I have started giving the California Standard Test (CST) to my students. I have gone through the standards in the past three weeks with my students and reviewed what I have taught them. We shifted through our notes we have taken throughout the school year, turned to teach each other what we have learned, used our white boards to play games with the information, looked at released questions from previous CSTs, and made sure that every single standard was reviewed. My students seemed to enjoy having less work to take home because we were reviewing and finding out that they actually knew a lot. I believed that we were ready to do the best we could on these tests. It was time.
First day of testing: (Reading and Language 75 minutes part 1) First student finishes in 20 minutes...how can you finish that quickly? One student was still on #1 after 30 minutes. When I went over to tell them not to worry, but do the best they could, they started to tear up. (Their birthday is a few days away) Another student was still on #5 after an hour and when I went over to encourage them they started to fill in random answers (that's what it looked like). 9 students were not done in the 75 minutes and had to work through their lunch and 1 didn't finish until the end of lunch. After lunch, I get news that the student that was in tears during the test was bullying another student and received detention. While we were lining up to go home, that same student hits another student in my class that made the mistake of asking if they were OK.
Second day of testing: (Reading and Language 75 minutes part 2) The student that broke down yesterday is not here today...they will have to make up this section next week. Seems to be going better. First student finishes in 10 minutes... how can you finish that quickly? The rest of the class is done in 60 minutes except for one student. At the 75 minute mark, I tell the student they can have more time during lunch and they randomly fill in the last 20 bubbles so they can go to lunch. At the end of the day, a couple students tell me they are going to the midnight showing of The Avengers. How is that going to effect their testing?
Third day of testing: (Mathematics 65 minutes part 1) Students finish the test quickly. I think they are done with this testing thing. We still have 3 more sections to take. :|
Now...I bet you know what is on my mind. They probably won't do well on these tests. Either they didn't know or understand the questions and that is why they took so long, or they didn't care and blew through the test with guesses. What could I have done differently? I thought we were ready to go. I had taught all of the standards in every subject, we practiced them, I assessed and retaught them, and then we went through 3 weeks of intensive review.
Why do I feel like a failure? Well, I have been told that these test tell me if I am doing a good job or not. These tests are the most important factor in American Education. These tests will tell if my students learned anything over the course of the year. If they do poorly, then my school will be labeled a failure and lose funding. The state will put us on a list of the top worst schools in the state. There will be an article in the Los Angeles time with my name and how poorly my students did. I will be labeled...the students will be labeled...the school will be labeled.... and all will point to public education and say, "Our public schools are failures".
No silver lining to this post. I can't believe that my self-worth is wrapped up in a 11 year old who cares more for a movie than a 'boring' test, but it totally is. This is the way it is for most teachers.
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