ON the focus side of things…my husband, a social studies teacher, talks about the “engaged” student concept. How can you tell if their brains are engaged? We can’t (short of wiring them…coming soon to a school near you 😉 ). They can be doodling, wiggling, staring at the floor, kicking their feet and still THINKING!

Standardized testing is metrics based, not child based. It is similar to a CSR whose pay is based on how many calls he takes–he can’t take the extra time to really solve the customer’s problems. Add in a metrics system where he is judged on how long his calls take (to the second) and you have the situation our schools have to deal with.

Our teachers and schools are judged by the success of their students, resulting in less individual focus and less funding to those who need the funding. When a school in a low income area can be closed for “poor test scores” and that money funneled to a higher income area where the children do not have as many external pressures, something is very wrong.

We always avoided testing states while homeschooling. Portfolio assessments, which many states allow homeschoolers, make so much more sense. I was comfortable doing those if I had to be evaluated. They showed what a child was really capable of and where his passions were. They allowed for creative teaching–in fact, they encourage it.