Testing, Testing, and Testing


Just a few short months ago I had to undergo rounds and rounds of testing myself.   It all started in April and wasn’t finished until the last day or the school year.   I wasn’t overly worried  about the results but I could tell by the faces of the ones around me that they were scared, anxious and worried.  This went on for hours each and every day…all the while I tried to remain calm so that those around me would have that same calmness.   I couldn’t muster up enough nerve to say that the testing wasn’t a big deal and it would all be over soon and it just didn’t matter that much.    I know the truth… 

It took months and months to get the results…Even then they were not 100 % sure of what was going to be the outcome.  The final results will be revealed soon.  What will it mean?…will it be okay or will we sink into the failure funk…We try so hard to please and we try some preventative measures every month…just hoping that we don’t miss any thing on the diagnostics that will show up on the big test.  If we don’t reach the “A” status we will be disappointed…and the newspaper doesn’t take into account the transient students, Non-English speaking children, the poor, the hungry, the abused, and the mentally and physically challenged kids….If we test enough our scores will surely increase…and if they don’t increase we just don’t know the consequences…But I know that kids are missing the boat on what they know and don’t know because of the testing craze…and that, my friends, is a teacher’s take on standardized testing.