This School Year Will Not Be Measured by a Test Score

by Patrick Kelly

Apr 2, 2020 4:00 am

So, in this moment, I would challenge my fellow educators to take a moment to move past the question of “will they remember?” The answer to this question is unquestionably “yes.” It is simply inconceivable that every school-aged child in America won’t remember the year the world seemed to grind to a halt in the face of a virus. So, instead of asking “will they remember,” I hope educators will have the courage to ask “what will they remember”—and then structure their work with students accordingly.

For the rest of this year, I will continue to teach content where and when I can, but

my primary focus will be on ensuring my students remember the deeper, more profound, and more important lessons
we are learning as a society in 2020. When I look back on this school year, here is what I hope they remember:

  • I hope they remember that their value never has been—and never can be—defined by numbers, grades, ranks and scores. 
  • I hope they remember how fragile and precious a gift life is, and how it is up to each of us to treat that gift with the respect and honor it deserves.
  • I hope they remember the power of relationships—not the types of relationships that are defined by followers and “likes,” but the types of relationships that leave you feeling empty when they are absent and fully alive when they are present.
  • I hope they remember that life is full of uncertainty and there is very little we really control, but we can always control how we react to our circumstances and to the circumstances of those around us.
  • I hope they remember that life isn’t measured by the size of your investments in yourself, but in the many ways that you invest in the lives of others.
  • I hope they remember inequalities and inequities are real in our world, and it is the responsibility of each new generation to push our story one chapter forward in the human endeavor of bringing those injustices to an end.
  • I hope they remember we are all interconnected and the actions we take have a ripple effect on the dreams and futures of others, making the well-being of the individual inextricably tied to the well-being of the whole.

For the remainder of this school year, I pledge to focus on ensuring these are the types of lessons my students will recall in the future. In this moment, instead of being driven by a test, I hope my fellow educators will seek to do the same.

Photo by Pojo Jozef Polc, Canva-licensed.
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