Take a child.

Now remove them from their school campus,

hardworking and compassionate teachers,

and joy-inducing friends.

Now have them stay home and social distanced from most others for six months.

Have them do 2.5 months of spontaneous online instruction via platforms they’ve

never used.

Throw in approximately three months of a pandemic plagued summer.

Have them return to learning, either

masked and in-person

or unmasked and home,

and tell them this is unfortunately their ‘new normal.’

Now give them a test.

Give them a plethora of educational assessments while their heads are still spinning from the fact that their lives have been turned upside down.

For those e-learning from home, have them test

over zoom,

at their makeshift work area in their house,

while sitting in their bedroom or at their dining room table,

while having internet connectivity issues,

while their younger sibling tries to distract them,

while their older sibling sits near them also testing,

as the dog barks,

the doorbell rings,

and they attempt to ‘keep it together.’

Now take that score and remember that truly, it means nothing.

Something, I guess,

but in the scheme of things,

nothing.

It’s not the be all end all.

It’s one piece of the puzzle.

It’s just a tool.

Your child is not a test score.

Your child is surely not their test score DURING A PANDEMIC.

With school starting for so very many across the country, and beginning of the year assessments being taken, graded, and those grades being sent home over the next few weeks, this is just a little reminder to parents that what forever matters more than any test score your child receives — now or in the future — is your human(s) feeling

loved,

safe,

provided for,

and backed.

The learning will follow, but the love should lead.

Your child’s test score is NO indication of how much you love them, how hard they are

working, or how hard you have been working alongside and with them.

But that end-of-the-day smile on your kids face,

the one that they can still muster up amidst a topsy-turvy world,

that IS a very good indication that your kiddo and you are doing just fine.