4:00 a.m. Rough Draft

If you have been reading this blog for long, you know it is that time of year for my annual rant about End of Grade (EOG) testing, like previous posts, Just Another Day at School and Letter to the Common Core Standards Initiative. It is 4:00 a.m., and I was lying in bed awake stewing, composing a letter to Nina's principal and teacher in my head. I was never going to go back to sleep without actually writing it, so here I am sitting at the computer, awake in the middle of the night writing a letter.

I certainly won't send it yet. A first draft written at 4 a.m. is much too snarky to actually send without revising several times. At the very least, I need to re-read it in the morning when I'm actually awake and can have a coherent thought about a more appropriate tone for this letter. For now though, you get the rough draft.

Dear Mrs. R and Mrs. S,

I have been frustrated for years at the time, priority, and level of emphasis that <elementary school name> places on test preparation for EOG's. This year has brought me to my breaking point though. When did elementary school stop being about teaching kids to read, write, do math, and love learning? When did it become nothing more than an SAT prep course for fifth graders? Nina has had SEVEN WEEKS  of required online practice test modules for homework, 56 practice test units in all. She was also given assignments in four additional online test-prep resources with instructions to spend "a good amount of time on each (including weekends)." Does no one else see the insanity in that?

Last night, Nina came upstairs almost an hour after her bedtime after doing test prep homework for two hours. She had a headache and was nearly in tears because she wasn't able to get a "blue ribbon" on every single test. I will admit that she had left too much of the weekly homework to the last minute, but she is an active kid with volleyball two nights per week, and steady pacing throughout every night of the week isn't always feasible.

My frustration is that I don't think any of this overblown prep work is for the benefit of Nina. I believe she would pass EOG's just fine after a bit of review of the science concepts that were covered early in the year and some hints on how to approach some of the typical reading comprehension questions. I would hazard a guess that the same is true for most of the kids in the classroom. All that this test prep has done is turn her into a tightly wound ball of stress. If she doesn't pass EOG's it will be because of the panic attack she'll have on test day. She was upset last night saying that she'll have to run a lap for each test that didn't have a blue ribbon. That was the best news I heard all night. At least she'll get outside and be active like an eleven year old should be. That has to be better for her health and development than hours in front of a computer doing online test prep. If I had known those consequences six weeks ago, I might have told her to blow off all of the assignments in favor of running laps instead.

If you could convince me that this prepares her for middle school, you might get me on board. It doesn't though. My seventh grader did great on EOC's last year by looking over her science notes from the year and not doing a single practice test. This is how it should be.

If the material has been taught well all year, the children have learned it, and they know how to fill in a bubble with a number two pencil, then they should be able to pass an end of grade test without two months of aggressive test prep leading up to it. If that much test prep is necessary for these kids to be able to pass the test, then something is wrong with the test, or something is wrong with the previous eight months of schooling.

Next year will be the first time in seven years that I won't have a child in third through fifth grade taking EOG's. I'll have a second grader and a sixth grader, so I have a one year break in the madness. I can't wait.

Ann

For any of you blog readers with elementary school age students, do your schools place this much emphasis on test preparation? Is this the norm?

Comments

[dave handelsman]

I don't think our school has this level of test prep. The boy is in 5th grade, and he doesn't have any at home prep like you describe -- or if he does, he's completely (100%) blowing it off. There's certainly nothing online because he's not camped in front of the laptop.

What drives us crazy is the complete suspension of teaching that happens. His last day of math "teaching" was yesterday. A solid month before the last day of school. The next couple of weeks is review for EOGs, and the time after EOGs is filler. In a school system that requires 180 days of education, 10% (more or less) of the teaching days are being discarded in terms of actual education.

Unless something changes, we'll have both kids in private school starting next year through high school graduation. EOGs (or the emphasis on test prep and testing) are one reason, but, candidly, we've been losing faith in the NC public school system each and every year. NC is close to last in the country in per pupil spending and teacher salaries, and then there's the inability to accommodate growth in Wake County. Put simply, there aren't enough schools, and there isn't the budget to build new schools fast enough. Recent legislative changes indicate there will be less public money for Wake County (because it's one of the wealthier counties in the state), but the county and towns are hamstrung by other legislation that restricts the ability to raise revenue through additional taxes.

Sorry for the wandering rant.

[Amy]

I have a 6th grader, 4th grader, and toddler, and yes, my 4th grader has a lot of test prep. They don't have homework to study for the test, and they actually have tests to PREPARE for the lovely EOGs.