Comments on: Standardized tests: good for the geese, good for the ganders.

By: VIKING (@Captainking3206)

VIKING (@Captainking3206) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:12:34 +0000

Your point is well taken. Unless we educators “teach to the test” these generic, standardized rags do not assess the student’s knowledge of the material we cover. This also “makes noooo sense at all”.

By: Getting Education Leaders to #takethetest » Philly Teacher

Getting Education Leaders to #takethetest » Philly Teacher — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 02:50:11 +0000

[...] Minister of Education about the possibility of the Minister taking the test. My friend, Deven Black argues that, “After all, if the tests are adequate to judge teacher ability they must certainly be able [...]

By: April

April — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:59:23 +0000

The point is for the politicians to understand just what it is that the test results mean, and the best way for them to understand that is to go through the process themselves. Politicians (including school board members) already decide what the test scores mean for school funding so they’re already involved. The point is not what their scores are (although the knowledge that their scores will be published will provoke a sense of accountability), but whether or not the tests accurately reflect what they’re meant to reflect, and how much emphasis should be placed on these tests.

By: jean gallarello

jean gallarello — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:14:15 +0000

I’ve always been a proponent of teachers taking the tests that their student’s will take. If you use backward design, it helps you to realize what you have to teach so that students will be successful.

By: Dave Radcliffe

Dave Radcliffe — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 18:01:10 +0000

Have you looked at the FCAT math exam? How is it reasonable that an educated person who works with quantitative information on a daily basis could not answer a single question on the test? A great many of the questions involve nothing more than simple arithmetic and the ability to interpret charts and graphs.

I do not understand why anyone wants politicians to take these tests. It’s bad enough that Pearson is setting the curriculum, but it would be a thousand times worse if politicians were setting it. I don’t want a senator deciding that schools should not require algebra or botany because he doesn’t use them in his own life.

By: Deven Black

Deven Black — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 17:49:51 +0000

Here’s the most important quote from the article. This is the school board member speaking.
“If I’d been required to take those two tests when I was a 10th grader, my life would almost certainly have been very different. I’d have been told I wasn’t ‘college material,’ would probably have believed it, and looked for work appropriate for the level of ability that the test said I had. It makes no sense to me that a test with the potential for shaping a student’s entire future has so little apparent relevance to adult, real-world functioning.”

By: Deven Black

Deven Black — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 17:40:49 +0000

The tests are designed to test student retention, yes, but what we are asking them to retain has almost no connection to what they will need to do in their working lives. While education should not be directly tied to jobs and should go beyond workplace skills and knowledge, there should not be a total disconnect either. Read the article I linked to in the second paragraph for a deeper understanding of why those tests are destructive. Here's the link again

By: A Ward

A Ward — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 17:36:31 +0000

LOL OMG this makes noooo sense at all! Those tests are meant to gauge how well the students are retaining and understanding information they’ve recently been exposed to, not 50 years after… Give me a test on gas prices, a household budget, voting, and credit card interest rates!