A Numbers Game?

5 American History classes.

146 students.

12 days until Spring Break. I should be pleased at things. The built in breaks enable us to maintain the level of energy and commitment necessary to teach successfully. We have a week and a half off. This should be plenty of time to prep our energy levels for the end of the year.

This year is different. The standardized tests in the state of Ohio are changing again. The sophomores I'm teaching are adjusting to a new assessment system for the second year in a row. This year the tests are in one window, which is great, except that the window occurs after that week and a half off, they are taking brand new assessments no more valid than last year's, and they're still working toward a high-stakes endgame, enough points (18) to graduate.

3 (2.57) is the average score a student needs on each assessment to reach 18.

79% is the highest percentage of students to score 3 or better on a given exam in my school. It was Geometry which was taken by all honors students last year.

Some of the percentages on other tests, like Algebra and American History were far lower. It is difficult to say exactly what this will mean for the prospective graduation of my students, their peers, or others in schools that typically struggle on these assessments (read urban schools with high rates of poverty).

I am trying to be optimistic.

We're all shouldering a great deal of anxiety, and grinding ahead in the interest of our students.

My plan is to wrap up a unit on Civil Rights this week, administer the SGM (another state mandated assessment) next week, and recap the first semester prior to break. A brief review is only reasonable, considering these kids are going to be assessed by the state on some material we haven't mentioned since September, and some from their World History course in 9th grade.

Then, in a leap of blind faith, I am going to hope that the best preparation for brand new assessments on which your graduation depends is to take a week and a half vacation. Then I'll pretend that I believe it's a good idea to assess all students on a variety of computers despite the research that suggests otherwise.

I will not, however, suggest to anyone that I believe this testing system is much better beyond shorter. I also will not be convinced that high-stakes measures like graduation should be tied to any assessment. The federal government doesn't require it. Most states don't either. 

At minimum, Ohio needs further revision of the system going forward or the graduation rates will plummet. For many politicians, education is a numbers game driven by election years. For those of us in the field, it's about these kids looking for a bit of understanding.