Re: [FCARFORUM] FCAT Scoring in Temps' Hands

[George Sheridan <learn@jps.net>]

At 09:52 PM 3/12/2006 -0500, George K Cunningham wrote:
> This is why large-scale tests should be multiple-choice format only.

Correction: Multiple choice tests are the only ones that avoid certain 
types of scoring error that result from biases or inadequate training of 
scorers. However, when there are no high stakes attached to them, large 
scale assessments may very well utilize essays and constructed responses. 
As Scott Hays pointed out on March 10, such assessments can have other 
significant benefits (such as the professional development and networking 
opportunities they provide for teachers) that outweigh possible scoring 
inaccuracies. Multiple choice tests lack these benefits. In fact, they are 
widely perceived (by students, parents and teachers) as causing collateral 
damage such as curriculum narrowing and instilling a false understanding of 
the very meaning of education.

Thus George Cunningham's statement, if it is true at all, is true only in 
the context of high stakes testing.


George Sheridan
Black Oak Mine Teachers Association, CTA/NEA
Garden Valley, California

"Intelligence, in short, is not a thing but a behavior. It is not something 
we possess but something we do."

- Evans Clinchy