state tests today at school and my dd is sick-UPDATE #65

[ADisneyQueen]

This week the kids have PSSAs which are our state tests. DD has a bad cold and was sick last night and didn't fall asleep until 1. She had chills, headache, really stuffy nose and an upset stomach ( though she never threw up, just felt like it). The bad thing is her teacher promised the kids a classroom breakfast on Friday if they all showed up each day this week. Now I have to call the school and talk to the teacher. DD is so worried the other kids will be mad at her. I know they bribe the kids to do well on the tests, but I'm not sending her to school sick and exhausted. She'll just have to make it up.

 

[bridget]

Don't send her sick!! One of my job duties is that I'm the testing coordinator for our building. She'll perform much better healthy. We don't bribe with perfect attendance, because they can make it up (that's another one of my duties...coordinate the make-ups).

 

[Jessica527]

These tests are very hard to make up and some schools are requiring them for graduation. The bribe is there for that reason. What I would say is talk to the teacher and see if she can make it up any other time this week by staying additional or not. Or maybe ask to make it up next week sometime as soon as possible.

Those PSSAs are so hard to make up. Hope she feels better.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

I should add that this is my dd10, so even though they are important, they don't place her in any classes for next year. They don't do that until 7th grade.

 

[MsLeFever]

There ought to be an exception for sickies! She'll be able to make-up the tests. We love PSSA week here because it means no homework!

 

[MELISAZACK]

My DS school is on Pssa for the next 2 wks.. and well next wednesday we leave for Boston - so he is missing days of testing - my thought there are make up days scheduled for a reason and he will have to use them.. the school will be ticked but they will get over it...
march is a bad month for these test I dont' get why they aren't in Jan when 90% of kids are in school not trying to take spring vacations or such..
this is the 2nd time in his school life we have pulled him out during the testing..It is hockey playoff/district season for him too and we miss time to get to those games.. thank goodness he is smart and has good grades or I would have a fight on my hands.

 

[DawnM]

I think it is silly to promise something based on perfect attendance. My guess is that at your school, most kids' parents wouldn't choose to pull the child out of school for a vacation or for fun during testing time anyway......so she is encouraging kids to come to school sick.

Tell the teacher what your daughter fears (about her being the reason not to have the b-fast Friday, etc...) and see what she says. If she is hard nosed I would be surprised.

Dawn

 

[kamik86]

My DS school is on Pssa for the next 2 wks.. and well next wednesday we leave for Boston - so he is missing days of testing - my thought there are make up days scheduled for a reason and he will have to use them.. the school will be ticked but they will get over it...
march is a bad month for these test I dont' get why they aren't in Jan when 90% of kids are in school not trying to take spring vacations or such..
this is the 2nd time in his school life we have pulled him out during the testing..It is hockey playoff/district season for him too and we miss time to get to those games.. thank goodness he is smart and has good grades or I would have a fight on my hands.

I know in MA that all the tests need to be taken on the same days. The makeup tests are slightly different then the tests that are given on the normal days.

If they did them in January some part of the state would have a snow day at some point during the week miss the normally scheduled tests.

 

[brymolmom]

Honestly this is my first year with a child taking state testing, so i'm not 100% familiar with the practices yet. But my understanding is that all kids must take them on the same days (here in NY at least) - they stress several times thorughout the year 'these are the dates of our tests - don't be absent'. I think that if my son had a really HIGH fever that would not come down with Ibuprofen or was throwing up all over the place is the only way I would NOT send him in on those days. Yes, he likely won't perform as well, but he'll be there. I would also take him into school myself and explain his illness to the teacher(s) - so they could keep him as far apart from other students as possible. For a bad cold - I would send him in with a box of tissues. Again, would bring him in myself and consult with the teacher - if they choose for him to go home, I would take him home.

 

[deedeetoo]

You did the right thing in keeping her home. A few years ago my dd was a little sick on an MCAS day (our state test). She was borderline so I decided to send her in anyway since I heard the tests were hard to make up.

Big mistake. She did horribly. She actually fell into the lowest level on the test she took that day when had been at the highest level the year before. She ended up being targeted for tutoring (which she didn't need) and the school got dinged because one of the things they get measured on is year to year performance of students. I will never send a kid in again to take one of these tests when they are not feeling 100%.

