My kids are learning. After two weeks of state testing, I decided to slam them with one more assessment today (partly because I need their third quarter scores and partly because I was too lazy to teach). But you know what? One boy can read TWO grade levels higher than when I last tested him in December and one of my girls can read THREE grade levels since last August. But the highest moment today was when one of my students who walks with a swagger and was recently caught with (more) drugs, pointed smugly to me that he used to struggle with the first grade words and now he's whizzing past them and struggling with the third grade selection.
This is a nice contrast after two weeks of New Mexico Standards Based Assessment with which my students struggled for dear life. After months of making what felt like life-changing progress in the classroom, my kids were dealt a blow of reality. Yes, they've improved two word recognition levels and they can now read the lunch menu, thus improving their quality of life and sense of pride. Unfortunately, that's not what the state is going to see when they examine their grade-level test booklets (they're novellas, really). They're just going to see a kid who responds to science questions with simple sentences (no punctuation) about how cool the rodeo is. And they're going to see a kid who simply rewrites the question, for the sake of just writing something when the rest of the class is scribbling away, seemingly with a purpose when she seemingly has none. And the state is going to see a lot of "I don't know's." I'm all about assessment, tracking (though I haven't been very good about it) and having hard data on how my students perform. I am not a fan of making kids feel dumb.
You are right in the heart of some of the toughest issues facing educators today. You should be writing for Rethinking Schools! I know the editors well, so let me know and I will contact them.
Keep up the great work!
Posted by: Phil Nash | March 27, 2006 at 09:34 AM
There was a mention of your blog on Middleweb, which I read, so I hustled on over.
I was particularly touched by the post about your grandparents, and suddenly owning your heritage.
Let me know if I (just some middle aged white lady in California, with a dyslexic kid) can help in any way.
Posted by: Liz | March 28, 2006 at 04:42 PM