I originally posted this commentary in December 2020. It has since been opened by readers more than 600,000 times. It struck a chord with teachers and parents. It still does.
In recent months, we have heard a crescendo of recommendations for what to do with the children. “Test them!” “Quantify the learning loss!” “Let no child go untested!” Those clamoring for testing are well-funded, usually by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. They have big megaphones. Here and there, other voices have spoken with quiet authority about what children need when they are back in school. They need social and emotional support. Some have lost parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins to the virus. Some have experienced intense loneliness and sadness.
Theresa Thayer Snyder offers different advice, based on her long experience as an educator. She was superintendent in the Voorheesville, New York, district. As more and more schools begin to reopen, it is time to read it again.
Teresa Thayer Snyder was superintendent of the Voorheesville district in upstate New York. She wrote this wise and insightful essay on her Facebook page. A friend sent it to me.
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
I am writing today about the children of this pandemic. After a lifetime of working among the young, I feel compelled to address the concerns that are being expressed by so many of my peers about the deficits the children will demonstrate when they finally return to school. My goodness, what a disconcerting thing to be concerned about in the face of a pandemic which is affecting millions of people around the country and the world. It speaks to one of my biggest fears for the children when they return. In our determination to “catch them up,” I fear that we will lose who they are and what they have learned during this unprecedented era. What on earth are we trying to catch them up on? The models no longer apply, the benchmarks are no longer valid, the trend analyses have been interrupted. We must not forget that those arbitrary measures were established by people, not ordained by God. We can make those invalid measures as obsolete as a crank up telephone! They simply do not apply.
When the children return to school, they will have returned with a new history that we will need to help them identify and make sense of. When the children return to school, we will need to listen to them. Let their stories be told. They have endured a year that has no parallel in modern times. There is no assessment that applies to who they are or what they have learned. Remember, their brains did not go into hibernation during this year. Their brains may not have been focused on traditional school material, but they did not stop either. Their brains may have been focused on where their next meal is coming from, or how to care for a younger sibling, or how to deal with missing grandma, or how it feels to have to surrender a beloved pet, or how to deal with death. Our job is to welcome them back and help them write that history.
I sincerely plead with my colleagues, to surrender the artificial constructs that measure achievement and greet the children where they are, not where we think they “should be.” Greet them with art supplies and writing materials, and music and dance and so many other avenues to help them express what has happened to them in their lives during this horrific year. Greet them with stories and books that will help them make sense of an upside-down world. They missed you. They did not miss the test prep. They did not miss the worksheets. They did not miss the reading groups. They did not miss the homework. They missed you.
Resist the pressure from whatever ‘powers that be’ who are in a hurry to “fix” kids and make up for the “lost” time. The time was not lost, it was invested in surviving an historic period of time in their lives—in our lives. The children do not need to be fixed. They are not broken. They need to be heard. They need be given as many tools as we can provide to nurture resilience and help them adjust to a post pandemic world.
Being a teacher is an essential connection between what is and what can be. Please, let what can be demonstrate that our children have so much to share about the world they live in and in helping them make sense of what, for all of us has been unimaginable. This will help them– and us– achieve a lot more than can be measured by any assessment tool ever devised. Peace to all who work with the children!
As an added bonus, here is a video featuring the author of this wonderful article. Her title: “Children. Cherished and Challenged.”
I wish it were only the venal opportunists that are down with the ‘fill ’em up’ model of ‘education’
I’ve found plenty of teachers, administrators, and, most depressingly, parents, have drunk that cool-aid. Notes the pity.
I agree. If this view of education is what is dominantly pushed in mainstream media, it’s hard to fight. This “social efficiency” model of education is entrenched.
I know an administrator who gloated and beamed about her niece graduating from a wonderful Waldorf school out west. This same administrator is hyper focused on assessment and data. In the district she leads that is her main concern. Talk about a disconnect or misunderstanding – or maybe it’s more of “what’s good for my family isn’t the same as what is good for the masses” thinking that Gates et al have.
yes, so much “I don’t want it for me or my children but surely it must be done to save those ‘other’ kids and families…”
There is a difference between being a parent of one child and being an administrator hired to run a school for hundreds, in a certain way. Perhaps–if it were up to her, which it most likely is not–she would have preferred to convert that school to Waldorf. She could have chosen to work in a Waldorf school, but probably did not because of low pay. I received my standard teaching certification 20 years ago from a university that also offered Waldorf training. The Waldorf teachers were typically hired at half of my starting salary in a public school which at that time was $28,000.
This straw man argument is getting old. Never met an academic subject are teacher who’s goal was to fill kids heads with disconnected facts. I seem to be meeting many here who don’t understand what it means to be educated.
What does it mean?
