Standardized Testing: Marking milestones and moments
I never thought I’d be so glad to see a month come to an end. But April is almost over and I am thrilled to see it go. For the past several years, both of my boys have been enrolled in private school, so they have been exempt from that annual rite of passage familiar to every public school student — standardized testing!
This year, however, my youngest had the “joy” of taking the Georgia Milestones EOG for Math and Language Arts. Regardless of how you feel about standardized testing, there’s no denying that teachers and students feel a tremendous amount of pressure to perform. It’s a stressful time for teachers, for students, and parents too!
As my son slogged through the weeks of preparation and practice sessions, I was reminded of something very important — something we all should remember. The scores that a student will get from these tests will tell you something about that child, but they won’t tell you everything… Seriously, there is no way to “test” all of the wonderful and awesome things that make a child who he or she is.
Rose Kennedy once said, “Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but moments.” So we are brushing off the recent Milestones testing and are looking forward to more learning moments to come as the school year winds down.
