 |
| Forget a balanced education, just clobber the TAKS! |
Never mind how prepared some students are for the dreaded TAKS tests. One thing that is definitely not going to help them focus is having about 1/3 of the classmates finish within the first 3 hours. This means that they will have another 4 hours free to disrupt those relatively few students who are willing to actually take their time.
It sure does not help that those idle students are also pretty hopped up on a diet rich in sugars and carbohydrates. How does chocolate chip chocolate muffins and some cold chocolate milk sound? So what you have is a formula for a bunch of fidgety, hyper students being asked to keep quite while a few dedicated employees do their best to proofread their answers.
Furthermore, from what I understand, the principals order that neither the students, nor the teachers/proctors leave the classroom the entire day. Well, OK except for bathroom breaks. This does absolutely nothing to diffuse the stress any of the students may be under. In reality, principals cannot keep teachers from taking their allotted meal periods off campus if they wish to, but very few teachers if any dare go against what those jewelry-heavy mavens say.
My son finished the math part a little after noon. After that he sat at his desk doing nothing.
ReplyDeleteWe must've done the same back in the day. I remember taking the CAT test at Tomas Sanchez Elem. but I don't remember if I dreaded the whole process.
It's not a good plan what they have in place. The kids who are finished should be allowed to go to the library or gym or something!
ReplyDeleteUnfortuantely, the methods used by enough teachers to "help" these kids pass have made it this way. Pressure to pass from up high roll down to the classroom.
ReplyDeleteYes that's true pressure rolls down but not the real kind of help and training that could make a true difference in whether or not kids will learn. It's just a bunch of measurements that matter to most principals.
ReplyDelete