Investigating testing

Teaching Pre K-8, Feb 2000 by Kines, Barbara

Spring isn't far off, and in many school districts, warmer weather means schoolwide, district-wide tests. While they've always been a part of measuring progress, what has occurred in recent years has been a startling increase in the layers of testing and the sheer number of hours children spend taking tests when they could be involved in active learning.

Scary headlines (both true and fabricated) about the failure of schools to educate our children have led to more and more efforts to measure what they're learning - not always with the desired result. Teachers have long known the folly of too much emphasis on a single test, but unfortunately scores are often used to determine what is taught, how it's taught and the placement of children in levels or groups. As you no doubt recall from your days in school, anyone can have a bad day, misunderstand or misread a test question, or fear testing to the point that even the answers we know won't come to us.

Experienced educators know that the best evaluation of a child's progress comes from a number of sources. When we bring together work samples, teacher observation and evaluation, and scores on appropriate tests, we get a very clear idea of a child's school performance. I hope you'll be outspoken in support of a balanced approach.

When scores fail to meet standards, blame is placed upon parents, teachers, students, television or today's culture. Seldom does anyone suggest looking at the tests themselves. USA Today recently told of unreasonable questions young children are being required to answer. For example, in one test, eight- and nineyear-old children were asked to analyze Neil Armstrong's quotation, "One small step for man; a giant step for mankind," and tell how it related to what was going on in the world before and after the moon landing.

In Maryland, a district known for excellent instruction, outstanding parental involvement and family and community emphasis upon the importance of literacy, only 22% of students passed the reading section of state assessments - which leads us to wonder what's on those tests. Who created them, and who decides what is and isn't passing? Have you insisted upon seeing the tests given to your children? Do you know the kinds of questions, the time allowed to answer them, and their relationship to classroom instructional goals?

FairTest, a National Center for Fair and Open Testing, furnishes guidance and poses questions worth considering. You can write them at: FairTest, 342 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139-9745; 617-864-4810; FairTest@aol.com www.fairtest.org