Aspies For Freedom

Are all about STAR testing...

http://star.cde.ca.gov/

I think I may be more tense than she is about it.  She has pervasive learning disabilities, and I believe she may fall somewhere on the spectrum.  What are they doing for her?  Giving her more time.  Giving her a quiet place.

The whole school is stressing about this.  Make sure you feed your kids!  Make sure they get enough sleep!  Make sure they get all of their homework done!  (wait, huh? - they are testing, why all the homework?)

I am just griping, but I hate that the way of public education is to "teach for the test" and that the next two weeks of my life will be filled with anxiety caused tummy aches, a child with a really bad headache, that is simply not able to perform the tests.  Ugh...

OK, rant (vent) over...

Oh dear, at least when mine have tests, they have NO homework.
I feel for you ...

I remember doing that crap when I was in public school. I always scored very highly (95% or above in most areas), but the teachers could not understand why that was the case and yet I was still earning poor grades in my classes, and consequently they disliked me. Luckily I didn't have to do any mandatory standardized testing when I was was in high school, as it was a private institution.

I remember having tons of homework during STAR testing week as well, so I can sympathize...

STAR tests aren't a big deal for the individual who's taking them. The school just likes to make them into a big deal because they're the school's reputation.

Actually, I have issues with STAR tests and the way schools bend over backwards for a point on the STAR tests, but don't give a crap about the students any other time of year. I am so tempted to get them all wrong on purpose but my parents would notice when the results come in... >_>

Just tell her to bubble in random answers (just make sure takes her time, though, so the teacher doesn't come around and see she's finished way too early). It doesn't do anything until you're like a sophomore in high school.

They make it SUCH a big deal.  Not as in, it reflects on the kids personally, not like that, but like the school talks about nothing else for months before!  I mean, what a way to make sure the kids are so tense they mess up.  Flyers, extra snacks, notes about not allowing your kid to miss a day....

I read her pretest last night, she thought she did well.  The worst one was where you had to read two stories on a page and do comparison questions.  Well...one of her big difficulties is reading a lot of text on a page, it overwhelms her and she shuts down.  She had no bloody idea what the stories were about.  She, however, thought she did just fine.  I let her think so.  Stupid tests...

Yeah, and that's the stupid thing, is that they make it so big like that. They really try to scare the kids. The kids ask why. "If we fail it, do we get held back?" "Well, no, but try anyway." "Will we get in trouble?" "No, but try hard anyway." "What happens?" "We won't tell you, but try hard anyway."

So kids make up these rumors and get scared and push themselves too hard.

I really had the worst STAR testing experiences in elementary school. I honestly can not do math for extended periods of time, I get headaches, can't think straight, cry, can hardly control myself not to scream out loud and stare my Scantron to shreds... one year my school decided I was psycho right during STAR testing, so I had to be cooped up in a classroom and do a bunch of math tests, then go to the other classroom and do more math tests with a jerk who wouldn't even let me check the time while my classmates went to recess, and P.E., and the library... and meanwhile everyone is telling me how important it is that I do well on all the tests, but they couldn't give me any reasons for why it would benefit me, or even why they deserved to have me try so hard for them, but they just told me I had to and... urgh. It was a nightmare. I tried to run away, but the janitor caught me. And what DID I get out of the deal? Some candy I didn't like, and an extra Fudgesicle. And I didn't even take the Fudgcicle, because all my classmates were staring at me like, "How come SHE gets one??", and what am I supposed to say when they ask me - "Yeah, I had to go take some tests because I have mental problems, so the teacher felt sorry for me."

So believe me, I totally know what you mean.

And the worst part is that everyone in those schools is so OBVIOUS that they don't care about anything but test scores. It makes me sick.

That sucks. It's true, they just care about the test scores. I enjoyed the testing as a little kid (I never got pressured because I knew early on that the tests don't impact grades or hold me back, though many other kids thought these things). In high school, however, I just tired of them and their difficulty (my ability to focus on tests has decreased over the years) and in my eleventh grade math tests, I took maybe three hours more than the time allotted each day. They are a pain.

They're called SOLs here in VA. My son has been taking them on and off all year. For the Writing SOL last month, they had to extend the school day by two hours for him to finish it. These tests only matter for the students twice. In 8th grade, they determine the type of diploma the student can eventually get (college-bound or minimum proficiency). In 12th grade, the student must pass the end-of-course SOL in all core subjects to get either diploma. This is my son's 8th grade year, so these matter for him.

The SOLs here are about accreditation the rest of the time. A school where the scores are below a set minimum can be taken over by the state. The individual teachers also have a stake, as they can be fired if their class gets scores that weigh the school down. I don't know if this is true in any other area, of course.

My son is always the last one finished with these tests. Everyone else is finished in three or four hours, and gets the rest of the day as free time. The teacher(s) that have to supervise my son do not appreciate that they, too, miss out on the free time . He also gets very anxious about the tests, even though we tell him to just do his best and don't worry about it. They do the same thing here with the notices home about eating breakfast, getting rest (like they're gonna get a lot of sleep with the way they build up the pressure about these tests, right?), and extra snacks.

Anyway, I certainly sympathise with what you and your daughter are going through. Best of luck to you both .

First of all, thank you all for your wonderful posts.  They really have made me feel better, since at least, misery loves company.

The public school system at this point, in my experience, has been so terrible.  Actually the private school was not much better.  It is so hard to lump all of these kids into one class and expect them all to do well being taught the same way.  And where is the teaching about life, and learning how to do things other than take big tests.  I don't know...

I just wish I could do better for her now.  We have long term plans to make her schooling more suited to what she needs, but it is at least a year away.  

We are working hard as parents to do the best we can.  My family is my everything.

OOOOO (hugs) hey check out the picture I posted on the parents bragging thread.... from my daughters Communion

Hm, I don't remember my school making a big deal of...

...wait, never mind, they did.  I just didn't notice.  This happens to me a lot, actually; people around me are talking about how we're all under so much pressure with exams and assignments and such and I'm like: "What? We are?  What day was that test again?"


...sorry, I guess that's not very helpful.

So the results of this two weeks of testing have been as follows:

Nightmares
Anxiety about bugs
Extreme sleepiness to extreme sleeplessness
Social problems and anxiety
Need to be with us at all times

I am, frankly, exhausted.  

I hope the *blankety blank - insert cuss words here* school got what they needed.

At least they're over, and it's Friday. Maybe you all can get some recovery/healing time this weekend .

Exactly, and we will.  I just had to gripe a bit

Thank you for your positive words!