Crying Over Standardized Tests

Mrs Neu was not a fan of standardized tests. This was especially true when it came to testing younger children whose brains may not be yet fully wired to make all the connections needed to succeed in taking what they'd been taught by a teacher and answering a standardized question on the test. 

She once wrote:

“A teacher cried today. She stepped out of her classroom where her third graders had their heads bent over the State’s standardized test and tried to compose herself. She saw me and shook her head. “I tried so hard, I did everything I could to prepare them” she said. “But they are just not making the connections, they are just not ready to do this. It’s cruel to keep on with it every day—seven and half-hours of testing in a week? I can’t stand it.” A new teacher? One of those withoutcredentials? No, one of the best teachers in the state. This teacher has years of experience and has advanced training in reading and math. She works long hours to meet the educational needs of her diverse group. She does everything possible to help herstudents learn.I guess she will have to be fired (if she doesn’t quit in despair) because her test scores will be down. Her students don’t have the development and maturity to pull together what they have been taught. They haven’t yet made the connections to learn what is needed to get high scores on the test. They will be failures even though they have made much progress.I cry too.”