Saturday, January 19, 2013

Student Goals = Growth in Test Scores? Is This the New Normal?

The staff discussed the goals our students need to meet in order to be successful by the end of the year.
The goals we are trying to get our children to achieve.
The goals we are striving for and want our students to attain.
You know what the goals are?


I am supposed to sit down with my students and push them to reach their goal.
And what is that goal?


I am supposed to sit down and talk to each student about the score they received in the first round of testing
Then I should discuss how many points they need to get on the 2nd round in order to demonstrate success. (Mine or theirs? I am not really sure)
                          Is that the measure of success now?

I refuse to make that the goal for my students! There are so many other ways to demonstrate success !
None of them involve a standardized test!


  1. What in the world are we doing to children, to their desire to learn, to their mindset ABOUT learning, ABOUT themselves when we put so much emphasis on a test score? What can that test score possibly tell us about them, about their ability to learn, to grow, to change? I can not tell you how saddened i am that we have come to this point in education. It flies in the face of all growth models. It goes against the grain of everything that is good about education. I am so happy to see that there are teachers like you who are refusing to see your students as test scores.

  2. Thank you Cathy. You are so right.

  3. Sometimes things have to get REALLY CRAZY before things change. Sometimes you have to hit ROCK BOTTOM before things change.
    I think we've met both criteria. Now it's time for change!

  4. I understand what you don't want to do, but people need to know what you ARE going to do to measure test scores. You need to include what you will do when you say you aren't going to do something. So, what and how will you measure test scores for your student?

  5. EVERYDAY the school we work at recites the threshold scores that each grade is supposed to achieve over the PA system as part of our morning announcements. We''ve never been to North Korea but imagine this is what it is like.

  6. Love it! Learning life skills are far more important than test scores. I don't teach to a test.