Hell = Taking the RICA

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse then the CSET (check out my post about that experience under May 2006) I had the lovely privilege of registering for, paying the $130 and taking the RICA. RICA stands for Reading Instruction Competence Assessment and it is mandatory for teachers in California.
I believe teaching is more of an art then a science. But the government does not share my views. No wonder there is a shortage of driven and qualified teachers with all this red tape and expensive tests to take for a less then ideal working situation. Tests do not teach – this is one of the lessons I have learned in my teaching course work at SFSU. It is bad pedagogy to only test. A test is a tool for the teacher to see if they have been teaching effectively. I would be willing to take something as annoyingly focused as the RICA if those who want us to know all that information would go over our scores with us afterwards. If I’m found incompetent in my knowledge of reading, writing and spelling, I want to know why.
I do believe if I went to Hell that it would be an eternity of taking the RICA. First of all, it was in a building that was the picture of dilapidation, with the feeling of a depressing institution. Cloud Hall had dreary, unending halls and the bathroom’s stalls had splintered wooden doors that looked like they were made by primates. After we were in our assigned classrooms by our given numbers (we might as well have been robots or a cattle) we got to take our tests on these desk-chair things, where the slab of wood meant for us to write on, was no more then a foot-square. I ended up having to sit at an angle during the test to try to utilize my lack of space.
Then there was the test* itself. The first section had 70 multiple choice (or so they say) questions. 70 questions on the same topic (yaaaawwwnnnn). At least the CSET changed subjects every forty questions or so. An example* of a question is as follows:

If you are a kindergarten teacher and you have five English Learners, how would you teach them reading?
a. You teach them the alphabet.
b. You read to them.
c. You are nice to them.
d. You let them practice writing the alphabet.

Hmmmm…. Let me think…. What? Those were my thoughts during most of the test. The written section did not bestow any more confidence in my teaching abilities either. Oh, and did I mention that for our room full of female test-takers there was only one bathroom pass? Who did that math?
At least I was no alone in this cruel world of over-assessment. My friends Amy, Kelsey, Blair were all there in the same deteriorating classroom. We also studied together. Blair and I shared a more angry outlook on the whole situation (F-it all!), where the rest studied their fears of failure away. Lord willing, we will all pass and, in time, it will be just a bad dream. Tests do not teach!

*DISCLAIMER: I’m not giving away real content OR answers to the RICA, so don’t sue me!