The Test

Below is a to the editor of our local paper that I will never send.

Dear Editor,
This past week high school students in our district took their state-standardized exams. For the first time in several years the exams more accurately reflect the material that is taught in the classroom in accordance with state content standards. It troubles me as a local educator that something that should be viewed, as a time to celebrate student learning will eventually turn into a rapid blame game. You see, eventually the scores for these exams will be released to the public. And while scores have consistently gone up in the last several years, there will still be a vocal portion of the community that will decree poor student performance, ineffective and incompetent teachers and generally declare that the system has failed our students. This is the reason for my writing today.

Do not get me wrong, there are challenges in our educational system that are being met head on. However, the fault for less than spectacular test scores will not entirely be the fault of the person at the chalkboard. During this last round of testing I was surprised by the swiftness that some of my students completed their tests. For example, when given 85 minutes to complete a 35 question reading section, several students finished in 10-20 minutes. Granted some students are wonderful readers and can accomplish a great deal in a short amount of time, but come on, that’s about 17 seconds per question. And students were supposed to read large passages of text before answering questions. When I asked some students how they were able to finish so early they replied “ I just guessed”, or “I didn’t read the question”. I then made them go back to the exam and read over the questions, which they pretended to do. This happened in just about every subject matter exam that they took that week. So I asked many of them why they behaved this way when it came to the testing. They said things like, “These test don’t mean anything”, “I don’t care about these tests”, one girl replied, “If it doesn’t hurt my grades, why should I care?” So I consulted with my colleagues and found that their experiences were very similar to mine. Another student of mine asked me if she didn’t show up for a test what would happen. I told her that she would be called in another day to take it. She then asked what would happen if she were absent on that day. I asked what she was getting at. She said, “Well, what if you just don’t want to do it? You shouldn’t have to do something that you don’t want to.” Even when I attempted to explain that these test scores will affect their ability to get into certain classes or that these scores will go into their permanent student file, most of them didn’t really seem to care. Some students responded “ If I like the teacher, I might try on their test”.

So I ask you, as an educator, how am I supposed to combat this level of apathy and indifference? Where is the student accountability for their performance or lack thereof on these exams? Many students just do not care. These tests do not directly impact them and they know it. How are their test scores supposed to accurately reflect how hard teachers are working? Where is the justice in this outcome?

Then there is the exam itself. It gets better every year. That is one reason why scores continue in an upward direction for the most part. But the exam we use here was normed in the Midwest. Most of the students there do not have a lot in common with the average urban Hip Hopper in SoCal. The wording of questions is akward and for years, the exams were not even in line with state content standards. Think about it. For years hard working teachers have been teaching to standards that were not even being measured at the state level. Frustrating.

I’m optimistic, as a teacher you have to be, that our student scores will satisfy some. But ultimately, those who have an axe to grind against public education will sharpen it if they do not like the scores when they see them, never taking into account what I have just shared.