Left Behind Tests

Remember that time 6 months ago when Florida students took that Florida Standards Assessment?  

Neither do they. And yet, today they are being handed a piece of paper with their results. From that test. 6 months ago. For my 6th graders, they had to wait for 5% of their life to pass to get their results.

This morning I found the results in my mailbox and gave them out. I felt so bad handing the scores to some of my students. I had some impromptu "data chats" with my students below the 50th percentile. I kept finding myself repeating the phrase, "Although, maybe you have learned this concept now. This was 6 months ago." This test doesn't show where they are now. Still, they see it as a reflection of who they are. 

After getting their scores that they couldn't quite understand, I could visibly see some students puff up in confidence or crumble in disappointment. Those numbers can really shape their self-image. Without the context of the test, they don't make sense. Students don't even remember what the test was about. And I surely can't tell them because I'm not allowed to look at it.

Our nation spends $1.7 billion annually on standardized tests and what is the point? What is the result? Hours and hours spent assessing students, only to find out how they did 6 months later. 

Only to find their results left behind on the floor of our classroom.

What shoes go with FCAT?

Yesterday your child's education went on hold. It is officially FCAT season in Florida. Don't worry, your child's normal education will resume in two weeks.

Getting ready for school Monday morning, I had to guffaw as I wondered which shoes to wear for FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test). I didn't want to make too much noise wearing some sort of clickety-clackety heels. Perhaps in defiance, I wore them anyways.

Let me paint a picture of what it's like to walk in the shoes of a teacher administering the FCAT. Your already early arrival of 7:10 may begin even earlier this day. You report to school well before the sun. The testing headquarters are in the windowless In School Suspension (ISS) room and open at 6:30 am. You walk into the room, where the weary guidance counselors have been transformed into paper-pushing-schedule-making-pencil-sharpening-drones. They are not able to counsel students this time of year as they are tied up in testing preparation. You recount all of your tests and grab your goodie bag. You head to your room to figure out which movie you will be showing that afternoon. Or if you're like me, you plan to finally take the opportunity to do that artsy project whose benefits can not actually be measured.

The students file in begrudgingly, fully understanding the magnitude of the three hour sentencing that awaits them. As their fearless leader, you try to maintain a balance of airy calmness, cheery energy, and solemn dignity. After all, you are being scored today too. Then you have the challenge of getting 300 kids to use a restroom with only 3 stalls each. There are late busses. Most students seem to have gotten a good rest last night, but some are already having a bad day. This is just one test. One day. One snapshot. Yet it weighs so much on them and us. It determines which class they will be in next year: honors, advanced, or intensive. Starting next year, it will determine our pay scale. That's a story for another day. Regardless, the stakes are high.

Finally, all students have arrived and gone to their testing room. It's now time for about 20 minutes of directions and material managing. The test finally begins and I have free time to catch up on grading papers and plan lessons! NOT. We are supposed to walk around the room monitoring the students. If a student is caught cheating, we could get in deep trouble. I'm talking lose your job or certification. I know some teachers will read a book or check their email, but I come from the school of CYA. So I watched those chillins take that FCAT. Okay, at some point I got really antsy and started making a wedding to-do list. Some might think this sounds like a nice break, but there is something rather draining about doing nothing in an environment where there are a million things to do.

My students hardly lifted their nose from their books or their pencils from their paper. Of course, there are the token kids who just want to stare out the window. There are a few short breaks to stand, stretch, and eat some pretzels. Finally, students are done but don't have the energy to celebrate. It's lunch time. I drop off my tests in ISS, this takes 10 minutes as I scored very low in my "ability to survive in a bureaucracy" on my district entrance exam. By the time I grab my lunch and walk to the cafeteria, I am told I have 15 minutes to eat. I protest but they remind me that today is FCAT day. I walk into the teacher's lounge and my teachers are outraged but not surprised that I have been told I have 15 minutes to eat. I go back to speak to my assistant principal, but before I can open my mouth he says, "You get your 30 minutes." He's not all bad. FCAT stresses out everybody.

Too add to the insanity, it's an early release day. We switch classes one more time, and I take my students to our video conference room where we do a virtual field trip. Pretty cool. We learned some things today despite FCAT's best efforts.

