What are we testing?
I wrote initially wrote this before reading the previous
blog post, but I since modified it to be somewhat of a response on my thoughts
to standardized testing.
I am not the biggest advocate for standardized testing, but
I also do not believe the standardized tests should be thrown away with. I think the true issue with standardized
testing is how the current system uses the information from test scores. I don’t think test scores should be used as a
gauge for teacher efficacy but rather as a gauge for the efficacy of the system
as a whole.
Right now, by and large, urban
school systems are failing their students.
Despite the best attempts of school or district staff to manipulate the
numbers or pick and choose, most systems have been making little to no overall
progress. This is what the test scores
should be used to evaluate. If the
scores show that an urban district is scoring half as well as a suburban
district, the question should be what are the shortcomings of the system rather
than the shortcomings of individual teachers.
I think once that is looked at we can address
some of the real issues that are facing urban education. While believing, students in urban environments
can achieve at the levels of suburban students, I do not believe the same model that serves
suburban students can work to get equitable results in urban areas. Perhaps then if we refocus our use of test
score to investigate more of the systemic issues we can finally start using the
scores to help students rather than judge teachers.
An initial response might be that testing focusing solely on district efficacy would lead to cheating, just as the head of Atlanta Schools allegedly led the cheating in her district. But, if the scores were used to measure district efficacy, I think there would be less interest at the school level to cheat.
Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/education/atlanta-cheating-scandal-reignites-testing-debate.html?_r=0
1 comment:
Chris,
I really liked your comments on testing mostly because I completely agree with you. The whole point of school is to educate children and tests are not really a part of that. Yes, they measure "progress," but not the right kind.
For instance, if a seventh grader was never really able to read until this year, the MSA would suggest this student is "basic" but doesn't understand the fact that the student came a long way this year. We don't need to compare my school to the middle school I went to, I can tell you with extreme certainty, that the school I teach at is completely behind.
Because we are so behind, we should be focusing on habits and skills that will bring our students forward. These habits and skills do not align with the tests. Yet, teachers are so focused on tests because they want to keep their jobs, naturally. There is so much pressure from the system that teachers can't actually do the best job that they can.
The system needs to give teachers more autonomy and more support so that we can truly bring our students forward. The test does not bring any good for our students. The focus should not be on tests. It should be on building our students into thinkers and good citizens.
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