In a lovely surprise, I woke this morning to an email from a former rockstar student - still a rockstar, no doubt - who asked if I would be a source for a research project she is completing on SOL testing. She asked for my views on SOL testing. The first year of my teaching career was, I believe, the very first year that Virginia required that students take SOL tests. I recall that Virginia was in a test-the-test phase back then and as teachers we had to be creative in finding methods to encourage the students to take the test seriously. I also recall the first group of Juniors I had who entered my classroom at James River knowing that it was a barrier test for them -- man, the fear those parents demonstrated at Back to School Night.
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"How many of you have ever heard of a pole vault," I asked as the students shuffled into their chairs - giggly - trying to break the tension of the first day of class.
A few brave souls, stretch up their hands, others shared looks of disinterest. This is English class, why does he care about pole vaulting?
Macey, a dark-tanned girl with a healthy look and runner's body, and whom I recognized running around the track most days as I walked from class to my parking spot, spoke up, "Mr. Koch, I know what it is."
"Would you please share with the class the mechanics behind pole vaulting?"
"Well, there's a pole that you run with and you use it vault over a bar. The one who can do the highest wins."
"Thanks Macey - the men's world record is somewhere around 20 feet. The high school record for Virginia is around 16 feet, I would guess that the best pole vaulter in our school does around 10 or 11 feet - about the height of this ceiling." I guessed at the numbers, but following a pause for dramatic effect I continued, "to pass the Virginia SOL, you should pole vault over a bar of about yea high." Holding a flattened palm alongside my knee, I made eye contact with the faces in the room.
Pole vaulting over a two foot bar for most students in my school is as simple as running down the track and hopping over the bar, vault or no vault. The requirements of good classrooms will well exceed and encompass the two foot bar; in fact, for many students who can easily navigate the pole vault for the SOL, great classes present more of a challenge - pole vaulting over a 5 foot bar say, eeeek - and you will have to work quite hard and probably leave your comfort zone to have success.
This analogy usually comforts my students and I can see the first-day-of-school anxiety slipping off their shoulders.
BUT...some students do not pass.
Some students receive the pole vaulting 101 handbook, open to the first page, and stare in disbelief as they realize that the pole vaulting directions which they are required to read prior to participation are in a language which is different from the one they have grown up speaking, use frequently, or are immersed in at home. We may be talking about the top pole vaulter in Virginia, but if he can't read the directions, he may very well think that the objective of such an exercise it to carefully aim and hurl the vault, Achilles'-spear-at-Hector style, at the bar in an attempt to knock it off the stand - what a fun game.
Some wake up on the wrong side of the bed, the wrong side of the week, or the wrong side of life. The pressures that some students face are vast and complicated - far too grown up for a 16 year old to have to deal with. These problems can be inconceivable to other students who may sit across the room, in the very next desk, or even at the head of the class. Ray just may think, the last thing I'm going to do today is take this freakin' test, putting his head on the desk, or seeing what kind of unique pattern he can make on the bubble sheet. Much like the boy in Kelly Gallager's book Readicide who doesn't recognize the word Farrior in the title of an article and tunes it out, Ray just isn't going to be bothered for any reason to do well on this test today; moreover, when asked to pole vault, his anger, frustration or hurt, may manifest as slamming that vault to the ground and kicking that bar as far as he can.
Many students have paralyzing test anxiety which only shows up on high stakes test day. They know all of the material and the line of questioning may fit perfectly with the prep they have completed, but without the right frame of mind, their anxiety begins, roots and grows until she is erasing and second guessing and shaking, unable to see clearly on the test, despite knowing all of the answers.
Imagine rolling out to the track on pole vault day in a wheelchair - is this some sick joke teach? Even with the built in accommodations of many high stakes tests, the disabilities of some students severely impede their their chances at success. Good teachers build ramps, hump their students up on their backs or work with a team of support personnel to help carry this disbelieving, frustrated yet hard working pole vaulter over the bar.
