Disney Wonder Sept 3-7, 2006 Part 4

[LCTsMom]

Bye TaeJa!

What's ELA?

 

[suzannef]

Bye TaeJa!

What's ELA?

OH sorry English Language Arts that's fancy New York talk for reading

 

[LCTsMom]

Ahh gotcha. What grade is she in? We have FCATs (Florida comprehensive achievement) from 3rd up, and K, 1 & 2 have something called Stanford 10s. If third graders don't pass the FCAT they can't be promoted.

 

[suzannef]

She's in 3rd grade. That is the first year they take the ELA test Angelina is in 6th and their test is next week. The math part is in March. They don't get the result back for months and they only use them to figure out if kids need resource help.

 

[LCTsMom]

I can't stand standardized testing... it really counts for too much here in my opinion. It's so stressful on the kids and the teachers end up teaching to the test. I proctored the testing for one of the 1st grade classes last year, I felt so bad for the kids.

 

[suzannef]

They basically are a report card for the school district and the particular schools so they get the kids whipped up into a frenzy over them. They send out notices about getting to be early and how to have a healthy breakfast. Then they also give the kids a snack before the test at 9:30 so incase you have a "bad" parent that didn't give you breakfast you will suddnely know how to read and write better. I'm thinking some poor kids gonna blow chow all over the test

 

[suzannef]

I just remember when we were kids teachers were able to teach about other things going on in the world. Or if something came up that the teacher could go ff on a small tangent and you would actually learn something meaningful or useful. Now they really do spend ALL their time teaching to these tests. It's sad

 

[LCTsMom]

We get that too, the early bedtime, healthy breakfast, snack before testing... I don't know.... Our schools get graded by test scores and incentives are given so it's madness. On the other hand, I recently read in the paper that Florida schools have greatly improved, which is awesome! I guess it works.

 

[LCTsMom]

I just remember when we were kids teachers were able to teach about other things going on in the world. Or if something came up that the teacher could go ff on a small tangent and you would actually learn something meaningful or useful. Now they really do spend ALL their time teaching to these tests. It's sad

It is very sad! It's so stressful, some kids really have a tough time. Teia's school does that performance class placement (they ability group) which seems to be a new trend lately.

 

[suzannef]

I do think it can work but so much falls through the cracks. And don't even get me started on tenure for some of these teachers. We have one that has lost 5 students this year because the parents couldn't take anymore of her crap. And it's VERY difficult to get a kid switched so you know she's bad. But what does she care they can;t do anything to her and that's 5 less report cards to do....

 

[suzannef]

It is very sad! It's so stressful, some kids really have a tough time. Teia's school does that performance class placement (they ability group) which seems to be a new trend lately.

They don't do that here. We actually have BLIND placement now where they just put all the kids in a certain grades name on a card and shuffle them out to the teachers and you get what you get

 

[LCTsMom]

Horrible!

I just found something laying here that Conor forgot. I have to jump in the shower, drive over and drop it off to him, and then head back to Teia's school car line. KIDS!

 

[suzannef]

I need to go too Bye

 

[LCTsMom]

They don't do that here. We actually have BLIND placement now where they just put all the kids in a certain grades name on a card and shuffle them out to the teachers and you get what you get

I can see good and bad with both theories. There is still a big gap between the highest kid and the lowest. I guess, in a sense, it has to be easier to teach to a group that are similar in abililty. I don't know. Not all of our schools do it.

 

[LCTsMom]

Bye

 

[Piecey]

Standardized testing!? Oh how I hated that. I lucked out, though.

WV went from SAT 9 standardized testing to the WesTest (I forget what, if anything, it stood for) and so I didn't have to take it beyond 9th grade. With the WesTest only certain grades are tested.. I think only 7th and 10th instead of all grades in a school. I don't remember how it worked for elementary school kids, though.. because I was in the high school by the time they made the change.

I liked it though. Only two years of testing instead of testing every year-- very nice!

 

[suzannef]

Standardized testing!? Oh how I hated that. I lucked out, though.

WV went from SAT 9 standardized testing to the WesTest (I forget what, if anything, it stood for) and so I didn't have to take it beyond 9th grade. With the WesTest only certain grades are tested.. I think only 7th and 10th instead of all grades in a school. I don't remember how it worked for elementary school kids, though.. because I was in the high school by the time they made the change.

I liked it though. Only two years of testing instead of testing every year-- very nice!

Ours used to test in 4th and 8th grade now every grade starting with 3rd gets state tested. In the high school they take the New york state regents exams in 12th grade and you need to pass those in order to graduate(I think). Its hard to keep up with all the changes and tests.

 

[zweihund]

..........

Thanks!

Sorry I'm such a slacker!

Did I mention I can't wait for 2008?

 

[LCTsMom]

Hi gang, anyone around?

 

[LittleBlue22]

I'm here, I'm still trying to get to 2K posts...