Literacy

Don’t get triggered, life’s LIT

The Test That Shall Not Be Named . . .

Did I lose you already?

I said the word TEST.

Why? Why? For the love of God why?

Not only did I say test, but I said ‘The test that shall not be named . . . ‘

Even worse!!!

No one wanted to bring it up but I’m going to. I’m bold like that. It’s how I roll.

There was a test that came to our school in May and it rhymed with ‘Map-land’ or a synonym of ‘Tired Idea.’ Ha ha, the latter was funny because it embodies a lot of people’s thoughts about the test that shall not be named . . .

A Tired Idea. I get it. It’s controversial. It’s ONE DAY. One test. One snapshot of student achievement. And how successful you are in Map-land sometimes depends on how you are feeling on that day.

For example, if I did the test today, I would soon be sitting in Mr Smith's office trying to convince him that I do know a little about Literacy and I am indeed the right person for this job.

In this new role of mine, I find myself talking and thinking about Map-land every day. Some mornings I wake up and scream ‘WHHHHHYYYYY? Why have this test?!’ Other mornings I wake up and think ‘YES!! Let’s do this!’

This article is not filled with quotes from scholars passionately defaming or robustly pontificating about the test that shall not be named. You may already have an opinion, or you can read what is out there and make up your own mind. I am just going to offer my thoughts from my perspective as a teacher and parent.

1. First and foremost, data in schools is critical. It is my job to analyse our Map-land data and identify point of need teaching and improve curriculum and student outcomes. Without standardised data, this is extremely difficult. We would have to create other tools to identify areas to improve, and these would mostly like be a test or assessment.

1. As a parent myself, it is incumbent upon me to know how I can support my son and daughter in their education. I look forward to the results of their Tired Idea. My main priority as a parent is always:

‘How can I best support my children?’

The answer to that question is not found through millions of dollars on tutors, private schools or outraged emails demanding why a teacher dares discipline your child. The answer is teaching them resilience.

We’ve all watched the Olympics and we see the combination of success stories and heartbreak. We see utter devastation or amazing elation. These athletes were not thinking ‘I won, but remember it was only an indicator of how I was feeling that day!’ or ‘I lost, and all the years and years of training came down to the fact that the race was on my least favourite day.’

In VCE, our students achieve either terrific grades or a low ATAR. Universities do not select students based on their mood on the day of the exam, or whether their parents march up to the enrolment office and demand why their child was not accepted. Those parents would be escorted off the University premises, while the enrolment office continued offering places to the highest scoring students.

In job interviews we need to prepare ourselves by dressing appropriately and planning for all manner of possible questions. We then attempt to articulately answer them while trying to remain composed. Of course, the panel will quickly flick through our resume and selection criteria, but 90% of their opinion will be based on our responses and appearance. ON THE DAY.

You may have noticed that all of the above examples are from participants who have actively prepared for the test, race, game or interview. But how do our students prepare for Map-land? How can they prepare for a test they cannot explicitly study for?

The answer is, they are already preparing for it. Every day at school since they entered Prep. They write. They count. They learn about subject specific vocabulary, structuring text types and appropriate language conventions. That’s how school should be. It should be hard, and it should challenge us. To learn and improve we must get out of our comfort zone.

Anyway, my point is. The test that shall not be named/Tired Idea/Map-land, the results are out. And although it is just one test, on one day, make sure you see the results as an opportunity to help your child to grow.

Claire Hanley

Literacy Learning Specialist