While doing research on the subject of the faults on standardized testing, I have learned much more than I have wanted to know. And I have asked myself, if there is all this evidence to discredit testing, why does it still occur?
Of course one can argue that we are stuck in our ways and used to setting benchmarks for all students. But I believe it is mainly due to the fact that our educators and administrators are having much difficulty coming up with creative ways to understand and summarize students ability. They need to be able to fit information into graphs and charts when talking about progress in education. They need to be able to have profits and deficits and gross product. Basically, Education is in the hands of business men.
Education needs a reform that will completely change the way it is perceived. Not only in terms of testing, but in the way it is funded and handled. No institution is perfect, but it is important that as a nation we attempt to constantly better our education of society. This may cause for radical changes, such as moving power from states into more locally based groups, but I believe it to be completely necessary.
I can only hope that more educators that hold more diverse positions, such as myself, are ready to fight a long battle of reform. And if total reform never comes, we will at least contribute as greatly as we can to directly affect our students.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Testing As A Joke
Some test administrators are catching on to the ridiculousness of standardized testing, but in the wrong way.
SAT Monitors Napped, Ignored Rules, Teens Say
By Jay MathewsWashington Post Staff WriterFriday, November 17, 2006; Page A01
They started the SAT that Saturday morning more than an hour late, not helpful for a college-entrance test many consider an ordeal under the best circumstances. But the situation worsened for eight students with learning disabilities in one second-floor testing room at Woodrow Wilson Senior High School in Northwest Washington.
According to three of the students who were there Oct. 14, the proctor and the associate test supervisor in the room let students work on some sections long after time expired and on others ahead of time. They let students make cellphone calls and eat in the room. Lacking a clock, they let students time the examination themselves with a microwave oven timer.
Occasionally, the three students said, the two test administrators dozed off. All of those actions were flagrant rule violations. Some test experts called the episode, which occurred at one of the country's busiest testing centers, a striking example of persistent problems with the administration of the SAT. Students called it worse.
Penelope Meyers, a senior at the private Edmund Burke School in Northwest, said she burst into tears when she got into her mother's car at 4:30 p.m., nearly nine hours after she had arrived at the exam site.
"It was the most bogus and corrupt joke I had ever heard of," she said.
Hana Viswanathan, a senior at the private Washington International School, also in Northwest, offered an SAT word to describe what happened: debacle...
...At one point, Meyers said, the associate supervisor noticed that a few students had finished one section early and told them that they could start the next. Meyers, who knew this violated the rules, did not start. The official came over and whispered in her ear to go ahead.
Meyers replied that she was not going to cheat. The administrator, according to Meyers, said: "It doesn't matter. There's only a few minutes left."
SAT Monitors Napped, Ignored Rules, Teens Say
By Jay MathewsWashington Post Staff WriterFriday, November 17, 2006; Page A01
They started the SAT that Saturday morning more than an hour late, not helpful for a college-entrance test many consider an ordeal under the best circumstances. But the situation worsened for eight students with learning disabilities in one second-floor testing room at Woodrow Wilson Senior High School in Northwest Washington.
According to three of the students who were there Oct. 14, the proctor and the associate test supervisor in the room let students work on some sections long after time expired and on others ahead of time. They let students make cellphone calls and eat in the room. Lacking a clock, they let students time the examination themselves with a microwave oven timer.
Occasionally, the three students said, the two test administrators dozed off. All of those actions were flagrant rule violations. Some test experts called the episode, which occurred at one of the country's busiest testing centers, a striking example of persistent problems with the administration of the SAT. Students called it worse.
Penelope Meyers, a senior at the private Edmund Burke School in Northwest, said she burst into tears when she got into her mother's car at 4:30 p.m., nearly nine hours after she had arrived at the exam site.
"It was the most bogus and corrupt joke I had ever heard of," she said.
Hana Viswanathan, a senior at the private Washington International School, also in Northwest, offered an SAT word to describe what happened: debacle...
...At one point, Meyers said, the associate supervisor noticed that a few students had finished one section early and told them that they could start the next. Meyers, who knew this violated the rules, did not start. The official came over and whispered in her ear to go ahead.
Meyers replied that she was not going to cheat. The administrator, according to Meyers, said: "It doesn't matter. There's only a few minutes left."
For full article, click here; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111601981.html?nav=rss_education
Funny at first, but an ironic and sad twist on the current state of testing. Usually my posts are about administrators in the government and in the schools who take testing too seriously. This story makes for a sad attempt at measuring a students aptitude.
I had a similar event happen to me, during a Intro to Sociology final exam in my first year of college at Portland State University. The teacher had not made enough exams for the large lecture class, so she passed out half of them to students and then left to go copy the rest. I was sitting in the back and became frustrated, along with many other students, at the unfairness occuring. Some students were so annoyed that they started talking to those around them, but the students in the front taking the exam became annoyed with those in the back, and a fight started between a couple of students. This was odd but not the worst of it.
The professor came back into the class and reported that the copier machine was broken and those who hadn't recieved a test yet had the responsibility to go to the second floor offices and ask for a test there. Once in the second floor,we were told that we should just sit in the offices and take the exam, since we were already getting a late start. There we were interrupted frequently, unsupervised, and talking with eachother about the absurdity of the situation. We joked that we were subjects in an experiment for the Sociology class.
