Many students go through the stress of preparing for standardized tests, as there’s a lot of pressure with ensuring they increase their performance. Since the No Child Left Behind Act stipulates that public school students must increase their Adequate Yearly Progress each year, many work to ensure they receive high marks.
However, while students may feel the heat, teachers could be feeling it worse, according to Paragould, Arkansas’s ABC affiliate, KAIT 8.
Teachers understand the importance of ensuring their students are ready for standardized tests, which is why they may take on the burden if the pupils do not excel in performance. Additionally, many schools are starting to hold educators accountable for a lapse in improved scores.
The news provider reports that many teachers at Paragould High School have been banding together to come up with effective lesson plans.
"If one teacher has really great ideas on how to help their kids in that particular area, then we share those ideas and then we work together," English teacher Jenny Hollis told the news provider.
There are some ways that teachers can take the pressure off of students, such as making the review process fun with games and continually offering practice tests to help pupils advance their knowledge.
My child went to two different schools within our city. During his education at the school with the lower report card, I was asked to sign a paper that may recommend my child for special education. His teacher was difficult about providing specifics of what my child should know, however, I was able to pull the state standards and bought software aligned to give my child the knowledge to pass the first grade. Within 2 weeks my child not only came up to speed, but scored 99% in math and 92% in language arts. The cost: a trip to Disneyland.:) When my child moved to the school with the higher report card, without much extra instruction he scored advanced.
His father wanted to move my son back to his old school mostly because he missed his old friends. Again to my surprise, he scored in the 50’s and 60’s when I tested him on Bright Education. Many questions he had never even seen before. Bright Education gave me the tools to compare what he should know to what he actually knew and he’s now up in the 80’s within a month. I’m not so concerned what he scores on the standardized tests (of course his scores go up as he learns what he’s doing), but I really appreciate having the access as a parent to standards that allow me to make sure my son is getting a proper education.
Blame it on the teachers. Not necessarily. If the laws change increasing education expectations than continuing education for the educators and resources to implement the expected change need to be provided.