Testing 5-year-olds

At a public elementary school in California, teachers are asked to sit  their kindergarteners down at a computer to answer questions on a standardized test to assess their academic growth.  Five-year-olds.

And the standardized testing frenzy never lets up from then on.  In high school, students not only have to take their CAHSEE to get out of high school, but their SAT or ACT to get in to college.

According to a power point from CSU Los Angeles, standardized testing “began in the United States in the early 1900s to determine one's individual intelligence quotient” and was used during WWI because “the Army needed a method to determine which soldiers were “Officer Material.”  Then the No Child Left Behind Act came along and, well, you know the rest.

Testing individual students makes sense if there is probable cause…a suspected learning disability, perhaps, or history of developmental delays or neurological problems.  But that isn’t how it works.  Every single student is tested, regardless of their age, effort, grades or native language.  And as teachers, we are asked to not divulge that parents may request a waiver excusing students from standardized tests.

Does standardized testing work as an evaluative tool of teacher effectiveness?  No more so than judging the effectiveness of a postal worker based on whether the bills he delivers actually get paid, or critiquing a doctor based on the number of miles his patients walk per week.  You can’t hold someone accountable for variables beyond their control.

In what other publicly funded government institution is annual testing mandatory for citizens?  Are Amtrak passengers required to submit to a yearly test on their ability to read a train schedule?  Do California sea lions have to jump through hoops for the Marine Mammal Commission?  Does the USDA Rural Development agency ask housing recipients to undergo annual inspections to be sure they have vacuumed and dusted adequately?

All this standardized testing leaves our children with the impression that no matter what they do, they will always be judged, and that their worth is measured by how far above the 50^th percentile a test reports them to be.  Average isn’t good enough, and any talent that can’t be measured by a standardized test must not be very important. 

COLLEGE APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED? HERE ARE YOUR NEXT STEPS!

1) Check your email daily.  Colleges will communicate with you through email with any questions they have about your application, reminders about deadlines, info about events on campus, and materials they need you to send or haven't received from your high school such as transcripts, letters, SAT scores, etc. 
2) In one of these emails should be instructions for setting up a student portal/account.  Do it.  That is how most will notify you if you are accepted, long before the envelope arrives in the mail!
3) Your high school counselor and teachers are responsible for sending your fall/mid term transcript or grade report, your letters of recommendation, and submitting your info for Cal Grant aid.  You are responsible for reminding them.
4)  You are also responsible for using College Board to send your SAT scores to all the colleges to which you applied, or ACT.org if you are submitting ACT scores (except for the CSU system, which won't need them for admission decisions if your GPA is 3.0+).  Most colleges will need your test scores by Jan. 15 at the latest! The UC system requires ALL your test scores and uses the highest total score from all three sections for one test date, but you only need to pay for and submit the scores to ONE UC campus and the rest will get them also. For CSU, use the CSU mentor code to save money and all the CSU's will receive your scores.  CSU will super score so you can send just your tests that are the highest in each section.  Common app schools differ in their test policies; some super score, some don't, and you need to send your scores to each college.   Check the website of each college to which you applied for details and deadlines.
5) Complete (parents will have to assist) the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) AND the CSS Profile (if needed) for all the colleges you applied to, EVEN if your income is $250K plus annually.  Many private colleges use the financial aid applications to make "merit" aid decisions and to award scholarships, and even if you don't qualify for federal aid you will be eligible to take out low interest student and Parent Plus federal loans if you decide to.
Deadlines for these range from Feb 1 to March 1 depending on the college.