Re: In Defense of Testing

["Allen Flanigan." <Allen.Flanigan@USPTO.GOV>]

Refusing to hold teachers accountable based on the children they are given,
and instead trying to base it on what they do with the children they are
given, is probably a step in the right direction.  Fundamentally, unless you
believe that the primary function of schools is to make children good test
takers, this plan is still flawed because it is based on precisely this
premise, reducing the definition of education to good test taking skills.  I
am interested in meaningful and genuine outcomes, like success in college
and life.

Honestly, this nonsense about "giving parents and teachers an objective
measure of where a student is" is predicated on an absurd notion that ALL
parents and teachers are completely in the dark regarding children's
abilities, and are longing for some golden measure to tell them whether
their children can read and do math or not.  If it isn't, why are we
prescribing these tests for ALL children?

A while back George S. and other teachers on the list were trading
misty-eyed stories about former students who come back to say thanks to a
memorable teacher and to share their success stories.  This to me is a much
more telling measure of how effective a teacher is than some bubble test.

Allen Flanigan
Parents Across Virginia United to Reform SOL
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jedoyon@AOL.COM [SMTP:Jedoyon@AOL.COM]
> Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2001 2:10 AM
> To:   ARN-L@listsrva.CUA.EDU
> Subject:      Re: In Defense of Testing
>
> In a message dated 2/14/01 9:58:17 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> monty@FAIRTEST.ORG writes:
>
>
>
>
>       Bad
>       measures badly conceived usually put to ends more harmful than
> helpful
>       (e.g., tracking with many kids on dead end tracks). The info is
> usually too
>       little and too vague to be of use to teachers -- a good teacher
> might
>       occasionally find a small nugget of info, hardly worth imposing the
> test.
>
>
>
> But, what if the tests were not used for "high stakes" but were only used
> to
> give teachers and parents a better idea of where a child was and whether
> he
> was improving?  Ideally, of course, parents and teachers are close enough
> to
> each child to know, but the reality is that a vast number of children move
>
> from school to school and teacher to teacher (and sometimes even parent to
>
> parent), so wouldn't entry/exit tests help schools better meet the needs
> of
> kids?  If the tests were designed with this goal in mind?
>
> It seems to me that an appropriate use of the term "standard" should have
> more to do with a level of service, offered to each child.  Each child
> deserves to have adults around him who understand his needs and what
> education structure suits his needs today and tomorrow.  The reality of
> testing in Washington is that testing is life-- the rest is details to
> improve the testing.    Statisticians are running the show-- except they
> aren't authentic statisticians, they are wannabe statisticians.  I doubt
> seriously if Terry Bergeson truly understands the difference between norm
> reference and standards based, yadda, yadda, yadda.  She barely
> understands
> the politics of unions and teachers and parents-- and there she's a true
> player!
>
> If we make local control the issue and trade 50 state mandated tests
> (meaning
> 50 per state, not 1 per state) for 10 that at least have the chance to be
> meaningful to parents and kids and teachers, wouldn't we be ahead of the
> game?  Here we are giving pre and post tests in reading in just about if
> not
> every grade or semester, in summer school, in after school and before
> school.
>  Anything WASL related gets extra push from Kindergarten on.  One
> assistant
> told me the other day that she had been administering Kindergarten WASL
> prompts.  (I took her a specially requested "WASL Sucks!" button
> yesterday.)
> In between we have ITBS at 3rd and 6th and 9th grade.  There is a state
> reading assessment at 2nd.  WASL science is supposed to be repiloted for
> 8th
> and piloted for 5th this year.  This doesn't even take into consideration
> the
> Lap and Chapter 1 tests that are routinely given to every child.  Gotta
> keep
> those numbers up and get that federal money.  Gotta get those free and
> reduced lunch forms filled out.
>
> It's funny, when my twins both failed the basic, opposites reading test at
>
> the end of 1st grade, and were recommended for LAP, I had to wonder if it
> was
> because we have reduced lunch status, but I was more inclined to believe
> it
> was because of the 57 student, full inclusion, team taught classroom where
>
> all the desks were shoved in one side and there were absolutely no phonics
>
> involved.  Don't get me wrong-- reading should be a mix of instruction,
> but
> in the midst of bedlam, no reading method is successful.  The report card
> grades had been great, by the way.  Talk about parental wake up call!
>
> Anyway, back to the testing thing.  Wouldn't a pre and post test aid in
> parent/teacher communication?  And wouldn't a test that parents recognized
>
> from their own school days be an appropriate tool for individual student
> measurement?  And maybe we're talking about school based testing utilizing
>
> state provided materials.  I don't know.  I just think it's something to
> ponder as an offer of alternatives, when the playing field opens up a
> little.
>  Obviously, WASL is a goner, as soon as federal money is officially tied
> to
> test scores.  WASL is a perfect example of a good idea mutating into
> something unconscionable.  Our writing assessments that were pre-WASL
> weren't
> bad at all, except that nobody figured out the parent communication piece
> there either-- funny how that happens.  For a while every teacher was
> going
> to be a teacher of writing.  Now, every teacher is just a teacher of WASL!
>
> Site based strategic planning also mutated into state mandated WASL
> prompting.
>
> WASL Schmasl,
> Juanita

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