The OGT and standardized testing.

Even though I wrote this last week, the feeling is still very fresh in my mind and heart...

"This morning I sat in a room administering the first section of the Ohio Graduation Test. A standardized test that will determine whether the students in the room will receive a high school diploma. I came away feeling dirty, as if I had participated in a punitive exercise that was dehumanizing and unable to take into account the fact that people are not standardized……nor should they be. Listen to the education buzzwords of today: standardized, common, for profit, rigorous. If I’d wanted a factory job turning out an identical product I wouldn’t have gone into teaching. Do they even know what rigor means? Look it up: “Strictness or severity; a harsh or cruel act; inflexibility.” Are those the goals we have set for our educational system? More rigor? Standardized people? More profit? It’s what is NOT common about us that makes us interesting. And, capitalism to the contrary, everything is NOT about money. I’m not against assessments….we need to know how we’re doing, what we need to change. But when the end result of assessment is standardization and punishment for those who don’t fit the mold, something has gone horribly wrong. You don’t need to be able to suss out the finer points of rhetoric to be an excellent carpenter, or welder, or cosmetologist, and you shouldn’t be punished or have your worth diminished because of that. I used to be one of them, the punishers, the judgers, the heartless testers. But my eyes have been opened and what I see breaks my heart. More rigor? No thanks. How about a little love?"
end of rant.

I've been in the classroom for 15 years now, not nearly as long as many of my peers, but long enough to have witnessed an incredible increase in the amount of tension, frustration, unhappiness, and paranoia among teachers resulting from No Child Left Behind with its adequate yearly progress leading to school closings and continuing today with the Common Core, PARCC, vouchers, Value Added teacher evaluations, union busting, teacher bashing,and the entry of big money into the world of public education. But it's an exciting time to be in education.... the fight for survival and a new direction is on.