Teacher's note tells students they are more than their standardized test scores
Standardized testing can fray the nerves of any student, but it was a letter sent by a teacher in advance of the tests that left an Indiana third-grader and his mom in tears.
Rylan Fallis, 9, admitted to his mother, Abby Fallis, that he was embarrassed for crying in class on Feb. 26 at Pleasant Crossing Elementary School in Whiteland, Indiana. The tears flowed for a good reason, however, as he said they were from a touching letter giving to him and his classmates by their teacher.
"The scores you will get from these tests will tell you something, but they will not tell you everything," the letter read. "These tests do not define you. There are many ways of being smart. YOU are smart! You are enough! You are the light that brightens my day and the reason I am happy to come to work each day. So, in the midst of all these tests, remember that there is no way to 'test' all of the amazing and awesome things that make you, YOU."
The letter was given out ahead of this week's ISTEP testing, an Indiana standardized test for students in third through eighth grade, as well as 10th-graders. The tests are used to assess students' progression as well as teacher performance. Rylan's teacher didn't want to reveal her name according to NBC affiliate WTHR in Indiana.
"Needless to say, when I read it, I cried too,'' Abby Fallis wrote in posting the letter on Instagram. "We need not just more teachers like her, but also more people like her in this world."
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