Bye, Bye FCAT

Testing season is officially over. The boxes are loaded and on their way back to Tallahassee. This means two things:

1. We can let out the breath we’ve been holding and take another so we can hold it until the infernal school grades come out in June.
2. The students will assume that they have nothing left to do for the school year.

One problem with high-stakes testing is that the chatter over the test gets so loud it drowns out everything else, like the whole point of school. That would be the learning part. If you’re a student, and all you hear all year from the media is about FCATFCATFCATFCATFCAT, then why should you bestir yourself to do anything after the FCAT period has passed? Seems logical and reasonable, at least to them.

Let’s extend the madness further. Teachers quality these days is solely determined by FCAT results, so why should teachers bother to do anything the last 1/4 of the year except clean their rooms and plan for next year? I mean, my total effectiveness will be determined/judged/measured by whether my seniors–who are on their fifth go-round with FCAT, by the way–pass the freakin’ test. Never mind that if they’re eighteen and still having issues, then the most brilliant teacher on the planet might not be enough to put them over the top. If their numbers aren’t high, then obviously, I’m a bad teacher. Forget all that learning crap. All we care about is the spreadsheet.

Sorry I sound bitter, but I’m a true believer. I honestly believe that the work I’m doing is some of the most vital work in the country. I’m not compensated properly, and I know that. What irks me more is that I’m judged by numbers. Not by my students, not by what they have to say, not by what I invest in the job, not by the light bulbs that come on, not by the fact that minds have been opened wider and great questions are being asked, but by a spreadsheet. I am nothing more to my school board than my data. That’s sad, considering that I produce young people as my end product, not flywheels.

But in this test-crazed accountability era, that’s all that matters, isn’t it? Get those numbers up. Screw whether the kids actually learn anything.