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Judging by the Test

j0443895This week, my students will be taking the High School Proficiency Exam (HSPE), formerly known as the WASL. I’ll have to admit that I’m nervous… there has been a lot of pressure this year to improve scores. Weird pressure… it’s been a weird year altogether, but suffice it to say that this year many people will be biting their nails until the June scores. 
If I can convince my students to take the test seriously they should all pass. The problem is that there will be those who won’t take it seriously. They will finish in less than 30 minutes and sleep for the remaining hour and half. And I can’t really do anything about it. If the student decides he/she would rather sleep in with the rest of the juniors and seniors who passed last year and mom thinks it ok? There’s nothing I can do about it. The student who transferred last month from another state, who may or may not have an IEP in that state? Hope for the best. And when these students don’t pass, according to the President it will be my fault. I wasn’t able to convince them of seriousness of it and magically make them mature responsible citizens before their 16th birthday. I was not able to convince “mom” that skipping school is not a good idea or that she should care about my job security. I couldn’t wave my magic wand to make the out-of-state school send that file or teach 10 years of test prep in a month. Obviously, I suck.
And to be honest, I think at least four of my students will fail simply because their handwriting is so horrible that it can’t be read. However, since that is not scores, penmanship has been dropped from all curricula. (Cursive writing is barely taught any more, and about 80% of my students can not write in it. 50% cannot read it, if I write it on the board.) If they fail, the President will call me a failing teacher, because I did not teach them to write legibly. In high school.
It’s a no win situation. Damned because I walked in the door.
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Comments

KateGladstone said…
Consider introducing your cyber-age, handwriting-allergic high schoolers to Better Letters, the iPhone app that teaches handwriting for $2.99 (also works on the iPodTouch and the iPad). Learn more by searching "Better Letters" at the App Store.
10:16 PM
Jennifer said…
So did anything change on the WASL aside from its name?

And what is up with high school students that just don't care to try? I don't remember that kind of attitude from anyone at my high school (granted it was a few - more than 10 - years ago)!
11:09 PM
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