Here We Go Again

October 30, 2012

From the desk of Hope…

I sent my son off to school recently to take yet another standardized test. This just strikes a nerve with me. Have you heard about this latest standardized test school systems are giving 8th graders? It is called the EXPLORE. From what I can gather, it is the pre ACT test and is part of the ACT’s Career Readiness System, and provides the student a way to see if they are on track for college.

Mr. School System, if you take one minute to look in my child’s cumulative folder, you will see  he has scored in the high 90 percentile on his reading and math EOG’s since 3rd grade, that is five years in a row now, and he has never had a grade below an A on his report card. Please tell me what you are worried about and why he has to continuously be assessed with standardized tests and practice test prep materials?

I am not worried. I know he is smart and on track to go to college so why can you not figure this out? There are plenty of “indicators” and “predicators” and things of the sort you say you are looking for, right in front of you but you don’t seem to recognize them. Mr. School System, my son is losing a lot of valuable learning time taking tests and preparing for tests.

When I start thinking about all of the teaching time lost from testing, my anxiety level goes up.

We have:

  • the quarter tests
  • the get ready for quarter test materials
  • the weekly teacher made tests
  • the end of the year EOG’s
  • the random field tests
  • and now we have EXPLORE.

When I am out in schools coaching teachers about this topic I often refer to the age-old story about raising cows. Farmers who raise cows want their cows to weigh a lot because they can sell them for more money. They feed and feed and feed the cows so they will gain weight and then  they weigh the cow. (feeding=learning and weighing=assessing)  You see where I am going here… our children need to spend time leaning and learning and learning so they will be prepared for the assessment, preferably only one. Instead it feels like we are doing the opposite. We are weighing and weighing and weighing the students.

How are our students supposed to learn when so much time is spent assessing?

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