EDUCATION POLITICS - It’s called a “prep rally.” This week, New York public school students are taking their standardized tests, in line with the national Common Core Learning Standards.
Last week, the principal of my third grader’s progressive, learn-by-doing school sent home a letter about the “overemphasis on assessments and the unintended consequences of using state tests to promote students and evaluate school,” a letter in which she promised the education our students receive there “cannot be measured by a single test score.”
And the next day, the faculty shepherded the entire student body into the gym to cheer for the students to “Do your best” and sing, to the tune of “Ghostbusters,” that they were “test crushers.”
The rally may have been a well-intentioned attempt to defuse students’ pre-test jitters. A school administrator later told me, “It wasn’t to further promote testing. It was just about increasing confidence.” Our principal echoed the sentiment, saying, “We did a very intense test prep this year.
We recognize that our kids were saturated and starting to feel overload. The kids seemed like they needed the let loose.” And, she noted, “The idea of bringing a group together to garner enthusiasm is something we do all the time.”
But the ultimate effect had a strangely “Hunger Games” tang to it – a mood of forced, rah-rah reassurance to the terrified children going into the arena, cheered on by those too young to yet participate.
Unnervingly, it was a scene being played out in other schools all around the country, as they too have prepared their students for a series of tests many have been practicing for since September. (Read the rest … including why the songs were ‘evil’ … here)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 32
Pub: Apr 19, 2013