Well I'm goin' out
I'm goin' out lookin' for a cynical girl
Who's got no use for the real world
I'm lookin' for a cynical girl
(Marshall Crenshaw)
FCAT scores come out today.
Yippee.
Despite the fact that every educator knows what flaming nonsense this all is, we will look at the scores and either feel relieved or depressed, we will consider the consequences, either monetarily or professionally, and we will call it a day.
Yes, I'm feeling cynical this morning.
Yesterday I watched President Obama's education speech. No, I wasn't expecting much. His record on education has been less than stellar in my opinion. Race to the Top is an utter disaster, Duncan hasn't a clue, and the silence on the Chicago school closings is deafening. I had heard the speech was about promoting technology and digital learning, so I was definitely wary going in.
His proposal? To expand bandwidth in every school in the country (then somehow it got reduced to 99% of the schools; not sure what constitutes the 1% who don't rate) within the next five years. This is to give technology a boost, enabling private innovators to create products for digital learning, and for students to each have their own laptop or tablet.
Shazam.
What I heard? We're going to make sure you have the bandwidth so that when we have to test every K-11 grader in 2015, we can actually do it. That if each kid has their own laptop, there is no excuse. This is to fix the Common Core testing issue which has been looming in the background, and allow for more private companies to profit off public schools. It is to make the "wave of the future" digital learning a reality. Oh yeah, and compete with other countries. Always competition.
Depressing.
Okay, so back to FCAT scores. Where I sit right now, I am uncertain if these scores have anything to do with me. You see, no one this year told me how I'm being evaluated on the 50% of my evaluation that is to be based on student test scores. I know I was told that the test my 11th graders took would not be used because of the testing issues (bandwidth!), but all I know is that they said they wouldn't use the scores. What will they use instead? So I'm left rooting for decent FCAT reading scores just in case this year, like last year, I'm rated on kids I don't teach.
There is, though, a tiny glimmer of hope. This week an organization called FairTest put out a listing of all the media reports against standardized testing. It was quite a list. There is a growing movement against standardized tests and Common Core implementation, which is certainly good news. Every educator knows that his or her voice is totally ignored -- that only parental involvement in the issue will actually turn it around. The movement against is getting strong enough that the corporate reformers are getting more vocal about their real intentions all along (google Jeb Bush and get an earful on that!) They will not go down without a fight.
It's a civil war, folks.
Yet even with all that, with everything we know, we will still be tempted to look at the scores as a way to measure something about us, about our schools, about our community. We will feel justified in our teaching methods or question ourselves to the nth degree about "what happened." We are caught up in this crazy, insane, dysfunctional, toxic, and ridiculous system, even as we hope, pray, and fight for a way out of it.
But we're getting more bandwidth.
Yippee.
The idea of every child, from kindergarten through 12th grade, having access to a laptop scares the hell out of me. I don't care how hard we try to monitor electronic media and gadgets - it's an impossibility from where I stand as a parent, unless you take the darn things away and lock them up sometimes, and you then risk judgment by your children, (this I can handle), other parents who think you're crazy (also manageable but a little more upsetting), and some school personnel (who may even say things like, "Most parents want to help their children learn," - this is really insulting and difficult to hear).
ReplyDeleteOur school district attempted to pass a levy to pay for every child to have a laptop, and I couldn't back it up because I felt there were more pressing needs to be addressed. I decided that if the levy passed, my children would be required by me to turn them in to the school office every weekend, and to me at some time every evening. One of the reasons cited for providing laptops was so that our children "could be learning 24 hours, not just while they were in school." Well, guess what? My children are learning the whole time they are awake, and they're learning about things that are equally important to the subjects they learn in school and the school homework they finish at night. They're learning about living in a social structure called "family," learning about responsibility by having chores and part-time jobs, learning our values by discussing what happened during their day and getting our take on their experiences, and making choices, good ones and bad ones, about what to movies to see, what books to read, and when to start trying out more adult behaviors. They're running around outside, glorying in their bodies and their freedom from sitting all day long. They're playing games and learning to go by some rules. My children do just fine without a laptop glued to their side 24 hours a day. And I dread the day when we will see our children "required" to have a laptop available for most of their school day.
One of the most wonderful things about homeschooling in Ohio was that our children were not permitted to take standardized tests. My children's evaluations were done by a teacher licensed by the state. She came to our home, talked with them, reviewed the work they had done that year, looked at their writing and math skills, and spent time chatting with each child about their school year. Each of my children eagerly participated in preparing a portfolio of work to present at their evaluation. It was great! We did pay for it, but I know many people who bartered for their evaluations, providing services for a teacher in lieu of cash. The evaluations were helpful, insightful, and my children responded well, even when there were areas that needed improvement. We were so lucky to have this for several years.
I agree that we parents have to keep fighting for our children, our teachers, and our school systems! Thanks for this blog, Helen!