As Chapter 4 deals with student assessment in literacy, I found that much of the material was known, though it was good to have support. By now, those who rely only on standardized tests are living in the past. Current educational trends demand that students are only assessed with tools that encompass who the students truly are, inside and outside of the classroom.
One problem I have encountered in my district is the overwhelming reliance on teacher-created, state objective-following tests which do nothing to truly gauge student learning. The section makes vital the argument the most important goal of literacy and content assessment is to improve instruction and self-awareness. The standardized tests, so continuously de rigueur, do nothing to make or show real-world connections to the students’ lives. Thus is the problem. While data is important, the chapter reads. Also important are planning and interpreting. Content-area teachers must match goals and needs with data and other sources.
Kidwatching is time-tested and proven. So much so, I didn’t know it had a name. Even as a young teacher, I encounter it often, as students who are not readers slump in chairs or look around to avoid having to read aloud. I contend kidwatching may not be as potent in the secondary years as it hard to differentiate lack of reading foundation versus one being uninterested and the settling in of ennui.
The only suggestion I take issue with belongs the portfolio. I cannot see it working on the primary level. The output collected would not be sophisticated enough to measure against concrete goals. They would only with the upper grades, students who should know how to create and work with a quality product.
In sum, chapter 4 leaves alternatives for standardized tests. New policies and implementations involve the learner, instead of leaving him as a bystander. The learner is part of the product, occasionally making it. The teacher must give specific information to learners as to how and when their finished work will be graded. As the student plays a true role in his own assessment, the more he will take an active interest in it. Literacy assessment is ever expanding beyond the tests and quizzes and into the real world. Such is not possible without realizing that, while standardized tests have their place in academics, there are more tangible items which produce results that give students a hands-on view of their learning.
Hi Mr. Farmer.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to brag and I'm not going to apologize: I do whole lot kidwatching every day, and I love it.
These standardized tests are pretty outrageous, aren't they? I'm writing in between meeting with parents and they are bewildered by the low test scores. I have to repeatedly explain that the test is not actually very effective and that the grades are, in fact, earned—maybe. It’s hard to simultaneously defend the integrity of the school and myself and be honest about the difficulty and possible ineffectiveness of the tests.
I share your concerns on the portfolio. Your recommendation that it be used only for upperclassmen is a good one, and tempers some of my qualms. I think the best part of the portfolio is that it allows for self-assessment, and the worst part that they can be maddeningly qualitative.
"One problem I have encountered in my district is the overwhelming reliance on teacher-created, state objective-following tests which do nothing to truly gauge student learning."
ReplyDeleteMarc, you said a mouthful there! As a first year teacher, I find it extremely daunting to make "good" assessments that align with the state framework and adequately gauge student knowledge. What perhaps makes it even worse is the fact that I don't even personally agree with the state's method of testing. Good luck, my friend.
Mr. Farmer,
ReplyDeleteI SHARE YOUR VIEWS. I completely agree with the fact that these tests being created by us makes me feel like they want me as a first year teacher to create a wheel. That I know already exhists. I am swamped with things that need to be done for the school for the district, for the students being sent to ISD and ISS. I'm completely tired of all the distractions, when what I need to do is focus on the train that my students and I are on trying to get through this material come April. Sorry for the soap box. More self assessment and then the answers as what to do with that assessment and what to do when you do not see any change.
I agree with Doug's comment - I'm in the same district as Marc and have repeatedly had to explain to parents why their grades are so low. Despite the fact that I have a number of budding mathematicians in the classroom, virtually every student failed their nine weeks' math exam. Was it because they couldn't do math? Nope. It was because they couldn't comprehend the questions being asked - it was no coincidence that, when handing out report cards, the students with the lowest Reading grades were also the ones doing most abysmally in my Math classes. I've recently started giving out two assessments every week - the first one, the district's standardized test, goes into the gradebook as it always has, but the second - which tests the same skills but is couched in the form of equations and simple one- or two-sentence instructions - gets saved up as extra credit to replace low grades. I am trying to teach literacy as well as mathematics in my math class - but with students testing at 2nd grade, 1st grade, and kindergarten levels in both subjects, I need that second assessment as a morale booster, at least in the short term.
ReplyDeleteMr. Farmer - It is sad that so much of the emphasis on the students is on their testing score. I guess the state requirements have become such, that the development of the person behind the score is an afterthought. Your sentiments on the kidwatching is very interesting. I teach a advanced seminar class full of 16 year old students who read on a roughly 3rd grade level. So many of them display their anxiety with literacy in their approach to the class and its requirements. If I have any encouragement in all of this, it is that your students have a teacher who is concerned about more than their test scores. Keep the faith, don't lose heart in what you're doing.
ReplyDeleteWe're just stuck in this awkward place where we know there are better alternatives to standardized tests without being able to avoid the fact that our students are indoctrinated to only care about the standardized test.
ReplyDeleteDo you think it would be worthwhile to tell students all our thoughts on assessment? Do you think they would understand that we as teachers are equally pressured into this disturbing relationship with a standardized test that is not necessarily the best and most interesting way to measure learning? I wonder how my students would react to me telling them that I hate the English II test and want them to be assessed by some means they are more involved in. It could be good, but it could also be bad.
Marc,
ReplyDeleteI think assessing differently than a standardized test is important. I think it could be fun to allow kids to take some small part in assessing themselves. However, in my very short teaching career I've learned that expectations and guidelines for everything that the student does is the key to success. So I imagine letting them help to create their own assessment would be difficult especially as a first year teacher not knowing what sort of expectations and boundaries to set up for a new type of assessment.