It's been nearly a month since I wrote about my daughter's struggle with the STAAR test and I feel that I should let you know, dear reader, the good and the bad news. Let's start with the good news. She passed the math portion of the STAAR test! I know. It's amazing! She worked so hard on that section and she rocked it! Look at these stats:
So, not only did she make marked improvements from last year and the April administration of the test, she also surpassed the state, campus, and district scores for the May administration of the test! I am such a proud parent!
Now onto the bad news. No, not bad news just... challenging news. Scout did not pass the reading portion of the STAAR test. In fact, her score dropped from getting 20 out of 38 questions correct to getting 18 out of 38 questions correct. On the positive side, this is still an improvement over last year, so she is making progress.
I have spent hours trying to figure out how such a bright young lady who is a fantastic reader could be struggling with this. I've come up with a list of reasons that I may share later, but I had to get to the point where I asked myself how I could help her be more successful with standardized testing. As an educator and a parent, this rips at my core because I know that she has a good understanding of the concepts. Her teachers every year have told me this and I have seen it myself. Still, for whatever reason, she stumbles when it comes to the STAAR test.
M and I discussed, debated, and analyzed the best course of action for her and the immediate response is that she will be attending special focused interventions for nearly 3 weeks this summer in preparation for the June administration of the STAAR Reading test. Yes, summer school. Yes, I know we could opt to not send her, but I feel like any help she can get might be what gives her the boost she needs to feel successful. Her class has 5 students in it who all struggled with the 5th grade STAAR Reading and she "gets" to ride the bus because it is not at our neighborhood elementary school. This is a novelty for her, as she has never had to ride a bus. I hope the novelty doesn't wear off too quickly since she will be riding the bus to middle school next year.
If I had not been reading and studying about Growth Mindset and the power of "yet", I might have fallen into the trap that I have fallen into before. This is the I-am-a-failure-as-a-parent-and-an-educator trap that I know I have not been alone in. When I looked at the situation from a Growth Mindset perspective I realized that this is just something that we need to work on.
So, did learning to ride a bicycle help S pass the math test? I think it might have. As far as the reading test goes, we are doing everything we can to set her up for success and asking her to try her best. The "new bike when you pass the test" bribe is also still in effect.
Comentarios