Special Ed Tester? Former Special Ed Teacher?

I am a special ed tester. I used to be a special ed teacher, but now I spend approximately 6 weeks during the school year on district and state tests. This, of course, does not include classroom and curriculum assessments that I also administer.

Apparently, it is necessary to check 4 times a year to see what I have taught and what my students have learned. I do understand that some assessments are necessary to guide teaching and know what kids have picked up and what needs to be retaught. However, losing 6 weeks a year to gather this information is too much.

Being a special ed teacher, I realized the importance of remediation. The students in my program usually take much longer to complete the extensive tests. So actually they get less time being taught information than the students who already know the curriculum.

It seems almost cruel to me to keep giving the same tests to students to prove one more time what they do not know. Give me the time to actually teach these kids who need additional exposure to information for it to stick.

Amazingly, these incredible students never complain or question why we are taking this array of tests. They just sit down, buck up, and get started. I don’t know about you but I would probably voice a protest if someone made me take a Latin test over and over when I have never been taught Latin. Bet I wouldn’t do very well on the test either!

Assessments are valuable tools in education but their overuse is a shame.

In Him,
Joyful
3-22-2010