Thing 5a

One of the blogs that I found, http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2009/02/thurs_feb_26latest_version_dea.html, mainly trashed standardized testing. The reason I liked it so much is because I agree with much of what the author said. I have a big problem with standardized testing being the only measure of what a child has learned. I know the children in myh classroom. I know where they started and how much they have progressed. Unfortunately, the state does not really care that my student was reading on a first grade level at the beginning of third grade and now is reading on an end of second grade level. Unfortunately, I am a terrible teacher because he didn't pass the third grade test. Unfortunately I am a terrible teacher because a child just bubbled in whatever bubble he wanted. Unfortunately, I am a terrible teacher because my student was more worried about her mother in surgery than what I was teaching that day. Research and common sense tells us that there the success of a child depends on support from the school, home, community, and the child! There are just too many other variables to pin success or failure on the teacher alone.