Panics over test scores don’t help students. – The News Leader
There seems to be a panic and the beginnings of a blame game about the decline in standardized test scores of American students. School closings: that is the reason!
Well, not exactly, because the declines don’t neatly correlate with how long the schools were closed in various states. But, regardless of the reason for the decline, is this an emergency? Can we get the scores back up? Will these children stay behind for the rest of their lives?
I remember another panic over student performance. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957. Suddenly all of America was afraid we were going to lose out to the Soviets. Their children were smarter. Their children worked harder. Our schools were not up to par.
As I sat in my elementary school classroom, I could not figure out for the life of me how my grades in math and science were going to save America or change the world. What was everyone so freaked out about?
The worst of it was that people were talking about us, just children, as if there was little to us but our test scores. We weren’t kids. We were little academic soldiers in the global war between democracy and communism.
It felt wrong. I couldn’t put it into words, but something was off. My value seemed to lie in my ability to beat the Soviets in some sort of competition I had never agreed to enter.
I liked reading and English better than math. But that had no usefulness to America’s efforts to beat the Soviets.
So one word of advice: don’t make kids think that their test scores are the most important thing about them. They are not. Not now. Not before the pandemic. Not after the pandemic. Not ever.
Did we expect a pandemic in which a million people in this country died would not affect test scores? And shouldn’t we be more concerned about their overall wellbeing? How is that going?
Perhaps the best thing we can do for these young people is to work to ensure that they have a planet that is habitable for humans. They go to school, so they probably have learned that the environment is in major trouble. It is hard to work on your test scores after you find that vertebrates have declined by almost 70% since 1970. And global warming is creating more volatile weather conditions.
We also might think about preserving democracy for these young people who haven’t even gotten to vote once in their lives. Are they going to inherit a country where fair and free elections are a given, and the losers concede and don’t deny they lost?
In downtown Staunton there is a new mural on a building that says “You belong here.” It would be helpful if every child could believe that is true no matter who he or she is. No matter color or religion. Rich or poor. Gay or straight or trans or whatever. No matter the place of birth. You are here, therefore you belong, and we will do our level best to help you make the most of your abilities. We need you. We need all hands on deck.
It would also help if they did not have to worry about getting shot and killed at school. Worrying about their own safety surely creates anxiety, and anxiety messes with your brain. At least it does mine. When I am anxious or scared, I can’t think clearly, can’t read effectively, can’t learn very well, can’t concentrate.
It is ironic that we have anti-bullying programs in schools, and we teach children this is wrong, but if you are a politician who bullies, you can raise a lot of money. It is quite popular in some quarters. You would get suspended from middle school for saying things that some politicians and cable news personalities use to raise millions of dollars.
We have created a mess. And kids know it. And they can’t do much about it, and they don’t have much assurance that we intend to do better. This is a prescription for anxiety. And some will cope by deciding not much matters anymore, certainly not test scores. Some will become depressed. Some will become self destructive. And some will double down on their own efforts to pull us out of the mess we have gotten ourselves into.
Test scores may be an indicator of larger problems, but they are not the problem in and of themselves. Our kids are not their scores. Our kids are complex human beings who deserve the chance to grow up in an atmosphere of caring, concern, and the sure knowledge that we are going to do everything we can to equip them for meaningful and healthy lives.
— Write Staunton columnist Patricia Hunt at phunt@marybaldwin.edu.