Wish Us Luck

We start our week-long standardized testing tomorrow. I had a dream last night that in the middle of the test a child took cookies out of their desk and started eating them. Another student stamped his booklet all over with a stamper he had in his pocket. Oh and they put a Pre-K class in with me to hold and they were just running around the room screaming. An administrator came in to ask why I was behind. So I'm guessing at least it has to go better than that! :) Isn't it funny the way our minds work.

I did write them letters that I will put on their desks before they come in

Along with a letter from the Desk Fairy ( I know, cheesy, but they LOVE her):

And a letter from their parents, if they wrote one, I did request it.

We have a motivational song to sing beforehand (to the tune of Roar) and we've prepared I think as much as possible. Now it will be up to them. Hopefully they get more sleep tonight than I know I will! I've posted about my frustration before, this is 50% of my evaluation-however, no one can tell me how the growth will be calculated. If they scored in the 98th percentile last year (which I had 2 students do) and they score in the 97th this year, that will be considered negative growth, right? How will my child who is reading on a 5th grade level show that on a test that's scaled for the grade level he's in? What level of growth are we even looking for to be called effective? I just wish I had more answers-I don't even know what the goal is. I know this whole holding teachers accountable for test scores thing sounded good in their heads! I guess we'll do how we do and if it's not good enough, I'll have a year on a growth plan before they fire me. Not that I'm worried or anything....:)

Ah, the joys of teaching!