Do you think standardized testing should play
such a significant role in assessing students? Why or why not? Do you think the
emphasis on standardized testing has gone too far? How do you think the
emphasis on standardized testing has affected the curriculum? Do you think
standardized testing is a fair and accurate indicator of how a student performs
in a classroom setting? As a future teacher, do you have concerns about having
to “teach to the test” to ensure your students meet a certain benchmark?
Lindsay, I think your concern in one that plagues all current day teachers. Being that we all chose to study education in college and hope to be teachers one day, I think it is safe to say that we all care about children. That being said, in caring about children we just want to provide them with the best learning experience that we are capable of providing. We want to teach them citizenship. We want to make them think and explore and make mistakes and feel safe. We truly want to present them with lessons and materials that will make them creative, open-minded, good human beings. However, sadly there is not a section on the NJ ASK that will give our students credit or give us as teachers recognition for "being good human beings". So what do we do? I've discussed this issue on several occasions with my cooperating teacher. Her best solution to this dilemma is to allocate a few hours every Friday for test preparation. She truly does not spend a lot of time teaching to the test, but she tries to be as organized as possible in her lesson planning for the beginning of the week so that she can truly fit in as many lessons as possible that do not involve "teaching to the test". It may seem unfortunate that has to spend even as much time as she does on Fridays teaching for these dreaded standardized tests. However, they seem to be a necessary evil. It does not seem like schools will be doing away with standardized tests any time in the near future, so I think that as teachers we just need to manage our time as effectively as possible so that only a small portions of students' school hours are spent on standardized test taking strategies.
ReplyDeleteKimberly Russomanno
I do believe that students should take standardized tests to assess their knowledge in their grade level; however, I do believe that it takes up too much of the school year just preparing for these tests. Even though, NJ public schools have to take the NJASK, my school has adopted assessment tests for math (ANET) and literacy (SRI). These tests are taken 4 times during the school year and it makes sure the teacher and the students are on the correct topics at the right time of the year. I believe these smaller assessments are better then the national ones because not all students learn the same and not all students do well on standardized tests.
ReplyDeleteI believe that standardized testing has gone way too far. It is not fair for those who struggle in standardized testing to be judged on what they know based on these tests. Some students are not as strong in testing, such as I am. In fact, some may even feel nervous when they are tested and are unable to perform as well as they can. This goes along the lines of differentiation. Some students are better at presenting what they know in some sort of hands-on project, while others are better at displaying what they know on a test. I do not think a standardized test should be the ultimate judgment of what students know and how well the teacher is teaching the information. I think in order to have students understand what they know, they should have projects, homework assignments, and participate in class. These are easier forms of assessment rather than being judged by a letter grade.
ReplyDeleteI feel that standardized testing is one way to measure the assessment of students' progress, but I do not think it should be the only form, or a major component. There are plenty of other ways to measure a student's performance in school. Those ways should be implemented more than a standardized test. I know in special education, there is a possibility to do a portfolio assessment, I feel that this would be a better alternative for students. This would be a more suitable way of assessment because there are more ways to see students' progress and performance in school. Portfolio assessments could have various assignments, projects, and tests that students have taken over the year. These would be better to see a student's progress. Many students suffer from test anxiety, and that can affect test scores. It is also not fair for students that teachers are teaching to the test and not having time to teach important subjects such as science, social studies, and arts.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what these ladies have said as well. In my opinion, I don’t think that standardized testing should play such a significant role in assessing students because, I think, it predominantly shows how well students could take a test. I don’t believe that these standardized tests measure creativity, strategy, and grit of a student. These are all essential aspects of being a good student.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think that the emphasis on standardized testing has gone too far. I’ve heard of schools being threatened of being closed down and teachers being laid off for having low-test scores. As a result, I have seen teachers and principals are stressing over teaching their students predominantly on what will be found on the test. It’s becoming so strict that it just sucks the life and fun out of learning. I think teacher isolate themselves in solely teaching certain skills and topics, and I think that students are missing out on a lot of other topics that are not covered under the test.
It affects the curriculum by making the teachers speed teach and expect their students to learn fast. They probably have to cover X amount of topics before testing. This stresses the teacher out because they would feel pressure teaching everything that would be on the test. They would expect their students to learn quickly and not give them much time to practice each thing they learned.
As a result, students are rushed and would probably not have a good grasp of the topics taught them. Students who don’t learn as quickly as some of the others would feel like they’re really slow at learning and might give up because of lack of confidence on their skill. Their skills of creativity and how they work with others won’t show through in these tests. It just measures their ability to take it. Yes, these tests will measure some level of skill, but it does not fully represent the students well.
As a future teacher, I do worry about “teaching to the test”. I know there will be pressure from people above me who will pressure me to have my students be taught according to the test so that they meet a certain benchmark. However, I think teachers should start developing fun ways to both teach to the test and make the learning fun. Incorporating the multisensory approach and then showing how it would be phrased on the standardized test could do this. Regardless of this, I still think that teaching to the test deprives students of a richer curriculum that allows them to fully develop their skills and knowledge on each topic.
I agree with Amelia, and each of the other women who commented. I do believe the testing has gone too far with administration and NJEA. I do not believe teacher evaluations should revolve around a standardized test. I also think the pressure that is put on the students causes students to do poorly on the test, which then reflect poorly on the teacher.
ReplyDeleteTeaching to the test, in my opinion, is a huge problem. I had a conversation with an 8th grade english teacher and she is doing a unit on the holocaust and is revolving her english on the book Mouse. The students have no idea what year WW2 was, had no idea about the holocaust, no concept of American history. This is in part, because of the testing. Social studies is not emphasized on the test, thus, teachers are not teaching it. As a history major, this is heartbreaking.
As future educators, we see what is going on in schools. I think this is beneficial because we can be the teachers to change this. We are starting out while this is all new and I believe as time progresses, the test will prove to be an untrue measure of intelligence and teaching effectiveness.
I completely agree with what has been said so far. I believe that standardized testing should play a role in assessing student performance, but I do not think it should play such a significant role as it is right now. There are plenty of other ways to assess student performance. I feel that standardized tests are not always an accurate portrayal of student performance because like Lindsay said not all students do well on tests but do great in the classroom. I have a friend, who is brilliant, but when it came to standardized tests and even the 2-hour midterms and finals, he struggled. He is a horrible test taker. This shows that standardized tests are not always accurate. I feel that the emphasis has gone too far and most definitely affected the curriculum. Content areas such as music, art, social studies, and science are slowly being pushed out of the picture as more emphasis is placed on testing. I have yet to see science in any of my field placement experience, which to me is very upsetting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kim when she talked about how we want our students to think, explore, make mistakes, and have the best learning experience; however, the standardized testing is making this hard for some teachers. I do not like the idea of "teaching to the test" because I feel that in the end, the students are the ones who are being hurt. By teaching to the test, students are not being given the opportunity to explore other areas, such as science, as deeply as they could because the focus is on having the students pass these tests.
I really like how Kim's cooperating teacher does not spend a lot of time teaching to the test, but reserves a few hours on Friday for test preparation. I feel that this a good way to prepare them for the test and allow time for that without taking time away from learning new and valuable knowledge.