I thought I had finished venting in yesterday’s post about over testing our children. I’m sorry. I was wrong. Today when I arrived to work, I received notice that the last week of October will be filled with more “mandatory” testing from the district. That’s just for reading. The following week will be for math.
So let’s do a recap.
The students have been subjected to a pre-writing test, an i-ready test and now a Fall Interim test. All of this within ten weeks of school. How many more tests can we possibly give them before Thanksgiving?
Oh, wait! Maybe we want to give them a pre Thanksgiving test just to give the starting of the holiday season that warm fuzzy feeling.
I’m starting to think that this Testing Gone Wild epidemic will spread so far and wide that there will never be a chance for us to stop it.
Some teachers aren’t helping the situation.
In Miami, we don’t have to grade these ridiculous writing tests.
Yet, I found out that many of the teachers graded the tests even after they were told that it was against the contract.
They basically worked for free, spent their time and energy on something other than teaching.
Why? Why grade these tests even if we don’t have to score them?
Oh, there are so many reasons.
- Fear of retaliation.
- Fear of losing their jobs.
- Fear of their own shadow.
- Lack of leadership at the union level.
But I digress.
What will it take to stop these tests from ruining the future of our children?
When I was in school, I had to take the SATs. That’s it! My teachers didn’t hound me to prepare for the SAT or do rehearsals or even have a pep rally for the SAT.
YES! We used to have a pep rally for the FCAT!
Seriously? Who the heck wants to cheer for a test? That’s like asking for a virus!
How far will we push our children before we ruin their future?
What are you doing to protect our students?
What are you doing to protect their future?
What is the leadership doing to protect them?