I did it. Okay,
wait.....I did it – AGAIN. I
stood up, I spoke out.....happily dragged in by two amazing teachers.
I first helped an
awesome friend bring her vision to life to create a video promoting the March
on Albany back in June. It
was a state wide, NYSUT led initiative to rally for public education and
against high stakes testing. It
was so darn cool! Neither
of us will profess to be Carly Rae Jepsen, but her popular tune sure was a
catchy way for Awesome Colleague to express her thoughts about the nonsense and
government corruption in education. It
was tremendously empowering and was the first time during this whole mess that
I’ve felt I had a voice – hers was much larger in this project, and it was
inspiring. The best part of
this rally was that only 10,000 teachers, students, and families were expected,
but it was estimated that about 20,000 showed up! We were honored, and humbled that we
were asked by NYSUT to allow them to show the video during the rally. Here’s the link, but I warn you, I no
longer sing Jepsen’s lyrics the way she wrote them! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6Z486Cv7Nw
Came down from
"Never Land" two weeks ago and when I got cell service (yes, I’m
serious, there are still places in North America where there is no coverage) my
phone was exploding about a new opportunity to speak out....and yes, I took
it. Last week I did an
interview, with a super colleague from a neighboring district, at a local NBC
television station about high stakes testing. The intention was to talk about the
impact on teachers and teaching. We
talked about the lowest morale I’ve seen in 17 years, the fact that phenomenal
teachers are seriously looking into other career options, many who, out of fear
of a low HEDI score, are turning to packets, workbooks, and constant test prep
for the sake of a high score, and the fact that the atmosphere is incredibly
morbid leading up to and especially during the assessments. We also talked about how little there
is to gain, educationally (of course there’s plenty of scandal to gain!), from
the test score that is just that, a number, with NO OPPORTUNITY for diagnostic
information from them nor item analysis since the tests are never seen again,
we are forbidden (by the state) to talk about or share information about them,
and there is never a chance to have a clear explanation of how the scores were
arrived at. But, our
largest portion of the interview was about the kids......
Ah, the kids...we
quickly turned the conversation to them, after all they're the reason we’re
here. Interviewer asked us
about how these tests impact our relationships with the kids...this hit a
nerve, so I unloaded. Strong
relationships are built on trust...trust that my kids can take a risk and know
that they are safe to make a mistake because that is an opportunity to learn, trust that no matter the depth or complexity
of a learning path they take that I will be there to swoop down and help them
to develop strategies to recover and move forward, trust that there is NO dumb question and we
can always find an answer, trust that I am on their team and their side
NO MATTER WHAT, trust that they can take a chance and
believe that they won’t fail because everything they do is another opportunity
to learn.
As a professor once
told me, “Trust is like a
house of cards. It takes
patience, hard work, and perseverance to build, but it can be easily destroyed,
in a short time, if not cared for”. I
spent hours, days, WEEKS building trust with my kids and with one felled swoop,
the assessments shattered that house of cards that took weeks more to try to
rebuild. When interviewer looked at me curiously I told her to imagine
being just 8 and telling your teacher that for every question that had four
answers you KNEW three were wrong, you were likely to choose one of those, and
you couldn't get any help for success – yep, direct quote from one of
my kiddos. In that moment,
I let him down because I felt I was bound and gagged against my best
judgment. Imagine
being 8, under immense pressure, struggling to make sense of something that is
developmentally inappropriate and that same person who promised that you could
trust her can no longer help, can no longer give you strategies, can no longer
encourage you to look at a certain thing a bit more closely, can no longer
promise you that you won't fail. It’s gone. I let them down, the
trust was shattered....and I had no choice.
When do we put our
foot down and decide that we will NOT do test prep, but will instead do “life
prep” and provide rigor every day? When
do we decide that WE are the trained professionals who know what’s best for
kids? When do we stand up
against government that is trying to convince the public that all schools are
failing?
When do we, teachers
AND parents, stand up? When
do we, teachers AND parents, question and push back at the state level? When do we begin to demand
answers about these tests?
And when......do we
decide that enough is enough and realize that what we do every day, day in and
day out, each hour, each minute, impacts young lives and self-confidence –
FOREVER.
When?
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