Over the years I taught many students that were survivors of war, violence and political strife. These students came from various countries all over the world. I have often thought that they taught me almost as much as I taught them. Students that have lived through trauma need to be heard. When young people are ready to open up about their trauma, they are beginning to heal, and they are beginning to trust. Students need to go through this process in order to move forward in academics. Social and emotional issues are a greater primary need than academics. Only then will we see them show that they have the resilience to move forward. Many of my former students arrived with a very limited academic background. After a few years of academic struggle, my elementary ELL students were able to get through their academics and graduate from high school, some with honors. We should not be concerned with “learning loss.” We must serve the needs of the whole student first. My motto has always been to meet students where they are and take them where they need to go. We need to stop the abusive high stakes testing.
Thatnk you for your work! I agree.
We should get them back to school, now.
Most are.
Approx. 40% of public schools were fully open all year, an additional 25% were hybrid and approx. 37% of schools were offered only virtual learning. This was starting the 20-21 school year. Since then more schools have reopened.
It all depends on resources to open safely, which is more difficult in large cities.
And I really think you are missing the point. Even those who are in school…. or when they are do return to school…. the point of this post is what the focus should be. You may want to reread the post.
Most schools are not open full time and millions are still fully remote.
We can wax for months, and have waxed for longer, about what to do with students once they’re back. The most important thing is to get them back. They need school.
Yes, agree with you. I am guessing all on this blog agree that the goal is to get children in school.
The caveat is – if it’s safe to do so – for all involved.
And, unless you think schools are a warehouse to provide parents with a place to bring children so they can be at work, it DOES matter what we do when they are back at school.
People will say that’s their goal when pressed. But essentially no commenters here ever express the anguish that so many children have gone through and are still going through. The focus here is on opposing standardized tests, vouchers, charters, and reopening schools too soon.
Commenters on the blog expressed their views. Many Teachers said it was not safe for them to return until safety protocols were put in place. That’s their view. Some parents were eager for reopening because they read assurances by economists like Emily Oster that schools were safer than homes and communities. You expressed your views. As for the other subjects, yes, I think it’s important to recognize that DeVos’ zeal for privatization has taken off and captured Red state legislatures. From the very beginning of this blog in 2012, I have warned about the stealth attack on public education.
It is no longer stealth.
I can see how that would it could be interpreted that way if you are not coming from the view of an educator on the front lines. I think it’s a given that most posters understand and are heartbroken by the anguish that some children are going through – especially in impoverished areas.
As a teacher who has been teaching fully in-person all year, I am thankful and grateful that my district was able to open. It took a lot of time, thought and RESOURCES. We are in a wealthier community and a less densely populated state. Even though I am oxygen deprived (double masked) all day, and have little planning time and am so exhausted by Friday, I am grateful to be in-person. I see first hand the social and emotional importance of in-person learning for young children. Last spring was more difficult to teach virtually.
Educators are naturally driven to support the emotional growth of their students and go over and above to make those connections even when virtual. We do care and are heartbroken when our students are not doing well.
I am in classes (virtually) with other teachers in other parts of the country who are teaching virtually in impoverished areas. They worry about their students daily.
The focus on standardized tests and public schools…. IS a focus on students, community and the health of our country. It is much easier to teach using a canned curriculum and trusting data and putting children in groups based on that data (the way corporate reformers push). But it’s not working. It’s not best for children and learning. A more difficult and nuanced approach to teaching is thwarted by the focus on data and assessment.
If you change your paradigm of thinking, you would view Diane’s tireless advocacy (and those of many who follower her) as an act of a love and care of children and what is best for them to thrive and grow into healthy, connected and educated human beings.
Sorry for that monologue – riddled with grammatical errors. Unfortunately we can’t delete once we post. It was cathartic while I was typing ;-).
M. FLERP!,
During the last year I’ve witnessed deep anguish among students and their families, that’s for sure.
I’ve also heard and seen some students who are happy to be free and clear of what school has so often become in the U.S. of A.
For example, a smart and hardworking 12th grader was monitoring the New York State Board of Regents the other day more closely than I’ve ever wanted or needed to. When the ed bigwigs pulled the plug on her dreaded Regents test, she knew immediately. And, she was thrilled. Her joy made me happy.
Theresa Thayer Snyder offers some sage advice. Thanks to her and to Diane for reposting the piece.
One can only hope more adults listen to the kids long after this pandemic subsides.
“Social and emotional issues are a greater primary need…”
Above all, they need to be listened to, enabling their teacher(s) to be that “essential connection between what is and what can be.”
Especially that is true of those preadolescent children whose search for explicit examples of executive function components from among their adult community that may have been jolted apart by the earthquake the pandemic brought to their house.
The attached video is well worth watching. What a wonderful administrator.
Yes.Yes.Yes!!!
Children grow, mature and learn whether they are in school or not. They may not now be learning a prescribed curriculum, but even in the best of times in the best of schools, with the most motivated of students, we can never be sure of what they have learned, or what they will remember. The experience of this year, painful for many, will have a lasting impact on their lives. Algebra or non fiction reading skills may or may not.
