Reality
The most important day of the year has arrived. The state-wide SPLT fill-in-the-bubble test is today. This is what school is for.
Mr. Hernandez, the principal of Gelton Elementary, is nervous. If his scores don’t improve by 16% he will be replaced, along with all of the teachers. Last year the scores rose a meager 3%. They must do much better this year. This is their last chance before the State comes in and fires everybody and takes over and with its magic fixes it all.
It is 8:30 and the testing begins. “Do not open your test booklet until you are told to do so. Do not make any stray marks on the answer sheet. If you need to change an answer, completely erase the wrong answer. You will have 3 hours and 55 minutes to finish this test. Open your test booklet to page one. You may begin.” Mrs. Johnson lays down her script and walks around the classroom, monitoring the students. Everything is in order. She sits at her desk and grades some papers, watching the clock. The time pases.
Alex and Haley and Mari and all the others are working very hard, reading each question twice, filling in each bubble completely with their number two pencils, trying to spit all the things back out of their heads that were carefully packed in. Mrs. Johnson is pleased with how hard her class is trying, but is afraid it will not be enough. Then she spots something in the back she finds more troubling. “It’s that strange kid Pete,” she says to herself. “I knew he would do something. That kid’s in a totally different world than everybody else. What has he done to his answer sheet?” She walks over to his desk to get a closer look. The answers on his sheet are bubbled to make a pattern from the dots, a picture. It looks like a crude rendition of a dragon.
Mrs. Johnson feverishly whispers to Pete, “This will not do! You've must take the test! We expect you to try your best! You must answer the questions, not make pictures!” Pete does not respond. “You’ve got to help save our school!" No response. "Pete, if you don’t try your best you will not get the ice cream treat!!!”
Pete does not look up at her. “This is my best dragon,” he says softly.
. . .
“Should we throw it out?” Mrs. Johnson asks Mr. Hernandez. “We can say that Pete was absent.”
“No, that would never work,” replies Mr. Hernandez. “The computer has Pete registered as here today. And also they count all of the answer sheets they give to us. And we can’t even get to them anyway—they’re in the library, guarded by that state testing guy. He never leaves any of the testing materials unattended, he’s always watching them.” Mr. Hernandez paces around his office.
“Look, we’re all going to lose our jobs!” Mrs. Johnson says, on the verge of tears.
“I know, I know,” Mr. Hernandez says. “Let me think about this. There has to be a way.”
“Hey, what if someone pulls the fire alarm?" Mrs. Johnson asks. "Everyone will have to vacate campus, including that state guy, and while the library is empty I can sneak in and make some changes on Pete’s answer sheet.”
“Hmmm, you are very sneaky,” says Mr. Hernandez. “And I think it just might work. Let’s see . . . at 2:00 I’ll go out by room 41 where it's isolated and pull the alarm. You be ready then to sneak into the library.”
. . .
Mrs. Johnson is in her classroom with her kids when at 2:00 the fire alarm goes off. Children begin to methodically file out of each of the classrooms in single file. “Follow Mr. Phelps's class,” she tells her own students as she slips away over to the library. She peeps in the window and sees the state testing guy sitting in there, as if there were no fire alarm at all. She opens the door and pokes her head in. “It’s the fire alarm! Everyone must evacuate the campus!” The man does not move or even respond. “It’s the state law!”she adds. “Everyone must leave!”
The state testing guy finally turns and replies, “I am not subject to your site-laws--I am State Mandated for the SPLT test. I am the ultimate authority here."
Mrs. Johnson is getting desperate. “But there may really be a fire!”
“Oh, there is never a fire, it’s always just a drill or a false alarm,” he answers flatly. "Go have your fire drill."
Just then Mrs. Johnson smells smoke. It’s coming from inside the library. The state guy jumps up and runs over to the testing materials. They have erupted into flame. “Hey, there’s a fire!” he shouts. “The testing materials—we’ve got to save them!” The fire seems to be especially hot and the testing materials seem to burn especially quickly. He runs and grabs a fire extinguisher off the wall and sprays foam into the fire. He puts the fire out.
“Thank goodness you acted so quickly,” Mrs. Johnson says. “Thanks to you, the fire didn't have a chance to spread. Thank goodness no books were harmed.”
“Except the testing materials are burned up!” the state guy cries.
. . .
In the principal’s office there is a little conference being held, consisting of Mr. Hernandez, Mrs. Johnson, and Pete. “Okay, Pete,” says Mr. Hernandez, what do you know about the fire? I know you're involved somehow. This fire could have burned the school down.”
“Why would I try to burn the school down?” Pete asks softly. “I like our school.”
Mrs. Johnson breaks in: “I'm not sure you like our school, Pete. When you were taking the test you didn’t even try to get a good score. You don’t care if our school fails. ”
“I’m the one who saved our school,” Pete says, looking down.
“We need to talk about your connection with this fire,” Mr. Hernandez says. “We have discovered something very strange, and this is why we have called you in to talk to you. In the fire all of the test materials burned up completely, except for just one page--the answer sheet with your dragon on it. It was not touched at all by the fire. Why did it not burn?”
Pete hesitates. Finally he speaks. "A dragon doesn't burn; everything else around it does. That's why it can stay alive. How else could could a fire-breathing dragon keep from burning itself up?"
. . .
It is two weeks later and the SPLT fill-in-the-bubble test is starting one more time at Gelton Elementary. The State has fired their original guy and sent two more in his place who are worse. With them in control no accidents are possible this time. But Mr. Hernandez is not so nervous today. "Open your test booklet to page one," says Mrs. Johnson to her class. "You may begin." She walks around the classroom, monitoring her students. As she gets back near Pete's desk he smiles up at her and she winks back at him.
