Testing, Testing, 1-2-3

Current mood: discontent

Today my school principal unveiled the ninth- and tenth-grade final exams for English to several of the other teachers. Imagine, if you will, a fracas very much in the same vein as the boardroom showdown scenes from The Apprentice. Except with badly dressed, stressed out, demoralized teachers instead of potential Donald Trumps. Not surprisingly, there were a host of complaints about the test. The reading selections are too hard, the essays have to be graded too quickly, we were not consulted during the test-writing process, etc.

It was all deja vu to me, because I had brought up these same exact concerns to my principal a couple of weeks ago. All to no avail. Whether we like it or not, whether it is fair to our students or not, whether it is fair to the teachers or not, the test will be used during finals week, we will have to grade every essay ourselves, and the results will be sent to the District where we, the teachers, will be judged (and most likely be found wanting).

I feel very lucky that the principal came to me before Winter Break with a copy of the ninth-grade test and asked me to tell him what I thought. I was part of the process, an insider. Even more importantly, I think my credibility went up when I astutely pointed out the drawbacks of the exam weeks before my colleagues did. At the end of the meeting, he thanked me and another teacher for being there to support him and said without us he would have been dealing with "a sinking ship". This could come in handy if I decide to leave the school district; I may be able to wrangle a nice letter of recommendation from him.