Save The Kids!
Written by Nick Caraway
As most folks around here know, I work as a teacher. To be more specific, I work as a support facilitator and case manager. That basically means I work with special education students. Half of my job is taken up helping students prepare for the STAAR exam. I make sure they have the right accommodations and help their classroom teacher tutor them.
As much as I enjoy tutoring students for a state test they struggle to pass, I think I speak for almost every teacher when I say it’s beyond time for the state to cancel this year’s test. Of course, they can cancel it forever as far as I’m concerned, but that’s mainly because of how it effects my students.
Beyond that, we know most districts half been split between distance learning and brick and mortar learning. Most lost this past week and will likely lose part of this next week as well. Add to that lost instructional time during the fall when hurricane season was in full swing. So, this is a plea for TEA to have a heart. We are barely holding on here as it is.
Nick
It appears the question is whether measuring change in test results is worth the loss of educational opportunity.
It would seem, Jefe, that you say not. I live in Olympia, where my wife is a spec-ed teacher, and she has many questions regarding resumption of in-house school teaching.
I think we would all benefit from better “explainers” regarding pros and cons of decisions such as this. There are tradeoffs in every decision.
1Nick, just a suggestion, your comments would be effective to place as newspaper editorials in Texas newspapers. More likely to be read by people that make decisions and encourage others to also write in support. Perhaps you’ve already done that.
2Gotta love the google. Was able to access sample STARR exams. Admittedly I only taught high school math for two years being unsuited for the vows of poverty, but I do have decent experience with standardized testing with a focus on “tests and measurements.”
fwiw, Nick, I’d burn those tests and probably wish I could burn down the TEA. The tests are not particularly a measure of the math skills needed by the “average” student. But for special needs students? Not even close. Where’s the “life skills” daily living math in those STARR exams?
Keep the kids safe. Keep the teachers safe. There’s no percentage risking anyone’s life for the swill in those STARR tests. jmo
3I picked up a Molly Ivins book at a dollar store (I really did just pay a dollar for it) that was her take on “Shrub” Bush.
One of the chapters was about Shrub’s “no child left behind” program. According to Molly, the whole testing thing was never about improving education; the Bush family has been tight with Macmillan Publishing for generations, and NCLB was a great chance for Macmillan to make megabucks on teaching and testing materials.
According to the book, when Shrub took it to the national level, Ted Kennedy was all for it–especially the part that secured the additional funds needed for “enrichment” programs for kids who *didn’t* pass the test for their grade level. If you’re wondering what happened to that money, it’s simple: Shrub was GOP, and he scrubbed that from the bill before he signed it.
So, no, nothing about any of that alphabet soup of tests has anything to do with helping kids.
I found the book in a dollar store, so I’m guessing it wasn’t widely read. But Molly Ivins was great (JJ reminds me *a lot* of her!), and I believe this to be true.
4Oh, I believe it. It was an R Governor in Michigan who OKAYed the switch from the Detroit water treatment plant to the local river water in Flint that ended up laced with lead and arsenic and the working families in flint did not know about it until lead poisoning spread among the populace. By working families I mean those who could not afford fancy shmancy water purifying attachments to the plumbing in their homes or had enough money to constantly buy bottled water. They had a choice. Bottled water or food. Guess what! And the R’s I know absolutely refuse to believe this even though it was in an official report. And I got this right from some friends who are working families in the area. And now Governor Gretchen is getting hard knocks from “militia” types whereas the previous Governor did not. Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it.
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