I’m going to write about something that has bothered me for a few years. I don’t mean to diss on my school by any means, because I really do love where I work. But, there is one thing that kills me. And, of course, it all began with “No Child Left Behind”. You see in public education we are judged by numbers. It is all about numbers. We are judged by our federal test scores, by our graduation rates, by our number of Fs… And, we all hate it. Kids are either advanced or proficient OR basic or below basic; all based on a federal exam. If you are advanced or proficient, then YEAH, you are SMART! If you are basic or below basic, then BOOOO, you aren’t! As teachers we FIGHT and FIGHT against being judged by our test scores. Does it reflect on us? Are we the problem? I haven’t spoken to one teacher who agrees that it is fair to base our pay raises on the test scores of our students. We don’t want to be singled out or humiliated because all of our kids didn’t pass. Even worse, imagine if 80% of the teachers did well, and the 20% of the teachers who work with Special Ed, ELL, high risk and Free and Reduced kids didn’t make the cut. But, those teachers TRIED… Worked longer hours, stayed before and after school, took kids home and met with parents…. and they didn’t make it. Then, should they think less of themselves? So, now I’ll get to my point. At my school, if you score Advanced or Proficient on ALL of your Federal Test, then you are rewarded with a field trip to the movies. You get to leave school with 600 of your other SMARTY friends and see any movie you want at AMC, while the rest of us are left behind. Sitting at school are the kids who missed the cut off by ONE point, the kids who have all A’s but don’t test well, the kids with learning disabilities, the kids with harder lives, and most likely, the kids that never get anything. Here we sit, here I sit, trying to assure them that it is OKAY! That LIFE is not based on test scores! I have given hugs, cleared away tears, reassured them that they are bright, wonderful people. Inside I am DYING! My heart stops beating every time a tear falls. The silence of the room SCREAMS when they receive their results. REALLY? REALLY PEOPLE, are we doing this to KIDS!? Teachers and unions would never allow this to happen to US (adults). It is the same thing as basing pay raises off of test scores, just the kid version. I know we don’t think about it, at least not this side of it. I know everyone who planned the movie and the trip had GOOD intentions. I know my dear friends are chaperoning right now, and I don’t blame them. What I don’t know, what I REALLY don’t know is… Are the adults thinking about what we are leaving behind? Because I am! I have a room full of kids right now; beautiful, SMART, ambitious kids, who just happen to speak English as their second or third language. Kids who pretend it doesn’t matter, but cry to me when we are alone. Kids who texted me today, asking me if I wanted them to come to school. These same kids would face their humiliation for me, because they really do care. The funny thing, the irony of it all, we left hundreds of kids behind today because of NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND!!! So, my question is…WHY are we hurting kids, hurting their pride, hurting their self esteem? And all of this for what…. A movie?
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