Category: Standardized Testing
Most teachers Mary Tarashuk knows are salmon, with a deeply embedded instinct that urges them to keep swimming upstream against mighty currents (including CC standardized testing) to find their way back to real teaching that makes real sense for real kids.
Teacher Mary Tarashuk has reasserted her “Irish Zen” following the full frontal assault on PARCC testing in her last post. She describes how her fourth graders had fun learning about Chinese New Year while also practicing for the high stakes test in prescribed ways.
New Jersey teacher Mary Tarashuk finds herself in a traffic-snarled “PARCCing lot” waiting for March testing madness to begin. In a new Kids on the Cusp post, she lists her concerns –including a PARCC 4th grade reading test sample that levels at Grade 9.
Now in her 16th year of teaching – and administering standardized tests – Mary Tarashuk questions their value in measuring student learning or judging teacher performance. She does not question their ability to suck the joy out of Springtime. Thank goodness for Miss Bonkers and Dr. Seuss.