This week, like many others across the country, my kids are doing their school state testing. The timing is not great, as it’s the first week back after spring break, but whaddya do? Across America, states have made standardized testing the idol at which they worship and plan their school year around. School state testing is so important that many school districts now start school earlier than ever in August and end earlier than ever in May. They start earlier to give teachers more time to “teach to the test” – every school week they can get in before April counts. And they end earlier because after the tests are done, what REALLY is the point? No more learning needs to be done, apparently.
My children are in 8th, 5th, and 1st grades and they are all testing this week. My boys don’t care that much, honestly, but my daughter, the 5th grader, STRIVES to do well. She’s raring to go and show that test who’s boss! But yesterday she came home discouraged. “A lot of the 5th graders didn’t do well on the first test, because it was on the computer and no one told us to save the results before we moved on,” she said. She was majorly bummed.
“Well, honey, that sounds like it wasn’t your fault,” I said. “And try not to let it bother you. I just want you to do your best, but I don’t really CARE if you do well or not.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. I’ve always cared how my kids do on their schoolwork, because they are all smart and capable of doing well – if they do THEIR BEST, they should get good grades. So she’s not used to be me saying that I don’t CARE what grade she gets.
“Let me tell you what I did with your school state testing results last year,” I said to her. “They didn’t arrive until the summer. They were very late. And do you know what I did with them when I got them?” I asked her.
“No,” she replied.
“I threw them in the TRASH,” I responded, “Without opening them. I didn’t even open them, Babe. I just threw them in the trash. Because it doesn’t matter to me what score you get on standardized school testing that the state of Ohio tells you you have to take. Because it tells me NOTHING about who you are, how hard you worked, or what you accomplished. So I don’t care.”
