What Happens When You Raise the Bar Too High?

You’ve probably heard how “behind” we are in our schools and how our standards are lower than other places around the world. (Well, I have quite a few opinions about whether or not that is true and why that’s the case but that’s for another blog post.)  So, what happens when our standards aren’t comparable to others? Well, we adopt the Common Core.  Which in theory, I think is a great idea for several reasons.  First, as a teacher, it was always “fun”/interesting to get an out-of-state student and try to figure out what they had been taught and what they hadn’t been taught in my “spare time”.  It’ll be nice that we’re all on the same page now.  Secondly, Common Core allows for such a HUGE resource base for teachers.  With all the technology-driven, blog-posting, twitter-tweeting, facebook-sharing, tpt-creating teachers out there, think of the incredible database we now all have to pull from!  The awesome freebie that the fourth grade teacher in California just posted is relevant to me as a North Carolinian educator. Yes!!

I also like that the Common Core is attempting to put creativity back into the teachers’ hands.   Unfortunately, our assessments/mandates haven’t lightened up any and aren’t quite allowing that just yet.  But hopefully, soon it will all line up…fingers crossed  I feel that the Common Core promotes actual learning; child-centered, inquiry-based learning.  I feel that the Common Core does not preach algorithm, algorithm, algorithm.  I feel that the Common Core actually promotes THINKING!  Not simply memorization and recall but true understanding.  The Common Core digs deeper into key skills/topics instead of skimming the surface of a broad range of topics.  The only problem is our teachers are being held “accountable” and there’s no time in the day for inquiry-based learning/investigations.  I feel that the Common Core has gotten a bad name and I think the Common Core is completely misunderstood by the majority of people.

Now, sure, I do believe there is some shadiness with Common Core, testing and who’s making the big bucks but this IS America and I really wouldn’t expect anything different.  So back to public schools not performing “well enough”.  So, we adopt the Common Core.  We also renorm tests.  That’s what we do.  We’ve all seen this before.  Basically, a new version of a test comes out, it gets “renormed” and the first year the scores are not so desirable.  Then as the years pass and teachers teach “to the test”, the scores gradually incline.  Then, a new test!  Another renorm.  Another round of “low” scores and then the upward climb.  And the cycle continues.

That’s what happened this year too.  But things got a little sticky with Read to Achieve, especially where third grade is concerned.  They took the BOG (Beginning of Year) test and the scores came back.  Not good.  We’re talking a very small percentage showing to be proficient.  Our scores from last year’s EOGs came back for 3-8.  Not good either.  The renorming year.  We knew this would happen.  However, the real kicker.  Read to Achieve states that students not proficient in third grade will have to go to summer school…ahem, I mean “summer camp”.  Oh my, oh my.  That’s a whole lot of third graders in summer school.  We’re talking upwards of 75% “not proficient”.  But wait, we have good-cause exemptions and some may even pass the EOG.  We won’t even go into the good cause exemptions right now but let’s just say the portfolio was not proving to help any students show proficiency either.  So how in the world would the state/districts afford that many students in summer school?  They can’t and they won’t.  Obviously, they can’t/won’t…remember, we’re ranked 48th in teacher pay.

So, that brings me to my question, what happens when you raise the bar too high?  Set the norms too high, too fast? Well, apparently, you add another level of proficiency.  That’s right.  Instead of the Level 1-4 scale, we now have Levels 1-5.  The state board just passed it.  Read more about it here…

http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/split-education-board-oks-new-testing-levels/article_a9813667-15f7-54c8-a283-4205f6fe985a.html

Let us TEACH!

You know the overwhelmed feeling you get when tears seem to be ready to flow at any given moment? Today was one of those days.  Who I am kidding, this school year has been one of those years!

Today, I had grade level meetings with all the grade levels to discuss supplemental groups/tier 2.  Response to instruction.  RTI.  Yep, I said it.  R.T.I.

You know  3 letter acronyms in the education world are far worse than certain four letter words? Generally speaking, I can say RTI and you can see the teachers scatter.   And trust me, I get it.

The sad part is it really has nothing to do with RTI though.  Response to instruction.  That’s what we as teachers do EVERY day and have been doing all along.   If a student is not responding to our instruction, guess what?  We try something else.  If it is working, guess what?  We keep doing it.  I know RTI is nothing new.  However, dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s is new.  Translation: paperwork.  I know, I know.  “It’s not about the paperwork.”

I wish I could believe it wasn’t about the paperwork.  But it is.  Teachers are actually now spending more time proving they’re teaching than they are teaching!  Someone please tell me how this is helping our students.   I’m all about accountability.  However, I’m also ALL about treating our teachers with respect and as professionals and…allowing them to TEACH.  Shocking, I know.  Allowing a TEACHer to teach!   (I apologize for the sarcasm.  This is what happens after an entire day of shuffling papers.)

It is just so frustrating to sit and watch phenomenal teachers so overwhelmed, so beaten, so defeated that they start to question why they are even there in the first place.  It is so disheartening to watch them crumble.  And I feel so helpless.  I try so hard to make meetings like today beneficial and as painless as possible.  But when teachers are getting hit from every direction, it all just seems impossible.

And I should clarify.  It is not just RTI.  It isn’t RTI or PEPs or AMOs or MSLs or IEPs or PEPs or EOGs or PDPs or PLCs or TRC or…I could go on and on.  It isn’t one single thing.  It is the combination of it all.  Enough is enough.  When do we get to say enough is enough?  When do we get to say, please, let us do what we love?  Let us do what we know how to do.  Please just let us TEACH.

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Parents, please understand that our hands are tied in many situations that you probably are not pleased with.  So many things are mandated now.  People in offices that haven’t set foot in an elementary school since they were in grade school are making decisions for us…for your children.  Please know that we as teachers always have and always will have your child’s best interest in mind.