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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]^ Nonsense like that, by the way, is why teachers are leaving the profession in record numbers.[/quote]

I don't understand why you'd work at a preschool whose philosophy you didn't agree with. There are schools that aren't like this--[/quote]

Because I like working with the children. Because I like some of my coworkers. Because I love my room. Because I get paid very well. Because of the health insurance. There are lots of reasons why people work in places whose philosophies they disagree with.

Also, I've worked in a number of preschools. The only ones I've worked in that didn't have an obsessive assessment culture are the ones that weren't part of the public school system, which meant the pay was very, very, very low. Been there, done that, not going back.[/quote]

O.k. you might check off the box that a kid CAN hold a 3" ball with his/her non-dominate hand (without really knowing if that is true or not).  But obviously you can't give every kid the exact same assessment.  Do you ever check off the NO the kid CAN NOT hold a 3"ball box on a kid (without knowing if that is really true or not)?
[/quote]

I do! They tell us we're supposed to be more conservative and not estimate up if we don't see something, but then they also tell us that the kids' scores are supposed to be improving over time, and that kids should ideally be at the 3 mark (1-3 scale) before moving onto kindergarten. This leads to lots / most / all teachers giving 1s at the start of the year, 2s in the middle, and 3s at the end, no matter what the kids are doing. Why? Because our annual evaluations are impacted by the kids' scores (what could possibly be a bad idea in that?). Oh, and there's a chance our pay will also be tied to kids' scores soon. It's a horror show.

Of course, there are lots of questions that most kids won't be anywhere close to because they aren't developmentally appropriate (e.g., questions on whether children explore topics in depth by conducting their own research on the Internet...in preschool). Meanwhile, I'm working on silly things like teaching kids to speak instead of just stare at me when other kids take their toys.[/quote]

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