Students in Need

This past week I went on an interview with an organization that targets students who don't do well on standardized tests. In the age of high stakes testing, this is especially important. Think back to your days in school and imagine, if not yourself, a kid in your class who was always making good comments or helping out with activities, or was really fantastic at building sets for the shows but somehow always got a C or a D on exams. Now take that kid and imagine he or she is in a school without regular activities to keep him or her interested and that he or she has a lot of family and/or personal responsibilities. So, he or she is barely passing school. But, you and I know that's a kid who has so much to give and who really understands the work. For some reason, the tests just don't reflect what we've seen in REAL LIFE ACTION.

Those kids are slipping through the cracks more now than ever -- the kids who just don't -- and won't ever test well. It's not that they can't be taught to do better. They can. But, they already are excellent at applying their skills and knowledge differently and its unfair to deny them the opportunity for alternative assessment just because they have an alternative learning style.

And college, as we all know is a much more "project based" learning environment. You do papers as often as you do tests and you are expected to present information with the kind of mastery that is required in leading in activity. Even the exams require more critical thinking and there is more room to prepare for them in larger chunks. I'll never forget the first time I learned that my professor kept old exams on file. I sat with my TA and went over my answers to all the old exams beforehand. I studied for exams in units -- I know that high school curricula are taught in units, but as a student, things go too fast for you to be conscious of them. They did for me, but I was absent a lot. Then again, so are these kids.

I know, believe me, that we all have bigger problems. I'm pointing these kids out so that, as we go back into the mayhem, we have something else to focus on during the pain. It's awful to say, but I am now beginning to feel like a person with a chronic condition whose best off focusing on other people's needs because nothing can be done that hasn't been with her own.