This is not the year to emphasize testing–and academic achievement may be variable any year–but math literacy and reading skills (like “fact or opinion”) are essential in today’s world.
Good morning Diane and everyone,
Interestingly, I had a student tell me that one teacher told him it would be good to have the regents exams this year so that she – the teacher – could see how well she taught this year!!! AKKKKK!!!! This student seemed to find this to be a good idea! So I asked him if he took all his tests to find out how well the teachers taught. No answer but it seemed to provoke a thoughtful look on his face.
Unfortunately, some teachers have drunk the Kool Aid, and they are suffering from Stockholm syndrome.
Very true. Unfortunately, it’s also easier to teach that way – gather the data / test scores, group students based on how they did. Reteach those skills or bits. It feels efficient and neat and tidy. And it’s easy to draw quick conclusions based on data and feel informed about your students. This efficiency comes at a cost.
I am thinking back to my years of test taking and final exams in high school. I don’t know about you, but I studied my a** off because they were worth 20% of our final grade. My teachers had a grading day and then had to produce our final grades. How much do you think they learned from a marathon grading session? In college I took comprehensives, which covered my entire major. Talk about marathon study sessions! I actually appreciated the synthesis of courses I constructed to process four years of study. I also remember hearing about one brilliant biology major who could not pass these exams. She knew her subject backwards and forwards but the comprehensives were not the way for her to prove it. The college finally waved the exams because they knew the caliber of the student.
Reform = privatization $
Achievement gaps = taxation and wealth inequality $
Testing = product development $
Targeting resources = product development $
Bill Gates = greed $
All the students are going to be fine once all of us adults find and demonstrate to them our inner optimism. The students will be well and good. I’m not worried about the students. I’m worried about the little children: Gates, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Walton… They are not okay.
Agreed. I’m not worried about Gates, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Walton and other billionaires. I am more worried about the rest us that are in the crosshairs of their outsized influence on governance.
What an extraordinarily insightful piece. No wonder it travelled around the globe.
“Drinking the Kool-Aid” is a phrase suggesting that one has mindlessly adopted a dogma of a group…”
The top 10 Kool-Aids from the home office of Eulogiums and Exhortations
1) The “messiah” Kool-Aid: We know best, we are the best, think like us,
follow us, become like us, and all will be well.
2) The precognition Kool-Aid: Used to unveil or predict the future.
3) The mind reading Kool-Aid: We just “know” what you are thinking.
4) The belief Kool-Aid: Unless you believe, you will not understand.
Doctrine of faith as a cognitive source.
5) The word-smith Kool-Aid: It all depends on what the definition of is is.
6) The test score based avatar Kool-Aid: My avatar is real because my
tests weren’t called “standardized”.
7) The arrogance Kool-Aid: Sneering at anyone outside the sandbox who
would recognize the “theory” doesn’t map onto reality.
8) The “It’s not us” Kool-Aid: Mount the high-horse of indignation so
nothing can be laid at your feet.
9) The division Kool-Aid: Sow division along linguistic lines.
10) The fantasy Kool-Aid: If reality clashes with the fantasy, repeat the fantasy.
Seeking solace through fantasy shall continue.
YES, that’s right, the state tests should be tossed. Kids need to share and express what they’ve been through but that shouldn’t be assigned as a google doc delivery either. Give them journals to write and draw in. They don’t need screens, auto correct, formats or platforms that don’t respect their privacy.
I loved Theresa Snyder’s take on what children need when they return from the Pandemic. And what they need in general, to be cherished and challenged. I hope that Theresa’s values spread far and wide.
Her vision of the whole school making a mosaic when they return struck a chord. I have created a school-wide shovel-ready community mural process called the Singing Tree. The whole world is invited to create a forest of collaborative murals together, learning communication and peace literacy in the process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIf5qixC9fs&t=26s Let’s partner the imagination of children to envision success to community challenges and healing community heartbreak.
I think I know what Mrs.Steenman would say.
You do know that the video was produced by The Onion?
Yes, it parodies one manifestation of the widespread anti-intellectualism in the K-12 teaching world. You may not get the joke, Diane, because you’ve been spared our teacher training programs and in-services, but “my students teach me more than I teach them” is one of the fatuous cliches we hear all the time.
I have never heard any teacher say that.
Maybe pre-K?
Diane doesnt out match dougless adams’s lab mice…
Diane, a true intellectual can learn something from anyone, including their students. It’s why martial arts master always knows more than their pupils they cannot teach everything they know because they’re always learning more from their pupils and haven’t yet organized the new epiphany into a teaching routine.
It’s not surprising at all to see how lost that was on a rhetorical slime bag.
I like not being able to edit my posts sometimes.
Why? What better proof of this particularly lesson?