The best laid plans of mice and men . . . I owe a post regarding the very cool projects my students have been doing in class along with pictures and the like. I would like to say that the onslaught of second semester and the realization of the impending STAAR has beset my blogging – partly true and partly just tired overtaking at the end of each day – mentally tired. Fifth graders are not second graders and are not like the fifth graders of yesteryear – possibly an idea for a later blog.
Also, very recently, aka Spring Break recently, my husband has had amazing fortune following years of hard-work, training, and hobnobbing with the right kind of people. He is a voice actor by trade and business is booming so much that it is meriting a move to the mecca of all things entertainment – namely – Los Angeles. I am excited and nervous but above all PROUD! And now begins the crazy second full time job of finding a full time job when we move – – teaching in California and all the credentialing and such that it will entail! Yikes!
But let’s put all that aside for the moment. I was perusing Facebook (which is really why I haven’t been blogging. I peruse Facebook and endless vids of cute animals and stupid articles. I am much more productive when I shut it down) and came across the article below. It expressed my feelings and opinions in regards to Standardized testing in a concise and scientific manner.
***Warning*** Slightly ranty and political diatribe ahead! Skip to article now . . .
Based on my time in inner city Dallas to suburb Plano, I have experience with what the article says- standardized tests are more about test taking ability and prior knowledge – it does not test what goes on in the classroom. If research is accurate that low-income students enter school with a fraction of the vocab and prior knowledge of their wealthier counterparts AND that teachers only account for 1-14% of what goes on in the classroom BUT we have a one size fits all test regardless of background or learning ability…..you do the math!
We need accountability in education NO DOUBT! It is taxpayers money but is standardized testing the best accountability?
People talk about public education as the best view of socialism in action – I usually respond with and as an educator in the public system that is why I am all the moreso hardpressed to be a fan of socialism. I have seen how our system is failing our most needy population but if the school has at best a 14% influence isn’t there a better way? To hold parents more accountable? I can’t help but think of a story I heard on NPR about foster children and group homes and it made me sad and want to foster children at the same time – yet the report was on one child in particular who had overcome a string of abusive foster and group homes and is successfully attending college and seeking to change the experiences of future orphans. There’s a correlation. He did not sound entitled when I heard him share his story…..maybe that’s the problem? We are so accustomed to getting certain things that if we don’t we raise a ruckus. Even Christians even me – i can be the worst.
I don’t have an answer. I’m still seeking. Feeling trapped in a system that honors those who have the most.
I guess I wonder what if we all just did more? If we all agree that what we are doing is not working than what if all did something?
What if Christianity in America was less about individual comfort and more about doing and giving and potentially sacrificing our comforts for the greater good?
I digress. I don’t have any real solutions and feel trapped in my own desire to just live comfortably versus give my all for a cause.
