I finally went on line today, to look at the ELA scores of my soon to be 4th grade students. As predicted, the results were abysmally low, but in relation to every other student in the state, were commensurate. First, it should be noted that if 30 to 40 points were added to every score of every student in every county, they would match the last 17 years of testing. If I ranked my students from high to low, and made a general prediction of how well they would have done, I would have been pretty near the mark, in both ELA and math. My students who did very well in class did very well (proportionally) on the tests, and the students who did less well in class did less well on the tests. There were a few good scores, but many, many fewer than in previous years, and this would lead one to believe that there was a whole lot of nothing going on in classrooms across New York state. Not true. We had other ways of assessing students, and these methods proved all along that what we do is important. Here's how we know that we actually have a lot to be proud of: One of our measures, used to contribute to the teacher evaluation score, is a local assessment called AIMS WEB, which measure progress in reading comprehension, math computation, and math comprehension. Enough of my students improved at the necessary (predicted) rate, allowing most of us teachers to receive a 20 out of 20 for that part of their rating. A reading comprehension and skills test taken at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year (same test) showed huge leaps in understanding. Ditto for a math pre and post test. Weekly and unit test scores that go along with our reading series also showed significant growth in understanding. They learned to love to read (at least most of them did), learned a lot of math facts, and found that they were very interested in how things work (science), and in the story of us (social studies). Test scores aside, all you have to do is look at a group of kids to know that they are learning. My students took education seriously, understood the rules of behavior and consequence, and treated adults and other students with respect. They became self-directed learners, knowing without being told what needed to be done when they accomplished a particular task. They learned how to follow schedules, how to be part of a group, and how to wait their turn without making a fuss and drawing attention to themselves. They could amuse themselves for a period of time on the playground, and learned that if they were having a bad day with friends or classmates, that it wouldn't last long, because that's the way kids are. They learned to help each other, to help themselves, and to believe that if they tried hard enough, even difficult things could be accomplished. When they entered my classroom in the fall, some of them still months away from turning 8 years old, they were essentially second graders, heading into an unknown world filled with higher expectations, real number grades, and the knowledge on the part of the teachers, that they would soon become much more independent. By June 21st, their achievements had occurred in leaps and bounds, amazingly. No matter what their test scores are, I am proud of each and every single one of my students, for I know that in this world of high stakes testing, they are champions.