Is there an insane emphasis on testing at your child's school?

[GJM]

I am so frustrated with the emphasis on testing here in our SC district. They take the map test 3x a year and the state (PASS) test. This is 3 full weeks with just testing total. Plus all I hear is how we are preparing for Pass, reviewing for PASS, incentives for pass, "No we cannot teach that, it is not on Pass." etc.

I have my master in education and I did not go into this field to prepare kids for a test, but to educate them. We have lost our way! Instead of learning for the intrinsic value and to be educated citizens, we are teaching them that we learn to pass a test. And the only things of value to learn is what is being tested 4 days in May. I am seriously considering private school because of this, but there are cons there too. (Cost and lack of accountability)

We no longer teach cursive, very little science and SS. Heavy emphasis on the math and reading, no foreign language, no composers or famous Americans, or States/Capitals, and this list goes on.
Has anyone else got fed up? Are other states this extreme??
Thanks for listening!!

I couldn't agree more - we also are in SC and I am very unhappy with the school, they put so much pressure on these kids with the testing. I tell my DS do the best you can.

My DS has no clue of how to write cursive, never taught. But some other 4th. grade classes are using it. No foreign language, and technology class is a babysitting class in my opinion where they go on different programs and do Math games. Why are they not teaching keyboarding or different computer programs. And what about Current Events??

It is all about writing, but not book reports. And Everyday Math which I also hate, everything is rushed along.

We came from NJ and I know what they are doing in 4th. grade there, my DS would be very far behind.

With that said, I do not feel like my 4th grader has been taught to the test and only the test.
Her teacher has done really fun lessons in class that get the kids excited about learning, but I am sure are not on any test-- for example, they were learning about the Gold Rush and she had the kids be miners by bringing in choc chip and M&M cookies and having them mine for the chips or M&Ms with toothpicks and paper clips..while spraying them with water bottles(for rain) and flicking the lights on and off (for lightening) to show that the miners had to work in all kinds of weather.

Not sure where you are in Bergen Cty - but that is where we were from and I loved my DS school. If we stayed he would have been in 4th. grade this year and the teachers are great. I love what you just wrote and I think it makes it more interesting to kids. My DS doesn't like going to school because it is boring and not interesting to him.

 

[JVL1018]

Every grade that takes the NJASK is equally responsible for the school making AYP. It used to be a 4th grade thing when it was ESPA, but once they added the other grades, there is no big or small year/grade. They are all big, high stakes tests. I teach 4th grade in a 3-6 school so we have an interesting situation every year. 6th grade counts as middle school so our sixth graders test scores are actually counted alone.

I meant because they have more days of testing than the other elementary grades, so to my 4th grader it's a big deal because they are testing more than than the other kids.
Hit send to soon-kids home on spring break talking to me.. LOL
BUT..I did think the 4th and 8th counted more for some reason..even now when all 3-8th graders take them-I know it all counts toward the school's "grades" but thought there was something extra with the 4th and 8th. Hmm, wonder where I got that from.

 

[imabrat]

YESSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Every 2 months, we take our practice tests, the 4-Sights. We also have "Pathways", which prepare you for the state test, the PSSAs. You answer 5 questions and if you get 2 or more wrong, you get sent to pathways for reading or math. It's a 15 minute review and answer of the questions.

PSSAs are the whole month of April, day in and day out. Lovely.

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

Yes. I don't believe in teaching children simply to pass a test and then forgetting about it the rest of the year because that test is over. Of course, I'm talking about elementary school as my oldest DD is in 2nd grade. She's been taking tests since kindergarten. Luckily, she scores very high and seems to enjoy them. The only one she is having problems with is the timed math tests they take weekly. She gets all of the answers right, but can't do them "fast" enough. She likes to double check her work, which with timed tests they are teaching them not to. I told her I'd rather she take her time and get them right than go fast and miss them.

 

[Kelrykengab]

In Massachusetts we have the MCAS test, which is one of the reasons my kids go to a private school. It really changed the way the good, creative teachers teach. They had to throw out many of the creative hands on activities they normally used and instead now it is constant worksheets and the phrase "You need to know this for the test". Sad.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Even though our school is wonderful and full of caring competent teachers, they have to teach to the test here. They avoid hyping the kids up, but at the same time they have to tell how important it is. It's pretty sad when you hear that a 1st grader threw up during the test because she was so stressed out by it.

NCLB, what a great idea.

 

[Momvic5]

YES!!!

