Beatings Will Continue

This true tale comes from Tim Slekar, Director of the Educator Preparation Program at Muskingum University of Ohio via Diane Ravitch’s blog:

Every Monday morning at 9:45 Mrs. Tichon’s 26 kindergartners had to spend 15 minutes completing a district mandated “literacy check.” And every Monday three of Mrs. Tichon’s children never finished at 10:00 am and had to miss recess. 

Not today though! Mrs. Tichon had had enough. At 10:00 am she announced to her class that it was time to turn in their assignments and line up for recess. Of course the three children who never finished stayed in their seats and prepared to spend recess in the classroom completing the literacy check. 

“William, Lela, and Termain” Mrs. Tichon’s voice rang out. “Put your pencils down and please get in line. You are going to recess.”

Later that day Mrs. Tichon was summoned to the principal’s office during her lunch. She didn’t think anything of it at the time, so she picked up her things and went in to see her principal Ms. Stanever.

Ms. Stanever glanced up from her desk when she heard the knock on the door frame from Mrs. Tichon. “Please come in, close the door and sit down,” Ms Stanever whispered to Mrs. Tichon.  Mrs. Tichon knew at that moment that something was wrong.

“Can you please tell me why William, Lela, and Termain did not finish their literacy check?” asked Ms. Stanever.

“Because it’s just not right to keep them in every Monday from recess. They’re only 4 years old. They need to play” Mrs. Tichon asserted.

“No. They must complete their literacy check so we can send their scores to central office to keep track of their progress. Without that data they will fall behind” replied Ms. Stanever.

Mrs. Tichon was officially labeled a “troublemaker” and tearfully resigned at the end of the school year.

This insanity is just one tip of an ocean of icebergs that threaten the well-being of children as the Covid pandemic wanes.  Much angst has accompanied the alleged damage done by the pandemic: mask-wearing, virtual learning, social isolation and more.

The solution? “The beatings will continue until morale improves.”

In a nation besotted with standards, grade levels, testing, metrics, data and literacy tests, the post-pandemic beatings are about to commence.   

Either pre- or post-pandemic, the idea of “literacy checks” for 4 year-olds is just crazy.  It is so f***** crazy that dignified prose is inadequate.   If you think a literacy check is good early childhood education, go find another blog.  

But this is not confined to the rabid metrics and testing fringe, a cult to which Ms. Stanever apparently subscribes.  The only slightly rabid traditionalists at Education Week aren’t much better.  The most recent issue contains several articles under this introduction: 

This Education Week special report suggests a somber road in the months ahead. New EdWeek Research Center data shows teachers aren’t confident they can get students to grade level by the end of the year. They’re trying to keep expectations high while contending with low student engagement and their own sagging morale. Many have had to lower the rigor of their assignments, a move that comes with a bevy of worries for the future. 

 This gem from a middle school principal:  

“You just have to continue pushing along and teaching the kids and taking the kids from where they are to where they need to be,” he said. “It’s difficult sometimes, because the kids want to quit on you.”

And from the text of one article:

Low student engagement is the most widespread problem teachers pointed to as an impediment to helping students reach grade level, with 68 percent of respondents citing it. 

Many have had to lower the rigor of their assignments. 

God forbid we have to “lower the rigor.”  One of my dependable laugh lines from admissions talks was, “It is notable that ‘rigor’ is most frequently  paired with ‘mortis.’”

Although the “catastrophic” damages done by the pandemic are arguable, I’ll stipulate that stress and depression are real, though certainly not universal, consequences for students and teachers.

True things:

Grade level is a nonsense concept that serves only to demean children, worry parents and encourage lousy educational practices.

Children learn to read (and most all else) at different ages and the long-term impact on educational and/or life success is zero -unless a child’s sense of self is damaged by disparaging teachers, irrelevant expectations or meaningless test scores.

Learning loss is mythological.  Please read or reread this previous post.

Like the folks at Education Week, I see a “somber road” ahead as the education establishment prescribes more stress and pressure as an antidote to stress and pressure.  Sounds nuts when phrased that way doesn’t it?    

Just like William, Lela, and Termain, all students need more recess, not less, particularly now.  The one certain and terrible consequence of the pandemic was interruption of the social experiences that are far more important than grade level, multiplication tables or “literacy checks.”

Let’s hear it for recess!  And recess for teachers too.  We’ve lost far too many Mrs. Tichons already.