So check this little conversation from Saturday morning. It’s starring my second grade daughter and me:
H: So, Mom, are you impressed by my test scores?
Me: What?
H: Those are my NWEA test scores. I’m suppose to bring them home to you. Are you impressed?
Me: Not really.
H: (face falling) Oh. I thought you would be.
Me: (hugging H.) I’m not impressed with standardized test scores. I do think you should be proud of yourself for doing your best as a student. Remember how you said you did your best on the days you took the tests?
H: (looking up at me with a smile) Yes, I remember.
Me: Are you proud of yourself for doing your best.
H: Yes. I thought you’d like my test scores, though.
Me: (taking her shoulders and squaring her to look straight in her eyes): H., what I like is you. I love how you love to read because reading is fun. I love how you write stories to remember the fun stuff about our lives. I love how you always do you best. I love those things because they make you an amazing person. You should be proud of yourself for doing your best and putting forth effort on your test. Will you remember that? I love you for who you are; I’m impressed because of who you are — not because of some silly test.
How is it that my second grade daughter is caught up with test scores? Why is she trying to define herself — her intelligence, her worth, her ability as a student — by some silly test? Even worse, she wants someone besides herself to be impressed by her scores. One thing my husband & I are hyper-vigilant about is to ensure our children do their best for themselves.
As the spring standardized tests approach, this is a good reminder for me. The thing that is most important about the tests is students do their best. Standardized test scores are not very good at predicting the success of a student. They are not very good at defining the worth of a student. The only thing they are good at predicting is the amount of money a school will or will not get. Frankly, that shouldn’t be a concern of our young students.
Their only concern should be doing their best because they are growing into the kind of people who simply do their best regardless of the task in front of them.
TWO WRITING TEACHERS 
What a lucky girl H is to have you, Ruth. We all have to protect our children from the wounds of school.
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Ryan – thank you for posting that. Thank you so much. I’ve never read it before and it made me tear up. I’m going to read it to my kids tomorrow, because I want them to hear it too.
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I thought you would appreciate this (based on this post) – It seems like many of us share the same vision for kids. This shows the sheer power of words and that teachers need to rally for change in American schools – Lester Laminack’s speech has become a mantra for me – I posted it in my classroom to remind me of what’s important:
TOWARD A NEW VISION FOR OUR CHILDREN AND THEIR SCHOOLS: I HAVE A DREAM…
I dream of schools where children’s art hangs in gallery spaces filling the hallways
And children gather in clusters in the mornings before class to hear books and poems flowing on the voices of teachers
I dream of schools that host conversations about books in the corridors and in alcoves throughout the building
Of schools that post poems and quotes in public spaces where children wait for lunch, queue up in line for water and restrooms, to enter the library or wait for buses.
I dream of schools that feature teachers’ favorite books face out throughout the hallways and in the office
Where children don’t know what AYP means, and don’t know where their class ranked on any test, and are greeted at the front door each morning like family returning from a long trip.
Where children are treated with the same respect afforded the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
Where mistakes are seen as evidences of valiant attempts.
Where kindness is spoken with sincerity
Where collaboration and cooperation trump competition
Where all people are deemed worthy simply because they inhale and exhale
Where everyone is assured of both physical and emotional safety
Where your last name, country of origin, skin tone, sexual orientation, gender identity, language facility, economic status, politic views, religious traditions have no bearing on the attention you receive from teachers and others in the school
I dream of schools where days are not scripted by those who could not find the Post Office in your town
Where time spent engaged in inquiry, reading, making art, writing, interviewing, dancing, problem solving, dramatizing is more highly prized than time spent filling in bubbles, choosing the right answer to someone else’s questions or logging on to prove you read.
