I am OVER this crap! This week is our THIRD round of state testing, and it's online for all students. Except the testing company that is paid 95 MILLION dollars for a 4 year contract with the schools fucked everything up, and the tests are not loading, and the servers at the testing center are going down, so no one can actually complete any tests.... NO BIG DEAL, IT'S NOT LIKE OUR SALARIES ARE BASED ON THESE KIDS' TEST SCORES!! ... oh wait.. THEY ARE!
I am just beyond stressed, and pissed, and it's only day 2 of 14 days of this. And the tests have been suspended for the 2nd day in a row, b/c the testing company didn't account for the tens of thousands of students, all trying to test at once and crashing their servers. FUCKING IDIOTS.
OMG This sounds like a nightmare. Where are you at? Is this the first year of online testing? I wonder if this is what ours will be like.. They say we're going to the PARCC next year for Common Core...
Indiana. We did 7th and 8th grade online for the 2nd round of tests last year, and had somewhat of the same problem, but this is WWWWAAAAAYYYYY worse, b/c every student is trying to take it now, not just 2 grades. Our department of ed is trying to keep everyone calm, but it's just very stressful, especially since our school is already on a school improvement plan, so we NEED these test scores to go up, and the freezing tests are making the kids have high anxiety, and it's just a bad situation over all.
Ugh! I am so sorry! Ours are still paper/pencil, but the teachers may be grading them this year.
teachers in our state would never be allowed to do this, there have been SO many cheating scandals.... it's unreal.
We requested a paper pencil exemption, b/c our school has the oldest and shittiest computers i've ever seen, and only have about 25 working computers in our whole school for k-8th grade, and NONE in individual classrooms, but our request was denied.
Post by EmilieMadison on Apr 30, 2013 17:42:43 GMT -5
Ridiculous. We're going state testing right now, too. The online math portion is so ridiculous. People can't log in, the site crashes and they have to start over, etc. And once it's all up and running, a lot of them just say "Fuck it!" and dont even try. How does anyone think these tests are indicative of actual, overall knowledge or teaching success?
Ridiculous. We're going state testing right now, too. The online math portion is so ridiculous. People can't log in, the site crashes and they have to start over, etc. And once it's all up and running, a lot of them just say "Fuck it!" and dont even try. How does anyone think these tests are indicative of actual, overall knowledge or teaching success?
THANK. YOU. I'm so glad that someone understands what I'm thinking, but too pissed to articulate right now!
teachers in our state would never be allowed to do this, there have been SO many cheating scandals.... it's unreal.
We requested a paper pencil exemption, b/c our school has the oldest and shittiest computers i've ever seen, and only have about 25 working computers in our whole school for k-8th grade, and NONE in individual classrooms, but our request was denied.
When I student taught (I grew up in Indiana), my Principal was voluntarily demoted (he chose this over being fired) because my cooperating teacher turned him in for allowing a student in her class extra time.
Yes, we're trying to avoid a situation like this. But what do we do when a kids computer freezes for 5+minues, multiple times during a 30 minute test? Do we give them extra time and risk disciplinary action, or do we tell them that it's too bad? We are really hoping these issues get solved QUICKLY
Ridiculous. We're going state testing right now, too. The online math portion is so ridiculous. People can't log in, the site crashes and they have to start over, etc. And once it's all up and running, a lot of them just say "Fuck it!" and dont even try. How does anyone think these tests are indicative of actual, overall knowledge or teaching success?
THANK. YOU. I'm so glad that someone understands what I'm thinking, but too pissed to articulate right now!
It's crazy. I mean, just today I had 4th, 5th and 6th graders doing the math portion and and I walked around the lab, half of them (AT LEAST) were not even pretending to do the work and answer. They were just randomly clicking. I had to stop and remind them that THIS IS A TEST and they really, truly need to try their best.
Yeah, indiana is supposed to a "pioneer" in education right now, but it feels like I'm one of the pioneers fucking dying of dysentery on the oregon trail.
THANK. YOU. I'm so glad that someone understands what I'm thinking, but too pissed to articulate right now!
It's crazy. I mean, just today I had 4th, 5th and 6th graders doing the math portion and and I walked around the lab, half of them (AT LEAST) were not even pretending to do the work and answer. They were just randomly clicking. I had to stop and remind them that THIS IS A TEST and they really, truly need to try their best.
This is why test scores are not a valid measure of a student's preparation for "real life." My kids definitely play "click the random-ass answer" and "skip the long-ass reading passage" entirely too much for my comfort. But state tests in PA (PSSAs/Keystones) don't have any real value for them yet -just us as a school - so, why would they care? But, yeah, MERIT PAY ATTACHED TO TEST SCORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
I know exactly how you feel. I used to work for a school system and test time was always stressful. Either everything would run smoothly or everything would go wrong.
After this year and all the new tests, I can totally see why 46% of teachers leave after just 5 years. I'm finishing up year three and feeling the burnout already.
After this year and all the new tests, I can totally see why 46% of teachers leave after just 5 years. I'm finishing up year three and feeling the burnout already.
This is my fifth year. I love my students, but the rest is really starting to burn me out. i really don't see myself doing this when I'm 40 or 50. I definitely can't do this for the rest of my life....
Post by sailorgray on Apr 30, 2013 20:13:19 GMT -5
My FB feed is always blowing up with articles about all of this testing. I am in PA and lots of my friends are teachers. How many of these tests do you do a year and are private schools required to do this all of this testing?
After this year and all the new tests, I can totally see why 46% of teachers leave after just 5 years. I'm finishing up year three and feeling the burnout already.
This is my fifth year. I love my students, but the rest is really starting to burn me out. i really don't see myself doing this when I'm 40 or 50. I definitely can't do this for the rest of my life....
No, I've already started thinking about what I'll do when I'm maybe 30. Teach college? Go back to school? I don't know. The thought overwhelms me.
My FB feed is always blowing up with articles about all of this testing. I am in PA and lots of my friends are teachers. How many of these tests do you do a year and are private schools required to do this all of this testing?
It varies from district to district, but in my school, we take three school-wide standardized tests that are supposed to be a predictor for TCAP, the state-wide standardized test. Then we take two CRA tests, which are short assessments of the new Common Core math standards. Then there's a writing assessment. We also STAR test once a month to monitor their grade level in reading. I'm trying to think what else, but that's all I can think of at the moment.
My FB feed is always blowing up with articles about all of this testing. I am in PA and lots of my friends are teachers. How many of these tests do you do a year and are private schools required to do this all of this testing?
It varies from district to district, but in my school, we take three school-wide standardized tests that are supposed to be a predictor for TCAP, the state-wide standardized test. Then we take two CRA tests, which are short assessments of the new Common Core math standards. Then there's a writing assessment. We also STAR test once a month to monitor their grade level in reading. I'm trying to think what else, but that's all I can think of at the moment.
Don't forget the Terra Novas!
We have about the same amount and don't forget weekly and unit tests in class! And placement tests for reading and math interventions as well as for identification of gifted students.