Reply #9: I taught 1st and 2nd grade

[spartan61]

in an area that was also diverse economically. Fortunately our school had a breakfast and lunch program so that the children could get two meals a day. Perhaps the saddest student I ever had was a little 6 year old who was the oldest of 5 children. Mom had never married and each child had a different father. The 6 year old was the "man of the house" and some of the things he told me were things no child should even know about, much less understand. After being awake many nights because mom was drunk and entertaining the newest boyfriend, how can we expect him to achieve on a standardized test? I was just happy to see him get to school. Or what about the child that was physically abused by his stepfather who beat him with a belt buckle? (By law I had to report this). How can a child in this kind of situation be expected to do well on a standardized test? Other factors besides testing need to be employed to measure achievement.