I Think I'm Going to Faint!

I know, I know... I've been all blog silent. I's gots tons o' sheeeeit goin' on 'round here. Here's a little teaser for you.

The state of California has this thing called the California High School Exit Examination, or CAHSEE. The test is given in the 10th grade and is written at an 8th grade level. You can't graduate until you prove you can read and do math as well as an 8th grader. Don't get me started.

However, this test can be difficult for some students, notably students in special education and students who are language learners, also, some at-risk students fall through the CAHSEE cracks as well. One of my classes is a CAHSEE prep class. These are seniors who have not yet passed the class. Almost all of them are either special education or EL students (with two at-risk students). Yeah.

The first time they took the test was in October, and it takes seven weeks to get the scores. Seven long weeks these poor kids are waiting to see how they did. In the interim, we make them all take the test again in November. It is killer. It is a day-long test and they hate it.

Well, we got the scores this week. I heard from a couple of my kids that they had the math scores, but no one had sent me the spreadsheet. I went on a campus-wide search, and finally got the appropriate office to send me the scores. Yesterday, I could give them their scores.

I saw one of my students walking across campus in the morning and I told her that she passed. Think of one of those diamond commercials that are playing on TV right now. Can you see the woman who's just been given a ring? See how happy she is? That's what this student looked like. Fast-forward to class. Many of them had already been told by one of their other teachers if they had passed or not. But I called up one girl, a really sweet, quiet, hard-working girl who struggles with English. She came up kind of hang-dog, and then I told that she passed.

She jumped up in the air. She squeaked. She started fanning her face. She was noticiable red. She thought she was going to faint. She walked away. She walked back. Was I sure?

Yes, I was sure. She passed with a 351 (350 is a passing score), but she passed.

Moments like those are a welcome balm for a whole lot of other teacher crap.