I have this great idea, let's stop teaching for an entire week and give our students an exam to test their knowledge...
The WKCE is an exam that tests the student knowledge of Reading and Math in grades 1-3 and 6-7, and tests Reading, Math, Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies in grade 4 and 8. They have been using these exams to measure a school's "success" rate too. My school is at 8% proficiency (we have 8% of our students at grade level performance in the tested areas) , and we need to raise it to 13% proficiency in the next three years or we may be shut down. Or this is my understanding of it....
I have my own opinions about the validity of standardized tests like the WKCE that I will keep to myself. I see no point in writing/complaining about them. You, my readers, have your own opinions about them, and I have mine, and my blog post is not going to change your opinions.
Anyways I noticed as one of my new students from a rural part of central/eastern Mexico ( he has been here for almost a month and a half) struggling on the exam. He had no idea how to use a calculator, no idea what a mile, foot, or yard was, and he kept asking me questions that I sadly could not explain to him. I felt bad for him, and I wish I could have explained everything to him. Not that he would have understood, but it would have made it seem a little easier.
The cultural/background knowledge that is needed for these exams is ridiculous, especially for my new arrivals. I wonder what they when they write these exams? Do they think of the students in the urban parts of the state when writing this?
It will be interesting to see what happens for the rest of the week for this testing thing... I wish everyone taking the WKCE luck!
Chao,
Leslie
