Thursday, March 28, 2019

Opportunity to Shine

I posted this almost exact blog last year as we approached New York State Assessment time. The date has changed, but the underlying message is the same: Show Up and Do Your Best!

There are a lot of things in life that we have to do that we may not necessarily love to do or even like to do whether it is at work, school, at home or in our lives in general. Think paperwork. Think washing dishes. Think folding clothes. Think going to the gym. Insert whatever that "thing" is for you. But even the things we don't necessarily like to do all have a purpose. The message we should give and model for our kids as parents is to show up and do your best. Whatever it is, that is the expectation. We expect you to show up and bring your best. That's life. Over the next month our students will be taking part in the New York State Assessments in both ELA and Mathematics. These assessments have a purpose and play an important part in what we do as a school. 

These assessments measure the learning standards around which our teachers design and deliver their daily instruction. Our teachers routinely revise and refine this instruction to make it the most rigorous and relevant experience for our students in order to prepare students for their future. We are not preparing them to take tests. We are preparing them to be complex critical thinkers and creative problem solvers. Seeing how they perform on the NYS Assessments is just one tool in that process that helps us to ensure that we are on the right track. Our children are completely prepared to take these assessments because our curriculum is aligned with the standards that the tests measure. Plain and simple, it's an opportunity for our kids to shine!

I know that some of you may have reservations about encouraging your child to take the assessments. Your concerns, together with those of educators, have been influential in significantly changing some important aspects of the assessments. Here are some of the positive changes to the testing cycle:

  • 2 days instead of 3 days
  • Untimed testing - students may have as much or as little time as they need
  • All questions have been written and reviewed by New York State teachers
  • Student scores are not part of the evaluation score for teachers or administrators
As we do in other aspects of our children's lives, we should encourage them to participate, encourage them to do their best, and celebrate their tremendous effort. Letting them refuse to participate puts a chink in their armor & ability to persevere and be resilient in the face of challenges in other aspects of their life. When students refuse to participate it also negatively impacts the information that we need as a District for continuous improvement. Avoiding a challenge is not a practice we want to encourage in our kids and it does not serve them well in the long run. 

I am asking you to support the message we are giving your children here at school: this is your opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned and how you have grown as a student. We ask them to simply do their best.

I am so proud of how hard our students and teachers work, and I appreciate all of your support at home for our students and staff. As always, if you have questions or concerns please give me a call or send me an email.

Continued Success,
Steve Dunham
sdunham@westgenesee.org
Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms