Comment

Comment by Dr. Michael L. Cubbin on April 14, 2013 at 3:07pm

I am watching the 2013 Masters Tournament today. I watched yesterday as well as Angel Cabrera pulled ahead, though I know all too well never to write Tiger off. I have never been much of a "team" athlete, but I did several years of amateur boxing out of Westbury and enjoy a good tennis match on occasion as well. I watch scores, but only how they affect an individual's standing. High schools and universities across the country push for their athletes to be at the top of their games. In fact, educators in many of these division quality schools will bend (and break) the rules of any particular student to get their team - their school - to the finals of a particular sport. Unless you have been living under a rock, I think it is fair to say that the majority of "degrees" earned by athletes who wind up in professional competition after college, are better used as wallpaper material than resume material. But we support and admire these athletes with our last breath. I have friends who, though they disagree with standardized testing, know the stats of every Jet or Giant and can tell me who won the Super Bowl in 1972. Apparently these statistics - these "grades" and "scores" - rate high on the scale when we deem them to be important. These "labels" are important. These labels are politically correct. These labels are not only acceptable, but are vigorously encouraged.

How about the student who does poorly in school, but has a modicum of talent on the baseball diamond? I can assure you that the school will be the staunchest supporters of that "student" being trained for hours each day to get him a scholarship or even a spot on the varsity team. They want him to earn a "label." That label is fine.

When did testing become a bad thing? When did we turn around and see how our progress in school, or more accurately or documentation of our (student) progress, become wrong, and unacceptable? In my class, I use graphs on the walls to show class averages (it encourages competition among the classes.) I use data charts to document the amount of hours each student studies (it helps them to see where they might be making bad studying decisions). I give out weekly progress reports and have the students graph their progress every Friday (so they can set goals for the following week.)

I use these "data collection methods" with my students so they will not be shocked when they go to college or get a job and their professor or boss tells them they need to raise their GPA or sell more cars or dish washers - because they are not doing as well as their colleague who is outperforming them. I am trying to get my students ready for life. "Life" is a label. So is "Successful", so is "Quality", so is "Happy", and so is "Failure." I am choosing to use my class to teach them how to get a "I did quality work, and so am happy and successful and not a failure" label. If they are a 1, I teach them (and show them through the data we keep in class) that the number 1 can be temporary or permanent - the choice is theirs. Labels are not tattoos. They need not be a "scarlet letter" either. Once our students leave school, they will have to fight for every 3, 4, or 5 that they earn. They had better learn that lesson now, while the stakes are still relatively low and mistakes can be erased rather easily. That is what school is for, to learn. If they don't understand and learn how to take a 65% and make it an 85% now, then how will they every learn to do it as adults? Isn't this a problem we are having now in our schools and workplaces?

By the way, my students (I have pointed this out before) are 100% Spanish-speaking ELLs in a NYC high school and last year every one of them passed the Chemistry Regents. 100% of them passed the Chemistry Regents. This is in a high school that has a record of an average overall 30% Regents passing rate in all subjects. Should I stop what I am doing? Should I stop showing them how to go from a 1 to a 2, or a 3, or a 4? Maybe there is some part of this discussion I am missing. Perhaps I am just not smart enough to "get it." Funny, I was signed up for that "More Than A Number" show the other evening, but decided at the last minute not to attend. Why stand up and say the people on stage are wrong, and I am right? I figured I would just let the numbers speak for themselves.

Well, I am going back to the Masters and hope they still have scores because I want to know who wins. I want to know who worked the hardest to get to the top. Top scores still mean something to many people. Tests still mean something to many people. I hope that those who believe otherwise understand that there are many parents who feel as I do, too.

Dr. Michael Cubbin