Shaundalyn Elliott's Diary
The First 180 Days

Why Do Kids Fail?

Week 24

Of all the frustrating tasks first-year teachers face, I find reteaching to be one of the worst.

For the past two weeks, I had to put my proposed lesson plans aside to focus on a single grammatical skill. The concept of "subjects in unusual order," sentences in which the subject comes after the verb, seems to have my students stumped. From the moment I introduced the lesson, I've been working diligently to help them understand the concept. Despite all my efforts, there was a 70 percent failure rate on the test I gave Friday.

I was very upset by the results. I felt what I imagine most teachers feel when their students fail; I thought their failure was my fault. I don't know why I so often believe that my ability as a teacher is measured by my students' success. I suppose it's because that seems to be the world's belief.

Before returning the test scores to the students, I decided to review the test and the answer sheets one more time. (I had used a bubble type of answer sheet that was a smaller version of the kind of answer sheet typically used in standardized tests.) The review convinced me that there was nothing I could do to simplify the test itself.

Before returning the tests, I tried to prepare my students for the grades they were about to receive. I also asked them to carefully check their answer sheets. I was hoping that some mistakes would show up. As each class period checked their tests, a few students actually did find errors. Although that relieved me a little, I still wasn't satisfied.

It wasn't until the next day, when I decided to see what I could learn from the students about their performance on the test, that I came to a better understanding of why so many had failed. At first, the students' answers to my questions didn't help much. Finally, in my third-period class, a young man raised his hand to comment. His response provided me with a whole new view of the situation. He said, "Ms. Elliott, why did the answers have to be on that kind of answer sheet? I think that messed us all up." Immediately, the other kids chimed in, agreeing with him.

In each succeeding class period, I asked the kids whether the bubble type of answer sheets had made a difference. There was overwhelming agreement among the students that they had. I hadn't even thought of the possibility that it was the form of the test -- and not the content -- that had caused the dramatic failure rate!

On the one hand, I was happy to have a new perspective on the situation. On the other hand, I was unhappy to realize how much students fear standardized tests -- and how much those fears can affect their performance. No wonder standardized test scores are low!

What are teachers supposed to do?

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Shaundalyn Elliot
Education World®
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