This past summer, I received an e-mail from my children’s school district, the Edmonds School District, stating that money from the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, was not going to be given to us because our state refuses to tie the test scores of the standardized tests to teachers’ performance.
As a parent of two, I feel that standardize testing is not fair. I feel that too much pressure is put on today’s teachers to not only be a teacher, but also a parent and a social worker.
My stepdaughter lived in southern Washington with her mom. Her mom has many health issues and was not taking her to school. We were granted custody of my stepdaughter as she was entering the third grade. She had a low second grade reading level. She would’ve not been able to pass a standardize test and this would not have been the teacher’s fault. Fortunately, she went to a school, where the teachers, psychologist and paraeducators worked with us to get her caught up. . My stepdaughter is now half-way into her senior year in high school. I am not able to say that it has been easy. Her relationship with her mom brought her into a depression, and yet again, we were able to work with her counselors at Lynnwood High School, get her on a 504 plan, and get her back on track. There have been times, where she had not passed some of the standardized testing, just missing the mark by points.
We are involved in our children’s education. It pains me that not every child has this support at home. Unfortunately, there are many children out there in homes that do not support educational growth. This is no fault of the teachers and/or any employee in our education system. With so many outside factors that are out of their control, there is no way that our teachers would be able to get all of their students to get 100 percent on their standardized tests.
Our teachers need to be able to go back to teaching children because they love doing it as opposed to teaching to a test. I am tired of our children being used as pawns in a political game. I wish Congress would let Washington state waive the No Child Left Behind Act with no political strings and that the state of Washington will actually give the schools the money that they legally deserve.
Andrea Duffy
Edmonds
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
