Inside the Pressure Cooker of Passing a Test to Get a Diploma
For kids with learning disabilities that impact their working memory - certain tests bring unmanageable strife, anxiety, and frustration
When I started teaching in New York, our students had to pass a series of tests to earn a diploma called Regents Competency Tests (RCT). I don’t know why I didn’t think of this last night when I was writing – but it is important. Aside from the State Regents Diploma that one could get in New York, students had to pass these other, lesser-thought tests to get any diploma at all. And if a student could not pass these tests, then they’d have to settle for a Certificate of Attendance. Take that one with you to a job interview.
At the special education day school in Buffalo, one of the characteristics of my students was - for one reason or another, they could not attend mainstream public schools. For kids who were classified as having Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED), their attendance at the special day school was usually accompanied by behavioral goals. It was common for my students to be way…way, far behind the kids their age in mainstream public school because of limited or interrupted formal education – if not their learning disabilities all on their own.
One more point that I have to make about my former students – is that they WANTED to be in school. At their age, many of them could walk out anytime that they wanted, and nobody would stop them. Yet, most came in every day and gave it their all. Sometimes there would even be violence in my classroom and in our halls. For the kids from the East Side of Buffalo, it didn’t take much for there to be a little friction occasionally. But when it ended, they were still there. The students understood that the diploma meant a better job than did the certificate of attendance. So, despite many challenges, they persevered.
Sing it for us, Billy…Pressure
I don’t remember a single student who took and passed the higher-level examinations to get a higher-level diploma. And, I do remember having skill and drill sessions with kids – getting them ready for the RCT in Social Studies. The test was comprised of multiple-choice and short essay questions. A strong vocabulary and knowledge of US History or Global Studies terminology was usually enough to get a student through. But these were kids who couldn’t always handle pressure.
You have to learn to pace yourself
Pressure
You're just like everybody else
Pressure
You've only had to run so far
So good
But you will come to a place
Where the only thing you feel
Are loaded guns in your face
And you'll have to deal with
Pressure
In 1982, Billy Joel sang the song, Pressure. When I think about a student I had by the name of Ryan and him rubbing his head sitting at the back table of my classroom, trying to prepare for this test – this is the song that comes to my mind. He squinted while he looked at the vocabulary cards we created. He put his hands on his face. His hair was a mess. I could see the stress in his facial expressions. For all that stood between him and a diploma was that test. This was before the No Child Left Behind Act – and this was a test like that of the GED. Had to pass it to get a ticket to the Better Job show. Those were the rules, and this is just the way it was.
When I think about today's tests, I am again drawn to their very purpose. Philosophically, education is the difference between what one knows and what one knows after instruction, experience, or training. And a state saying you must know this or that to be defined as educated is kind of ludicrous, particularly when we think about kids who go years without formal education because of their country of origin, an inability to speak the English language, or overall capacity to retain and regurgitate information. Testing for diagnostics makes sense. It tells us what our kids need to know based on what their current level of performance is. Testing for growth even makes more sense – because we are always learning and growing in some way. Why not find reasons to celebrate the growth rather than chastise the attempt?