How many of us, while taking a standardized test, have ever thought, “This is simply a waste of my time.” I know I have and I’m sure I’m not alone. Most of the time when we’re taking standardized tests we’re either trying to get through them as fast as possible or we’re thinking of other things that we could be doing.
I recently helped assisstant coach middle school cross country. It just so happened that my little cousin was on the team I was coaching. One day on the way home from practice I asked her what she was doing in school, she repiled with what appeared to be annoyance, “we’re taking the MEAP.” I proceded to ask her why she seemed so annoyed with the test. She went on to explain her situation. She is an advanced language arts which is basically eigth grade english at the seventh grade level. The thing that was annoying her so much was the fact that the MEAP only covered things that pertained to seventh grade english. So this entire week was devoted to something that she had already learned, something that was almost elementary to her.
Could this time have been better spent? I understand the fact that we must test in order to show proficency, but I feel how this is an example of how imperfect the system is. The system sees a seventh grader and tests for what it thinks a seventh grade student should be capable of. And in this case as in so many others it is off.
In this article a group of public school teachers, parents, and students were assembled at the University of Texas at Brownsvill and Texas Southmost College for a public forum on NCLB legislation. Their standardized test is called the TAKS or Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. The group had the complaint that their school curriculum became to rigidly conformed around this idea of taking the TAKS. Sounds familiar for some reason.
“They’re killing everything we want to do because they want us to take the TAKS,” one teacher said and drew laughs by playfully declaring that “TAKS kills brain cells.”
The article also said that: “according to panelists at Saturday’s forum, it (TAKS) does squash creativity, individuality and a teacher’s freedom to incorporate students’ strengths and evaluate with multiple measures.”
It sounds to me that the TAKS are out of touch with the students. They are trying to evaluate students that they have no personal relationship with or knowledge of. How much time has been wasted teaching students how to pass the test, when the teacher who really knows what the students need to learn is forced to teach them something that could be useless.
I know that I’m not going to want to teach my kids how to write for the MEAP if I know that they have bigger and better things to learn. But it doesn’t really matter what I want it is what the tests require of us. That’s what perturbs me about this subject, it’s that someone is telling me what my students need to know.
8 responses so far ↓
1
Ashley W
// Oct 23, 2007 at 10:29 am
I think it is wonderful how you related your article to a real life experience and gave some real feedback from an actual student going through this dumbing-down process.
I feel that this article raises a very interesting point, we as students know what it is like to take these horribly dull and many times, meaningless tests. It is interesting to have teachers finally come out and say how they really feel about having to teach down to these standardized tests. “TAKS kills brain cells” is a very bold and frank way to put it, but maybe that’s what school boards and legislatures need to hear. Even teachers think these tests are worthless in acurately displaying a student’s abilities.
Take for instance you cousin, should she have to spend weeks reviewing something she could do with her eyes closed just because the government feels like it needs to know how she’s doing in school?
Have you read Walter’s recent article about 5th and 6th grade students having to re-take the MEAP writing section because one of the potential writing prompts was leaked in a newspaper? You should check it out! It’s unbelievable that so much of what students have to concentrate on is standardized testing…that proves what??
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Carrie Kirgis
// Oct 23, 2007 at 1:32 pm
You say that you’re not going to want to teach your students to write the MEAPs because they have better things to learn. I couldn’t agree with you more, but do we really have a choice. If we want our students to score well on these tests, then we almost have to teach them how to do well on them. Even if the only reason we want them to do well is so that we will not be “failing” teachers at “failing” schools.
This is so frustrating to me. Why should teachers be forced to waste valuable classroom time to teach students how to take the MEAP, and then take a week out of class to actually take the test? This test that is sooo important. How is it important for a student to be able to write a “good” five paragraph essay on a topic that he/she knows nothing about? Is this really helping them in life? Wouldn’t we be better off, as educators, teaching and assessing each student individually according to their needs and skill level? Does standardized testing really even tell us anything about their level of knowledge/education? Wouldn’t this wasted time be better spent actually learning something of real importance? Isn’t that what school is supposed to be all about? I thought so.
3
“Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or the same way.” George Evans | An attempt at critical pedagogy
// Oct 23, 2007 at 3:11 pm
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Eli
// Nov 2, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Maybe I’m betraying some ignorance of what exactly is going on with these standardized tests, but I’m going go on with what I want to say anyway. Why are these teachers spending so much time “Teaching for the Test”? I know that the students are required to take them, but does that mean that teachers have to teach them to write exactly like they should on the test? If the teachers teach the students to write, then they should do ok on the test. Perhaps a little more needs to be done, like spending a class (shortly before the test) explaining just what the test is looking for and then be done with it. If the teachers simply teach their students to write and to write well, then their students will fair quite well on a MEAP-style test. Just because you have to teach students in a way that (hopefully) ensures success on a test doesn’t mean you have to teach to the test, per-se. And this goes for all subjects not just writing. Teaching the students the skills and information they need to succeed on a standardized test doesn’t mean running through just the information touched on by the test. You can teach creatively and meaningfully while also preparing students for a test. Is standardized testing the best thing in the world, I would say definitely not. But instead of just bitching about it all the time, we can think of creative ways to prepare the students for these tests until a better means of assessment is introduced (which I hope it will be). I guess the point of this comment is to say that you can teach effectively and meaningfully while simultaneously preparing students for some crummy test they’re forced to take.
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Walter
// Nov 5, 2007 at 12:22 pm
When I read your post, I kept thinking about what was written on the U.S. Department of Education’s website as it addressed concerns of NCLB: “Students will need no special test preparation to do well.”
Clearly, something has gone horribly wrong.
Even if the government’s assertion is true–in which case they’re being awfully nonchalant about something which so directly, and perhaps in an unforgiving manner, impacts schools–it seems that teachers and administrators have decided not to believe it. When so much depends on one thing, and the messages you receive are somewhat mixed, you’re liable to feel a little uneasy. Maybe this is what is happening. Avian influenza, NCLB, some bearded guy on the History Channel last week saying he knows the exact date of the apocolypse, all very disturbing on some level. The Bird flu, however, seems to have faded, with MSRA becoming the new superbug/virus of the week. And ever since Santa broke my heart, I’ve been wary of old bearded people talking of fantastical things. NCLB, though, lingers.
Can NCLB be implemented more effectively? It appears so. Is it too late? Maybe. People don’t seem to believe in it anymore. It sort of feels like NCLB is becoming just another one of those things the Bush administration hopes history will eventually judge in its favor, which makes it a part of a long and growing list of things the government seems only able to wish will ultimately . . . finally . . . by the grace of God . . . turn out at least halfway decent.
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Do Not Point At The Creature… » Blog Archive » Here’s what I think about all of you!
// Nov 13, 2007 at 6:28 pm
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// Dec 2, 2007 at 9:16 pm
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