Spring Break Is Nearly Over
By DW Davis
@DWDavis (25812)
Pikeville, North Carolina
April 1, 2016 7:13am CST
Today is the last day of Spring Break for my school district. Starting Monday it is a straight shot through to Memorial Day before we have any time off. Monday also marks the beginning of the last grading period and the start of intense test preparation for the reading and math teachers.
Due to the high pressure put on teachers and principals for test results, most of the fourth quarter is devoid of instruction in favor of drilling the students on how best to approach answering multiple choice questions. In our state these end of grade tests were originally intended to determine if the student had learned enough to be ready to go on to the next grade, and if the student failed, he or she would not get promoted. There are no longer any consequences to the students for doing poorly on these tests, and the students have figured that out, but for principals and teachers poor student performance can mean losing our jobs.
Is it fair that teachers and principals are assessed by how well students do on an exam they have no stake in and that has no impact on a student's grade or promotion?
7 people like this
7 responses
@TiarasOceanView (70035)
• United States
1 Apr 16
Hmm that does not seem fair at all DW. I had not realized this either.
It is to me not applicable at all..I mean somewhat but not all.
2 people like this
@DWDavis (25812)
• Pikeville, North Carolina
1 Apr 16
When I started teaching, the students were accountable for their performance on the EOGs. In the last 10-12 years things have completely turned around and now the students are not held accountable at all and the onus is completely on the teachers.
1 person likes this
@TiarasOceanView (70035)
• United States
1 Apr 16
@DWDavis Crazy DW..really it is ridiculous I think.
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25812)
• Pikeville, North Carolina
7 Apr 16
@JudyEv I don't think there are any teachers whom the kids dislike that much. While they may complain among themselves about this teacher or that, woe until the kid from another class who says anything bad about their teacher. They are very protective of us if they are on our team.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
1 Apr 16
Some schools here were on break last week, some this coming week. I wonder why they don't all take the same time?
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25812)
• Pikeville, North Carolina
1 Apr 16
I think the breaks are at different times because some schools still take a break at Easter while others do it at the end of third quarter. The end of third quarter can differ depending on when they started school. This year, Easter and the end of our third quarter happened to coincide.
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
1 Apr 16
@DWDavis When we moved south it was so weird that kids started school in early August.
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25812)
• Pikeville, North Carolina
1 Apr 16
@AbbyGreenhill I was very happy a few years ago when the state moved the school start date back to the end of August. They'd originally moved it to a date so early in the month so that the semester would end at the start of Christmas Break to accommodate the high schools on the four by four schedule. Because so much of our state income is tourist driven, this put a lot of businesses that rely on high school students during the summer vacation season in a bind and eventually that lobby got the dates changed back to the end of August.
@Tampa_girl7 (48890)
• United States
1 Apr 16
Hopefully your summer break comes soon for you.
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25812)
• Pikeville, North Carolina
1 Apr 16
To a degree it is. But a growing number of students have taken to guessing at the answers rather than trying to work them out or go back into the reading passage to find them because they know the test doesn't affect them academically. It doesn't show up on their report card and cannot be used in making retention decisions.