The SOL's have been with me my entire career, and my entire career I have put on a big smile, shouted pep talks, tossed candy Lifesavers and even donned pom-poms, to try to motivate my students to do their best on that test, but man, why do we do it? Why do we let this test, and the numbers it produces, dictate the course of American education? Instead we should be building the best facilities, finding the best people, giving them the best training, and empowering them to give our students the best, most authentic, learning community possible. We need to set the bar higher!
I wrote the following essay a few years ago when a professor asked about my views on the book Readicide by Kelley Gallagher, and this morning when I checked my email to find Kendall asking my thoughts on high-stakes testing, I once again thought about the pole vaulting.
"How many of you have ever heard of a pole vault," I asked as the students shuffled into their chairs - giggly - trying to break the tension of the first day of class.
A few brave souls, stretch up their hands, others shared looks of disinterest. This is English class, why does he care about pole vaulting?
Macey, a dark-tanned girl with a healthy look and runner's body, and whom I recognized running around the track most days as I walked from class to my parking spot, spoke up, "Mr. Koch, I know what it is."
"Would you please share with the class the mechanics behind pole vaulting?"
"Well, there's a pole that you run with and you use it vault over a bar. The one who can do the highest wins."
"Thanks Macey - the men's world record is somewhere around 20 feet. The high school record for Virginia is around 16 feet, I would guess that the best pole vaulter in our school does around 10 or 11 feet - about the height of this ceiling." I guessed at the numbers, but following a pause for dramatic effect I continued, "to pass the Virginia SOL, you should pole vault over a bar of about yea high." Holding a flattened palm alongside my knee, I made eye contact with the faces in the room.
Pole vaulting over a two foot bar for most students in my school is as simple as running down the track and hopping over the bar, vault or no vault. The requirements of good classrooms will well exceed and encompass the two foot bar; in fact, for many students who can easily navigate the pole vault for the SOL, great classes present more of a challenge - pole vaulting over a 5 foot bar say, eeeek - and you will have to work quite hard and probably leave your comfort zone to have success.
This analogy usually comforts my students and I can see the first-day-of-school anxiety slipping off their shoulders.
BUT...some students do not pass.
Some students receive the pole vaulting 101 handbook, open to the first page, and stare in disbelief as they realize that the pole vaulting directions which they are required to read prior to participation are in a language which is different from the one they have grown up speaking, use frequently, or are immersed in at home. We may be talking about the top pole vaulter in Virginia, but if he can't read the directions, he may very well think that the objective of such an exercise it to carefully aim and hurl the vault, Achilles'-spear-at-Hector style, at the bar in an attempt to knock it off the stand - what a fun game.
Some wake up on the wrong side of the bed, the wrong side of the week, or the wrong side of life. The pressures that some students face are vast and complicated - far too grown up for a 16 year old to have to deal with. These problems can be inconceivable to other students who may sit across the room, in the very next desk, or even at the head of the class. Ray just may think, the last thing I'm going to do today is take this freakin' test, putting his head on the desk, or seeing what kind of unique pattern he can make on the bubble sheet. Much like the boy in Kelly Gallager's book Readicide who doesn't recognize the word Farrior in the title of an article and tunes it out, Ray just isn't going to be bothered for any reason to do well on this test today; moreover, when asked to pole vault, his anger, frustration or hurt, may manifest as slamming that vault to the ground and kicking that bar as far as he can.
Many students have paralyzing test anxiety which only shows up on high stakes test day. They know all of the material and the line of questioning may fit perfectly with the prep they have completed, but without the right frame of mind, their anxiety begins, roots and grows until she is erasing and second guessing and shaking, unable to see clearly on the test, despite knowing all of the answers.
Imagine rolling out to the track on pole vault day in a wheelchair - is this some sick joke teach? Even with the built in accommodations of many high stakes tests, the disabilities of some students severely impede their their chances at success. Good teachers build ramps, hump their students up on their backs or work with a team of support personnel to help carry this disbelieving, frustrated yet hard working pole vaulter over the bar.
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