Test Protest

As for JO's comments, I don't agree with you. There are other alternatives that properly measure a student's abilities and how much they learn. I have no problem with holding a teacher accountable for improperly preparing students; however this law does nothing but cause teachers to "teach to the test" as they have been doing in Florida for years, which does nothing but fail these students in the long run. you asked what is a better way to show adequate progress and learning. Well I'll tell you. It's a combination of a student's grades AND a test that tests reasoning and skill sets, not facts. A test that requires thinking and thinking outside the box, like making your own formulas in high level math classes, the will truly reflect a child???s ability and what he/she has learned. If a student makes all A's but fails a standardized test, there must be a fail safe to prevent retention of a capable child by alternative testing, that is more costly and time consuming, or a review of his/her class work for the year to ascertain whether actual gains we made that year. Likewise, a student who is failing their classes should not be allowed to pass on to the next grade until a through review of his performance is made. Would it be more costly? Sure but it would better serve the children and the community and make a higher educated more capable society of adults for the future.

That's just my 2 cents peace

Look Mr. texasmortarman we are talking about a state test here not how Mr. Wassweman's looks or dresses. Way to go David. More teachers need to speek up and do something about this.

Three cheers for Mr. Wasserman! The NCLB program needs to be thrown out. These tests are pointless when the teachers don't get to see the results . How are they supposed to know what changes are needed to help the students if they never see the test results?

hey momof4here I feel sorry for your children (kids are baby goats). I hope you're not the one who is teaching them, b/c you're not capable of posting a simple comment correctly. Maybe you should try to push the button once. I'll talk to Newsweek to see if they can put explicit instructions on this site for people such as yourself. I would like to thank and commend this teacher. My wife is a teacher and I know how hard she works to ensure good, quality, and wholesome education for the children she teaches. She's very dedicated, and the only problem I've ever heard from her would be the parents. For you to say that they are getting paid for nothing and these tests show them they have a job to do is outrageous. Take a look at how much a day care charges to keep a child all day and not teach them, if a school paid teachers that much for the 25-30 kids they have per class then teaching might not be one of the lowest paid professions. Finally, it is the teacher's responsibility to teach not to make the child learn. If only one child in the class learns the information then the teacher is doing his/her job. However, if a child in that same class doesn't learn the stuff then the only ones to be blamed is that child and his/her parents.

All of you are missing the point. I say that the government knows exactly what they are doing! They are preparing your kids for the New World Order. The Order of things to come, and it???s all being done under false pretence. The government doesn???t want your kids to know anything about the way this country was founded. They don???t want them to know anything about the Constitution. They don???t really want intelligent kids. They want robots. They are actually trying to dumb-down the masses. They do not want people in the future to know about their rights or to stand up for what is right or what they believe in, be it right or wrong in their eyes. They say that they don???t want any kids left behind which all sounds good but look at what is happening. Wake up people! You are having the wool pulled over your eyes. If this generation does not stop this madness who will????. Our robotic kids? NO! Why? Because they are uneducated and wont know any better. They wont be able to think for themselves.

Way to go!!! Great techers inspire children to learn and motivate parents to become more envolved!!! There's no way this test is a tool that can be used in a positive way, especially the media who can further fuel an already biased fire. You are exposing a "tool" used only to limit and label a child and their school. There is no cut and dry solution to different educational needs and there is no way all children are to be expected to fit into a "cookie cutter fantasy world" where everyone is the same. What is this test saying?! "There is no room for diversity, or different learning/teaching methods" ?!? Well done Sir, you've made a lot people proud!!!

I agree that NCLB is flawed but without testing how are teachers to be held responsible foor poor teaching. I pulled my kids out of school because a teacher shook my daughter by the arm for stepping out of line. She didn't learn anything. She sat for hours doing worksheet after worksheet. When the teacher complained that my daughter wasn't working at her full potential I suggested that my daughter was bored. She said that that may be but she wasn't being paid to entertain. That teacher is piad to teach and in todays technology era kids need a teacher who is going to teach outside the box.
If kids with educated parents test better than kids with uneducated parents then I would think that the parents, not the teachers, are teaching these kids. My kids didn't learn anything at school that I hadn't already taught them.
I sympathise with teachers. It must be hard going all those years getting paid for nothing and suddenly waking up one day to find that you have a job to do.

I agree that NCLB is flawed but without testing how are teachers to be held responsible foor poor teaching. I pulled my kids out of school because a teacher shook my daughter by the arm for stepping out of line. She didn't learn anything. She sat for hours doing worksheet after worksheet. When the teacher complained that my daughter wasn't working at her full potential I suggested that my daughter was bored. She said that that may be but she wasn't being paid to entertain. That teacher is piad to teach and in todays technology era kids need a teacher who is going to teach outside the box.
If kids with educated parents test better than kids with uneducated parents then I would think that the parents, not the teachers, are teaching these kids. My kids didn't learn anything at school that I hadn't already taught them.
I sympathise with teachers. It must be hard going all those years getting paid for nothing and suddenly waking up one day to find that you have a job to do.

Way to go!!! It's about time this subject was looked into rather than over looked and labeled with a "child friendly" name. This is a teacher who wants to teach and not simply hand out a piece of paper, one of which isnt a tool for anyone to learn from, that tells the media of all people whether or not children fit a cookie cutter fantasy world. Great teachers who can inspire children and motivate parents towards a higher level of education make the difference. You've made alot of people proud- keep up the fantastic work!!!
-Twoods

I couldn't agree more. I have a 5th grader who freaks out on state tests, but does exceptionally well on "regular tests" given to him throughout the school year. These state tests really do nothing but give the children taking them and the teachers who teach heartache. I am sorry to say, but there are some children who need to be left behind due to issues at home and with behavior problems in school.
This teacher should be praised and glorified for taking a stand, yet not letting it interfer with the way he is teaching his students.

I am the principal of a charter high school and we have students enrolling throughout the year and leaving throughout the year. Many times we have a student enroll the day before the test. Our school is evaluated on how well the students do on these tests yet the majority of our students have been enrolled such a short amount of time that we have little chance to evaluate or improve their skills. There has to be a better way to evaluate the school and the teachers.

Hopefully we will start to see more teachers follow suit - and then perhaps the administrators can join in and support the teacher's decision and shut down the money making business of standardized state test exams. GIve back the humanity of schooling to our teachers, children, family, the entire school community. WE are diverse, our country was founded on diversity - why standardize! it is truly unconstitutional.
rhea

This guy is soooooooooooooooo amazing!!!! I am currently a high school student and I HATED No Child Left Behind. I myself did fine on state exams, but while taking them, I felt myself slowly shutting down from lack of thinking. While this test was easy, I know that some of my really smart, all A's friends were really struggling with the material. The test showed absolutely nothing about the intelligence of anyone. Also, this law has made teachers groom students into thinking that the world is multuple choice and that critical thinking plays a minor, if at all existing, role in everyday life. The law does not work and will never have the potential to work because that is not how things go. I commend this teacher for guts to stand up and bring attention to what this law is doing to the students it is trying to protect.

Sorry! I guess I'm the idiot. My response was to vozekar, not the teacher. The teacher is a hero as far as I'm concerned!