Spreedsheets

It’s easy; it’s quick to read that bottom line. Spreadsheets definitely have their place in all work places but a spreadsheet is not the only piece of information anyone should look at in regards to whatever is being evaluating. For example it cannot show the quality of products (which are lifeless) nor where/when flaws occur, real or within the qualifier. Is the evaluation tool even being used for the purpose it was intended?
Spreadsheets are being used in states and hence in school districts to show test success and supposedly teacher success. The spreadsheet has its place but so much is not included.
Just like the products that come from our factories that are uniform, our children are all expected to learn certain materials at certain times. Very little on a spreadsheet indicates what has gone on before, there is no heart and soul or character. Our children become lines and columns on these spreadsheets. The success on a test or tests, (now known as assessments) seems to be considered by districts and politicians to be the whole story although colleges and universities continually publish that admission and predicted success is based on more than the test numbers.
There is benefit at delving into an assessment, seeing what questions a child answers correctly and what was missed. A spreadsheet does not show the whys of responses, nor do the answers- everyone needs to talk directly to the test takers for that. The bottom line may also show trends within a group of children but again one needs to look more deeply. That spreadsheet should be used not as the end, but the beginning of questions. What that spreadsheet does not show is strengths, weaknesses, development (social, emotional, cognitive, physical), special needs, vocabulary knowledge imbedded in text, English not being the primary language, class size, comprehension skills, whether the child is ill, or slept well, or is stressed, had breakfast, or has personal issues or even if he/she had a fight on the bus or in the car on the way in to school. A spreadsheet doesn’t show persistence, values, strengths, leadership, responsibility, non -academic talents, learning style, and only hints at academic talents, transfer and application of knowledge, or even test taking skills. Children with special needs have been mainstreamed into general education classrooms and children from around the world are immersed in the classroom as well. The makeup of a classroom is even less homogeneous than in the past. These practices of using that spreadsheet sound fabulous and are cheaper and make for a quick often judgmental look. The problem becomes that when looking at the testing on that spreadsheet everyone is expected to take the same test and reach the same specific scores while narrow in what is being evaluated. The test taker is a child (not an adult) who is learning, experiencing, and practicing to be successful in the world.
The classroom teacher is expected to help each child achieve to the fullest. And that is what teachers do. These children are not machines but humans with varying needs. In a family the needs/talents/ strengths are never the same: in a classroom no two children are the same. So let’s not leave children on the spreadsheets but use those spreadsheets as only one piece of the puzzle to help children develop character/personality/individuality/social skills. Consider qualitative solutions along with quantitative when looking at “the big picture” for planning our children’s futures. No child should be a number in a column or line when the child has a life to live.