"If more testing were the answer to the problems in our schools, testing would have solved them a long time ago." -Bill Goodling (Chair of the House of Education Committee)
I have not had to deal with standardized testing here on Guam, but I did when I was in Florida. There, we as teachers were forced to do FCAT review every class period for 15 minutes (on a 4x4 block) for the two weeks leading up to the exam. If students didn't dread the test before then, they certainly did by the end of all that FCAT review. I am not against standardized tests in general. I think they have their place and can provide information to teachers, schools and districts about how much information students are actually grasping. The emphasis on these test, however, has just become to strong. I agree with a lot of what Daniele said, but given the limitations of standardized tests, I am not sure that they should be required for graduation.
What we see as students not caring on the test, could actually be rebellion or frustration. Students know we need them to do well and we constantly put it in their faces and hold it over their heads. Some students respond to that kind of pressure by doing exactly what we don't want them to do: not bother trying. Another student may want to do well, but given the pressure and realizing that he doesn't know many of the answers he has read at the beginning, he may just feel defeated and quit. Finally, there are students who are afraid to know how they might actually do. They don't want to be viewed as stupid, so they "Christmas tree" the test. The logic is that if they didn't really try, they didn't really fail. I feel that if we could just reduce some of the hype surrounding these tests, students might put forth more effort. That would take a long time though- the hype is currently pretty intense.
I like the quote I chose because people are always looking for a simple answers to the problems in schools. The problems aren't simple though, and the solutions can't be either. Personally, I believe states need to focus on recruiting bright, energetic, inspiring people to be teachers- and pay them a wage that reflects their important profession. There is so much more that needs to be done to "fix" education. The highest on the priority list is changing attitudes about school. Until we as a society value education, our students certainly won't: standardized tests or not.
I mentioned the graduation part just as an example, but no, I do not think that 1 test should judge whether or not someone graduates. This would make it impossible for some students to graduate such as SPED and ELLs. I do think that it should have some sort of weight however. I am more for it counting towards a letter grade or extra credit. Even if a student did not do well (pass), if they did show improvement from the previous year then they should also get credit for that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that we need to put more priority on changing the attitude about education. I think this would help with our test scores and I also believe that this change should start at home. People are putting so much on the shoulders of teachers when it comes to standardize testing, but until more parents get involved, the scores will stay the same and the students attitude will stay the same too.
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