What causes these extremes in opinions and execution styles in testing? Is it the professor/teacher/administrators personality? Or are they trying to hint at their opinion of standardized testing as a whole? Was my sociology teacher secretly showing us the errors of testing? And were the administrators of the SAT in Washington sharing the same point of view that I hold on tests? Whatever the reasons, if these problems keep persisting with testing, a reform is bound to happen, hopefully.
Standardizing the Standard's Standard Standards.
Tests being used to test students ability has always gone to the extreme, but this case of testing is a new low.
Those Who Pass Classes But Fail Tests Cry Foul
By Ian ShapiraWashington Post Staff WriterTuesday, November 21, 2006;
Sylvia James hardly considers herself clueless in mathematics. After all, she finished sixth grade with a B-plus in the subject and made the Honor Roll, which she saw as a victory in a challenging year of fraction conversion and decimal placement.
But what happened when she took the state math test?
She flunked it.
Now, by that measure, Virginia considers the 12-year-old below par in math.
"I was kind of shocked," said Sylvia, who attends Herbert J. Saunders Middle School in Prince William County. "I just thought I was going to pass it because I always usually pass everything else. I guess I went through the test pretty quickly."
Many students in the Washington region are suffering from academic split personalities. Driven by the federal No Child Left Behind law and tougher state diploma standards, the testing blitz has left these students in a curious limbo: They pass their classes with B's and C's yet fail the state exams..."
So here is a question. If a student fails a test required to be taken by the state, what is the point of having a class to help prepare them for the class? Especially if the student is led to believe that their performance in the class is some kind of reflection on what the test will be on?
This story could easily be used to make a point for someone who believes that testing should be done away with completely, but I think it makes a stronger point for individuals who believe that at least the NCLB Act should be demolished. Errors in standards will continue to show themselves as long as we are setting black and white benchmarks for students who learn in the greys.
Another problem that could be the cause for this and other cases is that the communication between the state and the classroom on what students are to learn is not happening. If the state has higher standards on what is expected of the student and does not inform districts and educators of these expectations, the state is to blame, again.
"...Whatever the reason, the fact that some bright students struggle on state exams upends the perception that only the worst students fail them.
"This is a warning sign that there's something out of tilt in the system," said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy in Washington, which tracks how states implement the federal law.
Thelaw requires annual state testing in reading and math for all students from grades 3 to 8 and at least once in high school. The results are used to rate schools, and those that fall short of adequate progress are threatened with sanctions. States often add more tests in high school that students must pass to graduate..."
For full article, click here; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/21/AR2006112100075.html?nav=rss_education
So instead of the state working with the classes to help raise testing abilities (since it seems testing will not be absent from education anytime soon), they decide to apply more tests to schools who fall short of previous exams. This not only makes no sense, but prompts a negative cyclical effect which tells students and parents that they are not as bright as they should be. This type of encouragement is the last thing needed in public education.
Those Who Pass Classes But Fail Tests Cry Foul
By Ian ShapiraWashington Post Staff WriterTuesday, November 21, 2006;
Sylvia James hardly considers herself clueless in mathematics. After all, she finished sixth grade with a B-plus in the subject and made the Honor Roll, which she saw as a victory in a challenging year of fraction conversion and decimal placement.
But what happened when she took the state math test?
She flunked it.
Now, by that measure, Virginia considers the 12-year-old below par in math.
"I was kind of shocked," said Sylvia, who attends Herbert J. Saunders Middle School in Prince William County. "I just thought I was going to pass it because I always usually pass everything else. I guess I went through the test pretty quickly."
Many students in the Washington region are suffering from academic split personalities. Driven by the federal No Child Left Behind law and tougher state diploma standards, the testing blitz has left these students in a curious limbo: They pass their classes with B's and C's yet fail the state exams..."
So here is a question. If a student fails a test required to be taken by the state, what is the point of having a class to help prepare them for the class? Especially if the student is led to believe that their performance in the class is some kind of reflection on what the test will be on?
This story could easily be used to make a point for someone who believes that testing should be done away with completely, but I think it makes a stronger point for individuals who believe that at least the NCLB Act should be demolished. Errors in standards will continue to show themselves as long as we are setting black and white benchmarks for students who learn in the greys.
Another problem that could be the cause for this and other cases is that the communication between the state and the classroom on what students are to learn is not happening. If the state has higher standards on what is expected of the student and does not inform districts and educators of these expectations, the state is to blame, again.
"...Whatever the reason, the fact that some bright students struggle on state exams upends the perception that only the worst students fail them.
"This is a warning sign that there's something out of tilt in the system," said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy in Washington, which tracks how states implement the federal law.
Thelaw requires annual state testing in reading and math for all students from grades 3 to 8 and at least once in high school. The results are used to rate schools, and those that fall short of adequate progress are threatened with sanctions. States often add more tests in high school that students must pass to graduate..."
For full article, click here; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/21/AR2006112100075.html?nav=rss_education
So instead of the state working with the classes to help raise testing abilities (since it seems testing will not be absent from education anytime soon), they decide to apply more tests to schools who fall short of previous exams. This not only makes no sense, but prompts a negative cyclical effect which tells students and parents that they are not as bright as they should be. This type of encouragement is the last thing needed in public education.
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