Principal Kee Edwards, playing an aspiring basketball star, and third-grade teacher Shanina Lige, a student more concerned about playing video games, decided to shrug off the test. Assistant Principal Dawn Howell and fourth-grade teacher Penny Brewer played students committed to completing their tests, checking their answers before they turned in answer sheets.
After a brief break, students were reintroduced to the four, now 20 years older. Edwards and Lige were living in poverty with no direction. Edwards told students he blew out his knee — eliminating any chances for a professional career. Both lamented that they wished they’d tried harder in school.
“I live with my mother now and she’s always on my case,” Edwards said, to much student laughter.
Howell reappeared before students wearing a mink coat and Brewer told students that she became the youngest brain surgeon in America. Both credited their hard work in school for their successes.
“Our exaggeration ... and making it comical and fun takes away some of the pressure,” Edwards said of the assessments.
Rosa Parks will administer the OAA to students today, Thursday and May 3. Edwards said the assembly was meant to attach a positive feeling to the test, in which each section lasts 2½ hours.
Before and after the skit, students wiggled to up-tempo dance music blared into the school’s cafeteria. Edwards asked students to scream “Yes, we can!” as loud as possible.
“If that’s what they remember, that may be more important than remembering how they did on a practice test,” Edwards said of the three practice OAA exams students took this year.
Angelique Babb, a fifth-grader, said she didn’t think it was odd to get psyched up for a series of tests.
“You’re supposed to be happy to take a test,” she said. “You get to show how much you know.”
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