How many days are lost to testing in an already very short school year? In an 180 day school year, I estimate that 26 days are used this year in the name of standardized testing. That's 14.4% of our school year dedicated to filling in bubbles as a measure of a student's (and now a teacher's) achievement.

Don't believe me? Here's the breakdown:
4 days for FAIR (3 times a year, but there's always at least one day where the computers don't work and we have to go back)
3 days FCAT (2 days reading, 1 day for math. This is just 6th grade. I'm not counting the 2 weeks where various grades in the school disrupt our schedule for FCAT testing.)
3 days for district writing exams
2 days for school-purchased FCAT practice, Write Score
1 day for Brainchild, a school-purchased web-based FCAT practice "tool"
1 day EPAT, practice software for reading FCAT
2 days district language arts end of semester exams
1 day Stanford Norm Referenced Test (NRT)
2 days practice moving to the correct testing room
7 days to FCAT tutoring

I'm glad I missed the tidal wave that is FCAT in my own Florida education. I graduated in 2004, just barely missing the world of "there is only one right answer." But now I teach it.


I snapped this photo (not during the test!) of my students' confiscated electronic devices. I thought about grabbing the bag and running away. There's a couple grand right there!

The grass is always greener

This summer I took an awesome trip to South Korea and Japan. I think it's true that one of the best parts of a trip is coming home. I felt a deeper understanding of what it is to be American. Let the patriotic music swell. This week, I came back to my classroom with a renewed sense of purpose and an appreciation for the importance of public schooling. These hallowed halls are where we lovingly brainwash our youth with our stories, our hopes, and values.

Many Americans look to countries like South Korea and Japan, throw up their hands in despair, and wail, "How are they doing so well? What are we doing wroooong?" Funny thing is, Asians are looking right back at us. We admire their discipline and high scores. They yearn for our creativity and innovation.

The Two Faces of Hagwons

I think one of the most poignant examples of our differences is South Korea's hagwons. Hagwons are for-profit academies, or cram schools, that students attend after their full day of public school. Think after school tutoring programs on steroids. In 2010, 74% of South Koreans participated in some sort of extra schooling, lengthening their school day from 8am to 10pm. There is immense societal pressure to perform well on college placement exams. In actuality, these exams turn out to be more like life-placement exams. Many point to this stress for the reason why South Korea and Japan boast the highest teen suicide rate. Things have gotten so out of hand that there is now a law that hagwons must shut down by 10pm. In fact, there are Seoul officers that raid non-compliant hagwons based on tips from neighborhood informants. See this article in TIME for more info Teacher, leave those kids alone 

A couple years ago, my good friend and college roommate got a job in South Korea teaching English. This summer, I stayed with her and had the privilege of seeing a hagwon for myself. The six elementary students I observed in my friend's classroom were having a grand ol' time learning and laughing in their English class. Would it be better if they had dinner with their families? More time to play soccer? Sure, but the fact is that the pressure to do well is very real, and hagwons offer that edge that students need to succeed in their country. But are they really learning the information? Or are they simply cramming facts to be forgotten after testing? The number of hours that Koreans are spending on education is not the reason why they outperform Americans.

Why are they outperforming us?

Let's encourage our friends and family to think twice before they disparage our country's education system for a lack of achievement on international standardized tests. The fact of the matter is, Americans have never done well on these tests since we first began participating in 1964. That year, we came in 11th place, out of 12 nations in math, yet went on to have the largest economy in the world. We continue to place in the lower quartile, but this does not reflect our achievement as a nation. When you compare our highest achieving students to similar students in other countries we compare very well. The reason we continue to place so low is that we have the highest child poverty rate of any advanced nation in the world. America comes in at a 25% child poverty rate.  Twenty-five percent! What brings our scores down is that we have to average in such large numbers of students who live in poverty, compared to Korea's 8%. If you are interested in finding out more, Diane Ravitch always says it better than anyone My View: Rhee is wrong and misinformed

If we really want to raise our scores, we must tackle child poverty. Not a popular political move. It's easier to blame the teachers.

*Fun Facts
1. It is perfectly acceptable to take naps at school. Last year, my friend was told by the school secretary she'd have to come back in a couple of hours as the assistant principal was sleeping.  
 2. Corporal punishment is still alive and well and I was surprised to learn my friend uses this. She doesn't abuse her students, but she does assign squats as punishment. They'll probably thank her later for their amazing quads.