During the same day as my observation of an inclusive fourth grade class, I attended a PLC meeting for all of the fourth grade teachers. The meeting was primarily focused on discussing interim testing procedures. I noted that a majority of the questions were practical and focused on how the teachers were expected to proctor the exam. The other conversations centered on students with special circumstances such as IEPs and ELLs and what accommodations they were to receive. As the test is administered online, technical questions such as whether or not students could go back to previous questions in each test section were discussed. The most interesting characteristic of the meeting was that it felt as though administrators had little information on the tests, although they were scheduled to take place within two weeks of the meeting. The …show more content…
There was a sense of us vs. them in the meeting and I sensed that many of the teachers felt their time could be better spent than sitting in the PLC meeting. This is understandable, as this meeting was held to talk about testing standards and procedures while the teachers are already stressed with completing endless tasks while also attempting to educate their students. In my perspective, the meeting was not held to benefit student achievement. It was rather held in preparation for proving the positive progress and capabilities of Roberto Clemente’s students. Not one person in the meeting expressed the opinion that the interim tests were going to improve student achievement, but rather maintained that these tests were good practice for the upcoming PARC tests. It is disheartening that teachers must spend such a large percentage of instruction time focusing on teaching students how to take
The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, otherwise known as the TAKS, is a standardized test used throughout the state of Texas to determine whether or not a student is prepared for the next grade level. The TAKS test was implemented in 2003 to replace the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills in concurrence with the “No Child Left Behind Act”. The new test added science and social studies portions to the already existing sections of math, reading, and English. The purpose of this was to obtain more information on where students are academically. However, since its inception, the test has been criticized for numerous reasons. The TAKS test has become ineffective in several capacities and has been used to determine teacher bonuses and assessment of how well a teacher is communicating, evaluations that it was not originally intended to decide. When taking into account all of these points of view, I have come to the conclusion that the TAKS test should no longer be used in its present function.
Current educational policy and practice asserts that increased standardized student testing is the key to improving student learning and is the most appropriate means for holding individual schools and teachers accountable for student learning. Instead, it has become a tool solely for summarizing what students have learned and for ranking students and schools. The problem is standardized tests cannot provide the information about student achievement that teachers and students need day-to-day. Classroom assessment can provide this kind of information.
Attending an NA meeting during finals was one of my smarter decisions, as I procrastinate my work until the very last minute this week. However, in my opinion, going to a meeting was a good type of procrastination compared to other things I could be doing. Instead of going with the same friend this time, I asked a friend who was struggling with a ________ addiction. Not knowing that I was aware of his addiction, I asked him to join so I didn’t have to go alone; and he was more than happy to join me. I was very happy he agreed to join, because hopefully it helps him with his personal addiction, and he continues to return to the meetings.
One of the most controversial topics in education today is the use of Provincial Achievement Testing, also know as PAT. PATs’ are used to assess and assist in improving programs, maintain standards and improve student achievement. These tests are standard tests that are at the same academic level for all students and focus on the same curriculum topics. All students write these tests at roughly the same time during the school in the same grade. In most provinces, students write PATs’ in grades three and six in elementary school. These tests feature sections from the core subject areas; math, literacy, science and social studies. Schools with french immersion have tests written in french with a french language sections as well. These tests are used to provide additional information regarding the students’ and school’s achievement. However, some organizations use this to compare schools and districts. Some teachers lack an understanding of these assessments and change their teaching practices to fit this perception. Teachers are focus to much on the basic information being covered by the test, and both all the curriculum that is listed. Teachers need to look at the difference between the assessment of learning over the assessment for learning. The view of assessing of learning has given external testing a lower view by teachers. External testing is used for checking the quality of education. There are three issues regarding assessing student learning with achievement testing, they are: the weak understanding of fair assessment, the perception of external accountability initiatives and the inappropriate assessment of at-risk students.
