NJASK - A Mom ASKs, Why Does it Cause My Child Stress?

For the entire weekend, although we spent it visiting family in Mass., attending a First Communion, and Mother’s Day breakfast on Sunday; all I heard from my fourth grade daughter was how nervous she was about this week’s NJASK Testing. It didn’t seem to matter that I told her that all she had to do was her best.  It left me wondering why this child, who has to be coaxed into completing her daily homework and studying for a social studies test, was so overly concerned about the NJASK.  As a parent, I place very little value in these tests.  Instead, I value the work my children bring home and the improvement they show over the year.  I am not impressed by the number of advanced proficient scores, nor do I care if my children ever reach that point.  Perhaps I stand alone in my viewpoint, but I believe we are placing far too much emphasis on testing results.  I do believe that the testing has a purpose, but it should not be the measuring stick for school and teacher performance. 

My child says (and I quote), “We have been talking about the NJASK since September, and I am scared of the Language Arts and Science but not the Math; Math is easy. This test is the most important test for the school.”  If this is the most important thing that the school does all year, well, then, I am not impressed!  I know many teachers (in Madison and outside the district) who say that they are required to devote a significant portion of their daily lessons “teaching to the test”.  Now the standards are being developed to reward teachers whose students do well.  So, what about the teachers who have students who are not the most gifted performers?  What about all the Special Education students who are all put into one classroom each year?  How are those teachers rewarded?  In my opinion, they have an even harder job.  Where does the effort come into play?  Despite the fact that we live in a results-oriented society, I happen to find value in hard work and measure success by the amount of improvement, not just the end product.  We all may never achieve perfect scores on the NJASK, but yet we all still are able to learn!  Let’s spend less time worrying about a silly test.  Instead, let’s start thinking about how these tests are stressing the students and teachers and reconsider the value we place on them.  If Harvard University doesn’t look at SAT scores, do you think any future employer will care about the NJASK?  We need to take a look at the bigger picture.  We owe it to our children.