Standardized Tests Dictate What Teachers Can Teach

“What is it you think you have to offer kids? It’s time theft, there’s no need for school to be structured that obnoxiously. What’s so great about what you do and where you teach that anyone should stay there from morning till mid afternoon?”

“Let’s be fair here. I’ve been teaching for over two decades. The math standards for which I was responsible twenty years ago are now taught one grade level lower. The writing targets we were striving for? Now these expectations have nearly doubled in length and complexity. On top of this, kids as young as third grade have their “writing” skills assessed by what they have TYPED during a timed test. …think about that for a moment. These kids are 8-9 years old, limited fine motor skills, yet they s”

“First year teacher here. In my student teaching, we didn't really do homework (first grade), so there wasn't late work. A student either finished in class or they didn't. At my new private school job, it seems students are expected to take work home and finish it if they can't in class. My co-teacher is doing a system where students take home any homework at the end of the week and turn it in at some point the next week. I initially felt that might make grading quickly difficult”

“I didn’t exaggerate one bit. It’s slowly been getting worse every year. I remember when 28 was the norm and 32 was a ridiculously huge class. Now 32 would be nice and 34+ is the norm. I started the year with 40 in AP because they couldn’t open another section. They told me they hope a bunch drop so it won’t be so hard for me.”

“I understand what you’re going through. I’ve been a high school math teacher for 13 years. And this year we got new curriculum, new quizzes and tests, new everything. I teach resource Algebra 1, I have to modify everything, every lesson, every day. I haven’t worked this much after hours in years and I don’t like it. I’m so worn out. I’ve decided that next week, I will do what is best for me. Not the best lessons, not my 100%, I need a break. I like the one day a week idea. I know better than thi”

“I've been teaching ELA/History for 8 years - all in a regular public middle school. Now I'm in a high school. One of its selling points is that it has low class sizes. Usually this is good - my average class has 15 kids. Those are fantastic, really the perfect size. BUT - my first period has 7 children. 7. Children. They are freshmen. They do not talk at all. I can get one or two kids to volunteer sometimes but overall I am teaching to complete silence, blank faces. Has anyone taught a c”

“I have an entire class of upperclassmen who have gaps as far back as third grade, and I teach algebra 1.”

“JOIN THE MOVEMENT. I am nearly 100% pencil and paper this year and it is better for students and for me! More teachers need to be willing to simply say “No. That is not what’s best for my students.””

“I'm a special education art teacher, and I have my NYS professional license in art education and a M.S.Ed. in Art Education. I'm completing my post-Masters Special Education extension as a resume and skill builder. And I apparently can't do elementary math. My last task is completing a NYS multi-subject test, and I picked elementary as it should be the easiest. I've always been bad at math (hence art degree, art teacher...), but I didn't think I was this bad. I took the pract”

“I think a lot of people learn concepts in earlier grades, but still need refreshers. Nothing wrong with that necessarily. We retain what we use - if you haven't used knowledge or a skill in multiple years there's a good chance you will have forgotten some of it.”

“Ooph! I get so sick of that question, and this year we have 3 different schedules weekly, so none of us can keep up with it. I got it all on one sheet of paper and made each kid stick it in the clear protector of their Chromebook. No choice. Do it! I’m banning the question now. Don’t ask. Look! I think I’m going to contact paper it to my podium too. submitted by /u/Hungry-Following5561 [link] [comments]”

“Rant for today: middle school gen ed teachers should not be modifying down to 1st and 2nd grade. In masses, teachers are just passing SPED kids along and they never receive the support necessary. It’s a vicious cycle. submitted by /u/BiteThese8993 [link] [comments]”

“Week 2 and my class is CHAOS. We set up routines at the first week and beginning of this and some students have caught on completely and get it 100%. Some are still struggling severely. I'm going to read through their IEPs and communicate with parents and collaborate to find solutions but any ideas are SO welcomed. One student with ADHD struggles with transitions from one activity (like coloring quiet time to carpet time for reading a book or math) (especially my ADHD kid! "First ..., t”

“Though I do love when you have the kid who is like, “What am I supposed to do?” and the other kids are like, “Dude, she literally just told us, and it’s in the board.” It just gives me some hope that maybe I’m not screaming into the void all day.”

