I must say that the month of February flew by this year. I was spending lots of time working with kids in the classroom and a lot of time at home with a bunch of snow. Now that it is March, I'm ready for the snow to melt and the spring to arrive.
One thing that has arrived this time of year is standardized testing. This is another area that has lots of debate. I'm going to give you my 2 cents on this after a long time contemplating the meaning of life. I find that standardized testing is a waste of time. I work with kids and teachers and even superintendents. I have yet to find anyone who believes it is a good idea. There are classroom tests that kids take to determine what level they are at in reading and math. The teachers are able to evaluate each individual student to find out if they need more help or more challenging projects.
I believe this is all we need in our schools. Each of us decides where we want to live. Based on where we live, there are lots of schools to choose from. We can send our kids to the local public school. We might be able to choose a special charter school or even an alternative learning program. There are other options such as parochial schools and boarding schools. It is up to us parents where we believe our children will thrive. Well, I hope parents consider this when sending their children to school.
As I have learned, not all schools fit all kids. My kids are in 3 different schools. One is a parochial school, one is a public school, and one is an alternative learning school. I have found that each of my kids learns in their own way and should be able to attend a school that will help them learn, grow and love.
Now back to standardized testing...this is also different based on schools and states. I believe there should be no standardized testing at all. There is no reason for this. People may argue that there is a need to compare my kid to a kid in another state. Why I say? It doesn't matter. This isn't a competition. Kids need to learn basic skill sets to succeed in life. It is up to the parents and teachers to make sure they get this. It doesn't matter what Johnny is doing in Hawaii because Johnny doesn't have to deal with snow delays and feeding the horses. Schooling depends on where you live and what you will do in life. Education should be determined at the local level. Each school district should adjust their curriculum based on the kids that attend that school. Each child should be able to learn that education in their own way. Traditional learning systems need to change. Our kids are growing up in a technology environment where they can search and learn anything they want online. We need to adjust for this in our classrooms.
In the meantime, we need to let our teachers teach our kids and the parents parent the kids. We do not need outside people telling us what our kids need to know in order to succeed in life. They don't know our kids. We do and it is up to us to guide them to be the best person they can be.
So stop stressing the kids out with unnecessary testing. They get enough of that on a day by day basis.
Until next time....
Take care,
Keri
