Image: Microsoft Office images website
"Thinking Thursday" is an apropos category for today's post. I have been doing a lot of thinking about next week's PSSA tests, being given across Pennsylvania in its public elementary schools. I am thinking about the 4th grade math and reading assessments. I am thinking, and terribly concerned, about my son.
In our home, we expect everyone to give their best in the school setting. I do not think that makes us "standout" in any way. Are there many parents who do not ask for "your best work" in all aspects of life, both public and private? However, there is a point where the deck is stacked. There are times in life when you need to walk, or run, away from the overwhelming odds -- or at least bow out gracefully. This is how I feel about this whole school year for my son, but especially during such an ominous test as the PSSA.
My son has an anxiety disorder. He is coping quite well, most of the time. We work with doctors, with medication and with increased hope that his inner strength, sense of humor and overall wonderful nature will see him through the tough learning curve of teaching yourself to ignore your "brain tricks" and to remain calm and rational in the face of irrational or recurrent fear-laden thoughts. It is a daily battle for him, and me. Our support group is each other, and we are a pretty good team at helping one another through bad days and hard times. However, tests of any kind are hard on him, and I cannot take them away. Life has trials, and some of them involve a paper and pencil -- a lot more of them at his age. To be judged solely on what comes through on paper has yet, in the history of public education, to be proven as a true indicator of what students really know and can do in the real world situations that will confront them.
I am not against tests or testing. I am against a system that leans all too heavily on the results of the tests, and that does not see the child as an individual, with strengths and weaknesses that can be addressed and assessed in different formats, with more accurate results.
Let's cut to the chase with this: If my son does poorly next week, it's over for him. What do I mean by this? Simply put, he will lose the awesome placement he has in his Humanities class (reads with great comprehension, writes well and enjoys the work) for the next school year. Poof! Too bad that your score isn't meshing with your performance. Oh, well. Better luck next year. Of course, luck will have nothing to do with it, as he and I are nervous by nature. He won't do any better next time out, and the failure spiral will continue. I wonder how deep the rabbit hole will be on this one? Will I be begging him to "just finish high school, please"? What a wasted opportunity, if that is the case.
His STEM placement is already a foregone conclusion. The system gave up on him by the end of the first marking period in mathematics, so he's been sliding off the map for months now. I have tried -- begging and pleading and yelling and crying with the teachers. It has made little or no dent in preconceived notions of what can be done to alleviate the stress on both him and the instructors with whom he works. We have seen some "give", but too little and too late. If his (almost certain) lower mathematics score is part of this placement equation -- well, I fear where he ends up in the system next year.
Has public school become American Idol? My children and I enjoy watching the singers compete on this show each week, but I would not dream that this would be a workable model for a school setting:
Let's pit student against student for placement in this or that homeroom. Now, GO! Color in those dots, kiddos. It's important, REALLY important that you do well. If American doesn't call in for you, you go home. Well, by "home" we mean something not so nice as home: to the back of the classroom, to the end of the educational highway. We're really sorry about all of this, but it IS a singing competition.
Woah. Hold on, there. This is NOT a singing competition. This is not even supposed to be a competition at all. This is one of those rare, shiny places where we are all supposed to get a chance to succeed. I am not naive enough to believe that this is how it works out for all students, but the model should not be built to break down for all but one, like an elimination round on Idol.
Considering the constant mention of these tests at every possible moment at school for some time now, I am stressed -- and I don't have to color in those little bubbles with pinpoint accuracy next week. I remember the way it feels to take those kinds of assessments, and I was good at them. I scored well, every time. As such, it was a "fun game" to me. The fact that I saw it as that, even at a young age, should be a warning sign to any and all who think it gives the keys to All Things Important to Know About This Student. It's one of many "games" we play at school, and plenty of students lose, and lose big. I have recently read an article by an English professor who is conscientiously objecting to the PSSA model entirely, and keeping her son out of next week's tests. I was not aware that this was even an option for us, which should show you how much I "buy in" to public schools. I didn't even consider removing him from school. School is where young people grow and develop to be independent critical thinkers, lifelong learners and social beings. We need good public schools. I believe that we have many good teachers in them. However, even good teachers are handcuffed by a network of scores and charts and test results driving the bus. I thought that the students' needs -- and well-written curriculum -- fueled the bus, driven by the teacher. As he or she is a thinking, caring individual, the trip should be worth taking. It certainly should not feel scary, or unpredictable to the student, forced to be a passenger on an itinerary not of their choosing. Let us hope -- as I have established that I am a worrier by nature -- that this is just a "brain trick" on my part. It is sad that this is where I hang my hope this week.
If you have an opinion on the PSSA tests, on standardized testing in general, or on the way that STEM and Humanities placement is determined in schools, I would appreciate it if you would post a comment about it below.
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