Saturday, August 06, 2005
New School Year
In less than two days I will welcome my 25th group of students to my 7th grade Pre-Algebra classes. It is hard to believe that both my wife and I will have a quarter century worth of experience by the end of this school year. I look forward to the challenges a new group of students will bring especially in this age of educational accountability.
I have mixed emotions (Like the proverbial son who witnessed his mother-in-law driving over a cliff in his brand new Hummer.) about this age of accountability in education. For me personally I could say that I have been somewhat successful. I could point to my statistics of the last 2 years that show that 90 and 98% of my students have scored at Level 3 or above respectively (Level 5 being the highest) as well as having made an "Annual Learning Gain" as designated by President Bush’s "No Child Left Behind" program.
But I worry about my students who didn’t score at Level 3 or make an "ALG." What will become of them next year and what kind of future do they have in store for them? Is there a place in our school system for compassion and hope or will we continue to live and die by test scores?
I ask you to pray for my students as well as myself. Pray that I can find that balance between holding my students accountable and showing that there is a place for compassion and perhaps even a bit of fun in the upcoming year.
I also ask that you pray for my son Steven who is a good student but struggles with the pressure of performing on "high stakes" tests. Thank you for those who have prayed for him in the past because his test scores have come up for the last 3 years in a row and we certainly give God the praise for this. For those of you who still have kids in school I will keep them in my prayers. Thanks.
I have mixed emotions (Like the proverbial son who witnessed his mother-in-law driving over a cliff in his brand new Hummer.) about this age of accountability in education. For me personally I could say that I have been somewhat successful. I could point to my statistics of the last 2 years that show that 90 and 98% of my students have scored at Level 3 or above respectively (Level 5 being the highest) as well as having made an "Annual Learning Gain" as designated by President Bush’s "No Child Left Behind" program.
But I worry about my students who didn’t score at Level 3 or make an "ALG." What will become of them next year and what kind of future do they have in store for them? Is there a place in our school system for compassion and hope or will we continue to live and die by test scores?
I ask you to pray for my students as well as myself. Pray that I can find that balance between holding my students accountable and showing that there is a place for compassion and perhaps even a bit of fun in the upcoming year.
I also ask that you pray for my son Steven who is a good student but struggles with the pressure of performing on "high stakes" tests. Thank you for those who have prayed for him in the past because his test scores have come up for the last 3 years in a row and we certainly give God the praise for this. For those of you who still have kids in school I will keep them in my prayers. Thanks.