“So I’ve just had 2 back to school for teachers days. As usual, all the changes are more work. Third new lesson plan template in 3 years. Now they want learning targets and success criteria in the LPs as well as on the board. Plus tier 2 and tier 3 interventions tailored to individual students and particular lessons. New systems we’re supposed to master without training. More times we must call parents. Requirements to notify attendance officers of things they are supposed to know by doing their”

“Oh, also - flow of the day on the board that they can physically see. Lots of visuals about what we are going to be doing. I teach autistic students in an inclusion setting so priming, previewing, chunking, using visuals, and consistent routines are all huge.”

“They were originally supposed to be the "lead teacher", someone to mentor new students and help with "data-driven" or whatever was popular at the time. They were supposed to be masters in curriculum and Instruction (doctorate or master's). They are supposed to be seasoned, exemplary veteran teachers. Basically doing what a principal used to do. I am guessing that, by these posts, it has been bastardized and watered down, which sucks.”

“I have the option of using CommonLit360 for 7th and 8th graders, and am curious about the advantages and disadvantages of doing so. I love that everything is ready-made and the scaffolded units seem pretty solid, but I worry about what to do for advanced learners (it's designed for Tier 1 instruction), or times when I need to be more flexible and creative and want to add more personality to my lesson plans. What has your experience been like? submitted by /u/Boring_Psychology900”

“I have a 9th grade self-contained SPED class with about 15 students. Now I’m first-year special education teacher. And I feel like I’m in for such a rough year. At first I wasn’t too concerned about the class size (I didn’t know any better since it’s my first year), but now that I have had a chance to talk with other teachers and thanks to some Reddit users, I have realized that I have too many kids in a self-contained class considering that I have no paras and I am the only adult in the room. I”

“My hot take is that AP classes should only be for juniors and seniors. Many freshmen and sophomores are not mature or developmentally ready to take them and when you do these things there's a ton of parents/admin pressure to lower the bar so much.”

“Just started year 13 and although I went from 8 years in a HS to now my 5th in a middle school, attention span of students has been the biggest change for me. (It changed in HS, too). I miss the days of just standing up and teaching, then releasing the kids to work on something (engaging, of course). Now it feels like a dog and pony show always. They can’t even watch a movie in class as a reward, they can’t / won’t sit through it.”

“I teach 8th grade math, but it doesn’t have to be math related. Is there anything interesting that you do when certain kids finish their work early that is not just giving them more of the same work? I don’t mind giving them something academic, but I hate punishing kids who pay attention and work with more of the exact same work. Any fun ideas? submitted by /u/leigh10021 [link] [comments]”

“My daughter is in first grade, and I’m having a hard time figuring out whether I’m being too sensitive or if this classroom is just a little more intense than it should be for 6 year olds... Their teacher initially gave some pretty confusing homework directions, which I had to follow up on 3 times myself to understnad. Finally she clarified that the nightly expectation is roughly 15 minutes of spelling, 15 minutes of math, and 15 minutes of reading, so about 45 minutes total. Which seems like a”

“Fair, and I do apologize for the above reply, that was needlessly snarky. That said, the analogy is specifically targeted at the kids who are already somewhat familiar with doing things the hard way because it benefits them. Not the students who refuse to learn or be taught. Not much to do about those students save minimize the negative impacts they have on the rest of the group, document differentiation given to them, work on the endless notifications home, and let them fail if that is what the”

“I'm simply saying that kids could disregard the analogy because of the difference between the two examples given. I'm not saying the analogy is bad or that it isn't broadly illustrative of the reasons why limiting ai use is beneficial.”

“28 years (all the same HS) 1. Lack of consequences (far and away #1) 2. Parents believing students over teachers (kids are bffs) 3. College is something expected, not earned.”

“Just a vent. I’m a teacher currently teaching my students how to produce strong writing and deepen their reading comprehension skills. They ask me frequently what the purpose of having these skills is, when all of the technology that could create their writing for them exists. When all of the information they need to know is provided in an audible format . I’m able to teach some media and digital literacy, but my hands are tied because I also risk being affiliated with either political party (pu”

“I teach at a private school (3rd grade). We have been very lucky in that our administration has heard our concerns over the years about various curriculums (that we thought of adopting, but didn’t) being all short passages AND that would leave no time for the novels we read with our students. (In third grade, think “Because of Winn-Dixie,” “Shiloh,” etc.) Short text has its place, certainly, but longer novels are also a huge wealth of literacy skills. We are still on the hunt for a language arts”

“Those rooms are over stimulating. Useless decoration does not help students learn. Make the things you put up intentional”

“Schools are being run as businesses - have been since the early aughts. Corporatization of public schools, draining their resources, turning college into trade schools. Don’t want anyone who can think too hard.”

