Let's just go ahead and stop pretending. Let's just go ahead and admit that we know the realities of our profession by this point. Let's admit it for once and for all that we hold this truth about standardized testing to be most self-evident: The students are not the ones being tested. We are.
Make no mistake, we are being tested, not trusted. We are not trusted as professionals to do the job we signed on the dotted line for. A job we knew full well would not come with club perks or substantial pay. We signed up for the late night grading, the parent conferences, and the lesson plan creation. But we also signed up to be teachers. Teachers who enjoy designing, creating, and TEACHING what we love! Yes, we have to assess, test, and quiz those students to make sure they are grasping the material, absolutely. Sometimes we enjoy doing that too! Especially when we see that they GET IT! We, as teachers, can see through our own students' work whether they GET it or not. No one knows our students' abilities in the classroom better than we do. So why do the powers that be need one more test?
The reason is simple: These standardized tests are not meant for assessing the students, they are meant for assessing the teachers. Making sure WE do our jobs. Having students take teacher-made tests is not enough for the government, a government who doesn't even pay us ignorant schlubs what we are worth. We simply can't be trusted anymore to do our jobs, teach the standards and the curriculum given to us by those in charge. And by those in charge, I mean people who are not in the classroom anymore if they ever were at all.
Yes, I know these tests have been around for 50 years. I know about the Department of Education's National Assessment of Educational Progress test that has been around since 1969. I know that Clinton in 1994 required all states getting federal funding to test kids in 3rd through 8th grade and Bush hammered the nails in the coffin with the No Child Left Behind Act. Obama even put aside millions for testing in a Race to the Top. And let's not get started on Merit pay or the Secretary of Education. The politicians on both sides contributed to this epidemic. It's more about the money than politics. One report stated that the government spent over 1 and a half BILLION on these tests.
And get this, Pearson now has a program to officially test teachers too. That's right. Show them the money. Show us the bubble sheets.
And now, in some states like mine, the state has decided to save some money by NOT paying Pearson to grade those standardized tests. So guess who gets to do it? That's right. US. The teachers-- for exactly 100% less than the people who were paid to grade the standardized tests just last year. Now the English teachers in Virginia will have students write an essay which they will then give to two OTHER English teachers who are not the students' teachers and THEY will grade the essay. So far, I'm OK with that as I like rubrics and I know I taught my students how write an essay. But the essay will not actually get a grade. It will be magically beamed into a portal online where it will sit with a check next to it for all perpetuity to prove to the powers that be (who will never EVER look at it) that the student can, in fact, write three different types of essays.
So...why can't the state just trust the teachers who actually teach the students to grade said papers and give the feedback to their students so they may actually see the value in it? The tests are doing NOTHING except proving we are about middle of the pack in academic achievement with the rest of the civilized world. Great. But we as Americans are so much more than what it says on a bubble sheet, and do you know who knows that? WE DO! The teachers. The elementary school teachers see it. The middle school teachers see it. So do the high school English teachers, the math teachers, the science teachers, the social studies, the art, dance, and shop class teachers. We see it. Every. Single. Day. But the kids only see us teaching to the test. Not valuing education. And that MUST stop.
But our hands are tied now. We must robotically teach to a test with NO value in it at all. The students aren't creating anything. They aren't investing anything except a pencil in that test.
So, that being said, when the teachers march on the capital next time, let's add this to their billboard signs: Let us teach. Let us show the students value in education again.
Or not. Maybe we should all just get a job with Pearson. They are getting paid billions. And I have really great test reading skills. I wonder if they have benefits?
I have sources too! Check them out:
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-math-science/
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/nclb-standardized-tests-explained/
http://sites.psu.edu/hmmrcldiscussions/2015/04/14/standardized-testing-costs/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/rainesford-alexandra/the-business-of-standardi_b_9785988.html
https://standardizedtests.procon.org/
http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1947019,00.html
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