First of all, bravo to the parents who attended the meeting. Whether or not we have complaints or compliments, it's probably a really good thing to attend school board meetings once in a while, if not all the time, to keep our fingers on the pulse of how our schools are run. I've personally never been to a meeting and really have no idea about the ins and outs of how important (or even mundane) decisions are made when it comes the my child's education. So I'm inspired by the parents who not only attended the meeting, but had a plan to bring their concerns to the board members with the hopes that they would be heard and that steps would be taken toward a goal that would address their concerns.
In my opinion it is good for children when their parents advocate for them. Especially in the elementary level when they are so young. They need their parents to be involved in their school lives, that take up 13 years of their childhood. 13 years! For 13 years we send our kids off to a place over which we have little control. For some of us, it's no big deal. School is school. It's part of growing up. It is what it is. For others of us it's important to know a little more about what goes on each day. For some of us we'd love to be able to be more involved, but we're working our hands to the bone to make ends meet, just hoping that our kids are safe and well for those 7 hours when they aren't in our care of the care of someone else. I could go on and on about all the different factors that go into a parents involvement or lack-thereof, but that is another post. ;)
From what I understand, the two main concerns that this group of parents shared, were low standardized test scores and behavior issues in the classroom to the point of distraction and stress. In this post I want to talk about the testing scores.
I guess I'd better put it out there that I couldn't care less about standardized test scores. I actually wouldn't care if my child never took a test in her school career. Testing is one way to look at whether a child understands what they have been taught. However it's not the only way, and it's not necessarily an effective way. That being said, I also don't believe the most important thing about school is excelling in particular subjects such as math, science, history, etc. Of course I want my daughter to learn. I have LOVED her enthusiasm when she comes home from a day at school and shares with delight something cool she learned. But it's that delight that is the key for me. What about all the days she might learn something, but there is no joy in it. Of course we can't be filled with joy every day of our lives. Of course we will learn, even as adults, things that are rote, boring, frustrating, but also necessary. But when our kids are young especially, I believe it is so important for them to be filled with joy as often as possible.
I also want my child's educational experience to teach her much more than arithmetic and grammar. It is my hope that she will learn HOW to learn. That she will learn how to THINK. That she will learn how to share, have compassion, be a helper, show empathy. Learn how to lead and when to follow. Learn how to advocate for herself and stick up for herself. Learn how to stand up for others and speak up for those whose voices aren't being heard. I hope she will learn to love and appreciate different forms of art and music, different cultures and ethnicities and countries. That she will play and move her body as well as engage her mind. That she will be in touch with nature and the world outside of the classroom walls. That she will learn how to give respect to those who earn it and question those in authority who are out of line. These are things I want her to learn at home, at school, and all around her in daily life.
If you are a teacher reading this, (and you haven't already shut me down!), you are probably shaking your head at my naivete. How can a teacher be expected to do all of that? As well as be a babysitter, referee, nurse, therapist, time manager, etc? Exactly! It's too much! Our children are given over to their teachers for 1/4-1/3 of their days. And we expect so much! And these teachers are amazing, wonderful, talented, patient, low-paid heroes. They can only do so much. And to expect them to teach our kids so that they will pass a biased, pointless, standardized test? Puh-lease. Let them be creative in their teaching. Let them figure out ways to teach all the different styles of learners they have. Let them find their joy in teaching. And let them have a break! Do not push them to the point of exhaustion and frustration in order to meet a certain standard. I know that what I'm saying will sound irresponsible and totally crazy to some people. Some teachers will agree, some will think I’m a lunatic. Some parents will agree, some will avoid eye contact with me from now on. That's fine. I will stand my ground.
I’m one of those people who doesn’t always know how to put my thoughts into words, but I love it when someone else gives voice to what I’m thinking or feeling.
Here is a link to an article I loved along with a long list of they author's (Marion Brady) reasoning behind why standardized testing isn't so great:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/04/19/34-problems-with-standardized-tests/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e81fe7181b9c
"Commercially produced machine-scored standardized tests:
• Are unavoidably biased by social-class, ethnic, regional, and other cultural differences.
• Unfairly advantage those who can afford test prep.
• Radically limit teacher ability to adapt to learner differences.
• Provide minimal to no useful feedback to classroom teachers.
• Are keyed to the deeply flawed, knowledge-fragmenting “core” curriculum adopted in 1893.
• Have led to the neglect of play, music, art and other nonverbal ways of learning.
• Hide problems created by margin-of-error computations in scoring.
• Penalize test-takers who think in nonstandard ways (which the young frequently do).
• Give control of the curriculum to test manufacturers.
• Encourage use of threats, bribes, and other extrinsic motivators to raise scores.
Assume that what the young will need to know in the future is already known.
• Emphasize
minimum achievement to the neglect of maximum performance.
• Produce scores which can be — and sometimes are — manipulated for political purposes.
• Create unreasonable pressures to cheat.
• Use arbitrary, subjectively-set pass-fail cut scores.
• Reduce teacher creativity and the appeal of teaching as a profession.
• Lessen concern for and use of continuous evaluation.
• Have no “success in life” predictive power.
• Unfairly channel instructional resources to learners at or near the pass-fail cut score.
• Are open to scoring errors with life-changing consequences.
• Are at odds with deep-seated American values about individuality and worth.
• Create unnecessary stress and negative attitudes toward schooling.
• Perpetuate the artificial compartmentalization of knowledge by field.
• Channel increasing amounts of tax money away from classrooms and into corporate coffers.
• Waste the vast, creative potential of human variability.
• Block instructional innovations that can’t be evaluated by machine.
• Unduly reward mere ability to retrieve secondhand information from memory.
• Subtract from available instructional time.
• Lend themselves to “gaming” — strategies to improve the success-rate of guessing.
• Make time — a parameter largely unrelated to ability — a factor in scoring.
• Create test fatigue, aversion, and eventual refusal to take tests seriously.
• Hide poor quality test items behind secrecy walls.
• Undermine a fundamental democratic principle that those closest to the work are best positioned to evaluate its quality.
• According to the National Academy of Sciences report to Congress, don’t increase student achievement."
Trust me, I know that as many articles and as much research shows that standardized testing is not good, an equal number of articles and research can be found in favor of the same tests. It is up to us to decide what we believe is true and best for our own kids and schools. I choose to believe along the lines of the above. It feels right in my bones.
I also know that public schools don’t have much of a choice when it comes to finding ways to meet specific directives on how the students in their districts seem to be learning. There isn’t necessarily a lot of flexibility in how to measure academic success and whether students are prepared to move on from one level to the next. I get that. And it’s not as if parents have a lot of flexibility in who teaches their kids, where they go to school, or how classrooms are run. Showing up at a board meeting to express concerns is a totally valid way to take some action toward a situation that feels like it needs change. Whether I agree with the parents or not, I applaud them for wanting to help their children succeed, and I hope that what they said was heard well.
Let this not take away the happiness I feel when she feels pride. But I hope that my pride in my daughter will shine through in far more areas than test scores and worksheets. That she will learn to feel pride in herself when someone thanks her for being a good helper or chooses her to be on their team because she is such a great cheerleader for everyone. That she feels pride when she tells me that she hugged her classmate who was crying because they couldn't figure out the math assignment and she told him it was okay because he is really good at drawing.
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