As a result of love and possible lunacy, I am blessed with
five children. Two, a son and a
daughter, are mine by birth. Three
stepdaughters are mine by marriage.
They range in age from 15-25 and in heights from 4’10’ to 6’2”, with the
youngest two, ironically being the tallest.
All are very unique in personality, accomplishments, talents and
interests. As a result of the ages, we
are beyond the stage of club sports, music lessons and school productions. We are in the Age of Ceremonies now. Every May/June finds us traveling to or
planning a celebration of one kind or another.
Time is now marked by Commencements rather than tournaments or banquets.
Just last week, I attended the most recent of our
Ceremonies. This one was held in Boston,
Massachusetts at none other than the oldest and most prestigious College in the
country. We went to Harvard to attend
one of our daughters’ Commissioning and then Commencement ceremonies. As a side note, I have noticed that the
higher the cost of tuition, the more ceremonies are performed upon
graduation. I guess College
administrators want to make sure we get our money’s worth! Thus, these events are often 2-3 day
affairs. As I sat through the reading of
the names of the graduates on a very warm and sunny Thursday early afternoon, I
thought about what makes a child “College and Career Ready”. How were these bright, young adults
considered ready to enter the “Real World”?
Are they truly “Career Ready”? Some of them definitely are. Others
will find that they are not and will retreat back into academia to pursue
further education and stave off entering the responsibilities that come with
adulthood. Still others will forge
forward only to wake up one day and ask themselves “How did I get here?”
This group of bright young minds were the last of the
students who left high school before Common Core made its way forward. Without the current curriculum and tests, how
was it determined that these students were ready to enter college and
careers? I can only assume that
potential school admissions officers and employers had to make that
determination based on grades that were awarded on teacher made tests (Oh the
horror!), teacher recommendations and involvement in clubs and activities. Without the Pearson made tests, I can only
guess by the number of outstanding youths, that this must have been an arduous
task.
Is a test or series of tests a true indicator of how College
and Career Ready a student is? I would
argue that there is no way a test can predict something as esoteric as
that. As a parent of five, I can’t give
much credence to it either. College and
career readiness is so much more than academic knowledge or the ability to perform
well on a test. To be truly ready for
College and/or a career, one must possess a certain amount of maturity to be
able to confidently handle the challenges of both situations. Academic knowledge does not always indicate
maturity and vice versa. What determines
success for one child is completely different than what determines success for
another. Studies are already showing
that the tests that former Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan lent so much
credence to are failing to show validity.
In short, these outrageously expensive assessments aren’t worth the paper they
are printed on.
I don’t need a test to tell me if my children are College
and Career ready. I already know
that. One of mine is struggling his way
into adulthood. He is a great test taker
but a poor student, a good employee but hates work. He needs much more maturity before he will be
ready to truly take on college or a career.
My other one is pole vaulting ahead with maturity. She’s an excellent student, but performs marginally
on standardized tests. When it comes
time to apply to college, our biggest obstacle will be distance as she is a
homebody. However, she will be ready to go to
college and it will be bittersweet for us both.
With each class of students that I educate, I like to imagine
where they will be when they reach adulthood.
I often wish I had a crystal ball so I could look ahead and see if my
predictions were accurate. I imagine
them as architects, doctors, teachers, stylists, chefs, movie stars, writers,
painters, mothers and more. I like to
think that they will all be happy in their chosen paths, even as I am fully
aware that some will encounter obstacles too great to overcome. This generation, the Children of the Core, I believe, will have to come to terms
with what Education Reformers has stolen from them. They will have to overcome the impulse to
give the “right answer” to questions posed.
They will have to search deeply to find creativity and innovation. They will have to learn to question and
demand more for their own children.
Out of my own five children, four of them have escaped the
Core. The youngest is on the
fringe. It is with constant vigilance
that I work to protect her from the damage done through close reading and the
emphasis on informational text rather than quality literature. Through encouragement, she is exploring her own
natural artistic talents rather than being pulled into the demand of STEM
curriculum. She will be college and
career ready in spite of the Common Core and the invalid and unreliable
tests.
Administrators love to throw around the words, College and
Career Ready as though it is something that should be hallowed. When teachers question the curriculum, the
tests and the standards, we are met with an incredulous look and an accusatory
remark, i.e. “Don’t you believe in high standards?” or “How could you not want
our students to be college and career ready?” as though we teachers actually
strive for mediocrity in our students.
Personally, I do not believe in putting the responsibility for making a
child “College and Career Ready” on teachers or on students, especially in Elementary
School. That responsibility belongs
elsewhere. As a parent, it is my
responsibility to ensure that my children are ready for what adulthood, college
and careers bring to my children. I
don’t place that responsibility on my children’s teachers. It is their responsibility to give them a
broad based education, spark their curiosity and encourage their talents. It is mine to ensure they are ready to face
the challenges that will come with time and experience.
As our children go forward into the world and the Age of
Ceremonies evolves from Commencements into Marriages and Baptisms, and
celebrations move from parties and into showers, there will be no tests to
determine readiness, only Life. No test
can prepare them for that which truly matters.