Is it June 8th yet?

June 8th, the last day of school. The final frontier. I am so ready for school to be finished. The students are ready for school to be finished. The parents are ready for school to be finished. This year seems like such a long year.

This week was End Of Grade testing, thanks to President Bush and "No Child Left Behind". However, it seems the only people who are being "left behind" are me and my colleagues. I am exhausted. It seems like I have worked all year to prepare students for three days of testing, just to discover that this test does not seem to be much of a concern to them. Of course their parents are concerned because it determines what they have or have not learned this year. I am concerned because it shows how well I taught or didn't teach the material. Administration is concerned because it shows how well our school is achieving our goals. The only people who are not concerned, are those taking the tests, the students. They could care less!!!! It's not their job on the line. It's not their bonus schedule in jeopardy. Sure, they may get held back a year, and may not go into the next grade, but these days, that is not a very big deal to students, especially my students.

You see, my grade, fourth grade, is not a "gateway" year. This means that they do not "have to pass" the test, in order to pass the grade. I have several students who have not passed Reading or Math, can not complete ANY of the standards required of a fourth grade student. When I brought these students up for retention, I was told to "wait and let's catch them next year". Meaning that fifth grade IS a gateway year. Next year, if my students don't pass their End of Grade tests, they can not be promoted into the sixth grade.

So, what is the result? I have three students who can not read on a fourth grade level, who can not add or subtract properly, much less multiply or divide. Students who can barely write a clearly defined sentence much less a whole paragraph. These students will be going on into the fifth grade, and will be "caught" next year. Aren't we setting these students up for failure? What about those students who did work their hardest to succeed? Don't we owe them something for doing their job? Aren't we teaching students that it's ok to screw up during the year because we have to pass them anyway because it's not a "gateway" year? What will become of these students? It's days and weeks like this that I hate being an educator!