Core vs "Elective" Courses: Misperception #3

Misperception #3: Testing doesn't affect you.

Seriously?

Now while testing certainly does not affect us the same way it does, let's say, English teachers, it most certainly does affect us.

Ask yourselves these questions:

• Which classes are students taken out of for benchmark testing? (Hint: electives)
• Which classes are students taken out of for make-up/extended time benchmark testing? (Hint: electives)
• Which classes are students taken out of three to five days a week for RtI as a result of benchmark testing? (Hint: electives)
• Which classes are students dropped into mid-semester due to changes in their schedules prompted by their benchmark test scores? (Hint: electives)

We sit in the same meetings as "core" teachers do going over lists of juniors, discussing their PSAE "potential" and brainstorming possible interventions to implement in every class.

We are required to implement the same PSAE-prep and intervention measures as all other teachers.

We get the same thinly-veiled, ominous threats from administration as all other teachers as we approach testing season.

We get the same foul attitudes and lack of motivation from students as all other teachers during testing season.

We get the same vilification in the press as all other teachers when test scores are released.

We experience the same sense of temporary relief as all other teachers in mid-May.

Come on people, it's 2014; no one is unaffected by testing.