I found myself disagreeing with Wagner’s point of view on the state testing. That being said, I do not think my high school experience was the “norm.” I went to a California Distinguished school, so I guess test scores were good enough. But I cannot recall one teacher that stressed the importance of the test (except for AP classes, but we will get to that in a minute). Teachers taught from August to June, regardless of when we had to take state tests. The only time I ever remember them stressing the seriousness of the test is when we actually sat down to take it, and they asked us to take the questions seriously because the school would be negatively affected if we did not. That was it, they never beat us over the head with studying for the test. So to call them “accountable for the success of all their students” (90) seemed a bit dramatic for me.
And when Wagner writes “to what extent do these state tests assess the skills that matter most for work, citizenship, and college?” (90), I don’t think that is the role of the tests. That’s not the tests’ job, through reading this book so far it is my understanding that that is the job of the teacher. It is the teacher’s responsibility to somehow fit in content, test taking skills, and life-after-high school- skills and to do so smoothly. That and he asks “what is the impact of teaching to these tests on students’ motivation to learn and stay in school?” (91) this too differs from my experience, as I was never in a situation where staying in school was an option. But to follow his logic from the first few chapters, this role belongs to the teachers, not the test.
Wagner Ch. 4
Wagner says that “if your goal is to improve student learning … your first problem that you have to work on is to improve teaching and the coaching of teachers.” (128). Absolutely. The school site I am currently at stresses professional development. Once a month all of the teachers get together in the cafeteria and they spend an hour and fifteen minutes working on teaching skills, collaborating, and refining. It is incredible. I think where things have the potential to go wrong is when you have the type of teacher Wagner mentions who think this “maybe you don’t have to do everything the suggested- after all your kids are doing well on the state tests and the AP’s” after leaving a professional development(131). For the most part I see the teachers at my school, or in my department at least, really working on their P. D.. They like to talk to each other a lot, collaborate and share stories of how they implemented the P. D. into their lessons this week. They are such a good team, they care and uplift one another, which makes me feel like Wagner when he was just a third year teacher - “more than anything I longed to talk to other teachers about the craft of teaching and get feedback on my work in the classroom” (137). When Wagner talks about talking to Randy Moore about the type of help he got when he was a new teacher, and Randy says that everybody was too busy to help him (144), I have the exact opposite experience right now. I am getting more help than I could have ever dreamed of. Every time I see a teacher in the hallway pr collar space, they just ooze advice and tips. It is amazing.