Dearest Teachers...like most in our nation, I have been worried about the state of our Education System. My worry does NOT stem from the fact that...overall...our children are doing poorly on state testing, or from the numbers crunched that rank us lower than other nations. This statistical data is gathered, then analyzed...prodded and then probed, then finally revealed...targeting schools, educators and students who did not make the grade. My ultimate worry stems from these results! Grade levels 1 through 6 are suffering greatly.
I believe that the standardized tests that have been developed over the last 12 years or so were designed with WAY unrealistic expectations...especially (But not exclusively) regarding Math. Over the same span of time, curriculum's have been developed, revamped, developed again, modified, added on-to, reorganized...liken to Frankenstein's Monster! Children now enter school in kindergarten, and progress up through sixth grade with only fleeting glances at basic skills! The foundation needed to be successful in higher order Math like...Algebra, Calculus, Trig, etc....is virtually non-existent! Without a FIRM foundation of basic Math skills, most children will find the abstract realm of algebra more than daunting! Multi step problems? Forget about it!
By fifth grade a ten year old should be mastering long division (With its multi-step process), multi-digit multiplication, adding large numbers, recognizing large numbers, subtracting large numbers, Time, Measurement, Money, Geometry (Perimeter, area, polygon identification, etc.), Word Problems, Graphs and other Number Theory elements. I am sure that I left out a few other key elements that would firm up a good and solid Math foundation, but you get the point!
The average fifth grader is 10 years old....10 YEARS OLD! Solving complex Math problems like those found on the most recent version of the Delaware State Test (DCAS) is NOT...in my belief...an accurate measure of how good, or how bad our kids are doing. Nor is it a fair and accurate measure of how well, or how poorly educators are teaching! To me it is an indicator only that the test-makers don't know what the hell they are doing! They do not realize the harm they are causing...short-term and long-term. We (Educators) have to "Teach to the Test" in order for our kids to be remotely successful. Constructing questions that are, each in their own way, so intricately complicated and loaded with distractors that it seems as if the test-makers are setting our kids up to fail! Do they think that all ten year old's are Math geniuses that employ higher-order thinking all the time? There are always a few Math geniuses...a few shining stars. As awesome as this is...Math genius status is NOT the norm!
Our kids no longer have a foundation to build upon! They have a frustrating world of Mathematics that brings about anxiety, and low test and classroom scores far more than it brings about, or promotes higher-order thinking! As a fifth grade educator, I have to guide my kids down a path and try to figure out a way to forget about their natural cognitive ten-year-old development. I have to forgo the teaching of basic skills (That my students need) and teach them how to decipher the complexities of Mathematics geared more towards students older than them.
I believe that we are expecting far too much from our students. I believe that a ten-year old brain is an amazing thing, capable of amazing things...at a ten-year-old level! I believe that those who develop these tests, and curriculum's feel VERY STRONGLY that all kids are academically gifted in all subjects, and that all ten-year-old brains can improve to a 14 year old cognivity (sic). I believe that the average kid has no place at all. I believe the good students hold an obsolete position, and can no longer hold their heads up high because a 2 is bad, a 3 isn't good enough, but a 4...a high 4...is the end-all, and be-all of school! I did not mention 1...ones aren't even considered without flinching.
Grades 7th through 12th would have better Math students if grades K-6 were allowed to build the foundations of success.
Enough ranting for now. Please do not get me wrong. I believe in my kids...fifth graders truly can do amazing things in all areas. I just think the system has lost its way. It has lost its way because teachers are NOT the ones deciding the fate of our kids. Put us in charge! Give US twelve years and watch us pull our kids out from under. We are the ones who know. We are the ones who make a difference. We know what is needed, and we know how to teach it. Over, done with...gone!
