I wonder if public school teachers ever feel guilty about spending class time on 'test prep', or if they don't have any feelings about it because so much about the whole testing situation in schools is out of the teachers' hands.
Every year since Primo was in first grade I've ended our school year with a standardized test (we use the CAT-E), even though here in our state we only need to report test scores to the local district in 5th, 7th, and 9th-12th grades. So these tests that I give them each year are just for practice (at the end of Primo's first grade year it was also because I was a little curious/worried about how our homeschool measured up compared to public school), with no consequences attached either for them or for me as their teacher. This year is not a reporting year for either of my big boys, and even if it was I would have no concerns about their scores being below the percentile that they need to meet or exceed as homeschoolers.
So, why? Why do I buy test prep books and spend a precious week of our school year having them run through exercises on topics that we haven't covered, or haven't covered in much depth? I reassure myself that it is mainly so that they don't feel nervous or frustrated when they see those topics pop up on next week's test. Also, it's good for me to know (by giving them the practice tests in the prep book) which areas they are weak in, in case I want to incorporate any of it into our new school year (for example, I found to my surprise that both boys could use a refresher on literary genres). In a way, it's even fun-- these are, by definition, things we have not spent a lot of time on before, so they are fresh and new in a way that none of their other lessons would be, in this penultimate week of our school year.
And yet. I have a niggling fear in the back of my mind that 'prepping' them for the test has something to do with my pleasure when I open their test results and see that they did very well in all sections of the exam. It doesn't matter, doesn't give an accurate picture of them as students or certainly not as people. But I've come to like seeing those high scores, and I'm afraid I would be disappointed if they didn't do as well, one of these years.
Just to be clear, they love the testing itself--they're amused by the formality of standardized testing, they think it's funny when I read the script word-for-word and time them (it probably helps that they are good at testing, and rarely run up against the time limits). When Primo was six, in first grade, and we completed his first CAT-E exam, he turned to me and said, "You're the best teacher, Mama, and I love homeschooling". Traumatized by testing, these kids are not. They don't even seem to mind the test prep.
It just feels to me almost like cheating, to do anything at all to get them ready for the test instead of just giving it to them cold, after going about our usual business up until testing day.
I think I'm thinking too much about this. To make myself feel better, I'll enumerate some things I *don't* do:
1. look at the contents of the actual CAT-E exam in advance, in order to truly 'teach to the test'
2. teach to the test in general, throughout our school year
3. help the kids during the test in any way, or give them extra time
Maybe one of these years I'll be brave, and just hand them the tests without a minute of prep. Maybe next year.
I could have written this word for word! We do the exact same thing, though we did have a few early traumas with the timing, but not much. My kids love the testing, and I think they even like the test prep. Maybe it's because it IS so different from what we do all year. I, too, have grown accustomed to seeing those high grades, and when we saw one that was not high (not low, just not high), it was a bit tough for me, but the kids didn't care. And now I know even more what I *should* be focusing on. :)
ReplyDeleteSo, would you ever forgo the prep, since you know your kids test well? I don't know if I ever will, or if I should...
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