My DS14 went to public school for the first 5 years of his education. The emphasis was always on the state tests. Starting in kindergarten, he learned how to bubble in answers and to read simple multiple choice questions. I hated it....almost every homework assignment that my son received those first 5 years was formatted to be practice for the state test....drove me insane.

Anyways, after homeschooling him for the last 4 years, he wants to return to our local high school. Yesterday, I set up an appointment with one of our high school counselors, and her first words to me were, "we need to make sure is prepared to take our state tests." I was disappointed to hear that nothing has changed over the last four years. It is still all about the tests.

 

[ajwomic]

It sounds like we are not alone in this. My 4th grader scores high on MAP and because of this it is hard to pull up his score. They are given goals and have to meet them to get a reward. He missed his math goal by one point, but had the highest math score in the whole grade. Despite being way higher than his whole grade was denied the icecream party b/c he had mot met his individualized goal. he came home and said he felt dumb. He makes almost straight 100's on his report card. I was livid. I just hate it, but we have 3 kids and to do private would be hard. I teach at a private school, but even so only would get a 15% discount. But with private, the lack of accountability can be problematic. How do you know if they are learning what they need. It is like being between a rock and hard place.
AW

 

[Mary•Poppins]

It is so sad. I am a teacher and as much as I don't want to "teach to the test", I am literally forced into it by our district. So much rides on these tests. (primarily money)

If you really think your school feels the pressure, you should read the following book:

Tested: One American School Struggles to Make the Grade, Linda Perlstein

It will make you want to cry. The book is about a journalist who spent a year in a school in VA (I think ...) that was praised by the government for the progress it made on its state exams.

 

[PollyannaMom]

...or as the teachers like to call it; "No Child Gets Ahead"

Soooo true!

As someone mentioned, we have MCAS here in Massachusetts. Kids hate it, teachers hate it, parents hate it. I think all this teaching-to-the-test is sucking the excitement out of learning.

 

[Briarmom]

TAKS was this week for my 5th grader. All they have done is learn how to take this damn test. My 1st grader does not take it until the end of 3rd grade, but her homework is always 'Preparing for the TAKS'.

They have not had Social Studies in months, and they won't until after they take the Science portion of the TAKS at the end of this month.

I am trying very hard to push through at the University so I can pull them after next year and go back to homeschooling.

 

[krcit]

Yep, the almighty test is all it's about over here too. I have 2 kids who do very well on the tests and then there is my ds He has a bit of a learning disability and I fight for him to get services. I can't wait until he tanks on the state tests(he's in 3rd so this will be the first one for him) and they'll be all over it wanting him to go to extra help.

 

[jazzielady]

you can thank No Child Left Behind for the lovely testing. and more testing. and don't forget more testing. and when not testing, teaching how to take the test. Content? what's that? If it doesn't show up on a test, they won't be covering it. Common sense, logic, and many other life learning skills got thrown out the window years ago - it's all about the almighty test.

NCLB makes no sense on so many many levels - it's really throwing both students and teachers under the bus.

Here Here!!! Couldn't have said it better myself! Thank you.

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

before we started homeschooling last year, my ds8 and dd10 were in a private catholic school. Starting about 2 or 3 years ago, even K students had to take a standardized "test" (it used to start in 3rd grade before that), and if they were sick that day (or the few days the test was spread out over), we HAD to have a doctors note for them missing THE test (remember, this is for K - these kids were just "tested" to "get into" K a few months prior. what could this test possibly have on it???). Can you imagine... my dd was 4yo starting K because of the school's cut off date, so she would have been just 5yo taking this TEST... and god forbid she had a stomach bug any of those testing days... me dragging my throwing up 5yo to the ped's office to get a note. All because of a silly test.

That was the beginning of the end for me allowing an institution to educate my children (public or private). There are too many other things to list that led us to homeschooling, but we're happy as clams now. The kids are doing spanish now, something they wouldn't have had until 9th grade if we stayed in our school. We do 'living history' whenever we can - no more boring text books for us. I can't believe how much I love history now - boy did I hate it when I went to school... b-o-r-i-n-g!!

Sorry, I'm getting OT now...

So to answer... yes, some schools are out of control w/ testing. And I felt very bad for the teachers - caught right in the middle.

This makes me laugh, I just finished up student teaching in a K classroom. The used to have to take standardized tests, but stopped 2 or 3 years ago. But while I was there they used to have to take these Math tests once a month and they are only 5, they don't know "how to take a test" KWIM, that the answer has to be circled, or they have to write the number on a line, etc. We had to teach them that each month, by now I am sure they know how to do it, but from Sept -Dec. they were really new and just learning how to do those types of things.

