Standardize Test….. as a teacher there are many thoughts that go through your head when you hear those words. Precious time out of normal curriculum, recall of basic knowledge, worthless to student achievement, AYP, NCLB, ect.
When I saw this title, “Measuring What Matters Least” I was very intrigued to see what the article had to say. The first point in the article when on to talk about why we started standardized testing in the first place, which was to determine placement for students and who needed extra support. What assessment data is supposed to help us determine about our students. But that in reality today we are using assessment data to govern if students, teacher and/or school have failed or succeeded.
The second point in the article was that public officials use the assessment data to impose their views and push their policies through. Many times the data is assessed incorrectly and by only assessing a specific aspect that would support their view or policy. I think that the media is also responsible for reporting incorrect information about student assessment. To create a story only using half the data, or ignoring specific aspects is untruthful reporting. Politicians are also using the scores as a way to place blame on failing schools. Requiring accountability from the teachers and school, which means they are not at fault.
The final point was what are we really preparing the students for and how objective are student assessments. Standardized tests require basic level thinking and regurgitating of knowledge. They improve students test taking ability but do not relate to skills students will need in the real world.
I agree that standardized assessments are used to frequently in our schools today. We need to go back and think about why we started using standardize tests. They were being for the true purpose of assessing students to determine placement and decide which of our students needed more help. All standardize testing in not bad, but when we use the test scores to close down schools not making the grade- who is that helping?
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I could not agree more! There are many other effective assessments that are better indicators of student achievement. My school recently adopted the MAP test to identify children who are struggling and it is much better. The test adapts to students by getting harder if they get a problem right and getting easier if they miss it. Teachers are also able to get a better understanding of each child's achievement over the course of a year.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that your article stated that public officials use standardized assessments to push their views and policies through to the public sector. That is why it is so hard to get rid of these types of tests.. that and the money involved from the districts that have to purchase the tests. It seems it always come down to money and politics.
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