House of Estrogen

No. Just No. Enough Already.

"If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn't be here. I guarantee you that."

~ Michelle Obama, FLOTUS

Nina had three hours of English EOG testing yesterday. She has three hours of math testing today. Tomorrow is science. They have done nothing but study and prepare for these tests for weeks, and I just received this email from her teacher:

"For the science EOG tomorrow, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE make sure your child has gone into Study Island and completed the extra practice I gave them in science. Students should have already been working on it. They were given the assignment in class several days ago."

NO, NO, NO.  I will NOT make sure she has completed the extra practice to cram the night before the test. In fact, I will go out of my way to make sure that she does not do it. I will set her in front of the TV with a bowl of popcorn and play a movie. I will take her to the pool and buy her a Choco-taco from the ice cream truck. I will order pizza and declare it a family game night. I'm not sure what our plans will be tonight, but they will definitely NOT include Nina doing additional practice tests. No. We are done. Testing has started. Test prep is over in the House of Estrogen.

I forwarded the teacher's email to J.C. with the comment, "Bullshit. She is not doing this.'  He responded, "I'm going to make her do it twice."  He's a real comedian, isn't he?

EOGs: Day One

In honor of day one of elementary school EOGs today, I share with you John Oliver on US Standardized Testing.  Enjoy.

Middle school EOCs finished up last week with very little fanfare, no goodie bags, no free breakfast, no seat cushions, and very little anxiety or pressure that I could perceive in my seventh grader. If I hadn't bothered to ask about her day, I probably wouldn't have even known she had taken them.  Elementary school EOGs are a different beast though. Today culminates the past two months of no new educational material, practice tests for homework each night, discussion of test taking strategies and mock exams in class every day, good luck cards from first graders, goodie bags from kindergarteners, multiple emails about free breakfasts and getting a good night sleep, and pressure and anxiety pounded into them on a daily basis.  Given that, it sadly didn't surprise me when John Oliver pointed out the "official instructions for test administrators specify what to do if a student vomits on his or her test booklet." I wholeheartedly agree with him that "Something is wrong with our system when we just assume a certain number of kids will vomit."

Something is wrong... so many things... are very, very wrong.

 

Simple Woman's Daybook, May 11, 2015

 

 

For Today...

 

Outside my window... after loads of gloom and rain from Ana, the sun finally came out today.
  

  I am thinking... about Addison's best friend who had her first full day back at school today after her father's death. I hope she managed OK.

  

 I am thankful... for my new bathtub installation being complete! It took a big leak into the kitchen (onto the newly painted ceiling that had just been repaired from a shower leak), a hole cut in the kitchen ceiling, and much plumbing wizardry, but we now have a functioning tub that does not leak into the kitchen.

 

 From the kitchen... smoked pork chops on the grill, baked beans, scalloped potatoes, and slaw made from my best approximation of my grandmother's recipe. Her recipe was a pinch of this, splash of that, handful of the other. Mine is pretty tasty, but I don't think I've ever quite mastered hers.
   

 I am creating... just a blog post.

   

I am going... to soak in my new tub tonight!

 

I am reading... Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. I started it last week, and have read maybe 3 pages since then. Not much reading going on this week, apparently.

 

 I am hoping...  to get organized with some upcoming travel. Elise leaves for Costa Rica in June, and there are all sorts of odds and ends that need to be purchased and taken care of. We have a Southern California trip planned for September, and I need to nail down lodging.
   

I am hearing... Addie playing some game on my phone.
 

Around the house... lights, toilet, and tub have been installed in the master bathroom.

 

One of my favorite things... fresh strawberries. I wish we had gone strawberry picking yesterday but the forecast was calling for rain. The rain held off, so we should have gone anyway.

 

A few plans for the rest of the week... middle school open house for Nina, reading to Addie's class, and Saturday school for all the kids (a snow make-up day). JC and I will have a nice quiet house to ourselves Saturday morning.

 

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... Mother's Day selfie.

 

 

 

 To read more Daybook posts or learn how to participate, visit The Simple Woman's Daybook.

EOG Frustration, Part 2

If you read my 4:00 a.m. Rough Draft, you'll be glad to know I didn't send it. After I edited it many times and thought I had sufficiently toned down the snark and sarcasm, I asked JC to read it. He started reading and said, "I'm about three sentences in, and you shouldn't send this."  That's when it is nice to have a blog - a place to rant away in a letter that never gets sent. He then said to me, "Have you researched to see if what you are saying is actually true? Would the kids pass without all this prep work? Maybe that's what it takes."  Good point.  Off to research I went. What I discovered depressed me even more. Apparently, the hours upon hours upon hours of test prep that our elementary school requires IS necessary for kids to pass the EOGs. Our school ranks in the top 20 of over 1350 elementary schools in the state when ranked according to EOG scores. Our percentage of students who met the standards by passing EOG's last year in reading ranged from 87-89% in third through fifth grade. The other nearby school that is an option for my children to attend had passing rates of 58-67%, right in line with the district average of 64-70%. The state average was 53-60%. In math, our school passing rate ranged from 81-87%. The other nearby school was 54-79%. The district average was 59-61%, and the state average was 46-47%.

