Now some schools are testing kids for their ‘grit’ and ‘joy’ levels. Really.

[Tanaqui]

Clicky. And here's the referenced piece in the NYTimes.

 

Sigh. I'm not completely opposed to the idea of schools covering social and emotional skills. After all, kids spend 900+ hours a year there, more if they are enrolled in aftercare. That's a significant portion of their waking hours! On the other hand, I can't help but think that if we really want to put substantial effort into building character traits, that's going to involve a complete overhaul of how we run (most) schools. And I don't think these sorts of programs really have thought this through enough.

[Ellie]

Oh for crying out loud.

[mom2att]

Oh for crying out loud.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

Something else to test for. Yay. And even better, something varied and nuanced and immeasurable and completely inappropriate to test for. Double Yay.

[JumpyTheFrog]

I find this a little creepy.

[908874]

My attention wondered half way through the article. Because my brain keeps wondering "why?!" And "who thinks this is a good idea?"

 

Flawed data? It's likely than in a group of 20-40 students you will have a little bit of everything. You know a distribution? Of every normal emotion, family circumstance and ability. I suppose if all or most children come from a difficult situation (war? Recent immigrants fleeing danger? Recent school shootings?) then you would have a high degree of trauma. But you wouldn't need a test to know that.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Guest]

dumb AND over-stepping

[Bluegoat]

You know the systems attitude to testing is over the top when...

[Stellalarella]

It's bad for kids, but what will it also do to their teachers--the women and men that have to look into the eyes of  8 year olds and run them through a test to determine if the teachers made "grit" bloom in the kids.

 

Poisonous. 

Edited March 10, 2016 by Stellalarella

[SporkUK]

It feels like some top-down approach where someone at the top read a few headlines about the importance of emotional and social skills in both school success and later life, did no other research into the topic, and told test creators and school inspectors and eventually teachers that kids need this, make sure the kids know that, and ignored anything and everything else on the topic. The fact the author who made this a big thing has left the project says a lot to me. 

 

The first part of the NYTimes piece makes my skin crawl. A timer to see how long they behave - including eye contact? Right off the bat, it's putting many autistic kids and kids with sensory issues among many others in a place of disadvantage [before we even get into how eye contact isn't universally appropriate behaviour]. Disagreeing respectfully - well, that's just ripe for abuse depending on the adult or other kids. I can think of a few adults who find any disagreement from kids disrespectful and a few who are very good at appearing respectful and calm while pushing buttons. As the rest of that article says, the whole design of it as is just has so much room for trouble for so many kids.

 

It's pretty much against everything about good emotional and social skills development - treating it like a check list, a check list to do all at once constantly, to be tested top down with absolutely no sign of proactive nurturing, guidance for kids or teachers, or so many other things. It's just wrong and as Stellalarella poisonous, but I can see how to appeals to those at the top and probably some teachers will do their best with these requirements even under this. 

[foxbridgeacademy]

My favorite part of the article....

"For each student we know the following details within the first month of school: their level of trust, if they feel connected to others, if they are hopeful, if they feel like they can achieve. We receive data — however flawed — that typically takes years of relationship building to get from individual students during daily class time."

 

So they no longer have to spend time getting to know their students to help determine how the kids learn and what works best for the individual.  Instead they have a series of numbers...

[Sahamamama]

Reason #451 to homeschool.

[fourisenough]

Ahhhh, another news story to make me feel great about our decision to homeschool - at least long enough for our kids to develop grit and experience some joy!

[Stellalarella]

Somebody with some grit needs to steal some joy from the emo testers.

 

[IsabelC]

They measure grit by asking students how much grit they have!

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

This sounds like a really great idea.  

 

Because, like academic testing, nothing improves socio-emotional "skills" more than teaching kids how to answer questions on tests so that they appear to have socio-emotional "skills".  

 

And if we could dedicate a bit more class time to teaching socio-emotional test prep, kids won't have to go through those awkward activities that force them to interact with other people. 

 

Phew!  Two birds with one stone!  A real win-win for kids everywhere.  

 

Also, I swear these articles on what we are subjecting children to could simply all be pasted together and make a great plot for a dystopian novel.  

 

 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Also:  Once again we are finding a way to shift blame to teachers for things out of their control.  Teachers should NOT be the primary "teachers" of things like respect and self-control and whatever else the government wants it slaves... er... citizens to possess.  

 

But everyone loves a good scapegoat...

[Mimm]

So schools realize that grit and joy are important and their first reaction is to throw the only tool in their toolbox at it. Another test. Great.

[Tsuga]

My favorite part of the article....

"For each student we know the following details within the first month of school: their level of trust, if they feel connected to others, if they are hopeful, if they feel like they can achieve. We receive data — however flawed — that typically takes years of relationship building to get from individual students during daily class time."

 

 

However flawed?!!?!?!!?!?!?

 

As a data person in education:

 

Aaaarrrrrgggghhhhh noooooooooooooooo why don't you listen to your data people?

 

Garbage in, garbage out. Except this "garbage out" goes into the school database.

 

I am about to go to a conference related to this. Rest assured I will be making quite a few points very forcefully.

[Tsuga]

I do want to say that this is not a nationwide program. It seems to be isolated. Hopefully it will be quenched before it gets too far. I know I will do my part!!!

[SparklyUnicorn]

They are treating them like dogs!

 

 

 

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

However flawed?!!?!?!!?!?!?

 

As a data person in education:

 

Aaaarrrrrgggghhhhh noooooooooooooooo why don't you listen to your data people?

 

Garbage in, garbage out. Except this "garbage out" goes into the school database.

 

I am about to go to a conference related to this. Rest assured I will be making quite a few points very forcefully.

 

However flawed...yeah....  Cuz you know who cares if what we do is valid or makes any damn sense or is based in reality.

[Stellalarella]

here's the deal about education--all one district or one state has to say to their constituents is, "Hey,SmartBrain Town is doing it.  We better get on board too so we aren't left behind by the travails of the 21st century economy!!!!!!"  And boom.   It's done.

 

 

 

[Tsuga]

However flawed...yeah.... Cuz you know who cares if what we do is valid or makes any damn sense or is based in reality.

But it's DATA. So it must be TRUTH. That's how it works, right?

 

And Stellalarella, that is not really how it works everywhere. That's why some districts in the US out perform or match Singapore, Finland, Korea, and others... Don't.

[Stellalarella]

It was a generalization for rhetorical effect.

 

[Tsuga]

Sorry, I have a terrible habit of using sarcasm but not being able to process it myself.