Our principal today announced he would be holding an assembly for all 9th and 10th graders on Friday, effectively eliminating the last opportunity I would have to teach mathematics to my 10th graders prior to the hugely important state-mandated test. The subject of the assembly: "Do well on the hugely important state-mandated test."
So, in order to ensure our students do well on this hugely important state-mandated test, we've spent 3 days doing "benchmark" testing, to see where the students were at the beginning of the year, in the middle of the year and one month later. We've already held at least one other assembly to pump up the kids for the upcoming
benchmark test, which of course doesn't count at all, except that good scores on the benchmark test make the principal look good in the eyes of his district bosses.
We've also held (and funded) a middle-of-the-school day "dance" for students whose scores improved on the 2nd benchmark test, and promised a similar event for students whose scores improved on the 3rd benchmark test. The principal attempted, in the faculty meeting today, to set the 2nd dance for
tomorrow. He may have been persuaded to wait... until Friday.
We've also had to take most of a class period for each of our classes in order to take our kids to the computer rooms to practice taking the test on the computer.
On the plus side, we haven't conducted a fire drill all year, so we've saved all that time in favor of classwork. Of course, monthly fire drills are mandated by our state, but hey, what's child safety when the school's hugely important state-mandated test score is on the line?
Of course, I've also lost class time to pep rallies, donut sales, and all the other detria associated with high school life -- for example, none of the senior girls will be in my class on Friday because they will be getting their hair done for the prom. This is not just hyperbole to have an excuse to skip my class... first of all, my seniors don't need an excuse to skip my class, and second, I've actually asked several of the girls who have weaves (and a significant majority do, despite (or possibly because) of the fact I'm at a Title I school) and they've all told me it's a 4- to 6-hour process, at a minimum.
The principal justified his "test-prep" rally by saying that if they don't have it now, they're not going to get it in the last day prior to the exam. So why, last week, were we required to prepare a "3 day plan" to prepare them for the test in the week and one day we had remaining (meaning 3 per class, since I only see each class every other day)? If we only needed 2 days, why didn't we have a 2 day plan? If the kids who're being taken out of my class to go to the assembly don't need my class, can I just give the rest of my classes a free day, since they must not need it either?
Enough.
