What We Are Already Doing or Need to Do

     In writing our lesson plans, we should already have a target to hit and should be communicating this target to the students.  Assessments should show true student learning.  I am not in agreement that the current standardized tests in Virginia show true student learning; rather, I believe that it shows the teacher's ability to adapt and teach to the test.  All teachers need to stand for higher expectations for their students and testings should never be tied to dollars for education.  That process takes the focus on the importance of the learning and puts the pressure on to get high scores just to get the dollars, not for the sake of the students to actually be able to perform. 
     If I may quote Dr. King, "I have a dream" but my dream is not one of equality for race, but one in which teachers work together to create a learning environment for all students to achieve at the very highest level of which they are capable.  My dream does not include federal testing mandates, but collaboration of teachers who truly want to educate the next generation to succeed in whatever their future endeavors may be.  I like the idea of PLC and what it could be, but for now, it is a Utopia that has not yet been achieved where I teach.