Chromebooks and Proctors and Translators, Oh My!

It's 7:00 a.m. and the Testing Office at 
Thomas Worthington High School is buzzing! 

It's the first day of State Testing and because of the leadership of our District Testing Specialist, Patty Coen, our schools are ready to administer the State Tests! 

The Testing Office at TWHS is buzzing with last minute changes, Chromebook issues, questions, proctor and translators signing in and heightened student anxiety due to State Testing.   But, most importantly, every single staff member is working together to create the best possible testing environment for our students.  Emilie Greenwald and Kathy Montag are quite the team.  First and foremost, they are taking care of kids who are stressed out about this high stakes test.  Think about this:  You have been learning English for just a few months since moving to the USA, yet you have to take the English Language Arts Test just like a proficient, English-speaking student.  No matter how smart you are, imagine moving to China and taking a literature test in Chinese.  I can't imagine the frustration this might cause our students.  I certainly understand that we must work to prepare our students for their future beyond high school, but situations like this make little to no sense to me.

I am most thankful for Patty, Emilie, Kathy and their team as they have been working for months to prepare for this day, and it is evident that they have worked hard to organize an individualized, structured testing environment for every single student.

Keep in mind, they must organize and plan for optimal testing environments with accommodations that include;

• double time
• frequent breaks
• time and a half
• text to speech
• extended time up to a full day
• one to one with a reader
• one to one with a familiar tester
• small group
• bilingual online test
• full classroom testing with proctors
• access to bilingual dictionaries in 40 plus languages 
• scheduling translators for non-ELA tests in Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, French, Vietnamese, Croatian, Farsi, Amharic, Swahili, Urdu, Russian, Hindi, Thai, and Urdu 

It's now 8:30 a.m. and the testing office buzz is near silent.  Students are in their classrooms and showing what they know as they take their State Test.  Every once in awhile, a phone call or text comes to Kathy with questions or requests for help in the testing room.  Kathy is patient and works with each staff member with positive customer service and much patience.

Thanks to the entire staff at Thomas Worthington High School for all that you do for our students and our community.  Your willingness to go above and beyond for our students is most appreciated.

While the Testing Office was buzzing this morning, every student, teacher, proctor and translator was cared for with much respect and kindness.
Isn't that truly what matters the most?