Quotes from "American Education" by Joel Spring Chapter 7 and "Educational Foundations" by Alan S. Canestrari and Bruce A. Marlowe Chapters 10,19, and 20

Spring Chapter 7 Page 180

“Theoretically, all of this test data is to spur school improvement by identifying low-performing schools and motivating teachers and school administrators to achieve state standards.”

Is “motivating” really the word in the case of having the teachers and school administrators achieve state standards?  I think it’s more like “forcing” because the teachers and school administrators don’t have much of a choice but to reach state standards; no school wants to be deemed a failing school.  Everyone is trying to the best of their ability to get their students to pass these tests, to teach them good test-taking skills.  Teachers are fired and schools are being closed down due to bad test scores, so essentially teachers don’t have much of a choice.  Would you want your child graduating high school knowing how to take tests well or would you rather them graduate with knowledge they can actually use, maybe even a passion?

Spring Chapter 7 Page 181

“Some people worry that testing is taking away from instructional time.”

Cindy Mulvey then goes on to explain her experience with test taking, listing the many tests she must give her students and how often they occur.  Testing today is completely getting out of hand and it’s most definitely taking away from instructional time.  Teachers are giving students tests to make sure they understand what was just taught and making sure if the high-stakes test was just given to them, they can get a good score.  There are tons of practice tests given to the students before the real test.  It seems crazy to make elementary students take so many tests and sit quiet doing so for so many hours.  When my children are in school, I want them to learn as much as possible, not take tests as much as possible.  Wouldn’t you want the same for your child?

Spring Chapter 7 Page 186

“Does high-stakes testing, which often leads to teachers teaching to the test, reduce students’ creativity and their willingness to take risks?"

I feel as though the answer is in the question, yes.  If teachers are teaching to the test, where is the room for creativity or even allowing the students to take risks?  As far as the tests go, it’s either a wrong answer or a right answer; there’s no choice or room for opinions.  Students cannot be artistic even if they wanted to because there is no room to do so and being artistic is not on the test.  Teachers are so overwhelmed with testing that they feel as though they have to room to allow their students’ creativity to come alive.  I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to allow ones students to be creative and take risks; yet still learn what they need to for the tests.  Is that the reason though; are teachers not making lessons to allow for creativity because it’s too difficult to integrate in with preparing for the tests?  Or are they just too far sucked into the system to realize they aren’t?

Anthology Chapter 10 Page 105

“Instead, these people demand, “What are their test scores?” as if those numbers, though they passeth understanding, will somehow prove that we’re doing a good job.”

A teacher can teach her fifth grade student to read from a first grade reading level to a third grade reading level.  Wouldn’t you agree, that sounds like a fantastic teacher?  Yet, once that fifth grade student takes his fifth grade high-stakes test, he’s of course going to fail because it’s testing him on fifth grade reading and he’s only at a third grade reading level.  How much does that test score matter now?  Does this really tell a person how well a teacher teaches?  “Are they happy? Are they creative? Are they helpful, sensitive, loving? Will they want to read a book next year?”  Do these questions not matter anymore and just “how are their test scores?” the main question in conversation?  I’d be a different person than I am today if I grew up as a great test taking rather than learning what was more important that test taking.  Students should be learning a lot more in school than what’s on the test, unfortunately, that’s all being thrown out the window because it’s not on the test. 

Anthology Chapter 19 Page 184

“And yet Illinois in effect has created two parallel systems—one privileged, adequate, successful, and largely white; the other disadvantaged in countless ways, disabled, starving, failing, and African-American.  Some schools succeed brilliantly while others stumble and fall.  Clearly something more is at work here.”

How can a school that’s practically falling down both emotionally and physically live up to the standards of a school in pristine condition?  It makes no sense whatsoever, so then why do we expect this question to be a reality?  The schools in urban areas cannot reach the schools of the suburban areas because they don’t have what the suburban schools have.  Educated teachers, supplies, a well-built school, just to name a few.  Yet, these schools get the same tests and have to do the same things, no wonder why they’re deemed as failing schools.  Then, the test results come back with horrible marks, and it’s all the teachers’ faults.  Is it really the teachers who are at fault here or is it the school or the tests or the entire school district?

 Anthology Chapter 20 Page 188

“I simply “played school” in the same way that young children “play house”—by mimicking what we think the adults around us do."

This is a really strong quote and it seems to apply to a lot of people.  Teachers just seem to do what they know they should do or feel like they have to do.  There is so much to being a teacher, so much to the word “education”, and to a school system, and just in general, it really is a lot.  It’s hard to grasp ones brain around everything that a teacher should know and should teach.  It’s easy when you watch movies or tv shows and even remember your own past experiences in school when you were the student.  It’s seems so much easier then, until you take the education classes to become a teacher.  Even without the education classes, just simply talking to a teacher about what is needed is quite complex.  How does one get out of the rut of simply “playing school” or is this something that teachers tend to do because it seems easier.  Are the students learning in these classrooms or just coasting through to the next grade?