Testing My Resolve

I think standardized tests are crap. They shouldn’t matter. I don’t want my teaching to have to cater to a standardized test in any way. I believe in accountability for teachers and students but I don’t believe in accountability that crushes students and teachers while providing useless data.

But guess what–they do matter. This is my third year teaching English I, which has an End-of-Course test that must be passed before students graduate. My students’ lives are severely complicated when they cannot pass this test. There is often a palpable sense of despair in the air of my room on testing days, which happen three times a semester (two benchmark practice exams and the real EOC). I am doing my students a disservice if I do not give them information and knowledge that will make them more confident about and better prepared for the test.

So for much of the semester, we spend 15-30 minutes out of a 90 minute class period doing test prep. Not only do we cover test material (particularly the grammar section), we discuss and practice test-taking tips that these students never learned and don’t do naturally–reading the questions first, highlighting important info, starting with the hardest part of the test, using process of elimination, etc. We set class goals and individual goals. We discuss benchmark results. I offer incentives for individual and group growth. All this with the hope that on test days, students will attack the test with confidence, will focus and try hard, and will exhibit growth–not necessarily growth to the point of passing, but growth. Any growth. To psyche myself up for this test prep, I must believe that it will work. I must force myself to believe–so that my students can believe–that this practice will make a difference on their EOC score.

Today is a test day. One fourth of my standard class is not here to take the test. At least two of those students are wandering the halls. One student who passed the last benchmark has fallen asleep and refuses to revive and do more work. The same is true of another student who didn’t pass the first benchmark but who is surely capable. One student who has literally not been in my class since the first day of the semester is here to take the test. One student has been staring at the same page for 20 minutes with no change. One student refused to take the test for the first 15 minutes, then randomly bubbled some answers. Perhaps half the class is following the tips we discussed.

This test day is just one more that makes that forced belief come crashing down. Our test prep will not make a perceivable difference. I am disappointed once again. And really, all along, I have thought that standardized tests are crap.

P.S.  Thanks for reading my rant.  I’ll feel fine again tomorrow, lest you think I am down in the dumps.