Teacher: What I didn’t expect to learn about people from standardized testing
Amy Roberts has been teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages in New York City since 2002. She currently teaches eleventh-grade English at International High School at Union Square, where the entire student body is composed of recently arrived immigrants. She is a native of Alexandria, Virginia, and a graduate of T.C. Williams High School. Roberts recently wrote what turned out to a popular post on Facebook about things she has learned from what she says is a dehumanizing standardized testing process, and she has given me permission to publish it. It is a slice of life that in a high-poverty school that is not often seen.
This is Amy Roberts’ Facebook post:
Standardized tests are the worst. No doubt about it. Excruciating. Torturous. Bad. Not good at all. But I do have to say that there are a couple of aspects of the system that you might not know.First, you’re getting the students ready, and you ask them to stay after school to prepare, and a die-hard crew actually does. They stay and practice with you, even if they didn’t eat all day because they hate the school lunch. And you say, “You guys done, or do you want to keep going for another half hour?” And they say, “Keep going!” So you do. And, a whole bunch of those kids that stayed after school with you, actually pass the test the first time they try it. And a whole bunch of others don’t pass, not even close, really, but they stayed and tried to do it in a language they have only known for two years, for up to six hours. And, of all the kids that tried it, never gave up, no matter the result, you’re proud. Beyond proud.Second, you get sent to another school to grade the tests, and you’re in a building full of English teachers, nobody but EnglishTeacher: What I didn’t expect to learn about people from standardized testing - The Washington Post:
