I think schools should seriously consider the tradition of Spring Cleaning and the first thing to go…standardized test.
For students young and old, Spring isn’t about New Birth or Hope, rather it is filled with the drudgery of Spring Testing. The windows are shut to keep the bird songs out so that students can concentrate on bubbling in.
Can you imagine if we spent those 10 days that we spend on Spring Testing outside what our students would experience? If students were able to explore the new life that is going on in the world around them.
Instead we are stuck in a life cycle of repetition. Spring is a time of repeating what’s always been done and what we had to do in school. But instead of bring life, this cycle brings doubt and worry to students who want to succeed and teachers who want to keep their jobs.
Is this really the life cycle we want to teach students?