Two truths and a lie

 Two Truths and a Lie

 

The teacher just told me my daughter Cocoa is an excellent reader.   She is attentive and does well in class.   I am struggling with that idea.

Last fall when the state did its all-school testing, Cocoa was not testing on grade level.   Really not even near it?

So why did the teacher tell me that Cocoa was such a good reader?   Here’s the other thing.   Cocoa’s grades in reading and language arts are very good.

Was the teacher lying to me last fall when she told me how well Cocoa was doing? Or are the test results lying to me now when they are showing such poor results.

Turns out the answer is yes and no.

A child’s grades often have little or nothing to do with the actual grade level of achievement for the child.  A pretty big chunk of a child’s grade is sort of the emotional response of the teacher to the child.  Cocoa comes to school neat and clean.  I dress her in cute stuff.  And she knows better than to be disrespectful to her teacher.  She does her work as she is told and does her homework when she has it.  I don’t hassle the teacher and I send back all the notices or whatever when they are called for.  Cocoa is a pleasure in class and she tries hard.  The teacher will give Cocoa the benefit of every doubt.

Then there is the principal and how he will rate Cocoa’s teacher.  Teachers who give kids lots of low grades are not loved by principals.   Low grades make parents complain.  Low grades make parents ask why is this happening.  Low grades can make parents demand individual testing and the next thing you know someone is talking special ed.

On the other hand, the test doesn’t care how really cute and well-behaved Cocoa is.  The test goes by the very statistical measurements of what skills are considered typical for every grade level.  And that is another issue about tests.  The test developers determine what skills are expected at every grade level by TESTING lots and lots of children at that grade level.  The skills that most of the kids at that grade level can do are then determined to be a measurement of what is expected for that grade level.  There is NO skill set for each grade level that has been handed down by some god of testing.   That is why each time a test is re-developed different skills show up as appropriate for different grade levels.

That brings me back to Cocoa.  Was the teacher lying last fall when she told me how smart and great in reading Cocoa was or is she lying now when she reviews the not-so-hot test scores with me.  Turns out I heard two truths and a lie.  The trick is to figure which is which.