Post by Moses on Mar 10, 2005 0:37:26 GMT -5
Why Testing Fails[/color]
Testing, or what politicians deem "accountability," has run amok in our schools.
This year a new test is being administered to students across New Mexico during March - the Standards Based Assessment test. At first glance, this sounds like a good thing. After all, schools should test students to find out how well they are being educated. Assessment should guide instruction. True assessment will tell educators what the students have learned and give us a tool to focus our lessons toward standards-based instruction.
However, the eagerness to hold schools accountable and the zeal to overhaul the educational system in this country are going to cause major regression, I fear.
The tests that are being imposed on students are not tools educators can use to guide instruction. They are used to rank schools, and because there are so many flaws to the one-size-fits-all assessment, they are inaccurate tools. While standardized testing is one piece of assessment we can use to reflect on education, testing should not dominate the educational process.
Gary Glasgow's cartoon in the March 3 Tribune illustrates students with test codes on their faces, stating they have little hope in a future that has them bubbling-in answers. This unsettling concept of dehumanizing students is not far from the truth.
Standards Based Assessment testing is 11 hours of "untimed" subtests in reading, writing, math and science. History is no longer tested, nor is any other form of humanistic endeavor, such as art, music, debate, health, philosophy and economics.
To schedule the 11 hours, most middle schools are using four to six instruction days. Not too bad, at first glance, when the ratio to 181 school days is considered.
But compare this to the SAT and ACT tests, which are about four- to six-hour, one-time exams designed to test all knowledge learned in high school. Also, those tests are not administered during the school day.
However, the disruption of testing does not end with the Standards Based Assessment. Take out three to four more days in the fall to test students on the Albuquerque Public Schools-mandated Assess2Learn exam and then take out three or four more days in April to post-test that exam. Take out two more days for conference days to work out Academic Improvement Plans for the small number of students who did not perform well on Assess2Learn and who need a specialized plan developed.
The two conference days are actually built into the schedule as professional development, or flextime. However, they are placed in the middle of the school year and interrupt the flow of education.
For a third of our student population in Albuquerque, on Valentine's Day, the National Assessment of Educational Proficiency was administered - 15 days gone. Also, an interesting note for citizens who take test scores seriously: When testing was not the emphasis in 1970 to the mid-1980s, the achievement gap was actually closing. That gap began to widen each year with more imposed testing. Look it up under National Assessment of Educational Proficiency test-score history.
After time is taken to go over the review booklets for all these tests, fully one month of the standard curriculum is removed. That is not an exaggeration. Rather than 10 months to teach our students a broad and rigorous curriculum, we now have nine - not counting other interruptions.
Then there is a little thing called "stress" that few seem to consider. I would like to see how many adults could sit down and take 11 hours of tests over the course of four to six days. It can be done, but, then again, why?
Finally, the validity of the tests is a huge issue. The Standards Based Assessment is "untimed." Yet, to administer it in any way throughout a school, schedules must be formulated. These schedules cannot accommodate every skill level, and so we have students stressing to finish the test and others who finish in the first 15 minutes. Then we have students who are sick and tired of testing who fill in the bubbles in any way, because there is no accountability, really, for them. The result: a lot of frustrated kids, tests that show invalid results and so much precious time wasted.
The problems go on and on.
I urge parents and teachers to write down the problems identified while students take such exams. Then send letters to the district, to state legislators and to the state Department of Education.
Accountability in its current form is destroying education. Education is the backbone of democracy. We can use assessment to guide instruction, and education, when properly implemented, can lessen achievement gaps. We have data from recent decades. Why are we ignoring data and subjecting our children to this scrutiny that does not produce accurate and usable information? Citizens, speak up.
Hillmeyer is an Albuquerque Public Schools teacher.
— Susan Hillmeyer, Albuquerque teacher
Albuquerque Tribune
2005-03-09
www.abqtrib.com/albq/op_commentaries/article/0,2565,ALBQ_19866_3604779,00.html
Testing, or what politicians deem "accountability," has run amok in our schools.
