Wednesday's Word

Benchmark, noun. A standard or point of reference against which things may be compared or assessed.

There's no usage for this word this week, but it is a word that is being spoken quite frequently in our house. Every nine weeks the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System assesses the progress that students in grades 3 and up are making with benchmark testing. Holden tells me it's like a mini-TCAP (the standardized test grades 3 and up take in the spring) and he dreads it. Holden is not a good test taker. He stresses out way too much. He worries. He frets. He acts like his mom.

After many stressed out conversations, I finally have Holden convinced that the tests are no big deal and that the teachers are putting so much emphasis on these test because it reflects on the job they are doing as teachers. When the students do well that means the teachers are doing their jobs. In this era of "No Child Left Behind", a school is put on notice when test scores are below expectations; federal funding is cut when scores do not improve (this I do not understand... shouldn't failing students get more help?) I do not have first hand knowledge of this, but I can only assume individual classes' scores are made public to the staff at each school. And even if only the principal is privy to that information I have discovered that schools are one big gossip machine... and it's not just the students talking. Oh the embarassment a teacher with below proficient students must experience!

Teachers are rushing to drill all the state's standards into these little minds that it seems fun and exploring have taken a back seat. But I am not writing this to critize teachers. They are doing their job. And my experience with teachers in our school system is they are doing a great job with what they are given. The challenges that teacher's face cannot be fixed by legislation, more money or more tests.

Could it be that minds need to be changed? Our standards of acheivement challenged?

That is exactly what the book The Report Card by Andrew Clements is about. Holden read it last month as one of his two required Accellerated Reader books. It's a story of a girl who is surrounded by high achievers; to them it's all about the grades. Her family even has a special ritual of reading the report cards when the kids bring them home. But the main character is just an average student. Or is she? The truth is she's a genius, but she's been hiding it since she was two; afraid that people would single her out as different. She's determined to change everyone's minds about grades and classifing people based on their intelligence. Her plan? Make bad grades. This book has effected Holden. He secretly wants to be a B & C student. He thinks average kids have less pressure. And lately, I think he's been seriously considering a plan to throw his grades and slide down a few levels.

Whew... I just had a Reading Rainbow moment.

My point is (and I do have one!): I'll be glad when this week of "benchmark" is over and we can go back to day-to-day homework and studying. Back to a relaxed Holden - loose and settled. Back to a house where you don't hear the word benchmark... at least for the next nine weeks.