AIMS

Our state standardized test is coming up next week. Yesterday we had a staff meeting to prepare for administration of the test, which must be done according to a very specific set of rules. We had an entire packet of information to go over, which of course we only got halfway through because my principal is very cool in that he has staff meetings before school. That way they must end at a certain time. No group of people will sit there and waste time asking stupid questions that have already been answered ten times like teachers. Believe me. I have lived it.
One of the pieces of paper we had was a list of questions one may ask oneself to make sure ethical testing procedures are being followed. The list included questions like, "Am I using sample test questions because they cover the topic we are currently addressing, or is it only to prepare students for the test?" The list went on and on, and I got the impression that we weren't really supposed to be using all of the sample test questions, practice questions provided by the state, and all the other junk I was given, unless it was part of the lesson I had already planned.
Here is my problem: I have devoted several entire lessons to preparation for the test. I have a huge beef with people who complain about teachers who spend time preparing students for this test. If the state insists on using high stakes testing as a measure of student growth AND teacher competency, then nobody has any business telling me I cannot do everything in my power to make sure my students do well on that test.
The state looks at only one thing to decide whether or not I am doing my job as a math teacher: Test scores. The outcome of this one test determines what the state will think of me as a professional. The hours, blood, sweat, and tears I have spent teaching these little creatures to be human beings DO NOT COUNT. The only thing that counts is how they score on this test.
Does that mean I give up and teach them only things that will be on the test? Hell, no. For most of the year, I go about my days teaching them the things I think they need to know, based on my knowledge of their curriculum going forward in school. Basically, I prepare them to be 7th graders. But for about two weeks before the AIMS test, we do nothing but prepare for AIMS. I use everything I have been given. I use everything more than once. I drill the students. I make them repeat chants after me so that they will remember what to do when they get stuck.
I will give them gum and hard candy and juice and fruit during their breaks. I will have them write encouraging messages to each other in chalk on butcher paper covering the walls before the test. I will mother them and coddle them and believe in them. Because if the powers that be want to judge me on how my students perform on this one test, then what they really want is an assessment of how my students test. And that is what they shall have.