At the start of our conducted interview we asked the student, “How do you feel about your schedule changing due to testing?’’DREAMS 8th Grader, Christopher A. answered, “I kind of don’t like it because I prefer more classes than others. I have classes I wouldn’t want to stay in for more than 1 hour because some classes are more boring than others.’’ At the end of our interview, we concluded that even though Christopher may not completely enjoy the testing schedule and overall testing portion, he still believes that these few weeks will come with a positive outcome.
Teachers also have very strong opinions about testing. When we interviewed 7th and 8th grade DREAMS Art Teacher, Ms. Diaz, we asked her, “Do you think the testing schedule is good, or would you want to do it another way?” Ms. Diaz responded, ¨We have tried so many different testing schedules, but I believe it does work out for me being the content I teach. I understand that for other teachers subject, being in a class for 3 hours is a very long time. If it’s a long time for an adult, it is most certainly for a teenager, so I don’t know if there is a really good schedule that could be created.” Overall, Ms. Diaz finds testing not as important and holds an inconvenience, but she definitely has a positive outlook on our testing schedule.
Later on, we interviewed 8th grade English Teacher, Mr. Vargas, and we asked him, “Have you considered the
importance of school testing?” After we asked Mr Vargas this question, he answered, “Personally, I don’t like school testing I don’t believe that it does anything other than waste our time and cause anxiety for students who struggle with testing. But I also understand why we get it. We pretty much have to assess our students to see that what we are teaching is working effectively and to show the district that we are working. I know it comes down to money in some of these instances and I know funding usually depends on how our students prefer which I don’t think is fair.” Mr. Vargas may not find testing the best things out there, but he finds an importance within the purpose and the schedule.
During our interview, we asked him, “Have you considered the importance of school testing?” We interviewed DREAMS 6th grader, Daniel responded, “For some kids, I think school testing is important, especially in the long run when it comes to determining our future classes for the upcoming school year. For other kids, I feel like it holds less importance.” Daniel may not find testing and the schedule to be the best, but he still believes it serves somewhat of a purpose.