Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell… They’re Passing
By Lisa North, 2nd grade CTT teacher at P.S. 3
The State Education Department’s lowering of the test scores over the summer has left many teachers and schools in a quandary. Most school administrators and teachers have known for a long time that the tests were getting easier. You would often hear in school,” It’s an election year, we know the scores will go up!”
What could we tell parents? Your child received a level 3, but they are NOT on grade level. There was little motivation for a 3rd grade student who could barely do 2nd grade math, was not paying attention during class lessons, never completed homework or class work…but received a level 3 on the math test and so was passed to the 4th grade. Because the test is the determining factor in promotion, that left teachers with little grounds to argue to parents and students that they needed to do better. Yes, we often told students and parents that their child was not on grade level, but when they passed the test, they still went on to the next grade.
