My Fear of Standardized Testing

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When I first started teaching and would talk to colleagues about how teaching had changed over the years, I was always surprised by how many teachers lacked enthusiasm for the new standards and new standardized test that was just being rolled out.  To me, a fresh faced 21 year old just out of college, it seemed to be the standards and the test that would revolutionize teaching.  Fast forward many years and now as new standards and a new standardized test are being rolled out AGAIN, I am finally understanding what those teachers were talking about.

It has become my greatest fear that entirely to much time is being spent teaching to a test that doesn't mean anything and doesn't measure who students really are.  As we are spending training time learning how the new standardized test works and how it is going to revolutionize teachers, I am thinking about how preparing them for the test does not prepare them for life.  I am thinking about a student who I know will not get a good score on this test but will be just fine in life.  I am thinking of another student who will do quite well on this test but who I worry about every single day because the skills needed to survive life are lacking.  

I want to be the teacher that inspires kids and teaches them to think.  I don't want to be someone who teaches procedures and rules.  I want my students to think about problems and solutions and ultimately be successful in life.  I want to give them the tools they need to overcome obstacles and disabilities.  I want to guide them to be good people.  I want them to feel successful. 

This video sums up everything I don't want for my students

This book is a great one to lighten the mood when you are thinking about testing.

Testing Miss Malarkey

Mr. Falker, the teacher in this story is someone I aspire to be like.

What do you want for your students?