I was out of the classroom a couple of days last week.   I was helping my school assess all of our English language learners.  Every year, we need to administer the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) to every student who is still acquiring English language skills.

The assessment itself isn't difficult.  It is easiest to administer it one on one, but this is impractical.  For most students, there are three subtests that can be administered in a small group setting.  For Kindergarten students through second grade, it gets more complicated.  K and 1st graders really need the whole thing done individually.  Second graders can have some of it in small groups, but one on one is still best for most of them.  These kids are struggling with English as it is, and assessments are not known as the easiest, most contextualized tasks.  

 Most of the assessment is scored by the state.  There is one section for older students, and two for younger ones, where the examiner has to 'score' the test, based on what expectations are at each level.  The district trained us to score this section, but much of the scoring is left to individual judgment. 

I tested our fifth and sixth grade students.  I did both group and one on one assessments.  I know all of the students I assessed, so the test went smoothly.  I could get through all of the speaking section, which I had to score, fairly quickly with each individual student.  I listened to each response, consulting the rubric if I needed to, and I scored each using my best judgment and the experience I gained from the practice session my district provided. 

I am worried, though, about the other teachers who were administering the assessment.  I work with some wonderful, caring, thoughtful, intelligent teachers.  I also work with some bad apples.  These are teachers who make the rest of us look bad.  The not-too-bright, the over emotional, the lazy.   I can say that I don't think there are any lazy teachers at my school.  

I am concerned about those who at staff meetings cannot follow the simplest line of discussion, need clarification for each item, appear not to have a basic grasp of vocabulary or complain constantly that we are moving too quickly and they cannot keep up.  There are also a few who make comments that seem to indicate they have no idea what we are talking about or they don't have a rudimentary understanding of the topics at hand.  These teachers were also scoring student responses on these tests.  How accurate can these scores be?  I know I am not the only one who was administering the assessment that was thoughtful and careful with the scoring - I am sure most of us were.  And I am sure that everyone who administered the test was trying his or her best.  I just wonder if, for a few, their best wasn't good enough. 

 And so it goes in schools.  I am sure in every school, there are a few teachers that just shouldn't be teaching.  They are the bad apples.  They are a small percentage, for sure, but they make the rest of us look bad.  They are not representative of the vast majority of teachers in the profession, but a tiny minority.  They, unfortunately, can have a big impact.  In the case of CELDT testing, they could impact school performance ratings, student achievement, and future student placement.  Somehow, I think the students deserve better than this.  I hope I am wrong.