"Although we are asking teachers to look at the last DRA given and determine whether the student should be tested up or not and "don't shut down reading instruction during DRA's."
At least you are letting teachers exercise their judgment. If you don't shut down reading, you still have to shut down something. Initially I thought it made sense when we were told to test each child a level up, but now that I am doing it, I realize that it isn't working and doesn't make sense to have thought it would. Sometimes I feel like all of the "administrators/specialists" are incapable of taking another look at their directives and saying they made a mistake. Are people so insecure that they can't alter an idea that doesn't work? Some educators see the test scores as a reflection of their teaching ability so they put kids on grade level whether it is true or not. I wonder if administrators/specialists see their ideas as a reflection of their ability to "coach" or "lead" so to alter them would be tantamount to admitting failure? What a mess we have created and, by the way, there is a loser in all of this...the child. I have a student who can't pass the fluency portion, but I let him take the written comprehension portion anyhow and he passed it with flying colors. I was not supposed to do this and I have to fail him and retest him down until I get to the level he can pass in both fluency and comprehension. What I found out by "breaking the rule" was that this child comprehends what he reads on a high level. He just isn't fluent enough to beat the timer. If I hadn't done this I would be matching this child with books that are way below his true ability. Now does that make sense? What will I learn by continuing to test him down - that he isn't fluent! How will he feel when it is over? Leslie R.Stewart Grade 3 Teacher lstew...@branford.k12.ct.us 203-481-5386, 203-483-0749 FAX To feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something beautiful, ready always to apprehend in the flow of language the sudden flash of poetry. ~ Gaston Bachelard ~ ________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
