Madness of Another Kind....

There are no brackets. There are only anxious and tense teachers and students. Stressed to the maximum. And the cracks are starting to show.We are in the middle of our test marathons. Last week it was MEPA - Massachusetts English Proficiency Assessent, given to 15 out of my 22 children to assess their growth in English. This week - today actually - we start the Reading MCAS. Fifteen out of my 22 students will have endured two high-stakes and grueling tests within the space of 2 weeks.Walls are covered or stripped of anything that could remotely be thought of as a study aide. Last year I had to rip desk tags from tops of desks because the tags had the audacity to show the cursive alphabet. I've covered birthday charts, removed math words, and even turned the labeled genre baskets in our classroom library around. No cheating.This year we have a new feature to testing that will not prove anything except that 9 year olds are not adept at checking their test booklets. We teachers have always been sworn to not look at the questions/test materials on the MCAS - please explain how I proctor students to ensure they do not go on to another section of the test that is off-limits when I can't look at the test <sigh>.Students - those very same 9 year olds - must check their own test booklets to ensure they haven't forgotten to fill in a bubble answer. This is new and worrisome. If you've ever met a 9 year old, you know they are not usually meticulous about details. If they turn 2 pages of a test booklet at a time and skip 6 answers, for them, that is an "oops" moment. And it is frequent. It is making me very tense because my students need every answer they can muster and to punish them for normal kid-stuff seems mean. And maybe meant to up the ante in proving teachers don't know what they are doing.I feel like there is so much more my kids could know of third grade curriculum before being tested. And there is, of course. It is mid-March; school does not end for 90 days - one-quarter of a school year later. What could possibly be the motive for testing children on end-of-year skills 3/4 of the way through their learning cycle? Seriously?The cracks are showing. Kids are acting out. Teachers are not smiling. No one is happy.Welcome to March Madness - public school style.

Let the testing games begin

I have a new definition for "March Madness" and it has nothing to do with playing a sport.This March, we have the following on our docket: MELA-O (ELL assessment), MEPA (ELL written assessment), District Math Benchmark, MCAS Reading, and report cards. And of course there are always assessments for RTI/TAT tracking and reading progress conferences/running records.My poor ELLs -- they are going to have to endure two rounds of high-stress standardized testing as devised by the state over the next two weeks. I really question the wisdom of testing kids on a whole year of learning in March -- for goodness sake it is only 7 months (6 1/2 really) into the school year. I guess those other two months count for nothing? And let's not mention that all of the procedures and disrupted teaching time to administer a test will take -- 4 days out of the month of March alone.I do believe that data helps us to drive instruction, to move our students forward. But for goodness sake do we need to gather it all in one month?

100 Days

Yesterday, we reached the 100th day of school -- triple digits.  From this point on the year will whiz by at the speed of light... 80 school days from now we will be all done. For kids, that seems like an eternity, but for me Day 100 is the point at which panic sets in.In Massachusetts - and in most of northern New England - we have a school vacation week coming up beginning next week. Originally put into the academic calendar to accommodate the ski areas, it morphed into a week of "energy savings" in some districts. No students = low(er) energy costs for buildings. I'm not certain I buy into that one. It seems like teachers and custodial staff both show up for chunks of time during "vacation" weeks to catch up.After the vacation week, my third graders will be subjected to a battery of tests that rival the National Teachers' Exam (remember those?).  First, each ELL will be evaluated for language acquisition using the MELA-O (more of an observation really), then they will take the more formal MEPA test. The District Math benchmarks are opening up on the Monday after vacation and all students will take those tests. Then there will be end-of-term assessments in the classroom, and last - but certainly not the least - we have the MCAS Reading Test, my students' first foray into state-wide testing.  Just thinking about all the testing is making my head explode - imagine what it must be like for a 9 year old.But wait, that's not all. We have another round of testing in May (MCAS for mathematics) and more required assessment.  After we hit the math MCAS, we're on to end-of-year activities - field days, final field trips, report cards, Team Meetings.... yikes!So for me, Day 100, while a milestone in our academic year, is the start of stress season. Heaven help us all!