The weight of caring for a classroom of first graders while learning to teach by trial and error will do that to you, she said. But there was never enough time to attend to ancillary duties, including filling out the paperwork to comply with California's new emphasis on accountability in schools. Standardized tests to measure achievement aren't given until the second grade. But schools are under pressure to get first graders ready, and that is especially true in schools with large immigrant enrollments like Silveyville that have been declared low-performing schools by the state. No matter what assignment you plan for the rest of the class, you can't hold the attention of a first grader for more than 20 minutes.
Chaos starts to take place.
And then you start to get frantic. I'm sure the Legislature didn't have that in mind when they were talking about accountability. Veteran teachers described Gutierrez as unusually dedicated, someone who arrived early and left late. It was not exactly what Gutierrez expected when, armed with her new teaching credential from the University of California, Davis, she embarked on her lifelong dream of teaching. All of my students are performing at or above grade level, and the couple who were in danger of being held back came around at the end.