“I say this constantly in my 2nd grade classroom. There is only 1 teacher and many students. You need to try and figure it out on your own, skip that part and do a part you know, raise your hand and wait your turn.”

“These two programs are heavily pushed in many districts, but I have yet to find any convincing data that suggests that they actually work. Thoughts? submitted by /u/f-150Coyotev8 [link] [comments]”

“Excerpts, autocorrect :,) Can we talk about this? I remember being in fifth grade and pestering my teacher at the time about how we are only reading short passages rather than the whole book. Kids today are feeling this disconnect likely just as much as I did, if not more. Thirteen years later, as a teacher myself, my stance on this has only gotten stronger. The "passage-and-question" format of modern reading curriculums has turned literacy into a clinical process made to mirror the fo”

“Oh so true! Yes! The lack of curiosity is huge! Kids do not have that sense of discovery or any excitement to new things and seem to not care about much. 😞 Heartbreaking.”

“Lucky. My district only has general population. I don't know when we got rid of honors/AP classes, I would say that measure is a failure for the kids too, though. Proceeding at the slowest pace of the slowest child means the top 7/8 of the class is bored to tears instead of just the top 1/8 of the class.”

“Kids don’t watch movies anymore. None of my movie references land with my seniors.”

“I teach high school science. When I first started teaching kids LOVED labs and demonstrations. Now they all complain when they have to get up and they don’t even pay attention to demonstrations…”

“Thats thanks to all the "retention bad" studies. I would accept it if the "retention bad" people had found an alternative like mandatory extended school year, or intensive tutoring to keep kids up to pace. But there is a reason colleges still set "pre-requisite" classes that you take again if you dont do well.”

“It seems like our punishment for not improving state testing scores is to force teachers to do more paperwork because we need to 'unpack' the standards, or write about 'process'. Last wee we had a meeting about the future meetings we will have. I wish we could be more honest about the causes like the bell curve that intelligence sits on. At some point, we have reached the point of diminishing returns. There is no scenario in which we get to 100% grade level. People seem to think”

“Band teacher too - kids are SO BAD at learning note names and constantly want "help" figuring them out and I think the concept of "you just need to sit down and literally memorize it" is so foreign to them that they can't even begin to figure out how to do that.”

“There’s a difference between the kids being reluctant to engage and being disinterested in the class. The techniques that you’re using are good for the former, but it sounds like you’ve got the latter. Make a point of asking direct questions - and especially follow-up questions - to people who don’t talk much. “Someone who hasn’t spoken much today” or “X, you’ve been quiet, what do you think?” are personal favorites. Based on my own experience, I expect it will probably take an extended amount o”

“Hi all! I’m a 3rd grade teacher and one thing I have yet to get a good grasp on is small group. This happens during math specifically. I take a small group of kids that need support, and the rest are on their own. How do I check those independent kids work without taking time and attention away from my small group? And when those independent kids are done what do I do with them so they’re not just doing another worksheet? I put them on iReady but some of these kids finish FAST and I don’t want t”

“This might be my last year. I have 25 students (not bad) but I have 6 different courses to teach... with 4 entirely different curriculums. High school. Canada. I have English: Grade 10 non-academic 10 academic stream 11 non-academic 11 academic 11 modified (grade 5 level) 11 IEP (grade 1) I don't know how to handle this. Im about ready to quit and school started last week. Any tips? Desperate. submitted by /u/FugitiveSasuke [link] [comments]”

“I’m a middle school math teacher, and my school is not letting me teach actual content for the first three days of school. 😅 Normally, on the first day I go over my syllabus/class expectations, do a Would You Rather activity, have students answer a few questions about themselves, and then start my lessons on Day 2. This year, I need to come up with activities to fill two full days before I can actually teach math. I’m thinking about doing an activity where I explicitly model what productive gro”

“They feel incompatible because they serve two different goals. The “rigor” expectation is more for state test scores. The idea is that you’re constantly trying to push them and improve them. But your point is true, no one knows what that means. The “student engagement” expectation is more for student behavior and attendance purposes. If your class is fun, more students theoretically will want to show up to class and will actually do the work.”