 

[agnes!]

It sounds like we are not alone in this. My 4th grader scores high on MAP and because of this it is hard to pull up his score. They are given goals and have to meet them to get a reward. He missed his math goal by one point, but had the highest math score in the whole grade. Despite being way higher than his whole grade was denied the icecream party b/c he had mot met his individualized goal. he came home and said he felt dumb. He makes almost straight 100's on his report card. I was livid. I just hate it, but we have 3 kids and to do private would be hard. I teach at a private school, but even so only would get a 15% discount. But with private, the lack of accountability can be problematic. How do you know if they are learning what they need. It is like being between a rock and hard place.
AW

Oh my....that is horrifying. Hey, can I buy your DS a gallon of ice cream? I think he deserves it .

I'm still shaking my head...has the highest score in his entire grade but gets denied a treat. Poor baby.

agnes!

 

[princessmom29]

Absolutely too much emphasis on testing in our school system, and that is why DD is in a private school, while i teach in public. You can thank NCLB and the almighty "You must meet AYP police" for the emphasis on testing. If we want to keep our jobs as teachers we will do anything it takes to see that our kids do well on these tests and the school meets the ever increasing AYP standards. They will soon be completely unatainable. It is just an impossibility to have 100% of students test proficient 100% of the time on 100% of the obectives taught. This is the pressure teachers are under, and unfortunately it trickles down to the students. Testing is crippling what i can do for my students in my classroom. Kids are frist subjected to CRT's ar 9 weeks into K and every nine weeks after that until they graduate. We spend a week "reviewing" for these tests, and the entire school stops for 2-3 days to take them. We loose a week and a half every 9 weeks to them. Grad exam determines AYP, so what is on that test drives EVERYTHING we do at our school. The whole school revolves around this one test. It is truly sad.

 

[TaraLee4]

I live in NY. Regents Exams anyone?

How about these days, at the public school I graduated from they have written tests for gym.

yes. gym. and not only do you have a written test for gym, you are also evaluated for each sport, and if you're required to be competant in 6 out of 8 units each year.

also new this year: written tests and written finals for choir and band. On top of the lessons and music they're already working on.

new for next year: No marching band, sports for middle schoolers, they've cut out a chunk of art classes and "special" music things (ie NYSSMA, Area County) and they're only offering one foreign language: Spanish.

and how do I know this? because my poor sister is going through it.

My 9th grade french teacher (whom I respected very much) said to us our first day of class "I teach French. Or more accurately, I teach what New York state determines to be French. This is not the material I would teach you to learn this correctly and I'm really sorry I can't teach it to you the best way I know how." It's been almost 10 years and that statement has really stuck with me.

What a sad state of affairs for our kids

 

[ajwomic]

Agnes,
Thanks so much! I did sign him out that day when the party was supposed to happen and took him for a banana split! Not way was I going to let him be humiliated like that. The sad thing is tomorrow is the math Map test again and he was crying before bed b/c it was late and I would not let him stay up and study and he is convinced that he will miss the goal tomorrow. He is in 4th grade and wants me to teach hin 7th and 8th grade math during breakfast to help him score. So sad...so say a prayer he makes it tomorrow or it will be rough around here!
AW

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

Agnes,
Thanks so much! I did sign him out that day when the party was supposed to happen and took him for a banana split! Not way was I going to let him be humiliated like that. The sad thing is tomorrow is the math Map test again and he was crying before bed b/c it was late and I would not let him stay up and study and he is convinced that he will miss the goal tomorrow. He is in 4th grade and wants me to teach hin 7th and 8th grade math during breakfast to help him score. So sad...so say a prayer he makes it tomorrow or it will be rough around here!
AW

That poor child! It is easy for a teacher to show growth with an average to below average child. It is more difficult to show growth in a highly gifted child such as your son. My DD's AL teacher told me that if my DD missed one question on the EOGs that she wouldn't show growth for the year. The teacher was really stressed over it and she was a wonderful teacher. That is too much pressure to put on the teachers.

I told my DD not to worry about it. The EOGs only show how you test on that certain day. Everyone has good days and bad days.

 

[airhead]

you can thank No Child Left Behind for the lovely testing. and more testing. and don't forget more testing. and when not testing, teaching how to take the test. Content? what's that? If it doesn't show up on a test, they won't be covering it. Common sense, logic, and many other life learning skills got thrown out the window years ago - it's all about the almighty test.

NCLB makes no sense on so many many levels - it's really throwing both students and teachers under the bus.

Wow. Sounds like MA's MCAS testing.