Have you ever done something in your life, and at the end of that mini-journey been like, “Yeah, I went a bit overboard with that, and that sucked the joy right from it at the end of the day?” Welcome to the world of student data and data conferences.
If I could turn back the clock on one thing in my career as an educator, I would have questioned why we were tracking kids at such a young age. In fact, I would have railed against this practice as anti-Christ. God does not see us as number. Satan would like to convince us that we are numbers, and that our kids are also numbers. But God, He made us. He knit us together. He knows our potential. He knows what we can be. We are infinitely invaluable in His kingdom. And there ain’t no man-made data point that is going to change that fact that we are God’s handiwork. God doesn’t make junk. We are loved by God, and ladies and gentleman, that is enough. It is enough.
And the assessment/data collection system which we have in place (as described in the previous post), is the engine driving this pigeon holing of kids, and categorizing them into 4-5 categories ranging from failing to excelling. And ya’ll, I get it…I understand why we do this, but I have raised a bunch of kids since leaving the classroom. I just don’t see the value in it any longer. Standardized assessments are a complete and utter waste of time. We need to teach our children to think, to expand their minds, how to access data, and this is the most important….help them find, develop, and refine the gifts that God has given them and the ones he still intends to reveal to them.
I love running. Well, I should say that I like the feeling of knowing that I got my run completed. I swam for a year in high school under a fantastic coach. I also wrestled. Interestingly, I shared to one of my classes that I wrestled in high school, and they wanted to know my wrastlin’ name! Anyway, I digress. So, one thing about high school athletes…a lot of them didn’t start in their sport when they were in kindergarten. Some didn’t show promise until their senior year in high school. Why? We all develop at different rates, and it is wildly inaccurate to try to guess when that synthesis occurs. And sometimes God just doesn’t reveal our gifts until the time they are needed. Data conferences don’t have a single column for God’s gifts – not one.
When we group students by data, it is so clinical and sterile. Usually they get grouped into four or five groups. We place them in those groups with a plan to either maintain or move them up one group. The problem? The kids in the lower groups usually end up with reading material below their grade level. That might not sound like a big deal, but it is. Does anyone really want their children in the lowest academic group in school? We all know what that means, and we know the quality of instruction which accompanies that placement. Imagine being on a fourth grade level and having to read a leveled book on the second grade level. The content of that book is BORING to a fourth grade mind!!!! Imagine sitting in a training module that you have seen 45x, and then you get the picture. They may be on the second grade level (as a fourth grader), but their minds are very likely to be ON GRADE level in terms of being able to understand the complexity of the text. Now, that is a big problem. Think of it like this….you are having trouble learning a foreign language, but just because you speak a foreign language at the level of a five year old…doesn’t mean your complexity of thought is that of a five year old.
I had intended to do several posts about the failings of state and federal common assessments, but I literally despise the system. Data driven school systems are completely missing the boat, and worse, they are completely missing the wonderful gifts that the people sitting in their classrooms possess. We are more than a number. Those students are more than a number. And if we convince them they are a number, most of them are going to think they are failures at the activity that we call “school.” Ya’ll, I feel confident God is not sitting in heaven in having data conferences. I don’t see data conferences in the Old or New Testaments. In fact, if we read the story of Araunah’s threshing floor(seriously, go read it in 2 Samuel 24) God isn’t a big fan of taking a census. We will find that God cautions us not to “count” to often, but to trust that He will take care of things. It is my belief that data conferences are inhibiting (instead of enhancing) the work of God.
And now we come to the “how to fix this mess” posts. I just can’t talk data any longer! LOL.
