No More Spelling Tests?!

I attended curriculum night at my son’s elementary school last week and was surprised and alarmed to hear his teacher’s answer to a parent’s question about spelling tests.

Parent: “What day will the spelling tests be?”

Teacher: “We won’t be doing spelling tests. Rockwood has mandated that spelling tests be eliminated by next year, and many teachers are opting to phase them out this year.”

What!!!??

The teacher went on to explain that:

• Spelling will be graded and assessed as part of the students’ everyday work.
• Many students simply memorize the words for the spelling test, but continue to spell the very same words incorrectly on everyday written work.
• Rockwood has research to indicate that weekly spelling tests do not improve students’ spelling mastery skills (or something to that effect).

As I looked around the room, these are the reactions I interpreted from the looks on the faces of other parents:

• Many were surprised, like me, and hadn’t heard this information.
• Many were displeased, like me.
• Some were nodding in agreement.
• Some smirked. I’m not sure whether they were smirking because they were thinking, “This is so typical” or “I knew it” or “This is yet another example of the dumbing down of America” or something else. I have yet to master mind-reading, I guess.

When I got home, I fired off an email to the Associate Superintendent for School Leadership and Curriculum for the Rockwood School District, Dr. Scott Spurgeon, inquiring about the mandated elimination of spelling tests. Within 24 hours, I received an informative email from Kathy Ryan,  Curriculum Coordinator, Language Arts K-12. (Note: this is one of the many things I love about our school district — administrators are not only accessible, but they respond quickly to parent inquiries.)

Ms. Ryan shared the following information with me:

1. The Rockwood Curriculum states that assessment of spelling should take place primarily through each student’s writing.
2. Weekly tests are not required.
3. In order to be consistent in all buildings and for all children, the district has determined that spelling pre- and post-tests will be discontinued during the 2010-2011 school year.
4. Research on writing asserts that students need more time for authentic writing tasks, and spelling pre- and post-tests take nearly an hour of instructional time each week.
5. Dozens of elementary teachers field-tested this approach during the last school year and found that spelling ability did not diminish, but student willingness to check for spelling errors in all tasks increased.
6. Beginning in the 2010-2011 school year, teachers will give a spelling inventory test at the beginning and end of each year to identify strengths and weaknesses so instruction can be designed to meet student needs.

“We believe that this change in spelling assessment practices will allow students more time to study words and more time to develop spelling through writing,” Ms. Ryan wrote.

Ms. Ryan also shared with me some of the research upon which this decision was based. I won’t quote all of it now, but I will say it looks solid. If you would like to see this document, email me and I’ll forward you a copy.

HOWEVER, I’m still bothered by the idea of no spelling tests. Spelling tests have worked for decades. They’re part of the BASICS! I think the new approach of assessing spelling in daily writing is a great idea. In a school district with high standards like Rockwood, a student should not be able to get an A on his/her weekly spelling tests, only to then misspell the same words in daily writing assignments. But I don’t think the time required for weekly spelling tests is wasted time. According to the “spelling letter” that was shared with parents, weekly spelling pre- and post-tests take about 40-50 minutes and that time can be put to better use for writing instruction and practice. Seriously? I’ll bet with a little effort, we could identify 40-50 minutes in the elementary school’s weekly schedule that could be used for those spelling tests without taking away from writing instruction or practice — i.e. extra recesses, assemblies to motivate for fund-raisers, “Pickle-puppet” sessions that cover topics probably best addressed at home.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my school district and I’m very impressed with the assessments on standardized tests and the ACT and SAT. I’m a huge fan of my son’s elementary school and believe the teachers and the principal there are doing an amazing job educating our students. Plus, I’m sure the district had multiple “committee/parent” meetings before making this decision, and I somehow missed the process while staying busy in my duties as a mom, part-time writer, etc. But I am alarmed by the trend away from some of the more basic learning techniques that have worked for so long. Don’t even get me started on the way my son is taught to add, subtract, multiply and do long division. That’s a whole other post.

At the very minimum, a weekly spelling test requires these elementary students to practice the skill of studying and memorization. I know that memorization isn’t the best learning technique or skill in most cases or in most subjects. I also acknowledge that learning spelling patterns and principles is vitally important and probably more effective in creating life-long good spellers and solid writers. However, memorization IS a skill and learning technique that we all use everyday. And studying for a weekly test IS a valuable practice. I vote that we bring back weekly spelling tests, and when I mentioned this last week on Facebook, it seems there were lots of other parents who felt the same way. What are your thoughts on the topic?

Gregarious Grandma’s Garage Sale

This picture is so funny I had to share. A friend of mine went to help her Gran with her garage sale today, and this is a picture of one of Gran’s sale tables:

Yes – K-Y Jelly and Pleasure Pack condoms. I simply cannot imagine either one of my grandmother’s having these items in their medicine cabinet, let alone for sale at a garage sale, complete with a price sheet printed and displayed.

I really need to meet my friend’s Gran.  What a woman! I hope she made more money than I did at my last garage sale.

Don’t Text While Driving

A friend sent me a link to this video, which is pretty graphic. But I’m glad I watched it. I am vowing NOT to text and drive. I’ve shared it with my teen and I’m asking her to share it with her friends.

