Some parents and teachers thought they came to Monday night’s meeting in Royal Palm Beach to listen. Others were so determined to get their message out they wrote it out ahead of time. All had anguishing stories about feeling unable to help children.
Here are some of the snippets that didn’t fit in today’s print edition:
Hours to prep for computerized testing of kindergartners. “I watched a student suffer for over an hour. They had no idea how to work the computer mouse.” Five teachers, working one-on-one with students got only 10 of 120 students done in one school day. “That night I went home and cried.” – Chris White, teacher at a Title 1 elementary school
Children don’t know the language – what’s ‘drag and drop’ to a child who’s not worked on a computer? . The books were designed to go with one test, we’re using another. – Karla Yurick, 5th grade math teacher
“I can’t sign on. This just crashed. I can’t highlight.” – things heard in one teacher’s middle school classroom when students attempt online testing.
“They’re actually calling this Common Core disorder,” says parent Tammi Haber. She adds “Solving a simple math problem in 15 steps. What’s the point of that? “
“I was never tested and I was just fine,” – parent.
“Every single day my little boy comes home: I’m stupid. I’m an idiot. I’m useless because I didn’t do good on this assessment test.” – mother of son in third grade. Also, “He begs me, mommy, please home-school me… His anxiety level at 8 years old is through the roof. He’s so afraid he’s not going to pass.”
“He’s so stressed, he’s so disengaged. He’s miserable. We have done nothing fun for any weekend” since school began – Tina Blauvelt, mother of 4th and 8th graders. The eighth grader excelled in seventh-grade math, and on last year’s FCAT. This year, in algebra and failing. “They took the kid right out of the kid,” says Bruce Blauvelt.
Some background: This year is a particularly tumultuous one in Florida’s public schools. Following three years of moving to set of standards based on the national Common Core, new statewide exams will be rolled out this year.
The test is more sophisticated, no more multiple choice test with pencil and paper. So far, teachers have been given a limited online sample of what it will look like.
Next: The fifth and final community input meetingbegins at 6 p.m. Thursday at Olympic Heights High west of Boca Raton.
