Reply to SAT day time wasters

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Reply to "SAT day time wasters"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]You know, stuff like this really gets at the heart of why chronic absenteeism is the problem that it is in MCPS.[/b]

To accommodate "free SAT testing" for MCPS juniors, we've disrupted and lost a whole instructional day for three other grade levels. The substitute activities range from somewhat worthy (Mock AP exams for those taking AP classes) to unworthy (unstructured "study halls" that kids just nap or play games in).

Because the schools know that these substitute activities are a joke, they informally tell students and parents that their kids can either stay home for the testing portion of the day or stay home altogether, since even the abbreviated classes that do happen aren't likely to cover critical material on what is essentially a half-day.

We should go back to SAT testing happening outside of the normal school day. I'm not convinced the juice of offering it for free to everyone is worth the squeeze.[/quote]

That ain't it.[/quote]

But it is. The inconsistency and incongruity in MCPS message tells kids the truth. You can't on the one hand, in BS messaging like this insist that every day of school attendance counts and matters:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxR_SFHJST0[/youtube]

And then informally tell students and families that they should skip school on testing days like this.[/quote]

No it isn't. There are many reasons students are absent from school. "It must be ok to be absent because there's nothing much going on at school on the day MCPS administers the SAT to juniors, if you're not a junior" is not one of them.[/quote]

I entirely agree. Chronic absenteeism has to do with mental or physical health issues, kids with unstable home lives, kids of no fixed address, teens who need to work for food or shelter, or who have entirely given up on learning. This has nothing to do with skipping school on the rare days of the year where there are no classes to speak of. My oldest, now in college, wisely used those high school days to catch up on sleep, prep for his AP exams, or finish homework. The kids who are chronically absent are usually always the same ones, and they're very hard to reach and manage, because there are exceedingly serious reasons for their absenteeism.

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