Testing
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Student:
what am I doing?
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Me:
taking another test.
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(She stands in the middle of the classroom pouting)
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Me:
come over. We need to get started.
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Student:
I don't want to take another test. There are too many. Why do I have to do this? I want to be with my class.
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Me:
I know. I'm sorry. I think this is the last one for a little while.
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I sit there just as sad as she is.
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I don't think people understand what standardized testing does to kids with disabilities. You can't herd them all in a room and just have them take it. Some kids have the whole test read to them. Depending on the test, each question could be different (this is specific to math). You can't read 4 different tests at a time. So, I read them individually. I take precious instructional time to read an at times inappropriate leveled test to each child.
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Don't even get me started on how I feel about administering a 6th grade reading test to a kid who reads on the 1st grade level. Not only is it not going to give anyone the information they want to know, but it makes that kid feel like crap.
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Shame on the people who push for standardized testing.
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Making a child with disabilities feel like crap one test at a time.
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Test them enough and they willl start to believe it.
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It makes them feel like crap and if they're not taking a SPED version of the test (like some of my students who have IEPs but don't qualify for the MAAS) their scores are showing that they don't know anything. But more than likely, they just didn't understand.