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"The most important day of the year has arrived. The state-wide SPLT fill-in-the-bubble test is today. This is what school is for."
ReplyDeleteWhat a great beginning to the story! I love it. It's too bad that these kinds of tests are so greatly emphasized and relied upon to measure scholastic achievement and growth. Next thing you know, kids will have to take two math classes at a time.... oh wait...
It's cool that the artistic little kid is the one who saves the day with his creativity. I'm afraid I don't quite understand the ending though-- is Pete planning to save the day again?
Yes... I wanted to know if this is No Child Left Behind inspired. I remember tests when I was in school, but I don't remember the schools being so stressed about it.
ReplyDeleteI love the teacher's relationship with the child and how it changes after she realizes he's doing what he can... a different strength, and a different set of talents, also contributes a solution to her problem in the classroom. You should publish this in a teaching magazine or publication (if there is such a thing... I'm sure there must be.)
Yes, Pete is planning to save the day. And keep doing it as long as necessary.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I'm interested in with this story is the interplay between competing systems of power.
To answer your education question [warning: educationspeak ahead]:
There is federal (NCLB) as well as lots of state stuff in the midst of a whirlwind of acronyms. When they get deep into all of this at teachers' meetings I start to doodle--I draw a staff on the back of the meeting's agenda and write little melodies and counterpoints. I've produced some useful things in those circumstances. (I guess I'm a little like Pete in that respect.)
At this point, because in a previous year we did not meet our improvement goal (the teachers are constantly involved in applying ever new programs to improve teaching, get a few more points higher, etc.--recently it has been Thinking Maps), we are now visited by an AGB (Alternative Governing Board)--which is sometimes referred to as KGB--as an alternative to the state taking over.
In a city nearby there was a school recently taken over by the state--everybody replaced. (Sadly, the scores dropped after that.)
As Merrilykaroly alluded to, because of all of this and the implementation of anthother program called QEIA (the Quality Education Investment Act program), our students are doubled up on math classes and our choral program has dropped from 70 students to 7 students.
Wow...
ReplyDeletethat just makes me soooo angry.
It makes me want to forward that TED talk that I posted a while back, on to everyone I know....
Education is not just math! And it's got nothign to do with testing!!!
Haha! That's a wonderful story! Go Pete.
ReplyDeleteI keep wondering if there's a chance things will change any time soon in regards to standardized testing and all the pressures of state standards. So many people (okay, so they're pretty much all teachers that I've talked to) think so much of the current system is bogus and harmful, and yet, the standardized way still prevails. Do you see a light on the horizon anywhere? What do you think it would take to get the govt. to see that much of their method doesn't fit the situation?
Love the story.
Camilla,
ReplyDeleteEducation is intertwined with politics, vested interests, competing ideologies, interest groups, etc. So what actually hits the kids often isn't based on what should really be done(whatever you think that might be).
We all know that a large number of the problems that face kids relate to the long-running breakdown of the family. At times people have promised that the solution to our problems is education--with a number of things that were previous family things passed off to the schools. So now people are unhappy when education doesn't seem to be able to deliver.
So the answer to the problem is to make the education system more accountable, and to put more pressure on it. The easiest, simplest way to measure success is with standardized testing.
In my view, the best, greatest hope for kids (within the paramater of a school's role) is teachers and administrators who care about them, and look past the nonsense to the deeper issues of caring about kids. And I know a number of people where I work who do feel that way.
As for music and arts, it's a perrenial issue. Just today a 7th grade math student of mine (yes, I'm teaching a math class to replace one of my choirs) told me (we're in the midst of testing, if you hadn't guessed): "The reason we go to school is for these tests, isn't it?"
Where there is not vision the people perish. I hope we've got enough people who still have it.
That ends my sopbox for today.
Dad -
ReplyDeleteI'm curious to know what you said in reply to this: "The reason we go to school is for these tests, isn't it?"
I think it's great that you like to write melodies down during testing meetings. Standardized testing is one of things I am not looking forward to when I start teaching. Having so much testing really does cause kids to wonder if that's what learning is about. It's not going to help them want to continue to keep learning, and in the end maybe the people who come out the most successful will be those who learned how to tests well. Those people aren't bad, but I think it will make a difference. You'll have more people who aren't intrinsically motivated at the top- just doing their jobs because it gives them an extrinsic reward (money or position). That's probably a negative way to look at it- there will probably be some smart, intrinsically motivated people that get there too.
ReplyDeleteRyan, I told the student: No, we go to school for more than tests--to prepare for future employment and to be educated, and there is even music in school, which is not tested at all. Today she showed me a letter she wrote to her boyfriend who is in juvenal hall . . .
ReplyDeleteNatalie, the idea of being intrinsically motivated is interesting to think about. In fact, motivation of any kind is interesting to look at. Sometimes I see some confusion in that area among students.
Dad -
ReplyDeleteWhat I really liked about the story was how fun it was. It took a real life issue as the conflict and used a little boy who can draw creatures on his bubble sheet and make them come to life the hero. I really had fun reading it.
I also think you captured the personality of a boy very well in the short story. You can tell he is young and shy, but smart. The teachers sounded like us adults, bossy know-it-alls. I love stories about children but I wonder if I could relate to them well enough to write them and make them sound like believable characters. I know this story is short, but you seem to do that very well.
I like the fun aspect of this story as well as the serious aspect that goes after the issue. If I wanted to as a reader I could dwell more on the seriousness, but if I didn't want to there was this fun story of fire breathing bubble sheets going on.
Thanks Dad, great story!