Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion State testing--how much prep?

We used this against our school and as a valid (Ha!) argument for an official acceleration. After all, we reasoned, it would be a terrible shame if DD were to not do well simply because she was overthinking questions that she would have found on-level (ha! again) two or three years in the past....


yes, indeed... what a shame that would be... what to do... what to do...



Oh, hey-- I have an idea-- we could make it so that DD is taking the test that aligns with what she is seeing in class this year!

{Yes, sorry to say, this worked.}

Test prep. Oh my. DD was required to complete at least an hour of pure test prep (Study Island) every week until she had passed state testing each year from 4th through 8th grade. She was elated when that disappeared in high school-- she referred to Study Island as "The Rock" if that tells you anything. It seriously angered her that she couldn't just pre-test, post-test, and bag the rest. She had to run through all of the topic tests, which were nothing more than an annoyance to her.

She also usually 'failed' this "class" because her participation was inadequate. That's right. She was earning 95% + on the post-tests for the school year in SEPTEMBER, but got F grades because she wasn't spending enough time on it each week.

Words simply cannot express how stupid this is.

I will say that our school at least didn't tie the curriculum to testing the way that I know others do, however. It was sequestered in that one "class" that wasn't really a class. Oh, sure, it was labeled something innocent like "study skills" or "academic success" or some such thing.

This made me laugh and I started wheezing/coughing because I have a really bad cold or bronchitis.
The kids in DD's class are going to be in for a treat if they are forced to sit there and do nothing until DD is done. That could be all day. LOL. She'll get a perfect score for the school though. I told the same thing to DD, and said it's all about the school looking good. I didn't tell her to mess it up but told her not to worry about it. Not sure if those two things are the same or not. Ironically we get emails/bulletins/voice messages from the principal about the state standardized test and how kids should eat a good breakfast, get enough sleep, blah blah, but I never even know when the district computerized math/reading tests are going to be. THOSE are the tests that actually affect my child, in that they can be used to determine g/t eligibility. So the tests that are the highest stakes for my child and other children as individuals--the district doesn't care if the kids get enough sleep, are prepared, or do their best.

I don't think it works that way here. So DD is given the state standardized testing because she did a full grade acceleration and is actually registered as a third grade student. But if we had just subject accelerated her instead of grade accelerating her, she would still be a second grader this year and wouldn't be eligible for the state testing. They give them the math/reading test for the grade they are enrolled in. Kids in the gifted magnet are allowed to accelerate and I'm very surprised the district allows this to happen and I'm expecting them to put a stop to it at any moment. They probably know those parents will band together and revolt.

Precisely. So instead of DD being a "fifth grader doing sixth grade work" we argued successfully that it was in their best interests to have her be a 6th grader, doing 6th grade testing work. Er... work. Right.


By that time, we were already playing the game of minimizing DD's total lifetime burden of nonsense provided to her by the K-12 educational system. So there is that.

They wouldn't do grade accelerations anymore either. That would be an even bigger problem because then there would be the "gaps" and the kid would HAVE to take the standardized test on material they might not know. Like if we had grade acclerated DS this year, he would have gone into second grade not knowing how to measure cm with a ruler. Never mind the fact that the teacher (or us) could have solved this problem in about 3 minutes if we knew what the gaps were. But god forbid anyone have to work one-on-one with a kid rather than just have them sit through the prescribed curriculum.

The state testing was a reason (among other pathetic reasons) our school used to not allow our daughters to subject accelerate. I guess if they were to go to a higher grade for reading then it would somehow throw off the school's numbers for state assessments. I'm assuming they would have to be counted in that higher grade for reading, but in the lower grade for other subjects. I don't really see what the big deal would be, but whatever! We would hate to make things difficult on the school now wouldn't we?!? Ugghh!

Our school normally plays up testing like some others have posted. It starts around March and school basically stops while the teachers "teach to the test". One good thing is the kids don't have homework for several weeks during this time. It wasn't as bad this year since we had the new common core test and the results don't matter since they have a waiver. They didn't do all the "test prep" they usually do and they won't have all the hoopla with parties and all afterwards. This will all change next year I'm sure and we will be right back to teaching the test and pumping the kids up.

Our school doesn't do it, but several other local schools let kids out of school early a few days for each test they score at a certain level or if they improve their score from the previous year. This has been the case for a few years now and the kids really jump all over this.

Now that I think about it, I'm not really sure whether the kid would have to do the state standardized test if they were subject accelerated instead of grade accelerated. I'm not sure if the district reports to the state whether a child has been officially "subject accelerated" and is going to a different grade for math or reading. But either way it's a problem. Either the kid would have to test on material they learned a different year, or there might be "gaps" if there are units they end up missing. Therefore what we are left with is a one-size-fits-all curriculum and they run kids through like a factory.

We just wanted to add (in case it helps) that we don't think schools have to drag the tests out over weeks.

If all of the schools administer in the same way, it should be fair.

The teachers did not give homework while the tests were ongoing and the tests were spread out.

Now, those kids are ill-prepared when they have to sit for a true, long standardized test. Yikes!

According to this article there is a lot of test prep in New York schools.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/01/e...rk-schools-despite-calls-to-ease-it.html
Test Prep Endures in New York Schools, Despite Calls to Ease It
By AL BAKER
New York Times
APRIL 30, 2014

Here most of the tests went to computerized versions (not all grade levels)...but they did that but then didn't give the schools more computers so they had to stretch out the testing window because you have to shuffle all the classes that take them on the computer through the computer labs and libraries.

So FCAT testing has involved 3 full weeks. But my 4th grader took one 45 minute section of reading one morning and the other session the next morning and then the math the following two days and he was done. His was not on the computer. 5th grade math was.

My 8th grader took science test in two sessions on one day, did reading (on the computer) last Friday session one in the morning and reading session 2 Monday morning. He doesn't take FCAT 8th grade math test because he is in Algebra so he has another test at the end of the year, Algebra EOC, instead.

Both my 4th grader and 8th grader had to take a writing test in February, one 1-hour session.