This year a new test is being administered to students across New Mexico during March - the Standards Based Assessment test. At first glance, this sounds like a good thing. After all, schools should test students to find out how well they are being educated. Assessment should guide instruction. True assessment will tell educators what the students have learned and give us a tool to focus our lessons toward standards-based instruction.
However, the eagerness to hold schools accountable and the zeal to overhaul the educational system in this country are going to cause major regression, I fear.
The tests that are being imposed on students are not tools educators can use to guide instruction. They are used to rank schools, and because there are so many flaws to the one-size-fits-all assessment, they are inaccurate tools. While standardized testing is one piece of assessment we can use to reflect on education, testing should not dominate the educational process.
Gary Glasgow's cartoon in the March 3 Tribune illustrates students with test codes on their faces, stating they have little hope in a future that has them bubbling-in answers. This unsettling concept of dehumanizing students is not far from the truth.
Standards Based Assessment testing is 11 hours of "untimed" subtests in reading, writing, math and science. History is no longer tested, nor is any other form of humanistic endeavor, such as art, music, debate, health, philosophy and economics.
To schedule the 11 hours, most middle schools are using four to six instruction days. Not too bad, at first glance, when the ratio to 181 school days is considered.
But compare this to the SAT and ACT tests, which are about four- to six-hour, one-time exams designed to test all knowledge learned in high school. Also, those tests are not administered during the school day.
However, the disruption of testing does not end with the Standards Based Assessment. Take out three to four more days in the fall to test students on the Albuquerque Public Schools-mandated Assess2Learn exam and then take out three or four more days in April to post-test that exam. Take out two more days for conference days to work out Academic Improvement Plans for the small number of students who did not perform well on Assess2Learn and who need a specialized plan developed.
The two conference days are actually built into the schedule as professional development, or flextime. However, they are placed in the middle of the school year and interrupt the flow of education.
For a third of our student population in Albuquerque, on Valentine's Day, the National Assessment of Educational Proficiency was administered - 15 days gone. Also, an interesting note for citizens who take test scores seriously: When testing was not the emphasis in 1970 to the mid-1980s, the achievement gap was actually closing. That gap began to widen each year with more imposed testing. Look it up under National Assessment of Educational Proficiency test-score history.
After time is taken to go over the review booklets for all these tests, fully one month of the standard curriculum is removed. That is not an exaggeration. Rather than 10 months to teach our students a broad and rigorous curriculum, we now have nine - not counting other interruptions.
Then there is a little thing called "stress" that few seem to consider. I would like to see how many adults could sit down and take 11 hours of tests over the course of four to six days. It can be done, but, then again, why?
Finally, the validity of the tests is a huge issue. The Standards Based Assessment is "untimed." Yet, to administer it in any way throughout a school, schedules must be formulated. These schedules cannot accommodate every skill level, and so we have students stressing to finish the test and others who finish in the first 15 minutes. Then we have students who are sick and tired of testing who fill in the bubbles in any way, because there is no accountability, really, for them. The result: a lot of frustrated kids, tests that show invalid results and so much precious time wasted.
The problems go on and on.
I urge parents and teachers to write down the problems identified while students take such exams. Then send letters to the district, to state legislators and to the state Department of Education.
Accountability in its current form is destroying education. Education is the backbone of democracy. We can use assessment to guide instruction, and education, when properly implemented, can lessen achievement gaps. We have data from recent decades. Why are we ignoring data and subjecting our children to this scrutiny that does not produce accurate and usable information? Citizens, speak up.
Hillmeyer is an Albuquerque Public Schools teacher.
— Susan Hillmeyer, Albuquerque teacher
Albuquerque Tribune
2005-03-09
www.abqtrib.com/albq/op_commentaries/article/0,2565,ALBQ_19866_3604779,00.html