I taught first grade for over 15 years until recently and first grade is what third grade used to be. The kids CAN NOT DO IT! It is like asking a newborn baby to stand up. It is developmentally nearly impossible. There is no art, music, etc. There is barely math. It is all "teach to the test". First graders are not even able to learn the content that is to be tested since teachers spend so much time on teaching them how to take a damn test and not just one test a year but several per year. We have to do the dirty job of trying to explain this nonsense to parents when we do not agree with it in the first place. I would have to go home and spend my nights and weekends transferring students' answers to test forms and then transfer that into the computer system. These are 6 year olds and this system is wrong. No wonder our country is so far behind most other advanced countries in education. 
Edit history
Recommendations
0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):
= new reply since forum marked as read