“My state can use the ratios to mess with class sizes. Except when it comes to kindergarten, and for that I am so grateful.”

“I've never heard good things about any Ed tech curriculum companies. Anyone that has sells curriculum to help students pass a test that they also sell have a huge financial incentive to make the test scores as bad as possible.”

“Year 12 for me here. Very similar desires professionally. I did 6 years in middle school to start and now am in year 6 of high school. It gets better. There were many years in which I had classes that I really never felt like I had solid control of at the middle school level. It gets better. Just try to be as clear as you can in communicating your expectations and follow through by reminding those who fall short. Also praise the ones who do fall in line.”

“It’s kinda the same thing as standardized tests. In PA we had the PSSA. It meant absolutely nothing for actual progression or your GPA. It was a big waste of a week. I’m still unsure why I even took it seriously in school, it was such a time waster and didn’t even really give the teacher much data. It was all just for money, and the admin spun it that way to the kids. “If you guys want cool stuff like smart boards and robots, do well on this exam”. I always envied my buddy who would make the bub”

“Attainable learning until the bell. That's easy. Have that exit ticket and class discussion until the bell ring. That also targets classroom management.”

“The amount of middle school students who don’t know how to do simple 1st and second grade math in my class is ridiculous and scary . I had a 12 year old girl ask me what 9+6 . How have we regressed so badly that teens don’t know first and second grade math? It is breaking my heart . submitted by /u/NoelK132 [link] [comments]”

“I’m a first year public school IB teacher. My question to experienced or even still-new teachers is: how often in your first year did/do you feel like you were just constantly screwing up or doing a bad job? I don’t think I’ve done anything majorly wrong, but little things like forgetting to clock in some days, being slow to get grades posted, and feeling like I’m flying by the seat of my pants every day just has me feeling crazy overwhelmed with self-doubt. So far I haven’t gotten any negative”

“Hi guys, I am a public school 6th grade ELA teacher in Ohio. This is my third year and we’ve changed around our curriculum pretty much every year, lol. I am in need of recommendations for short (or long) stories to read with my students that are interesting and can lead to open discussions. What are some of your favorites? Open to anything. Thinking like classics. We read Tuesday of the other June and they loved it. Thank you!! submitted by /u/whaletoez [link] [comments]”

“One of the hardest things for me to learn as a teacher was that I could not solve every problem. You understand what you are dealing with. Admin wants most or all students to pass. So do what you need to do to get them to pass in a way that is sustainable for you. Spending hours each day grading is not sustainable. Do the minimum amount of grading required - in my district, it's two classwork grades per week. For example, give four problems - if they get one of the problems correct, it's”

“Yeah it used to be a thing when I was a student and the first couple years that I was a teacher. The public school district I taught at eventually discontinued the requirement when all of the neighboring districts slowly phased it out and they were tired of parents coming in trying to fight everyone when their kid couldn't play. To be fair, I'm at a private school now where parents are paying absurd amounts of money to send their kids here. So the school doesn't want to upset the ric”

“That’s insane. When I was in high school (Class of 2015), kids who were in sports, cheerleading, band, etc. had to have the teachers sign progress reports every two weeks or so to make sure they kept their grades up.”

“There’s a big difference between choosing to use the canned curriculum due to work-life balance or burnout versus being forced to use the canned curriculum. My original comment in this thread was within the context of being forced. I don’t have a problem with people choosing it for themselves.”

“Its my first year teaching. I student taught in 1 of like 10 low income schools on our side of the metropolitan area, last low income area before you hit the million dollar houses. I was “being disruptive” in my college classes because I was voicing concern that her methods she was teaching were out of touch because she was modeling teaching my acting like we were highschoolers when we were essentially a perfect, far over level, english speaking class. I asked questions many times to which profe”

“If I wasn’t cutting material out/adding material to the amplify curriculum I am given I would deservedly be on trial for crimes against humanity. Luckily I have admin that supports this endeavor.”