Hello again,
I am responding to an article posted on edweek.org. It’s not so much a scholarly article as much as it is a Q and A among teachers. There are two guests one a reporter, who is also an author or a book on standardized testing, and a third grade teacher. I found this article to be very interesting.
During this interview Mandi Rounds, a third grade teacher at Tyler Heights Elementary School in Annapolis, Md., commented on a question as to whether there could be any middle ground between accepting testing and the fact that students need to learn certain concepts to be well educated. She responds:
“It saddens me that we are being driven not by what we know to be good teaching methods, but by tests that often don’t test the most important concepts. I think if teachers and administrators were part of the process of making the tests and deciding what is on them, then more important concepts would be tested, and would be, therefore, more relevant to the things already being taught in the classroom.”
This comment answers some of my questions as well as provoking other ones. This comment, from a teacher in the field, only confirms some of the things that I have been hearing from other teachers. This is the fact that standardized test aren’t that effective at teaching students what they need to know. It also makes me question why we even have these tests if the teachers and the administration already knows that the don’t teach what needs to be taught? I also wonder who is in charge of deciding the content of these tests if it is not the teachers and administrators? Who are the people making these tests and why are the making a product that isn’t effective?
Mandi also made a comment that if teachers and administrators where involved in compiling the tests then they could more accurately evaluate and teach the students. But I wonder to myself, is this practical? Would a teacher have the time, or even want to take the time to make one of these tests. I can only imagine that I might not have the time to participate in such an endevor.
I feel that these questions are a good start to my journey through the world of standardized tests. If any of my fellow bloggers out there know the answers to some of my questions, please respond and enlighten me.
Thanks,
Johnathon
2 responses so far ↓
1
Ashley Wright
// Sep 24, 2007 at 9:06 pm
While I’m not sure I can answer any of your questions, I certainly ponder this topic that is so prevelent in our educational experience, especially post NCLB. Speaking as a student who never showed their true potential on standardized tests, I feel that standardized test have only proved as a disservice. For instance, in order to receive a certain scholarship at Grand Valley, it is necessary to have above a 3.5 GPA and receive higher than a 25 on the ACT. Being fairly hard working in high school, I had higher than a 3.5 GPA but did not achieve that much needed 25 on my ACT. I know that I have much more potential than what my ACT scores showed, but because of my inability to perform on a standardized test, I lost out on scholarship money. While my scores did not ultimately keep me from coming to Grand Valley, I wonder how many students miss out on scholarship money and were thus unable to attend. I agree with this article that we might be hindering more than helping. However, its always going to be a struggle to assess students potential. I’m not sure if there really is a way to come up with one test to accurately gage students ability. I’m interested in what information will be presented in your blog.
2
» From me to you…comments from this semester. Speak Up…And Write OUTLOUD!!!
// Dec 3, 2007 at 3:19 pm
[...] Johnathon -1 [...]
Leave a Comment