I Test of Allegiance

Like most English teachers, I went into this career to share my love of reading and writing with students. As a child, one of the only ways my mom could punish me was by taking away my books because they were the main thing I cared about. I would literally get in trouble staying up long past my bedtime reading with a flashlight. 

So you can imagine my disillusionment when my desire to share my love of the written word with students, and to teach them the things I know they need to know to be successful people and generally good humans, is consistently under attack.  

School districts across the country waived state exams last year due to Covid-19, but now our kids are paying the price. Because we have no “data” to tell us our kids are on “track” (notice my use of quotes here as alllll the eye-rolls), we apparently need to test them. A lot. Over and over. Because then we will know what we need to teach them.

Except when you take into account that we sort of lost March- May/June, started the school year late, and then are now operating under either virtual or hybrid teaching models that do not afford us nearly as much time to actually educate our students, what you are left with is a disaster. 

Case in point: I spent most of last week giving my students a mandatory district writing exam that takes a 120 mins (I see my students for 50 mins a day and only 30 mins can be spent with them working independently). Next week, I have to give them another 120 min district reading diagnostic exam PLUS a reading benchmark exam that’s supposed to be based on what I’ve taught them, except I haven’t had time to teach them what’s on the benchmark exam. 

I’m not alone. My fellow English teachers across the state and county have all shared similar stories with me, and I know the same is true of other core subjects like math and science. What we are creating are children who can’t even begin to develop a love of reading and learning, because they are too busy taking tests that make them hate school. 

Listen, I don’t know everything, but if I’ve learned anything in this 14 year career of mine, it’s that more testing is literally never the answer. Plus those benchmarks our kids just “have” to meet? Yeah, people who have never even taught children made those, so maybe, just maybe, they shouldn’t be our priority.