Mock Test Woes From a Teacher Who Opts Her Own Child Out of State Tests
The following is a letter written by a teacher suddenly confronted with top down mandate from her principal to give a 114 question practice test to her 6th graders, to be followed by remediation and then the actual high stakes CST test.
Exam Burnout (Image from Flickr, by Jixar) |
Help! My principal (new to the school) wants us to give the students a mock test to prepare for the CST. It’s supposed to show us which standards students are struggling with. The tests are the released test questions. The 6th grade Language Arts mock test has 114 questions and is 26 pages, front to back. The 6th grade math mock test has 96 questions and is 12 pages, front to back. The 3rd grade tests each have 96 questions with 13 reading passages on the
ACLU to Support Parents Who Opt Out of Standardized Tests
Opting out of standardized exams is legal in many states and a great way to push for their abolition. However, many parents rightly fear retribution against their children by teachers or administrators worried that too many resisters will nullify their test scores.
The ACLU apparently wants to support parents whose children have been penalized or threatened for opting out of testing. They want to hear peoples’ personal stories and have them join in on the ACLU complaint.
For more on this, go to Grumpy Things blog.