The tests I am referring to are not normed or standardized. They merely ask,
"after x years of school, can the student do y? Yes or no? The x and the y
are based on state standards of what a child should know and be able to do
after a certain period of time. Political? Yes, and the product of much
effort in deciding what children need to become productive responsible
adults. As I understand it, the New Hampshire tests do not produce
individual grades. The school gets a grade indicating how many students are
at the novice level, learning level, and master level.
If a school finds out that the bulk of its students in a particular grade
can't perform according to the standard, what does that tell you? It tells
me that the school has not achieved its goal and something needs to be
fixed. Either that or the school is not sure what its goals are. In my
school district, I think it was the teachers and administrators who were
more devastated than the children, but it is leading to insight and improvement.
I sympathize with your concerns that the test may be beyond some students. I
hear objections to this kind of test almost everywhere I go. I hope the
objections are not really attempts to maintain the status quo, and not
excuses for failure of an education system to adequately prepare children
for adulthood. Schools can lose sight of where they are going,
Administrators can fail to provide leadership, teachers can become set in
their ways. Resistance to positive change can be great. While tests of this
nature can issue a rude jolt, and there will always be exceptions, they are
also a wake-up call. If they are truly a waste of time, then I would say
either the school is on extremely firm footing or in a state of denial.
Now, I do not want to create the impression that I am one of those types who
thrives on giving tests all the time. Lord knows I have wasted more time
than I'd like preparing for and taking tests at the school I attend. Student
assessment should not involve a lot of tests. But these state tests are
important because they tell you what needs tweaking. With all due respect,
they should have great credence with the school, perhaps more than any other
test.
Tom
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