She discovers the realities of being a teacher

“When I was in college studying to become a teacher, it was more about making lesson plans and basic things like that. We didn’t have our own students that we were measuring for progress and continuously assessing. When you get your own classroom, you find out pretty quickly that there’s a big focus on testing and data and paperwork and more data. You’re looking at all these numbers and scores and tiers, and labeling the kids for different things. That was probably the biggest surprise for me.

“I understand why testing is beneficial. We want to ensure that the kids are learning and progressing. And the only way to really be accountable for that is to assess them. But there’s just so much pressure put on that one test, that one day. It’s hard for the kids, and it’s hard for the teachers and administrators.

“I teach third-grade math. And on our campus, there’s a pretty low socioeconomic status. Some of the kids come to us on a first-grade math level or second-grade reading level. So trying to get all of them to pass the STAAR test can be challenging. It’s just an ongoing process. Some kids can really catch on and some continue to struggle. That could be because of an underlying issue, or they may just struggle for a couple years until they finally get the hang of things. It’s stressful for the teachers because you’re asked, why isn’t so-and-so performing on these tests? It puts us in a challenging spot.

“The families want to help any way they can. We’re constantly meeting with parents and keeping them updated on their child’s progress and what they can do to help. We’re always going to have some form of state testing. There’s probably no way around it. So we all just have to keep working together to make sure the kids are in the best position possible to be successful.”

— Matty DuPree