News coming in from various districts around the state of New York anecdotally indicates that increased stress levels with the new, longer state assessments have been affecting both students and teachers alike.  Stories of an uptick in the number of students who have actually become sick— vomiting directly on their test papers in fact— have been reported.  When one school administrator asked innocently, “can that go through the scanner?” the response from the testing coordinator was “these tests are secure so we need to get the papers in a baggie and send them to the state.”  How sad.

It is against this backdrop that I found myself on the first day of high stakes testing last week observing something quite the opposite.  Visiting a class of fourth grade students who spent 40 minutes in our newly established school garden I could not help but contemplate the irony in what was happening on this day.  Not to worry, they took the time to learn real life lessons in the garden after their 90 minute ordeal.

Later on that day a fourth grade teacher, who was watching the goings on in the garden from the second floor window of the school, detected a similar irony.  He observed me outside in the garden with the fourth grade students learning math and science lessons, experiencing the world in an authentic way.  He could not help but wonder about the contrast of that learning activity with the artificial, sterile exercise in standardized testing.  The contrast was palpable.

Nine, ten, and eleven year old children should have the opportunity to explore the world in the most direct and profound way at a time and place that is meaningful and impactful.  The time was now and the place was the school garden.  The children in the garden were the first to plant seeds for the spring growing season.  These seeds will eventually be harvested as fresh vegetables to nourish their personal health and well-being.  Along the way many life and academic lessons will be learned.

I wonder how much they learned during four and a half hours of testing that would represent the total testing for the week.  I know that 40 minutes spent in the garden left an indelible mark in the hearts and minds of the children who had the good fortune of having that opportunity.  The cycle of learning- the first day of planting as compared to a summative assessment is an ironic dichotomy worth examining.

On the one hand we seek to measure the outcomes of a process designed to equate effectiveness with a static result predicated on how a learner can perform relative to what the instructor was capable of getting the student to retain.  The other is a process that from its onset seeks to ingrain a habit of mind designed to stimulate a set of life lessons that will reveal a disposition towards further inquiry.  One can easily see children in a school garden posing many questions about plant life, soil chemistry, and generally the nature of things.  Whether a garden or any other real life situation, authentic engagement will build skills necessary for citizens of the future to a far greater degree than the measurement craze now underway throughout the country.

Some may say that we must hold teachers accountable through a state sponsored reliable measurement system.  If it were just a matter of needing to reserve a select amount of time to insure the integrity of what children learn, it would be one thing.  But to rob our children of their right to experience the world in a timely manner is a choice not worth making.  The effort to plan, plant, and monitor the effects of a real garden is time sensitive because Mother Nature needs work done in the spring even though this conflicts with an excessive testing regimen.  I understand that we cannot, and should not, devote an inordinate amount of time learning in the garden.  The garden is simply a vehicle for our school district to provide a multitude of learning experiences for children of all ages.  Every school community, as every child, has a right to design and decide the value of how time devoted to quality learning should take place.

I remember having a conversation with another fourth grade teacher in another district who feared that test demands would not allow excess time for students to learn in the garden.  “How could we expect teachers to sacrifice precious class time needed to prepare children for high stakes tests?” she asked.  I think the better question is how can we not find that time.