To repeat, the state average for children who "met grade level standards" by passing EOG's last year in math was 46-47%. What?  Fewer than half the children in our state are considered grade level proficient for math? What is wrong with this picture? Is the test too hard  or confusing for their understanding of the material? Is the teaching that bad? Is the curriculum too difficult for their level of brain development?  Is there too much information crammed into the school year, and teachers can't cover it all? Are so many children behind that they'll never be able to catch up? Is it a combination of any or all of those?  Our school, apparently, has figured out how to work the system, and they are doing it well. Despite the fact that passing scores across the state and our district tend to fall in the 50-60% range, our school is consistently scoring in the upper 80's. All that test prep works. The hours of online test modules for homework, the Xeroxed copies of old EOG's that they do in the classroom, the weeks of instructional time that is taken away in lieu of test prep.... it all accomplishes the goal of increasing test scores. No matter how much I hate it, I can't argue the data. If the goal of education these days is high test scores (which it seems to be), then our school is doing that well. Any complaints I may have about the methodology would be shot down quickly with the numbers showing success.

That's not the way it should be though. Where is the disconnect between the teaching, the curriculum, the materials, and the testing that roughly half of our state's students aren't able to pass an end of grade test? Do half the students need to be held back each year to repeat the grade?

If the only way to be successful as a school is to do weeks of intense test prep, then the tests aren't measuring the students' knowledge that they have gained over the course of the year. The tests are measuring how many times the students have taken sample tests.

I don't have any answers... just lots of questions. It all feels broken, but I don't even know where to begin with a fix. Sigh.  I suppose I'll just sit back and enjoy next year with nobody in third through fifth grade. That's my one glimpse of positivity right now.

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?

Grief and Friendship, Age 7

"The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend."        ~Henry David Thoreau

 

Simple Woman's Daybook, Cinco de Mayo, 2015

 

 

For Today...

 

Outside my window... birds are chirping. It sounds like spring.
  

  I am thinking... about Addison's best friend whose father passed away suddenly this week. My heart is breaking for their family, and Addie is so worried about her friend. When her friend told Addie her father had died, Addie asked what happened, "if somebody shot him or something". The friend said, "No, he was just really old."  He was 39.  :(

  

 I am thankful... for my family's health and well-being today. That's exactly what I said last week, but with the string of bad news we've had lately from friends, coworkers, and neighbors, I'm even more thankful.

 

 From the kitchen... leftover BBQ pork going in Nina's lunchbox this morning.
   

 I am creating... not much.

   

I am going... to work.

 

I am reading... Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. I just started it. I finished The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. It was one of Elise's middle school reading assignments this year, and I like to read what they do occasionally. This was a great book! I wish my 7th grade reading assignments had been this good. We had to read Great Expectations in 7th grade. That was torture. The Outsiders was a West Side Story type storyline with gangs, deaths, friendship, and family. There was plenty of meat for discussion and analysis, but it was very readable, and more relatable to a middle schooler. Good stuff.

 

 I am hoping... Addie's friend's family continues to get support from friends and neighbors. They are from Greece and don't have any family in this country.
   

I am hearing... a quiet house. Elise has left for middle school, but the other two aren't up yet.
 

Around the house... grout in the master bathroom! Progress!

 

One of my favorite things... um... grout?  It means I'm one step closer to having a bathtub and toilet again. So for today, grout is one of my favorite things.

 

A few plans for the rest of the week... lunch with a friend (I accidentally stood her up last week... hoping to do better this week), Girl Scout Progression Ceremony for Addison, and our neighborhood pool opening.

 

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... we had a major league hail storm last week. I don't think I've ever seen hail pile up like this before.

 

 

 

 

 To read more Daybook posts or learn how to participate, visit The Simple Woman's Daybook.

The Lesser Known Benefits of Jump Rope

Jump rope has done a lot for Elise. The most obvious benefit is that It keeps her active and physically fit. It also provides her opportunities to perform and challenges her in competition.

What people may not realize is that skipping rope requires some serious development of people skills too - negotiation, collaboration, communication, and compromise. Being in a double Dutch group is hard work. Three to four people are put together by the coaches with their different ideas, different skill levels, different strengths, and different personalities and are expected to work together for nine months to create, practice, and perfect a one minute routine. It can get ugly along the way, but when it all comes together, it is amazing.

Jump rope is also a team sport. Elise has all the camaraderie and team pride that comes from being part of a team. Unlike many sports where teams are grouped by age though, she learns from and has role models in the older athletes on the team, and she is able to mentor and be a leader to younger athletes on the team.

Every now and then, the really special moments come along when jump rope allows her to share her love of the sport, give back to the community, and create great memories all at once. Earlier this week, Elise's team spent an afternoon with a group of special needs middle school students. I'm honestly not sure who got more out of it or had more fun - the jumpers or these kids. The smiles in these pictures really tell more than I ever could in words.

What a fantastic day... and what a great experience she had through this crazy little sport called jump rope!