The Proof of Learning
It’s that time of the year again when everyone who is involved in a public school is enduring some added stress. Yes, it’s testing time. For at least a month in most schools, many exciting activities and lessons are dropped in place of test prep, and normal schedules are in upheaval. Students have been warned to be at school on time, eat a healthy breakfast, and get plenty of sleep (as if those habits aren’t expected on any day of the week). Pages of released questions have probably been sent home, letters have gone home to families to remind them how important testing is, brains have been crammed full of information that may or may not show up on the test, and post-testing parties have likely been planned as an incentive for kids to show up each day. All of this adds up to one assumption about testing: when it comes to a year’s education, not much else seems to matter besides the outcome of these tests. Read more