One of our state requirements for Homeschooling is that in third, fifth, and eighth grades we will have the children take standardized tests. And as we are currently prepping Isabelle for her exam, I have to say that I have so much sympathy for public and private school teachers at the moment.
I hate the loss of time as I literally "teach to the test." Isabelle has an amazing math brain with a highly respected curriculum. The girl has a 98% average for the year! But we are having to take 2 hours a day to help make certain she can do the math which will appear on her test. And all I can think as we do this is: why?
It is such an arbitrary tool and it measures nothing other than how well a child can take a test. I truly cannot conceive of the challenges of helping to prepare an entire classroom for these exams, knowing that the school will be judged, my abilities would be judged, and the students will be scrutinized. Yikes.
Don't ask me what we should replace testing with because I don't have a clue. I really don't spend much time thinking about it until I'm forced to. And even when forced, I try not to think about what we're doing, but instead work like mad to just get it over with.
Usually, we have our test in October and we meet up with dozens of homeschooling families from all over the county and the kids have a fun time visiting and accomplish a state requirement at the same time. But last October, Isabelle had two teeth pulled the day before the test. Truly, she was quite the trooper and handled the procedure and the aftermath with a grace and patience which belied her age. But there was no way I was asking the girl to sacrifice two teeth and then take a test. That would just be evil.
I have learned during the last two weeks that testing in October helps us to just get the thing over with much faster, and that there is no way we'll put it off again. I'd rather reschedule surgery than the test. I think Isabelle agrees with me, too. She came out of prep session today with glazed eyes and stated, "My brain hurts."
Blech.
I hate the loss of time as I literally "teach to the test." Isabelle has an amazing math brain with a highly respected curriculum. The girl has a 98% average for the year! But we are having to take 2 hours a day to help make certain she can do the math which will appear on her test. And all I can think as we do this is: why?
It is such an arbitrary tool and it measures nothing other than how well a child can take a test. I truly cannot conceive of the challenges of helping to prepare an entire classroom for these exams, knowing that the school will be judged, my abilities would be judged, and the students will be scrutinized. Yikes.
Don't ask me what we should replace testing with because I don't have a clue. I really don't spend much time thinking about it until I'm forced to. And even when forced, I try not to think about what we're doing, but instead work like mad to just get it over with.
Usually, we have our test in October and we meet up with dozens of homeschooling families from all over the county and the kids have a fun time visiting and accomplish a state requirement at the same time. But last October, Isabelle had two teeth pulled the day before the test. Truly, she was quite the trooper and handled the procedure and the aftermath with a grace and patience which belied her age. But there was no way I was asking the girl to sacrifice two teeth and then take a test. That would just be evil.
I have learned during the last two weeks that testing in October helps us to just get the thing over with much faster, and that there is no way we'll put it off again. I'd rather reschedule surgery than the test. I think Isabelle agrees with me, too. She came out of prep session today with glazed eyes and stated, "My brain hurts."
Blech.
1 comment:
Hang in there Isa. That just means your brain is making room for more info. Mine stopped hurting years ago. Hummmmmm. I think to much information just leaked out.
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