It is testing time. All over the place states across the nation test students in public schools. I feel like the whole academic year has been about testing. My students have been pulled out of classes repeatedly throughout the school year for tests. Now, at the end of the year is the big kahuna of tests. The high stakes test. The test that matters on students’ grades. The test that counts towards teachers’ evaluations. That’s what we are doing today, again.
I am pretty sure most teachers hate these tests the way I do. There are so many reasons why I hate them. They interfere with class time. They are a measure of proficiency that is unrealistic. They do not align with what we do and how we teach. Yet, they are used to evaluate us as teachers. And to evaluate how students have performed.
Classtime. I am not sure how many times students have been pulled out of class for testing, but it is enough to be noticed. Let’s think this through. If I am taking a kid out of class to test them, how are they learning what they need to know to be tested? See what I am saying?
Proficiency. What is proficiency? It is the ability to do something well, to know something and be able to apply it. Sure a test can check this. But it is not the best way to do it. It is not what is considered authentic assessment, which is how we are supposed to assess kids in our lessons. Figure that out. It is one moment in time. Proficiency cannot be measured in one moment in time.
Evaluation. Really? How does anyone think that a kid taking a test, that they do not want to take, is a valid measure of a teacher’s performance? Want to measure my performance? Watch me. Get in my classroom more than two times a year. Talk to me. Talk to my students. Allow me to measure their growth based off of measurable data over time. Data that I have control over.
I have no idea what is on the tests these kids take. These tests are designed by textbook companies; they are not designed by teachers. And shouldn’t they be?
I am going to go off topic for a second. Stay with me. Teachers are the professionals in the field. Seriously. We know what education needs. We are aware of our demographic. We are aware of our audience. We know what we need. We know how to do what we do. We even do it without the resources we need. So, why is it that we are not consulted? No has ever asked us what would help education? And if they have, our words have fallen on deaf ears. And yes, just like any profession, there are good ones and bad ones and everyone in between. That can be discussed later.
That, being said, why are we not consulted? These companies create these tests that align with the texts that align with the latest trend in standards. They are money makers. The state spends tons of dollars to have schools spend days pulling kids out of valuable class time to take tests. Tests that are making some company a significant profit. On top of that, teachers are pulled away from their work to administer the tests. Maybe those companies should supply the proctors too.
So, we know this. As teachers, we know what a scam this is. We are aware that the value of the test is bogus and that by trying to attach individual outcomes to it is a scam to try to create buy-in. My question: why are we not protesting the test? Why do we continuously comply? Why do we show up and tell these kids to do their best?
Ok. I know why. It is because we want to keep our jobs. It is because we feel our profession is tenuous. It is because we are afraid. Sure, the evaluation has consequences. Sure we could get put on a professional growth plan. But, here in NM who wants to be a teacher? It’s not like people are clamoring for our job.
We know things are not going well in education. We know people blame us. We are starting to feel helpless, to feel the loss of hope. Some teachers have given in, given up and just go through the motions. But this is not why we became teachers. We want to do our job. We want to teach our students. We want kids to learn. That’s the best part.
To do these things I think we are going to need to protest. Yeah, I know a dirty word. We don’t strike. Not in the traditional sense. We don’t walk out on our kids. We do our job. But, what if, what if we just didn’t give the test. What if we all in the state of New Mexico, just did not administer the test? Everyone has to be on board. We can’t have one school do it or 5 schools. It has to be all schools. And, to make it, so we are not simply being whiners about taking and giving tests, we develop our own assessments. That way we all find a way to prove our students’ proficiency in what we teach. We align it to the standards, and we use a growth model. We set ourselves up.
My proposal: We take the time at the beginning of the year to develop a baseline of the kids we teach. From there we develop a measurable goal for our students to achieve. We monitor their progress. We prove growth in our subject areas. We collect data along the way with proof to back it up, then, when test time comes, no one takes the test. We Protest the test. I am not sure how it looks exactly, maybe we stay in our classrooms, and we do the thing we do- we teach, facilitate, lead, listen, watch, etc. We do our job. And we take a risk. I know it is a risk. But, if you look at history, that is how change is made, by people willing to take a risk.
Are you ready to take back your profession? Are you willing to take a risk and stand for what you know is right? Are you ready to be a teacher again?
Educational Rant 
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