Thursday, March 6, 2008

It's that time again..

the dreaded TAKS testing season. Yesterday I spent the day with 4th grade students who were taking the Writing TAKS test. These 9 year olds began shortly after 8:00 am. They worked diligently until 3:00 pm with two ten minute breaks and a 25 minute lunch break in between. At 3:00 pm, students lucky enough to have finished were quietly dismissed as many other 3rd, 4th and 5th grade children sat in their classrooms continuing to work.

At 4:00, I received a call from my other elementary school asking me to come quickly because there was an emergency. Twenty minutes later I walked into the second school building to find a frantic mother and irritated child waiting on the counselor. Both seemed distraught by the 5th grade (high stakes) reading test that the child had just completed. "What if she fails?" the mother asked me as she pulled me to the side. "I think she rushed. She has test anxiety. She's brilliant. She reads on a 12th grade level, but when she gets nervous she can't concentrate. What if she fails?!" As the mother was talking, many thoughts fogged my head, but the loudest most sarcastic was, "I wonder where she gets the high anxiety from?" I know, not nice, but I am tired. I quickly brought myself back. Remember, it's the dreaded TAKS testing season. After visiting with the child alone and listening to the ten year old tell me how well she did, I must admit I was completely confused. Mom's saying one thing and child is saying the opposite. This tends to be the norm in my line of work.

At 5:15, I walked down to the main office to check on any children who still may be testing. That's right, still testing - about 15. At 6:00 the pizza arrived for the 6 children still working: one fifth grader and five fourth graders. Those of us who were still there (two fifth grade teachers, three fourth grade teachers, two administrators, two custodians, one secretary, one specialized teacher, and one counselor) did our best to support these precious children by laughing and being silly if only for a short amount of time. At 6:30, with full bellies the children went back to work. At 7:50 pm the last test was handed in. A fourth grade boy finished his writing TAKS test and it only took him 12 hours.

What are we doing? As a counselor, I hear from the children, parents, teachers, and administration. No one is happy with this system and many seem to have reached their breaking points. I love education and I love the helping profession, but I think I just might be a happier, healthier person if I were some where else. "Would you like fries with that" doesn't sound too bad.

So... how do we fix this "No Child Left Unharmed?"

3 comments:

Britta Coleman said...

Oh, Tyler. You get extra jewels in your crown for working through this hot mess.

No idea how to fix it, but I wish they would.

Laughed out loud on the "I wonder where she gets the anxiety" line.

Kern said...

Good Grief. I too hate the TAKS, and do not miss that part of education at all. Hang in there Tyler. I believe there should be end of course exams covering mandated curriculum, but it would put a lot of TAKS coordinators out of work! We have to protect these jobs.

Havedirt Willshare said...

End of course exams will be coming soon for high school students. I believe it is 2010?