I can't think of a single educator who tells a legislator how to do his or her job. "Just because you were once a student, doesn't mean that you know how to teach." We'll all heard this, but why don't we apply it? Legislating curriculum and mandating standardized testing for students who are maturing at different rates is not common sense. I have students who are 6 ft. tall while some don't reach 4 ft. yet. Some of my kids read at a senior level and others are still working at 4th grade fluency. What is any state standardized test data going to tell me that I don't already know about my students? I would prefer to use my professional time creating engaging classroom lessons and activities that will promote the continued growth of all my students.
During the most recent round of online state standardized testing, the system shut down after two periods. The teachers involved with testing that day has to quickly make adjustments for the rest of the students. Kids were prepared to test, then didn't. Those who did test wonder if their computers were accurately scoring their work. This invalid data is used to judge our children's academic levels and to rate our teacher effectiveness.
Educators are strongly encouraged to "differentiate" their instruction to best meet the needs of our diverse student populations. I don't recall ever giving a differentiated state assessment, though I'm supposed to create content activities for my visual kids, my auditory learners, my tactile folks, and my resource crowd. Recently, my sister's non-verbal autistic granddaughter was observed taking a test by a state representative. The girl was to figure the perimeter of a shape. She knows that she has to walk around a table to get where she wants to go....does that count? The politician, who had voted to require all student groups to take standardized tests had no clue that our public schools serve children who are in diapers, who do not speak, who cannot feed themselves, but are required to take tests that will reflect none of the gains these children may make in the course of a school year. That data may adversely impact those special educators who devote their lives to serving these kids.
Legislators need to leave the work of education to those who have much more experience and many more professional degrees. How much college is required to be a politician? NONE.
