As a PE/Health teacher, I am right there with you. Sounds like they want to get rid of PLVS and the Arts. I am worried that if those areas aren't being tested, then they will be the first to go when the money is not there.

 

This is true. If money gets tight (tighter) then these will be the positions and classes that districts will probably target unfortunately.

As a PE/Health teacher, I am right there with you. Sounds like they want to get rid of PLVS and the Arts. I am worried that if those areas aren't being tested, then they will be the first to go when the money is not there.

 

Agreed. And it's my opinion that students that aren't armed with what they get from a thorough Health curriculum are disadvantaged out in the big bad world.

I'm glad CAT's is gone. Please allow the teacher's to teach.

As the other member of Bballfamily--- I am still teaching middle school- Friday the 13th is a grand and lucky day for me Due to the TEST! my health has suffered, my mental state has suffered too! and the only job I ever wanted to do in my life- has lost most of the joy of teaching. The pressure to "teach" the test is terrible. I am held accountable for student scores! I have no control over what they choose to do on the day of the test. My Arts/humanities area is the last section on the test- how do you think they feel by the end? The test has changed each year, a different group of students tested each year- I seem to remember in my graduate research class- this was way too many variables for scores to be reliable research, but yet, I am held accountable and much added pressure to my job. . I teach in a performance class, but am expected to give "cats" like assessment, write portfolio pieces, and the list goes on and on, but still teach my program of studies and core content 4.1- I have 45 minute classes and only see my students for one quarter a year. Across the state some arts teachers [music, visual, and AH teachers] are concerned about their jobs-what a shame! students are not able to create and expand their knowledge in other areas of interest all due to a test/and/or/money! I know from experience, having music classes/ choir, taught me self confidence and self discipline. I will always remember those times.

so... I for one am jumping for joy! I have been teaching for over 25 yrs, I have seen with the "new" kera, our students can not spell, do math w/o calculators, can not write complete sentences with proper grammar, and rarely can think for themselves. They certainly do not remember content from year to year! They only learn it for the TEST! Now with CATS!!! gone!!! I can educate my students for life! not for a test!

Edited March 15, 200917 yr by rockmom

As a PE/Health teacher, I am right there with you. Sounds like they want to get rid of PLVS and the Arts. I am worried that if those areas aren't being tested, then they will be the first to go when the money is not there.

 

I'm assuming Practical Living and Vocational Studies?

I grew up and was educated in Kentucky...back when they stressed the basics...reading, writing and arithmetic. We all did fine. We had very few field trips, assemblies, go to work with your parents, feel good about yourself days, etc. We had excellent teachers who taught us what we really needed to know, including how to write creatively (without profiles).

 

Please......can we get back to letting teachers TEACH?

 

I am a nurse and I have my own government rules dictating my practice which hinders me from giving quality bedside care. Sadly, it is far more important for me to look good on paper vs what I actually do for the patient. I see the same thing happening to my children's teachers.

 

Government documentation and ridiculous testing by the "thought for the day" legislators is crazy!

 

I am not a teacher, and perhaps I am being overly simplistic.

Can we not judge a school by the end result (ACT/SAT scores and college placement)? Schools that struggle in those area can be targeted for whatever assistance that is needed. I would much rather spend my tax dollars on that kind of thing rather than CATS teaching/testing.

It appears to be official. As a middle school teacher I am thrilled that writing portfolios are out.

I agree with you wholeheartedly! And I know a lot of teachers who would say the same. :thumb:

I agree with you wholeheartedly! And I know a lot of teachers who would say the same. :thumb:

 

I say this with complete honesty; I like my job at least 50% more than I did before this announcement was made. Writing portfolios are the biggest waste of educational space, maybe not what they were intended to be but what they have become. We are asked, as language arts teachers, to help the students get their pieces to perfection. This equals obscene amounts of revisions to the point that the students are learning at all.

 

That isn't even the worst part. Once the portfolio is complete it goes to scoring which is completely subjective and while one person may score a piece proficient, another may see an apprentice. How is this fair or an accurate reflection on the school or student? The answer, it's not.

