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1) Support house bill 15 [by Anonymous Citizen on February 26, 2008]I was very excited to read House Bill 15!!! The CATS Test money drain on our state is enormous. I teach 5th graders at White Hall Ele. I teach Social Studies an assessed area. I ask myself every year Why are we comparing our students to other students in the state? And then pat ourselves on the back because we are in the top 10 schools in our state. Big Deal! What we really need to know is how our school or our state stacks up against schools in our nation. Teachers really see the need of a nationally norm referenced test. Why are legislators so tied to the CATS test? Do you ask the opinions of teachers who are on the front line everyday?
I also have children ready to go to college this fall and loved the idea of students taking the preparation ACT national test in high schools as part of bill 15. Isn’t that the goal for all college bound students to do well on the ACT, so why are we wasting tax dollars and so much time taking the CATS in high school. Here are two major problems, all the writing of portfolios never teach students how to write reports APA style for college and they are arriving in college unprepared. I don’t blame the high school teachers for never requiring this report based writing because their plates are too full already just writing open responses, on demands, and portfolio pieces. Secondly, my senior boys are put out of their school for 3 days so that the school doesn’t have to baby-sit seniors while the rest of the school tests. They are to mentor working people. Is this a good education plan?
It is very hard for me support the CATS Test knowing how much it is costing in money and time in the classroom preparing our students just to take it. Did you know that our county spends thousands of dollars on a “CATS like test” called “Think Link” for the students to practice on. We take the test for 2 days 3 times a year. Money and 6 more days of missed instruction time taken away from our students just preparing to take the CATS test. 4th grade writing portfolios are hours and days of missed instructional time while teachers stop group instruction to conference over and over to make these portfolios proficient. When the students arrive in fifth grade they hate writing so much they groan when we start writing.
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As a fourth grade teacher, and one who loves to teach writing, I know that removing the writing portfolios would benefit writing instruction in our schools. It would remove the pressure on both students and teacher to produce "proficient" pieces. It would give ownership of the writing back to the student writers, and it would allow the teachers to make/model corrections on student papers again. We would actually be able to teach the writing process!
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To say that we will go back to writing assignments is an insult to Kentucky teachers. While we were forced to force 9 and 10 year olds to create polished portfolios, we were also introduced to better ways of teaching kids to write. The better instruction won't go away - the oppressive system of assessment will. Have faith in your colleagues.
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