The Examination

I'm not kidding when I say the room was freezing. It was not our normal room. Sure it was a beautiful old college classroom with chalkboards everywhere and old wooden windows. When the professor asked for volunteers to sit toward the back of the class for the final, I volunteered. I like natural light and don't mind sitting on the perimeter during a test. As I looked out over my classmates, I noticed several wearing stocking caps, winter coats and scarves. Meanwhile, a dull whistle blew through the window frame. The room was chilly and the test extensive. I think I did fine, the questions were fair, but tricky. Really, as long as I am around the mean, I will have reached my goal.

I finished the two hour test at 11:45 with just enough time to dash across campus and eat a half piece of left over pizza before my next two hour exam commenced at 12:00. This test however was not fair. Usually, I have confidence in my "selected response" options. The professor called them "forced response." I think her terminology accurately reflects the feelings I experienced while taking the test.

After four hours of testing with a short lunch, I was ready for something more strong than a coffee break. One of my friends and I headed for Happy Hour to laugh the tests away. It worked. Afterwords we walked home together.

I have my last final Friday morning. It begins at 7:30 A.M. We are expecting a major winter storm tomorrow. I hope I can (1) make it up that early and (2) get there safely.

This evening while making a pot of chili, I was thinking about the testing experience I just had. Sure four hours is a lot. But then I think back to my students and every student in every public school across this country and the amount of NCLB testing they do every year. Schools have become data happy and don't always recognize what a test can and can't tell you about a student, school, building, state. I really appreciated this article from Educational Leadership regarding the "New Stupid" and the misueses of testing data. We expect a lot from students, we expect a lot from tests and we expect a lot from test data. The extensive amount of testing cannot always support our expectations.