Mr. Hardwick’s Education

New Jersey and You. Testing Together.

Mrs. Koenig and I spoke briefly today about testing and what value it has in guiding instructional choices and activities. It is hard to make a good case that children in Kindergarten need to participate in standardized tests. Evaluated, sure. But not tested using some locked-down, expensive, state mandated suck-the-instructional-time-dry standardized test. For 5 year-old children…I don’t think so. Children who, by the way, DON’T EVEN HAVE TO BE IN SCHOOL UNTIL FIRST GRADE. One point I made to her and we largely agreed on about the idea of ‘teaching to the test’ is that, if the tests are designed well, teaching to the test is actually teaching the curriculum as well. After lunch, Mrs. Koenig brought a notice from the State Department of Education that was put in her mail box (I’m glad they chose not to read it over the intercom) which said, in part:

In support of a view held by many educators, the business community, and interested citizens, Acting Commissioner Davy pursued a complete review and revision of New Jersey’s assessment system in order to improve the quality of the state’s assessments, provide more useful data to schools and educators to guide the improvement of instruction, provide data faster, and ensure that the state’s investment in testing provides education value. To make this possible, state officials met with U.S. Education Department representatives to underscore New Jersey’s desire to administer tests that add a diagnostic component for local educators while at the same time meeting a requirement in NCLB to test all public school students in grades three through eight, inclusive. …

…The new assessments will be designed to:

* More fully reflect priorities of knowledge and skills that are most important for students to master; Allow for tests to be administered later in the school year so that teaching practice is not negatively impacted in order to prepare children for the tests;

* Permit release of test items and provide item analysis and other timely information to schools, teachers and parents;

* Align assessment content from grade to grade so that schools can assess the progress of individual students as they move through school;

* More fully assess higher order thinking skills that are critical for future success in the 21st century;

* Provide more challenging high school assessments that reflect state efforts to reform high school standards and programs; and

* Provide a better return on the state’s investment in statewide testing.

I hope they actually mean it this time. It does at least show that State officials have been listening to the suggestions of administrators and teachers. Let’s try and make sure that they can stick to it.

Middle School Blues.

I had the opportunity to spend Friday of this week as a substitute in a middle school, again providing some interesting contrast with the kindergarten class experience. I was mostly with 8th grade students in Science and in Language arts basic skills classes. They were, on the whole, a lot like kindergarteners but with much bigger bodies. There was also a significant hormonal vibe going around but in an awkward innocent way. There were kids who actively and persistently tried to engage ‘the new substitute’ and other students in conversation (basically anything to avoid the assignment) and there were others who didn’t say two words to me or anyone else and just did their work. There were a few who didn’t stop talking the entire time AND finished their assignments…which impressed me. It was hard to know how much discipline I needed to try and impose on the classes…I opted for quiet and at least looking busy most of the time, but I think a report got back to the office that they didn’t like. The secretary gave me a dirty look when I checked out for the day…it may or may not have been for me, I don’t know. It might not have seemed like it, but I really enjoyed the experience and could see myself working with this population everyday.

Absences.
Its funny the things we notice. Some students were out in Mrs. Koenig’s class on Thursday and I realized it fairly quickly and felt a slight pang of missing them of getting to talk to them. It has to be hard for their classroom teachers who, at the end of the year have to let them go after having invested all of that time. The knowledge that there will be a fresh crop of little bodies with their own set of needs and quirks coming in September makes letting them go a bit easier. I know, I know. There are some students whose permanent absence from your classroom is cause for celebration, not melancholy. But even those children become fodder for good stories and genuine opportunities for professional growth…not for your 100 hours though.