In case you aren't familiar with "testing season," let me give you a brief look at my classroom for the past month. Each day my students would come in and complete writing, spelling, science, and social studies as usual. However, reading and math were now completely devoted to test preparation. We would complete packets (yes... multiple pages stapled together) daily. The next day we would go over the packet from the day prior and then begin a new one. Day after day this is how our reading and math time looked. Each day we discussed testing strategies. "Make sure you fill in the bubbles. Did you erase completely? Read the directions, circle the action words and underline important words. Blah. Blah. Blah." My students were burned out before testing even began... hell, I was burned out!
Some might wonder why on earth we do this rigorous activity. Haven't the students already learned what they need to know? Of course they have... They've learned it and learned it well. However, it doesn't matter if they have completely mastered every concept taught throughout the entire year, they will never show this complete mastery on the test. We try not to put pressure on the students, but they still feel it. Think about it... the government puts pressure on the district (funds are at stake here), the district pressures the principals, the principals pressure the teachers, and unfortunately the students end up feeling some of the pressure of the teachers. We cannot claim that this extra "practice" we do the entire month prior to testing doesn't clue the students into how important the tests are. I find myself saying things like, "you never know... that could be on the MAP test" or "pay attention, the test is coming up." I then feel completely terrible for placing some of my stress upon them. Anyone who would like to declare that testing isn't stressful on students is a liar.
After all of this preparation comes the big event. We're talking a two week big event. During this event our entire schedule is thrown off, teachers on are edge, and students are restless. We ask the kids to do their best, check over their work, and then check over it again. Then we give out the rules: no talking, no getting out of your seat, I can only pronounce one word, I cannot help you, keep your eyes on your own paper, be sure to fill in the bubbles completely, and etc. But we don't put pressure on them. No way!
After all of this instruction, practice, and strategies learned the students must be ready to dominate the test, right? Psh! Yeah, right! There are inevitable testing catastrophes... lots of them. You know there is always that one student who skips an entire double page spread in the test booklet because the pages stuck together. Or there are the students who refuse to check over their work and sit for the next 20 minutes with their heads down. Then there are those dedicated students who work incredibly hard but fail to finish before the time limit is up, causing them to receive no credit for the unanswered questions What about the students who are upset because dad forgot to pay the water bill, and they didn't get to shower that morning? Oh, and there are the kids whose parents fought all morning. There are even students who decided to play their Nintendo DS until midnight the night before despite requests to get a good night sleep. Some kids haven't had a thing to eat or drink all morning (luckily our school provides a snack) and can't concentrate. Don't forget about those darlings who are so burned out that they completely disregard the directions and just start filling in answers.
But these tests are best for our educational system, right? They completely give an accurate representation of what students have learned this entire year, don't they? Bull shit! Yeah, I'm calling it. I would love for these legislators to sit in my classroom for the entire month of standardized testing prep and the two weeks of testing. Then I want them to tell me that these tests generate some sort of invaluable information that results in more/ less funding or higher/lower teacher salaries. Oh! I also want them to look at my adorable care-free students who have turned into burned-out, stressed-out rascals and tell them that this is for their own good. One more thing... they can take the damn 10-pounds I've gained in the past month and a half and shove it up their....
I'll end there.
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