SCHOOL TALK: Test Season Is a Test on Parents’ Nerves

Have you noticed the posters and coffee mugs that have been popping up with the reassuring words of the British government on the eve of World War II–“Keep calm and carry on”? These words of encouragement provided the perfect message to New York City schoolchildren faced with state tests last month.

Parents of third-, fourth- and fifth-graders can tell you it has not been easy living with the dread of six days of testing. Hoping to help their children, parents plied them with practice tests once they had finished their homework. To pay for tutors and Kumon, some families have probably foregone vacations or new couches.

Before the tests, the chancellor held a webinar on how the Common Core Standards, adopted by New York and 45 other states, has affected this year’s tests. He tried to put a positive spin on the changes, but I have never seen anyone look so lackluster, almost as worn out as the staff member who has been working overtime duplicating test prep booklets for upper-grade classes.

Watching the webinar, I was prepared to take notes to share with parents, but the only words I wrote down were “much harder.” The chancellor’s explanation for the difficulty of the new tests is that 21st-century jobs require better readers and writers and more creative and flexible thinkers, and that children have to face those higher standards at a much earlier age.

After the webinar was over, I went to www.engageny.org, where information on the Common Core can be found. I located a sample third-grade ELA test, and opened to the first reading comprehension sample: “The Gray Hare” by Leo Tolstoy.

Here is a sentence from the story: “He [the hare] played awhile with them on the cleared floor, ate some oats from the open granary, climbed on the kiln over the snow-covered roof, and across the wicker fence started back to his ravine.” Reading that, I was grateful that my children have already made it through elementary school.

Yes, in preparation for the tests, every eight-year-old in a New York City public school has read something by one of the greatest writers of the 19th century. But, I wonder, will the ability to decode “The Gray Hare” help a student get a job after college, or will it lead to a degree in English literature and becoming an underemployed writer?

Reaction to the ELA test this year was mixed. One boy insisted that the fourth-grade test was much easier than last year’s third-grade test. Some students complained that the reading passages were very long, and they weren’t able to finish the test. I did hear from a few teachers that the tests were not as difficult as they had anticipated. There was no Tolstoy, Woolf or Faulkner in the reading comprehension sections.

Test-taking is a skill, certainly not one to be ignored, but most teachers and parents believe that the greater focus of education should be on learning to become a curious learner, a good citizen, and someone who is not afraid to take chances or make mistakes. At least part of the reason families are flocking to the Downtown schools is that they are known for preparing students for the tests, without foregoing a deep, inquiry-based approach to learning.

The anxiety level Downtown last month was further heightened  by the events during the test week: the terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon followed by the unprecedented manhunt, and the devastating explosion at the fertilizer storage facility in Texas, as well as the Senate vote on gun control legislation, which refreshed our memories of the Sandy Hook massacre.

Calming parent and student anxiety, which seems to grow with each year, has become part of the daily work at schools.

During testing, school staff talked down upset and worried children, reassuring them that kids all over the city are taking the same tests, and that it’s normal to be a little nervous. I did the same with their parents, explaining that the chancellor was expecting that test scores would be lower this year and would grade them on the curve accordingly.

Once the last testing materials are signed and sealed, the relief in schools is palpable. Next up for anxiety of the month: in May, fifth-graders find out where they will attend middle school in the fall.

Connie Schraft is the P.S. 89 parent coordinator. For questions about Downtown schools, write connie@tribecatrib.com.