14 May
My stomach is in knots and I want to scream.
I want to hit something.
I look at my students’ test scores, the growth they have made,and I am proud of them.
I refused to teach to the test, and they still kicked DCAS !
I looked down the AYP column on the all-glorious data chart, and saw that some of my students grew by over 100 points. Only two of my students did not show “growth”.READ MORE…
4 Apr
The original post was written in July 2011. Here we are in 2013, faced with anothercheating scandal, and people are going to jail. Is there another way?
I read an article by Jay Matthews of The Washington Post the other day, “Easing Test Pressure Won’t Save Kids”, and it went along with something I had been thinking about ever since “The Cheating Scandals” broke. I don’t agree with everything he had to say in his article, but there was one element that struck me. Is cheating acceptable because of the enormous pressure put on teachers, principals, and superintendents? Is it alright to excuse, justify, or rationalize cheating, because of the intense pressure put on schools due to standardized testing? READ MORE…
7 Mar
20 Jan
The staff discussed the goals our students need to meet in order to
be successful by the end of the year.
The goals we are trying to get our children to achieve.
The goals we are striving for and want our students to attain.
You know what the goals are?READ MORE
12 Jan
Oh, wait a minute. He doesn’t hold a degree in education? My bad.
Well, then, he must have taken a few education courses? No? Not that either?
He has traveled all over the world and visited different types of schools? Talked to educators all over the country? No?
I know! He had a teacher relative, when he was young, who would regal him with quirky stories of what it was like to be an educator. Strike!READ MORE…
31 Dec
Dear Standardized Testing,
I hate you. Yes, I know I wasn’t raised that way. My Mom told me that hate was a strong word, and that I shouldn’t use it. But there is no other word strong enough for the way I feel about you.
Why, you ask? You are only doing your job, you say? You hold teachers accountable? Make sure that they are doing their jobs well? Not allowing us to slack off the way those powerful teachers’ unions allow us to?READ MORE…
10 Dec
I used to play the game, “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”, on my Iphone. But than I realized that I really didn’t have enough hours in the day, and quickly gave it up.
However, I do know how it works. And if you provide me with any device that can grant me access to the Internet, than I can defiantly state that, “Yes, I am smarter than a 5th grader!” READ MORE…
photo credit: TZA via photopin cc
29 Sep
I planned in advance and completely forgot that we were having the standardized Math test today! Bummer!
Wonderful plans put on hold….
This is what my students and I lost today because Standardized testing took a day from us…
The chance to read an article on Tweentribune and post comments and/or leave a comment on our Quadblogging friends website.
Sharing laughter over the Brainpop Joke of the Day and viewing/discussing the video offered on Wonderopolis.
Reinforcing the concept of multiplication clusters, which they struggled with. Having the students who were ready, create, solve, and post their original story problems using GoAnimate.
Reading “The Lemonade War” out loud, and discussing and sharing using Today’s Meet.
Having students work on their Reading Choice board activities.Read More…
14 Apr
When my kids were finished their DCAS Reading test last month, I had them pretend to write letters to the test. I am posting some of the letters they wrote.
Dear Reading DCAS,
Why do you have to be hard? I know I do your tests in the beginning, middle, and end of the year. But doing 55 questions in 3 days is a lot. We have to take our time to get a good score, otherwise we might get a 1 and that’s not good. Can we see what questions we got right and what questions we got wrong at the end of the test? So that way we can understand why we got whatever we got wrong was wrong. I think that could help us a lot. How about that idea for next year? It really could help. Otherwise DCAS has to be THE WORST THING EVER!!!
Sincerely Z
Dear Reading DCAS,
I am taking you right now and you are being very harsh. You are being harsh because you make the questions hard. So can you please make the questions easier so I can get a 4? Also, do you think you can make less questions so there are only 36 instead of 54. So it don’t take 2 entire days to finish it. Finally, instead of 4 being the highest point to score make it 10. So it is like the scale of 10. Well anyway Thanks!
Your Friend,
A
Dear Reading DCAS,
You just stress me out every min I take you. Why do you have to be so hard? Can you have at least 10 questions instead 54. When I take you, you make me wanna throw the laptop. Across the floor and rip every single of my hair out. Then I’l be bald. See what you do to me? I just can’t stand you DCAS. I never wanna take you again. No hard feelings DCAS. It was just my opinion. So please don’t give me a bad grade for telling the truth. But I need you to ease up on me.
From,
T
Dear DCAS,
I really can’t stand you!
You make me so nervous every time I have to take you.
You make me stressed out then I forget everything when you’re in front of me.
When I’m done taking you it all comes back to me.
Maybe one day I will beat you.
I would be a lot more happy without you in my life. The only good thing about you is on Math Dcas
you have a calculator to help me.
K
Dear Reading DCAS Test,
I don’t understand why the company created you. You make life harder than it needs to be in school. Now all our field trips are moved to the end of the school year and we only have one field trip. I am so mad and frustrated because of your pointless questions. Some of them don’t even make any sense. The only good thing about you is when we have extra recess. It’s so tragic!!! Also we usually don’t have to learn anything. It is in the way of school even though that doesn’t really bother me. If we already do regular tests, whats the point of having a DCAS test? It takes too long to even remember what you learn before the DCAS. It’s just confusing. I don’t get the whole concept of taking the longest test that I have ever taken. The whole process is crazy. You make me freak out with anxiety about my score.
Sincerely,
B
Dear DCAS,
Thanks for giving me a good score. All the hard work paid off. My mom and my dad was really proud of me. I took my time, highlighted the answers and got a good score.I never felt better about myself for getting a good score on the type of subject. I hate reading but I still got a good score and I’m proud of it.
From J
