WASL

M1 has come home the last couple nights really worried.  Tonight when we got home she says to me, “Mom, I’m scared.”  Scared?  Whatever for?  “The WASLs are next week.”  Why does that scare her?  “They’re the biggest test I’ve ever <i>taken!</i>”  I don’t know what they’re telling the kids, but they’re terrifying them.  I told M1 that the test is not about her.  She can only do what she can do on it.  I told her the test is seeing how well the teachers are doing *their* jobs.  Because obviously if she doesn’t know something, either it was not taught, or it wasn’t taught well enough to stick which is not her fault… What’s really sad is that this all is coming from a kid whose teachers have raved about how wonderful she is, every last one of them.  She’s smart, sweet, compassionate.  She has the same problems with math as I did at her age (honestly, I didn’t *get* math until maybe a decade ago & not for lack of trying, it just took that long to click).  “We” are learning about doing the easy stuff first & coming back to the hard stuff, basic test strategy, but… it’s still hard for her.

The reading assessment stuff didn’t bother her at all.  Of course, most of the way through third grade, she’s reading at an equivalent to however they determine a sixth grader four months into the year would be reading (I don’t get how they figure that so exactly, but eh).

I dunno.  I don’t know what they’re telling them, or even if they’re telling them anything really, but the stress is really working its way in & it pisses me off.  Apparently some kid in M1’s class told the teacher that WASL stood for Wash All Stinky Laundry, though.  That’s pretty awesome.

Meh.  And double meh.