It’s all about the test.
Call it whatever you want- Iowa test of Basic Skills, California Achievement Test, FCAT, HSPT, etc. If it’s spring it must be testing season. Many of you have been prepping your students since the first day of school. Other may have been” pushing “your students as the testing dates draw near. The high stakes tests have wide reaching implications. For a school district, test scores are used as litmus test to determine whether a school has met its AYP (yearly progress) according to the guidelines of the No Child Left Behind Act. For some teachers, their salary increments or even their jobs may hinge on the outcomes of their students performance on statewide assessment tests.
( As of this date, the state of Florida is trying to implement such a program)
For the students, testing is a time of fear and anxiety, for in some instances it may determine promotion to the next grade or inclusion in such programs as gifted and talented. Some students get physically sick as a result of the stress placed on them by testing.
What can teachers do to aid their students in becoming successful test takers? And more philosophically what can teachers do to demonstrate that learning is more than just preparing for the test? In some schools many programs have been cut (art, music, any subject not on test) to make time for test preparation.
An excellent article that evaluates both sides of the high stakes testing argument was written by Alina Saminsky. The article entitled “High Stakes Standardized Testing: a Panacea or a Pest?” The article can be retrieved from www.studentpulsed.com
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3192 (Scholastic on line- Prepare students for standardized tests)
Probably one the most dynamic and vocal opponents to standardized testing is Alfie Kohn. I strongly recommend that you read his article “Standardized Testing and its Victims” that appeared in the September 27th, 2000 issue of Education Week http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/edweek/staiv.htm
As always your comments and input are welcome.
Hello there,
ReplyDeleteThis is Alina Saminsky, the author of the article that you mention above. I just wanted to thank you for including my article in your post, and also correct the link you provided. The link is www.studentpulse.com not studentpulsed.
Thanks again,
Alina Saminsky