Originally posted by sligtlyskeptical

The point is if it doesn't make sense don't teach it. Better not to learn something than to learn it wrong. I hate the standardized test mostly because of the content rather than the idea behind them. I also think teachers would be better off just teaching their normal curriculum.

Here's a sample of what its like to teach in public education today.

I have 18 first graders. Of these students, the following applies:

4 speak limited to no English
12 live in single parent families or with grandparents
8 have a close family member in prison
17 are classified as "low economic status"
1 student is homeless and living out of a car
1 student has a parent who is physically abusing mom.
1 student has a parent who has threatened to kill the child at school

I don't teach in an inner city, but in a small town. Now knowing the background of my students, is it any surprise they have difficulty with school lessons? Its kinda hard to worry about fractions when you don't know if you'll have supper when you get home, or if Dad is going to be drunk, or what have you.

The big problem with the testing is it doesn't measure learning progress, thinking and rationalizing skills, etc. In addition, many test questions are biased or written poorly, like your example. Honestly, I doubt many of my students would know what a band major is, let alone be able to answer a question with two potentially correct answers.

As teachers, we spend more time "proving" to others we can teach by constantly assessing our students. No joke: I have to give my students a standardized reading test EVERY WEEK. The test lasts about three hours. For first grade. And that is three hours of instructional time gone.

Okay, I feel like I've hijacked this thread by ranting about education, so I'll stop now.

The big problem with the testing is it doesn't measure learning progress, thinking and rationalizing skills, etc. In addition, many test questions are biased or written poorly, like your example. Honestly, I doubt many of my students would know what a band major is, let alone be able to answer a question with two potentially correct answers. As teachers, we spend more time "proving" to others we can teach by constantly assessing our students. No joke: I have to give my students a standardized reading test EVERY WEEK. The test lasts about three hours. For first grade. And that is three hours of instructional time gone.



Now you hit the nail on the head right there. I totally agree with this.
In Texas we have the TAKS test. Doesn't matter if the student makes A's and B's on all of their grades, if they can't pass the TAKS test they do not pass. Some students just don't test very well. When you put them against a clock they panic. Others have a hard time focusing that long. These tests take all day.

Anyway, you are right. We have gone off course on this post.
Sorry Antar for getting off topic. I just get really fired up about education in our country.

We used to just have to call to let them know when the kids were going to be absent due to illness, and report anything contagious for the benefit of the other kids in the class.

But now, at our school, they want real specifics, as H1N1 took 5 kids down for the count for about a month each.

I'm not sure how I feel about it. One of my kids has a heart condition, and infections are a real concern for us to keep him safe and out of surgery for as long as possible. On the other hand...

I do know that I don't appreciate it when they do not trust my parental observational skills. For example... One of my kids suffers from significant environmental allergies. It effects his eyes - making them red and weepy. They called me to the school, I told them it was his allergies. They said, "No. That's conjunctivitis, highly contagious." I said, "There's no pain, no discharge. I've been parenting over a decade and have seen my share of pink eye in my kids. That's not it." They made me remove him from the school until I brought a doctor's note saying he wasn't contagious. I took him to the doctor, 30 miles away, and missed a day's work and therefore a day's pay. Lo, and behold, he had "allergy eyes." The doctor wrote me a note, chuckling the whole time. So I'm out hundreds of dollars, because they wouldn't listen to my parental observations. THAT ticks me off.