Standardized Tests

...are the most boring way to spend your day as a teacher. I kid you not -- I brought a 280-page paperback (schlocky and inane stuff, yes, but I didn't have the mental energy to devote to anything more substantive) to read and I finished it... start to finish... by 10:30. How pathetic is that?

I'm going to complain now.

The group of eleventh-graders I administered the Iowa Test of Basic Skills to are all special-education students. They have all been tested to have significant learning disabilities. But because of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), we now have to give them the test that's on their GRADE LEVEL, not on their READING LEVEL. There are some kids in there who simply cannot read past about a sixth grade level, and they're having to try to wade through this complex junior-level exam. It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen. The mathematics story problems were difficult for ME to wade through, much less these poor souls.

Thanks to NCLB, we simply MUST get EVERYONE reading on grade level, regardless of their disabilities. Can I get a witness up in here? It's NOT POSSIBLE.

In my college class, several of us are complaining bitterly about NCLB and the consequences that are inevitable. I mentioned, however, that I'm truly not concerned anymore. The way I see it, THEY NEED SPECIAL ED TEACHERS. My job security is pretty good, I'd imagine, because (1)I do a good job with the kids that most people don't want to deal with and (2)who's going to take my place? Let them fire me because these kids aren't reading on grade level. Anyone else care to step in and give it a try? I can always find a job somewhere else, because I'm a bright person. In a couple of years I'll actually have a master's degree in special education. I'm sure I'm marketable somewhere.

No, my job is much more immediate than that. I have students RIGHT NOW who will be graduating and going into society. I need to make sure that they have the tools they need to be good, productive citizens using the resources God gave them (in whatever quantity that might be). I don't have time to be bothered with political tomfoolery. Legislation comes and goes; NCLB will die the death eventually when politicians begin to realize that it's unworkable and VIABLE VOTING CONSTITUENTS such as parents, teachers, administrators are dissatisfied. In the meantime until NCLB goes away, I will quietly continue to teach regardless of Congressional whims and flights of fancy.