strategy that consists of drilling our children with old ELA test questions and a multitude of exercises designed to drive test scores upward. Continuous instruction centers on the “big test” and causes intense pressure on the students and teachers. I was sorely tempted to tell my son to put his name on his paper, turn it over, and take out a book to read in silent protest.

This rigorous testing schedule is, in reality, doing very little for the students. They are cramming test taking knowledge for weeks before the exams and when the ELA is over they start studying for the next state exam.

So I have to ask: If the kids can’t read, is continuous testing the answer? I have another idea. This is where I may get a little politically incorrect, so bear with me.

1. Get rid of tenure. Tenure is an antiquated form of job security for teachers who have successfully completed a probationary period. Unfortunately, this security can lead to teachers who feel so safe that they no longer feel the need to provide a quality education to our children. No other profession has this security. Professionals are evaluated annually and if they are not performing to expectations, they are given goals and support and if they continue to fail, they are let go. Our teachers are responsible for educating the future doctors, executives, technology gurus and teachers. They should be held responsible, like everyone else.

2. Instead of tenure, administrators should regularly evaluate all teachers throughout the school year and give support, recommendations, and discipline where necessary. Parents and students should be given the opportunity to “grade the teacher” at intervals throughout the year. It is inevitable that there will be personality conflicts and the occasional inconsistently negative review, but if a teacher received 20/25 negative reviews, administration should get the message that something is not right.

3. Back off of the rigorous testing schedule. The teachers are well versed in the State Learning Standards. Allow them the freedom to teach our students without the constraints of teaching to the test. Yes, some testing is necessary, but excessive testing is not.

4. Provide more academic intervention services, but base eligibility not only on test results, but on overall student performance.

5. Encourage teachers to be creative and to make learning a fun, confidence building activity.

This is in no way a slight to our teachers. At my children’s schools, we have been blessed with many wonderful, dedicated teachers who have been handcuffed by the demands of the NYS testing schedule.

I just can’t help but wonder how much smarter and happier we would all be if weren’t suffering from incessant test anxiety. Is this issue only a problem in NY? Do you see it where you are, whatever the state or country? Do you have a solution?

While I’m waiting for you comments, maybe I’ll take my temperature.

L