I know there is a valid purpose behind standardized testing. I just hate it as a mom. My kids are smart. They aren't geniuses, but they are smart. Tomorrow starts our first day of standardized testing. Taylor (in 7th grade) doesn't care one bit about the tests. Of course, he has never taken any test very seriously. His grades on tests will reflect his attitude about tests. Megan (5th grade) is a perfectionist and won't be satisfied with anything other than her best, which of course, means straight A's. (When she got a C on a group science project a few weeks ago, she had an emotional breakdown!) Over the weekend, Megan was in a sour mood because she knew test week was coming.... and they've been doing nothing but practice tests for two weeks to get ready. She's tired of taking tests and she had this crazy idea in her head that if she did poorly on the tests that she wouldn't pass 5th grade. Ian is having his first year of testing... in second grade. The test is different and looked at differently, but it's still standardized testing none the less... tonight at bedtime he had a stomach ache. When I questioned him about it, he confessed he was nervous about testing tomorrow. I reassured him that he's a super smart kid and the test will be easy, but he also had the crazy notion that moving on to 3rd grade was hanging on the balance of his test scores! Both kids told me that their teachers didn't put that idea into their heads, but I think it would be great if we could slow down a bit and not spend so much time "preparing" for these tests... it's really stressing us all out!!!