As the other member of Bballfamily--- I am still teaching middle school- Friday the 13th is a grand and lucky day for me Due to the TEST! my health has suffered, my mental state has suffered too! and the only job I ever wanted to do in my life- has lost most of the joy of teaching. The pressure to "teach" the test is terrible. I am held accountable for student scores! I have no control over what they choose to do on the day of the test. My Arts/humanities area is the last section on the test- how do you think they feel by the end? The test has changed each year, a different group of students tested each year- I seem to remember in my graduate research class- this was way too many variables for scores to be reliable research, but yet, I am held accountable and much added pressure to my job. . I teach in a performance class, but am expected to give "cats" like assessment, write portfolio pieces, and the list goes on and on, but still teach my program of studies and core content 4.1- I have 45 minute classes and only see my students for one quarter a year. Across the state some arts teachers [music, visual, and AH teachers] are concerned about their jobs-what a shame! students are not able to create and expand their knowledge in other areas of interest all due to a test/and/or/money! I know from experience, having music classes/ choir, taught me self confidence and self discipline. I will always remember those times.

so... I for one am jumping for joy! I have been teaching for over 25 yrs, I have seen with the "new" kera, our students can not spell, do math w/o calculators, can not write complete sentences with proper grammar, and rarely can think for themselves. They certainly do not remember content from year to year! They only learn it for the TEST! Now with CATS!!! gone!!! I can educate my students for life! not for a test!

 

:thumb:

There are some teachers who end up every year with a higher percentage of "slower" students that will be thankful it is gone. They are the ones that have really been treated unfairly throughout the CATS rein. If you don't realize how bad these tests have been on the teachers you are not close to education. The only way they have been able to keep up at all is to teach the tests. The time used in teaching these tests has been taken from basic educational needs.

I'm assuming Practical Living and Vocational Studies?

 

:thumb:

Maybe it will allow teachers to get back to teaching the basics instead of teaching the test.

 

I am not an educator, but being that my wife is a former teacher, and the fact that we have put 2 girls through CATS, the younger graduating this year, I have to say good ridanance. You have text books with say 20 chapters in it and you only have to teach and or learn 6 to 8 because they cover the test and rest don't, no wonder we are falling behind the rest of the world. They teach kids as if 100 percent of them are going to college, their not, they need to teach basics to survive in the real world and the kids who want to go to college then they can take the advanced courses. I know when my daughter was in the 5th grade, she came home from "testing" saying the teacher walked around while testing and if she was standing behind her watching and she saw a wrong answer she would cough and shake her head "no" and my daughter would move the pencil down until she shook her head "yes". As far as I'm concerned, those big signs hanging at Mason Co. saying how well we have done on CATS testing are big bold faced lies. You have kids who know how use a cell phone, but can't find Lexington on a map or balance a check book. No excuse if you ask me.

As an educator, I am cautiously optimistic about changes coming with Kentucky's accountability testing. However, I will wait to see what those changes are before I celebrate. They have mentioned what they are taking away, but not what they are replacing it with.

 

Several comments:

1) It's good that the writing portfolio is gone. Only a small portion of a school's faculty are English teachers, so asking them to be responsible for that portion of the testing has always seemed wrong.

2) There are many generalizations in the above posts. Not all teachers/schools "teach the test." Schools have always been responsible for teaching curriculum. We've also been responsible for preparing students for taking the variety of tests that they would take. That does not mean that actual teaching doesn't occur.

3) I, too, am somewhat concerned about the removal of certain subject areas from the testing accountability. I know that this doesn't mean that these subjects are considered less important, but in a time of budget cuts, it does make those areas more vulnerable.

4) The main problem will still exist, it seems. Until the students are also held accountable for their scores, then the results will not accurately reflect the work of the schools, nor will it maximize the educational benefit for all students.

5) Not all students are destined for college, so not all students need to be prepared for the same post high school opportunities. We fail all students this way. The non-college bound lose out, to a degree, on opportunities to explore other options. The college bound do not get a full range of advanced knowledge. Making the ACT/SAT the only standard is leaving out a large and important group of students that are not college bound. The Germanic system seems to do a good job of positioning students where they will get the most benefit.

6) I do not think that poor grammar/spelling/ or sentence structure is necessarily the fault of the testing system. We can thank cell phone texts and interactive interent sites that do not require proper writing technique. I may be wrong. If I am, we should see our students' ability increase in the next several years.

Maybe it will allow teachers to get back to teaching the basics instead of teaching the test.

 

The theory was supposed to be that the basics were the test.

So, by teaching the test, you were teaching the basics.

This whole "teaching the test" mantra has long irritated me.

 

Here is "the test" in high school science,* the area that I teach. This is included in what we teach in 9th grade Earth/Space Science, 10th grade Biology and 11th grade Physical Science and Chemistry /Physics:

 

http://www.education.ky.gov/users/OTL/CCA%204%201%20FINAL/CCA_41_SC_HS.doc

 

*otherwise known as the core content