The new PSAT testing day schedule is not going to go well. Here’s why.

If you haven’t heard yet, here’s a summary of what’s going on: all grades are required to attend school on Tuesday, October 14, when the sophomores will take the PSAT. Typically, this day would be asynchronous for freshmen, juniors, and seniors, and a short day for sophomores, getting out after they finish their test. However, NMPED, the New Mexico Public Education Department, has decided that schools are only allowed 4 asynchronous days per year, which APS scheduled as parent-teacher conferences instead of testing days. This means that all grades are required to show up and stay for the whole PSAT testing day.

So, how is that going to work? The PSAT requires teachers to act as proctors, meaning that they cannot teach to a class and administer the test at the same time. All students who are not taking the PSAT will be in an advisory class or a study hall during the test, and then they will follow an abbreviated C-day (all classes) schedule for the rest of the day.

This is not going to go over well for a myriad of reasons. First of all, who is going to show up? Sophomores are required to take the PSAT, but outside of that, who is really going to show up to sit in their advisory class/study hall for more than 3 hours and then go through a rapid-fire movement from one class to the next? Very few. Additionally, no instruction is going to get done in this time frame. These classes are going to be a whopping 20 minutes long. What is going to be taught in a 20 minute long class? Nothing, nothing at all.

And, don’t forget about students with CEC or dual credit classes. I, for one, have a dual credit class at CNM that will meet on Tuesday, October 14th, and I have no clue how this is going to work. I’m likely going to have to leave during 1st period, meaning that I’ll have to come to school, sit in advisory/study hall for nearly 3 and a half hours doing probably nothing, eat lunch, go to first period for maybe 5 minutes, and then leave and rack up lots of absences. Again, the question becomes: really? This makes no sense.

I don’t mean to blame Cibola’s testing coordinator, who made this schedule, as she is just doing the best she can with what she was given. Instead, I blame NMPED for the 4-asynchronous day requirement, and APS for approving a calendar that didn’t meet said requirement.

So, is there anything that we can do about this? No, probably not. We can protest and complain about it to NMPED or APS, but nothing is going to get done before PSAT day. I hold a titch of hope for our SAT testing day in April, that we might be able to change something before then, but I doubt it. If you want, here are ways to send feedback to NMPED and APS. If you do send feedback, please keep it civil.

Is there anything else to do with this information? Probably not. That’s it for me, then. Good luck to sophomores on their PSAT, and good luck to us other students who must survive 3 hours and 20 minutes with no external stimuli.