Mother Nature has wreaked havoc on instructional time this year for Texas Gulf Coast Schools. Hurricanes, Flood Events, Snow, Flu… Sounds like a disaster movie spoof. If only…

And do you know who doesn’t care, at all? The State.

Sure, our Texas politicians and Texas Education Agency people will wring their hands and say nice things. That and 5 bucks will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

But, do you know what they won’t do?

They won’t waive or postpone the STAAR test. God and Mother Nature are no match against the political will to sort, rank, and demean public schools.

This means that we have to teach like there is no tomorrow. Because our yesterdays were taken up with trivial things like not drowning or freezing.

Which is why I felt like I was punched in the gut when I was on a campus last week and nearly every class was taking meaningless “Friday Tests.”

I asked why students were taking these tests and the answers were either, “That’s what we do.” Or, “We have to have test grades.”

Really? We’re smarter than that. To be clear, you will not test your students to STAAR success. You will teach them to STAAR success.

Which means this… If you waste even one day between now and the STAAR test on anything other than instruction YOU are only ensuring that the near impossible job of meeting accountability standards this year is actually… impossible.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

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