Speaking of Hoop Jumping...

I've mentioned it before, but in case you didn't know, my 7th grade son and 8th grade daughter complete their school courses on-line, at home (Arizona Virtual Academy). We had become unhappy with not only the Jr. High 'scene', but mostly the curriculum and array of inexperienced teachers.

This week, however, every morning from 8:30 am to about 12:30 pm, I take them to a centralized location to complete the state-mandated AIMS testing(Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards). All students throughout Arizona, regardless of their educational method, are required to participate in AIMS. It's used to track the academic achievement of all students across our grand state. There is no grade for this series of tests which covers the areas of Reading, Writing, and Math, but a 'rating' system is assigned: Below the Standard, Approaches the Standard, Meets the Standard, and Exceeds the Standard. Your last required AIMS testing is administered your sophomore year, and if you don't 'meet' or 'exceed', you may not be graduating. You are given up to 5 more opportunities to retest, but by your senior year, if you haven't reached the required standards set forth by the state, your right to graduate will be revoked. And, yadda, yadda, yadda, your state probably has something like this, too.

OK, so what's the problem? I don't have a problem with the kids testing to make sure that they are where they are supposed to be academically. What I do have a problem with is where the state of Arizona says my kids should be academically, especially after we received such a poor grade in the effectiveness of our school systems as compared to all the other states across the nation.

Want to know what's actually even 'comical' about this? (It's where the hoop-jumping part comes in) My kids were complaining to me in the car on the way over to the testing site the usual "Why do we have to go take this stupid test?", answered by me "Because all the kids have to take it"(i.e. hoop-jumping, so you can be in compliance with the state, so you can graduate). My kids, "Well, who decided we have to take this stupid test anyway?", answered by me, "Uhhh, well, I'm not really sure, but you do have to take it, and, uhhhh, well...", that's where I lost them when I tried to throw in all my fancy facts about the testing and the reasoning behind it, and how it will help all of the students in the state.

And, of course, my smarty pants kids come up with "Well, isn't that why you took us out of the regular school district because it doesn't help us as students?" Touche. Wow, schooled by my own kids. And then, the real kicker. My kids, "Did you have to take AIMS?", me, "No". My kids, "Well, what test did you have to take to make sure you were doing OK?", me "Umm, let me think, it's been so long....we didn't really take tests like that." My kids, "Well, what about graduation?", me, "Well, we just graduated".

And here's the best part of the conversation. My kids, "So what would happen that you couldn't graduate?". And my answer, which took me to back in the day when things were so much simpler, "Well, if you failed a class, you didn't pass". Easy. Do you remember back in the day when by the time you were a senior in high school that you really knew what you should know because you earned your way there? If you failed a grade, you had to repeat it - simple. Your academic success was measured by the end of every school year, you either went on to the next grade, or you didn't. You either learned what you were supposed to know by the end of that year, or you didn't. If you didn't, you had to go back and do it again until you got it. And with that kind of stigma, no one wanted to repeat a grade!

Call me 'old school' 'cause I am. I'm not so 'old school' that I'm not with the times, but I just know about when things work and when they don't. No wonder we have so many more problems with our education systems of today.

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