Bleak: charmless, dreary, cold and miserable
Last week I shared my perspective on the power that teachers and parents have when communicating with our students and children.
Today I’d like to address a few other messages that are being sent on behalf of our schools. (Disclaimer, this one won’t be all happy flowers and butterflies like the last one.)
There have been some stark changes in the ways that we are being asked to ‘educate’ our children over the past few years. In essence, we are communicating what we find valuable by placing emphasis on certain areas and unfortunately, many educators and parents alike may agree that what is being emphasized has had negative repercussions.
Current Realities for Our Teachers and Students:
-the amount of testing has increased
-the expectations have risen
-the opportunities to find joy have decreased
Coming from Michigan, state testing was nothing to be concerned about. As a student and as a teacher, I hardly remember the words test prep being uttered let alone much build up.
But here in Pinellas County, I have seen district mandated test preparation units that span MONTHS, administered to students. I have seen incentives held over students’ heads, given to only those who perform on the day of the test. I have seen letters sent home to parents to mandate that they discuss stress reducing strategies…with 8 year olds. I have seen specials like P.E. cancelled on testing days. I have seen one school allocate a portion of their budget to take only the students who scored highly on a test out to lunch via a limousine. I have seen an entire school rally around one grade and buy treats for, buy water bottles for, make cards for, decorate doors for, have an entire pep rally for one grade level who was…TAKING A TEST!
I am all for supporting one another and for providing children with experiences that they may never have had before, or for rewarding effort. But to add perspective, that same school whose teachers ‘rallied’ around their one grade level’s testing, almost NEVER interacts in such a ‘supportive’ manner at ANY other time of the year!
What messages are we sending to our children?! We support you only when you take a test?! You better pass this because we’re all counting on you?! We’ve spoken to you about this test for months now, and even though we don’t have any idea what’s on it, you better do well on it. FOR WHAT?!?!?!
So that your teacher next year can look at your score and make an immediate judgment on your abilities based on that test score? Or so that you can be placed into mandated remediation groups based on that score that will require you to be pulled out of your daily class-NEXT YEAR-FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR- where you will be labeled as a ‘struggling reader’ and start developing and applying those labels to yourself?! Or so that your teacher can receive a monetary incentive?! Or even to determine if your EIGHT YEAR OLD LITTLE SELF WILL BE RETAINED AN ENTIRE GRADE LEVEL?! (This one absolutely breaks my heart!)
Can you imagine the pressure that is going on in these little bodies? Their brains do not have the capacity to see the bigger picture yet. But you better believe that they are feeling the messages that are being sent to them. How do I know? I could go on, but I’ll simply bring you back to my first year teaching here in Pinellas County.
After all of my walls had been covered up. After I spent 10 mins. verifying that the pre-printed test numbers matched each child’s name, initialing, and signing out my test box, only to make sure that it never left my side and that my doors were locked no matter which room I brought them in to. After spending the last week at meetings and reviewing the 100+ page manual that we were given in order to even administer this test. After drawing a mandated floor plan of my room indicating where each child was sitting and making sure that my students were at least 3’ apart. After allowing another adult into my room-who was never in there to support before- so that I could have ‘back up’. After turning my students’ desks around so that the kids couldn’t get into their desks. After sharpening pencils because they couldn’t stand to sharpen them for themselves today. After writing stark, non-supportive information on the board. After putting a giant ‘testing in progress’ sign on my door. My kids were finally allowed to come in. Each filed into their unfamiliar places and as I read all 4 full pages of adult caliber vocabulary, sometimes threat-filled directions, my students were allowed to start.
About 10 mins. in I remember walking by one of my typically perky and very intelligent boy’s desk to find his head down. I put my hand on his back to show him support (because I couldn’t talk to him for 60 mins.) and I noticed that his shirt was drenched. I immediately got nervous and bent down to whisper to him to see if he was ok. His face was ghostly white. I got concerned, “Honey, are you ok?” I asked. “Yeah, I just don’t feel well because I don’t do well on tests.” he responded. Without even flinching I reassured him that he would be fine. That these tests mean nothing and do not determine his worth as a person. Looking into that 9 year old’s pale face, it hit me. I didn’t even intentionally put any pressure on this day because that’s not what I was used to. But they’ve heard it before and they feel it.
On that same day at that same school, I heard of a little one throwing up all over their test and the teacher having to bag it and still send it off to be scored. I heard of a little one defecating on himself. I heard of kids shutting down. I heard of kids acting out. Their little bodies ‘hear’ the messages.
Even if you’re one of the lucky ones who has a kid who doesn’t struggle with testing, or has a teacher who doesn’t put too much emphasis on testing this year, or whose school has a good reputation based on test scores-it’s out there and they hear it.
And parents, I hate to break it to you but these are just a few examples of what happens for those are ‘high-stakes’ tests. We don’t have time to get into the weekly mandated tests that some of your children are forced to take. (Based on other test scores. What message are we sending there? You don’t do well on tests, here are some more.)
You can take a look at any grade level and you will see that here in Pinellas County, our testing requirements are becoming more unrealistic. Whether it’s our Kindergarteners who are required to know more than veteran 30 year teachers know that they’re developmentally ready for. Or the 3rd graders who know that they can be retained based on test one score. Or the high schooler who understands the impact that their EOC test can have on them. We’re sending the messages that are doing more harm than good.
I didn’t intend to spend so much time on just one issue-testing. But what I did want to do was to illustrate that one seemingly ‘small’ detail can have so many intricacies than parents may not even be aware of.
Parents and teachers, last week I urged you to consider how our words impacted our little ones. This week, I urge you to consider the actions and processes that we have in place at our schools and what messages those are sending to our kids, our families, and our teachers.
What are we ‘saying’ when we take away recess from children?
What are we ‘saying’ when we force our parents to go through a lottery process in hopes of getting their children into a ‘good’ school?
What are we ‘saying’ when we treat our teachers like dirt? When we increase their workload, responsibilities, how much they’ll have to pay for their health insurance, yet do nothing to significantly increase their pay?
What are we ‘saying’ when we evaluate our success by number of minutes our kids sit in a chair and are quietly working?
What are we ‘saying’ when we take away the abilities for our teachers to do what we know is best for kids?
It’s time to start asking these hard questions because hopefully they will lead to productive discussion and lead to positive action. Because the reality is, even at our ‘good’ schools, our current messaging is bleak and everyone involved is ‘hearing’ it.