Where libraries will be as important as stadiums and auditoriums rival gymnasiums
Where children are eager to arrive and reluctant to leave
Where devotion to time for reading and writing can rival attention to the lunch schedule
Where teachers read aloud with the zeal of a street performer and the frequency of a birdsong
Where principals lead by example, know children by their successes, place books over bus schedules, teachers over text scores, students over stanines, communication over control
I dream of schools where teaching is judged by the character of the students leaving, their treatment of others, their concern for humanity, and their ability to think and reason with clarity and compassion
Where a teacher’s knowledge is the map used to chart the course of learning and his/her heart is the navigator directing the journey
Where learning “how” is more important than learning “what” and knowing “when” and “why” are as important as getting the right answer
Where trying is more important than triumph and successive approximations are valued as much as success itself
Where children sit in small clusters for lunch gathered around a book discussion, a quote of the day, an issue to resolve in the classroom community while dining in a civil setting
Where children learn to engage in open dialog, respecting the ideas of others, entering and exiting a conversation in civil ways without raising a hand to be given permission to share their thinking in a free, civil, democratic society
I dream of schools where teachers do not feel forced to turn the pages and do what comes next in a program they do not believe in
Where teachers are treated with respect and professional courtesy, where their voices are listened to and trusted
Where hallways are read, viewed, puzzled over, seen as bearers of clues to riddles and brain teasers found throughout the building
Where walking in straight lines, and raising hands are less important than caring for classmates
Where writing is evaluated more on what is said, how it moves a reader, stirs an emotion, evokes a response, causes one to pause to think or change than on how many sentences were in a paragraph or how many paragraphs are in an essay
I dream of schools where readers are asked what they make of a text rather than asked to log on to give the correct answer to someone else’s questions
Where children are found discussing the actions and motives of a character instead of recording the details of that character’s home or clothing
Where children are more familiar with poets than NFL players, more familiar with authors than actors, more familiar with illustrators and artists than with athletes, more familiar with inventors and social activists than the names of video games, more familiar with mathematicians and scientists than sit-coms and March Madness
I dream of schools where children know they are cherished and trusted, where they feel safe to risk being wrong in order to learn lessons more important than arriving at the right answer
Will you join me? Will you stand up for the children of this nation? Will you take a stand on the issues that matter most to the preservation of their one, precious childhood.
Lester L. Laminack
Asheville, NC
May 2008
.
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Great post! I can’t stand the standardized tests! My daughter (4th grade) is also caught up in it; probably because the schools put such emphasis on it. Bummer!
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I couldn’t be prouder to call you my friend, Ruth. You handled this situation with H so well. If only more people would stop defining children by their standardized test scores…
Thanks for being you!
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I second the AMEN! We took third grade tests last week. So discouraging. And then there is my tenth grader, who has gone his entire school career without ever being proficient, but is one of the sweetest, kindest, most compassionate people I know. That ought to count for something!
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Hip hip hooray!
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I agree with you 100%. HOWEVER… if I were to say such things to the 7th graders I teach, they would hear the “silly test” part and not the “doing your best” part. Trying to get kids to do their best on a test in which they have no direct individual stake is a huge challenge. And in my state (RI) 74 teachers are about to lose their jobs because of “silly” test scores. It is certainly difficult to keep test scores in perspective when the rest of the world seems to have inflated their importance so dramatically.
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Excuse the mistakes. It is early and I’m very passionate about this.
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Ruth,
I whole-heartedly agree with you, but how do we change what is going on in our schools? How do I help my precious students know that their best is enough for me? I teach 5th grade…a critical year in my state. This year our principal put us on a crazy A/B day schedule. I see ALL 5th graders for writing, but only every other day for an hour and a half. As December came to a close she was concerned about how the small amount of progress students were making. So starting the middle of January, ALL 5th grade teachers are teaching to the test from 7:15-7:45 am everyday and MWF we keep children from 2:45-3:15 for more test prep.
The pressure on teachers is unbelievable, but I’ve already got precious little girls looking at me and saying, “I’m just stupid.” Oh Me!!!!!!!
Also, my principal has a new tactic of showing faculty test scores on the big screen at faculty meetings and embarrassing those teachers who are not meeting the level of performance she expects.
I do appreciate all that you and Stacey put into this website. It is an encouragement to those of us fighting to keep our sanity in this current educational climate.
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All I can say is AMEN.
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