Worthen, Blaine R., and Vicki Spandel. "Putting the Standardized Testing Debate in Perspective." Educational Leadership Feb. 1991: 65-69. ASCD. 1 Dec. 2013
Students dread the time of the year when they stop with their course material and begin to prepare for test. Everyone is in agreement that some type of revolution is needed when it comes to education; eliminating standardized test will aid the reform. The need for standardized testing has proven to be ineffective and outdated; some leading educationalist also believe this because the tests do not measure a student’s true potential. This will save money, stop labeling, and alleviate stress in students and teachers.
Smolin, Andrea, and Jennifer Clayton. "Standardized Testing: How Prepared Are We?." Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership. 12(4). (2009): 29-36. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
tests were primarily employed as measures of student achievement that could be reported to parents, and as a means of noting state and district trends (Moon 2) . Teachers paid little attention to these tests, which in turn had little impact on curriculum. However, in the continuing quest for better schools and high achieving students, testing has become a central focus of policy and practice. Standardized tests are tests that attempt to present unbiased material under the same, predetermined conditions and with consistent scoring and interpretation so that students have equal opportunities to give correct answers and receive an accurate assessment. The idea is that these similarities allow the highest degree of certainty in comparing result...
What are the results? The students are the ones who are suffering and they are stressed, discouraged and disheartened. There is much too much time spent on the actual test taking success and subjects of enjoyment are removed from the curriculum. The federal government is lacking funding and the students are being shorted. The teacher shortage is pre...
I enjoyed reading your post and the intricacies of the railroad business. It’s interesting seeing the real world application of your financial intelligence in understanding your business’s circumstance during that time. During that period, in order to combat the increase in operating expense, was there a large change in price for the services your company offers? Additionally, that’s an interesting way that your company chooses to share its monthly reports. Coincidentally, that is the same way LeTourenau University Senate operates. There are instances where students do not elect a senator to represent them. When that is the case, a number of the Committee Chairs host an “unrepresented floor meeting”. At these meeting, Student senate shares
The topic of assessment alone raises many debated discussions, among teachers, and to add Special Education students into the polemical dialogue intensifies the debate. As a result, there are several alternative methods in assessing Special Education students within the learning environment. Professionals have created specifically designated techniques in helping these and all students achieve academic success.
Standardized tests are used to evaluate a student’s performance, however, tests do not take external factors into account. This already means that tests are often inaccurate methods of measuring a students academic potential. Also, the tests do a disservice to students as they evaluate their proficiency at a time of testing, rather than their growth and improvement over the course of the year. The tests have become an outdated method of challenging students and only have negative impacts at this point. The tests develop high levels of stress in students, which is not healthy for an individual during the most important development years of their lives. Eliminating these tests will assist students in the long run as they can accommodate more time towards learning information rather than stressing over a single test. By replacing tests with more in-class lessons students will be free of constant stress and still learn the curriculum. Research shows that students are unable to remember information on standardized tests in the long run, therefore, by spending more time learning and understanding information, students are able to have a better understanding of topics. Therefore, by removing standardized tests students will be provided with a better, more effective, and fair educational
The author addresses paper and pencil tests with no special accommodations, and analyses trends throughout past decades. He also writes of the new era of standardized testing and accountability. Stiggins suggests that while standardized testing may be useful and effective in some aspects, most are not used correctly and that the high-stakes put intense pressure on teachers, making it difficult to actually complete their job which is to teach students new skills. They simply spend their time reviewing already learned skills to ensure good scores on exams.
Assessments were not aligned and incongruent with what was happening in the classroom. It was difficult to accurately measure student success (Polikoff, Porter, & Smithson, 2011). One of the greatest contributors to the difficulty of aligning assessments to standards is that the standards are so complex (LaMarca, 2001.) How can a single assessment demonstrate mastery of so much content? Also, some assessments items measure multiple standards. This can be difficult to analyze. Furthermore, some assessment contain content that is neither developmentally appropriate for the intended audience or it may content that is not mentioned in the standards (Polikoff, Porter, & Smithson, 2011). This can be discouraging and frustrating for both students and
“‘I can no longer cooperate with a testing regime that I believe is suffocating creativity and innovation in the classroom. We are not really educating our students anymore. We are merely teaching them to pass a test. This is wrong. Period’”