We started state testing this week. In Minnesota, all public school students in grades 3-8 take the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) for Reading and Math. Students in Grade 10 take the Reading MCA, while Grade 11 students take Math. The science MCA is given in 5th and 8th grade, and in whatever high school grade students end up taking the required Life Science or Biology course.
There are signs of Testing Season, with the same predictability as signs of Spring:
We — teachers — start to give special emphasis when we talk to our classes every day about getting good sleep and eating a good breakfast.
We throw our hands up in despair at the doughnuts and sugar cereals from school breakfast, and wish we could afford to give them eggs every day.
We pull our hair out as we review standards from the start of the year: What do you mean you don’t know what theme is??? Why are you adding this multiplication problem???
We buy enormous quantities of pretzels, goldfish crackers, Jolly Ranchers, and mints (with our own money, naturally), because we read that snacks and sour things and mints stimulate the brain and help students concentrate.
We tear off huge swaths of paper from the rolls in the studio to cover “all academic content” on the walls of our classroom. It matters not what subject the content might be. COVER IT ALL LEST THE STUDENTS BE HELPED IN SOME VAGUE WAY ON THE TESTS. We write messages on the expanses of paper to lessen the starkness of it.
We have chats with our classes, trying to convey a calm and laid-back demeanor about these tests: They are only one measure of the year out of many. You take a monthly assessment to monitor progress, and this is no different. What you do every day matters, not just these few days.
We also, during these chats, try to remind them what strategies to use to do their best: Take your time, check your answers, there’s no need to rush. Use the tools to highlight evidence and cross out wrong answers.
We try, through all of the chats, not to pass on our own anxieties about the tests: What if I didn’t spend enough time on that standard? What if I haven’t taught them to take their time? What if they just click through without reading? What if they all fail and I get fired???
We are wearing all of our Rock the Test! and It’s a Beautiful Day for Learning! t-shirts to encourage our students.
We are obsessively checking the weather report to see if we’ll be able to have extra recess for the antsy maniacs who have had to sit STILL AND SILENTLY all morning long.
We say things like, Do you have any questions for me before I go into professional testing mode and start reading from the script? No, I can’t tell you what the word is because I’m legally not allowed to look at your test. It only took you 12 minutes to do 8 questions, why don’t you go back and make sure you can prove your answers? Please?
We encounter lines of early childhood learners tiptoeing through the school, trying their best not to disturb the “big kids.”
These tests are supposed to evaluate whether students have learned all the content for their grade level this year. But wait, Susie, the school year isn’t over! You still have an entire quarter with your students! That’s right, Dear Readers: we take the evaluative tests when we’re 75% through the school year. We have 7 months to impart allllllll of the (in my case 4th) grade-level standards to the point that our kids can pass a 48-question exam in each subject. You are probably thinking that we should have more time, like maybe the complete school year?!
Ah… but here is the trick: have you ever been in an elementary school in May? I mean, since the original time that you were? May is not a testing month. May is a HOLY CATS I HOPE I SURVIVE month. May is a juggling act, trying to keep students reigned in and interested in something academic when the poor things can SMELL impending summer leaching in through the walls!
We have to — get to — be creative in May. May is when I start Literature Circles (a kind of book club) and listen to students discuss literature that was chosen just for their small group. May is when the district encourages us to innovate, and develop activities which give students a chance for hands-on learning. We have run lemonade stands and baking contests, built domino chain reactions, and created our own board games. We have put on plays, and made instructional videos. May is when I remember what teaching can be… at the same time as I struggle to remember that I will miss these children who are quickly checking out on the way to summer break.
Not that I blame them!
Thanks for reading.
Love, Susie
