Posted on 08/30/2015 10:39:28 AM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com
BROOKSVILLE -- http://www.newsiosity.com/videos/society/4th-grader-voices-concerns-over-testing-school-board-video
A Brooksville Elementary student isn't happy with the new statewide testing in schools, and she's making her opinion known.
Sydney Smoot, 9, spoke Tuesday in front of the Hernando County School Board. She told school leaders that she's not happy with the new Florida Standards Assessments.
"I do not feel that all this FSA testing is accurate to tell how successful I am," she said in her speech.
WATCH: Sydney Smoot speaks out against standardized testing
The fourth-grader says the testing causes way too much anxiety for students.
"I just don't think it's fair because one test defines you as either a success or failure," Sydney said.
She also says she had to sign a form telling her not to talk about the testing with her parents. She felt the need to speak up.
"I just wanted to do it so that I would help a lot of people that are being forced to take the test," she said.
Sydney's mother helped a little with the speech but says most of it was her daughter, and that she is very proud of her.
"She's just a natural at it," Jennifer Smoot said. "I could never be that way, but I'm so blessed that she it."
Sydney said she's proud of herself, too.
"I felt proud of myself for taking a stand and standing up for all those students that had to take this FSA test."
Life is a series of tests, little girl. Learn to deal with them early and the hard ones later will seem much easier. Don’t grow up to be Julia.
Future actuvist. Mom helped more than a little with the speech.
Sure as heck wasn’t her Uncle Floyd from Hooterville!
I went to Florida public schools before testing. I had a social studies teacher in 10th grade who could not read. I had friends who could not read. If you showed up half of the time, you passed.
I was in the class of 1980 and we were the first class that had to pass a 10th grade standardized test to receive a diploma. They gave it every semester from 10th grade to the end of 12th grade, and half of my class still received a “Certificate of Attendance” instead of a diploma.
This girl was born into a system that expects you to pass some gatekeeper tests to move on. She wants to go back to a system where half of her classmates get socially promoted. Shame on her parent (or parents, if she actually has two).
Wait til she has to sit 8 hours for the Professional Engineer exam. The horror.
With the exception of the “not telling parents” line, this was the union presentation. Of course they exploit that part of it, but that’s not their concern. If someone is teaching the little darlings about homosexuality, body parts going here and there, it’s just fine for moms and dads not to hear about it.
Testing is being done because the education system is not doing the job. Shhhh, don’t tell anyone. Let’s not take tests. And for heaven’s sake, don’t tell mom and dad the results. They might get upset.
Get YOUR children out of the government indoctrination centers - NOW!
When did the adults in this country decide to let toddlers make the rules? The jackass adults need to wise up and grow up. This kid needs to be told to sit down, shut up and do her homework. As an adult, toddler units with big mouths regurgitating what their commie lib, bio-parental units taught them just doesn’t impress me.
question: without some kind of standardized test, how do you know the students in NY are learning the same thing a the same level of comprehension as those of FL TX IL and CA??? that's why all the colleges need remedial reading and arithmetic courses so they can get those with diplomas that are basically just attendance certificates up to speed...
Oh good grief. This kid’s being taught the same principles as the “you’re gonna have a minimum wage job your whole life, so they better pay you $15 per hour” crowd. A skills test before 10th grade is just a test. Get through it and then go out and play.
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She also says she had to sign a form telling her not to talk about the testing with her parents. She felt the need to speak up.
Indeed! Speak up! If any adult tells a child not to talk to their parents about something ( Indeed!) **that** is the time to "Speak Up" to their parents!
Gee! How did they ever manage to grow up to be competitive and successful adults without government imposed testing?
FRiend, the answer to the problem you pose IS testing... systemic, frequent, and adaptive to grade and perceived deficiencies.
The answer is NOT a single pass/fail exit exam. What you get then is alot of “teaching to the test”, which results in a poorer overall education.
Of course, the BEST answer is to get the government out of education altogether.
There is a lot of push-back on the FSA testing. The questions are often not relevant, poorly written, require you to be tied into a remote computer system that fails often. Part of Common Core.
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