I read this quote in an Instagram post whose author I cannot recall so I can’t give the appropriate credit. The quote came to me today while working in a classroom where the kids were getting ready for next week’s state exams by working on standards like “main idea”, “figure out the definition”, and so on. The teacher took a fair amount of effort to take what can be a mind-numbing chore for kids and make it engaging by having kids work in teams to read short examples and come up with the correct answer. I’ve seen other teachers use gallery walks and other gamifications in the attempt to get their students ready for the Big Time. Having worked in a notorious “no excuses” charter school that placed test scores above everything else, I’m especially tweaked at this time of year.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, my school’s target for proficiency on this year’s exams is in the mid 50s. In other words, they expect (or hope) that about half of the kids will score at grade-level proficiency while the rest will be reading below their grade level. Another way to look at it is that these kids are being presented with reading material that we already know cannot be understood by almost half of them. The reasons for this are far beyond what can be covered in a short post. The tl;dr version: kids can’t read for tons of reasons that no school can adequately address. The “no excuses” schools that pull it off do so by a lot of sleight of hand that incorporates unethical, immoral, and illegal moves. My experience with all of that is documented here.
This is Hail Mary season where teachers pull out all of the stops to inch their numbers over the goal line. While some of this stuff can move the needle very slightly, most of it is wasted effort that serves to alienate kids from learning, especially those who are at the greatest risk of poor life outcomes. If schools would work on reading skills all the time instead of these reading strategies, they might yield better results. I don’t blame the schools as they are subjected to a great deal of pressure and little support. In the state I live in, our leaders are more concerned about removing books from classrooms than they are about the fact that so many of the kids don’t have the ability to read them. They’re more worried about drag queens reading to kids than the fact that these kids don’t have anyone at home who is able to take the time to sit and read with them. If you’re a teacher who feels that testing season is abhorrent and misguided, you are not alone. Keep following your heart and remember that summer break is almost here.