I am always struck by how political leaders who haven't been in the classroom think the answer to making education better is to test more, then punish those schools which perform poorly. The focus has too much been on the test and not the learning going on in the class.
an education that respects individual talents and does not dictate what students learn or how teachers teach.
how is it that success has now been reduced to what we can prove we know on paper versus what we are creatively able to produce? Standardized testing certainly has been around for my entire education but there was not so much pressure on student performance, school performance, etc.. For some students, our 8th graders for example, it determines honors placement. Standardized test should be a measurement, a snapshot, not the whole picture. Li
reward schools for offering a diverse set of opportunities
“Most importantly, we need to instill confidence – restore confidence – in our teachers and in our schools, because right now the accountability rhetoric in essence is telling us we don’t trust our educators – that they are not good enough, they are lazy, and that’s not the case.”
"America's increasing reliance on standardized testing as a yardstick for educational success is a flawed policy that threatens to undermine the nation's strengths of creativity and innovation, according to a provocative new book from a Michigan State University scholar."
"Testing represents a commitment to high academic standards and school accountability. When the financial and emotional stakes associated with standardized tests are disproportionately high, this laudable goal becomes distorted."
This site breaks down the world of standardized assessments into easily understandable chunks. Designed for parents, the site offers a particularly useful chart presenting testing issues and what supporters and critics say about each.
Here is where you take everything you've said and make your case as a an alternative to the way teachers traditionally prepare students for standardized tests.
"Embark on a journey to make learning more relevant and engaging to students and ourselves. Our focus: to develop standard focused projects infused with real world relevance."
My quandry is with the approach that our legislators take on pitting public and private schools against each other when what we should be doing is working cooperatively to build a better, stronger community of learners that will lead us into a successful future for all.
How can we participate better in this dialogue? How do we participate now? What do we envision our participation being, lets say in the reauthorization of NCLB?
I believe that the creation of teams of teachers, principals, researchers, students, and parents to review, give feedback, and design changes to NCLB would serve as a more successful approach to problem solving the current educational "crisis". When I have a problem to solve I take the grass roots approach, go to the source, research and reflect on the information, I never pretend to know it all. First hand accounts and dialogue are crucial in developing productive change.
creating a complete picture of our students and our schools with standardized testing being one aspect, but no the only measurement tool.
This is an important point you make. It relates to one of our guiding quesitons: What are the impacts of standardized testing? My hunch is more negative than positive.
Interesting NPR program on the effects on high NCLB
"TRAILS is a knowledge assessment with multiple-choice questions targeting a variety of information literacy skills based on sixth and ninth grade standards. This Web-based system was developed to provide an easily accessible and flexible tool for library media specialists and teachers to identify strengths and weaknesses in the information-seeking skills of their students."
The writer of this blog post argues that high-stakes testing is damaging our students' learning when they are drilled in taking tests rather than participating in opportunities to problem solve and critically think with their peers worldwide.
How do we break this cycle? If this is true, then wouldn't it be reasonable to say that the future teachers in our classes would continue this, I mean besides those of us in this class, aren't we just preparing a new wave of teachers to continue following our bad models.
Good point. When our only references are those based in our own learning experiences how do we get away from that? I guess constant reflection on our own process and close attention to our students.
Yes, Jen. I think reflection is the key. And hopefully that is what we are doing here. Through reflection, you'll be able to gather some new knowledge to move your own classroom toward better alternatives to test preparation.
How might we meet the needs of the system and the needs of the learners
Great picture. The first thing that came to my mind however was what does this look like at a high school setting where students are competitive or on the other extreme, just going through the motions. How do we bring the enjoyment of learning to the high schools and continue a model of creativity?
Through collaboration, creativity, exploration, and sharing students can be assessed in a real world way.
I think you are right, this is a good summation of your ideas, we need to continue rewarding those who go outside the box of the traditional testing model and recognize the possibilities of engaging students at a new level and making assessment just a brief stop and a progression in a longer journey of learning the 'big ideas'.
You mentioned "negative" modes of testing. If assessment is a valuable part of learning - I believe it is...valuable feedback - what are the postive ways we assess student learning?
They are also cut and dry, right or wrong, no in between. The assessments I think we will be looking at examine not only what students know but what they don't and see learning as a progression.
Like the teacher I talked about who went into the filing cabinet and pulled out the same numbered tests every year without changing the ways because 'it worked in the past.'
This is the greatest challenge, administrators understanding the disconnect between what is going on in the class and what alternatives are out there. How to demonstrate how more effective teaching and alternative assessments can best prepare students for these standardized tests.