Need help on a paper from teachers please!!

[brp1981]

Hi everyone! I'm brand new to this site but joined hoping that I could get some help.
I am working on a paper for my curriculum and methods class and need some responses from teachers about my topic to use in this paper. Any help would be more than greatly apprciated!!
My topic is "high stakes testing."
Some questions you could answer may be:
How do feel about high stakes testing?
Do you agree or disagree with it and why?
What do feel are some positive and negative effects of it?

Prety much any response on this topic would be helpful. If I get any responses and some would fit in my paper I'll PM you and get your permission first.

Again, any help would be more than greatly appreciated!!

[Boxcar]

Do you mean tests like the GQE, I-Step, and SATs that determine futures?

If so, here is what I think.

I do not like these types of tests. There are several reasons why.

I feel that these tests encourage too much focus on teachign to the test. Students miss out on crucial learning experiences because schools are worried about being acountable and having the right numbers.

I don't think these tests are appropriate for the younger children. They are long and boring. The children do not always get the concept of why they need to do their best. Some of the brightest students get tired of it and just fill in the answers to be done.

There is still bias in these tests despite the improvements that have been made.

Then there are the students who suffer from test anxiety. The more times they have to repeat the test the worse it is for them. It becomes a cycle of fears, failures, and self-fulfilling propheses. The same can be true for all students who do not suceed the first time they try.

I think it is more important to look at a student's record. Has the student been making progress? Have there been improvements in the work? Is the student doing what s/he needs to in the classroom? Are students with poor grades or behavior challenges in programs to help them? Are they recieving tutoring or mentoring? These are the things that make an accountable school. If students aren't doing well, what is being done to help them?

It isn't just about pass and fail. It shouldn't just be about pointing out the students or schools with failing scores.

Yes, these tests do serve a purpose. However, this purpose has been distorted. If these test are kept in place, the consequences need to be altered. If a school has poor scores, don't shut it down. Look for ways to improve it. If a student doesn't pass, look to see why. Does this student need tutoring? An intervention? Help with test anxiety? Was s/he having a bad day?

There is never going to be a perfect solution, but there can be improvements made.

I hope this helps you. I wasn't sure exactly what you wanted. Sorry about that. Sometimes terms for things are different in different areas.

[brp1981]

That's exactly what I was talking about. Thanks for your response!! I'll let you know if I need to use it if that's ok.
Thanks agani!!

[mopar]

I think that these high stakes tests really do have a purpose within our educational system. However, I believe that there are more useful methods for receiving this data.
These tests have helped to improve many schools districts. Now, more than ever, districts are working at aligning their curriculum with state standards. What a blessing. Teachers now can better understand the pieces that they should teach and when the other pieces are taught. They also better understand the knowledge that students enter their classroom with or should enter with.
These tests have also lead to more programs offered to help students. Not necessarily the funds to support these programs. But many schools now have an afternoon homework club, or reading specialists. These have been a great change and these have come from the testing.
However, the pressure that these students are put under for one week is terrible. Students are taught how to answer questions on the test, specific testing strategies, weeks of practice problems and same tests. Then these students are expected to achieve high results to keep the school from being run by the state. Also, the students are losing their music, gym, art, library, etc times because there is not enough time to prepare for tests and have these specials. Some students are made to take prep courses just to get ready for the test. Can you take all the fun out of school. Lots of schools have eliminated recess, shorten recess and lunch or even lengthened the school day.
We need a measure that can span a student's growth. Lets not just compare students to each other, lets compare a student to him/herself. Then we will really begin to see some growth. Use more frequent testing that doesn't penalize a student for waking up on the wrong side of the bed or having a bad night.
However, I am just a teacher not a politician. So for now, we do things their way and take the small growths that come with it.

[brp1981]

Thanks for your response!

[brp1981]

Anyone else have any thoughts?

[Missmaggie]

In the district I sub in, the teachers feel very pressured to get everything done, and there is not much time to waste during the day. The problem is, because of NCLB saying kids need to have gym 2x a week to be well rounded, then we have a Walk-a-thon, then the Halloween party, there just doesn't seem to be enough time. They are just kids!

I think it is putting more pressure on the teachers and not enough on the parents, who often don't even check their children's homework or make sure it gets done. This isn't fair to the teacher who wants a high performing class but is faced with 4-5 LD kids in her class that leave 2x a week for speech therapy or OT while the rest of the class is working on group projects about the levels of government. What is the teacher supposed to do? Is it her fault now that this child is performing poorly ?

I had someone in my assessment class tell me (while I was a Grad student at CUNY Hunter College in Manhattan) that when she expressed her worries about her students passing their 3rd grade tests, (eventually they did not) her principal told her "Oh, don't worry--they WILL pass." She was teaching in Harlem. That is not uncommon for that neighborhood. I have heard other teachers tell me the scores are fudged so that they get their funding the next school year.

I see why the tests are administered, they want to catch the poorly performing kids early so that we don't have 8th graders that still can't read (it still happens). But there are other things that need to be done as well, like reducing class size or hiring Teacher Aides for every class instead of just a select few. But that costs more money. I could type forever about this, but basically, the way our economy is, there is not much we can do with a Republican in office.

[Chef Dave]

By "high stakes testing," I assume you are referring to the growing trend to use test scores as a consequence for students i.e. high school graduation, promotion to the next grade level, access to resources and special privileges.

High stakes testing can also be used as a measure of teacher quality.

Most high stakes test are norm-referenced. These tests measure an individual student's knowledge or skill level.

The problem with norm-reference tests is that they can't identify whether or not a teacher is doing an adequate job of instruction. Why? If a teacher started the year with kids who were already below grade level in most subject areas, any learning made by these students would most likely not show up on a given test. The students in question would still fail the test because they wouldn't be ready to take a grade level examination.

Then again - there is also the matter of test anxiety. Some students simply don't test well. If you base student promotion solely upon test scores, you are ignoring report card grades, student portfolios, and other types of formal and informal assessment.

Tests may also have an inherent bias against particular socio-economic groups or ethnic cultural groups. One criticism of the SAT is that the vocabulary is geared towards white middle class kids. Kids from more privileged backgrounds have access to far greater resources than low income kids ... and test results typically support this.