State Assessment !

At lunch today, all of a sudden, students were told to "FACE THE STAGE! EVERYONE TURN AROUND AND FACE THE STAGE! MOUTHS CLOSED!" After a few minutes all students had acquiesced though I still did not know what was going on as a lunchroom chaperone. An administrator got on the microphone to announce "TOMORROW IS THE MSA. MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR REST. DON'T FORGET TO USE THE STRATEGIES THAT YOU LEARNED IN YOUR RELA (reading language arts) CLASS. READ THE QU.... EXCUSE ME WHEN IM TALKING YOUR MOUTHS ARE CLOSED... QUESTION FIRST. L'IL BOY... SHUT YOUR MOUTH. TURN AROUND. YOU KNOW WHAT... GO SIT ON THE STAGE." There is something every day that happens at my school that literally brings a tear to my eye. Today, this was it. I remember taking standardized tests in elementary and middle school and I remember my parents and teachers saying "do your best," but no need to stress too much because it doesn't affect your grade. I remember these tests because a few weeks later I would get a personalized letter in the mail with my scores which I didn't understand but, which I thought was cool because when else did a 4th grader get any mail. But my students will most likely remember the state assessment for another reason. Maybe it will be for the two homework free weeks that they get cushioning either side of the MSA. Clearly, we don't want to stress out the children for fear that they may not be well rested! Perhaps it will be memorable for the "spirit week" leading up to the exam. Or will they remember it for the pep rally for which they got to skip out of their "creative art" (read: Spanish) class on the Friday before. Whatever it may be, when I read the following quote, I immediately thought of my school and my students. Please read. Please ponder.


“ NCLB adds yet another factor of division between children of minorities and those in the mainstream of society. In good suburban classrooms, children master the essential skills not from terror but from exhilaration, inspired in them by their teachers, in the act of learning in itself… They learn to ask the questions that will shape the nation's future, while inner-city kids are being trained to give prescripted answers and to acquiesce in their subordinate position in society” (Kozol, 2007).