I wrote this a couple of years ago while my students were taking one of their state-mandated tests.

     The quiet in the room is almost palpable. The only sounds are the hum of the air conditioner, the occasional whoosh of a page turning, and the whisper a Hi-Liter makes as it glides across the test. Ten faces wrinkle in concentration. The small size of this class allows me the luxury of spreading them out across the room.Uh, Oh! A Sleeper! As I stand up, he sits up, grins, and goes back to work. He heard me rise, so he wasn't asleep yet, although I'd like to be.
     As the nation slips past the "tax" season, the state of Texas enters their own "TAKS" season. It is the Texas Assessment of Knowledge & Skills Test. Although the elementary grades struggle through these tests at various times throughout the year, my 7th-graders only take three. We conquered the writing test in February, and now math yesterday, and reading today. While the 8th-graders are forced to take four tests, my 7th-graders imagine they are already "TAKS'd out."
     If Webster were a Texan, that would be a dictionary term."TAKS'd out - a term describing a Texas public school student after eight months of intense TAKS Test preparation."
     Yes, I know the mantra: "If you teach the TEKS, you don't have to teach the TAKS." That's what I try to do, but every year, between benchmarks and TAKS practices, be they written or computerized, it feels like I'm teaching the test, not the TEKS. Yes, I cover my TEKS, but truth be told, we don't start having fun around here until after February.
     It's kind of sad, really. The intense pressure put upon teachers by politicians who have never set foot in a classroom has sucked the joy right out of teaching. Teachers are being held accountable for students whose parents don't care enough to make sure they get a decent meal at night, never mind making sure they do their homework, or come to class on time every day. No, I don't want to leave any child behind, but just as there are some patients a doctor can't cure, and some clients that a defense attorney can't make certain are found "not guilty," the sad fact is, there are some students that simply can't be reached, especially by the time they enter junior high.
   These politicians who "know what we need" are slowly depriving the nation (or at least the state of Texas,) of some very dedicated teachers who just no longer see the benefit in teaching. They are weeding out the good ones who now realize that other jobs pay more and offer less stress. When you take a dedicated teacher, give them more and more students, less preparation time, and more paperwork, (and more, and more, and more,) it is no wonder that the majority of the teaching force has been on the job for less than five years. They say they are "weeding out" when really they are throwing out the flowers to make way for the weeds, who don't require such a high salary, don't realize the workload, and who, by the time they turn into flowers, will be weeded out like the rest of us to make room for yet more weeds.