This week has seen its share of tensions in educational politics. On one end, standardized test scores are serving as the magic bullet through which all teachers will be judged in a Teacher Effectiveness Bill that is about to pass the Colorado State Senate. On the other end, the state’s “traditional” standardized test (CSAP) might be thrown out, or at least revised for high schools if House Representative Solano gets her way. Standardized tests are a central feature in this week’s Congressional hearings about the National Elementary and Secondary Education Act too.
This bantering back and forth about the appropriate role of standardized tests in American schools makes me that much more appreciative of the work that my husband and our instructors do at the Martial Arts Academy. “Standardized” tests are a central event at the Academy, just as they are in an increasing number of schools today. The difference between school tests and these tests, though, is that each belt test is a big deal for the kid. A teacher’s job is not on the line, nor is our school’s funding. A child’s ability to control his or her body in space, defend himself, and show that he has practiced his karate forms are on the line. We require them to show evidence of “Black Belt Behavior” at home and schools as well.
When kids fail a test, they feel horrible. They walk away from the training floor crying (or some hold it together almost long enough to make it to the car, where they sob in their moms arms). But an instructor always stops them before they get too far into the lobby, and meets with them and their parents, closely going over a list of:
1) what went well
2) what needs to happen next time if they want to pass the test.
There’s a shared responsibility between the student (child or teen), the instructor, and the parent to co-create situations in which the student thrives….thrives because s/he earned it, and got some help. It may take some children three attempts to pass his or her brown belt test, and that’s okay….because at the end of the day, it’s not a race as to who got to Black Belt (and beyond) first.
“Races” in school are becoming all too popular, and these races are often tied to standardized tests. The Race to the Top funding, for instance. $4 Billion Federal Dollars to be distributed to the States who win the Race. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for healthy competition. But for a race to matter to a kid (and his or her learning), then it has to do just that…matter to the kid.
What are we, as parents, helping to make “matter” for our kids? What, specifically, do we praise? What do we emphasize? What do we talk most about? Or ignore altogether?