 

[luvmy3]

Honestly this is my first year with a child taking state testing, so i'm not 100% familiar with the practices yet. But my understanding is that all kids must take them on the same days (here in NY at least) - they stress several times thorughout the year 'these are the dates of our tests - don't be absent'. I think that if my son had a really HIGH fever that would not come down with Ibuprofen or was throwing up all over the place is the only way I would NOT send him in on those days. Yes, he likely won't perform as well, but he'll be there. I would also take him into school myself and explain his illness to the teacher(s) - so they could keep him as far apart from other students as possible. For a bad cold - I would send him in with a box of tissues. Again, would bring him in myself and consult with the teacher - if they choose for him to go home, I would take him home.

I'm in NY and 2 of my kids have missed a test because they were sick, there was never a problem making it up, and quite frankly I wouldn't care if they missed it entirely anyway. The teachers put way too much pressure on these kids when testing time comes along. Perfect example in the OP about the teacher promising breakfast if everyone shows up. So on top of being sick, the OPs dd has to worry about missing the test, and disappointing her teacher and her class. We get hand-outs the entire week before, reminding us parents to make sure our kids don't have too crazy of a schedule the week of tests, are getting a good night sleep, eating a healthy breakfast, etc. My ds (who is prone to anxiety anyway) gets so worked up that I think the material on the test becomes less important to him than making sure he has done everthing the teachers want him to do.

 

[Donaldswife]

I'm in NY and 2 of my kids have missed a test because they were sick, there was never a problem making it up, and quite frankly I wouldn't care if they missed it entirely anyway. The teachers put way too much pressure on these kids when testing time comes along. Perfect example in the OP about the teacher promising breakfast if everyone shows up. So on top of being sick, the OPs dd has to worry about missing the test, and disappointing her teacher and her class. We get hand-outs the entire week before, reminding us parents to make sure our kids don't have too crazy of a schedule the week of tests, are getting a good night sleep, eating a healthy breakfast, etc. My ds (who is prone to anxiety anyway) gets so worked up that I think the material on the test becomes less important to him than making sure he has done everthing the teachers want him to do.

I agree whole-heartedly! This was our first year with DD9 testing here in Indiana, and the pressure they put on them all year is unbelievable. Not to metion not teaching multiplication tables and suspending spelling for a semester so they can teach to the test. I would much rather have my DD have a love of learning instilled in her than sit through a bunch of state required tests that can't possibly measure a child's true potential.

 

[SnowWhite607]

we do LEAP here in Louisiana. They have a phase 1 on March 22 and a phase 2 the week of April 11. I am looking at the note they sent home the other day:

if a student does not take or is absent for the March test day then he/she is not allowed to take the Phase 2 in April EVEN WITH A DOCTORS NOTE (that last part was in bold). This results in ONLY being able to take the LEAP test in the summer, leaving no opportunity to retest if LEAP is not passed.

WTH?? Now the standards are set so low here in Louisiana that practically anyone can pass it but I used to be a special ed teacher and for some of my kids, it was touch and go. If they missed the test in March they could only take the LEAP once and if they didnt pass, too bad, You have to repeat the entire grade.

SO now my DD, a born worrier, is freaking out - what if we are in an accident on he way to school that day? What if I am deathly ill? What if we have car trouble? I guess if your kid has the flu, you gotta send them anyway!

 

[PollyannaMom]

I think the amount of pressure around these is awful! We're choosing testing over learning.

 

[lovebug33]

I thought a teacher's perspective might be helpful. First of all, we take a test in March, not January because it covers everything we are supposed to teach in the entire year, so we are already testing early. I do think the bribery is ridiculous, but you have to look at it from our point of view. If a child doesn't show up and then is unable to take the test at some point during a testing window (in Nevada, it is three weeks), then we automatically don't make AYP for not having 100 percent participation. AYP is Annual Yearly Progress. So, I have the kid whose mom took him out for the entire testing window to go on a vacation to the Phillipines. Now, we won't make AYP and it is very likely, because this has happened to us on two other occasions, that our school will be liquidated. I will have to reapply for my job not because I am a poor teacher but because I had a kid who didn't show up for the test. It doesn't matter that, on average, I have 75 percent of my students meet standards on the tests. It is not the teachers who are putting pressure on these kids. It is the government. I could care less about testing. I see much more benefit in looking at how my kids progress through the year. However, we are in a testing age. It is a huge pet peeve of mine when people pull kids out for vacations during testing. Your kid is sick? Well, they'll come back, make up the test, no harm, no foul. But to take your kid out for a vacation really irritates me.

 

[Donaldswife]

I thought a teacher's perspective might be helpful. First of all, we take a test in March, not January because it covers everything we are supposed to teach in the entire year, so we are already testing early. I do think the bribery is ridiculous, but you have to look at it from our point of view. If a child doesn't show up and then is unable to take the test at some point during a testing window (in Nevada, it is three weeks), then we automatically don't make AYP for not having 100 percent participation. AYP is Annual Yearly Progress. So, I have the kid whose mom took him out for the entire testing window to go on a vacation to the Phillipines. Now, we won't make AYP and it is very likely, because this has happened to us on two other occasions, that our school will be liquidated. I will have to reapply for my job not because I am a poor teacher but because I had a kid who didn't show up for the test. It doesn't matter that, on average, I have 75 percent of my students meet standards on the tests. It is not the teachers who are putting pressure on these kids. It is the government. I could care less about testing. I see much more benefit in looking at how my kids progress through the year. However, we are in a testing age. It is a huge pet peeve of mine when people pull kids out for vacations during testing. Your kid is sick? Well, they'll come back, make up the test, no harm, no foul. But to take your kid out for a vacation really irritates me.

Thank you for the teachers perspective. In my post above I did not mean to sound like I blamed teachers, believe me I know it comes from the government! I think the whole idea is ridiculous, and I think teachers as professionals should be allowed to do their job and not have to bow down to government tests. The whole idea that one test can measure a child's potential and knowledge is ridiculous. The idea that that test is also a measure of how well teacher is doing is completely outer limits in my mind.

 

[S'sMom]

This week the kids have PSSAs which are our state tests. DD has a bad cold and was sick last night and didn't fall asleep until 1. She had chills, headache, really stuffy nose and an upset stomach ( though she never threw up, just felt like it). The bad thing is her teacher promised the kids a classroom breakfast on Friday if they all showed up each day this week. Now I have to call the school and talk to the teacher. DD is so worried the other kids will be mad at her. I know they bribe the kids to do well on the tests, but I'm not sending her to school sick and exhausted. She'll just have to make it up.

I am an educator in Texas. Those tests are important, however, there no sense in sending her sick to school and run the risk of her not doing so well, because she is ill. Keep her home, and I am sure they have make-up days, most do.

I hope she feels better.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

Thanks, I had gone back to bed and am now up with her. She is feeling better, but tired and really congested. She told me she remembers last year some kids making up the test and going to a room in the office to do it, so she will have an opportunity to make it up. She is a good student ( gifted) so it will not take her long to do the tests. They are testing all this week, too. She told me she woke up at 7 and tried to get herself up b/c she didn't want to miss the tests, but she was so tired and sick she couldn't get up and went back to sleep. I'll have to write a note to the teacher b/c she is worried the other kids will say things to her about the breakfast. The teacher is really nice and I am sure they are still having it. I feel bad that at 10 years old she has to be so worried about this.
However, here in PA I do not think these tests have anything to do with not passing a grade. I find it interesting that some states do that.

 

[tink576]

The schools don't mention that there are make up dates because they typically don't want to deal with them. It's not advertised, but I know that they have two weeks of make-up testing NATIONALLY for the AP Exams (college credit classes you may take in high school). They don't tell you about them because they would rather you took them on time but the year I was taking the AP Calculus half of my class had a conflict with the AP Music Theory Exam (my school offers a lot of AP courses). So about half of the class took the exam two weeks after the original exam.

 

[monorailsilver]

In CT, they are doing them now...probably just finishing up as I type this.

They have them Wed, Thurs & Fri with make ups on Mon & Wed. It is on our CMT calender.

I think tomorrow is my dd's last one for the year (she is in 4th grade) but the 5th & 6th graders have it next week as well.

I would of kept my sick kid home as well or call the school & see if they want her to come in just for the test this way she could sleep longer but I am sure they would say to keep her & her germs at home.