You can read more about the making of this video and statistics about texting and driving here.

Shop N Save $25 Gift Card Giveaway

I’m giving away a $25 Shop N Save gift card on my other blog, Lipstick to Crayons. So click on over and enter to win!

Disney on Ice Ticket Giveaway and Coupon Code

Disney on Ice 100 Years of Magic is coming to the Family Arena Sept. 3 – 6 and I’m giving away 4 tickets to the show on opening night.

Additionally, Disney on Ice is offering my readers a coupon code to use when purchasing tickets from Metrotix.  By entering MOM in the MC promotion code spot on Ticketmaster, you can purchase four tickets for $44 for weekday matinee shows or get $4 off the ticket price for the weekend tickets.

To enter my giveaway, simply leave a comment below. If you’d like additional entries, you can:

• Tweet about this contest
• Blog about this contest
• Post this contest on Facebook
• Add From the Mom to your blogroll

Please leave a separate comment (and a link for the additional entries) for each thing you do to gain an entry. And make sure you leave a valid email address in the comment form.  This contest closes at 11:59 p.m. August 15. The winner must respond to my email by Aug. 17 or a new winner will be chosen.

Good luck!

Congratulations to Chris, Comment #2. You won the tickets! Please respond to my email by Aug. 17.

This Mom Needs Your Help

June 15th, 2009 should have been the happiest day in Debbie and Ken’s life.  After spending more than two weeks at Missouri Baptist Medical Center in St. Louis on bed rest, Debbie Martinez Goff gave birth to three healthy and beautiful babies: Kyle, Cara, and Molly.  Debbie’s oldest son, Ben, 6, finally had the three siblings he had hoped to receive.

Debbie and Ken were overjoyed – but their elation was short lived.  As Debbie was being wheeled out of the operating room, she suffered a sudden, lethal and extremely rare delivery complication called Amniotic Fluid Embolism that resulted in cardiac arrest.

The nurses and physicians, acting immediately, brought Debbie back to life.  However, the damage from this event was catastrophic to Debbie’s organs.  She needs a ventilator to breathe, dialysis in place of functioning kidneys, and is fighting everyday to keep her liver functioning. She has suffered multiple cardiac arrests.

A tragic cascade of further complications has left Debbie on life support systems since that day – unable to speak, move, and most saddening – unable to care for and bond with her babies who were born 6 and 1/2 weeks premature.  And her future is cloudy and uncertain.  She has a tracheotomy, continues full time kidney dialysis, is still draining excess fluid from her body, receives an antibiotic for an unknown infection/excess white blood cell count, has received more than 100 units of  blood, and is being prescribed antidepressants to help her deal with depression due to her condition.

The devastation from this horrible event is widespread.  It has left Debbie unable to work, care and nurture her newborns together with Ken, or run a household of four young children with the unexpected expenses related to that task.  Ken is obviously under unbelievable stress.

So far, Ken has relied upon the help of family and others just to “get by”.  The babies are now home and are being watched in shifts.   Meals are cooked and delivered by volunteers.  This has allowed Ken to be at Debbie’s side around-the-clock, providing her with love and encouragement to keep the fight for her life going.

A distressing reality has begun to set in as Debbie’s family digs in for a long, long road to her recovery.  It is not clear that she will ever be normal again.  Any recovery will come after months of rehabilitation.

It has become very clear that more in-depth assistance is required in order for Debbie and her family to survive this ordeal and be able to offer Kyle, Cara, Molly and Ben a fighting chance for a normal life.

Debbie has now been in an Intensive Care Unit for six weeks.  While the medical costs are not fully known at this point, they will be huge and not even close to fully covered by insurance.  And her expenses are separate from the hospital and doctor care for three premature babies, one of whom also needed a surgery following his birth.

The family is working to deal with their huge, devastating financial demands as best they can.  To this end, a medical expense fund has been established.  If you are able to help Debbie, Ken, Kyle, Molly and Cara, and Ben, you can make a contribution directly to:

Bank of America,  Deborah M. Goff – Medical Fund

ATTN:  Patti Hickey, 15115 Manchester Road Ballwin, MO 63011

From Ken and all of the family and friends of Debbie, we thank you for taking your time to read Debbie’s story and for any assistance that you may be able to offer.

————

I have had the honor and privilege to be among the dozens of volunteers to help care for these beautiful babies. In the few short hours I have spent with them, I can already see their distinctive personalities emerging. Cara fights sleeping and wants to held facing outward so she can see everything that is going on around her. Molly is content to be cradled in your arms  and seems more laid back than her sister.  Kyle seems happiest when he is snuggled up against your neck and shoulder.  I share these observations with you to make these babies and the plight of their family more real.  In doing so, I hope you will be encouraged to contribute to Debbie’s fund in any way you can. I also hope that in addition to any money you can give, you will also give your prayers.  Jesus is the Great Healer, and I ask that you pray for Him to heal Debbie and return her to the family that loves and needs her so very much.

NOTE: If you have a blog or Web site, I ask that you copy this story and paste it on your site if you are so inclined. —  Michelle Cox