on playing the testing game.

The irony of proctoring a state test is that you’re basically forced to meditate for hours on end, in a high pressure,  high stakes and (educationally speaking) high risk environment. Ohmmmmm.

Dead silence fills the room of a year’s worth of teaching and learning, riding on one test.  So many smart phones locked in supply closets leaving us with nothing but our random thoughts and memories of the days when kids could read analog clocks.  

We barely have human interaction without fear of looking at a child the wrong way- so we just stare at the air.  This is where, every year, the opportunist in me attempts to take advantage of clearing my head while proctoring,  but every year, I’m defeated by the stress.

Testing makes kids cry, kids pee themselves and kids vomit over the pressure and all we can do is offer breathing techniques and state-approved pep talks.

Even the chillout teacher in me can’t shake the weight of it all.  You want your students to relax, but you need them to take it seriously.  One test. One week. One score.

So year after year, why do I still care so much about an accountability system I despise and mistrust? Because I want my students to look good and feel good.  I want to be trusted as an educator. I want my school to have educational freedom.  

This is why I play the testing game.  

Educators are obviously tuned in to the gap between what their students actually know and how they perform on the big test.  The scores often misrepresent our kids, our school and our teacher effectiveness.  

Students don’t apply what they’ve learned to real-world scenarios or create or argue or innovate on these tests.  It’s just thirteen tests for endless hours of multiple choice and a few creatively suffocating essay prompts.

I support accountability for student growth.  Standardized assessments are not all bad.

Why, though, do these high stakes tests provide such misrepresentation of a child’s academic abilities?  

Just imagine how much our teaching would change if we knew our students would be assessed differently?  An oral debate section on the state test? A graphic design embedded persuasive pitch on the ELA portion?  An architectural challenge on the math portion? NASA-based scenarios on the science state test?

Come on Common Core, where’s the real college and career readiness in how we assess?  

And who takes three hour exams seven days in a row in college anyway?

Regardless of our feelings, though, we have to care about the state test.  Until our flawed system changes, our students and our schools depend on us to prepare students to do their best.  

The question becomes, how do we play the game while making strides towards a fairer accountability system for student growth?

We can:

Never treat a student like they are a test score, be conscious of how test scores play into our relationship with each individual child.

Play the game for a few weeks out of the year, but no more.  Test prep isn’t sticky.

Create or advocate for alternative assessments. Start small, start big, either way, start the conversation.

Prioritize the arts, STEM, and application of real-world skills in our daily instruction.   

As a parent, I need for state tests to change.  As a teacher I feel like I can do something about it...  

Power to the teacher!