Dear TEA...

Dear TEA,

A big part of what you do for our children is ask them questions. You do this in the form of a standardized test. You do this to assess their learning, and to hold me, their teacher, accountable. Well, on this the weekend before my 4th graders will be assessed in regard to writing, I am taking this opportunity to ask YOU a few questions. I do this to assess your knowledge, and because I believe with all my heart that you should be held accountable as well.

Allow me to say that having studied diligently, having two children of my own, and having taught every grade level from pre-k to fourth grade, I know a little about child development. Do you realize, that by simultaneously increasing our class sizes and also making testing more rigorous, that you compound some issues that were never dealt with in the first place? Since we are moving, rapidly I might add, to the practice of using higher level thinking skills and assessing as such, let me put it this way--JUSTIFY for me, please, asking me to work with more students and fewer resources, and holding me to a higher level of accountability-- all while you try to decide exactly what it is that you are doing.

Have you stopped to think lately, ever, about who you are assessing in the great state of Texas? I mean really stopped to think about the faces and situations of those ID numbers? They are living, breathing, thinking, playing, and sometimes suffering individuals. Individuals. ASSESS for me please, and tell me how effective you think our accountability system really is when these children that you try so valiantly to uniformly assess, are anything but uniform. I am blessed to work in a district full of passionate teachers and administrators. We show up early, stay late, give so completely of ourselves that we are often depleted when we arrive home to care for our own families. I know I am not the only one who can't quit thinking about my students, even when I leave the building. I leave with the knowledge that I have done all that I can do for that day, and always wondering what life at home for them will hold that night.

Do you remember your days in the classroom? Think with me here. Before you landed in your current position, you were "one of us". We all know that we take an unspoken oath before stepping into the classroom. It's as individual as we are, but probably everyone's includes something about instilling a love of learning in our students. PREDICT for me, what you think might happen, if we continue to take the love out of learning. When fourth graders who have always loved school, delighted in their own creativity and talent in writing, and performed well in all areas are told that they are NOT GOOD ENOUGH because they can't produce a specific product with a timer ticking--the oath has been shattered. I know two fourth graders, different parts of the state, different districts, different teachers who have had their hearts broken this year.

I've asked you questions and made sure that they came from the two highest levels of Bloom's. Can you answer them? I know that I've oversimplified in many ways, and yet, I surmise that you're still struggling to answer these questions. I'm exhausted myself. I'm sick at heart for my students, my fellow teachers, my administrators. Like those two precious fourth graders, I'm beaten down from being told that I'm just not good enough. I'm not sure how much longer I can do this, but as long as I am in the classroom I will continue to give my all. When, at the end of the day, I ask myself if I truly did all I could do for the children entrusted to me by the state of Texas, I hope to answer affirmatively. Can you?

Sincerely,
A Teacher